When Trump blasts Fox News for failing to "work for us," what's key is the *open and unabashed* assertion that he is entitled to a 24/7 propaganda outlet working on his behalf.
The open flaunting of Trump's corruption is a key feature of it.
We should view Trump's demand that Fox News function as his personal propaganda network, along with his nonstop lying and attacks on legitimate news organizations, as its own form of insidious corruption:
"All politicians shade the truth. But most hew to an underlying belief that gaslighting voters too shamelessly treats them with deep contempt; that at some point, factual reality has to matter; and that this is necessary for democracy to function."
Appalling: JB Pritzker tells me he hasn't been able to get a single convo with Kristi Noem or any other top Trump officials to even discuss their Chicago operations. Pritzker just wants heads up for logistical reasons. Nada.
JB Pritzker has also been emphatically placing Trump's mental decline front and center. On our pod, he adds a new element: People around Trump are using his decline to manipulate him, so they're less likely to intervene. More Dems should say this.
JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom are doing something new and important: They understand Stephen Miller's theory of fascist power politics and have developed a theory on how to combat it. More Dems must reckon w/Miller's understanding of the moment.
Stephen Miller believes that if he supercharges the debate over Trump's abuses of power with enough propaganda, he can polarize it and nudge low-info voters into accepting authoritarianism. Pritzker/Newsom get that this requires an info-war in response.
Trump's tweet that Portland is "war ravaged" just backfired. A Trump-picked judge cited it in blocking National Guard deployment to Portland, declaring him "untethered from facts."
Highlights from this pod w/Oregon AG Dan Rayfield: He tells me Dem AGs are preparing for likelihood that Trump will expand efforts to federalize National Guards and deploy them in more cities.
Trump is trying to normalize troops in US cities, he says.
"Anyone who’s seen the visual presence of what it’s like to live in an authoritarian country knows it’s a very different existence. That can never become a reality for us."
Everyone should listen to Chris Murphy's warning about Trump on our pod. First, he says the logic must be that the more lawless he gets, the stiffer the resistance.
"If I give in and consent to these kinds of tactics then it just normalizes it all." 1/
Senator Murphy also lays out a clear set of codified demands that Dems can stand for. Among them:
*no more using budget to punish enemies
*no more using FCC to censor critics
*restrictions on ICE lawlessness in interior
*clear ban on troops in cities
Russell Vought's sadistic threat to kill projects in blue states will blow back on GOP. One getting defunded is reportedly a huge hydrogen project in northwest that would also serve Montana. Its GOP governor has hailed it as a big job creator.
In upstate New York, vulnerable House GOPer Mike Lawler defended Trump by claiming, Hey, these cuts will hurt my district, too! He didn't realize he was admitting that Russ Vought's cuts will hurt Trump voters as well.
@atrupar One project that Russ Vought's cuts are reportedly targeting is the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub. Turns out this project spans Oregon, Washington State, and MONTANA. The GOP governor of Montana has hailed it for creating "good paying Montana jobs."
News --> Steve Bannon tells me he fully expects Trump to use the Texas ICE office shooting as the hook to unleash law enforcement on liberal immigration groups by linking political violence to anti-ICE rhetoric.
Connect the dots. First Trump/Miller associate Texas ICE shooting w/liberal *groups* and anti-ICE *rhetoric.* Then they announce they will investigate/prosecute groups that they can somehow link to political violence. ICE shooting becomes the pretext. 3/