At the Iowa Republican caucuses on January 15, 2024 — the first in the nation to caucus or primary &mash; Donald Trump received 51% of the popular vote, Ron DeSantis was a distant second with a little over 21%, Nikki Haley was third with 19%. Vivek Ramaswamy approached 8% and Asa Hutchinson received less than 1%, but they've since dropped out. When Ramaswamy dropped out, he endorsed Trump. We can anticipate that some DeSantis or Haley voters will also vote Trump.
Trump supporters include both rich and poor people
A reminder:
Jamelle Bouie skeets today: "The Trump movement is both a movement of reactionary property owners and one of less advantaged people with an affective investment in the social order." That is, Trump supporters are both rich and poor. The rich are defending their money; the poor are defending their whiteness.
It's not an economic agenda, it's an anti-democracy agenda
More, though, they're attacking democracy. Whatever their personal character or intentions may be, that is the effect of their political choice. Parker Molloy has a good article today: We Really Don't Have to "Understand" Trump Voters Anymore: This isn't 2016 or 2020. It's 2024. We know who they are. (The Present Age, January 16, 2024):
"Empathy is vital in a divided society," Molloy grants, "but recognizing when choices breach ethical and democratic norms is equally important. The 2024 landscape has shifted dramatically. We're not just dealing with voters disenchanted by the perceived political establishment." Today's debate over Trump is about "endorsing a candidate whose tenure and post-presidential period are marred by unprecedented assaults on democratic institutions, numerous criminal investigations, and a proven track record of fostering division" and "comprehending why they [his supporters] continue to back someone who has repeatedly compromised the very essence of democracy." Trump supporters, Molloy continues, "are opting for a candidate whose actions consistently demonstrate a disregard for the rule of law and democratic principles. Supporting Trump after all that has transpired is an implicit endorsement of these actions and an acceptance of an America fundamentally incompatible with democratic values."
"What ongoing support for Trump represents," Molloy says, is something "beyond mere political preference" and isn't solely based on "someone’s economic situation or dissatisfaction with politics." The nature of the choice has changed. So, "we don’t need to understand this choice anymore. Instead, we must recognize it for what it is: a threat to the fundamental principles of democracy and to the very idea of America itself." Today, we need to "acknowledg[e] the consequences of their choice."
See this weird campaign behavior
Ramaswamy, endorsing Trump, is suddenly telling everyone else to stop running, even though he himself was running against Trump until January 15.
Vivek Ramaswamy Wants Trump’s Rivals To Drop Out Of The 2024 GOP Primary: “I think Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley would actually, at this point, do this country and this party a service by stepping aside,” the former GOP presidential candidate said. Marita Vlachou, HuffPost, Jan 17, 2024
Nikki Haley wants to be on a debate stage with Trump. It is mathematically possible she could pull into a close second place in time for a debate, but knowing what we know about the phenomenon of Trumpism, she's not going to outplace him by normal campaign tactics (like a good "debate" performance). She may be able to take the Republican nomination if Trump were to swiftly very go to jail (though realistically his criminal indictments are moving so slowly that they won't outpace the party nomination timeline), or even the presidency if a Trump–Haley ticket were elected in November and then (perhaps shortly before the election or at some point after the election or inauguration) Trump were to go to jail.
However, the New Hampshire primary election will come a week later, and there, Haley and Trump are each polling at 40%, with DeSantis effectively not a contender at 4%.
Anyhow, whatever Haley is thinking, ABC says there's no point having any more Republican debates:
ABC Calls Off Next GOP Debate After Nikki Haley Says She Won't Appear Without Trump: “The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden," Haley said. Nick Visser, HuffPost, Jan 16, 2024
And Trump, of course, is being racist toward Haley, calling her by a name she doesn't use, solely for the purpose of "othering" her:
Trump attacks Haley while referring to her by her first name Nimarata, Kate Sullivan, CNN, January 17, 2024
On January 24, 2024, following his victory over Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary the day before, he posted to Truth Social: “Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain [Nikki Haley], from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them..."
In Haley's January 31 radio appearance:
"'If that whole state says, 'We don't want to be part of America anymore,' I mean, that's their decision to make,' Haley said, though she also noted, 'Let's talk about what's reality. Texas isn't going to secede.'
Asked if she still believes that states generally have the right to secede, a sentiment she expressed on camera during her initial run for governor of South Carolina, Haley said that 'states have the right to make the decisions that their people want to make.'"
