A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
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Is Trump Extremism Getting More Extreme? |
By David Corn January 13, 2024 |
Donald Trump supporters at a Trump campaign rally in Sioux Center, Iowa, on January 5, 2024. Andrew Harnik/AP |
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We’re all familiar with the boiling frog chestnut. Place a frog in a pot of boiling water, it’s said, and the frog will jump out; place it in a pot of tepid water, turn up the heat gradually, and the frog will stick around until it is boiled to death. This is bullshit. A frog will try to escape once the water becomes an uncomfortable temperature. Frogs aren’t idiots. Yet this metaphor is just too good to scrap. It’s useful for describing the normalization of the intolerable—and our political climate. After all, doesn’t it seem to you that the Trump craziness keeps getting crazier. Yet we’re still stuck in the pot of hot water and cannot get out.
Eight years ago, Donald Trump, marveling at his own standings in the GOP polls, quipped he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and “wouldn’t lose any voters.” Fast-forward to this week, and Trump’s lawyers were arguing in court that he could, as president, assassinate a political rival and not be criminally prosecuted, unless he was convicted during an impeachment proceeding. We’ve gone from Trump fantasizing openly about committing murder to his mouthpieces claiming he could get away with it. And the frog doesn’t jump out.
When Trump made his Fifth Avenue remarks, there was much public consternation. Here was yet another indication this failed casino owner was not what we generally thought of as presidential material. Well, he proved us wrong. And when his attorneys now contend that he could order the killing of a political foe, the political world doesn’t come to a screeching WTF-halt. It’s just the latest in a long line of Trump outrages that blur together. With Trump, there is no tipping point.
Once upon a time, such a development would have dominated the news cycle for days. Reporters would have chased after every Republican in the Senate and House for comment. Remember how the grab-’em-by-the-pussy Access Hollywood video triggered such a reaction. Most GOP leaders felt compelled to say something about Trump’s crude and misogynistic remarks. Yet did you see such a scramble this week? No. Republicans long ago adopted the stance of refusing to comment on Dear Leader’s assaults on democracy and decency. They will stand mute (a favorite play by Sen. Mitch McConnell), change the subject, or just tell enquiring reporters to shut up. And no longer do most of the media even try to hold Republicans responsible for accepting (if not endorsing) Trump’s excesses, be it calling for suspending the Constitution (so he can be restored to power), dining with antisemites, suggesting that the top US military commander be executed, or supporting insurrectionist rioters who attacked the Capitol.
At the CNN GOP Children’s Table Debate on Wednesday night—which featured only Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley—the hosts didn’t refer to Trump’s assassination theory until near the end of the event, and then Jake Tapper raised the matter only by asking the two candidates if they agreed with this absurd legal reasoning. That gave the pair an easy out. DeSantis said he didn’t expect Trump’s argument to be accepted by the court, and Haley called it “absolutely ridiculous”—and then pivoted to accuse DeSantis of being a liar for the 2,937th time during the debate. (Fact-check: Only sixteen times during the two-hour-long slugfest did she urge viewers to visit DeSantisLies.com.) The real question for these two was why they had previously supported (and, in Haley’s case, worked for) a man who would claim this power and, more important, whether they could back such a person, should he receive their party’s nomination. They were not pressed on this.
It's tough to see or describe how far we’ve gone round the bend. Trump keeps defining political deviancy down, to borrow a controversial phrase from Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Remember the days when curmudgeonly conservatives griped about liberals lowering standards. Bill Bennett made millions in the 1990s doing this. (His big bestseller: The Death of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals.) Now it’s the Trump-embracing right that’s driving the nation to lower and lower lows, and the rest of us and the media don’t quite know how to respond or process this collapse.
I yearn for a way to measure or quantify the increasing absurdity and depravity of the Trumpian right. As we enter 2024, it feels as if its inanity and extremism are accelerating. Can you imagine where we will be on Election Day? One sign of the intensifying nuttiness on the right: A recent Washington Post–University of Maryland poll showed that Republican voters are now more sympathetic toward the 1/6 rioters and more likely to absolve Trump of responsibility for that assault than three years ago. That is, the main Republican narrative is now more accepting of insurrectionist violence.
