What I think throws people off about Trump is that he is not engaged in some sort of ideological revolution that results in takeover of government - his is a personal coup. It's only about him personally. Certainly a bunch of right wing nutters around him are hitchhiking with their own agenda, but when Trump attempts a coup, its result for him is just for him. He couldn't care less about anyone or anything else.
Memories of 1998 when 100+ newspapers demanded Bill Clinton's resignation over a stained blue dress and the Four Horsemen who led the Penis Hunt--Tim Russert, Tweety Matthews, Michael Kelly and Maureen Dowd endlessly called for Bill's impeachment.
But now--not a peep from the Corporate Controlled Conservative Press except for the usual crap about "Democrats in Disarray"...
As much blame placed on Putin,Assange,Comey to Trump's election in 2016,equally if not more should be placed on the media...and it still continues .....but hey,the lack of access to President-ELECT Biden while Don is actively, in plain sight attempting to overthrow our free and fair election and destroy the country is way more important. I sure hope President Biden doesn't own a tan suit.
That trump is mentally ill is beyond dispute, and it explains plenty. Occum's Razor--malignant narcissism.
But listening to the recent recording, just like the earlier Woodward recordings, one must admit that he is not smart. The Axios interview demonstrated this as well. So on one level he isn't really a threat, because his ideas are terrible, he can't plan or analyze, and he is a terrible politician.
The question isn't about trump, or his sycophants. Tomorrow many officials will vote against democracy. I suggest they are positioning themselves for 2024, or 2022, and locking in the base. The question is whether there are some elected officials who don't BELIEVE in democracy, and if so what to do about them when the republican party splits and an autocratic party emerges.
Trump's notion that HE is the executive branch was aided and abetted by guys like Bill Barr who have subscribed to Dick Cheney's neoCON vision of the unitary executive. Barr undoubtedly didn't expect the dream to be carried out by a ham-handed, ignorant, malignant narcissist, but he and the GOP were willing to stand by and disregard the collateral damage that was being done, and the media was dismissing it as Trump being Trump.
The WaPo’s Margaret Sullivan posted this article yesterday:
“We must stop calling Trump’s enablers ‘conservative.’ They are the radical right.”
She is right. The only criticism I have is that she ignored the fact that so many Republicans have been on the radical right for a long time. The Tea Party was hardly moderate. In the 90s Republicans attempted a coup against Clinton with their multiple investigations of fake scandals. Newt Gingrich was clearly a radical yet he was treated with great respect by the media even though he had been removed as Speaker for ethical problems. During Obama’s first year the Newt was a guest on Meet the Press more than anyone else; actual Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was not on even once.
For decades our media hasn’t taken Republican extremism serious and we are paying a huge price for that.
Thank you. I have even waiting for someone to report properly on the danger this man posed to American democracy, but the continued both-sides journalism white washed him with language like “unconventional” and now cliffhanger language like “last ditch effort”.
Have I told the story of the top DC reporter who had to cover a silly story? Really. At the paper where said reporter started out in general assignment, there was a local human interest story and he didn't want to do it. It got him on the front page every day, but it involved a dog. He asked to be taken off of the story because other reporters would bark when he came in the room, and he felt embarrassed.
And that is what motivates the lazy occupants of the DC political media brothel: How their buddies feel about them and whether it affects everything but whether they are considered good reporters. Because if, as Allen Drury once put it, they stand tall in Georgetown, they're all right.
Looks like the the press is taking the coup seriously now. It has taken armed protestors in the US Capitol building to get them there. I am waiting for one of them to say the obvious — this is blatant domestic terrorism.
The press (fifth column) is complicit as are the neoliberal establishment Democrats.
The Democratic neoliberal establishment base continues to tell me and other progressives that the coup is just a joke. And then they go back to attacking progressives as the Real Enemy.
Is it possible that the press is just stupid? Are they journalists in name only? It would be like having an expert writer in the sciences cover and report on the Superbowl. He/She would likely miss a lot of the subtleties of the game. Perhaps a lot of journalist are simply not political junkies, just good writers who really have no idea what they are writing about. I doubt this is true but it is an angle that might explain some of what is going on with this complete dereliction of their duty. It's simply mind boggling that a COUP, there I said it in capital letters, is happening in plain site and it's not the front page story every day in every newspaper across the country with the second headline being Covid-19. I'm sure it all boils down to losing complete access to the White House from a president that hates the media's guts to begin with.
What I think throws people off about Trump is that he is not engaged in some sort of ideological revolution that results in takeover of government - his is a personal coup. It's only about him personally. Certainly a bunch of right wing nutters around him are hitchhiking with their own agenda, but when Trump attempts a coup, its result for him is just for him. He couldn't care less about anyone or anything else.
I am a new subscriber.....this article describes everything I have been screaming at my laptop screen for 4 years.
