Trump's getting worse. Not enough people care.
By: Nick Catoggio (The Dispatch)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump's getting worse. Not enough people care.
To whom do you look for moral leadership in the GOP in 2023?
Don't say Liz Cheney. That's a fine answer, but I'm thinking of current officeholders. Cheney no longer holds any office, precisely because of her moral leadership.
Mitt Romney? Also a good answer, but Romney's on his way into retirement. And none of us would have bet our lives on him prevailing in his next Senate primary had he chosen to run again.
If you're looking for something like moral leadership among Republican officeholders whose careers are trending upward rather than toward oblivion, all roads lead to Brian Kemp.
The governor of Georgia did his duty by certifying Joe Biden's victory in his home state in 2020. When threatened with a primary challenge, he refused to bow out meekly, ran hard, and walloped Trump's proxy candidate en route to reelection. Last month, as Republicans chattered about removing the Fulton County prosecutor who's after Trump, Kemp politely instructed them to drop it. "The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia, as long as I'm governor, we're going to follow the law and the Constitution regardless of who it helps and harms politically," he said at a press conference.
That's moral leadership. It's not the sort of thing you say if you're looking to get ahead in the Republican Party. It's the sort of thing you say because, in good conscience, you can't say anything else.
In an era where practically every other member of the Republican professional class has been blinded by propaganda or ambition, Kemp sees with clear eyes. Usually.
Not always.
Last week a reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked the governor why he intends to support Donald Trump in next year's general election. "Despite all of his other trials and tribulations, he would still be a lot better than Biden," Kemp answered. "And the people serving in the administration would be a lot better than Joe Biden. And it has nothing to do with being a coward. It has everything to do with winning and reversing the ridiculous, obscene positions of Joe Biden and this administration that literally, in a lot of ways, are destroying our country."
That quote was published on Saturday. The night before, the man whom Kemp identified as being "a lot better than Biden" posted this on Truth Social:
Mark Milley, who led perhaps the most embarrassing moment in American history with his grossly incompetent implementation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, costing many lives, leaving behind hundreds of American citizens, and handing over BILLIONS of dollars of the finest military equipment ever made, will be leaving the military next week. This will be a time for all citizens of the USA to celebrate! This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act. To be continued!!!
It's unclear whether Kemp saw that post before affirming that he prefers his longtime tormentor to Biden in next year's election. But casually musing about executing the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for treason is so quintessentially Trump circa 2023 that there's no reason to think the governor's opinion would have changed upon finding out.
Perhaps Kemp has at last let ambition lead him off the moral path. He knows there's no future in this party for anyone who's ambivalent between Trump and Biden.
But maybe he's just grown numb to Trump's insanity. If so, he's not alone.
You, the reader, may be guilty of it too. Some percentage of you surely rolled your eyes when you realized what this newsletter would be about. Another Trump column?
Strive to resist numbness. Because despite all the blather about Biden and Trump being the two most known "known quantities" in politics, we actually don't know how dangerous and destabilizing Trump might prove to be as his mind bends under the strain of an election and four indictments. Or whether it'll break entirely once he's back in power and surrounded by the most obsequious fascist toadies he can find.
I think he's getting worse. Consider the manic burst of crazy-even-for-him posting he engaged in over the span of a little more than 48 hours this weekend.
It began on Friday with his fantasy about executing Mark Milley for having given China a "heads up" on the thinking of the president. That was a reference to this recent profile of the general in The Atlantic describing Milley's prescient fears before the 2020 election that the commander-in-chief might do something nutty if faced with defeat. In particular, he worried that Trump might launch a war on Iran or China as an "October surprise" to rally voters to him; eventually Milley received intelligence that the Chinese government was worried about the same thing.
So, with the secretary of defense's approval and at least 10 U.S. officials listening in, he called his counterpart in Beijing at the end of October 2020 to ease tensions in case China was preparing to order a preemptive strike. "The American government is stable," Milley reportedly assured him, words no military official should ever need utter but which were understandable at the time.
