All that paid pandering to Russia and plutocrats now yields some indeterminate results that could be dressed up as “stochastic” but after decades we know where Trump’s narcissism leads. Trump’s personality disorder becomes further operationalized as the administrative state gets further fractured. The 2020 media effect of authoritarianism expands. There’s nothing “random” about it.
The monster of Trumpism runs amok as a remake of Aliens (the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien) or like flying(sic) monkey’s paw and monkey pox landing on the US shore. “Game over, man.” For governance, elections, and the administrative state, it’s game over when Sean Hannity is the wizard of OZ.
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Aliens in 60 seconds may be my favourite thing of the year.
Michael Bender and Maggie Habermanrevealed in a New York Times reportthat behind the scenes, former President Donald Trump was shocked that his endorsement didn’t mean a blowout win for Mehmet Oz.
“I’ve known him a long time. He’s on that screen,” Trump said. “He’s in the bedrooms of all those women, telling them good and bad. And they love him.”
Trump assumed Oz was going to win because his show was once a successful one and he got the Trump brand behind him. Yet, Trump has quickly realized that he can’t control the MAGA world he created. At one point, Oz was evenbooed by a Trump audience.
Not true. McCormick’s from Connecticut. Come to think of it, Oz should have campaigned, “At least I’M from a border state!” Though, of course, Oz lives near NYC, on the other side of NJ from the PA border.
The tumultuous start to the Republican primary season, including a down-to-the-wire Senate race that divided conservatives in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, has shown how thoroughly Donald J. Trump has remade his party in his image — and the limits of his control over his creation.
In each of the most contentious primary races this month — including two closely watched contests next week in Alabama and Georgia — nearly every candidate has run a campaign modeled on the former president’s. Their websites and advertisements are filled with his images. They promote his policies, and many repeat his false claims about election fraud in 2020.
But Mr. Trump’s power over Republican voters has proved to be less commanding.
Candidates endorsed by Mr. Trump lost governor’s races in Idaho and Nebraska, and a House race in North Carolina. In Senate contests in Ohio (where his pick won earlier this month) and Pennsylvania (which remained too close to call Wednesday morning), roughly 70 percent of Republicans voted against his endorsement. In contests next week, his chosen candidates for Georgia governor and Alabama senator are trailing in polls.
Long known for being dialed into his voters, Mr. Trump increasingly appears to be chasing his supporters as much as marshaling them. Republican voters’ distrust of authority and appetite for hard-line politics — traits Mr. Trump once capitalized on — have worked against him. Some have come to see the president they elected to lead an insurgency as an establishment figure inside his own movement.
Trumpism is ascendant in the Republican Party, with or without Mr. Trump, said Ken Spain, a Republican strategist and former National Republican Congressional Committee official.
“The so-called MAGA movement is a bottom-up movement,” Mr. Spain said, “not one to be dictated from the top down.”
With Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate primary still too close to call, @DrOz thanks former President Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity for their guidance throughout his campaign. pic.twitter.com/oCseJyl09X
Along these lines, it is interesting that, as noted by theNew York Times,win or lose, Trump endorsees tend to get around one third of the Republican vote in each primary. This seems to indicate that while Trump still leads a sizable portion of the party, he doesn’t necessarily lead the majority of it. That being said, while November will be the true test, Republicans appear willing to fall in line behind Trumpism when it comes to general elections — after all, in 2020,94 percentof Republicans voted for Trump. Given this, Trump can (and, to some extent, does) lead the party with a minority — while two thirds might support other wings of the party, they aren’t so opposed to Trump that they won’t fall in line behind him. Indeed,60 percent of Republicanssay they still view Trump as the leader of the party.
🚨 🚨 Exclusive: Law enforcement agencies are investigating social-media threats to burn down or storm the Supreme Court building and murder justices and their clerks, as well as attacks targeting places of worship and abortion clinics. https://t.co/gI9RvHjy1p
Never mind all this great replacement theory we’re spouting. It’s not our fault deranged people are actually listening to us. https://t.co/gVFXRWimk7
— Khashoggi’s Ghost 🇺🇦🌻 (@UROCKlive1) May 18, 2022
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The statement from the Chair of the RNC does not denounce White Replacement Theory — but it does position *her* as the real victim of the Buffalo shooting and then tries to both sides the issue. This is truly a soulless, empty shell of a hateful political party. https://t.co/Oy7YukVP9t
Three days after the shooting that authorities have said was motivated by racist ideology, Cruz tweeted: “Over 2 million illegal aliens streamed across the border last year. This is an invasion we’re seeing because Joe Biden refuses to enforce the law!” ⬇️https://t.co/md59s0a2W6
Anyway, the implication of this decision is that most (all?) agency enforcement power is unconstitutional. Which, in plain English, means that the federal government can’t enforce a huge swath of regulations. I mean, this is basically striking down the administrative state.
In 2016, then-professor Amy Coney Barrett cited this outcome—unraveling of the “administrative state”—as something correct-on-the-merits but impossible and would never happenhttps://t.co/pmPicaFMsL
I’d rather give the power to experts in their fields, appointed to enforce legislation in those fields. The SEC was created to safeguard public interest after the 1929 stock market crash & great depression. Protections put in place to prevent a repeat have been dismantled
I never said that it was. But administrative elements in society function to ensure that the ‘rules’ are followed. They function that way in most developed countries, and for the most part it works pretty well. If they are subject to political pressure
Crap—Monkeypox is likely aerosol airborne. Study indicates monkeypox is aerosol stable for up to 90 HOURS and remain infective during that time. I pray we’ve learned our lesson with #COVIDisAirborne and don’t repeat the droplet vs airborne 2 year nonsense. https://t.co/8J6mqkzzLOpic.twitter.com/gjFv4FXndN
At the same time, Mastriano had some key Trumpworld figures in his corner: Rudy Giuliani, Bernard Kerik, Jenna Ellis, Liz Harrington and Michael Glassner.
Trump also wanted to appease his base, which was frustrated by his endorsement of Oz for Senate. https://t.co/489Uj9ojMC
