I don’t understand how the Iran War is still ongoing. Trump signed the MoU in the Palace of frickin’ Versailles! How is it not now MoU-ing peacefully in the fields?
If that ludicrous Comey case isn’t tossed, his lawyers should present a series of restaurant cooks telling of their usage of the “86” term. These Trump people are nuts.
Trump doesn't care about facts or even getting a conviction; he knows how disruptive lawsuits can be. What makes it even worse is that he is spending our money to do this. That's why the DOJ MUST be taken out of the Executive Branch and made an independent agency. Trump has ruined the reputation of law enforcement in America.
Wouldn’t that require a constitutional amendment given that SCOTUS has just effectively ruled that independent agencies exercising any type of executive function (apart from the Federal Reserve on the basis of some fairly dubious reasoning) are unconstitutional by overturning Humphrey’s Executor?
The Fed exemption makes it possible for Congress to rereceate the DOJ as an indpendent agency overseen by Congress. The law can be written clearly that the DOJ needs to be independent of any politcal or financial influence.
Congress should also pass a similar law demanding that the Supreme Court folow the same code of ethics as very other branch.
Thanks. Hopefully that would pass muster with the history and tradition test SCOTUS used for the Fed and not rule that law enforcement “fall[s] well within the heartland of executive power” as they ruled in relation to the FTC.
I’m not completely confident they’d apply their tests in good faith given that they seem to be motivated more by ideological goals than any desire for coherency.
The sad reality is that we desperately need a new constitution. The sadder reality is that we aren't going to get one barring shit getting so bad that things collapse.
We need to take the lessons learned and alter the existing constitution in their light.
1) Reduction of Executive power. Removal of a lot of "emergency" powers. Removal or limitation of pardon power.
2) Justice moved out of the Executive over to either the Courts or to independence. Potential shift of pardon power to the Court system. Different selection/appointment system for the Courts, especially SCotUS.
3) Reinvigoration of Congress (which is supposed to be the primary branch of government) by clawing back power and responsibility from the Executive. Need to make it hard or even impossible for them to delegate aspects of that power. Remove constituent servicing from Congress into an independent Ombudsman system.
4) An understanding that money is NOT speech and that corporations are fictitious persons, not actual persons or citizens. They should not possess the full rights of actual persons or citizens.
5) Major changes to elections. Get rid of first past the poll. Get rid of the lock of the two major parties on the system. Open primaries with ranked choice.
6) A fully independent IG system for ALL branches. Congress should not be sitting in judgment on Congresspeople. Same with the executive and the courts. Ethics LAWS (not rules) with actual teeth that are actually applied.
Rather than three branches, you get 5. Executive, Legislative, Courts, IG, Ombudsman... or you could make Justice independent and combine Ombuds and IG.
All branches subject to the law. All application/judgment for each branch occurring from outside that branch. All branches having some oversight on the others. Higher legal standards WRT speech and action WRT officeholders than vice "regular" citizens and the definition of officeholder extended (temporarily) to those running for office WRT that.
MOU was always a joke. It is just a piece of paper that said we 'll keep talking. Don's con game he thought would play out, but didn't end the way he expected.
"Petroleum reserves, missile stockpiles, global trust in the U.S.-led world order—these are finite resources that are all being spent down at alarming rates."
One more for the list: The US had many allies among the Iranian population. Trump's bluster about civilization obliteration surely has ended all good feelings that the US represents a force that could be of use in building a decent government in Iran.
Re: "So I think we have a very strong position right now."
No one can know what's going on in that addled brain of his, but I suspect Trump does a routine check of his "strength inventory." How much leverage can he get with the assets he controls? How much money can he squeeze out of people? What kinds of concessions can he get from elected officials, big donors, law firms, etc. I've long thought intelligent people who've had to deal with him over the years -- contractors, lawyers, business associates -- they all think he's gross and awful. They treat him like a child. "Ugh. He's so obnoxious. Just give him this and he'll go away. It'll cost us more than it's worth to fight him, even though we'll win."
