"Mistakes Were Made, It's Time to Move on—From Trump"

From Paul Mirengoff (Ringside at the Reckoning):

What would Donald Trump say about a party leader who led his party to two successive electoral defeats and, in a third election cycle, caused his party to suffer more disappointment?

We don't have to guess. Trump accused Mitt Romney of "choking" his bid for the presidency. Romney lost to a far more formidable opponent than Joe Biden.

Trump, by his own standards, is a choke artist.

Trump choked the 2018 elections by needlessly alienating suburbanites and swing voters with his over-the-top rhetoric. He choked the pandemic, which led to him losing the 2020 election. He choked the Georgia portions of that election, including the two winnable Senate races the GOP lost.

I'm old enough to remember when normal candidates, unencumbered by Trump, won Georgia statewide races. In fact, it happened yesterday….

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[David Bhear]

No one may overcome local culture. Volokh lives in LA. He does not understand. He has no idea.

[David Bhear]

As a denier and as part of the highly toxic lawyer hierarchy, Volokh does not understand Trumpism. It is seething anger at our failed elite. Democrats did best with mail in and early voting. The methods that made California a permanent one party state are being applied to the entire nation. The US will become a permanent one party state, as well, as Venezuela is today.

[Bored Lawyer]

DeSantis and Kemp might disagree.

[bernard11]

seething anger at our failed elite

About what? Who failed, and what did they fail at?

Do Trumpists admit the possibility that they themselves failed?

[bevis the lumberjack]

Biden is currently failing like a world champ.

Republican election truthers are failing laughably.

Trump, well…..

Obama failed by fucking up medical insurance.

Bush failed by invading Iraq and by cutting taxes while creating new programs.

The NAFTA folks proved the accuracy of Perot’s “giant sucking sound” prediction.

Our business leadership has failed big time. Those guys are getting paid obscene amounts to fix problems and there’s no excuse for supply chain problems 2 years after the pandemic.

Leadership of our large medical facilities have failed by laying off tens of thousands of employees because they didn’t get a vaccine that doesn’t stop transmission thereby creating shortages of manned hospital beds.

People out here are pissed, have been for years, for good reason. That’s how we got stuff like Brexit and Trump. And none of the entities listed above have enough connection to ordinary people to understand it.

[bevis the lumberjack]

Yeah I should have mentioned the educational leadership failing kids during the pandemic and losing a generation academically while trying to sexualize children. Note that I did NOT say grooming.

[Nige]

For fuck's sake.

[bevis the lumberjack]

Great counter argument.

Hey, I guess you’re right. Things are completely fucked up but nobody did anything wrong.

Except for Putin. Yeah, that’s the ticket. It’s all Putin.

[Nige]

It's a stupid, right-wing culture-war anti-education anti-lgtbq argument. Centrism always seems so great in theory but it ends up being the worst of everything.

[bevis the lumberjack]

I listed nine failures. Which one(s) are you even talking about? The education one? Do you dispute the widely spread fact that test scores collapsed post pandemic?

Are you advocating for putting books in elementary school libraries that illustrate sucking dick?

I’m not anti-gay. I was in favor of allowing gay marriage long before people like Obama and Hillary were. A loooooong time before. Your name calling is lame and totally without basis. But that’s the only way the politically zealous know how to argue.

[Nige]

'Are you advocating for putting books in elementary school libraries that illustrate sucking dick?'

Yeah, that right-wing anti-education anti-lgtbq talking point. You both-sideism always leans right.

[bevis the lumberjack]

It seems like it leans right to you because you’re pegged left.

Completely ignoring several posts on this very thread where I’ve criticized Trump and Republicans. Am I leaning right in those?

[Nige]

Yes, you’ve criticised Trump and Republicans. It’s easy, they’re awful. Then you try to make Biden and the Democrats out to be equally awful and have to rely on some of the ugliest talking points from those same Republicans.

[David Bhear]

They not only cover sucking dick. They cover butt banging. Of course, tell a kid, this is for adults, you are not allowed to do it. Guess what will be happening in the back of the school bus the same day.

[Nige]

You can tell, and one of the reasons, it's an ugly right-wing talking point becuase none of you are capable of discussing it without writing child porn, just as you can't talk about lgtbq without writing gay porn.

[bevis the lumberjack]

Nige, you’re full of shit. It’s not leaning right when I criticize right. It’s easy to you because you hate the right. Inflation is knocking on 9% and energy is all fucked up and Biden deserves no criticism?

You make ridiculous assertions rather than concede the point. It’s a classic sign of a brain broken by politics.

You can have the last word if you want. I won’t see it.

[Nige]

Did I disagree with any of your criticisms, bar one? Yes, but they were all rather inane so I didn't bother. But that one was such a stupid piece of right-wing bullshit it really stuck out, though 'a vaccine that doesn’t stop transmission' also stuck out. That doesn't make the vaccine ineffective and it's insane that medical professionals think they can refuse it and keep working in medical facilities.

