First of all, to answer Dave’s question, yes, it’s worth engaging with journalists, especially those who clearly take the time to seek out good, non-establishment sources.
Now, onto what may destroy this country. K-Thug today quite rightly calls out the Republican moral midgets in Congress for bowing down before Dear Leader. I’ve been wondering for a while: what would reasonable Republican Congressional criticism of Trump even sound like? I take it for granted that they’re all crazy assholes, but even crazy assholes might have some respect for reality and truth. Yes, McCain and Huckleberry Hound like to get off the occasional anti-Trump one-liner before voting for whatever hack Russian double agent Trump has nominated for the cabinet, but they never attempt to give an honest account of just what’s so fucked up about Trump. So I was surprised to see this from Mark Sanford, of all people:
I ask Sanford, in our early February interview, whether it’s fair to say Trump doesn’t impress him. “Yeah, that’s accurate,” he tells me. “Because at some level he represents the antithesis, or the undoing, of everything I thought I knew about politics, preparation and life.”
[….]Sanford swears he has nothing personal against the new president; in fact, he’s heard good things about him personally from several mutual acquaintances. But, he says, he can’t “look the other way” as Trump peddles false information to suit his political aims.
“I believe in a war of ideas … and I tell the staff all the time: Look, we’re in the business of crafting and refining our arguments that are hopefully based on the truth,” he adds. “Truth matters. Not hyperbole, not wild suggestion, but actual truth.”
I hate the whole hunt for a reasonable Republican game people like to play, so I don’t want to make it sound like Mark Sanford is a great guy, but he’s saying what every non-brain dead Republican in Congress (I think there’s at least a few dozen in this category) should be saying, that Trump’s detachment from reality is simply not acceptable. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s probably the politically smart thing to do for the medium-to-long term.
But so far no one’s doing it besides Sanford. He must have done a lot of good thinking out there on the Appalachian Trail.
But it makes me feel better each time it beginsPost + Comments (67)