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Norman Ornstein Profile picture
@NormOrnstein
Jan 24, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read • Read on X
Journalists, including today in @washingtonpost continue to refer to a group of Republican senators as "moderates." Moderates? Collins, Murkowski, Alexander, Romney? The first three filibustered the DISCLOSE ACT and said zilch about Merrick Garland, while supporting filibusters 1
against health care reform, and voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and for the reckless and radical tax cut, voted for extreme judges, including those rated unqualified by the ABA, for Cabinet members like Scott Pruitt who lied to the Senate, and for a slew of radical 2
executive branch officials. Romney has not voted against any radical or unqualified nominee since coming to Senate. None have raised a peep about reckless radical Trump policies, or demanded oversight for such. This stretches the definition of "moderate" way past breaking point.3
Good journalists have strained to fit a radical party that has swung sharply away from the center or even the traditional right into their conventional framework and descriptive narrative. But the lazy use of terms like moderate does a disservice to the reality of the GOP.

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More from @NormOrnstein

Norman Ornstein Profile picture
Apr 4
I wish every journalistic outlet that normalized Donald Trump during the campaign, that treated him as a mostly typical candidate and both sized the election, would figuratively look themselves in the mirror and understand that they bear partial responsibility for this chaos and bloodshed. 1
Some of them, like the LA Times and Washington Post, have responded by going mostly to the dark side. Others, like the New York Times, have responded by upping their game, but still have headlines that soften the brutal reality. Networks, including CNN, still both sides everything. Fox? Propaganda. 2
Our brutal reality is that we simply cannot count on our traditional or mainstream media sources to communicate more broadly to that portion of the electorate that needs to hear it, and will, at least partially, listen. We need billionaires to set out an alternative communication structure. 3
Read 4 tweets
Norman Ornstein Profile picture
Mar 14
No surprise that Schumer is trying to justify his action, as the apologia below shows. If there were an extended shutdown, and as he says, food stamps were eliminated, farmers would be screaming bloody murder. Same w other critical programs Trump deemed non-essential. 1
The idea that he would shut down the govt for six months or a year without a huge backlash is fanciful. Polls show voters would blame Rs & Trump by a 2-1 margin. Ds would have to work to keep the right wing wind machine from blaming them, but it would work. 2
Now we have Trump humiliating Schumer with a victory dance, all the pernicious cuts and other damage in the CR, and he and Musk will still bleed key programs dry, step by step. In the meantime, the number 1 admonition of students of the rise of tyranny, don't capitulate, is lost
Read 6 tweets
Norman Ornstein Profile picture
Jan 28
If Trump and his Gestapo defy a court order, which is a real possibility, our only hope is the Senate. We need Senate Democrats to step up and play hardball, using every tactic at their disposal. Put holds on all Trump nominees, use delays for everything. 1
Boycott confirmation hearings that require a member of the minority for a quorum. Insist on no hearings if the Senate is in session. If Senate Republicans bulldoze you by either changing the rules or ignoring them, make sure everyone knows. Force the press to cover. 2
If we have moved to full n dictatorship, with Congress and the Courts either defied or ignored, and a press cowed, you need to do whatever it takes, including civil disobedience, to make sure everyone in the country knows what is happening. 3
Read 4 tweets
Norman Ornstein Profile picture
Jan 22
The biggest question about whether we evolve into a vicious autocracy is whether there are any guardrails of meaning that could put limits on Trump‘s most extreme actions. The reaction of Republican lawmakers to the pardons of cop beaters & killers is especially chilling. 1/
If there is no pushback to that, especially after Trump and his cabinet picks, swore that they would do this on a case by case basis, what makes anyone think that there will be pushback to Trump-generated violence or efforts to shred the constitution. Then there is the press. 2/
Trump shut down NBC’s Peter Alexander when he tried to push him on this issue. What was the reaction from the White House press court? Did they rise up in outrage? Imagine what they would’ve done if Biden had reacted to a reporter in this way. Compliant. Normalizing. Chilling. 3/
Read 4 tweets
Norman Ornstein Profile picture
Dec 29, 2024
Jimmy Carter‘s presidency is extraordinarily underrated. But this is a good time to tell my favorite personal story. I was an advisor to the Carter Baker commission on election reform. At one of the meetings, President Carter asked if I would have lunch with him. 1/
He was gracious and warm. I asked him about River blindness and how he had tackled it, saving literally millions of lives. He explained how he had been in Africa, seen the devastation of so many young people blinded with lives destroyed. 2/
He learned that a simple inexpensive salve could prevent the devastation. He contacted drug companies, got them to donate the medication. He went to the leadership in the countries affected to make sure that the salve would be distributed without corruption and at no charge. 3/
Read 4 tweets
Norman Ornstein Profile picture
Nov 7, 2024
There will be a lot of soul-searching among Democrats, as there should be. Those who criticize Joe Biden for not dropping out earlier, or Kamala Harris for her campaign, are looking in the wrong place. This was a broader rejection ofe ruling elites. 1
Including military leaders like Milley& Kelly, exemplary scientists, more broadly all connected to the federal government. I continue to believe a core is Covid, the disruptions in life caused by it and the response to it, ironically driven by the failures of Trump. 2
What Biden inherited was a broader set of problems, supply chain and others, driven by Covid, including inflation that beset every industrial democracy. That we emerged from it better and stronger than anyone else was not evident to a large swath of Americans. 3
Read 14 tweets

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