Thank you. F*#k the NYT, in particular..........WaPo has not been as awful. The bulk of the national media has been abhorent.
Umair Haque has a blistering attack on the failure to grasp what is happening and how to respond to it. It is not just Trump that is the problem.
“ This is Why Trump Keeps Doubling Down on His Coup
You Don’t Heal a Nation By Forgetting About Fascism. You Heal a Nation by Punishing Fascism Swiftly and Severely.”
Haque makes some points about Fascism that are sobering to read, things that can only be realized by someone who has lived under it.
https://eand.co/this-is-why-trump-keeps-doubling-down-on-his-coup-7c90b117d3bd
Memories of 1998 when 100+ newspapers demanded Bill Clinton's resignation over a stained blue dress and the Four Horsemen who led the Penis Hunt--Tim Russert, Tweety Matthews, Michael Kelly and Maureen Dowd endlessly called for Bill's impeachment.
But now--not a peep from the Corporate Controlled Conservative Press except for the usual crap about "Democrats in Disarray"...
As much blame placed on Putin,Assange,Comey to Trump's election in 2016,equally if not more should be placed on the media...and it still continues .....but hey,the lack of access to President-ELECT Biden while Don is actively, in plain sight attempting to overthrow our free and fair election and destroy the country is way more important. I sure hope President Biden doesn't own a tan suit.
Thank you Eric for your hard work and analysis.
That trump is mentally ill is beyond dispute, and it explains plenty. Occum's Razor--malignant narcissism.
But listening to the recent recording, just like the earlier Woodward recordings, one must admit that he is not smart. The Axios interview demonstrated this as well. So on one level he isn't really a threat, because his ideas are terrible, he can't plan or analyze, and he is a terrible politician.
The question isn't about trump, or his sycophants. Tomorrow many officials will vote against democracy. I suggest they are positioning themselves for 2024, or 2022, and locking in the base. The question is whether there are some elected officials who don't BELIEVE in democracy, and if so what to do about them when the republican party splits and an autocratic party emerges.
Trump's notion that HE is the executive branch was aided and abetted by guys like Bill Barr who have subscribed to Dick Cheney's neoCON vision of the unitary executive. Barr undoubtedly didn't expect the dream to be carried out by a ham-handed, ignorant, malignant narcissist, but he and the GOP were willing to stand by and disregard the collateral damage that was being done, and the media was dismissing it as Trump being Trump.
The WaPo’s Margaret Sullivan posted this article yesterday:
“We must stop calling Trump’s enablers ‘conservative.’ They are the radical right.”
She is right. The only criticism I have is that she ignored the fact that so many Republicans have been on the radical right for a long time. The Tea Party was hardly moderate. In the 90s Republicans attempted a coup against Clinton with their multiple investigations of fake scandals. Newt Gingrich was clearly a radical yet he was treated with great respect by the media even though he had been removed as Speaker for ethical problems. During Obama’s first year the Newt was a guest on Meet the Press more than anyone else; actual Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was not on even once.
For decades our media hasn’t taken Republican extremism serious and we are paying a huge price for that.
Thank you. I have even waiting for someone to report properly on the danger this man posed to American democracy, but the continued both-sides journalism white washed him with language like “unconventional” and now cliffhanger language like “last ditch effort”.
Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC just called it a coup attempt. First time I’ve heard it.
Have I told the story of the top DC reporter who had to cover a silly story? Really. At the paper where said reporter started out in general assignment, there was a local human interest story and he didn't want to do it. It got him on the front page every day, but it involved a dog. He asked to be taken off of the story because other reporters would bark when he came in the room, and he felt embarrassed.
And that is what motivates the lazy occupants of the DC political media brothel: How their buddies feel about them and whether it affects everything but whether they are considered good reporters. Because if, as Allen Drury once put it, they stand tall in Georgetown, they're all right.
Looks like the the press is taking the coup seriously now. It has taken armed protestors in the US Capitol building to get them there. I am waiting for one of them to say the obvious — this is blatant domestic terrorism.
The press (fifth column) is complicit as are the neoliberal establishment Democrats.
The Democratic neoliberal establishment base continues to tell me and other progressives that the coup is just a joke. And then they go back to attacking progressives as the Real Enemy.
Is it possible that the press is just stupid? Are they journalists in name only? It would be like having an expert writer in the sciences cover and report on the Superbowl. He/She would likely miss a lot of the subtleties of the game. Perhaps a lot of journalist are simply not political junkies, just good writers who really have no idea what they are writing about. I doubt this is true but it is an angle that might explain some of what is going on with this complete dereliction of their duty. It's simply mind boggling that a COUP, there I said it in capital letters, is happening in plain site and it's not the front page story every day in every newspaper across the country with the second headline being Covid-19. I'm sure it all boils down to losing complete access to the White House from a president that hates the media's guts to begin with.