Monthly Archives: May 2022

Its not clear what happened tonight to former President Donald Trump in the Georgia Republican primaries. Trump either got his butt kicked, his hat handed to him, or multiple eggs on his face. Or maybe he had to eat a flock of crows.

Either way, Georgia Republicans overwhelmingly rejected Trumps attempt to punish Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for refusing to help him steal Georgias electoral votes in 2020. After losing the state by just under 12,000 votes, Trump tried to ruin the careers of these two men, whose only sin was to follow the law dutifully despite his pressure to do the opposite. Instead of losing, both easily won renomination for their current offices against Trump-backed challengers David Perdue and Jody Hice, respectively. The Trump challengers' performance was, frankly, subpar.

Trump had not just given some sort of pro forma endorsements to Perdue and Hice. He went so far as to recruit Perdue, the former senator, to run against Kemp. Twice in the past three days, Trump repeated his endorsement of Perdue, again this morning in a rant against Kemp in which he asserted that David Perdue is a conservative fighter who has my Complete and Total Endorsement. (That's Trumps own capitalization.)

As I write this, with 95% of the expected vote counted, Kemp is shellacking Perdue 73% to 22%.

And Trump had been even more savage in his attacks on Raffensperger, who as the states chief election officer had told Trump in person that the former president's data was "wrong. At one point, Raffensperger had been given up as political dead meat.

The secretary of state's opponent, Jody Hice, is one of the Trumpiest of Republican congressmen. In a four-way race, all Hice had to do to force a runoff was to hold Raffensperger below 50%, but he couldnt even do that. While the results arent quite mathematically official as I write this, Raffensperger has declared victory. He appears to have won the nomination outright, with some room to spare.

Trump tried to make both Georgia races all about him and his grievances. Republican voters were having none of it. Trump is tonight's biggest loser Georgia voters just told him hes fired.

Read more:

Trump gets trounced in Georgia again | Washington Examiner

Donald Trumps big lie lost bigly in Georgia on Tuesday night. Some might take this as proof that his spell over the Republican party has finally been broken, but that is what the Republican party wants people to believe.

The former president had been waging a personal vendetta against Georgias governor Brian Kemp and secretary of state Brad Raffensperger for failing to overturn the 2020 presidential election in his favor.

Trump handpicked former senator David Perdue and congressman Jody Hice to challenge Kemp and Raffensperger in the Republican primaries. Both parroted the big lie and both were soundly beaten. It was a tangible sign that even many Trump voters are now weary of stop the steal and eager to look forward. It was also a blow to Trump in a primary season where his scattergun endorsements have come up with a decidedly mixed win-loss record.

But studying Trumps recent record as kingmaker misses the point. In fact, it actively helps Republicans create the illusion that they have moved on from Make America great again (Maga) even as they continue to push its radical rightwing agenda.

It all began with Glenn Youngkin, who last year won election as governor of Virginia as a Trump-lite Republican. He never campaigned alongside the ex-president but also took pains to avoid criticizing him and alienating his base. Dont insult Donald Trump but do everything to keep him away, was how columnist Peggy Noonan put it in the Wall Street Journal.

Youngkin projected the image of a safe, sane, old school Republican who could win back suburban and independent voters. But he went Maga by pushing hot button issues such as coronavirus mask mandates, transgender bathrooms and critical race theory and portraying his opponent as a woke liberal. He flirted with, but did not embrace, Trumps false claims of a stolen election.

The formula has been emulated in various ways by candidates facing extreme Trump-backed challengers. It worked for Brad Little, the governor of Idaho, and now for Kemp in Georgia. Neither should be mistaken for NeverTrumpers in the mould of Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger or Larry Hogan.

Kemp has recently nodded to the Trump base by signing bills that would ban abortions six weeks after conception and allow Georgians to carry guns in public without a license or background check. While he, unlike Perdue, has steered clear of the big lie, he was content to sign a voter suppression law in the name of election integrity.

And on Monday he campaigned alongside Mike Pence, who as vice-president was one of Trumps principal enablers for four years. Neither man uttered a word of criticism of the Maga patriarch. Kemp told reporters: I had a great relationship with President Trump. Ive never said anything bad about him. I dont plan on doing that. Im not mad at him. I think hes just mad at me and thats something that I cant control.

