It is helpful to examine history to find logic in Trump's actions. All Corrupt Authoritarians reach a point where the volume of their lawlessness and those in their circle cause them to realize that they can never lose power again. Because accountability would follow. Trump is past that point. That is why stuff like being concerned with polling and public opinion like normal political leaders does not factor in to the administration's actions.
America was too dumb to realize that an insurrection that goes unpunished was just a dress rehearsal. But don't too feel bad Trump voters. History is full of citizens just like you that were captivated by a perceived "strongman" that would make everything great again.
Eh. I think he pushes to see what he can get away with, but I think you’re casting it as more nefarious than it is. Perhaps you don’t buy the WSJ assessment of Trump’s “frustration” in watching the weekend’s events in Minnesota. He seems at least somewhat aware of public sentiment (even apart from the protesters themselves and the far Left), and he wanted a change. For me, that doesn’t excuse decisions by anyone in the administration who advocated the previous tack, but it indicates some concern about things like polls.
Think about Trump's concern about the weekend events to be similar to the concern he has with wounded and crippled veterans being seen in videos with himself. He did not want those "losers" to besmirch his image.
the gestapo now drive-by chemical sprays people on the sidewalk.
these 'officers' were recruited from the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, told to go beat up some city people and guaranteed they would face no consequence.
That's the Republican Party. What a fall. Maybe the NRA should look into assaults like this.
I've been sent video from the end of the ICE raid at the Zipps on 32nd and Shea.
It shows protesters -- on the sidewalk, impeding no one -- getting drive-by maced by an ICE agent from a truck as it rolls away down the road.
Think about Trump's concern about the weekend events to be similar to the concern he has with wounded and crippled veterans being seen in videos with himself. He did not want those "losers" to besmirch his image.
I never suggested he feels empathy for Pretti, nor would I dispute his narcissism. I believe his attachment to polls is related to both self-image and an actual political concern. Garry Kasparov has spent a good bit of time and energy observing autocratic behavior, and he frequently notes where the president crosses the line and where he’s floating possibilities. And I think he even he wouldn’t suggest we’re past the point of no return.
I suppose one answer will arise as we near November.
Standing up to bullies and tyrants is popular in many other democracies. Imagine that! Maybe other politicians will figure this out. Maybe even American politicians will realize telling the truth and standing up for truth and against stupid stuff is popular.
🚨 Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards urges Minnesotans to “let ICE do their jobs” after the team’s 108-83 win over Golden State pic.twitter.com/4SGyHZ5WjC
— Will Stancil’s 2011 Honda Fit’s Blown Tranny (@centristpeater) January 27, 2026
Noem is cooked. She’s uncharismatic and not nearly a good enough liar for Trump’s liking. Methinks she’ll be getting the boot before she has another chance to bungle a response to the murder of a US citizen
That won't stop folks like Masked Off from referring to those guys as "patriots." As a matter of fact, those pedos sound like his kind of people. It probably makes them more appealing to him.
Standing up to bullies and tyrants is popular in many other democracies. Imagine that! Maybe other politicians will figure this out. Maybe even American politicians will realize telling the truth and standing up for truth and against stupid stuff is popular.
well, it’s still wildly imperfect in Canada, just as it’s always been here. American politicians have been a pretty sorry lot overall, but my longstanding position on Trump is that a number of voters expressed reasonable disgust with the venality and mendacity of politicians… and then a number of them decided that the best way to address that problem was to select someone 100x worse.
And then, every political victory he has would drive other politicians farther way from needing to tell the truth. It risks making nearly everybody, left and right, more dishonest.
Here’s someone who wouldn’t agree with that assessment. In fact, Dan McGlaughlin has been defending the administration in Minnesota more than just about anyone, save for the administration officials, numbskull right-wing social media types, the cable folks who always carry water for him, etc.
For me, it’s always been part of the answer against the “but what do you dislike about his policies?” folks: His very essence is to be a black hole where truth disappears, and his gravity draws others into his orbit. The various forms of the statement about the constant, brazen lying of authoritarians are familiar enough: you don’t have to believe the lie, they just have to obscure the truth. McLaughlin is one who wouldn’t agree be unwilling to pin that on the president as a goal, but look at how he describes the situation of Trump’s presidency. It is a description of similar problems:
“One of the frustrations of the second Trump term, as a writer, is quite how opaque the facts frequently are on so many fronts. This is a professional annoyance, but it’s more than just my own grievance: it’s also bad for democratic debate. And while some of this is the result of issue environments outside of the current administration’s control, it’s also a predictable side effect of executive-driven governance that is all about the use of power and leverage rather than the deployment of reason or principle or the defense of law.”
(“how opaque the facts are” is a soft assessment in part because his own reasoning leads him to a less critical stance of the president than I’d take, but it’s also reasonable enough to think that he’s tempering his critique for an audience that has, by a large margin, mostly voted for Trump.)
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