So he looks at Iran and, not knowing a thing about the country or the people, he thinks, "I can nuke them. I can destroy them. I can kill them all. They know that, so I'll threaten them and they'll cave."
And then they don't cave.
"I gotta go harder at them. Get Pete in here. Pete, bomb the shit out of them."
And Pete does. And nothing changes.
And now Trump's alternatively bored and annoyed.
The press keeps talking about it and the big donors and CEO's are pissed because fuel prices are high and the polls keep sinking because gas is expensive. He's gotta do something, so he looks at that "strength inventory." No allies. Lindsey's dead, so there's nobody to send out to defend all this crap. Yeah, Little Marco, but sheesh. That guy? Vance? Pffft. Jared? Does he even speak?
Trump goes on Fox News. Nothing changes.
"Get Pete in here."
And nothing changes. The things he thinks are strengths aren't really strengths. The things that really WOULD be strengths, he ain't got. I mean, think of what he COULD do. He could tell Bibi to get lost. He could tell Zelensky the checkbook's open and make a big to-do about it. He could enlist some allies in some small thing. He could just stop talking for a few days and send someone who knows something to do the negotiating instead of a couple guys who only want to sign a deal to build a hotel in Tehran.
But he won't. He just doesn't have anything other than military force. He's always wanted THIS kind of strength, but he doesn't know how to use it.
Nah, there are millions of ordinary people who like him. This would include fans of reality teevee shows, and the people who feel constantly threatened by anyone who doesn't look like themselves. So they think this "strong, powerful" doddering old dude is a smart businessman and damn fun to watch at rallies and on right-wing "news" shows, all while he's protecting them from The Other. It IS shocking to see there are so many who support the demented old criminal. Ugh.
I live in PA, right in MAGAmuffinville and I haven't seen one yard sign, banner or bumper sticker with Garrity's name on it anywhere. Not even in the yards where the cult members have established year-round shrines to dear leader.
Come to think of it, I haven't even seen a TV ad featuring Garrity. I'd say she's toast, but she's not even up to that level, more like the scrapings of burnt toast!
Bill wrote: "Somehow, someday, I believe that the war will come to some sort of end. It’s all but guaranteed to be a bad end for America, but at least we can look forward to getting off the interminable psychic treadmill." "Someday this war's gonna end." Colonel William Kilgore, "Apocalypse Now."
Sometimes I wonder if Trump knows what year it is. He increasingly acts like it is still 2025 in his own personal Ground Hog Day repeating the same things he did and said last year. I guess if he starts talking about the *upcoming* USA 250 we will have a better idea.
The opening hit about the DoJ interviewing old mobsters reminded me that I have an vision that when Trump is finally put on trial somewhere for something, he will be wheeled in wearing an oxygen mask like the old mobsters in "Goodfellas" so that his defense attorney - Todd Blanche - can claim to the court that his client is too old to stand trial.
Oh, and why hasn't Trump pitched Ivermectin as a cure for explosive diarrhea or told Cletus and Cleta to pour bleach into their gas tanks to make their ethanol last longer?
It was Mr. Eggar who wrote those lines not Bill Kristol. Though I am sure anyone would take it as a form of flattery that their writing style approximated Bill’s.
Another day, another newsletter featuring multiple impeachable offenses by our president. A war started without Congressional approval. Denial of emergency funds to states because they didn't vote for him. A political prosecution built on lies and omissions before the Grand Jury after Trump had publicly posted a list of people, including this individual, that he expected to see prosecuted.
Everyday, we have a president who proves his unfitness and commits high crimes and misdemeanors, and it's just how we live now. And it's how we'll live for another two and a half years, because of Republicans and because of 77 million American voters.
You’re optimistic. I expect to continue living under fascism for at least a decade. It’s not like anyone is doing much to stop it. Eugenics is now ascendant. FDR beat these beliefs back once but he was willing to make common ground with progressives and we, apparently, prefer fascism these days.
