1. Oprah Winfrey set tongues wagging last weekend by letting it be known she's thinking about running for president. Liberals weren't the only ones buzzing.
2. Conservatives @BillKristol at The Weekly Standard, @JRubinBlogger at The Washington Post and @jpodhoretz at The New York Post also expressed intrigue on Twitter.
3. Kristol even went so far as to say of Winfrey, a self-made billionaire:
4. Juxtapose this against another episode over the weekend when President Trump held a press conference during which he denied rumors of his deteriorating mental health. Surrounded by GOP leadership, he took his denials an ominous a step further.
5. "The libel laws are very weak in this country," the president said with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence looking on.
6. "If they were strong, it would be very helpful. You wouldn't have things like that happen where you can say whatever comes to your head."
7. In February 26, 2016, Trump said: "If I win … I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. We're going to open up those libel laws. politico.com/blogs/on-media…
8. Trump: "So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they're totally protected."
9. I set these episodes (Winfrey's and Trump's) side-by-side to ask what's happening in the way we understand what it means to be liberal and conservative. The ground is shifting.
10. That the entire GOP leadership stood behind Trump as he attacked freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of dissent suggests that to be a conservative right now is to stand outside the country's historical political boundaries.
11. We pledge allegiance to the flag, not the president. If we did, we would something other than American.
12. Conversely, to be liberal is to stand inside the country's historical political boundaries. That is to say, with the rule of law, the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution.
13. Plus: Free press, civil society and democratic institutions. Majority rule and minority rights. Fact-based debate in a rules-based public square.
14. In a context in which Trump intimates a preference for *thought police*, you don't have to support abortion and #BlackLivesMatter to be liberal.
15. Indeed, in the Trump era, "liberal" seems to mean "American."
16. Trump isn't alone. Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice said it was taking yet another look into allegations of pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation. This was an apparent concession to Trump's pressure to investigate and possibly jail former political opponents.
17. Moreover, top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham, sent a criminal referral to the FBI concerning Christopher Steele, author of the so-called Steele Dossier alleging Trump's connections to Russia.
18. This referral is almost certainly theatrical, but suggests the length to which Republicans are willing to go to protect the president. Instead of debating the merits of the case, they attack those bringing the case. The facts of the matter don't matter.
19. What matters is power.
20. It doesn't have to be this way. The extreme right has always threatened democracy, but it has historically been contained by conservatives wise enough to see the risk.
21. This is @dziblatt's thesis in his book "Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy." cambridge.org/core/books/con…
22. In an interview with the Post, he said: "When the center-right gives in to the temptation to try to use the far-right because it thinks that's the only way it can win, then their Faustian bargain can end up like they all do: not as they expected.
23. "Mainstream conservatives might find out that they, and not the radicals, were the ones being manipulated. That they weren't appeasing the far-right, but empowering it." washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…
24. What happens when conservatives realize what's going on? Some, like Grassley, Graham and the rest of the GOP leadership may never find out.
25. Others, like Kristol, Rubin and the Times' David Brooks (who recently said he was "politically homeless") seem to be taking a second look at liberalism, as if to say: Liberalism isn't that bad, once you think about it.
26. Hell, Oprah might run for president.
(Thanks for reading. Please share. All the best.)
usnews.com/opinion/thomas…
(Thanks for reading. Please share. All the best.)
usnews.com/opinion/thomas…