[bernard11]

Neither Obamacare nor NAFTA was a failure.

[juris imprudent]

Funny Bernard, but Bernie Sanders seems to think that both Obamacare and NAFTA are failures.

[bernard11]

Funny Bernard, but Bernie Sanders seems to think that both Obamacare and NAFTA are failures.

And? I mean, he's not the only one, but why do you imagine I automatically agree with Sanders, and why do you think I'm doing something wrong if I don't?

[Drewski]

"Biden is currently failing like a world champ."

I have to agree. Biden is, indeed, failing exactly like a person who didn't fail.

[BrotherMovesOn]

"Guess what will be happening in the back of the school bus the same day."
Speak for yourself pre-vert. Just don't get in the way of kids lacing up our skates.

[bernard11]

Bevis,

You are lamenting what you see as bad policy decisions. I don't agree that they were al bad, but OK.

But nobody is perfect. Any administration is going to do things that turn out badly, not to mention things that turn out OK, but you don't like. Indeed, any human being is going to do that.

So if you want to say that means they are complete failures, go ahead, but I think you are wrong.

[bevis the lumberjack]

It’s pretty rare that an administration fails to the point of 9% inflation. Has it ever happened here? Last time it wasn’t our government’s fault - Iran collapsed during their revolution and a shit ton of supply left the market at once.

And Clinton’s last Treasury Secretary, hardly a Republican, warned in advanced that the last stimulus - the $1.9 T - was “the least responsible macroeconomic policy we’ve had in 40 years”. He was right, but the hubris of this administration couldn’t allow it to be true.

I appreciate the reasonable tone and am happy to reciprocate, but Biden and his people’s fingerprints are all over this mess.

[Leo Marvin]

The inflation is global and it didn't spring up overnight. Biden didn't cause it. He contributed his share, as did Trump, but pandemic/supply chain/Ukraine War pressures would have created most of it, whoever was president the past six years.

[Kazinski]

Clyburn majority whip of the House:
"And all of us knew this would be the case when we put in place this recovery program. Any time you put more money into the economy, prices tend to rise."

The difference between the US and the rest of the world is that we used to be energy independent, under Trump.

And of course inflation started here well before Putin invaded Ukraine and it started taking off in the rest of the world.

[Leo Marvin]

And Trump didn't pour money into the economy? He started his administration with a $1.5 trillion stimulus into a late cycle growing economy, then sent everybody COVID cash, making sure you knew whose name was on the checks.

[juris imprudent]

Leo, you might consider that a decade plus of QE had some effect (even if not exactly what was predicted by monetary economic theory).

[bevis the lumberjack]

Note that I mentioned other entities that have contributed to the inflation problem. Not just Biden. But he’s got substantial blame for it.

[bevis the lumberjack]

[Sarcastr0]

The one person in the world with Biden derangement syndrome.

[David Bhear]

Kicked out of 6 countries by Medieval savages with $50 weapons, after taking our $2 trillion.

2% growth instead of 10% growth.

Rampant scumbaggery in the wealthiest jurisdictions with scumbag lawyer clients pooping in the street, and none may even criticize.

Rampant crime, not 15 million, but 215 million crimes, you vile scumbag, subhuman traitors to our country.

Degenerate groomers who should be killed running our schools.

Lockdowns to enrich traitor billionaires by $1.7 trillion. They should be arrested, tried, and summarily executed.

[Nige]

Note that none of this demagoguery did Republicans much good.

[David Bhear]

I love how utter defeat is turned into triumph by the corporate media propaganda machine, really Democrat Party newsletters, because it was smaller.

[Nige]

Do you? Bless.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Oh dear, Daivd, you're falling back into the old ways. How soon before the first ten comments are all yours, replying to yourself, indenting to the point of unreadability?

[David Bhear]

Excellent comment, bruh.

[not me]

What? David Bhear is somehow related to the former commenter Daivd Behar? I am shocked, shocked!

[David Bhear]

I was banned for comment branching. I am putting that in the resume as a unique achievement. I felt much better during the ban. I achieved a lot more of substance. Then I saw the blog floundering. fewer comments, stupid comments, dreary posts, fewer posts. I thought I was needed to perk it back up. It has perked back up in the past few hours.

[Darth Buckeye]

Almost 4 to 1 absentee and early ballots in PA went to Fetterman over Oz. I am skeptical. But proving any impropriety would be impossible. And even if you had rock solid proof, the media would bury it.

[Sarcastr0]

Skeptical but the lack of proof is part of the conspiracy.

That is not skeptical, that is strapping on the tin foil.

Not full 2020 denial, to be fair; the same level as many Dems had about Ohio in 2004. But still not a very useful way to go.

