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Greg Sargent Profile picture
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5 Feb, 4 tweets, 3 min read
Good to see: By moving on reconciliation, Dems show they're learning. They're wise to McConnell's scam, in which he used filibuster to *withhold* cooperation. Going big on spending now could boost faith in govt and undercut Trumpist populism. My latest:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Here's how Mitch's scam works:

He claims the filibuster facilitates bipartisanship. But the truth is the opposite: He uses it to *withhold* bipartisan cooperation, for cynical purposes.

Reconciliation makes bipartisanship *more* likely, as I argue here:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
If Dems go big on spending now to address deep injustices revealed by the pandemic, it could revitalize faith in government and clear political space for sanity on immigration and climate.

That's my answer to Trumpist populism:

(citing @nytdavidbrooks)

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@nytdavidbrooks Of course, a lot can go wrong. I think @brianbeutler gets it right here: Dems are learning not to get gamed by GOP bad faith, but divisions among themselves, driven by centrist brainlock, could badly imperil their ability to follow through:

mailchi.mp/crooked.com/bi…

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More from @ThePlumLineGS

Greg Sargent Profile picture
4 Feb
Marjorie Taylor Greene's ideology isn't just QAnon. It's also MAGA. Greene endorses violent warfare against the opposition, just as Trump did. Republicans won't meaningfully hold her accountable for this, just as they're acquitting Trump for it. My latest:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
We still don't have an answer to this question.

At the meeting where Republicans gave Marjorie Taylor Greene a standing ovation for supposedly renouncing some of her views, did any of them confront her over her endorsement of executing Democrats?

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Context matters. The GOP's exoneration of MTG comes as Republicans are memory-holing their own role in helping incite a violent attack on lawmakers.

It's no wonder they're refusing to hold Greene accountable for her own endorsement of political violence:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Read 6 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
3 Feb
There is a clear link between the GOP dilemmas over Marjorie Taylor Greene and Trump's impeachment. In both, Republicans largely still have not unambiguously declared that political violence is wholly intolerable and has no place in their ranks. My latest:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Republicans who criticize MTG keep focusing on her conspiracy theories. They use phrases like "nutty" and "loony lies."

I call BS. Greene has also *endorsed the execution of Democrats.*

Rs should say more about that, too. But that's dicey for them:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Republicans are "relieved" Trump's lawyers are focusing on constitutional arguments, per Politico.

That's because Trump's actual deeds are indefensible.

A new look at the attack shows it was unambiguously understood by many as an assault on lawmakers:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Read 5 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
2 Feb
Dems are investigating whether the suppression of DHS intelligence about violent white supremacy and right wing extremism -- done to bolster Trump's campaign agitprop -- may have helped exacerbate the insurrection at the Capitol, @RepAdamSchiff tells me:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@RepAdamSchiff The post-Trump fumigation will have to be epic.

We need a full reckoning with Trump's use of large swaths of the government to manufacture a left-wing terror threat and downplay violent right wing extremism, and the ways all this led to the insurrection:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@RepAdamSchiff A great NYT report revealed how hyping of Antifa distracted from right wing violence.

As @adamgoldmanNYT and team noted, this came when the far right threat "was building ominously.”

I asked @RepAdamSchiff about this. Dems are examining related things:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
1 Feb
Republicans are now openly boasting of their plot to win the House through extreme gerrymanders. This alone should dissuade Biden and Dems from negotiating down the stimulus to secure bipartisanship. Dems may have only 2 years. Make them count. My latest:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Media is getting snowed by the GOP proposal. It's a double-whammy of bad faith. It's meant to create the impression that Rs are willing to do *something* amid two major crises while also creating a bogus way to claim Biden is reneging on "unity" promise:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… ImageImage
Dems keep saying they learned the lessons of 2009-2010.

Okay, but those lessons are also that:

1) scaling down ambition to chase bipartisanship doesn't stave off midterm losses, and

2) losing the House means a much slower recovery.

So go big now:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
28 Jan
Marjorie Taylor Greene approved of executing Dems, yet she'll get little to no punishment. But the story here is much bigger: GOP failure to police extremists goes back half a century.

“The dictum now is ‘No enemies to the right,'" @RuleandRuin tells me:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@RuleandRuin I talked to @RuleandRuin, who wrote a book about the GOP.

He offered great insights about what brought us to this point.

Today's GOP base thrives on "jihadist ecstasy" about Trump, he says.

GOP won't "police boundaries against kooks and extremists."

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… Image
@RuleandRuin There's a great paper called "The Long New Right" that tells the story of the GOP/conservative movement's failure to police extremists for the last 50 years.

It's highly relevant to the insurrection and Marjorie Greene's lunacy.

I summed it up here:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… Image
Read 6 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
26 Jan
1) Just before Mitch McConnell caved and allowed Dems to assume the majority, @SenSchumer gave an important interview to @maddow.

Schumer said some things that have been overlooked. They suggest a crucial shift in thinking among Democrats about power.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@SenSchumer @maddow 2) Schumer vowed that this time, Dems won't get snookered by GOP bad faith.

But Schumer also framed the stakes in a good way. He said Dems are united behind the idea that *delivering in a big way* is key to restoring faith in government and democracy:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@SenSchumer @maddow 3) Schumer also said a failure to go big will risk disillusionment and another Trumpist demagogue.

If so, restoring faith in government/democracy isn't about achieving bipartisanship for its own sake. It's about the scale of the program Dems deliver on:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Read 7 tweets

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