Daily Archives: February 7, 2022

Donald Trump has made clear time and time again that, in his view, the worst thing that can happen to a person is to be judged a loser. In the 2020 presidential election he was, in fact, a loser, but his narcissism and the incredibly fragile self-esteem that undergirds it wont allow him to accept that reality. He has spent the past 15 months attempting to overthrow the election in an effort to make himself the winner and, after that effort failed, rewriting the narrative, portraying himself as a victim of THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY.

Almost every public comment Trump makes these days is focused on the election. Americas 45th president said in a statement last week that his vice president, Mike Pence, should have overturned the election. In a speech, he indicated that if he were to become president again, hed likely pardon the people who on January 6, 2021, violently stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of the election, part of his ongoing effort to turn insurrectionists and those charged with seditious conspiracy into martyrs. He also warned that he would incite unrest if prosecutors who are investigating him and his businesses took action against him.

Trumps mind has no room to entertain any other thoughts, at least not for long. His defeat is his obsession; it has pulled him into a deep, dark place. He wants to pull the rest of us into it as well.

I discuss Trump in psychological terms because I have said for a half-dozen yearsand previously in these pagesthat the most important thing to understand about Trump is his disordered personality; its the only way to even begin to think about how to deal with him. (Im not the only person to think that.)

Trump seems unable to incorporate anything critical about himself, hence his need to create an imaginary world in which he really won the 2020 election but was the victim of a conspiracy that borders on intergalactic. Hes performed a moral inversion in which the supporters who stormed the Capitol are the true patriots; they, like he, are being unfairly persecuted. They are the defenders of democracy; the people who are holding them accountable are the enemies of America.

Another reason Trumps mindset matters is that millions of his followerspassionate, committed, incensed, aggrieved, and absolutely sure they are right and righteoushave entered his hall of mirrors. To understand the GOP, one must understand Trump. Its true that his hold on the party has weakened some since he left office; that was inevitable. But he is still far and away the dominant figure in the GOP and, at this juncture at least, its mostly likely presidential nominee in 2024. As Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times put it, the Republican Party is very much still Mr. Trumps, transforming his lies about a stolen 2020 election into an article of faith, and even a litmus test that he is seeking to impose on the 2022 primaries with the candidates he backs. He is the partys most coveted endorser, its top fund-raiser and the polling front-runner for the 2024 presidential nomination.

The Trump era has conditioned many in the Republican Party to think like he doesand those who dont are too afraid to speak out against his malicious transgressions. Even Republican Senator Susan Collins of Mainewho voted to impeach Trump, who represents a blue state, who isnt up for reelection for four years, and who clearly views Trump as a threat to American democracybobbed and weaved when she was asked if she would support Trump in 2024. The proper response would have been: of course not!

As if to prove that the GOP is now an instrument of Trumps obsession, late last week Republican leaders meeting in Salt Lake City censured Representative Adam Kinzinger and Representative Liz Cheney because of their work on the January 6 committee. The Republican National Committee also announced that it would fund Cheneys primary opponent.

Cheney and Kinzinger engaged in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse, the Republican National Committees chair, Ronna McDaniel, said. McDaniels words were echoed in the censure, which accused Cheney and Kinzinger of participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.

Even in a Trump-led party, it is stunning that Republican leaders would seek to whitewash a violent attack on the Capitol to overturn a presidential election. This is not just moral degradation; it is moral nihilism.

McDaniels insistence, after a great deal of blowback, that legitimate political discourse referred only to nonviolent protesters isnt convincing. For one thing, there is no persecutionto use the language from the RNC resolutionby the January 6 congressional committee aimed at people who gathered peacefully before the assault on the Capitol. For another, Trumps dangling of a pardon could apply only to those who were arrested for attacking the Capitol. And in a resolution in which the events of January 6 were central, the RNC did not see fit to say a single critical word about the violent mob that stormed the Capitol. That is itself quite telling.

Amanda Carpenter, who once worked for Senator Ted Cruz, put it well: The fact the RNC is censuring Cheney and Kinzinger for investigating January 6 and not condemning Trump for causing January 6 is absolutely demented.

Even The Wall Street Journal editorial page felt compelled to issue this warning: Republicans should not get within 10 miles of defending the Capitol riot. What is to be gained by the RNCs indulgence of President Trumps vendettas? The answer, of course, is that they may be true believersand even if they arent, they understand, perhaps better than The Journals editorial writers, what MAGA world is demanding.

To put this indulgence in perspective, contrast the behavior of the Republican Party in the United States with the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. As Mark Landler, the Times London-bureau chief, has noted, Tory members of Parliament have been far more critical of Prime Minister Boris Johnsonwho didnt incite an attack on the House of Commons but did host drinking parties during lockdownthan Republicans have been critical of Trump. The Tory party understands the distinction between partisan loyalty and craven, unpatriotic fealty; the Republican Party does not.