Trump himself routinely refers to the criminal marauders as “patriots” and “hostages,” vowing to pardon them if he returns to the White House. The rest of the GOP has followed suit. DeSantis, too, has talked about pardoning the attackers. And days ago, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the third-ranking House Republican, also referred to the convicted rioters as hostages and assailed their treatment, claiming it’s part of an overall assault on conservatives:
I have concerns about the treatment of January 6 hostages. I have concerns, we have a role in Congress of oversight over our treatment of prisoners, and I believe we’re seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we’re seeing it against conservatives.
This martyrization of the 1/6ers and soft-pedaling of the storming of the Capitol is now de rigueur for Republicans. It’s practically an endorsement of the violence Trump incited as part of his effort to overturn the 2020 election. During a Fox News interview this week, Trump agreed with host Bret Baier that political violence is not acceptable, but he insisted that when he was president there was “very little of it.” Huh? Baier did not push him on this point. Moreover, that same poll showed that the number of Republicans who accept Biden’s 2020 victory has dropped from 39 percent to 31 percent in the past two years. That means that as Trump’s Big Lie has been thoroughly debunked and as no evidence has emerged to support his claims of fraud, more Republicans now believe this fictitious conspiracy theory. For the GOP base, it is theology.
The lunacy is not limited to 1/6 and the 2020 election. Every day my in-box is filled with solicitations from Trump and other Republicans who maintain that Joe Biden is the biggest criminal kingpin of all time, that Democrats are scheming to destroy the USA and lock up conservatives, that liberals are bringing millions of migrants into the nation to replace real (that is, white) Americans. It’s nonsense—paranoid-driven, grievance-fueled irrationality. And my sense is that this detached-from-reality hatred is on the rise. Republican fundraisers would not be zapping out these emails if they did not bring in a bundle of cash.
There is some good news. According to that poll, 55 percent of Americans consider the 1/6 riot “an attack on democracy that should never be forgotten,” and 56 percent say Trump is probably guilty of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. Hey, a majority of Americans are living within a rational framework. But this poll bolsters my impression that Republican craziness is deepening. (A look at the never-ending dysfunction of the House also backs this up.) And it’s hard to run a demographically diverse republic if a third of the nation and one of the two major parties are stuck in a false reality that feeds a personality cult led by a demagogic, narcissistic autocrat-wannabe. We used to talk about the MAGA fever burning itself out. Instead, the temperature keeps ticking up. And we may be frogs in a pot with a lid on it.
Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com. |
How Bad Could Trump II Be? |
In a recent piece, I noted that I’ve had conversations with people who are not eager to vote to reelect Biden because of his support for Israel’s brutal bombing campaign in Gaza or simply because they feel meh about the guy. Point out that this will lead to a second Trump term, and they counter that the nation survived his first stint and ask, “How bad could it be?”
For that article, I took a stab at describing how bad it could be: dictatorial power; loyalty oaths; political prosecutions; favoritism for cronies and overseas autocrats; extensive violations of law; and a wide array of abuses of power, some easy to foresee, others less so. That’s not to mention the policies Trump says he intends to pursue, such as more tax cuts for the well-off, removing health care insurance from tens of millions, ending climate change action, bombing Mexican cartels, restoring a Muslim travel ban, and deporting millions. But ultimately, I point out that our imaginations cannot conceive of all the anti-democratic horrors that will likely transpire. With Trump, we have learned, the bottom has no bottom. This piece is merely a starting point. Give it a read, and if you think of anything I missed, please let me know.
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Dumbass Comment of the Week |
With the holidays and vacations, it’s been a few weeks since the DCotW judges have been fully on the beat. It’s hard to press them since they take on the arduous and aggravating task of evaluating widespread idiocy without compensation. But during this stretch, they could not avoid noting some of the more outrageous examples of dumbassery they happened to spot.
It was impossible to ignore Elon Musk’s racist attacks on DEI, especially his factually incorrect assault on the recruitment of Black students for pilot training school. |
I'm sure X advertisers won't mind that Musk is suggesting that Black people should not be admitted to flight schools because overall they are too dumb to be pilots. Remember, this raised-under-apartheid fellow gets gazillions of dollars in contracts from the US government for his aerospace company.
