The problem, I think, is from the expectation that the Nixon story will repeat: once public impeachment inquiries begin, the truth will emerge and Trump's approval will tumble.
The current Republican Party is not the GOP of the Nixon era. What was then the fringe has taken over.
The problem we have is that a major political party is doing everything it can to shield a lawbreaking president.
I suspect today's obstruction will be folded into Articles of Impeachment.
I welcome the Never Trump Republicans to join the fight to get Trump out of office.
But I wish to remind people that Rick Wilson—who spent his career as a Republican political strategist—isn't looking out for the best interests of the Democratic Party or Democratic party values.
And now he is encouraging Democrats to bash Democrats.
Putin knows how to wield disinformation and he knows that the United States is divided: A large portion of the population, including the most influential voices from a major political party, want the United States to emulate his Russia.
After Russia enacted anti-homosexual legislation, Pat Buchanan said Putin was “entering a claim that Moscow is the Godly city of today" because he was stamping out western evils like easy divorce and homosexuality. buchanan.org/blog/whose-sid…
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British right-winger Katie Hopkins, in an article in which she was interviewed with her friend Ann Coulter, said “Putin rocks.”
Katie Hopkins then went on to praise Russia as being “untouched by the myth of multiculturalism and deranged diversity."
Um . . . this isn't the defense Trump thinks it is.
Trump published a letter he received from Mazars dated (it looks like) 2014. He then summarized the letter.
#1: What Mazars said
#2: What Trump says Mazars said
Me = 🤦♀️
Does he think nobody can or will actually read it?
Mazars said, "Trump is responsible for preparing the financial statement."
Also Mazars does not "undertake to obtain or provide any assurance that there are no material modifications that should be made . . . "
Trump posts the letter and says Mazars "strongly states that all work was performed in accordance with professional standards and that there were "no material discrepancies in the financial statements."
. . . and concluded with thoughts about how social media brings out authoritarian instincts in large swaths of people who ordinarily would not be given to authoritarian impulses.
Indicting people and having juries return "not guilty" verdicts because there isn't evidence to prove each element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt may not accomplish what people think it will accomplish.
One reason I think social media is turning everyone into authoritarians: people don't read or think.
They see a headline and have a strong emotional reaction, which they Tweet and which then gets repeated by others, who are also not thinking . . .
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Political psychologists like @karen_stenner describe the authoritarian personality.
Those with an authoritarian disposition are averse to complexity. They reject nuance.
They prefer sameness and uniformity and have “cognitive limitations.”
(link in the next Tweet)
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See for example, "Authoritarianism is not a momentary madness,” which originally appeared in this book, an dwhich Stenner has now made available free on her website, here: ……e-4700-aaa9-743a55a9437a.filesusr.com/ugd/02ff25_370…
Timothy Snyder also talks about the danger of what he calls Internet Memes.