Ive sensed lately that some people on the rightindividuals who defended Trump at virtually every turn in his presidency but knew privately, deep in their heart, that they had made moral accommodations they werent proud ofwish the rest of us would just move on from Trump. Media coverage of the former president brings to the foreground the cost of their Faustian bargain.

Shortly after the election, some of us tried to move on. But unfortunately, Trump and MAGA world had something different in mindundermining trust in our elections, storming the Capitol, propagating malicious and destructive lies. There is now an entire media industryRight Wing Inc.built around the distorted and disturbed mind of Donald J. Trump.

A wise conservative friend of mine who is a critic of the left recently told me, At the elite level, the Republican Party is much worse than the Democratic Party when it comes to the health of American democracy. It is led by, and defined by, Trump, who wants to attack our institutions at every level.

So he does, and so he has. Trump was dangerous, his mind disordered, before; hes more dangerous, his mind more disordered, now. Hes obsessed and enraged, consumed by vengeance, and moving us closer to political violence. His behavior needs attention not because of the past but because of the future. A second Trump term would make the first one look like a walk in the park.

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Trump Is Obsessed With Being a Loser - The Atlantic

A memoir by the former defense secretary, Mark T. Esper, about his tenure in the Trump administration will be published with minimal redactions after he sued the agency he once led because it wanted to block information in the manuscript, his lawyer said on Friday.

The announcement brought an end to a battle between Mr. Esper and the Defense Department over what material was considered classified and therefore could not be included in his book, titled A Sacred Oath, which is set to be published in May.

Mr. Esper, who was fired by former President Donald J. Trump shortly after he lost re-election in the 2020 race, sued the Department of Defense in November, accusing agency officials of improperly blocking parts of his book under the guise of classification.

Mr. Espers lawyer, Mark S. Zaid, said in a statement on Friday that they had dropped the lawsuit after the Pentagon reversed its decisions about an overwhelming majority of the portions of the book that it had earlier said were classified.

Mr. Zaid said Mr. Esper thought that the remaining redactions to the book were also improper but that they were not central to the book.

Frankly, Secretary Esper has no interest in publishing properly classified information, which he has sworn to and protected for decades, Mr. Zaid said in the statement.

The Defense Department did respond directly to a request for comment about the end of the lawsuit.

There are no changes to the Departments prepublication security and policy review, it said on Saturday. The purpose of Department of Defense prepublication security and policy review is to ensure information damaging to the national security is not inadvertently disclosed.

In the departments prepublication review of Mr. Espers manuscript, it redacted more than 50 pages of the book that absolutely gutted substantive content and important story lines, Mr. Zaid said. This included accounts of some of Mr. Espers interactions with Mr. Trump and his views on actions taken by other countries, according to the lawsuit.

The prepublication review system is meant to stop current and former employees of the executive branch from sharing information that is classified and could damage national security if released, but Mr. Esper was not the first Trump administration official to encounter trouble during the process.

In 2020, a career official who oversaw the prepublication review of a book by John R. Bolton, a national security adviser in the Trump administration, accused White House aides of improperly politicizing the manuscript review.

Numerous inquiries. Since former President Donald Trumpleft office, there have been many investigations and inquiries into his businesses and personal affairs. Heres a list of those ongoing:

Investigation into criminal fraud. The Manhattan district attorneys office and the New York attorney generals officeare investigating whether Mr. Trump or his family business, the Trump Organization, engaged in criminal fraud by intentionally submitting false property values to potential lenders.

Investigation into tax evasion. As part of their investigation, in July 2021, the Manhattan district attorneys office charged the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with orchestrating a 15-year scheme to evade taxes.A trial in that case is scheduled for summer 2022.

Mr. Zaid said that review process was broken because of the time and money required to challenge the decisions in court and because ultimately the department reversed its position on an overwhelming majority of classification decisions it earlier asserted were so vital to the national security interests of the United States, when the fact is they never were.

Mr. Esper submitted a draft of the manuscript for the review process in late May, and came to believe the process was taking an unusually long time, according to the lawsuit. The Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review returned the manuscript in October without a written explanation for the deletions, the lawsuit said.

Mr. Esper said that some of the redactions asked me to not quote former President Trump and others in meetings, to not describe conversations between the former president and me, and to not use certain verbs or nouns when describing historical events.

I was also asked to delete my views on the actions of other countries, on conversations I held with foreign officials, and regarding international events that have been widely reported, Mr. Esper continued. Many items were already in the public domain; some were even published by D.O.D.

