Author of Cross Purposes and The Constitution of Knowledge. Senior fellow @BrookingsInst. Contributing writer @TheAtlantic. Sorry, shrimp isn't food.
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Post-impeachment, we can say this: Trump's presidency has amended the Constitution. Not formally, of course, but informally...which matters just as much. Here are the five Trump amendments. 1/9
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And more than ever, there's a howling void at the center of the Constitution...one called Congress. 9/9
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1. "No president shall be removed from office for treason, bribery, or any other crime or misdemeanor provided a partisan minority of the Senate will protect him (which is always). Impeachment is thus a nullity and presidents can expect impunity." 2/9
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2. "Congressional oversight shall be optional. No congressional subpoena or investigative demand shall be binding on a president who chooses to ignore it." 3/9
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Holy cow: 42% of Americans report undesired weight gain during Covid 19. The average weight gain is 29 lbs. And 41 lbs for Millennials! This will ramify for years to come. mailchi.mp/20625980cc22/fact…
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Still, the existing Trump amendments give the president WAY more discretion and impunity than the Founders intended. After Trump, we're more dependent than ever on the president's character to prevent a quasi-monarchy. 8/9
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5. "The president shall have unconstrained authority to dangle and issue pardons for the purpose of obstructing justice, tampering with witnesses, and forestalling investigations. There is nothing anyone can do about this (see Amendment 1 above)." 6/9
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4. "The president shall have authority to make appointments as he sees fit, without the advice and consent of the Senate, provided he deems his appointees to be acting, temporary, or otherwise exempt from the ordinary confirmation process." 5/9
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3. "Congressional appropriations shall be suggestions. The president may choose whether or not to conform with congressional spending laws, and Congress shall have no recourse should a president declare that his own priorities supersede Congress's express will." 4/9
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Let's count our blessings. Had Trump won a second term, he'd have put through a 6th amendment: "The president may ignore or violate court orders." 7/9
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The entire Mueller report, in 14 short paragraphs, via @davidfrum. Astonishing that the entire GOP (with one exception) can dismiss these findings. theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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Trump's Galaxy 3 phone is a massive security hole (vastly worse than Hillary's server): lawfareblog.com/president-tr…
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"Don’t speak of the two parties as if they were somehow equal. The Democrats are upholding the rule of law; Republicans are undermining it."@MaxBoot washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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"What Trump and his supporters are up to should be thought of not as a litigation campaign that is likely to fail, but as an information-warfare campaign that is likely to succeed—and, indeed, is succeeding already." persuasion.community/p/trump…
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"Where we are is a country with a solid anti-Trump majority confronting a pro-Trump minority that believes it has a right to rule without concession or compromise." theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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New from @pewresearch: "73% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say increased tariffs between the U.S. and its trading partners will be a good thing for the country." Memo to free-market Republicans: your party is gone, period.
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Jews murdered. Regime opponents bombed. Regime supporters look to blame left-wingers and Jewish financier. Regime leader blames media, praises violent politician. Party establishment is bought off or intimidated. Does this sound at all familiar? @davidfrum theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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"The Republican Party, as an institution, has become a danger to the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy. The problem is not just Donald Trump; it’s the larger political apparatus that made a conscious decision to enable him." theatlantic.com/magazine/arc… @benjaminwittes
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6/7 Three: Showcasing minor Biden gaffes as big news while downplaying major Trump lies as routine is just plain unfair coverage. It's a double standard.
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1/7 In 2016, gullible media (I don't exempt myself) helped elect Trump by letting him distract us and providing false "balance." Uh-oh. Here we go again...
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4/7 There are three dangers here. One: POTUS gets away with lying by lying so much that we in the media treat it as routine. It isn't routine! It must not become routine! Unhinged lying by POTUS is news...every time.
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"Smoking gun" tape: Nixon wants CIA deputy director to tell FBI to back off an investigation. Mueller Report: Trump wants Lewandowski to tell DOJ to back off an investigation. If one was obstruction, so is the other. The question today is whether anyone (esp. GOP) still cares.
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Also, @davidfrum, if not removed, Trump could (and might) blanket pardon the insurrectionists.
Impeach. Remove. Indict. Incarcerate. theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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PS, the upshot: Biden's mash-up belonged at the bottom of page 10. Trump's falsified weather map belonged above the fold on page 1. Hopefully next time...