She walked it back, just as a few weeks earlier she'd walked back her claim that the Civil War was about “the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do.”
Steve Bannon's agenda
Conor Lynch writes for Salon (Jan 20), in "The Supreme Court looks set to make Steve Bannon's dream come true," that Trump, shortly before Biden was elected in 2020,"signed an executive order known as 'Schedule F,' which would have stripped civil service protections from tens or even hundreds of thousands of employees had it been implemented. ...[this] was an overt attempt to politicize the bureaucracy. It would have empowered the president to easily purge the civil service of any senior or mid-level officials deemed politically suspect or insufficiently loyal.
Today Schedule F has more or less become doctrine on the right. ... All the major Republican presidential candidates have promised to reinstate some version of the executive order, which President Biden rescinded upon entering office. Indeed, most candidates have even tried to outdo Trump in both their policies and rhetoric.
The supposed 'moderate' in the race, former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador under Trump, Nikki Haley, has put forward an even more radical plan than Schedule F that would not just strip civil service protections but introduce five-year term limits for all positions in the federal workforce — from air traffic controllers and public health inspectors to park rangers and Social Security administrators. As Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell notes, this would effectively 'destroy the basic machinery of government' — which might just be the point."
Canadians are saying
Already, "49 percent of Canadians believe the U.S. is becoming an authoritarian state," and 64 percent believe that "U.S. democracy cannot survive another four years of Donald Trump." (thenewcivilrightsmovement.com) The poll was conducted January 9–11, 2024.
He knows he's an outlaw
HuffPost tries out this message:
Right-wing agents have funding
"This Pa. activist is the source of false and flawed election claims gaining traction across the country," Carter Walker, Votebeat, Philly Inquirer
He's being mentored
"Viktor Orbán is taking his blueprint on dismantling democracy to Mar-a-Lago.
The Hungarian prime minister first won power through a democratic election, then proceeded to weaken the institutions of that democracy by eroding the legal system, firing civil servants, politicizing business, attacking the press and intimidating opposition parties and demagoguing migration.
Former President Donald Trump has left no doubt that he’d try something similar in the United States if he wins a second term – so the presumptive GOP nominee will presumably be eager to compare notes when he hosts Orbán in Florida on Friday.
The prime minister isn’t meeting Biden administration officials. (A Biden administration official told CNN’s Betsy Klein that no invitation for a meeting between the current US president and Hungarian leader was extended.) Instead, he’s choosing to meet the man he hopes will again be US president next year. The two men have a long history of mutual admiration. The fact that one of Trump’s first moves since becoming presumptive GOP nominee this week is to meet a European autocrat speaks volumes."
— "Orbán meeting offers preview of Trump’s 2nd-term strongman idealizations," Stephen Collinson, CNN, March 8, 2024
And this:
"'He's Looking For Dictatorship': Joe Biden Rips Viktor Orbán's Mar-A-Lago Visit: The U.S. president's remarks arrived on the same day that his predecessor praised the autocratic Hungarian leader as 'fantastic.'" Ben Blanchet, HuffPost, Mar 9, 2024
Also:
"Ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Beschloss sounded the alarm in an interview on MSNBC when he said: 'We could be a dictatorship next year if Donald Trump is elected and carries through on his threat to suspend the Constitution.'"
— Lee Moran, HuffPost, March 8, 2024
More:
"[On October 23, 2024,] NBC News presidential historian and author Michael Beschloss warned voters to “all be really vigilant and really sleep with one eye open” when it comes to former President Donald Trump and the 2024 election result if he loses."
— Lee Moran, HuffPost, October 23, 2024
Behavior
"...a fundraiser for the Johnson County GOP featured an effigy of President Joe Biden that attendees could pay to physically assault.
Video...shows people punching, kicking and swinging a bat at a Biden mannequin wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” shirt.
“This booth was hosted by a Karate school to promote their self defense class,” Maria Holiday, who chairs the Johnson County Republican Party, told The Kansas City Star.
Video of people kicking the Biden dummy was uploaded to the video platform Rumble, but later deleted."
— A Kansas GOP Fundraiser Let People Kick And Punch A Biden Effigy, The attacks on the Biden mannequin were later condemned by some state GOP officials. David Moye, Mar 11, 2024
"Trump’s proposals are terrifying. But they’re also remarkably incoherent. What’s most striking in the interview is that Trump, even after four years as president, has virtually no grasp on any policy issue beyond empty talking points, most of which are lies. When asked how he will implement his plans, he waffles, obfuscates, and delivers a stream of non sequitur boasts about how great he is or about how other people have said that he’s great. He lies all the time, but many of his statements on core policy issues are so garbled and gassy they don’t even qualify as lies. It’s like interacting with a chatbot programmed by a fascist parrot.
