I’m listening to some talking heads on TV this morning and realizing for the 2,750,236 times that political conventional wisdom is deadly. I won’t go into details but suffice to say that while many of them are reluctantly admitting that the economy is good they seem to be at pains to explain that Joe Biden is still a great big loser and there’s nothing much to be done about it. Yeah, ok, I exaggerate a bit but it’s not far off. Anyway, this piece by Brian Beutler for his newsletter (which is fantastic, by the way, you should subscribe if you can) was a tonic this morning. If only the talking heads on TV would get the message: Once upon a time (about seven years ago) a Democratic Party critic whose identity would probably surprise you conceded to me that, whatever flaws leading American liberals might embody, Donald Trump is worse—a person, he said, who has “no redeeming qualities.” That description has stuck with me all this time less because of its insight (tens of millions of people already felt the same way) than because of how durable it’s been.
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Donald Trump’s very specific form of manipulation We know about Trump’s psychotic behavior. He is a malignant, narcissistic, pathological liar. But he employs a specific manipulative strategy that actually has a name. But I didn’t know that there is a very specific diagnosis. Sidney Blumenthal in the Guardian explains: Time after time, with predictable regularity, never missing a beat, Donald Trump proclaims his innocence. He always denies that he has done anything wrong. The charge does not matter. He is blameless. But this is only the beginning of the pattern. Then, he attacks his accusers, or anyone involved in bringing him to account, usually of committing the identical offense of which he stands accused. But it is not enough for him to lash out. Then, he declares himself to be the victim. Whatever it is, he is falsely accused. But his self-dramatization as the wounded sufferer is only half his story: he insists that whoever has accused him is in fact the offender. He emerges triumphant, the martyr, the truth-teller, courageously unmasking the real villain. J’accuse! Trump’s pattern is textbook manipulation – literally.
You can see why the Evangelicals love Trump so much He’s such a Godly man. Biden, on the other hand, is a blood drinking satanist. By the way…
Biden-Harris HQ goes after Donald Trump. Hard. While we were reading accounts of the latest GOP insanities in D.C. and in the states, and about the Fox/MAGA conspiracy freakout over Taylor Swift, plus a random, MAGA-inspired(?) beheading straight out of Se7en, Team Biden was going hard at getting under Donald Trump’s skin. And rubbing his nose in it on Truth Social (Huffington Post): President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign flipped former President Donald Trump’s excuses for his verbal stumbles right back at him in a new ad. The 60-second spot features multiple Trump stumbles and the Republican front-runner’s claims that he does it “purposely” or because he speaks “in long, complex sentences.” “Have you noticed he’s a little confused these days?” Biden asks in speech footage that is featured towards the end of the clip. The video concludes with reports that Trump is “rattled by Biden’s efforts to get under his skin.” Yup, this one: The ad above posted at 1:03 p.m. Wednesday on Formerly Twitter, the Now Muskian white-nationalist cesspool. It was only one of a flurry of ads from Biden-Harris HQ.
America: If you love it, hate it Oliver Darcy on Tuesday wrote, “Conservatives are going into self-exile.” The Formerly Republican Party, like Formerly Twitter, “is now led by far-right media forces hoping to cash in on attention from raging culture wars, sealing off its adherents from the rest of society.” One wonders what’s left of America for Republicans to love. Red-hatted Make America Great Again believers are systematically excommunicating anyone and everyone not not eaten up with gnawing grievances. They have demonized DEI efforts (diversity, equity and inclusion) and seem bent (apt?) on making their clan “the most restrictive country club in America.” In the 1960s, the conservative slogan was, America: Love it or leave it. Today the message is, America: If you love it, hate it. Darcy writes: From a bird’s eye view, the state of affairs among MAGA Media diehards as it sits today is remarkable.
Well, she’s being a true daughter of South Carolina: It’s not like Harris was in the Obama administration or really had anything to do with him. She’s against Harris being president because Black presidents are “divisive.” Until Obama was elected and divided us, we didn’t have any of these “problems.” Harris will obviously do the same thing. Because she’s Black. And you know how they are. And she said it on The Breakfast Club a podcast hosted by Black people. Jesus. And then there’s this: Actually, it can’t secede. As that old woke Justice Antonin Scalia said, “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.” Haley is campaigning in her home state of S. Carolina a state that knows from secession.
Texas Congressman Chip Roy is not one of the MAGA goofballs. He even endorsed DeSantis over Trump. He was once Ted Cruz’s chief of staff so he’s an extremist but he isn’t stupid. As Judd Legum notes in his newsletter, there’s a method to his madness: Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) is publicly urging Texas to ignore the Supreme Court. In previously unreported comments, Roy explained that he feared his position would push the country into “a post-constitutional world.” But, Roy said, the Supreme Court is “pushing our hand” by issuing a ruling related to the southern border that he opposes, and the Supreme Court needs to “feel the pressure.” The next day, Roy told Fox News that Texas should “tell the court to go to hell.” On January 24, in a little-noticed interview with right-wing conspiracy theorist Charlie Kirk, Roy expanded on his thinking.
Let’s talk about the REAL border crisis. Hear me out… Would it surprise you to know that 90% of people that try to cross our border end up in the hands of Customs and Border Protection? There is no open border flood of undocumented immigrants crossing into the U.S. 📌 Many… pic.twitter.com/nKGTb4AkZI — Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) February 1, 2024 The media is not telling the real story, as usual. It’s just a “crisis” or a “caravan” or a “catastrophe” without any context or nuance. They have been doing this for years. I know they aren’t this incompetent. They can’t be.
If you think the Republicans in the Senate are the more sane members of the MAGA GOP, think again. They’re just as cravenly partisan as the nuts in the House. Remember Thom Tillis, the “brave” Senator who has been criticizing the House Republicans for refusing to even consider the border and Ukraine deal? Well… The House passed its $78 billion, bipartisan tax bill with a lopsided 357-to-70 vote on Wednesday, in which the measure attracted slightly more Democratic than Republican support as it overcame opposition from hardline conservatives. Now comes the hard part: Winning over GOP senators. Republicans in the upper chamber are already expressing deep skepticism toward the legislation, which combines several business deductions with an expansion of the Child Tax Credit that would all sunset at the end of 2025. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Wednesday that he’s been advising Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP Senate leaders that it would be “a mistake” to pass the bill.
Speaking of suckers and losers, let’s consider just how dumb you have to be to give money to a billionaire for legal fees to fight his massive number of lawsuits and criminal cases? Former President Trump‘s political fundraising apparatus spent more than $50 million on legal costs last year as he faced a barrage of lawsuits and criminal charges in multiple jurisdictions. The stunning new campaign finance reports reveal the financial damage the GOP presidential frontrunner has sustained while facing a colliding campaign and courtroom calendar. The mounting legal costs have drained large sums from Trump’s campaign coffers as he gears up for what’s expected to be another tight race against President Biden. Overall, Trump’s fundraising brought in less than his campaign spent in 2023, Politico reported. Trump’s Save America PAC spent roughly $47 million on legal consulting last year, according to the group’s latest financial report. That includes $25 million in the last six months of the year, the Federal Election Commission data shows.