It was a lie, of course. The American government wasn't stable because the head of the executive branch wasn't stable. But Milley may have averted a war by telling that lie, sparing the country from the consequences of having an unstable man in charge of the U.S. military.
That's the "treason" Trump thinks he should hang for. Within two days, one of his miscreant acolytes in Congress, Paul Gosar, echoed the point by observing that "in a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung."
That was Friday. On Sunday, Trump hit his stride.
First came a demand that all Senate Democrats resign over Bob Menendez's scandal for some reason.
Senate Democrats should all resign based on Senator Bob Menendez! They all knew what was going on, and the way he lived. Why doesn't the FBI raid Senate Democrat's homes like they illegally raided Mar-a-Lago, where nothing was done wrong based on the Presidential Records Act. Menendez is a "piker" compared to some of those Election Stealing THUGS. Can you imagine how much Crooked Joe Biden has stolen, and what's in some of his many homes? The FBI and "Justice" notified him that they would be going in to look,"in a few weeks." In other words, get rid of the cash, gold, & documents, ASAP, before we get there. They didn't give me any warning, they just showed up. Hunter lived with Crooked Joe in Delaware. It would be a "Treasure Hunt!" Crooked's coffers must be loaded up with cash. I wonder how much they got paid for Rigging the Election? Menendez is one of many, a small timer at that. EVERY DEMOCRAT SHOULD RESIGN FROM THE SENATE! Our Border's are Broken, our Election's are Rigged. MAGA!
Then came a threat to use government power against the media and make them pay "a big price" once he's back in charge.
They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its "Country Threatening Treason." Their endless coverage of the now fully debunked SCAM known as Russia, Russia, Russia, and much else, is one big Campaign Contribution to the Radical Left Democrat Party. I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events. Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE? They are a true threat to Democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!
He wound down the day by endorsing a government shutdown for patently crooked reasons, to thwart the federal prosecutions against him and to hurt Joe Biden politically.
The Republicans lost big on Debt Ceiling, got NOTHING, and now are worried that they will be BLAMED for the Budget Shutdown. Wrong!!! Whoever is President will be blamed, in this case, Crooked (as Hell!) Joe Biden! Our Country is being systematically destroyed by the Radical Left Marxists, Fascists and Thugs - THE DEMOCRATS. UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN! Close the Border, stop the Weaponization of "Justice," and End Election Interference - WE MUST HAVE HONEST ELECTIONS. It's time Republicans learned how to fight! Are you listening Mitch McConnell, the weakest, dumbest, and most conflicted "Leader" in U.S. Senate history? HE'S ALREADY GIVEN THE DEMOCRATS EVERYTHING, THEY CAN'T BELIEVE HOW LUCKY THEY GOT. WE NEED NEW, & REAL, REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, NOT A CLONE OF MITCH, & WE NEED IT NOW!!!
As others have noted, any one of these sentiments would have been shocking news if expressed by Joe Biden or some other mainstream presidential frontrunner. Because it's Trump and we're all so very, very tired, even the post about executing Milley barely drew attention in major news outlets, there and gone like a belch in the wind.
That happens more than you might think. Dispatch readers are a knowledgeable group who stay abreast of current events, but I bet even many of our own members missed this story published in July by the New York Times. John Kelly, Trump's former White House chief of staff, swore under oath that Trump had suggested using the IRS to harass Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the two FBI employees famously involved in the Russiagate probe. That recollection was based on contemporaneous notes taken by Kelly, a former four-star Marine general, and is true to Trump's instinct to use public power to benefit himself and his allies and to punish his enemies. There's no reason to doubt it.
It's the sort of abuse of power that the Church Committee exposed after Watergate. That Americans would knowingly return a person inclined to such abuses to the White House is such grotesque civic madness that one grasps for ways to excuse it: Maybe the public just missed the story! Most people did, I'm sure. But to believe that their ignorance is responsible for their callousness is, I fear, to reverse cause and effect.
The public didn't take that news in stride because Trump's critics neglected to make a big deal about it. It's more that Trump's critics neglected to make a big deal about it because, with few exceptions, the public takes revelations of Trump's corruption in stride.