Trump’s blank, aggressive ignorance shouldn’t be a comfort. He has shown, over and over, that incompetence doesn’t have to undermine evil intent; often it can exacerbate it. He offers a vision of a presidency of cruelty and violence disavowed as it occurs, with every abuse of power accompanied by a vague flurry of denials and endless self-hagiography. Trump promises us, over and over, that he will do harm, and that he will learn nothing."
— He's not even trying to hide it Trump's Time Magazine interview exposes a malevolent fool. NOAH BERLATSKY, publicnotice.co, May 2, 2024
There's A GOP Plan For An Execution Spree If Trump Wins The White House: Buried on page 554 of the plan is a directive to execute every remaining person on federal death row — and dramatically expand the use of the death penalty. Jessica Schulberg, HuffPost, May 9, 2024
Liberal pundits operating in the "applaud me for being sympathetic to Trump voters' grievances w/elite liberalism" genre should admit to this much: They're being unfair to liberal voters, who never get this solicitude, and they're ostrich-like in their refusal to grapple with the dark side of MAGA.
— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) May 28, 2024 at 10:54 AM
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‘Georgia Is Our Laboratory’: Inside Trump’s Plan to Rig 2024: Team Trump sees Georgia as ‘a road map’ for putting Trump’s heads-I-win-tails-you-lose philosophy of elections into practice. ADAM RAWNSLEY, ASAWIN SUEBSAENG, Rolling Stone, June 8, 2024
In June 2024, Republicans gathered on Capitol Hill to strategize behind closed doors. Parker Molloy points out that this AP article "reads like something the Trump campaign would have sent out": Cheers, cake and a fist-bump from GOP as Trump returns to Capitol Hill in a first since Jan. 6 riot, Lisa Mascaro, June 13, 2024
not very subtle
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.bsky.social) Jun 23, 2024 at 9:48 AM
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July 10, 2024: Stacey Abrams writes that swing voters need to be told that "a Trump presidency would bring more crackdowns on access to abortion and even contraception, and that the failed real estate maven will not tackle the housing crisis. That Trump’s economic plan and promised tariffs would reignite inflation and risk a major recession. He will cost us jobs again, not create them."
July 16, 2024: These Republicans use violent rhetoric. They are featured speakers at the RNC. Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby. Popular Information. July 16, 2024.
Scoop: Ann Vandersteel, a far-right conspiracy theorist podcaster, hosted an online forum for Republican election denier candidates running for supervisors of elections in counties throughout Florida & endorsed them. The candidates then touted her endorsement. www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-...
— Alex Kaplan (@alkapdc.bsky.social) Jul 26, 2024 at 11:12 AM
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At a July 26, 2024 event, Trump told a Christian crowd in Florida
"to vote 'just this time' and claimed they 'won’t have to do it anymore' after the election in November.
'Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore,' the GOP presidential nominee told the crowd at the conservative Turning Point Action event in Florida."
— Trump Tells Crowd They 'Won't Have To Vote' Again After Election In Bizarre Remarks Ben Blanchet, HuffPost, Jul 27, 2024
Trumps words are so impenetrable. If only we had some direct evidence of how he’d actually react to an election that didn’t go his way.
— Seth Masket (@smotus.bsky.social) Jul 27, 2024 at 9:09 AM
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"Get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It'll be fixed, it'll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore....In four years, you don’t have to vote again." He said it. Take it seriously.
— Benjamin Dreyer (@bcdreyer.bsky.social) Jul 26, 2024 at 9:05 PM
"Taking it seriously would mean doing what?" I don't know, Tillie. Why don't you try sitting on your hands.
— Benjamin Dreyer (@bcdreyer.bsky.social) Jul 26, 2024 at 9:15 PM
Speaking at a gathering of religious conservatives, Donald Trump said if he's reelected, Christian-related concerns will be "fixed" so much so that they would no longer need to be politically engaged.
— NPR (@npr.org) Jul 27, 2024 at 12:29 PM
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That's an odd way to spell "promised to abolish democracy so that no 2028 would even happen." Because we all know that's what he meant, and pretending otherwise is being complicit in his lies.