[juris imprudent]

Or Stacey Abrams and her voter suppression routine.

[dwshelf]

Mirengoff is a sort of a never-Trumper. Not a fake conservative, but always anti-Trump. A Liz kinda guy.

What matters here is that he is quoted by Volokh.

Because this time, Mirengoff is right.

[Mr. Bumble]

He is not "sort of a never -Trumper. He has full blown TDS which led to a parting of the ways from his former post at PowerLine.

Trump has many shortcomings, but candidates were chosen by Republican voters during the primaries not by Trump in some formerly smoke filled room.

Biggest cause of failures was and has been the failure of Republican leaders to support candidates chosen by the rank and file (read the Turtle for one).

[Noscitur a sociis]

McConnell raised and spent $200 million supporting Republican candidates (including the unelectable candidates endorsed by Trump).

Trump also raised nine figures this cycle, but he only spent about $16 million, and that at the last minute.

Other than that, great point!

[Ridgeway]

This cannot be overstated.

Check out this article for some more detail on DJT's parsimony:

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/mcconnells-pacs-spend-millions-to-bail-out-trumps-candidates/

[Moderation4ever]

Agree here. Republicans seem blind to the point that Trump is taking their money and pocketing it for himself.

[juris imprudent]

Now, now, pointing out how Trump is scamming the Republican base isn't fair.

[dwshelf]

Trump has many shortcomings, but candidates were chosen by Republican voters during the primaries not by Trump in some formerly smoke filled room.

I voted for Trump, twice, and in an unlikely scenario, I'd vote for him again in a general election.

But the kind of leadership he now offers to Republicans in general, and libertarians in particular has aged badly since Nov 2020. By now it's become toxic.

[M L]

Seems right, but not sure what "unlikely scenario" refers to -- he'll most likely be the 2024 nominee.

[dwshelf]

he’ll most likely be the 2024 nominee.

DeSantis vs Newsom. Unless some change occurs. Trump is about as likely as Jeb Bush.

A two-cycle loser who reacts by attacking DeSantis? No audience.

None.

[Life of Brian]

I wonder what the Venn diagram would look like of 1) people who think Gavin Newsom is a viable Presidential candidate, 2) people who thought Andrew Cuomo would be a viable Presidential candidate, and 3) people who understand coastal elite shtick doesn't make for a viable Presidential candidate.

[Nige]

'coastal elite shtick doesn’t make for a viable Presidential candidate.'

What, like a New York reak estate developer? You people sucker yourselves.

[juris imprudent]

Funny Trump wasn't really a viable candidate but he rolled up all of the other pretenders. A viable candidate shouldn't just be one who wins the election, but can also operate the actual machinery of govt.

[dwshelf]

2) people who thought Andrew Cuomo would be a viable Presidential candidate, and 3) people who understand coastal elite shtick doesn’t make for a viable Presidential candidate.

Newsom is a successful Democratic politician.

Cuomo was too, but Cuomo was unwary beyond Newsom. Hypocrisy is one thing. Shipping death grandmas into the home is worse.

It's Republicans who are cynical about slick coastals. D's are fine with it.

[perlmonger]

I was gonna say, "JFK?"

[juris imprudent]

He might win the Republican nomination these days.

[Life of Brian]

Newsom is a successful Democratic politician

In his current sphere, no question.

It’s Republicans who are cynical about slick coastals.
D’s are fine with it.

When's the last time that played out in a national contest?
Ds are not monolithic.

[David Nieporent]

Biggest cause of failures was and has been the failure of Republican leaders to support candidates chosen by the rank and file (read the Turtle for one).

Trump can never fail; he can only be failed.

[Brett Bellmore]

I'm pretty sure he's capable of doing both at the same time.

[BrianL.]

Here is Trump, talking about the candidates that he endorsed, saying that if they win, he should get the credit, but if they lose, he shouldn't get the blame:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJI1kDSXwDU

[juris imprudent]

I think you've captured exactly how Trump thinks.

[jdgalt1]

Trump did not cause his own losses. He was cheated. And the cheaters are still doing it today. It must be nice (for instance) to be both the underdog candidate for AZ Governor and the official who oversees that state's elections. The courts have no business allowing that kind of moral hazard to take place.

[Darwinnie]

Stupid troll.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

So stupid that you should be able to easily disprove it, but didn't. Who's stupid?

[bevis the lumberjack]

Because you can’t prove or disprove a negative.

I think you’re a goat fucker. Prove conclusively that you aren’t or it will demonstrate that I’m correct.

[Drewski]

Not substantially relevant but I think you misspoke. Of course you can disprove a negative. "No cat has four legs."

[bernard11]

You are embezzling from your employer.

Prove me wrong.

[bevis the lumberjack]

Trump caused his own losses (and the loss of the Georgia runoffs and therefore the Senate) by virtue of his horribly erratic behavior. A lot of people don’t like the President acting like a petulant 5 year old. A lot of people got exhausted by the constant drama.