Why bother promoting the IRS story? After four criminal indictments, Trump is running away with the Republican primary and no worse than dead even with Biden in head-to-head polling. Why would news that he sought to sic the Internal Revenue Service on liberals finally cause any sleeping consciences to stir?
Would Brian Kemp, having concluded that a failed coup is no reason not to prefer Trump to Biden, suddenly declare himself neutral in the election upon being informed of it?
We're all numb to his depravity to some degree. Yes, even at The Dispatch.
On Sunday I posted Trump's comment about wanting the media to be "thoroughly scrutinized" once he's president again in the company Slack channel. A colleague replied, "What's more deranged: that he says stuff like this, that nobody cares anymore, or that we all know he won't actually do anything like this in office?"
That last part is an underrated factor in why so many have gone numb, I think. There's been endless reporting on Trump's presidency about him having considered some hair-raising executive action or other, then relenting when his advisers browbeat him into backing off.
He wanted out of NATO. He wanted to fire Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Russiagate probe. He wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act during protests following George Floyd's murder. He wanted to withdraw from Afghanistan with two months' notice to the military. He wanted illegal immigrants shot in the legs to deter them from crossing the border. He wanted Jeffrey Clark named acting attorney general to midwife his coup attempt. I could go on and on. In the end, none of it happened.
Using the IRS to harass Strzok and Page? That didn't happen either. His aides and lawyers occasionally failed to save Trump from himself, but they succeeded more often than not until January 6, 2021. The question is why. Why did he listen to them?
It's an important question. No matter what answer you arrive at, you should worry a lot about a second term.
It could be a matter of character. Trump is lazy, easily distracted, not very ideological, and certainly not, shall we say, "detail-oriented." That makes him easily influenced by knowledgeable people in his circle, especially if they frame their objections to his preferred cause of action in terms of how it might cause legal or political trouble for him. (Good luck dissuading him from doing something he believes is in his interest by appealing to his morals.) As long as he has responsible people around him—Pat Cipollones, John Kellys, James Mattises, etc.—then we should be fine in a second term. The old pattern will repeat.
You've already spotted the problem with this theory, though. There won't be responsible people around him in the next administration. For one thing, he no longer needs the Kellys and Cipollones to help guide him while learning the ropes of the presidency. But beyond that, the whole point of a campaign organized around themes of "retribution" is that he intends to behave ruthlessly toward his antagonists and will want similarly ruthless people in key roles to carry out that program. If anything, he probably blames his most responsible aides for having cost him power when they restrained him to some degree in trying to overturn the last election.
The second term will be pure kakistocracy, by design. (As Politico reports, "The Project 2025 team is scouring records and social media accounts to rule out heretics—effectively administering loyalty tests—and launching a so-called Presidential Administration Academy that tutors future MAGA bureaucrats with video classes in 'Conservative Governance 101.'") So who's going to try to talk him out of it if and when he uses executive power against the "enemies of the people," American media?
Another possibility for why Trump didn't follow through on his worst impulses during his first term boils down to incentives. Simply put, he wanted to be reelected. Whenever he got the itch to, say, have the military open fire on illegal immigrants or American rioters, he had to consider how suburban swing voters would react. Electoral incentives may have saved the NATO alliance, in fact. According to two Washington Post reporters, Trump was known to discuss withdrawing from NATO and South Korea during meetings with top national security aides but was warned that exiting those relationships before the election would be "politically dangerous."
You've spotted the problem with this theory too, I'm sure. A term-limited president no longer need worry about what's politically dangerous.
"We'll do it in the second term," Trump reportedly told those aides when they worried about the electoral consequences of withdrawing from NATO, and I suspect he meant it. Shredding alliances, implementing Schedule F, staffing the Pentagon with cronies, persecuting "enemies of the people" various and sundry—I'm not sure why anything would be off the table once he no longer needs to consider reelection. Courts will eventually intervene, but that's just a different permutation of the same problem. What incentive would he have to obey court rulings in a second term?