— Rob MacWolf, Werewolf Hitchhiker (@robmacwolf.bsky.social) Jul 27, 2024 at 1:23 PM
Donald Trump, in an interview on Fox News, brushed aside multiple requests to walk back or clarify his statement that Christians will never have to vote again if they vote for him this November.
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) Jul 30, 2024 at 10:02 AM
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Also, he's wanted this since 2018:
"U.S. President Donald Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping Saturday after the ruling Communist party announced it was eliminating the two-term limit for the presidency, paving the way for Xi to serve indefinitely, according to audio aired by CNN.
'He's now president for life, president for life. And he's great,' Trump said, according to audio of excerpts of Trump's remarks at a closed-door fundraiser in Florida aired by CNN. 'And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday,' Trump said to cheers and applause from supporters." (David Shepardson, Reuters, March 3, 2018)
Jason Sattler, "Trump's superpower is plausible deniability," Jul 27, 2024:
In case you missed the last eight years:
Trump, with the help of amoral and soulless allies, evaded any lasting consequences for his obvious and growing conspiracy with Vladimir Putin, which he fired his campaign manager to hide in 2016 and his National Security Advisor for the same reason in 2017 and his Attorney General for the same reason in 2018.
He has now normalized that abominable conspiracy to the point the press refuses to even cover it as the moral outrage and treachery that it remains.
We now all are expected to just graciously accept that the Republican nominee for president is not only holding an American reporter hostage with Putin, but he is also essentially promising to pull America out of NATO and surrender Ukraine to a despot who has sent brutal hordes to rape and pillage that nation for no reason other than the pleasure of his power.
And Trump did it by conjuring up the repetition of two words: “dossier” and “collusion.”
Please listen to the episode if you want to know what I mean.
August 2024
Opinion by Jamelle Bouie, "Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss," NYT, Aug. 13, 2024:
"Trump’s Republican Party is a paradigmatically “hollow” party, according to the argument laid out by the political scientists Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld in “The Hollow Parties: the Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics.” For all its activity, a hollow party “demonstrates fundamental incapacities in organizing democracy.” Its zombielike commitment to tax cuts and deregulation notwithstanding, the Republican Party from this vantage point is little more than “a personal vehicle for Trump’s vendettas and fantasies.” It offers nothing to the public, they observe, “besides praise for its leader.”
* * *
The anticlimactic truth is that in the wake of a third Trump nomination and a second Trump defeat, the Republican Party would simply stumble along, stuck in his orbit and too weighed down by his gravitational pull to escape."
Also:
"Trump and his criminal cohort attempted a coup in 2020 that was unpunished, allowing him free to run again. This is the first time this has happened in world history — even Hitler went to prison in between his putsch and presidency — but US social scientists express little interest in the social and political conditions that made this disaster possible.
No officials are telling the US public how their right to vote will be protected: particularly with militias pledging violence, Trump lackeys vowing not to certify Democratic wins, and the decision possibly going to SCOTUS, which has granted Trump immunity and will almost certainly rule in his favor.
It is likely that Harris will win the election — both the popular vote and the electoral college — but that does not mean she will get to be president."
— Distant Vibes: Welcome to the era of the No Information Voter. Sarah Kendzior, Substack, Aug 18, 2024
September 2024
On Sept 7, Trump wrote:
"The 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again."
CNN transcript:
Pamela Brown, CNN: "Last election, you were one of the lawmakers who voted to not certify Biden's victory. If Trump loses, and every state certifies the results of their election, will you accept a peaceful transfer of power?"
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma): "You know, it's hard to say what you're gonna do, what you're not...
He suggests that the federal government might get involved if it doesn't approve of the state's election rules."
He tells us what he's going to do: "At this point, it doesn't matter if the Republicans win or the Democrats win — both parties are probably gonna cry foul." Of course, he is the person empowered to cry foul. He's telling us he'll cry foul even if the Democrats win.
Pamela Brown: "You are not willing to accept the results of this next election, even if every state certifies — "
Markwayne Mullin: "I didn't say that. I said I'm going to look at it. I'll take it by case. Absolutely. I'll look at it. I have no issues with looking at it. I'm gonna look at it. But I'm not gonna sit here and tell you what I'm gonna do and not gonna do until I can see the results."
CNN video clip posted by Aaron Rupar on Threads, September 13, 2024
also earlier listening to dean spade on democracy in this great convo
— Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagiragrant.com) September 25, 2024 at 9:22 AM
[image or embed]On October 6, 2024, Sen. Tom Cotton wouldn't say Trump lost in 2020. The same day, Michael Cohen told Jen Psaki: "What he [Trump] says, he intends to do, and when he turns around and says...that he intends to use Seal Team Six or the military within which to round up his critics or his opponents, he intends to do it."