It’s been two years and nobody has come up with tangible evidence of massive fraud in one place, much less in enough places to have actually changed the results. It’s a load of bullshit. And the Republicans are going to keep having embarrassing days like yesterday until they turn away from being a personality cult for a clinical megalomaniac.

[TW]

Trump caused his own losses (and the loss of the Georgia runoffs and therefore the Senate) by virtue of his horribly erratic behavior. A lot of people don’t like the President acting like a petulant 5 year old. A lot of people got exhausted by the constant drama.

There's a difference between "going down swinging" and "going down and taking the rest of my side with me."

[M L]

Two trend-defying elections in a row with mail-in ballots. Except the two states with well run elections diverge by 10-15 pts.

"Absentee ballots are especially susceptible to manipulation." - New York Times

[Sarcastr0]

No, you cannot handwave your way to evidence of voter fraud.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

No, you cannot handwave your way against evidence of voter fraud.

[Nige]

You can handwave away smoke. You cannot handwave away things less substantial than smoke.

[bernard11]

Evidence?

Drop it.

[MoreCurious]

You're apparently -- in your own obtuse way -- suggesting that there was voter fraud in 2000. Are you going to share it with us today, or are you planning to wait another two years?

[David Nieporent]

I can't fail to note that you define "well run elections" not by whether the elections were well run, but by whether Republicans won.

[Life of Brian]

you define “well run elections” not by whether the elections were well run, but by whether Republicans won.

Well there's a classic correlation/causation fallacy!

How about -- and just work with me here for a minute -- having the ability to tabulate [what should be] a closed universe of votes in hours, not days?

[Noorondoor]

The cheating occurred when Americans were replaced with third worlders. Now them and their equally worthless progeny outnumber us.

[Darwinnie]

Ahh, the Republican base. Racist, hateful xenophobes.

[David Nieporent]

The courts have no business allowing that kind of moral hazard to take place.

Hey, you sound just like Stacey Abrams! Guess who was both the GA Secretary of State in 2018 and the GOP candidate for governor?

[juris imprudent]

Damn, should've scrolled down.

[SRG]

I don’t recall right-wingers being unduly vexed when Kemp did the same thing in GA. Or was it that he was a Republican that made it ok?

[juris imprudent]

Stacey Abrams, is that you?

[bernard11]

As usual when mistakes were made there is little discussion of who made them.

[Bob from Ohio]

Defeat has no father.

[Bored Lawyer]

I thought that was failure. Maybe they bunk next to each other in the proverbial orphanage.

[bernard11]

I think the quote (JFK?) is:

"Victory has a thousand fathers. Defeat is an orphan."

[F.D. Wolf]

Lazy analysis, if it can even be called that.

Not everything is about Trump. If this is all they take from this election, then the future is dim for the GOP. But they'll still be blaming Trump a la Spinal Tap: "They were still booing him when we came on stage."

[Krayt]

G.W. Bush, Jeb, DeSantis, governors of border states with higher Latino populations, worked to bring them as Republican voters.

All that work was crapped on by Trump. Fox News is still balls-out on it. Latest is beating the drum for criminals coming across the border.

[Alan Vanneman]

It's so funny that Prof. Volokh has to dredge up some conservative "expert" to say that Trump is a disaster. Because Prof. Volokh lacks the nerve to do so himself.

[Mr. Bumble]

Filling in for the Rev. "Costco"?

[David Nieporent]

Mr. Vanneman has some weird vendetta against Prof. Volokh, which mostly seems to stem from Mr. Vanneman's hostility towards Israel (even though Prof. Volokh virtually never writes about Israel).

[santamonica811]

Alan,
Yes. Completely agree. Especially if you ignore the 237 times Volokh has posted here things that are critical of Donald Trump. (I'm probably grossly undercounting the actual number, btw.)

If there is one thing Eugene Volokh is known for, it's for bending to popular will and refusing to give his honest opinion about issues that are of interest to him. Great point, Alan!!!

[Jason Cavanaugh]

Not only is Trump a disaster, but so are you.

There. I had the nerve to actually do more than that which you whined about. What praise might I get in return?

[Nige]

So, dump Trump?

[Noorondoor]

A bare majority in Massachusetts voted to increase taxes on a politically unpopular minority. This is the type of thing that destroys societies. This is why not everyone should be allowed to vote.

[ReaderY]

Ah, that persecuted minority, millionaires. So unfair the 16th Amendment was passed and income is permitted to be considered in federal taxes. We really ought to go back to a flat capitation tax that everybody has to pay equally. Fair is fair, equal justice under law. Everybody ought to have to pay exactly the same amount. Lower income people ganging up on millionaires to pass the 16th amendment was a total violation of their Equal Protection rights!