For that matter, what incentive would he have to leave office peacefully in 2028? If he was willing to contrive conspiratorial nonsense once to try to cling to power, there's no reason he wouldn't try again. Some of his fans on the New Right have already taken a shine to the concept of "emergency powers."
If electoral incentives can't deter him and his top personnel won't deter him, the only other force that might conceivably keep him in check is his own supporters. If he did something outlandishly authoritarian that offended the Republican base, causing his job approval to collapse, that might make him think twice. A strongman can't work his will on classical liberalism without some political muscle behind him.
You've, uh, sensed the problem here as well. He's campaigning explicitly on retribution against the Bad People and he's up almost 50 points in the Republican primary because of it. The American right is signing up for this willingly. They're not going to stop him or hold him accountable. If anything, they're going to egg him on. And possibly do more than that.
And even Brian Kemp, the "good Republican" who's demonstrated genuine moral leadership, seems to find that preferable to four more years of Bidenomics.
So, no, with due respect to my unnamed Dispatch colleague, I don't know that Trump won't determinedly try to shatter major constitutional precedents once back in office. But I suspect a lot of voters who haven't thought this through, or who feel obliged to prioritize differently, are willing to take a calculated risk that he won't in order to rationalize voting for him for kitchen-table reasons.
No wonder, then, that so many of us have grown uncomfortably numb about his illiberal nonsense. What else can we do? The right-wing electorate that craves his brand of politics will abide after Trump passes from the scene, and the swing voters who decide elections seem open to accepting a paradigm shift toward post-liberalism in exchange for a slightly better economy. There's nothing to be done. What choice do we have but to get used to it?
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talkingpointsmemo.com /morning-memo/a-worsening-trump-increases-the-risk-of-political-violence
A Worsening Trump Increases The Risk Of Political Violence
David Kurtz 7-9 minutes 9/26/2023
‘Strive To Resist Numbness’
In the same way that the United States is not immune from the ravages of political violence, it has no special ability to put the toothpaste of political violence back in the tube once it’s unleashed.
Make no mistake: It has been unleashed.
“Trump’s real, enduring legacy is his successful introduction of violence, the threat of violence, and targeted harassment into the dynamics of our political system, as if they were all just a natural extension of democratic disagreement,” Juliette Kayyem rightly observed in The Atlantic this summer.
The past few days have reinforced how unhinged Trump has continued to become and how political violence is the core of his message and for many his central appeal. Since Friday, Trump has:
The Trump of today is not the same as the Trump of 2019 or even the Trump of Jan. 6. He is cornered, under indictment, facing the deprivation of his liberty if convicted – and winning the presidency is his only way out. He will stop at nothing, do anything, and tear down everything to protect himself.
I don’t usually find myself pointing you to Nick Catoggio, but he had a thoughtful post on these developments:
This wouldn’t even be an issue if Biden’s actions and policies weren’t such a raging dumpster fire.
Biden is helping Trump secure more support than anything else.
By far ….
100%
"Despite all of his other trials and tribulations, he would still be a lot better than Biden," Kemp answered. "And the people serving in the administration would be a lot better than Joe Biden. And it has nothing to do with being a coward. It has everything to do with winning and reversing the ridiculous, obscene positions of Joe Biden and this administration that literally, in a lot of ways, are destroying our country."
Attempting to deflect from Biden's crimes and incompetence is not working. The Dems must be defeated at all costs.
What crimes? Be specific and include the evidence.
"What crimes? Be specific and include the evidence."
Check with the committee investigating him.
But YOU made the CLAIM !!!
They have already announced that they have no evidence of him committing crimes. Sounded like you knew something they didn't.
In our partisan reality today, we need to move things along in a process that either delivers evidence or admits failure to do so.
Until that is done, hyper-imaginations of partisans and conspiracy theorists will run rampant.
Good to see a hint of a future closure.
There are people, including some here on NT, who want to put this insane person back in office.
I've seen some stupid shit from the Orange Bad Man but this goes above and beyond. He really wants this country to be a one party dictatorship!