That's a good point. "At least the next two and a half years" would have been more accurate.
And yeah, I know you've seen the next generation of GOP voters, just a bunch of white guys and incels, knuckle-dragging mouth breathers in mom's basement yammering on about the "master race."
Yeah, I am of the mind that the Democrats should not shy away from impeachment again. Trump is already the most impeached president. When they take the House, they ought to line up 10 more impeachments. Just really set an unassailable record for most impeached president.
It could set up a fine campaign platform for the next Republican candidate, though. "If I am lucky enough to win your votes and become president, I promise to do my best to exceed my esteemed predecessor, Donald Jesus Trump, in number of impeachments." It will certainly prove irresistible to the GOP primary voters.
What the Bulwark has pointed out in previous articles is correct: Donald Trump (along with any narcissist and/or autocrat) has correctly assumed that a lot of people, particularly those in high positions,would rather cower and acquiesce rather than feel any sense of discomfort or loss of status. To someone like Trump, that need for dominance is most important to them, and they're going to continue pursuing it since they don't see a downside to it.
Donald Trump did it in his professional life even though most of the time it ended up biting him in the ass, partly because he was aware that someone was always going to bail him out and because it often garnered him media attention. He does it now because most of the time his supporters seeing it as inspiring and thrilling, particularly when the opposition acquiesces.
He doesn't know what to do when he actually meets an adversary that will fight back. It's a similar thing with Putin and Ukraine.
I think, too, the guys yelling "pedophile protector" at him might be getting to him too.
Notice he didn't tell the crowd to "knock the crap out of him" like he did back in 2015. He's still got his cult, but those guys are 10 years older now and maybe not quite as juiced about him as they once were.
Nicolae Ceaușescu's (Romanian dictator who was forcibly removed and then executed) coup de grace was a public speech he gave in 1989 where he was openly booed and laughed at by the crowd. By then he was an old man who had lost a lot of his vitality. He was like Trump in the sense that he too had a cult of personality related to their machismo, and they were both very concerned about projections of public strength. If people are openly heckling Trump and not receiving any pushback, it's a sign of weakness.
Excellent point. And when Ceaușescu's regime fell, it was a surprise to everyone, including Nicolae and his wife. I don't see how such a sudden collapse could happen here -- we've got Fox News propping him up -- but if any elected Republican shows some spine, others might follow and, when that happens, things could change.
I mean, those people have to sit there watching Trump, slumped over the lectern, mumbling, slurring his words, incoherent, saying crazy things that they KNOW they're going to be asked to defend. When does the threat of a Presidential Tweet seem less dangerous than having to confront their voters about gas and grocery prices?
"President Barron Trump’s insistence that the Sixty Years’ War will be over any day now—because, after all, Iran knows we could just knock out their power plants. Forever wars only happen to stupid presidents."
Could it be that Trump's figured out that the way to keep his name in the news perpetually is via "Trump's Forever War"? I'm sure he's working on the licensing deal now.
The problem is that Trump literally has no idea of what to actually do. None of the things that have worked in the past are working WRT Iran. This is, as JVL pointed out, because of the difference between his previous targets and the Iranian leadership.
Our allies put up with his shit for a while until it became apparent that trying to placate him was essentially impossible. Each attempt was simply followed by the next ask from him, the next demand for submission. Which process is, in the end, worse than the thing he was doing to start things off--because he is going to push things as far as he can absolutely push things.
Now they have basically turned away and are in the process of constructing their new order--one w/o the US as anything other than what is essentially an opponent.
Trump has demonstrated that the word of the US--be it verbal agreement, memorandum, actual treaty ratified by the Senate--is worth... nothing. The thing is, this has been established as the new order of things. The people that follow him (so long as his movement exists, even after he is dead and gone) will do the exact same things.
Because all of this is built on this structure, this perception of victimization. Of how people have been ripping us off for decades (despite the fact that most times we were actually setting the terms and ripping THEM off).