Even Raffensperger, while more outspoken in denouncing Trumps election lies, has campaigned on preventing non-citizen voting, which is virtually non-existent in Georgia or anywhere in the US, as well as putting an end to no-excuse mail-in voting,

The Trump-without-the-tweets approach is a good fit for governors, who can build rightwing legislative achievements in their own states. In the 2024 presidential election, it might prove a useful blueprint for Pence, offering a promise of Maga past, or Florida governor Ron DeSantis, offering a promise of Maga future.

Democrats are alive to the threat of the Republican party selling itself as post-Trump to swing state voters. On Tuesday the Democratic National Committee said in a statement: From Mike Pence refusing to criticize Trump, to Republican candidates across the country running on his ultra-Maga agenda, the Republican party is Trumps party, and theres no turning back now.

To underline the point, although Perdues defeat showed the electoral limitations of the big lie, Trump-endorsed candidates showed that Frankenstein still exercises at least some control over the Maga monster.

In Georgia, Herschel Walker, the former American football star, won a Senate primary and will now face Democrat Raphael Warnock in November. Congresswoman and conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene easily defeated a cluster of primary challengers to become the 14th districts nominee.

In Texas, attorney general Ken Paxton defeated George P Bush, nephew of George W Bush, a former president and stalwart of the anti-Trump Republican establishment. Sarah Sanders, Trumps former White House press secretary, is now the Republican nominee for governor of Arkansas.

In some cases, Trump jumps in late to back a candidate already assured of victory; in others, his endorsement lifts candidates, sometimes to victory. It is not always clear whether the chicken or egg came first. But it is evident that Maga can be a bottom-up phenomenon: last August there were boos when Trump urged supporters to get vaccinated.

Similarly, some voters have been comfortable with a paradox of pledging loyalty to Trump while rejecting some of his endorsements. Thousands, for example, voted for both Raffensperger and Taylor Greene on Tuesday. They sense, presumably, that even those whose faith wavers in Trump, the man remain apostles of Trumpism the movement.

View original post here:

Trump-backed nominees lost in Georgia, but can Republicans escape the specter of Maga? - The Guardian US

The fate of state Sen. Burt Jones, whom Trump endorsed in the open race for lieutenant governor, remains unclear. While he was leading his nearest challenger by 20 percentage points, with 94 percent of the expected vote in, it wasnt clear if Jones would avoid a runoff: He was at 50.2 percent, a hair above the runoff threshold.

Trumps House picks in Georgia werent much more successful. While all 5 of the Republican incumbents he endorsed won, none of them really faced a competitive race three of them ran unopposed. Trump also backed two candidates in open seat House primaries: Jake Evans in the 6th District and Vernon Jones in the 10th. Both finished in second place and moved on to runoffs.

The lone bright spot in Trumps Georgia record? His recruited candidate for Senate, Herschel Walker. The former football star maintained a steady lead in the polls since the early days of his campaign and easily sailed to his GOP nomination.

In Alabama, Trump ditched his original pick for the Senate, Rep. Mo Brooks, after the congressmans campaign appeared to be flailing. But Brooks one of Trumps strongest supporters in Congress launched a late comeback and made it to the June 21 runoff, where hell face first-place finisher, Katie Britt.

Unopposed.

He voted to overturn 2020 electoral votes.

Unopposed.

He voted to overturn 2020 electoral votes.

Won with 82 percent of the vote.

He voted to overturn 2020 electoral votes.

Unopposed.

He voted to overturn 2020 electoral votes.

Unopposed.

He voted to overturn 2020 electoral votes.

Donald Trump endorsed his former White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for Arkansas governor.|Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Won with 83 percent of the vote.

Sanders, Trumps former White House press secretary, said she ran for governor to be part of the last line of defense against a Democratic-helmed federal government. In his endorsement, Trump said Sanders would always fight for the people of Arkansas and do what is right, not what is politically correct as governor.

Sanders, whos favored to win in November, would be the second in her family to serve as governor her father, Mike Huckabee, served two terms starting in the 1990s and later ran for president twice.

Won with 58 percent of the vote.

Boozman voted to acquit the former president in Trumps second impeachment trial, though the senator said Trump did bear some responsibility for the events of Jan. 6. Trump endorsed Boozman anyway, providing key cover in a tough primary against former Arkansas Razorbacks star and Army ranger Jake Bequette.

Won with 76 percent of the vote.

He voted to overturn 2020 election results.

Unopposed.

