I was glad to be invited onto @Morning_Joe this morning to talk about Syria. The show is one of the most important platforms in US politics. With Trump threatening to jail his critics, small d-democrats must stand together. I always speak freely without fear anywhere I appear. I’ll recapitulate here what I said this morning. I reminded viewers of President-elect Trump’s statement that Syria is none of US business - and his VP-elect’s bad habit of repeating Russian propaganda that the Assad regime protected minorities.

Don't be misdirected. The nomination of Kash Patel slathers frosting and sprinkles on the outrage ... but the outrage is the announced firing of Director Wray. Latest in @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/politics/archi… Even if Patel nomination, like Matt Gaetz's for AG, eventually collapses and he is replaced by a less ridiculous nominee - the harm is that Trump is treating the FBI as an extension of presidential power. Read here theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

Canadian governments - federal, provincial, municipal - better have plans ready for when displaced asylum-seekers (thousands? tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?) attempt to cross the border from the United States into Canada. Under present law and policy, border-crossers from the US can be refused entry into Canada. But that policy will become hard to enforce if the number of border-crosses gets very big.canada.ca/en/immigration…

One of my best friends in elementary school was a boy named Brian. He vanished from class during our 6th grade year: sick. No, we could not visit, the teacher said. We were encouraged to draw and write cards instead. 1/x The card-writing became a regular ritual for our class and for Brian's friends. Then came the day when the teacher solemnly informed the class that Brian had died. He had succumbed to childhood leukemia, a hopeless killer in the early 1970s. 2/x

Everyone who endorses the false claim that the US economy of 2024 is an inflation-wracked hellscape of misery for working people ...

is doing advance comms work for the Trump administration when in 90 days time they start taking credit for the best economy since the 1960s. From July

https://x.com/davidfrum/status/1816627065531293886

Pro-Trump political violence in 2021 was not spontaneous. It was incited by a serving president. The president also refused to protect the intended targets of violence. The violence of 2021 did not erupt bottom-up. It was organized top-down. 1/x Those conditions do not prevail this time. Trump is out of office, any incitement will be - and will obviously appear as - blatantly an act of rebellion. The serving president will enforce the law with necessary force. 2/x

Closing argument in @TheAtlantic The rest is up to you.

theatlantic.com/politics/archi… A test of loyalty. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

I posted the below last night in an emotional mood. It was answered by many generous comments in remembrance of my lost Miranda, and I thank every commenter. Of course there were also some other comments. A thread about those....

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1850359082001281254

I'll quote one of those "others," but it stands for many: "You’re voting for the abortion of your grandchild? How exciting!"

That phrase "your grandchild" came up again and again - as if my daughter's child, had she lived to have one, would belong to *me* more than to her.

Do you think somebody possibly has video of Trump mocking the handicapped, demeaning US prisoners of war, boasting about sexually assaulting women, praising Vladimir Putin, or urging a violent attack on the US Capitol? That would be huge. Confessing that he spied on underage girls undressing? Promising to release his tax returns, but never doing it?
Reminiscing fondly about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein?
Publicly fantasizing about "dating" his own daughter?
Imagine if there were video of any of that.

Below is a fascinating example of Trump supporters' fantasy world. They tell a story of Trump charity to Nelson Mandela that somehow has gone untold until now.

What actually happened was that Trump creditors seized his "Trump Shuttle" airline during Trump's first bankruptcy in summer 1990. The creditors leased Trump-branded planes to anyone who would pay a commercial rate, including Nelson Mandela's eight-city US tour that year. No Trump did not have a trusted secret black woman senior executive at his side in his early years. pbs.org/newshour/polit…

You've probably seen this image, or some version of it. (thread) The image is created by and for western sympathizers with Palestinian violence. The slogan after all is written in English. (2/x)

Co-chair of Reagan campaign in Florida 1980
Chair of the Florida GOP during Bush-Gore race 2000
Chair of the American Conservative Union during Romney-Obama race 2012.
Kamala Harris voter 2024.

https://twitter.com/ananavarro/status/1842967335214485727

They're not all public, but you could fill a substantial hall with "Former Republican cabinet secretaries, sub-cabinet officials, ambassadors, governors, senators, and wives and children of past Republican presidential nominees for Harris-Walz."

Right-wing influencers like @mayemusk proclaim that illegal voting is safe and easy. Gullible Republicans believe them, commit crimes, and get caught and sentenced to prison. washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/04…
Right-wing influencers like @mayemusk proclaim that illegal voting is safe and easy. Gullible Republicans believe them, commit crimes, and get caught and punished (example 2). nbcnews.com/politics/polit…

Trump tonight: "I haven't been treated right .... If I don't win this election ... the Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss." I don't think of Trump as an antisemite, exactly. He stereotypes Jews, but he is not especially hostile to Jews. But he is tonight offering a "stab in the back" legend that will resonate powerfully with the next generation of MAGA that is more self-consciously antisemitic.

The difference:

The upsetting things said by Trump and Vance are not true.

The upsetting things said about Trump and Vance are true.

Trump really did mount a violent coup against the Constitution. He and his relatives really did take bribes in office, including from foreign governments. He really was helped into power by Russian espionage agencies. He really did steal secret documents from the US government after his election defeat. And Vance really did, and by his own admission, intentionally "create stories" for political advantage that put residents of his state at risk of physical harm. When a group of right-wing extremists were arrested for plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer during the COVID pandemic, then-President Trump shrugged it off. "Maybe it was a problem, maybe it wasn't."

cbsnews.com/news/gretchen-…

I wrote this after the attempt on Trump's life in July. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Trump and his running mate have spent the past week successfully inciting violence in Springfield, Ohio. Today they want to present themselves as near-victims of violence - in this case, of violence completely unrelated to themselves and at a very safe distance from themselves.

Everybody remembers Ronald Reagan's famous question from the 1980 presidential debate, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" But have you recently watched the whole 60 seconds? A link follows ... Notice the simplicity and dignity of the language. Notice the temperateness of the mood. Notice that he "suggests" - not demands - the viewer's vote. Notice the respect for the voter's ultimate right of decision.

There's no mystery about this election. Trump's party talked itself into the idea that their guy led some mighty popular movement. In fact a voting majority of Americans have rejected Trump and Trumpism every chance they got since 2015. Now they're readying to do it again. Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million in 2016. He lost the popular vote by 7 million in 2020. He was under 50% approval in every reputable poll every single damn day of his presidency.

A Trump loss would be good news for the MAGA grifters. Their target market will feel even more isolated and aggrieved- therefore, even readier to donate to scam PACs, subscribe to antisemitic podcasts, etc. etc. 1/x A Trump loss will fall hardest on those who wanted real-world results: big tax cuts for the very rich; the surrender of Ukraine to Putin; etc. Such persons had *goals*; MAGA offered only performance - a performance that once fluked into power, but was too weird to hold it. 2/x

I wrote this yesterday about protectionists of Left and Right. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Trade policy is often presented as a contest between producers and consumers. "Pay more for toasters; save jobs."

That's a false image. The people who buy tariff-protected aluminum are not "consumers." They are other producers. Raise their costs, reduce their competitiveness.

Elon Musk posted this after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023. 1/x Musk allies, sidekicks, and wannabes spread the message of panic after the SVB failure, some genuinely fearful - others eagerly excited - that the US economy trembled on verge of collapse. 2/x