[Noorondoor]

You're an idiot. There's a big difference between an income tax and a bare majority voting a large increase on millionaires, and ONLY millionaires.

[ReaderY]

News flash. Every progressive income tax has a big increase in taxes on people who aren’t in the lower bracket, and every bracket above that.

And a 4% surcharge is hardly confiscatory.

[bevis the lumberjack]

Newsflash, it’s easy and lazy to vote for someone other than yourself to pay higher taxes. It’s also chickenshit.

[Nige]

Now you're calling the voters chickenshits?

[bevis the lumberjack]

I’m calling anyone who happily chooses to burden someone else while avoiding any burden themselves chickenshit. In any context.

“I want more stuff and I’m gonna force you to pay for it” is textbook chickenshit.

[Nige]

How extreme of you. I might agree when it's poor people. Not when it's millionaires.

[bevis the lumberjack]

Makes you a chickenshit.

Envy is a negative emotion.

[Nige]

What a useful bit of political analysis. Everyone else is concerned about the increasing concentration of wealth amongst a small percentage of the population and their increasing influence and power, but you don't want anyone to think you're envious. If you're not willing to take on the rich, you might be the chickenshit.

[Noorondoor]

Why millionaires? Why not $100k? Why not $1 more than the average income of the 51%?

[Nige]

Because they have lots of money.

[zztop8970]

"Because they have lots of money." - spoken like a true criminal. That was exactly Willie Sutton's excuse.

[Nige]

They're robber barons, zz. Take it back.

[Noorondoor]

Any evidence that most people with million plus incomes are robber barons? You're a jealous idiot.

[Nige]

Millionaires by definition are robber barons.

[zztop8970]

You have the morality of a common criminal.

[Drewski]

How do you feel about wealthy people pushing for wars that they, and their children, will not personally participate in? Pretty brave?

[bevis the lumberjack]

You asking me? It’s bullshit. My favorite 60s protest song is Fortunate Son.

[Snorkle]

Stop it, you're giving me an erection.

[Aloysious]

Hush, you. Erection day is over.

[Nige]

Now everyone's talking about election dysfunction.

[Noorondoor]

Hopefully those people take their money to NH and FL.

[ReaderY]

Trump is simply not interested in the Republican party winning. Trump is interested in Trump winning. Why would he be interested in people who aren’t fully on board with him, who might be a threat to him, getting government offices, just because they happen to call themselves Republicans? What good does it do him for such people to win?

[Mr. Bumble]

The same could be said for the likes of many Republican "leaders" past and present.

[M L]

Politicians generally believe that their personal success and the success of the party AND the country, are all one and the same thing.

And those are the "good" ones. Most of the rest are self-consciously self-interested/corrupt.

[ReaderY]

I think Trump may be smarter than your average politician. He is smart enough to realize that they are not always the same, and in particular that the success of #1 on your list sometimes conflicts with #2 and #3. He picks #1 when this occurs.

[David Nieporent]

Trump is simply not interested in the Republican party winning. Trump is interested in Trump winning. Why would he be interested in people who aren’t fully on board with him, who might be a threat to him, getting government offices, just because they happen to call themselves Republicans? What good does it do him for such people to win?

Indeed, Trump denounced the Republican candidate for senate in Colorado, Joe O’Dea, last week because the guy won't lie and say that Trump won in 2020, and then publicly cheered yesterday when he learned O'Dea had lost.

[bevis the lumberjack]

I wonder if Trump isn’t clinically mentally ill. Megalomania.

Don’t forget the Oz fiasco. Now that one is his wife’s fault.

Meanwhile just last week he dissed the gov candidate that carried Dade.

Republicans need to get rid of the guy before he does too much damage. The guy is poison.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

MAGA-lomania?

[bevis the lumberjack]

Nicely done.

[Commenter_XY]

That was inspired. 🙂

[santamonica811]

If the Democrats don't steal this; they're idiots. If they do, I hope you get some sort of royalties...it's a pretty inspired insult. (Although, back in 2016, my attempts to popularize, "He's having a temper tanTrump." went nowhere.) 🙁

[Snorkle]

> I wonder if Trump isn’t clinically mentally ill.

You're just now noticing?

[David Nieporent]

Yeah, that's kind of like pondering, in June of 1912, whether the Titanic is all that seaworthy.

[not me]

Perfectly valid question to ponder at that time. Did Gigantic (renamed Britannic) need to be redesigned? Was the iceberg a one-in-a-billion chance? Was there a design flaw? Was there failure to build to the design specs?

In the end, they did redesign Britannic.
The iceberg was an unlikely but still possible threat.
The design was actually seaworthy.
Substandard materials were used.
And Trump won't let a psychiatrist give him a proper evaluation.

[santamonica811]

"Person, woman, man, camera, TV..."

