Greg Sargent Profile picture
Aug 30, 2019 3 tweets 2 min read Read on X
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.

New piece:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
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:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
"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."

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

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More from @GregTSargent

Dec 14
Ominous: GOPers are now saying Trump is picking Kash Patel to "clean out" FBI and restore its "integrity." This will be their cover to go along w/Trump's scheme to unleash FBI on enemies. Media already credulously echoing this claim. Awful.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/189406…
Nobody is required to pretend GOPers actually believe it when they say Trump is picking Kash Patel to "reform" the FBI in any meaningful sense. It's a lie. Rs know Trump is only picking him to target enemies and they should be hounded on this point.

newrepublic.com/article/189406…Image
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There's also this media narrative that the GOP is now "suspicious" of law enforcement as part of a principled ideological repositioning. Nonsense. This should *itself* be treated as spin, as cover to justify abuses that Trump already intended to unleash.

newrepublic.com/article/189406…Image
Read 5 tweets
Dec 9
Trump's win confirmed once again that our information ecosystem is a total dumpster fire, and that Dems need a real answer to it.

I asked three leading candidates for DNC chair how they'd fix this.

Here's what they said. 1/

(new piece from me)
newrepublic.com/article/189147…
First note that Elon Musk spent $20 million on the RBG PAC, which sought to deceive people into thinking Trump's abortion stance is similar to Ruth Bader Ginsburg's.

This and X becoming a right wing disinfo machine show the depths of the problem. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/189147…Image
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I asked three DNC chair hopefuls how they'd fix the party's info problem. @benwikler tells me that millions of voters are getting *all* their info about Dems from GOP and right wing sources. He would train an army of surrogates to "disrupt" this. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/189147…Image
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Read 7 tweets
Dec 5
Striking: In numerous cases, Republicans or GOP-aligned industries are now admitting that mass deportations and rolling back Biden's climate agenda could prove disastrous in their parts of the country.

In my new piece, I've compiled many examples of this:
newrepublic.com/article/189054…
In Georgia, some local Republicans are openly saying that repealing green energy investments will result in shuttered factories and job loss.

This shows what a scam Trump pulled by claiming the green transition existentially threatens the working class.

newrepublic.com/article/189054…Image
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A clear pattern:

*In California, agriculture interests and GOP lawmakers fear mass deportations will cripple their industry
*In Texas, construction industry fears same
*In Georgia, at least one town that went for Trump worries economy will be upended

newrepublic.com/article/189054…Image
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Read 6 tweets
Dec 1
This is a good discussion but on immigration in particular this is not an intellectually adequate frame for understanding what happened. The groups did not dictate the Biden/Harris immigration agenda. If anything they were sidelined/ignored more aggressively than under Obama 1/
At this point someone will note that Harris took left wing positions on immigration in 2019. True, but the vast bulk of GOP attacks concerned the Biden/Harris handling of immigration *while in office,* and there Biden was mostly at odds with the groups all throughout 2/
It's true that Biden undid *some* of Trump's immigration policies. But these were mainly ones that produced particularly terrible humanitarian outcomes. Aside from that Biden took many actions that the groups disliked. See this @David_J_Bier rundown 3/
cato.org/blog/list-120-…
Read 7 tweets
Nov 27
This is getting overlooked, but the whole premise of Trump's threat of tariffs is based on a lie. He's claiming Mexico must be bullied into stopping migrants. But Mexico is *already* doing this. That's a big reason crossings have dropped. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/188854…
Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum's harsh response to Trump went viral for its claim about US guns trafficked to Mexico. But she also noted that Mexico has a comprehensive policy in place for stopping migrants traveling north to the border. That's important. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/188854…Image
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It's funny that Sheinbaum would cite US statistics to make the case that border apprehensions have dropped due in part to Mexico's enforcement, because Trump pretends none of this is happening at all.

The chart below shows what Trump won't tell you. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/188854…Image
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Read 5 tweets
Nov 21
A Trump-appointed judge just struck down a Biden rule expanding overtime pay to 4 million working people.

It's really surprising how little media coverage this has received. Trump faced no real questions about this issue during the campaign. 1/

(link)
newrepublic.com/article/188663…
Remember the media frenzy about "Rich Men North of Richmond," the song MAGA claimed as their anthem? The media spent weeks obsessing over it as a cry of anguish from the blue collar heartland aimed at elites.

That song was all about overtime pay! 2/

newrepublic.com/article/188663…Image
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In the song, singer Oliver Anthony says he's struggling with long hours/low overtime pay, and says elites are rigging the system against him. Yet the Biden rule is all about combatting exactly this kind of elite rigging of the economy against workers. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/188663…Image
Read 7 tweets

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