I dare anyone to challenge me
The right has become so blindly partisan that why would they bother challenging you? It’s not just what Trump wants, it’s what they all want.
That’s rich coming from folks who elected the dimbulb in office right now.
I certainly do not want Trump back in office and I can honestly say the same for Joe Biden. I detest Trump but I absolutely loathe Joe Biden.
To use a corrected quite from you in another seed:
To use a corrected quite from you in another seed:
If the Democratic Party truly believes Trump is such an enormous threat to our nation, they'll nominate somebody with a better chance of beating him than a senile octagenarian.
I can't stand Trump, and will not vote for him. But if you want me to vote against him, you need to give me an option worth my vote.
To the low functioning, any vote not for Biden is a vote for trump, And then they whine for 4 years about the abysmal choices we are given. We won't get better choices until we force them to give us better choices, You want bi-partisanship? elect a 3rd party candidate, the 2 major parties will join forces to see that their power is never threatened again.
Normally I would say good and I agree, but Trump needs to be kept out of office. I have no choice but to vote for whoever can keep him out.
Biden needs to be removed from office. I will vote for anyone that has the ability to beat him. If that means voting for Trump, so be it.
Fair enough. I'll see you at the polls.
That's ok. We will just cancel our each other's vote so you can stay home and relax.
On the face of it Donald Trump is either insane or an anti-government terrorist in waiting.
Yet not one of the conservatives who replied here can bring themselves to throw Trump out with the trash unless Biden goes too.
It really is un American.
IMO, Jack Tx and Ed NavDoc might be exceptions to that.
People who haven’t volunteered to serve one second for their country, haven’t earned the right to call those of us who have unamerican.
Period.
Are you saying theres no such thing as an unAmerican veteran ?
Michael Flynn Deepens Ties to QAnon Conspiracy …
Web Dec 10, 2020 · In his first interviews after being pardoned by President Donald Trump, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn …
Sure.
Don’t be ridiculous, of course not. No more than all non Veterans are unamerican. But like usual, when it comes to Trump, you paint with a brush that is entirely too wide.
Where you and many of the triggered fail to make the connection is just because someone supported Trump over Clinton or Biden, it doesn’t automatically make them unamerican.
I realize that concept will go nowhere with the triggered but there you go.
You act like there is some mystery involved in Trump's activities related to the election or Jan 6th. That is not true, it is all basically known, and he is a traitor.
Is he?
Why isn’t he in the clink yet?
Sounds like you have an open and shut case.
Where are the charges of treason??????
One does not need to be found guilty of (or even formally charged with) treason to be considered a traitor.
The epithet 'traitor' is a colloquial term used to describe someone who has betrayed the nation. For a PotUS, this would logically involve violating his oath of office in a substantial way ... such as trying to steal a US election — especially if the scheme attempted to violate the CotUS that he swore to support and defend.
well, isn't it great that I never claimed any of what your post suggests.
I wish to God you would give people some damn credit once in a while instead of assuming people are uninformed, stupid, or ignorant.
You asked @8.2.7 - "Where are the charges of treason??????" in reply to JR's post of @8.2.5 - "You act like there is some mystery involved in Trump's activities related to the election or Jan 6th. That is not true, it is all basically known, and he is a traitor. "
As noted, one does not have to be charged with treason to be considered a traitor. For a full explanation see TiG@8.2.8
Thank you for letting me know you read what I wrote.
Traitor. A term that could be used in a lot of situations these days. Traitor. To betray something. Your country, a principle, a people, a friend, etc.
Like not doing enough to control an out of control border and being a traitor to all of the cities and people who are suffering for it. Traitor. Like not doing enough to bring down the cost of goods, to Americans who are having trouble making ends meet directly due to your policies, after promising to do so. Traitor. Like regularly lying and exaggerating to the American people betraying their trust. Traitor. Like if proven, using your position to enrich yourself and your family via enemies of the state. Traitor. Like inciting the people to attack people in power, Senators, Supreme Court Justices, etc. Traitors. Like not fighting policy that encourages and enables thievery and forces decades old companies to shut down. Traitors.