Sounds 100% sane to me. (Yeah, I know; it was a cognition test, rather than a mental health test. Just humor me on this.)

[Brett Bellmore]

Yes, it did need to be redesigned. They may have used substandard materials, but the REAL problem was that the water tight compartments didn't go all the way up to the main deck. As a result, once the ship tilted enough to the side, water could pour over the tops of the water tight partitions, defeating them.

If not for that design flaw, even with the substandard materials, it wouldn't have sank.

As for Trump seeing a psychiatrist, how about this deal: BOTH Trump and Biden get to see psychiatrists, mutually agreed upon, to have their mental health and cognitive fitness evaluated.

BOTH of them. Deal?

[Nige]

Brett if you think you're really making a deal for both Trump and Biden to see psychiatrists, maybe you need a psychiatrist.

[Brett Bellmore]

No, I think I'm proposing what would be a fair deal. I'm under no illusion you want anything fair.

[Moderation4ever]

With the midterm elections over I think you will see the Rs move on from Trump. I think there was a belief that Trump could help the party in 2022. That time is over and no one that wants to be President is going to take a backseat for the 2024 election. Look for the long knives to start coming out.

BTW - the smart move for Republicans is to let the Democrats take the former President down. Look for shocked Republican faces in public when indictments come. All the while they are smiling when out of public site.

[Nige]

The trick will be getting Trump to move on from Rs.

[SRG]

They may move on from Trump but they won't move on from Trumpism.

[not guilty]

I think Republicans regard megalomania as a feature, not a bug. Ron DeSantis's "eighth day" campaign ad provides an example.

[bevis the lumberjack]

I don’t see that in DeSantis. Like him or not he’s just an ordinary cocky politician. Trump is recommending candidates based on who finds him most swell.

And the Dems have had their share. I used to think that Clinton was the most narcissistic president we’d ever had. Of course, since narcissism is an important component of megalomania Trump has blown him away.

[Brett Bellmore]

"I wonder if Trump isn’t clinically mentally ill. Megalomania."

Every high level politician is mentally ill by normal standards. The psychiatric profession just grades them on a curve to avoid acknowledging it.

[ReaderY]

I think there has to be an empirical element to mental illness. It can’t be simply a question of whether they conform to psychologists’ personal values and beliefs about how people should behave.

When a particular personality pattern is consistently successful, I’m not sure that it’s useful to call that pattern mentally ill. Other people may need help to recognize and deal with the personality type. But i think it reflects overoptimistic assumptions about “normal” people and society, assumptions inconsistent with observed human society, to say that aggressive, acquisitive, violent, narcissistic, domineering, and bullying tendencies aren’t normal. Too many people with these tendencies rise to power to simply write them off as mentally ill. Perhaps we are all mentally ill to keep so consistently falling for these people and letting them have power over us. But it is not the job of abnormal psychology to classify ordinary human tendencies, and these have appeared so many times in history that they are all too ordinary, as mental illness.

And what is the practical value of a mentally ill designation? As Tony Soprano’s psychiatrist grappled with in the fictional series, classifying these types as mentally ill and giving them therapy may simply help make them better at what they do.

[Nige]

To be woke about it, attributing Trump's worst traits to mental illness is ableist talk anyway - people with mental illness function perfectly well in society so long as they have access to appropriate health care and supports.

[juris imprudent]

Most of the armchair psychologists on the internet are of the Soviet variety.

[MonitorsMost]

I don’t disagree with any of this (aside from wondering why this hasn’t been apparent to the GOP for a long time) but it seems pretty banal. Not a particularly interesting insight.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

A delicate operation is needed – easing Trump out of politics without insulting the people who, due to legitimate concerns, voted for him.

From his days as a Democratic real-estate developer in the City of New York to his current status as aspiring Republican kingmaker, he’s looked out for #1, appealing to whatever cause or group would advance his status at the time.

He got a boost by addressing, in his own subtle and understated way, issues which the establishment didn’t want the yokels meddling in. Now in the name of fighting Trump, they want to contaminate all those issues by association and make them undiscussable again. And it might work, too.

We'll see what happens.

[Noscitur a sociis]

I think we mainly just want to get rid of the guy who keeps losing elections.

[Moderation4ever]

As I have noted, the smartest move is to let the Democrats do the heavy lifting. Look for crocodile tears from Republicans when indictments come.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Do you think he wasn't a crook back when he was a Democrat?

[Moderation4ever]

He might have been a crook, but he wasn't in people's faces. Had the former President when back to civilian life and kept reasonably quiet, I would say let him be. He chose not to do that and so give him the attention he wants in court.

[Nige]

Did anyone with any familiarity with Trump at at that time think he wasn't a crook, with his mob connections and pedophile mentor?

[The Margrave of Azilia]

"Had the former President when back to civilian life and kept reasonably quiet, I would say let him be."

