The interregnum is always a honeymoon period. Spirits are high, boasts and promises flow like wine. But then it gets down to the actual business of fulfilling those vows and that’s where the going gets tough. And that period starts now. If you were able to stomach Trump’s 32-minute batshit address wherein he stated that “a bullet blew off part of my ear” — ain’t it miraculous there’s no scar, let alone missing flesh? — and kvetched about the persecution of the Justice Department and other things that never happened (but the press is terrified to challenge) then you know that nothing has changed with Trump other than to get worse.
Yes, he promised to be a “president of unity” and then declared war on transgender people, illegal immigrants, and our allies whom he vowed to tariff heavily. Say one thing, do the opposite is a recipe for disaster and that’s what you’re going to see.
Donald Trump takes office today promising to immediately start in on a litany of human rights abuses and other efforts to harm marginalized people. He’s promised a sweeping assault on immigrants in Chicago starting as early as this week. He’s said he will sign executive orders to make trans people second class citizens (and effectively deny their existence). In recent days he’s indicated that he’s going to take his corrupt self-dealing to new levels by promoting numerous shady crypto schemes that will enrich himself and his family. And of course he’s pledged to pardon those convicted of violence associated with the January 6 coup attempt, reiterating his disdain for democracy and the rule of law. […]
It’s difficult to find much cause for hope right now. There is one mild glimmer of good news, though. The enthusiasm for Trump almost certainly won’t last.
Trump has never had high approval ratings, in part because most of his policies are ill-thought out at best and deeply unpopular at worst. The beginning of a term is usually a honeymoon period when voters and other politicians give the president the benefit of the doubt. But that honeymoon is generally short, and there’s plenty of reason to believe that with Trump it will be even shorter.
The handwriting is already subtly on the wall that as divided as our nation is, there is still plenty of anti-Trump victories taking place. He doesn’t want you to know about them, but here are a few.
Trump is also likely to lose a lot of midterm elections, just as he lost badly in 2017, 2018, and 2019. These losses have, in fact, already started. Though it didn’t get much buzz, Democrats held onto control of the Virginia House and Senate by winning two special elections, running about a point ahead of Kamala Harris in both. Republicans held onto a third seat — but the candidate underperformed Trump by 9 points. That seems like a hopeful sign for resisting Trump going forward.
It will take time for Trump to discredit himself again. It will take time for Democratic wins in specials and midterms to remind politicians, journalists, and the public just how vulnerable Trump is, and how much he hurts Republicans down ballot. In the meantime, though, there are still an awful lot of us who know who Trump is and continue to oppose him.
And yes, Trump has his oligarchs. They were in Washington aplenty today. While the spouses of members of Congress were not allowed in the Rotunda, the oligarchs’ spouses most certainly were. Trump knows who’s buttering his bread and he caters to them.
Since Trump’s victory, media oligarchs have accelerated the pace of their disgrace. As we chronicled in this newsletter, ABC doled out $16 million to settle an absurdly weak defamation lawsuit Trump brought against the network for George Stephanopoulos’s (accurate) coverage of the E. Jean Carroll case. The Washington Post killed an editorial cartoon by Pulitzer Prize winner Ann Telnaes which depicted Bezos and other oligarchs prostrate before Trump (Telnaes, honorably, quit). Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire CEO of Meta, ended factchecking to appease Trump and his movement, which thrives on lies. Meta also carefully removed anti-LGBTQ hate speech policies, since again Trump supports hatred of and discrimination directed towards LGBTQ people.
It’s fitting that the Facebook lies generated by Russian trolls brought Trump into office the first time. Now, even after congressional oversight and a massive expose of both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica’s wrongdoings, Zuckerberg’s platform is back to its old ways. I suppose we should applaud the honesty here, that they’re not even going to bother to try. And I guess that means that Twit/X Community Notes are on the way out, too.
Trump is the father of all lies and his return to power means that Truth lost this election. There’s an old saying, “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.” Truth needs a lot of help. Because this is our focus going forward, to either let the Republicans continue to lie to the electorate as they have been, or to find a way to get the truth out there, effectively, forcefully and in real time.
We need to do this ourselves. There’s no Russian money bankrolling our efforts. I see what’s about to occur as a shift away from legacy media and to independently run outlets of all sizes, dedicated to truth.
And on that note, if you can contribute to this blog at all, it would be appreciated. People are depressed, understandably, and our traffic is 2/3 down since the election. Nobody understands Democrats’ depression more than I do. But playing ostrich and letting the monsters run wild is not going to get us back in power. PZ is here for the duration. We’re going to stay and fight and we can use your help. Thank you.
“The enthusiasm for Trump almost certainly won’t last.”
There’s really not much enthusiasm to begin with.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-approval-rating-polls-republicans-rcna187951