Until that perception and sense of victimization goes away, this type of behavior will be demanded by the rank and file voters of MAGA. The whole movement is predicated on victimization.
And since the narcissist Trump is the ultimate victim (in his own mind), he fits in nicely with that crowd. He is "authentic." A shared commonality of identity that outweighs the fact that he is an absolute PoS otherwise and is nothing like his supporters EXCEPT in that sense of victimization.
You can elect Democrats in the next election cycle or two and they will try (probably ineptly) to rescue things--but the next time you elect a Republican or give them control again (because, face it, it WILL happen), you are going to get a repeat of this crap. Because nothing in the movement will have changed.
And they will have learned some lessons from this go-around to apply to the next.
I agree with every word here. I keep telling myself good things are possible, but in some regions of the country, they aren’t because they don’t want good things, they want domination. They lie and their words are wind. Winning the votes of corrupted people is fraught with danger. But that’s what we’re dependent on.
Todd Blanche: "Rest assured it's not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted." Oh no, T's Justice Department backs their shit up with experts like Sammy the Bull and Ghislaine Maxwell. Resting assured, for sure.
I don’t understand how the Iran War is still ongoing. Trump signed the MoU in the Palace of frickin’ Versailles! How is it not now MoU-ing peacefully in the fields?
If that ludicrous Comey case isn’t tossed, his lawyers should present a series of restaurant cooks telling of their usage of the “86” term. These Trump people are nuts.
Trump doesn't care about facts or even getting a conviction; he knows how disruptive lawsuits can be. What makes it even worse is that he is spending our money to do this. That's why the DOJ MUST be taken out of the Executive Branch and made an independent agency. Trump has ruined the reputation of law enforcement in America.
Wouldn’t that require a constitutional amendment given that SCOTUS has just effectively ruled that independent agencies exercising any type of executive function (apart from the Federal Reserve on the basis of some fairly dubious reasoning) are unconstitutional by overturning Humphrey’s Executor?
The Fed exemption makes it possible for Congress to rereceate the DOJ as an indpendent agency overseen by Congress. The law can be written clearly that the DOJ needs to be independent of any politcal or financial influence.
Congress should also pass a similar law demanding that the Supreme Court folow the same code of ethics as very other branch.
Unfortunately not this congress
Thanks. Hopefully that would pass muster with the history and tradition test SCOTUS used for the Fed and not rule that law enforcement “fall[s] well within the heartland of executive power” as they ruled in relation to the FTC.
I’m not completely confident they’d apply their tests in good faith given that they seem to be motivated more by ideological goals than any desire for coherency.
The sad reality is that we desperately need a new constitution. The sadder reality is that we aren't going to get one barring shit getting so bad that things collapse.
We need to take the lessons learned and alter the existing constitution in their light.
1) Reduction of Executive power. Removal of a lot of "emergency" powers. Removal or limitation of pardon power.
2) Justice moved out of the Executive over to either the Courts or to independence. Potential shift of pardon power to the Court system. Different selection/appointment system for the Courts, especially SCotUS.
3) Reinvigoration of Congress (which is supposed to be the primary branch of government) by clawing back power and responsibility from the Executive. Need to make it hard or even impossible for them to delegate aspects of that power. Remove constituent servicing from Congress into an independent Ombudsman system.
4) An understanding that money is NOT speech and that corporations are fictitious persons, not actual persons or citizens. They should not possess the full rights of actual persons or citizens.
5) Major changes to elections. Get rid of first past the poll. Get rid of the lock of the two major parties on the system. Open primaries with ranked choice.
6) A fully independent IG system for ALL branches. Congress should not be sitting in judgment on Congresspeople. Same with the executive and the courts. Ethics LAWS (not rules) with actual teeth that are actually applied.
Rather than three branches, you get 5. Executive, Legislative, Courts, IG, Ombudsman... or you could make Justice independent and combine Ombuds and IG.