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Esper Memoir of Trump Tenure to Move Ahead After Legal Battle Ends - The New York Times

Jason Miller, the ex-senior adviser of the former US President Donald Trump spoke to WION on a range of issues, including the Biden administration, the current coronavirus (COVID-19) situation in the United States.

Amid the escalating border situation between Russia and Ukraine, Miller also commented on Joe Biden's take on the Ukraine crisis and the stance that the US has taken on the conflict.

Question)Donald Trump has said he may consider a pardon for the capitol hill rioters if he returns to office does that mean he is most definitely running in 2024 or is it still a maybe?

Answer)That's with regard to people he believes were treated unfairly and did not commit any truly illegal or violent activity. Of course, if somebody assaulted law enforcement or if they created to damage or did something to assault or hurt another person.

Obviously, they should be fully prosecuted.

Even though there has not been a formal decision yet, I am pretty confident that Trump does run again in 2024. Many people would say they think there would be a rematch but I don't think Joe Biden runs again in 2024.

My prediction is it would be Trump versus California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024.

Question)If and when Donald Trump does run for president in 2024, what would be the main focus of his campaign?

Answer)First would be to try to restore some of the American greatness that he was able to lead us toward in his first term. I would say that Trump is by far the most consequential single-term president in US history.

I have advised President Trump that he needs to make sure his relationship with Quad Allies in particular with India needs to be much stronger than it was in his first term. I do think they improved during his first term but they could be stronger especially when we look at this common concern with China.

ALSO READ |Ex-Trump adviser speaks to WION on reports that some White House records were torn up and taped back

Question)We are talking at a time when Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc across the United States. The US in fact has a far higher Covid death rate than other wealthy countries how would you grade the Biden administration's handling of the Covid-19 crisis?

Answer)Joe Biden ran on a promise to effectively end Covid-19 and we have seen anything but that. We have not seen our stockpiles restored. We are just now starting to get to the point where at-home testing kits are being sent out. No efforts by the US to hold the CCP in China accountable. That's one of the things where I am most frustrated with the Biden administration for not taking stronger action in seeking some aspect of economicreparations.

China and the CCP allowed this virus to spread all over the world and they lied about it and covered it up.

Question)What do you make of the rhetoric we have seen coming in from Joe Biden on the Ukraine crisis and the stance that the US has taken on the conflict?

Answer)We are stuck in the middle ground here. Joe Biden does not exhibit the confidence or the strength to ward off Putin's aggression.

Much of Putin's strategy is to rally his domestic base. Do I think ultimately Putin will go and try to take over all of Ukraine? No. Do I think he wants to try to slow nato or even EU expansion? Absolutely.

But the problem is with Joe Biden exhibiting such weakness on the global stage and having a lack of real international dialogue with Putin, it's allowed Putin to essentially be emboldened.

The major threat, the real concern in the global geopolitical space is I think it's a matter of when and not if china takes over Taiwan.

And I think that's something that's going to be a massive shock for the entire Indo-Pacific theatre. President xi is watching Biden's weakness in dealing with Putin and I think is probably emboldened to make that move against the island nation.

China is an existential threat not just to the US but to democracies around the world.

Watch the full interview here:

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Ex-Donald Trump adviser Jason Miller weighs in on Biden administration, Covid crisis in US, and more - WION

What? You didnt even know about it? Dont worry. Youre not alone. Almost nobody, except for the most die-hard Trump supporters, heard about it ahead of time.Like his earlier MAGA event on Jan.16 inArizona,Trumps Texas rallywas one of the best-kept secrets in American politics.

Of course, the faithful turned out in big numbers.But thats all.Trump wassimply preaching to the choir. You couldnt watch it on TV, either. None of the networks carriedthe rallylive. Neither did CNN or MSNBC. Not even Fox News. Only Fox Nation, the streaming service, and Newsmax, the 24/7 Trump cable channel, bothered to air the rally. And, other than the Houston Chronicle, there was almost zero print coverage. No wonder. It was the same old crowd being fed the same old lies.

Isnt it comforting to know thatthere areat least three Republicanswho believe that assaulting a police officer doesnot merit a presidential pardon?

For the second time in two weeks,Donald Trump laid an egg.And thatshouldtell us something:The Trump show is getting old.Its like expecting people to still watch Dancing with the Stars.Yeah, it was fun at first, but it soon got old. So has Trump. Hesso yesterday. Hes only been out ofofficea year, yet everyday fewer and fewer people care about what he says or does anymore.Especially because he sounds like such a broken record.

Which leads to the obvious conclusion and, no matter what you think, its not just wishful thinkingon my partDONALD TRUMP IS RUNNING OUT OF GAS.