With 94 percent of the expected vote in, Jones was in first place with 50.2 percent of the vote.

In this Sept. 25, 2021, photo Senate candidate Herschel Walker speaks during former President Donald Trump's Save America rally in Perry, Ga.|Ben Gray, File/AP Photo

Won with 68 percent of the vote.

Walker, who will face Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in November, has had a relationship with Trump for decades, dating back to when Trump owned the short-lived New Jersey Generals football team in the USFL. He was a great football player and will be an even better U.S. Senator if that is even possible, Trump said in September.

Unopposed.

He voted to overturn 2020 election results.

Won with 76 percent of the vote.

Clyde, who voted to overturn 2020 election results, drew national attention for his cavalier downplaying of the events of Jan. 6 during a House Oversight Committee hearing. Not only was there not an insurrection, Clyde said, but if you didnt know that TV footage was a video from January 6, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.

Unopposed.

He voted to overturn 2020 election results.

Unopposed.

He voted to overturn 2020 election results.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during a court hearing on April 22 in Atlanta.|John Bazemore-Pool/Getty Images

Won with 70 percent of the vote.

Greene, who voted to overturn the 2020 election results, is one of Trumps most vocal supporters. In his endorsement, Trump said the lightning-rod freshman lawmaker has always been on his side, and is someone who loves our country and MAGA, its greatest ever political movement.

Ken Paxton waves after speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole in July 2021 in Dallas, Texas.|Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Won with 68 percent of the vote.

Paxton, who has been mired in scandal and faced abuse of office allegations for much of the past seven years, is a staunch Trump ally. As Texas AG, he challenged the results of the 2020 election in four battleground states but the case was thrown out by the Supreme Court.

He won his Trump endorsement at the expense of George P. Bush, the Bush family scion Paxton defeated in Tuesdays runoff.

Won with 69 percent of the vote.

With 55 percent of the vote in, Flores was winning with 59 percent.

Won with 64 percent of the vote.

Won with 59 percent of the vote.

See original here:

Trump made 27 endorsements in Tuesday's primaries. Here are the winners. - POLITICO

Donald Trump has suggested nuclear war is "more likely to happen than not" for the United States because of President Joe Biden.

Writing on Truth Social, the former president said he never thought "in my wildest imagination" that the U.S. would be involved in a nuclear war.

"Now, however, because of our leaders rhetoric and very poor choice of words, it is perhaps more likely to happen than not," Trump said.

"Russia/Ukraine would NEVER have happened under a TRUMP Administration. Now there are fewer cards to play, but still very playable. China up next?"

His comments follow Biden indicating the U.S. military would defend Taiwan if China, a major nuclear power, attacked the islandremarks the White House insisted were not a policy changeand as NATO indirectly helps Ukraine defend itself from Russia, which has the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world.

Trump made similar comments in an interview on Real America's Voice show Outside the Beltway, which aired on Monday.

"I would have never thought that would have happened, we're the greatest danger of a nuclear war, it's just a great danger. We're not a respected country anymore," he said.

The U.S. was among other countries in not wanting to fulfill Ukraine's request for a no-fly zone, with Biden fearing NATO and Russian troops clashing would be "World War III."

Trump has previously suggested that, if he were still in the White House, he would threaten Russia with nuclear submarines.

Speaking to Fox News in March, Trump said that the U.S. should deploy nuclear submarines to go "back and forth, up and down" Russia's coast in order to intimidate President Vladimir Putin amid the war in Ukraine.

"I listened to him [Putin] constantly using the n-word, that's the n-word, and he's constantly using it: the nuclear word," Trump told Fox Business.

"And we say, 'Oh, he's a nuclear power.' But we're a greater nuclear power. We have the greatest submarines in the world, the most powerful machines ever built," Trump added.

"You should say, 'Look, you mention that word one more time, we're going to send them over and we'll be coasting back and forth, up and down your coast.'"

In January 2018, Trump also boasted the U.S. had power to annihilate North Korea.

"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times,'" Trump tweeted. "Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

Trump has also, at times, lavished praise on authoritarian rulers, repeatedly saying that getting along with countries such as Russia and China "is a good thing."

The White House has been contacted for comment.

Originally posted here:

Donald Trump Suggests Nuclear War 'More Likely To Happen Than Not' - Newsweek

Saturday is the big day, and now Republican House of Representatives candidate Harriet Hageman and former president Donald Trump want to make it even bigger, which is why they're holding a pre-rally reception with proceeds benefitting Hageman's campaign.