All branches subject to the law. All application/judgment for each branch occurring from outside that branch. All branches having some oversight on the others. Higher legal standards WRT speech and action WRT officeholders than vice "regular" citizens and the definition of officeholder extended (temporarily) to those running for office WRT that.
DJT has always loved spending other people's money. He has said: "I'm the king of debt".
Great idea about the cooks!
MOU was always a joke. It is just a piece of paper that said we 'll keep talking. Don's con game he thought would play out, but didn't end the way he expected.
"Petroleum reserves, missile stockpiles, global trust in the U.S.-led world order—these are finite resources that are all being spent down at alarming rates."
One more for the list: The US had many allies among the Iranian population. Trump's bluster about civilization obliteration surely has ended all good feelings that the US represents a force that could be of use in building a decent government in Iran.
The US used to have many allies around the world as well.
Not now
Nope. Turns out we're the Great Satan after all.
And DJT is the Balrog.
"I challenge anyone to spend so many months submerged in this sort of suspended reality without feeling like they’re losing their mind."
Are you okay, Andrew?
And he's just back from vacation . . . .
"We are not the crazy ones".
Re: "So I think we have a very strong position right now."
No one can know what's going on in that addled brain of his, but I suspect Trump does a routine check of his "strength inventory." How much leverage can he get with the assets he controls? How much money can he squeeze out of people? What kinds of concessions can he get from elected officials, big donors, law firms, etc. I've long thought intelligent people who've had to deal with him over the years -- contractors, lawyers, business associates -- they all think he's gross and awful. They treat him like a child. "Ugh. He's so obnoxious. Just give him this and he'll go away. It'll cost us more than it's worth to fight him, even though we'll win."
So he looks at Iran and, not knowing a thing about the country or the people, he thinks, "I can nuke them. I can destroy them. I can kill them all. They know that, so I'll threaten them and they'll cave."
And then they don't cave.
"I gotta go harder at them. Get Pete in here. Pete, bomb the shit out of them."
And Pete does. And nothing changes.
And now Trump's alternatively bored and annoyed.
The press keeps talking about it and the big donors and CEO's are pissed because fuel prices are high and the polls keep sinking because gas is expensive. He's gotta do something, so he looks at that "strength inventory." No allies. Lindsey's dead, so there's nobody to send out to defend all this crap. Yeah, Little Marco, but sheesh. That guy? Vance? Pffft. Jared? Does he even speak?
Trump goes on Fox News. Nothing changes.
"Get Pete in here."
And nothing changes. The things he thinks are strengths aren't really strengths. The things that really WOULD be strengths, he ain't got. I mean, think of what he COULD do. He could tell Bibi to get lost. He could tell Zelensky the checkbook's open and make a big to-do about it. He could enlist some allies in some small thing. He could just stop talking for a few days and send someone who knows something to do the negotiating instead of a couple guys who only want to sign a deal to build a hotel in Tehran.
But he won't. He just doesn't have anything other than military force. He's always wanted THIS kind of strength, but he doesn't know how to use it.
Reminded me of Star Trek the original, S2E1, Amok Time.
Spock: "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."
I find it shocking that “only 34%” of Americans still support Trump.
When that number gets down to 25%, my faith will begin to show life.
Only billionaires, owners of military industrial companies and zionists could like this demented old criminal.
Nah, there are millions of ordinary people who like him. This would include fans of reality teevee shows, and the people who feel constantly threatened by anyone who doesn't look like themselves. So they think this "strong, powerful" doddering old dude is a smart businessman and damn fun to watch at rallies and on right-wing "news" shows, all while he's protecting them from The Other. It IS shocking to see there are so many who support the demented old criminal. Ugh.
I hope The Bulwark will cover the ridiculous hearing being conducted right now that is trying to persecute Dr. Fauci.
That Todd Blanche could start any sentence with “Rest assured” without breaking out in laughter is incredible.
Hearing Todd Blanche utter that phrase raises my anxiety level a few notches.
