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Jun 14, 2024 10 tweets 6 min read Read on X
An important development: Trump's criminality is becoming a genuine wedge issue against Republicans.

Don't be fooled by GOP's outward shows of unity behind Dear Leader. The cracks in the facade are very clear.

Here's some evidence. 1/

(Link to piece)
newrepublic.com/article/182728…
People overlooked this. But when Rep Mike Simpson, a very senior GOPer, told @playbookdc that he opposes defunding Jack Smith, he also directly undermined the entire Trump/GOP argument that the prosecutions are the illegitimate work of the Deep State. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/182728…
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This is a big deal. A top GOPer essentially admitted Jack Smith is operating within his legit institutional role. As Jamie Raskin told me:

"Mike Simpson just destroyed MAGA-world’s argument that Trump’s prosecution...is fraudulent or in bad faith." 3/

newrepublic.com/article/182728…
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More from Jamie Raskin on Rep Mike Simpson opposing the defunding of Jack Smith:

“Other Republicans should follow Simpson and stop demonizing the justice system and the rule of law."

This is how Trump’s criming is becoming a wedge against the GOP. 4/

newrepublic.com/article/182728…
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More evidence that Trump's criminality is becoming a wedge: Vulnerable House Republicans are balking at voting for all the craven things Mike Johnson is offering to shield Trump from the law.

This has happened numerous times now. Evidence below. 5/

newrepublic.com/article/182728…

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Trump's ritual humiliation of Rs like McConnell on the Hill is all about forcing them to *act as if* the politics of Trump's criming favors the GOP/isn't an issue.

This is spin. The real tell is vulnerable Rs not wanting to vote for shielding Trump. 6/

newrepublic.com/article/182728…
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Trump is forcing Rs to repeatedly vote on protecting him from the law. That's bad for Rs, full stop.

GOP pretending his criming is a winner is psyops. As I try to show, Ds now get this.

(h/t @brianbeutler @joshtpm for making versions of this point) 7/

newrepublic.com/article/182728…

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A link to the full argument at @newrepublic is below. 8/8
newrepublic.com/article/182728…
Related and key from @brianbeutler: Dems have an opening to drive a wedge between Trump and the corporate class. The story is that this class has capitulated. But that doesn't *have* to remain true, just as GOP submission to Trump is only half the story.
offmessage.net/p/the-gops-fin…
Also watch @SimonWDC on Trump/GOP:

"MAGA has been a failed politics. They're doubling down on a politics that keeps losing."

Dominance/submission rituals are about papering this over. But vulnerable Rs are balking at voting to protect Trump right now.

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More from @GregTSargent

Feb 4
Remarkable: Trump's planned migrant prison camps are hitting deep resistance in red areas. In Virginia's partly rural Hanover (+26 Trump) opposition is intense. GOP leaders in other states are opposed.

Voters are rejecting mass deportations. 1/

(link)
newrepublic.com/article/206094…
These vast prison camps would allow for the detention of 80,000 more migrants, doubling Trump/Miller's capacity for deportations. Yet resistance is breaking out in red Virginia, reddish parts of New Jersey, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Utah, and more. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/206094…Image
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This passed unnoticed: New Pew poll finds 64% oppose mass detention of migrants while cases are decided.

That directly repudiates MAGA. Trumpism treats release of migrants awaiting hearings as a mortal blow to the nation. Broader public does not. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/206094…Image
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Read 5 tweets
Dec 15, 2025
Stephen Miller is employing state terror in service of the open goal of shifting the ethnic mix of the country. In numerous ways he's doing this at the expense of public safety.

We spent weeks reporting on Miller's real aims. The result is this piece:
newrepublic.com/article/204191…
Highlights from our Miller piece:

First, his grandmother has written an unpublished history of some of his ancestors' immigration to the US. We are publishing it online for the first time. They were attacked in terms similar to those he uses today.

newrepublic.com/article/204191…Image
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Some news on Trump's doling out of most refugee slots to white South Africans: Two former State Department officials tell us basic protocols designed to determine whether this group actually merits protection have simply been scrapped. It's just whim.

newrepublic.com/article/204191…Image
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Read 9 tweets
Dec 12, 2025
Remarkable how brutal the ruling against Trump on Abrego Garcia truly is: It details malicious abuses of power all throughout. Trump and Stephen Miller were testing their ability to spread lawless state terror. But the court held the line. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/204355…
For Trump/Miller, the Abrego Garcia case is a crucial gauge of how far they can get in disappearing undesirables/placing them beyond the law entirely.

Judge Xinis' ruling is important in that context. It calls out Trump's lawless conduct throughout. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/204355…Image
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For weeks, Trump officials have refused to send him to Costa Rica even though he said he'd accept that. The ruling details extensive misconduct here.

We all know what happened: Trump/Miller decided sending him there wouldn't be dehumanizing enough. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/204355…Image
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Read 5 tweets
Dec 1, 2025
News --> The commander who oversaw Pete Hegseth's alleged killing of two boat bombing survivors is now likely to come in and face questions from House Armed Services Committee, ranking Dem Adam Smith tells me.

In this piece, I try to make sense of it all:
newrepublic.com/article/203789…
Pete Hegseth denies he gave the order to kill them all. But even some Republicans now appear to be demanding answers, so Frank Bradley, who oversaw bombings, is in talks with House Armed Services about coming in.

Rep Adam Smith lays out his Qs here:

newrepublic.com/article/203789…Image
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This is big: Jack Goldsmith, former head of OLC, says that if WaPo's report is right, Pete Hegseth's order might have been an illegal one.

WaPo reports that the commander overseeing the strikes gave a rationale but Goldsmith says it doesn't hold up:

newrepublic.com/article/203789…Image
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Read 5 tweets
Nov 25, 2025
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rcbregman's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."

BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/203648…
Today @rcbregman posted a transcript of his Reith Lecture showing that the version that BBC aired removed the line about Trump's world-historical corruption.

BBC emailed me: "we made the decision to remove one sentence from the lecture on legal advice.”

newrepublic.com/article/203648…Image
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@rcbregman Trump is the most corrupt president in US history, and the openness of his corruption is an essential feature of it. It's extra bad that this comes as the Defense Department punishes Sen Mark Kelly for correctly warning against breaking illegal orders.

newrepublic.com/article/203648…Image
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Read 4 tweets
Nov 21, 2025
Remarkable: Rep Chrissy Houlahan, one of the Dems Trump called for executing, tells me her office literally filled out a Capitol Police threat report listing "the president" as the person making the threat.

It's at 9:20 on our pod. More like that here:
newrepublic.com/article/203487…
Here's a transcript of the key exchange:

ME: You filled out a form which essentially says, ‘who delivered this threat,’ and your office wrote in ‘Donald J. Trump.’

REP HOULAHAN: 'The President.'

newrepublic.com/article/203489…Image
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Also crucial from Rep Chrissy Houlahan:

One reason she and other Dems did the video about Trump's illegal orders is that they're hearing from inside the military and intel services of actual live fears that they're being given unlawful commands:

newrepublic.com/article/203489…Image
Read 4 tweets

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