Selective political prosecution, what a great way to enhance the reputation of the criminal justice system.

[Moderation4ever]

Most prosecutions are selective and behaving badly generally get you more unwanted attention.

[Yogis_dad]

All this malarkey from TDS victims has no foundation in reality. So far, Trump is 194 to 7 on endorsements. The ballot gathering schemes implemented in blue states under the COVID smokescreen account for electing a vegetable and a dead man in Pennsylvania. Arizona and Nevada will turn out to be clean Republican sweeps. Outside money swamped some candidates, and some Democrat sure wins turned out to be losses. Trump is the reigning leader of the Republican Party.

[Moderation4ever]

Doesn't say much for the party.

[Noscitur a sociis]

electing a vegetable and a dead man in Pennsylvania

Almost like it would have been a good idea for the Republicans to have had a serious candidate in that race!

[Yogis_dad]

The Republicans could have run Abe Lincoln and still lost in Pennsylvania to a corrupt ballot gathering operation they haven't yet learned to match. The Republicans tried to get out the vote; the Democrats harvested the vote. It's past time for America to wake up to the reality of electoral politics.

[SRG]

Corrupt ballot gathering? I had no idea. Could you point me in the direction of the court case?

[MoreCurious]

We'll wait here while you compile your proof. But don't take too long because it will be 2024 before you know it.

[juris imprudent]

I live in one of the reddest counties in the country, in PA, are you saying the Dems have infiltrated and subverted the electoral mechanism here too? Insidious!!!

[MonitorsMost]

Cope harder. Historically bad midterm for the party out of power. Trump endorsing shoe-ins doesn’t matter (and some of his shoe-ins like Boebert are in trouble). It’s amazing that the Republicans are on the verge of a 9/11 equivalent midterm with an economy heading into recession, 8% inflation, and a president with a low 40% approval rating. That’s all thanks to crap candidates like Walker, Oz, Masters, Gibbs, Kent and others. Three straight election cycles of losing. We’ll be so used to losing we’ll get tired of it. Are you tired of it yet? Doesn’t look like it. Looks like you’re ready for a fourth helping of losing. And I’m happy to sit here and watch you do it.

[Jason Cavanaugh]

So far, you are a liar.

https://ballotpedia.org/Endorsements_by_Donald_Trump

[Orbital Mechanic]

I will always be grateful for Donald J. Trump. The smug society of the RNC in 2016 was absolutely sure that they themselves were calling all the shots and that Trump was just a comical aberration that would flame out the next news cycle to be a 1% player.

Trump called them corrupt. He called them ugly and stupid. He called their wives ugly. He did a hundred things each one of which would have ended the career of any other politician but he made the media work for him. And all the GOP bigwigs -- Graham, Cruz, Rubio and a long roster of others that he insulted all came crawling back on their hands and knees, sniveling for any favor. There was no humiliation too great and it showed once and for all with no equivocation what the GOP actually is.

Trump will be crushed under at least three of the indictments coming his way and he knows it. And all the humiliated actors of the GOP know it as well and just watch how, when Trump's grip on the reins has loosened, how they will claim one and all to never actually having been Trump's men to begin with. And what they did was for the good of the country.

[Brett Bellmore]

Well, I like to think he has some Samson in the Temple gambit planned, in that case. Because I'd love nothing more than for the current leadership of the GOP to go down in flames; They occupy, futilely, the space an actual opposition party to the Democrats needs to exist in.

[Old Smokin' Egg]

Did Trump want the Republicans to re-take either house of Congress in the midterms? I very much doubt it.

Trump's best chance of winning in 2024 is if the D's hold both houses and are able to enact big chunks of the progressive agenda. If they're able to pass Build Back Even Better, a considerable number of conservatives might hold their noses and vote for Trump just to stop the leftist juggernaut.

However, if the R's wind up in control of either house, the radical wing of the Democratic Party won't be able to implement much of their wish-list, and Trump will have much less to run against. That'd be better for the nation, of course, but not nearly as good for one Donald J. Trump—and when it comes to the nation's interests versus his own, we know very well which Trump will choose.

We saw that very thing in the Georgia runoff elections two years ago. If Trump had urged his supporters to get out and vote for the Republican candidates, it's almost certain that one or both of them would've won, giving the R's a majority in the Senate and the ablity to block Biden's New New Deal. Instead, Trump promoted his stolen-election fantasy, reducing Republican turnout and giving the seats to Ossoff and Warnock, which gave the D's control of the Senate.

[Sarcastr0]

It's ole chessmaster Trump again with another masterstroke!

[MonitorsMost]

We’ll be so used to losing that we’ll get tired of it. The Trump train has no breaks.

[Nige]

Biden passing just a few bits of his progressive agenda energised voters enough to roll back what was supposed to be a historical loss for Dems. Imagine if he passes more.