He will be confirmed. Tilis and Cornyn want to get to yes. Yesterday they confirmed Clayton. ( even as he was humiliated by Ossoff)
I live in PA, right in MAGAmuffinville and I haven't seen one yard sign, banner or bumper sticker with Garrity's name on it anywhere. Not even in the yards where the cult members have established year-round shrines to dear leader.
Come to think of it, I haven't even seen a TV ad featuring Garrity. I'd say she's toast, but she's not even up to that level, more like the scrapings of burnt toast!
Bill wrote: "Somehow, someday, I believe that the war will come to some sort of end. It’s all but guaranteed to be a bad end for America, but at least we can look forward to getting off the interminable psychic treadmill." "Someday this war's gonna end." Colonel William Kilgore, "Apocalypse Now."
Sometimes I wonder if Trump knows what year it is. He increasingly acts like it is still 2025 in his own personal Ground Hog Day repeating the same things he did and said last year. I guess if he starts talking about the *upcoming* USA 250 we will have a better idea.
The opening hit about the DoJ interviewing old mobsters reminded me that I have an vision that when Trump is finally put on trial somewhere for something, he will be wheeled in wearing an oxygen mask like the old mobsters in "Goodfellas" so that his defense attorney - Todd Blanche - can claim to the court that his client is too old to stand trial.
Oh, and why hasn't Trump pitched Ivermectin as a cure for explosive diarrhea or told Cletus and Cleta to pour bleach into their gas tanks to make their ethanol last longer?
It was Mr. Eggar who wrote those lines not Bill Kristol. Though I am sure anyone would take it as a form of flattery that their writing style approximated Bill’s.
Thank you for pointing that out. My apologies for not giving Andrew the appropriate credit.
SSSHHH! You might be giving him ideas.
When it comes to Iran, for Trump it's always 1979.
Another day, another newsletter featuring multiple impeachable offenses by our president. A war started without Congressional approval. Denial of emergency funds to states because they didn't vote for him. A political prosecution built on lies and omissions before the Grand Jury after Trump had publicly posted a list of people, including this individual, that he expected to see prosecuted.
Everyday, we have a president who proves his unfitness and commits high crimes and misdemeanors, and it's just how we live now. And it's how we'll live for another two and a half years, because of Republicans and because of 77 million American voters.
You’re optimistic. I expect to continue living under fascism for at least a decade. It’s not like anyone is doing much to stop it. Eugenics is now ascendant. FDR beat these beliefs back once but he was willing to make common ground with progressives and we, apparently, prefer fascism these days.
That's a good point. "At least the next two and a half years" would have been more accurate.
And yeah, I know you've seen the next generation of GOP voters, just a bunch of white guys and incels, knuckle-dragging mouth breathers in mom's basement yammering on about the "master race."
Yeah, I am of the mind that the Democrats should not shy away from impeachment again. Trump is already the most impeached president. When they take the House, they ought to line up 10 more impeachments. Just really set an unassailable record for most impeached president.
It could set up a fine campaign platform for the next Republican candidate, though. "If I am lucky enough to win your votes and become president, I promise to do my best to exceed my esteemed predecessor, Donald Jesus Trump, in number of impeachments." It will certainly prove irresistible to the GOP primary voters.
What the Bulwark has pointed out in previous articles is correct: Donald Trump (along with any narcissist and/or autocrat) has correctly assumed that a lot of people, particularly those in high positions,would rather cower and acquiesce rather than feel any sense of discomfort or loss of status. To someone like Trump, that need for dominance is most important to them, and they're going to continue pursuing it since they don't see a downside to it.
Donald Trump did it in his professional life even though most of the time it ended up biting him in the ass, partly because he was aware that someone was always going to bail him out and because it often garnered him media attention. He does it now because most of the time his supporters seeing it as inspiring and thrilling, particularly when the opposition acquiesces.
He doesn't know what to do when he actually meets an adversary that will fight back. It's a similar thing with Putin and Ukraine.
You're referencing JVL's excellent Triad from Monday. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-was-right-about-the-corporate
Correct! Thank you for the link. :)
He isn't unusual, either. Fascist strongmen typically have affluent backers and enablers.