The reception will occur at the Ford Wyoming Center, beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 28.

In addition to Trump, the invitation to the event also states that "additional special guests" will be announced.

According to the invitation, $500 will get you 1 VIP reception ticket as well as expedited entry into the rally. $1,000 will get you 2 VIP reception tickets and expedited entry. Individuals can also serve as hosts of the event, according to the invite, for $1,000.

But the big ticket item is this: a photo opportunity with the 45th President of the United States for $15,000.

If you've ever wanted to meet the president and pose for a selfie, now is your chance.

Trump has endorsed Hageman as the heir, apparently, to dethrone Congresswoman Cheney from her seat in the House of Representatives. This came after a bitter war of words between the former president and the current congresswoman, when Cheney voted to impeach Trump for his alleged role in the January 6 Capitol Attacks.

Still, even though Hageman has Trump's endorsement, Congresswoman Cheney has more money.

As of April 25, 2022, it was reported that Cheney has raised nearly five times as much money as Hageman for her campaign.

"In total, Cheney has raised$10,121,333, while Hageman, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and previously came in third in the primary for governor in 2018, has raised$2,067,149 so far," K2 Radio News reported.

Read More:Cheney has five times as much as Hageman in campaign donations

After this weekend, Hageman will look to close the gap relating to finances, and this pre-rally reception seems to be the way she's hoping to do it.

The reception is sponsored byCameron & Kia Britt, Kelly & Gena Burch, Julie Collins, Former Congresswoman Barbara Cubin, Ken Dockweiler, Marty Finch, Heath Hornecker, Bob & Cathy Ide, Max Jacobson, Kara Linn, Tom Litman, John Roth, and Joe & Jessie Rubino.

Those interested in the pre-rally reception can RSVP at this link.

Link:

$15,000 Gets You A Photo Opp With Donald Trump at Pre-Rally Reception in Casper - K2 Radio

Pie. To many, its a delicious treat at the end of a meal that rivals the almighty cake, so versatile that a slice of pumpkin, rhubarb, or pecan could also be enjoyed for breakfast. Some prefer chocolate, others lemon meringue. Popular the world over, apple pie is specifically synonymous with America and all things patriotic. But to former president Donald Trump, a man who was once in possession of the nuclear codes? It is a dangerous, extremely menacing piece of food whose presence he will not tolerate.

Yes, just weeks after we learned that Trump believes tomatoes, pineapples, and bananas are dangerous stuff that could kill a personand that his security team has been under strict instructions to use physical force to eliminate any such threatscomes the news that the former president of the United States at one point was absolutely terrified about being struck with pie.

The Daily Beast reports that during a four-hour deposition he sat for this month, Trumps former fixer, Michael Cohen, revealed that his old boss frequently obsessed over a 1998 incident in which Bill Gates was hit with a pie while walking into a building in Belgium, and believed the same fate would befall him. For some reason that upset Mr. Trump terribly. We were all instructed that if somebody was to ever throw anything at him, that if that persondidntend up in the hospital, wed all be fired, Cohen said, noting the directive came from Trump himself. Asked to elaborate, Cohen told Daily Beast reporter Jose Pagliery, It wasnt just one time. It was an ongoing and regular thing. As he would go out to various different open venues, he would always remind [head of security] Keith [Schiller] to keep his eyes open. He never would turn around and say, If anyone throws a rock or a bottle Its always a pie. He always brought up that pie thing.

While some might wonder about the veracity of Cohens claims, and the possibility that theyre simply an attempt by an ex-employee to embarrass their former boss, its important to remember that Trump himself spoke at length, during a sworn deposition, about his deep-rooted fear of someone throwing a tomato, pineapple, or banana at him. And that the following words literally came out of his mouth: You get hit with fruit, itsno, its very violent stuff. We were on alert for that. Its worse than tomato, its other things also. But tomato, when they start doing that stuff, its very dangerous. I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit. I think that they have to be aggressive in stopping that from happening. Because if that happens, you can be killed if that happens.

Cohens testimony re: Trumps fear of piesand the instruction to his security team to hospitalize anyone packing such a weapon in his vicinityis relevant because he was answering questions as a witness for a 2015 lawsuit brought by a group of activists who allege the Trump Organizations security chief, Schiller,attacked them while they were protesting outside of Trump Tower. While Trump has sworn under oath that he did not order Schiller to rough up the protesters, and that he only learned about what happened the next day, Cohen testified that that was not actually the case.