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7/7 Trump's whole game is to get himself judged by different standards than other politicians, while distracting the media with "what abouts". Please, MSM and @washingtonpost, don't fall for it again. @hiattf @PostBaron @ChuckLane1 @benjaminwittes
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Kavanaugh, a judge I admire, lost me Thursday the same way he lost @MaxBoot and @nbcsnl: by being histrionic, partisan, and evasive (independently of what happened long ago). SCOTUS needs judicial temperament, and I didn't see that. washingtonpost.com/blogs/pos…
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Given the ridiculous constraints he's under, Biden is doing remarkably well. As usual, @davidfrum is right. theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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Eloquent case that the House has a constitutional duty to begin an impeachment inquiry, from @lawfare's @qjurecic and @Susan_Hennessey. "The Constitution commits to the legislative branch...to render a judgment." No, not the voters, the Congress. lawfareblog.com/mueller-repo…
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5/7 Two: Seeking balance, MSM helps Trump and normalizes his behavior by promoting false equivalents like Hillary's emails and Biden's gaffes. Trump et al are very good at exploiting this journalistic tic.
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Easy prediction: once McConnell jams through Trump's SCOTUS pick, the Senate will not approve (or even vote on) any SCOTUS nominee by a president of the other party. When prez and Senate are opposite parties, vacancies will stay open...for 4-8 years, even. You heard it here.
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Don't look now, but POTUS has crossed yet another red line. This time...he's propagating a deepfake video. Not just deceptively edited, but fabricated. @davidfrum theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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"To debate whether Trump acted criminally is to miss the greater point: He’s a national-security threat." (Meanwhile, GOP senators kill additional funds to protect US election infrastructure.) @davidfrum @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/politics/arc…
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Truer than ever, as @benjaminwittes and I wrote over a year ago: "The Republican Party, as an institution, has become a danger to the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy. The problem is not just Donald Trump." washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Correct, @Peter_Wehner. If any institution comes out of the Trump era looking indispensable and sometimes heroic, it's mainstream media. Imagine where we'd be if we had to rely on what POTUS and his media complex have told us.
Actually, many in the media have provided invaluable information re: the coronavirus: newspapers/magazines, televised town halls, etc. The main problem's been the misinformation/lies of the president and misinformation of many people in the right-wing media complex. Just saying.
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.@davidfrum will vote for Hillary Clinton. As will I--and I have never revealed my vote before. A time for choosing. theatlantic.com/politics/arc…
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Yes, @jessesingal is right: if you're scared of the illiberal left, vote for the liberal left, not the illiberal right. This is Democracy 101. I'm mystified that anyone thinks a Trump vote helps restore a sane middle. jessesingal.substack.com/p/e…
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I worked with @JBennet at @TheAtlantic and know him to be an honorable man and able editor. I'm sorry to see him forced from @nytimes. Even sorrier to see deplatforming come to the nation's paper of record.
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"He's a chaos candidate. And he'd be a chaos president." -Jeb Bush, Dec. 15, 2015. #WeWereWarned
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A Sanders nomination would cost Democrats the House. (But does he care? He's not a Democrat.) @davidfrum has the numbers. theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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A careful analysis reaches the correct conclusion. theunpopulist.substack.com/p…
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I just noticed an ominous fact from 4/2018 Pew polling: Democrats are now as hostile to compromise as Republicans. America is headed toward ungovernability, not greatness.
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At least the Senate show trial has clarified some things.
1, the Senate is just like the House
2, impeachment is a dead letter
3, so is congressional oversight
4, the president has impunity.
Taken together, these are Constitution-level changes.
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I'm a proud adviser to the most visionary quest I've ever been part of: a brand new university dedicated to uncompromising education, free thought, and anti-fragility. If not now, when? @uaustinorg bariweiss.substack.com/p/we-…
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Still the central mystery: what is Putin's hold over Trump? The enigma inside the riddle of Trump's bizarre behavior. @EKamarck @davidfrum brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/20…
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3/7 When Trump showed a hurricane map doctored with a Sharpie--illegally, btw--@washingtonpost played it at the bottom of page 10.
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Hey Dems, before revoking the filibuster, remember: Rs can and very well may win the Senate, House, and presidency with well below a popular majority. Without the filibuster, they'll face no barrier to complete minority rule. Are you sure you want to go there?
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.@davidfrum goes there. Not that MAGA is the same as 1930s-style European fascism...but that the similarities are more important and relevant than the differences. I haven't dropped the F-bomb yet in my writing, but I'm running out of alternatives. theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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Important statement from conservatives @niskanencenter calls on GOP Congress to rally behind Mueller right now: niskanencenter.org/blog/stat…
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Let's step back and take stock of what Trump and his supporters and enablers (collectively, "Trumpists") are doing to the GOP and the country right now. (ATTN @davidfrum, @DavidAFrench, @Peter_Wehner, @benjaminwittes, @YAppelbaum.)