I think, too, the guys yelling "pedophile protector" at him might be getting to him too.
Notice he didn't tell the crowd to "knock the crap out of him" like he did back in 2015. He's still got his cult, but those guys are 10 years older now and maybe not quite as juiced about him as they once were.
Nicolae Ceaușescu's (Romanian dictator who was forcibly removed and then executed) coup de grace was a public speech he gave in 1989 where he was openly booed and laughed at by the crowd. By then he was an old man who had lost a lot of his vitality. He was like Trump in the sense that he too had a cult of personality related to their machismo, and they were both very concerned about projections of public strength. If people are openly heckling Trump and not receiving any pushback, it's a sign of weakness.
Excellent point. And when Ceaușescu's regime fell, it was a surprise to everyone, including Nicolae and his wife. I don't see how such a sudden collapse could happen here -- we've got Fox News propping him up -- but if any elected Republican shows some spine, others might follow and, when that happens, things could change.
I mean, those people have to sit there watching Trump, slumped over the lectern, mumbling, slurring his words, incoherent, saying crazy things that they KNOW they're going to be asked to defend. When does the threat of a Presidential Tweet seem less dangerous than having to confront their voters about gas and grocery prices?
"President Barron Trump’s insistence that the Sixty Years’ War will be over any day now—because, after all, Iran knows we could just knock out their power plants. Forever wars only happen to stupid presidents."
Could it be that Trump's figured out that the way to keep his name in the news perpetually is via "Trump's Forever War"? I'm sure he's working on the licensing deal now.
The problem is that Trump literally has no idea of what to actually do. None of the things that have worked in the past are working WRT Iran. This is, as JVL pointed out, because of the difference between his previous targets and the Iranian leadership.
Our allies put up with his shit for a while until it became apparent that trying to placate him was essentially impossible. Each attempt was simply followed by the next ask from him, the next demand for submission. Which process is, in the end, worse than the thing he was doing to start things off--because he is going to push things as far as he can absolutely push things.
Now they have basically turned away and are in the process of constructing their new order--one w/o the US as anything other than what is essentially an opponent.
Trump has demonstrated that the word of the US--be it verbal agreement, memorandum, actual treaty ratified by the Senate--is worth... nothing. The thing is, this has been established as the new order of things. The people that follow him (so long as his movement exists, even after he is dead and gone) will do the exact same things.
Because all of this is built on this structure, this perception of victimization. Of how people have been ripping us off for decades (despite the fact that most times we were actually setting the terms and ripping THEM off).
Until that perception and sense of victimization goes away, this type of behavior will be demanded by the rank and file voters of MAGA. The whole movement is predicated on victimization.
And since the narcissist Trump is the ultimate victim (in his own mind), he fits in nicely with that crowd. He is "authentic." A shared commonality of identity that outweighs the fact that he is an absolute PoS otherwise and is nothing like his supporters EXCEPT in that sense of victimization.
You can elect Democrats in the next election cycle or two and they will try (probably ineptly) to rescue things--but the next time you elect a Republican or give them control again (because, face it, it WILL happen), you are going to get a repeat of this crap. Because nothing in the movement will have changed.
And they will have learned some lessons from this go-around to apply to the next.
I agree with every word here. I keep telling myself good things are possible, but in some regions of the country, they aren’t because they don’t want good things, they want domination. They lie and their words are wind. Winning the votes of corrupted people is fraught with danger. But that’s what we’re dependent on.
Todd Blanche: "Rest assured it's not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted." Oh no, T's Justice Department backs their shit up with experts like Sammy the Bull and Ghislaine Maxwell. Resting assured, for sure.
I want to see Norm Eisen question Sammy the Bull on the stand. I'd pay to see that.
Re: Interviewing Sammy "The Bull" Gravano: You cannot make this 💩 up! No one would believe you!
Insanity? Stupidity? The president contains multitudes.