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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Trump can roll the media, but he can't roll the courts [1]
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Date: 2023-03-27
x Why we’re still stuck in Trump’s world. The GOP electorate & the nature of the places they represent push party leaders toward timidity. Until they discover the fortitude to defy the incentives, Trump’s neuroses will dominate our politics.
My column
https://t.co/0XAbkolZD2 — EJ Dionne (@EJDionne) March 26, 2023
The collective coverage is still too credulous. For example:
Axios:
x On FTN, @costareports indicates the J6 special counsel probe may be zeroing in on a specific kind of abuse of power.
"Sources ... close to the grand jury [say] they're being asked—witnesses—about what kind of national security levers Trump was asking about in those final days." — Will Saletan (@saletan) March 26, 2023
And this otherwise pretty balanced AP piece:
Trump, facing potential indictment, holds defiant Waco rally Trump’s eyebrow-raising choice of venue in Waco for his first rally came amid the 30th anniversary of a 51-day standoff and deadly siege between U.S. law enforcement and the Branch Davidians that resulted in the deaths of more than 80 members of the religious cult and four federal agents and has become a touchstone for far-right extremists and militia groups. Trump’s campaign insisted the location and timing of the event had nothing to do with the Waco siege or anniversary. A spokesperson said the site, 17 miles from the Branch Davidian compound, was chosen because it was conveniently situated near four of the state’s biggest metropolitan areas — Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio — and has the infrastructure to handle a sizable crowd. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said before Trump’s arrival that he was the one who had suggested Waco as the venue. Any suggestion Trump had picked the city because of the anniversary was “fake news. I picked Waco!” he told the crowd.
We know why he picked Waco (I bolded it) and these excuses aren’t it.
x Gov Scott Walker of Florida is not doing well in the media primary these days
https://t.co/RaHT1ynWjO — Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) March 26, 2023
Here’s a surprisingly insightful article on Trump, Ron DeSantis, wrestling and politics, from Politico, a really good read:
How Pro Wrestling Explains Today’s GOP The battle between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump could split the party with surprising results, argues the author of a new book on Vince McMahon. “Wrestling,” writes [author Josie] Riesman, “has metastasized into the broader world, especially since the inauguration of the 45th president. There’s little difference between Trumpism and Vince’s neokayfabe, each with their infinite and indistinguishable layers of irony and sincerity. Each philosophy approaches life with one goal: to remake reality in such a way as to defeat one’s enemies and sate one’s insecurities.” Perhaps even more apropos, Riesman offers a fresh way to consider current dramas, especially within the Republican Party, including the most compelling conflict — Trump versus Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Many observers of politics tend to think about candidates who are at odds in terms of lanes, but at this point it might be more useful, Riesman suggests, to think in terms of roles: heroes and villains — in industry lingo, faces and heels — and the fluidity of such positioning within the twists and turns of storylines that can see similar combatants giving rise to new contestants and surprising results…. Kruse: It pays to be the heel just as much or maybe even more than it pays to be “the face.” Riesman: Oh, I would say much more. Being the face [the good guy] doesn’t pay because you’re always going to have another side that reflexively hates you. You’re not going to win over the other side. Whereas if you’re a heel, you have one side loving you, and the other side you’re profiting off their hatred. It’s the only way to actually make it now.
x The predictable decline of desantis in the face of trump attacks is just the latest example of Republicans failing to engage in the power politics that would be necessary to actually contain the guy. DeSantis has continued the failure, but the time to start would have been 2016 — Pat Dennis (@patdennis) March 26, 2023
Another key difference is that Trump is shameless, and doesn't mind destroying his opponents and discarding them forever, whereas at some level DeSantis and others only apply that to libs. It helps in the GOP to be a sociopath when your opposition is not. They become afraid. Oh, and by the way, DeSantis isn’ t the heel (wrestling bad guy) Trump is.
x I have often talked about the power of "elite defections": how sustained nonviolent mass protest can encourage elites to make a stand against an illiberal leader. We are witnessing examples of this in Israel.
https://t.co/nPZFXhhVec — Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat) March 27, 2023
x התזמורת הפילהרמונית יצאה למחות נגד ההפיכה המשטרית pic.twitter.com/zQimJ36Yv8 — Iris Boker (@BokerIris) March 26, 2023
Translation: The Philharmonic Orchestra went out to protest against the coup d'état.
Robert P. Jones/Religion News Service:
Why a Trump indictment will matter so little to most of his Christian supporters Consider just a few of the public revelations and remarks by Trump since 2016 and how little they affected white evangelicals' loyalty to him. As we anticipate the potential indictment of a former president, the data suggests that even such an unprecedented event would have little impact on the support for Trump by white evangelical Protestants and other conservative white Christians.
Again, they love the heel.
x FIVE softball interviews and FIVE different answers from DeSantis.
But one thruline - he’s willing to side with Putin over democracy.
https://t.co/4wdYsvwLZ6 — Ammar Moussa (@ammarmufasa) March 25, 2023
Meanwhile in the news…
House Oversight Chair Laments That Joe Biden’s Dead Son Was Never Prosecuted
Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post:
Comer’s ‘oversight’ is focused on phony scandals Put in charge of a committee that Republicans have historically used to fan conspiracies and put their opponents on defense, Comer has gotten flak from his own side for failing to come up with much useful to his party. Voters are unimpressed and want the committee to get back to real issues. And Democrats have mocked his loony claims on everything from the Chinese balloon to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Outside right-wing media, these “scandals” don’t have much (such as facts) to recommend them. But a good deal of the problem lies with Comer.
Ukraine says Bakhmut situation is stabilising, Putin plays down tank shortage:
x I've been tracking the right for 15+ years, I know why the prospect of 4 indictments is only boosting Trump
It's a movement that only cares about avenging the people they hate - the people who hate Trump
America riding in the danger zone. My new column
https://t.co/QUbJ4bnIVZ — Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) March 26, 2023
This is unsurprising for those reading the news here, from Philips P. OBrien:
Weekend Update #21: A Defense of the Ukrainian Defense of Bakhmut The line hardly moves--a Culmination? Well, here we are back for another discussion of what is happening in Bakhmut. I hope this will be the last for a while, but considering the fascinating change in tone over the last week about what is/has happening/happened there, I thought it would be worth returning again to why I have always given the Ukrainian government/military the benefit of the doubt with their Bakhmut strategy, and why I believe that had they listened to those who were saying it was now a bad place to fight and should pull out, it would most likely have been extremely counterproductive.
An Interview With the School Board Chair Who Forced Out a Principal After Michelangelo’s David Was Shown in Class
Alexxa Gotthardt/Artsy.net:
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