Per The Daily Beast:

During his May 9 deposition, Cohen described the scene that day. He saw protesters on his way into Trump Tower that morning, then eventually made his way into Trumps office on the 26th floor. When he informed his boss about the gathering downstairs, Trump called in Schiller.

Did you see that theres a demonstration going on? Trump asked, according to Cohen. Get rid of them.

OK, boss, Schiller allegedly said. When Schiller reappeared in his bosss office less than half an hour later, he had a large piece of a cardboard sign he had ripped out of the hand of Queens resident and demonstrator Efrain Galicia.

According to Cohen, Schiller told Trump, I took the sign. He grabbed me, so I hit him across the side of the head, to which Trump responded, Good.

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Report: Trumps Security Team Was Under Strict Instructions to Hospitalize Anyone They Suspected Might Hit Him With a Piece of Pie - Vanity Fair

Former Vice President Mike Pence has not officially declared whether he will launch a 2024 presidential run, but he has taken several steps that indicate he is prepared to face former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination if he runs too.

The former president's running mate and second in command has taken several steps to distance himself from Trump ever since they both left office in 2021, including rebuking Trump's suggestion earlier this year that he had the power to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

"President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election," Pence said during a February speech before the Federalist Society in Florida. "The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. Frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."

In recent months, Pence has made several symbolic moves that are raising his profile in the political sphere and establishing himself as a foil to Trump in key ways. This includes his April visit to the Charlottesville, Virginia, memorial for Heather Heyer, who was killed in a white supremacist riot in which Trump notably attributed the blame to "both sides." And this week, Pence is set to help rally for Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who Trump has denounced as a "RINO" (Republican in name only).

Politico described Pence's plans to speak at the Georgia rally as his "most aggressive political move yet in defiance of his former patron and ticket-mate."

In March this year, while speaking to Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo, Pence refused to rule out the possibility of a 2024 run.

"I'm confident the Republican Party will nominate a candidate who will be the next president of the United States of America and at the right time, my family and I will reflect and consider how we might participate in that process," he said.

Though Trump also has yet to formally announce whether he will run in 2024, he has teased a potential bid. While speaking about the possibility of again becoming a presidential candidate during a March rally in Georgia, he said: "We just may have to do it again."

He also reiterated unproven claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election at the Georgia rally.

"The truth is I ran twice, I won twice and I did much better the second time. And now we just may have to do it again," he told the crowd.

Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich criticized Pence's recent political moves in a statement shared with the New York Times.

"Mike Pence was set to lose a governor's race in 2016 before he was plucked up and his political career was salvaged," the statement read. "Now, desperate to chase his lost relevance, Pence is parachuting into races, hoping someone is paying attention. The reality is, President Trump is already 82-3 with his endorsements, and there's nothing stopping him from saving America in 2022 and beyond."

Even if Pence is preparing for a 2024 presidential run against Trump, the chances of him beating out the former president may be slim. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll from late January this year found that Trump received 57 percent of GOP support, while Pence received 11 percent.

Newsweek reached out to Pence's team and a Trump spokesperson for comment.

Read the rest here:

Mike Pence is Prepared to Take On Donald Trump in 2024 - Newsweek

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is willing to spend over $100 million on his preferred candidate in the 2024 election.

What Happened: In a recent podcast interview with Jacob Goldstein, Bankman-Fried said he had a soft cap of $1 billion that he would likely spend on supporting his ideal candidate in a presidential campaign.

Goldstein asked whether the FTX chief was going to be a big spender on campaigns in the next election cycle, to which Bankman-Fried responded that it would largely depend on who would be running.

Lets say Donald Trump runs for President. Would that cause you to probably give a lot of money to the person who was running against him, asked Goldstein.

Thats a pretty decent guess, replied Bankman-Fried, who explained that hewould be looking less at the political party itself and would focus his attention on sane governance.

Bankman-Fried believes that the U.S. has a big responsibility to the world to shepherd the west in a powerful, but responsible, manner.

Everything that we do there has massive, massive ripple effects on what the future looks like, he said.

The billionaire entrepreneuris known to have made significant donations to political campaigns in the past. In 2022, he made a $23 million donation to a single Political Action Committee (PAC).

