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Jeet Heer Profile picture
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20 Jan, 5 tweets, 1 min read
1. So, I think reasonable people can agree that Trump was one of the worst presidents in American history, totally unfit for any position of authority and he presided over a disaster covid response. That leaves the interesting question of how he came so close to re-election.
2. I mean Trump came within 44,000 votes in 3 states (Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin) of winning the electoral college even with a 7 million popular vote loss. Far too close for comfort. A reflection of the badness of the electoral college, yes, but something more.
3. Trump got 11 million more votes in 2020 than in 2016. Fortunately, Biden got 15 million more votes than Hillary Clinton. Still: it's hard to deny that Trump mobilized a lot more people over time even as he presided over disaster. It's worth asking why.
4. Polling pretty consistently showed that Trump got high ratings on economy and poor on everything else. That's due to 2 things: Fed Reserve moving to full employment policy (with rise in real wages) & robust CARES act (with UI top-up).
5. As bad as Trump was, there are things worth copying: bullying the Fed to do full employment & low interest, generous stimulus (and sign the damn checks), & in general concrete results for supporters. More here: thenation.com/article/politi…

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More from @HeerJeet

Jeet Heer Profile picture
18 Jan
1. Two presidential inaugurations have had planned train trips significantly altered because of threats of violence: Lincoln in 1861 and Biden in 2021.
2. To be clear: a reprise of the American Civil War is impossible. Geographical distribution of polarization is different, there is no overriding issue comparable to slavery cutting to heart of real power, and (as Louisiana governor Earl Long used to say) the Feds have the bomb.
2. Still, political violence far short of a Civil War could easily become the norm: an intermittent cycle of white nationalist violence and law enforcement crackdowns, combined with a tightening internal security state.
Read 6 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
15 Jan
1. Trump has apparently ordered staffers not to mention Nixon's name, which is of course hilarious but also telling. Trump is Nixon's heir and, one hopes, the twilight of Nixonism.
2. Nixon was the president that broke the New Deal coalition and initiated the modern lurch to the right but he was transitional figure & still kept some of the older big government programs. Subsequent GOP (and some Dems) have kept to the Nixon formula.
3. The linkages between Trump and Nixon are many. Trump's mentor Roy Cohn was an old Nixon ally in McCarthy era. Roger Stone -- of Nixon tattoo fame -- is Trump's oldest political crony.
Read 4 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
13 Jan
1. This is exactly right. Facebook & Twitter deserve no credit for finally banning Trump when they played so large a role (along with cable companies) in creating Trump. The regretful tears of Dr. Frankenstein are too little, too late.
2. The social media shut out of Trump in an emergency, after he fanned violence against Congress, is eminently defensible but it also highlights the dangerously oversized power these private organizations have in political life.
3. The capriciousness of the social media giants is striking. Trump has been doing incendiary & often racist speech long before he became president. And he wasn't banned for political and economic reasons. Now he's on the way out, they ban him.
Read 4 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
28 Dec 20
1. Trump's retreat on the stimulus package (signing what he once threatened to veto) is further evidence that he's been (as Glassman & others have argued) a weak president in terms of legislation. Where does that leave the idea that he's also an authoritarian threat?
2. The critics of Trump-is-an-authoritarian-threat (most cogently @CoreyRobin & @moyn) have long pointed out that in terms of actually getting things done, or even persuading the public, Trump has been a singular failure. This is true but a weak president can still be dangerous.
3. As a reality show president, Trump's always been more interested in the symbolic part of rule (playing at leadership) than actually doing things. And the way he's performed the presidency has, in fact, broken new grounds in incitement.
Read 5 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
23 Dec 20
1. This gets at why Trump's latest move is such a gift for the Democrats: they can either show Senate GOP is opposed to relief or get the $2000 per person (which would be good).
2. Beyond that, the current juncture opens up the possibility of wedging Trump away from institutional GOP, which would be good for Dems even after Trump leaves office.
3. Trump will have a lot followers even after Jan. 20th and it'll be good for Dems if he's mad at GOP and trying to sabotage GOP agenda.
Read 4 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
21 Dec 20
1. The Intercept has a blockbuster report on the CIA running death squads in Afghanistan & its not getting much attention. Worth asking why. theintercept.com/2020/12/18/afg…
2. The combination of a volunteer army, low USA casualties & the fact that the war is being mainly conducted by CIA run militias means the public is tuning out Afghan news, even though the war itself is unpopular.
3. Unfortunately, there's little reason to hop for anything better from Biden. He might (one hopes) shut down the CIA death squads, but based on Obama era example, no one will be brought to justice. The forever war is likely to continue.
Read 4 tweets

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