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In the 1990s, I was among many lesbian and gay equality advocates who fought to take our movement back from radicals with their own illiberal, unrepresentative agenda. Can trans moderates do the same today? americanpurpose.com/articles…
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Story by @JohnJHarwood confirms what I was once told by a lawyer who litigated successfully against Trump: "He's a bully who can be bullied." cnbc.com/2018/05/15/trump-sh…
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Week 6 of Covid-19 crisis: one citizen's assessment of where we stand. Spoiler: what needs to be happening isn't happening, and the president isn't even talking about it. We need a Lincoln but have a Buchanan. OK, here goes. (1/11) @BrookingsGov
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Here's what some @Stanford engineering instructors are requiring of prospective students for course enrollment. @TheFIREorg @HdxAcademy @AFA_Alliance @glukianoff @kewhittington @goACTA @PoliakoffACTA @StanfordEng
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I challenge anyone (especially Republicans) to listen to episodes 3 and 4 of @lawfareblog The Report podcast without feeling nauseated by the sleaziness and mendacity of the Trump campaign. lawfareblog.com/report-episo…
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Hey @davidfrum, before you write Trump's obituary, and acknowledging that everything you say is right, I have just one question. WHAT ABOUT HILLARY'S EMAILS? thenational.ae/opinion/trump…
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Bill Gates: "This is a president who is a vaccine skeptic. Every meeting I have with him he is like, 'Hey, I don’t know about vaccines, and you have to meet with this guy Robert Kennedy Jr.,' who hates vaccines and spreads crazy stuff about them.” wired.com/story/bill-gates-o…
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When Biden mashed up an anecdote--in a pretty innocuous way--@WashingtonPost played it above the fold on page 1.
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Trump has changed the presidency. Effects will be felt for years to come. Important new book by @Susan_Hennessey and @benjaminwittes shows how. the-american-interest.com/20…
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More evidence, via @JohnJHarwood, that the 2018 blue wave was bigger than the House/Senate results make it seem. Huge Dem turnout increases. Geography and gerrymandering buffered GOP, but the underlying numbers look bad for them. cnbc.com/2018/11/13/here-are…
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Trump admin is using vandalism of statues as pretext for surveillance of protesters and others, memo indicates. Excellent reporting by @lawfareblog @benjaminwittes. lawfareblog.com/dhs-authoriz…
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Alexei Navalny is an extraordinarily brave man. I am in awe reading this. persuasion.community/p/naval…
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"Trump’s first trip could have been more perfect for Vladimir Putin if he’d written the script himself"
How bad was Trump's first trip? THIS bad ... theatlantic.com/internationa…
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In case you thought talk of the Republican Party's turn to authoritarianism is an exaggeration... @DavidAFrench @thedispatch frenchpress.thedispatch.com/…
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About 112,000 more Americans would be alive right now if US's Covid-19 response had merely been as competent as the OECD average. That's two Vietnam Wars. Four more years? @BrookingsInst brookings.edu/research/covid…
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Now that two exhaustive reviews have found that the FBI's FISA requests in the Russia investigation were on the level, I'm sure we'll be hearing apologies today from Trump, Barr, and Fox News hosts. lawfareblog.com/justice-depa…
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All of that, and ironically...Trumpists are not really even Republicans. Their loyalty is to Trump, not the party or any coherent/conservative agenda. They are to GOP as Hamas was to Palestinians...spoilers who can block but not build.
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When the FBI needs to to run a counterintel probe re POTUS, the country is in big, big trouble--and bigger still if POTUS's party couldn't care less and/or blames the FBI. Also, this (via @maxboot): washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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House must expel Gianforte if he is convicted of assaulting reporter. That's outright barbarism.
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Charlottesville showed again why open-carry is a bad idea, says @davidfrum @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/politics/arc…
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Biden's potentially best pick for VP isn't a name in the headlines right now. But you can bet he's considering her. They worked together for five years, and her case is strong. Everyone, case your gaze westward to Janet Napolitano. 1/13
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Reality-based Arizona Republicans, led by the brave and honest county recorder @stephen_richer, have launched a PAC to push back against MAGA's alternative facts. prodemocracygop.com/
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GOP flunked the Rule of Law test by embracing Arpaio, then Trump. Now, Roy Moore. This cannot end well for party or country.