Bankman-Fried is also a big believer in Proof-of-Stake blockchains and their role in the future of cryptocurrencies. Earlier this month, he said Bitcoin BTC/USD has no future as a payments network.

See Also: PROOF OF STAKE VS PROOF OF WORK

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, BTC was trading at $29,755, down 2% over the last 24 hours.

Photo: Courtesy of Cointelegraph via Wikimedia

Excerpt from:

FTX Chief Willing To Spend $1B Against Donald Trump In 2024 - Benzinga - Benzinga

JOE LYONS| Burlington

I am so tired of right-wing media and even some of mainstream media portraying Donald Trump as a strong leader and an astute politician.

The awful truth is that he is now, and has always been, a serial liar and a third-rate demagogue.He cares about nothing except himself not his party, not his country, not his friends. He is quite willing to throw his colleagues under the bus if they disagree with his inane views and opinions.

Nor was he a self-made businessman: His father had to bail him out of several serious bankruptcies, and both his initial secretaries of state and defense criticized his abhorrent behavior as president. And now he is under investigation for income tax evasion and bank fraud.

But his most flagrant actions occurred before and during the Jan. 6 insurrection, which he illegally incited. So stay tuned for his coming indictments by the Department of Justice and hopefully for his much-deserved incarceration.

JOE LYONS

Burlington

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Donald Trump: Reader depicts the 'real story' of the former president - Burlington Times News

WASHINGTON DC Donald Trump left office a year and a half ago. In that time there has been no shortage of books of varying quality about his term as president of the United States. These books normally fall into one of two camps.

The first campis what I call the Covering Trump book. These are reported books by journalists about Trump and his administration. There were many such books during the Trump years so many that Carlos Lozada, Washington Post book critic, wrote a book about all the books about Trump and the end of his term in the White House did not mean the end of the genre.

Last year we had, among others, I Alone Can Fix It by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker and Frankly, We Did Win This Election by Michael C Bender, both New York Times best-sellers. This year we will have Susan Glasser and Peter Bakers The Divider in September and Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman, arguably the reporter with the best sources of the Trump era, in October.

More recently we had This Will Not Pass by the New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns. Upon publication, both journalists came under heavy criticism for withholding information namely the disgust with which leading congressional Republicans reacted to Trumps incitement of an insurrection on 6 January 2021 that perhaps could have been useful to the health of the American republic had it been reported at the time, or at least not saved for a book more than a year later. (This Will Not Pass was also a say it with me! New York Times bestseller.) The criticism is not unique to Martin and Burns; Bob Woodward was similarly censured for saving the revelation that Trump knew Covid-19 was dangerous, even while he publicly played it down, for his 2020 book Rage.

The other campis what I call the Covered for Trump book books published by former Trump officials and allies about their time working with him. On 10 May, Mark Esper, Trumps defence secretary, published A Sacred Oath, in which he described Trump musing about having protesters shot in the legs. Many, including Trumps niece, also accused Esper of keeping information to himself to use itfor hisbook. Esper wasnt the first from Team Trump to write this kind of book: consider, for example, the press secretary Stephanie Grishams Ill Take Your Questions Now,in which Trump comes off as surprise! chaotic and wholly unfit for the office of the president. Nor was Esper the last.

A memoir from Kellyanne Conway, Trumps longtime senior adviser, is outtoday (24 May). In the book, titled Heres the Deal,Conway sensationally writes that democracy will survive, but alas, her marriage to the vocal Trump critic George Conway may not. While perhaps some might find it comfortingthat Kellyanne Conway has faith in the democracy that she actively worked for years to corrode, I dont see how a tell-all by a person who repeatedly told lies excuse me, alternative facts is a trustworthy document.

I dont mean to suggest that these two types of books are the same. Covering Trump is not the same thing as going to work for him. Still, in both cases, as salacious details drip out, as we learn that as bad as we thought his presidency was, the reality was actually far worse, as Trump book after Trump book becomes a best-seller, Im left wondering: what exactly are we doing with any of this information? If Trump runs for the White House again in 2024, will these books lead voters to view him more thoughtfully? Will it lead journalists to cover him more critically? Will Republican operatives think twice before going to work for him? Or will we all go on, the same as before, the better to gather material to publish in future books?

[See also: Are we prepared for Donald Trump to return to Twitter?]

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Kellyanne Conway's new memoir and the two genres of Trump book - The New Statesman