I could go on ….. let’s rip the battle dressing of this bitch and go to town. [Deleted] There are many examples of “treason” out there if the standard is being a “traitor” by definition.
Many ….
Great post
And in this case, it is used as an accurate summary description of Trump based on his aggregate actions after losing the election.
So what would you like Biden to do exactly?
Well then I am in the clear! USMC, 2X Iraq, and currently PD.
If you support a guy who tried to overturn a free and fair election then you are unamerican and a traitor.
Something more than nothing.
Like not removing, by executive order, steps that were previously in place that were helping or perhaps not encouraging it like his admin did in the beginning.
He looks like fool to anyone who hasn’t consumed the koolaide.
Yep, you have that right.
And as fellow Devil Dog I can say the same to you about Biden.
Guess you’ll have to vote for RFK Jr.
Not as encompassing as nearly 50 years of lies and exaggeration.
Not even close actually.
That is your argument that Biden is a traitor? Lies and exaggeration?? That's it?
And you compare that to Trump — the only sitting PotUS who attempted to steal a US election through lies, unconstitutional acts, coercion, conspiracy, abusing the influence of his office to enrage supporters, etc.
That’s it? [deleted]
That said, opinions do vary these days and we have zero chance of agreeing on this one. [deleted]
Lol ….
Right on brother!
What is really scary is that the worse he gets, the more ignorant and deranged people are okay with it.
This is what results from people 'thinking' with their emotions, bias, group-think, and habit.
Of course you are going to deny that you and other people here are not doing exactly the same thing.
I always try to make my decisions based on objective reasoning and sound evidence. If you think otherwise then illustrate the logical flaw in my argument.
Don't make accusations unless you can back them up with a sound argument.
[deleted]
[Deleted]
[Deleted]
Just (very carefully) talked with several relatives at a wedding. Nice, good-natured, solid, intelligent people. Trump supporters. Misinformed.
What is their take on Trump being found liable for fraud? They dismiss it as the D party engaging in politics. They view it as yet another attack on Trump because Trump tells the truth on 'those guys in DC' and they do not want someone who will shine a light on their bad deeds.
And there you go. There is no reasoning with people who have adopted a scenario in which any negative news about Trump's wrongdoings will be categorically dismissed.
Trump could indeed shoot someone on the streets of New York city, have it be on video, and many would dismiss it as a DeepFake video and fake news and then vote for Trump to go clean the swamp.
[ Addendum: They do consider Trump to be an asshole and do not approve of his interpersonal behavior. ]
That is where my dad, uncle, and cousins are. Anything negative is just "the left" trying to get him. There is no reasoning, he is their source of truth and is beyond reproach, everything is just others trying to "get him" for some forever undefinable reason.
I will honestly NEVER understand that type of loyalty to anyone, especially a politician.
It's always seemed to me to be a matter of brainwashing.
Ever since Fox went on air it has been coming to this.
The KKK, Rush Beck, etc... gave fascist morons a voice.
The internet allowed insane outcasts a wider community.
Whether low IQ or just bad wiring, some are susceptible.
Damn shame Reagan shut down all the mental hospitals.
Is that why the far-right wing still worship Ronny Raygun?
Ignoring Trump's insanity is just another form of insanity.
The US reached it's peak of institutionalization in 1955, with half a million living in state-run psychiatric facilities. Deinstitutionalization then started in the late 50's and continued in the 60's and 70's. Reagan became president in 1981.
The FDA approved the use of Thorazine in 1954 to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and control psychosis. Doctors then believed that mental illness could be cured with medication and that in the future patients would no longer psychiatric hospitals.
In 1963, the great JFK signed the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Health Centers Construction Act. He announced at the signing, “custodial mental institutions” would be replaced by community mental-health centers, thus allowing patients to live and get psychiatric care in their communities".
Two years later, the passage of Medicaid accelerated the shift from inpatient to outpatient care as Medicaid said that the federal government would not pay for inpatient care in psychiatric hospitals.
Trump doesn't worship him.