It will be of a piece with every right wing power grab since Bush v Gore, including the Garland blockade itself, and the answer should not be for liberals to be shocked, shocked by the unfairness of it all, but to resolve to use power in turn to set things right.
Trump broke the law and betrayed the country to win the election despite losing the popular vote. George W. Bush lost the popular vote, and only won the electoral college with the corrupt interference of his brother and SCOTUS.
The case for neutralizing the GOP theft of the courts for the sake of a rising generation that completely rejects their jurisprudence couldn't be stronger.
The central arguments for impeaching Trump are inclusive of his actual crimes, but an important tangential argument is that congressional Democrats need to be made to use power in ways they're uncomfortable with to prime them for what will be demanded of them in 2021 if they win.
The message to McConnell should not be "but you'll tear the country apart!"–a consequence he couldn't care less about, and may actually excite him–it's "to quote Brett Kavanaugh, 'what goes around, comes around.'"
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Recent reporting suggests Biden world understands that his abysmal approval is rooted in a rotten info environment more than material reality. That’s the good news. The bad news is they’ve developed a defeatist mentality, instead of trying more things. offmessage.net/p/joe-biden-im…
The short version is Biden turned the page on Trump too quickly, allowing Trump to revise the history of his presidency AND pin blame for everything post-Jan 20, 2021 on Biden. Three-plus years later, that’s not an easy problem to fix without time travel. offmessage.net/p/joe-biden-im…
But I think there’s a way: conceptualize the universe of people who might be persuaded that the CW about the economy is wrong, and speak to them in a different register than Dems typically use. offmessage.net/p/joe-biden-im…
New: Republicans hope to intimidate Democrats out of abandoning their advantages with aggressive posturing, but they’re really just leading with their chins. offmessage.net/p/republicans-…
The bad news: this has clearly worked on some Dems (cf @PaulBegala). The good news is, once you spot the con, it’s easy to detect in later instances. h/t @joshtpm offmessage.net/p/republicans-…
When @EWErickson and @JDVance1 insist they’re mad about Joe Biden campaigning on democracy and attacking Trump’s contempt for veterans, it’s not because they think Biden did anything wrong. It’s because they know Biden hit his target. offmessage.net/p/republicans-…
1. @GregTSargent is obviously right that “A guilty verdict is powerful new information,” and that, “We should hold institutional Democrats responsible if they don’t use it, and use it ruthlessly and effectively.” newrepublic.com/article/182111…
2. But I think we’ve already reached that point.
3. Call it the eruption of a political supervolcano! Devastating, shameful, humiliating news for the GOP, which has lashed itself to a felon—the biggest crook in US political history by a mile. What’ll make this a nothingburger is Democrats’ apparent determination to make it one.
New today: Business leaders cozying back up to Trump don’t just offer up laughable excuses. They also evince terrible critical thinking skills. The logic is there, it just reflects poor logical reasoning and reckless risk tolerance. offmessage.net/p/why-are-thes…
One thing people like Stephen Schwarzman might consider is: What would’ve happened if Trump’s coup attempt had been even just a bit more successful: No certification on Jan 6, a scramble to transfer power after January 20, more street violence. offmessage.net/p/why-are-thes…
But even stipulating that a second Trump term will be relatively “normal”—no crises or coups, just familiar erraticism and partial success implementing his agenda—why do any of these guys think they’ll be better off than just continuing the Biden era? offmessage.net/p/why-are-thes…
As it happens, before Durbin’s most recent preemptive surrender this week, I wrote about specific ways he *could* use his power now. To wit: unearth Alito’s unlogged votes and unstated reasoning wherever the Court has done quiet favors for Trump. offmessage.net/p/expose-the-s…
Biden, who has also been inert here, could do his part by lifting his embargo on exploiting Trump’s criminal exposure, making it easier for Senate Dems to hold Alito, Thomas, Cannon, et al accountable. offmessage.net/p/lacking-camp…
Then on Politix, we discussed the institutional asymmetries between Dems and Republicans that makes it necessary to apply pressure in this way, where Republicans would just know to react aggressively. politix.fm/p/big-alito-li…
New: I don’t know how things will shake out early next year, but I think it was a mistake for Dems to agree to decouple certain domestic appropriations from defense (sorry, the “ladder approach”) as ransom to the GOP to avoid a Thanksgiving shutdown. offmessage.net/p/shoots-and-l…
This all happened very fast, and because the Freedom Caucus is mad and Republicans are cosplaying Street Fighter, most of the coverage has taken it as a given that Mike Johnson caved. I’m not so sure. offmessage.net/p/shoots-and-l…
Democrats have conceded “take it or leave it” leverage that comes with omnibus bills and clean CRs, allowing Republicans in principle to demagogue their way to full defense appropriations while shutting down or gutting other departments. offmessage.net/p/shoots-and-l…