David Frum Profile picture
Jul 4, 2024 14 tweets 3 min read Read on X
"Donald Trump tried to overthrow an election by violence."

That's old news, we already reported that.

"As president, Donald Trump directed tens of millions of tax dollars to his own pockets."

Old news.

(cont'd)
"Russian intelligence helped elect Trump by illegal means. Trump welcomed the help."

Russia, Russia.

"He was proven in court to have raped a woman."

Civil proceeding, not criminal - and sexual assault, not rape. Besides ... old news.

(cont'd)
"Two dozen other women say Trump attacked them. There's literally a recording of him boasting about it!"

Old news, we litigated all that in 2016.

"There's new news just unsealed about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein!"

Salacious gossip, beneath our editorial standards.

(cont'd)
"You don't have to focus on the sex stuff. There's more evidence that Trump gave a seat in cabinet to a man for no good reason other than to thank him for the Epstein cover-up."

Arrant speculation. Also old news.

(cont'd)
"It's not arrant speculation that Trump's family falsified receipts to cheat the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes."

Old news.

"It'll feel like new news because you ignored it at the time."

We gave it a day.

(cont'd)
"Trump used the same trick - false records - in all his many civil frauds, and also in the hush-money case that got him convicted of 34 felony counts by a jury!"

Complicated technicalities, you're boring me.

(cont'd)
"You want simple? Someone bravely defied a non-disclosure agreement to go on the record that Trump used the most vicious racial slurs on the set of The Apprentice."

Doubtful source.

"The 'suckers and losers' quote comes from an impeccable source."

Old news.
"But Trump denied the 'suckers and losers' quote only last week during the nationally televised presidential debate. He lied to the whole country!"

Not our job to fact-check every word he says.

"But you personally know it to be a lie."

Maybe we do, maybe we don't.

(cont'd)
"Okay, look, let's do it your way. What does interest you?"

Indications of cognitive decline.

"We've got millions of examples of Trump obviously off his rocker."

Right - he says crazy things all the time. Not news.

(cont'd)
"Are you telling me that the more often a candidate for president says addled, senile, crazy things - the less newsy it is?"

Not exactly. We also need a lot of background quotes about how his party is worried. If the party is cool with his dementia, we're cool with it.
"These rules don't seem on the level."

We're not the Supreme Court.

"The Supreme Court isn't on the level either."

Oh, now you're undermining confidence in our most sacred institutions. How is that different from Trump?
"Oh for God's sake, the wives of two justices supported - and one conspired in - Trump's Big Lie. I don't understand why you sat on the story for two years.

Leave families out of it.

"Biden's family too?"

We have to cover that, Trump's made a campaign issue of it.

(cont'd)
"I give up. Talk to me like I'm eight years old. How the hell do you explain what you're doing?"

We have to report equal numbers of bad things about each side.

"But what if there aren't equal numbers?"

That's our job, to make sure that there are.

END
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More from @davidfrum

Mar 23
The Trump administration appears to be actively contemplating an act of Putin-like aggression and annexation against a NATO ally
US treaties are part of the supreme law of the land.

I question whether a presidential directive to the US military to invade and annex the territory of a NATO ally would be a "lawful order."
PS I was thinking of VP Vance's threats against the Danish territory of Greenland, which sounded like a warning of imminent US invasion. But I should have been more specific, since the Trump administration has been threatening US aggression against Canada too.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 19
America's allies are deciding that the F-35 fighter cannot be trusted under a Putin-governed US administration. "[B]y severing maintenance support, shipments of spare parts, and cutting foreign F-35s off from U.S. computer networks, the aircraft would quickly be hobbled. …"
“Without these software updates, F-35s could fly, but would be much more likely to be shot down by enemy air defenses. Also without U.S. maintainers and spare parts, it would be difficult to keep the aircraft flying for long ...." breakingdefense.com/2025/03/no-the…
I've personally heard similar concerns from allied governments about the reliability of US-made naval vessels as well. French / Swedish / South Korean equipment may not be as advanced as American, but potentially more trustworthy than weapons from a Russian-aligned USA.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 14
Such a curious coincidence, that's exactly what Herbert Hoover said on October 25, 1929, the day after the Dow Jones dropped 9% in a single day. millercenter.org/the-presidency… Trump's stock market is down 10% from in less than 30 days. x.com/charliespierin…
Soon after Herbert Hoover deployed his "fundamentals of the economy are sound" line in October 1929, he signed a big tariff increases, started a global trade war, and converted a stock market shock into a worldwide depression.
Here's the full Herbert Hoover quote from October 25, 1929. As you read it, you'll see that Hoover - a highly intelligent and perceptive man - was uneasily aware that the fundamentals were actually coming apart. Hoover signed tariff increases anyway. Image
Read 7 tweets
Mar 12
A lively industry is growing of talkers/influencers trying to sell the idea that there is some rational patriotic motive to Trump's pro-Putin foreign policy and his costly trade wars. Don't believe them. My latest. theatlantic.com/international/…
Trump-splainers pretend that cozying to Russia as part of a rational strategy to counter China. But no rational US strategy to counter China includes launching a trade war against Australia. Yet that's what Trump just did. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
The Trump foreign policy is a compound of pervasive corruption, personal malice, and ideological Putinism. There's no grand strategy to it. theatlantic.com/international/…
Read 5 tweets
Jan 27
In the minds of many, Jews are a problem. They were supposed to be replaced by Christianity, or by Islam, or by nationalism, or by socialism - and yet they keep lingering on, refusing to accept the message that history is done with them and it's time for them to be gone.
In the aftermath of the Holocaust, it's awkward to say directly that Jews should not exist any more. But many people are very ready to say - and even more to hear - that the Holocaust shows that Jews need to improve, be less difficult and particular.
The Jewish memory of the Holocaust is: "You can live in a highly cultured and advanced nation - and yet still your neighbors may turn on you and try to kill you."

Much of the non-Jewish memory is: "Will you people never learn to trust the superior ethics of your many critics?"
Read 9 tweets
Jan 22
I appreciate why those appalled by the attack on Congress January 6, 2021, emphasize the violence against police that day. Trump supporters and fellow-travelers will concede that violence against police is wrong - even if they hedge with many "what abouts?" 1/x
The violence against police on January 6, 2021, was vicious and intentional. Yet the anti-police violence was incidental to the day's central crime. President Trump incited - and thousands of his supporters attempted - a violent plot to overturn a democratic election. 2/x
Trump supporters attacked police on January 6, 2021, because the police stood in the way of the mission Trump sent his supporters to execute: killing, kidnapping, or incapacitating Vice President Pence to force a halt to the electoral count so Trump could stay president. 3/x
Read 10 tweets

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