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So here we are: mainstream media handle secret government sources and methods responsibly, while POTUS and House committee chair blow them up. @benjaminwittes and @qjurecic @lawfare say the consequences are dire. lawfareblog.com/day-we-cant-…
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Just to recap. Rep. Omar is a controversial figure in her party. Donald Trump is not a controversial figure in his party. One of these things is not like the other.
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Why aren't Dems making protection of Mueller's investigation a demand for funding the government? It's important and has bipartisan support.
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In 2016 I listed Sen. Sanders among "political sociopaths," politicians who "don’t care what other politicians think about their behavior and don’t need to care." I want to be wrong. Now we find out. @davidfrum theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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What changes the equation? Only a change of heart in the GOP base...and integrity+leadership from Republican leaders who have seen "Thelma and Louise." I'm not holding my breath.
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Can we all please pause to notice that our ineffectual, half-senile, disliked president just signed a bipartisan measure admitting Finland and Sweden to NATO? And that this is an extraordinary achievement? Maybe, just maybe, it's time to change the narrative about Joe Biden?
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In short: there's really only one thing to do, and we're not doing it. Or even really talking about doing it. POTUS should be leading a whole-of-government test/trace mobilization RIGHT NOW. Should be reporting every day on progress. Should be focused like a laser. (9/11)
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If true, this should be a front-page scandal: USDOJ under Barr ordered prosecution of Greg Craig (later acquitted) specifically to settle political scores. If you're wondering how Trump's second term would look, here's your answer.
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2…
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"Trump is drawn to unethical huslters because he is one himself." @MaxBoot washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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We must not grow inured to this. "Russia is directing constant, repetitive, visible terrorist violence against civilians, many of whom are nowhere near the fighting." Via @anneapplebaum @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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If you read just one thing about the Mueller report, make it this epic analysis by @lawfareblog's brilliant (and deeply honest) @benjaminwittes. Then ask: what can a president NOT do if he can engage in these behaviors with impunity? lawfareblog.com/notes-muelle…
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The only official fired over the virus? A captain who tried to protect his crew. @maxboot washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Again, there is no equivalent on the left of the gleeful and obscene cruelty of the MAGA right. This GOP Senate candidate proposes sending illegal migrants to Pacific islands to "bust rocks...making them into gravel for their food." coppercourier.com/story/lamo…
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Third, Trumpists are running a massive and successful "firehose of falsehood" disinformation campaign against the US public to undermine Biden's legitimacy. This is a page from Russia's info-warfare playbook, and it works, so we should expect to see it again and again.
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Students in the University of Wisconsin are terrified of expressing their opinions on trans issues. As a long-time gay activist and defender of free speech, this breaks my heart.
wisconsin.edu/civil-dialogue…
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Nixon's approval among Republicans never fell below about 50%. Trump's still hasn't fallen below 80. We're in for a long, hard haul, folks.
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Yes, it was collusion, if the term has any meaning. persuasion.community/p/the-r…
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Yes, it was a coup attempt. No, not all coups are military coups. Sending your followers into the streets to disrupt the lawful transfer of power qualifies. @MaxBoot washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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"That Rubio is a Republican prince and Romney a Republican pariah tells you all you need to know about how low a once-proud party has sunk." @MaxBoot washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Trump, on 60 Minutes, either doesn't know or doesn't care that AGs, not presidents, decide whom to prosecute. Deeply dangerous stuff.
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Quietly, Congress has plugged another hole in our democracy. lawfareblog.com/inspector-ge…
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Trump can't win a fair election in November, so prepare for an unfair election: @davidfrum @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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Why the stunt Republicans will pull on Wednesday owes more to Vladimir Putin than James Madison. persuasion.community/p/the-m…
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This is Trump's epidemic now. @davidfrum theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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Instead he's berating the press, claiming his brain is the strategy, and "hoping to God." It's the greatest presidential failure of leadership in my lifetime (and I lived through Vietnam). Maybe since Buchanan. (10/11)
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In short, Trump et al will not retain the presidency, but they are putting themselves in position to make life hell for President Biden, the Republican Party, and US democracy. Which is what they want.
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Epic fail: in the Cleveland debate, Trump had just one mission--win back wavering voters who are turned off by his crazy antics. He did the exact opposite, says @HotlineJosh. njour.nl/s/710232?unlock=CXC…
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"All Republicans who stand mute in the face of Trump’s latest racism are telling you who they really are. It’s an ugly picture of a morally bankrupt party that has now embraced racial prejudice as a platform." @MaxBoot washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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