Welcome to Litsy!

I have been AWOL for a little while, but I hope to be back more regularly. Although all kinds of things have been happening in my life - moving to a new house, a doggie that will need knee surgery, stress at work, just life - I have kept reading.
Leibovich‘s book is a recap of the Trump presidency. It reminded me of how much I had forgotten about the Trump presidency, and it is scary that he got away with it all.

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I always fantasized about when Trump would no longer be president and was somehow deprived of Twitter. How terrifying would those withdrawal symptoms be after a full term of unlimited supply? It was as if he knew that if this paradise was taken away from him, he would become just another shriveled up and attention starved former guy, founded toasted to death on a Mar-a-lago tanning bed. No wonder he clung to the gig so desperately in the end.

(Continued)...the essence of authoritarianism. The members votes were being influenced not by argument or political position, but in response to the threat of physical harm.

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This is in reference to Rick Perry. 🤣

(Continued)...in any chief executive, although the U.S. electorate just might.

Wow! It's always shocking when the sharply worded letter fails to work!

The Kushners haven't moved to Wisconsin???? I'm shocked! 🤣🤣🤣

This is former Republican Congressman Tom Rooney, in reference to the time that Trump referred to our military as "suckers and losers."

(Continued)...Trump run against his most lethal opponent of all, Donald Trump.

Paul Ryan (2 of 2)

Paul Ryan (1 of 2)

Well, at least he's willing to admit that they're stupid.

In 2015 and 2016, more than half of Republican poll respondents were still saying that they believed Barack Obama was a Muslim, and probably not born in the United States, too.

This is referring to the time that the National Embarrassment started off his first cabinet meeting by having everyone in the room praise him.

Jesus Christ!

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“This was a pure case of governing by intimidation, which is the essence of authoritarianism.”

"As I get closer and closer to the goal, it's gonna get different," Trump told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. "I will be changing very rapidly. I'm very capable of changing to anything I want to change to." Part of the perverse beauty of Trump was that he could be weirdly forthcoming about how full of shit he was.

The notion of a Trump pivot was of course preposterous. While he was certainly capable of altering his views with stunning speed, it would maybe be more difficult to pivot away from saying Mexicans are rapists. (Would Trump negotiate "great deals" with Mexico's more moderate "problem solver" rapists?). If your campaign is a cult of personality, can you really modulate that personality and still retain the cult?

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."