HuffPost, Oct 2024:
"Former President Donald Trump kept in touch with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Trump left office, according to “War,” a new book by famed reporter Bob Woodward...'According to Trump’s aide, there have been multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin, maybe as many as seven in the period since Trump left the White House in 2021,' Woodward wrote."
On Oct 25, 2024, HuffPost is reporting that Elon Musk is talking to Putin too.
On Fox on October 13, 2024:
“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people who are destroying our country ... I don’t think they’re the problem in terms of Election Day,” the Republican presidential nominee said. “I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics.”
“And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military,” he continued. “Because they can’t let that happen.”
He also said that he doesn’t foresee any political tumult coming from his own supporters on Election Day, telling Bartiromo, “No, I don’t think so. Not from the side that votes for Trump.”
Bret Baier on Fox interviewed Kamala Harris on October 16. She wanted to talk about Trump's comments about the "enemy within." Bret Baier played a clip of Trump speaking that didn't include that phrase. Later he said he'd played the wrong clip mistakenly.
By the way, who's the "enemy within"? Republican leaders disagree with each other.
Security clearances
An internal memo from those closest to Donald Trump puts forth a plan for the former president to "bypass traditional background checks" and give appointees "immediate access to classified secrets after taking office," according to Maggie Haberman of the New York Times. THIS IS NOT NORMAL OR OK.
— Gvnzng aka Victor (@gvnzng.bsky.social) October 27, 2024 at 2:52 PM
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"Go wild": RFK Jr. claims Trump promised him "control" of CDC and federal health care agencies: Kennedy claims that he endorsed Trump after being offered a powerful position overseeing health agencies, Nicholas Liu, Salon, October 30, 2024
Donald Trump's troubling outreach efforts: Post-election staffing plans signal a dark takeover: A look at the people who Trump has given a seat at his table, Heather Digby Parton, Salon, October 30, 2024
Donald Trump Claims 'Nobody's Going To Feel It' When Elon Musk Slashes Government This comes as Musk, a billionaire backer of Trump's presidential bid, says that giant budget cuts would create “temporary hardship” for the country. Arthur Delaney, HuffPost, Oct 30, 2024
I hope federally funded scientists are preparing for large scale, bad faith attacks by Musk and his troll army. It’s pretty clear the DOGE operation is going to take snippets of grant proposals and papers, present them out of context, and direct weaponized harassment of individual people.
— Alex Wild (@alexwild.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 11:16 AMThis is an old tactic by creationists, climate deniers, and other dishonest movements that see modern science for the public good as a threat to their wealth. But in 2024 they have an information machine and thousands of extremist foot soldiers (like the Proud Boys) to intimidate targets.
— Alex Wild (@alexwild.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 11:16 AMIn facing these attacks, I would not descend into details when defending science, except in certain media environments with educated audiences. That is confusing, and prone to Gish Gallop counter attacks. Don’t go on the defensive. Go on the offensive.
— Alex Wild (@alexwild.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 11:16 AMElon Musk takes far more federal dollars with far less oversight than any of the public scientists facing attacks. People who come under attack should respond by making sure anyone listening knows how much federal money Musk makes, and how he shields it from scrutiny.
— Alex Wild (@alexwild.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 11:16 AMIf you lead with a defense of your science, no matter how good, you’ve already lost. You’ve allowed Musk to define the terms of conflict. To the extent you can, recast the terms. Musk is a massive part of government waste, and he is trying to grab more of the pie for himself with these attacks.
— Alex Wild (@alexwild.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 11:20 AMThis is a simpler argument, much easier for listeners to grasp than you trying to explain the rationale for your work. And it is also true.
— Alex Wild (@alexwild.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 11:23 AM'Hey, you can’t do this': Expert blows hole in Musk and Ramaswamy's big plans Tom Boggioni, Raw Story, November 24, 2024
Elon Musk's SpaceX and Amazon are trying to claim that a crucial agency is unconstitutional — and it could deal a major blow to workers' rights
— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) November 27, 2024 at 10:56 AM
[image or embed]A major “blow” to workers rights is a fucking understatement. It would literally end all labor protections and enforcement of such protections. All labor unions would effectively be null and void. The NLRB is what gives them legal legitimacy.
— Pita Skeeter. (@iwpj.bsky.social) November 27, 2024 at 10:59 AM
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