Thats clearto me for three reasons. First because,Trumpstill refuses to admit he lost in 2020. Which is a growing problem for Republicans. They say they want to focus on the future, yet they stick with Donald Trump, and hes stuck in the past. In Arizona and Texas, all he talked aboutwas:the election was stolen; Jan.6 wasnt all that bad; and people are picking on me.

And finally, Trump is more and more mired down in legal troubles he cant just wish away. Every day,the Jan.6 inches closer and closer to charging Trump himself, which the Justice Department may already be considering. New York Attorney General Letitia James has clearly intensified her investigation of the Trump organization. And a Georgia grand jurys been convened to investigate charges of election interference by Trump.

It wont be long beforethe majority ofRepublicans conclude that Donald Trump is more of a liability than an asset. In fact, he already is.

Press is host of The Bill Press Pod. He is author of From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.

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Press: Trump is running out of gas | TheHill - The Hill

WASHINGTON Two senators working on an overhaul of the little-known law that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn the 2020 election pledged on Sunday that their legislation would pass the Senate, saying that recent revelations about the plot made their work even more important.

In a joint interview on CNNs State of the Union, Senators Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said their efforts to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887 were gaining broader support in the Senate, with as many as 20 senators taking part in the discussions.

Absolutely, it will pass, Mr. Manchin said of an overhaul of the law, which dictates how Congress formalizes elections.

He said efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to exploit ambiguity in the law were what caused the insurrection the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. That misreading of the statute led to a plan by Mr. Trump and his allies to amass a crowd outside the Capitol to try to pressure Congress and Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over Congresss official count of electoral votes, to overturn the results of the election.

Ms. Murkowski said the rewrite could be expanded to include other protections for democracy, such as a crackdown on threats and harassment against election workers.

We want to make sure that if you are going to be an election worker, Ms. Murkowski said, you dont feel intimidated or threatened or harassed.

A bipartisan group of at least 15 senators which includes Mr. Manchin and Ms. Murkowski and is led by Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine recently began discussions with another group that features top Democrats who have studied the issue for months. That group includes Senator Angus King, independent of Maine; Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota; and Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.

Mr. Kings group last week released draft legislative text for a rewrite of the Electoral Count Act that would address deficiencies exposed by Mr. Trumps plan. The bill would clarify that the vice president has no power to reject a states electors and ensure that state legislatures cannot appoint electors after Election Day in an effort to overturn their states election results.

It would also give states additional time to complete legitimate recounts and litigation; provide limited judicial review to ensure that the electors appointed by a state reflect the popular vote results in the state; enumerate specific and narrow grounds for objections to electors or electoral votes; raise the thresholds for Congress to consider objections; and make it harder to sustain objections without broad support by both chambers of Congress.

In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. King called his groups draft very nonpartisan and said it included the input of conservative and liberal legal scholars.

Hopefully we can join forces and get a good bill, Mr. King said of Ms. Collinss group.

The latest push to clarify the law follows a series of revelations about a campaign by Mr. Trump and his allies to try to overturn the 2020 election, including the surfacing of memos that show the roots of the attempts to use so-called alternate electors to keep Mr. Trump in power and the former presidents exploration of proposals to seize voting machines.

On Friday, Mr. Pence offered his most forceful rebuke of Mr. Trumps plan, saying the former president was wrong to insist that Mr. Pence had the legal authority to overturn the results of the election. Those comments came on the same day the Republican National Committee voted to censure two members of the party, Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, in a resolution that described the events of Jan. 6 as legitimate political discourse.

Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger are the only Republican members of the special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, which left more than 150 police officers injured and resulted in several deaths.

The resolution drew criticism from some congressional Republicans on Sunday.

Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, said on ABCs This Week that he did not agree with that statement if its applying to those who committed criminal offenses and violence to overtake our shrine of democracy.

In an interview on NBCs Meet the Press, Marc Short, Mr. Pences former chief of staff, said that from my front-row seat, I did not see a lot of legitimate political discourse.

Mr. Short blamed Mr. Trumps push to overturn the election on many bad advisers who were basically snake-oil salesmen, giving him really random and novel ideas as to what the vice president could do.

He described being taken to a secure room in the Capitol with Mr. Pence on Jan. 6 as rioters stormed the building, some chanting, Hang Mike Pence. He said Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence did not talk that day.

Mr. Short and another top Pence aide, Greg Jacob, recently testified before the committee, a step Mr. Pences advisers have hoped would stop the committee from issuing a subpoena for Mr. Pence. Representatives of Mr. Pence have been negotiating with the committees lawyers for months.

That would be a pretty unprecedented step for the committee to take, Mr. Short said of a subpoena for the former vice president, adding that it would be very difficult for me to see that scenario unfolding.

Emily Cochrane and Chris Cameron contributed reporting.

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Overhaul of Electoral Count Act Will Pass, Manchin Says - The New York Times