1/ Those of you thinking Trump will go away if you call him “the former guy” miss the point; you cannot wish him away. It’s politically naïve and borders on juvenile.
The evidence is piling up: Trump’s iron grip over the GOP has been institutionalized axios.com/institutionali…
2/ “I’ll call this cancer a bad cold because then the algorithms won’t give it as much attention” isn’t a strategy. It’s — at best — a prank.
In 2015 and 2016 the entire American political class - myself included - had a massive failure of imagination.
It can always be worse.
3/ Trump’s minions — both in Mar a Lago and beyond — now entirely control the political and fundraising apparatus of the Republican Party.
His word is law. No one is coming to save the GOP from him; they’re accomplices, not hostages.
4/ Many of the “call him the former guy” advocates live in a Beltway dreamworld.
Mitch’s fans and his Lil Abramoff consultants are huffing political jenkem. McConnell runs the GOP? Ha!
“A new MAGA prince will take the mantle!”
Trump can break any of them with a word.
5/ Refusal to focus on the pendant reality of his next run and his defining role in our politics is going to make 2022 and 2024 that much harder...and while the internal splits in the Democratic party are expected, the GOP is planning, working, grinding.
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1/ The concept of all these new America First-themed think tanks, media outlets, and legal warfare PACS is not surprising.
For all that Republican Inc (e.g. the Chamber, McConnell) in DC wants to pretend Trump is gone and the world will be right again...
2/ ...and that Trumpism is a brief and uncomfortable interregnum which is now just a squicky memory, the reality is that the Trump apparat is out of the box now.
All your base are belong to Don.
They're going to build a government in exile, and...
3/ ...as we know, there is no middle ground with Trump; you are either entirely his creature or you are his enemy.
There is no escape.
These groups are going to raise $ (with some vig going to Trump, like stink follows shit) and hire people, land the loyalists the jobs...
1/ Still missing our dog Riley today, but I thought a couple more pictures of the old boy might amuse you. He loved the water and swimming in the pool.
2/ He was fearless. Witness this epic battle with a crayfish.
1/ QAnon belief should be a disqualifier for any government position. Its believers should be hunted down and dismissed from government service at every level.
Posting or sharing Q content even on private social media accounts should be an immediate cause for dismissal.
2/ Like antivaxxers, they should be preemptively considered a risk to the community, and local livestock.
3/ Stern measures, ending in the mandatory micro chipping of Q believers, are necessary.
1/ Today was a moment about America. About our future. About recapturing hope from hate. About a better, brighter path.
It's not exaggeration to say this was the most consequential election since the Civil War.
So many people fought so hard for so long to defeat Trump.
2/ My timeline is filled with people thanking me for standing up and for the work of @ProjectLincoln.
I cannot sufficiently express my profound, eternal gratitude for your kind words and support. The hard fights are the fights to be in, and you all deserve the credit for this.
3/ The work of a grassroots volunteer making calls and (virtually) knocking doors was just as important and deserves just as much credit and praise. It took a national movement to reach this day.
1/ The most destructive, vile, corrupt man ever to darken America’s presidency has left the White House for the last time.
He has disgraced himself, the office, his oath, and the nation in ways more profound and lasting than we can account.
2/ His incompetence, malfeasance, and evil shouldn’t be laughed off as narcissism or ignorance. He was surrounded by corrupt, wicked, cruel counselors and reveled in it.
Emerson once said of Lincoln’s presidency “an institution is the lengthened shadow of a man.”
He was right.
3/ Trump’s cruelty, division, insurrection, treason and corruption are unrivaled in history. He is the nadir of presidential leadership.
He was enabled by the weak, the venal, the desperate, and the compromised. It was empowered by voices normalizing and rationalizing his evils.
1/ Trump cut off stimulus talks. It's almost as if he has a political death wish and will take down Republicans with him.
His campaign people are staring mutely at the screens of their phones, stunned and depressed.
Stepien was just on with the pollsters. Ooops. Blindsided.
2/ The desperation is growing in the campaign. They've watched the tracker. They see how badly they've bled out since the debate and his manic behavior since diagnosed.
The stunts aren't moving the numbers. Even the base is fading. Seniors fading. Noncollege whites fading.
3/ What happens next? Well, a lot of places are about to end rent and mortgage forebearance. The COVID bounce is coming.
There is no vaccine. There is no scalable therapy. (What Trump got at Walter Reed was bespoke and expensive.)