[bacchys]

The Republican electorate responded to the previous defeats by self-gaslighting and spreading lies they were more comfortable living with than reality. Mirengoff is among those who coddled and supported the delusions. So is Erik Eriksson, who Mirengoff quotes after the cut.

The GOP the last six years has been mostly two camps. The first, the MAGA crowd, exemplified by Greene, Gosar, Gaetz, Boebert, and Jordan. The second, the folks the people at The Bulwark call "Team Normal." The ones who sit around in a political party on fire and say "this is fine."

[Dan Schiavetta]

The New York Times has an article headlining how criticism of Trump is now extensive after the failure of the anticipated “Red Wave”. Read into it though and you see the only critics are advisors and politicians who are retired. The active politicians quoted refuse to criticize him.

Is there a more pathetic, gutless creature than a Republican office holder in the age of Trump? They look the other way when he insults their fathers, their wives, boasts about sexual assault, and smile dumbly when he claims on the same stage that you have to kiss his ass (exact words).

[Nige]

The New York Times would be better off examining why THEY got it so wrong.

[juris imprudent]

It's odd how no one has the real stones to stand up to him, face to face and say he's full of sh!t. It's like they don't realize how it would break his spell, his use of their political civility against them.

[JasonT20]

It’s odd how no one has the real stones to stand up to him, face to face and say he’s full of sh!t. It’s like they don’t realize how it would break his spell, his use of their political civility against them.

I’ve said it before around here and elsewhere, to little effect. But I strongly argue that for anyone that really does believe in self-government, one must be willing to lose elections. If a politician is only or even primarily driven by self-interest, then anything that would reduce the chances of losing becomes acceptable practice. And anything that increases the risk of losing becomes impossible.

Virtually every Republican has made the calculation that calling Trump out unambiguously on any of his garbage is a risk to their chances of re-election. Thus it is unthinkable to do that. What that really shows you is that they aren’t willing to lose for the greater good of the country. Their integrity and patriotism are only something to claim when it is convenient, not something to actually live by.

edit: The handful of Republican officeholders that did stand up to Trump did lose. Almost all of them, at least. Cheney, Kinzinger are both going to be out of the House this January. I think only one or two of the ten House members that voted for impeachment the second time are keeping their seats.

If there had been a real push back against Trump from the beginning, he might not have actually won the nomination in the first place. Trump dominated FoxNews once he went down that escalator, and the 16 opponents didn't stand up to him strongly enough at the beginning, which might have blunted all of the free airtime he got.

[Brett Bellmore]

"If there had been a real push back against Trump from the beginning, he might not have actually won the nomination in the first place."

That's a pretty silly falsified history. In fact, there was plenty of pushback against Trump, it was just mostly ineffective because the voters liked Trump better than they did the people "pushing back".

And the free airtime he got WAS an attempt to bring him down. It's just that the people trying to bring him down, because THEY hated what he said, assumed it would hurt him if they made sure the voters heard it, too. And they were wrong about that. It took them a long while to figure out that attacking Trump on his policies was actually helping him, and shut up about his policies to attack him mostly on non-substance issues like his "tone".

[Savagely Average]

I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say Trump now, Trump tomorrow, Trump forever!!!!!! [injects self with bleach]

[Brett Bellmore]

I think I'm done with Trump at this point. Though not for the reasons the GOP establishment are done with him, they were never NOT done with him.

I thought he was a fairly good President, especially in terms of mostly pursuing the things the people who'd elected him actually wanted. Which is probably why the GOP establishment were never not done with him; It's hard to run a bait and switch scam when the guy at the top is actually trying to deliver on the promises!

But even before this I thought he was too old to be the candidate in 2024. Previously that was a general principles decision. Now I think we have evidence that Trump is showing his age. He's becoming a parody of himself as his impulse control declines, his faults become magnified and his virtues atrophy.

In essence, we become ourselves as we get older, and lose the capacity to mask what we are. And Trump is becoming a little too much Trump, as he loses his capacity to tactically rein it in.

Trump desperately needs to accept that it's time to hand on the baton to the next guy, that it wasn't his baton to begin with, he was just carrying it for a while. Instead he's trying to kneecap the next runner in the relay race.

I expect his stock with Republican voters to drop rapidly from here on out, because they like DeSantis for much the same reasons they liked Trump, and DeSantis has the more recent record of successes. If actually forced to chose between the two, Trump is going to get dropped.

[Savagely Average]

That’s a pretty cogent analysis and I hope it’s correct. Trump’s still very politically skilled and retains huge support in the Republican Party.

He probably hurt himself by trying to overturn the election and then staying in the news so much the last couple of years. If he wanted to maximize his chances in 2024 he then should have just said “you know what? I have a great record, it was a close election and we’ll get ‘em next time” and dropped out of sight for a couple of years. But he never had it in him to do that.