Although the GOP continues to hail him as a champion of the right, Trump is and has always been a man of no fixed principles who succeeded in draining the GOP of much of its political policy priorities.
No one really ever knew where he would come down on any particular issue: Socialism for farmers? Check. Unilateral tax increases for consumer goods? Check. Massive increases in the deficit? No problem.
Trump presided over the ballooning of the national debt from $19.9 trillion to around $28 trillion — a staggering increase of over 35 percent
In his final chaotic days in office, Trump wanted to push it even higher. Even as he was fighting to steal the presidential election, Trump demanded that Congress increase the second round of stimulus checks to $2,000 per person.
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Wait til they hear about driver’s licenses, photo IDs to vote, Social Security cards, TSA screening, birth certificates, proofs of residence, real passports, and the certificates of vaccination we ALREADY require.
On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared: “It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.”
Some of us are old enough to remember when Claremont was a respected, even prestigious, conservative intellectual redoubt. But in recent years it has lurched from the mainstream to MAGA — and now appears to be staggering toward something even darker. morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/springtime-f…
Because we have seen this sort of pusillanimity so often, it’s easy to miss how the GOP’s post-presidency capitulation is different than ones that came before.
Trump is no longer president: there are no judges; no tax cuts to be signed; no regulations to be slashed. Mexico is never going to pay for the f*cking wall.
There aren’t even tweets.
For the last four years, we were assured that coddling Trump was the necessary price to advance a “conservative” agenda.
Charlottesville was awful. Kids in cages appalling. His ignorance and feckless botch of the pandemic alarming.
Walt Whitman immortalized Abraham Lincoln with “O Captain, My Captain.” FDR will forever be associated with “Happy Days Are Here Again.” At crucial moments in our national history, both Lincoln and Roosevelt cited Wordsworth:
John Tyler (another genuinely deplorable president), is remembered for “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” (although Tippecanoe died 31 days into his term).
At JFK’s inauguration, Robert Frost read:
"Something we were withholding made us weak/
Until we found out that it was ourselves"
Let’s rewind the tape: Trump has tried everything he can think of to steal the election: he lied about the process, spread baseless conspiracy theories, and bullied election officials.
He tried to get the Department of Justice to find evidence of massive fraud; it wasn’t there.
He tried to get the courts to overturn the results; and failed. He failed in state courts, federal courts, federal appeals courts, and in the U.S. Supreme Court.
He tried to get state legislatures to nullify the popular vote; and failed.
Sen. John Boozman R-AR
"Not one of the lawsuits filed found evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities that would have changed the outcome of the election. Similarly, not a single state's outcome changed as a result of requested recounts." washingtonpost.com/graphics/2021/…
Sen. Tim Scott R-SC
"As I read the Constitution, there is no constitutionally viable means for the Congress to overturn an election wherein the states have certified and sent their Electors," Scott said in a Jan. 5 statement.
Sen. Jerry Moran R-KS
“I am a conservative Republican. Therefore, I must strictly adhere to the United States Constitution....To vote to reject these state-certified electoral votes would be to act outside the bounds of the Constitution, which I will not do.”