This is such an important comment from Mark Leibovich's article in The Atlantic's "One Article to Read Today" email this morning:
"[Leibovich following Trump around in 2015]: But I was struck by one theme that Trump kept pounding on over and over: that he was used to dealing with “brutal, vicious killers”—by which he meant his fellow ruth…
This is such an important comment from Mark Leibovich's article in The Atlantic's "One Article to Read Today" email this morning:
"[Leibovich following Trump around in 2015]: But I was struck by one theme that Trump kept pounding on over and over: that he was used to dealing with “brutal, vicious killers”—by which he meant his fellow ruthless operators in showbiz, real estate, casinos, and other big-boy industries. In contrast, he told me, politicians are saps and weaklings …
“They might speak badly about me now, but they won’t later,” Trump said. They like to say they are “public servants,” he added, his voice dripping with derision at the word servant. But they would eventually submit to him and fear him. They would “evolve,” as they say in politics. “It will be very easy; I can make them evolve,” Trump told me. “They will evolve.”
Like most people who’d been around politics for a while, I was dubious. And wrong. They evolved."
And I would include a lot of journalists (and pundits) in mainstream media. They've evolved. They submit to him by postulating there's ANY good in him and they fear him because of what might happen if/when he gets elected.
If I had a nickel for every fine conservative mind that once spoke forcefully about the moral degeneracy of Trump, but then pivoted to claiming that the real "corruption" is opposing Trump.
Leibovich's piece is a must read. Anyone not actively resisting Trump and Trumpism will be destroyed by Trump and Trumpism. "Do not submit in advance." Timothy Snyder's lesson one in On Tyranny. Submission is death. That may sound hyperbolic but as soon as one gives in to this heinous bullshit, one's self goes away. One becomes a zombie. Maybe, one becomes an Orc. Submission is death.
Many people painted themselves into a corner with their initial decision that Trump must always be defended against his critics, and to portray those critics as agents of an evil greater than any of his faults. The more they invested in defending the latest outrage, the more resistant they became to admitting that perhaps the critics had been right while they were wrong - not just mistaken, but morally wrong.
This is such an important comment from Mark Leibovich's article in The Atlantic's "One Article to Read Today" email this morning:
"[Leibovich following Trump around in 2015]: But I was struck by one theme that Trump kept pounding on over and over: that he was used to dealing with “brutal, vicious killers”—by which he meant his fellow ruthless operators in showbiz, real estate, casinos, and other big-boy industries. In contrast, he told me, politicians are saps and weaklings …
“They might speak badly about me now, but they won’t later,” Trump said. They like to say they are “public servants,” he added, his voice dripping with derision at the word servant. But they would eventually submit to him and fear him. They would “evolve,” as they say in politics. “It will be very easy; I can make them evolve,” Trump told me. “They will evolve.”
Like most people who’d been around politics for a while, I was dubious. And wrong. They evolved."
And I would include a lot of journalists (and pundits) in mainstream media. They've evolved. They submit to him by postulating there's ANY good in him and they fear him because of what might happen if/when he gets elected.
If I had a nickel for every fine conservative mind that once spoke forcefully about the moral degeneracy of Trump, but then pivoted to claiming that the real "corruption" is opposing Trump.
Leibovich's piece is a must read. Anyone not actively resisting Trump and Trumpism will be destroyed by Trump and Trumpism. "Do not submit in advance." Timothy Snyder's lesson one in On Tyranny. Submission is death. That may sound hyperbolic but as soon as one gives in to this heinous bullshit, one's self goes away. One becomes a zombie. Maybe, one becomes an Orc. Submission is death.
Many people painted themselves into a corner with their initial decision that Trump must always be defended against his critics, and to portray those critics as agents of an evil greater than any of his faults. The more they invested in defending the latest outrage, the more resistant they became to admitting that perhaps the critics had been right while they were wrong - not just mistaken, but morally wrong.