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Greg Sargent Profile picture
@GregTSargent
Sep 28, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
1) There's a lot of talk that the stunning NYT revelations about Trump's tax avoidance won't hurt with his base. They'll only see it as more evidence of his shrewd mastery of an already-rigged system.

But this take misses something much more fundamental.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
2) These revelations strip the sheen off of Trump's hyping of himself as a successful businessman like so much imitation gold leaf.

But they also puncture a much larger scam that Trump employed to get elected.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
3) Trump openly campaigned in 2016 on the idea that he understood how the rigged system really works -- because he enriched himself off it for so long.

He boasted of buying politicians and not paying taxes, which "makes me smart."

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
4) But the key was keeping hidden from voters *how* he enriched himself off the rigged system, by refusing to release tax returns.

Now the truly sordid nature of all this self dealing, and the epic incompetence and failure it compensated for, is exposed:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/… ImageImage
5) Trump's acumen produced the largest policy catastrophe in modern times.

His tax cut further rigged the system for elites.

Wavering voters will see all this as more proof that taking a flyer on the Trump experiment was/is a disastrous miscalculation:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/… Image
6) Many swing voters will likely see this as more evidence of just how seedy/sordid Trump's self-dealing really is. Pair this with his towering managerial failures and it becomes even clearer that this whole experiment has been a disaster.

Full case here:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

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More from @GregTSargent

Greg Sargent Profile picture
Oct 18
Trump's agents shot Marimar Martinez, a US citizen, multiple times for allegedly menacing them with her car in Chicago. Only hours later, Kristi Noem and DHS started spreading disinfo about the shooting.

Now the official line is crumbling. 1/

(link)
newrepublic.com/article/201957…
DHS said agents were "boxed in by 10 cars," and suggested she brandished a gun, which "forced" an agent to open fire. She "drove herself to hospital."

But charging doc only discusses two cars, doesn't mention gun, and ambulance took her to hospital. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/201957…Image
DHS also said her car "rammed" the agents' vehicle. But the Chicago Sun-Times reports that her lawyer says body cam footage undermines the notion that she drove her vehicle toward them and shows an agent saying "do something, bitch" before shooting. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/201957…Image
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Read 6 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Oct 17
News on Trump boat bombings --> Now that SouthCom Commander Alvin Holsey resigned, likely over bombings, ranking Armed Services Dem Adam Smith tells me committee Ds will demand Holsey's sworn testimony and press Rs to join them.

Smith spoke to us on pod:
newrepublic.com/article/201905…
This fiasco has gotten worse. Some highlights from my pod talk w/ ranking Armed Services Dem Adam Smith: First, he says SouthCom Commander Alvin Holsey was likely pushed out over the boat bombings and that he's heard stuff to this effect from inside:

newrepublic.com/article/201914…Image
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This is incredible. Rep Adam Smith tells me the administration has given lawmakers *zero* in the way of the most basic information about the bombings. He says this is nothing like previous situations where basic info was supplied. In this case, nothing.

newrepublic.com/article/201914…Image
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Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Oct 11
This week, MAGA figures claimed Kristi Noem "stared down" violent antifa protesters in Portland. Turns out they were talking mostly about a guy in a chicken suit.

This opens a window into MAGA propaganda and MSM's failure to cope with it. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/201669…
Trump and Stephen Miller have relied on an army of MAGA "influencers" disseminating a fraudulent picture of Portland in chaos, to bolster the case for deploying military.

NYT has a good piece on this. But it made several missteps worth highlighting. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/201669…Image
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NYT piece calls these MAGA types "provocateurs." It describes "dueling versions of reality." Common MSM tropes.

But these aren't provocateurs. They're propagandists. Only one side is employing deliberate deceptions on vast scale for instrumental ends. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/201669…Image
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Read 7 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Oct 10
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.

Pritzker opens up on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/201604…
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.

newrepublic.com/article/201606…Image
Stephen Miller just said the Chicago ICE raid was one of the most successful police operations ever. I asked Pritzker to respond.

"If this was Pinochet’s Chile, if this was Argentina under authoritarian rule, maybe you’d call it successful," he said. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/201606…Image
Image
Read 6 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Oct 8
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.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/201453…
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.

newrepublic.com/article/201453…Image
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Trump just threatened to invoke Insurrection Act if govs/judges act *lawfully* within the constitutional system in ways that displease him.

Miller's statements show their real position: Trump's power to invent pretexts for emergency actions is limitless.

newrepublic.com/article/201453…Image
Image
Read 6 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Oct 7
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."

On the pod, Oregon AG Dan Rayfield explains the ruling and what's next:
newrepublic.com/article/201408…
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.

newrepublic.com/article/201409…Image
Image
Oregon AG Dan Rayfield warns:

"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."

Stephen Miller is trying to acclimate us to this.

newrepublic.com/article/201409…Image
Image
Read 5 tweets

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