Michael Flynn demonstrated he does not understand a basic principle of the United States, with this remark: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.” |
Which part of “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” does Flynn not comprehend? Fox host Greg Gutfeld, once again, showed his lack of basic decency, when he discussed the issue of homelessness:
Homelessness is not based on the lack of affordable housing...It’s mostly young and middle-aged dudes who settle into the life because it’s not really that bad. Hobos on heroin? I mean think about it. You don’t pay any bills. You’ve got no mortgage. You get free stuff. I’ve been thinking about it. |
I have an idea for a great reality show for Fox: Take away Gutfeld’s credit cards and put him on the street for a month. Let’s see if he has fun with all that free stuff, heroin, and the dudes. Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (son of former Attorney General John Ashcroft), who has raised the issue of removing Biden from his state’s ballot, came across as a bozo when he was asked to explain his assertion that Biden has engaged in insurrection:
There have been allegations that he has engaged in insurrection...There have only been allegations...I have seen allegations from the lieutenant governor of Texas that has said that Joe Biden has been part of insurrection or rebellion. We’ve seen the governor of Florida say the same thing...They made allegations. |
How’s that for a well-constructed argument? Dad must be proud. Fox News demonstrated what it thinks of its viewers’ intelligence. On Jesse Watters’ show, Stuart Kaplan, who was identified as a former FBI agent, explained how Taylor Swift is part of a covert operation mounted by the Biden administration to—get this—win an election. Here’s the exchange:
Kaplan: She can potentially singlehandedly swing voters. Watters: I wonder who got to her from the White House or whatever. Kaplan: It is possible that Taylor Swift, quite frankly does not know that she’s being utilized in a covert manner to swing voters...The Biden administration is savvy.
As the two discussed this breaking story, the chyron at the bottom of the screen exclaimed, “Is Taylor Swift a Pentagon PsyOp? Is Taylor Swift a Pentagon Asset?” |
As Swift says, “The fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake.”
A clip of a Donald Trump Jr. remark circulated online recently that caught the judge’s attention, even though it’s from an interview that occurred a few months ago. Kvetching on Newsmax, Junior exclaimed, “If you vote for Democrats in 2024, you are literally voting to send your friends, maybe conservative uncle to the reeducation camps in time.” |
This is what I don’t get. If Biden and the libs have a scheme to put right-wingers in reeducation camps, why didn’t they implement it after the 2020 election, when they had control of the White House and Congress? If they had done so then, it would have made reelection in 2024 so much easier for them! For evil and diabolical plotters, they’re apparently not too bright.
From son to father: Trump himself has spewed so much crap in the past few weeks that the judges threatened to go on strike if they had to review all this material. But they did want to highlight a very, very, very dumb comment. At a rally in Iowa, for some unknown reason, Trump complained about magnetic elevators on aircraft carriers and stated, “All I know about magnets is this, give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that’s the end of the magnets.” |
Uh, no. Magnets work underwater. This is a guy who tens of millions of Americans want in charge of a nuclear arsenal? Moreover, imagine if Biden had said this. Fox, Newsmax, OAN, and the entire MAGA right would declare him brain-dead. But for Trump, ignorance is part of the brand. Who wins this week? Everyone. Give them each a trophy. |
There was much reaction to the Our Land edition that looked at the effort to disqualify Trump from the 2024 election, in which I noted I had conflicting thoughts about whether this was the best approach to counter Trumpism. Joe Colton emailed:
You should not feel queasy about applying the 14th Amendment to Trump. He wanted to tarnish the constitution and deserves to have his dictatorial ambitions squashed regardless of the impact on his cult. Charlie Adler shared this:
I share your misgivings about Trump being prevented from regaining the presidency through a judicial decision keeping him off the ballot. However, if he was on the ballot and did not prevail in the Electoral College, there could be just as much of an uproar from him and his supporters. We know he will go to any length to deny the validity of a decision that does not go his way and thwart its outcome, whether from the judicial system or the electoral system. Dave Crowlie wrote:
Don't be queasy over a group of jurists intervening in the qualification question of Trump. That would by no means be "determining the outcome of a presidential election." Jump directly to Bush v Gore for that action This is very different. 14/3 was put in place for a very good reason, i.e., to prevent a despot from destroying democracy and the Constitution. If ever there was a good cause for deploying 14/3, it is the acts of the MAGAmanics in the aftermath of the 2020 election. The voters will still have choices come election day. Choosing a candidate disqualified by their own acts will be reduced to a defiant write-in, and we all know how those candidates fare in a multi-choice field.
Will Stanton added:
The problem I see with the "let the voters decide" solution is that we could well have a repeat of 2016. Where a large majority of voters rejected Trump but he won the Electoral College. In 2020, an even larger majority rejected Trump but the electoral vote was close. Yes a disqualification based on the 14th Amendment would prompt outrage and possible violence by Trump's cult. Yet another Electoral College win despite a popular vote loss could prompt outrage and violence by the majority of voters. It's sad how pundits never mention or ask how the majority would react to a third Electoral College win by the popular vote loser. Talk about a threat to our democratic system!
Denise Elsner was adamant:
David, have you forgotten the egregious election interference of Bush v Gore? Not buttressed by clear findings of criminal wrongdoing and the plain directives of the Constitution, but a SCOTUS that willy-nilly decided an election by stating that some votes must not be counted? This current case is clear as water in comparison. Yet many get the vapors in thinking that jurists might decide to use the Constitution to enforce the freaking law. Has the country, along with its media and pundits, gone completely starkers?
Let the MAGAmanics commit political turmoil. We've got a democracy to protect and nurture and pass onto future citizens. If Trump gets on the ballot and wins fair and square, only then will I conclude that our system is ill-equipped to confront such a profound threat. Meanwhile, we have to turn our attention to the details of carrying out a fair election: the casting and counting of ballots. We are going to see new and troublesome challenges to those two fundamentals of democracy coming from the MAGA crowd. and we better have a well-trained army to protect the fundamentals from all the cheating that is sure to come.
Readers also emailed to report they enjoyed reading the story of Mother Jones (the person) and Sen. John Kern (D-Ind.), who collaborated in 1913 to help West Virginia coal miners break up the peonage system imposed by the coal barons. Cathy Crawford wrote: Wow! What a story! I am casting the series in my mind right now. Thanks for a very compelling piece today. My ancestral labor hackles are up now. Jack DePue noted:
Another example of that is the movie Matewan about the Mingo County Coal Field Wars. It's brutal in several ways but brings to life the problems Mother Jones stood against. I used to show it to my high school social studies classes.
That was a great film, directed by John Sayles. Its story takes place seven years after the episode I recounted. Here’s the trailer. And check out the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. |
Many readers responded to my request to add to my Cracked Christmas playlist. I’ll be sharing those recommendations next holiday season. Steve Terrell sent in what he called “the most warped Xmas song ever.” And he might be right: |
“It’s a new year. Are you going to keep going with this feature?” “Moxie, it’s one of the most popular parts of the newsletter.” “What’s my cut?” “A new bag of dried cow lungs?” “Deal.” |
Read Recent Issues of Our Land |
January 9, 2024: Two historic Dutch girls and today’s world; the creepy chaos of Leave the World Behind; the awesome creativity of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; and more.
January 3, 2024: A story of Mother Jones (the labor organizer) and a populist senator; Mark Levin, Joe Scarborough, and me; and more.
December 23, 2023: To disqualify or not disqualify Trump; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Michele Bachmann); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
December 19, 2023: A (cracked) Christmas playlist; the chances of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley; the return of Brad Parscale; and more.
December 16, 2023: Donald Trump, rubber, and glue; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Brenden Dilley); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
December 12, 2023: Who controls AI?; Nyad is a Rocky for the olds; Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Dave Alvin explore the borderland; and more.
December 9, 2023: Norman Lear: “I love liberty”; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Nikki Haley); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
December 5, 2023: Is a two-state solution still possible?: Less Than Zero is far from nothing; RIP, Shane MacGowan; and more.
December 2, 2023: It’s not too late for a Kissinger reckoning; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Linda Yaccarino); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more. |
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Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com. |
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