From the indictments of James Comey and Letitia James to declarations of a nationwide anti-terrorism dragnet of political opponents, Donald Trump has managed to convince even his critics of his supposedly unstoppable and unchecked powers.
Political strategist
of the Hopium Chronicles has taken a different approach, emphasizing Trump’s weaknesses, miscalculations and limitations.“There are two things happening in America at the same time that we have to allow to not be necessarily in conflict with one another, right? One is that Trump is doing enormous harm to the country, to our constitutional order, to our standing in the world, that there is just incredible damage being done. Some of this will be difficult. It’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to repair, and we have to use that damage and harm to motivate us every day to understand the gravity of this situation. But at the same time, what is remarkable is how much the country is rejecting this.”
Simon points out that Trump’s public opinion polling has fallen deeply underwater during the shutdown, and he has written how Trump doesn’t seem to have an off-ramp for passing a budget.
Instead of being intimidated by federal deployments, protesters are mocking Trump’s government while dressed up as inflatable frogs and participating in “emergency” naked bike rides in Portland.
In the video above, Simon and I discuss this tension, the upcoming No Kings 2.0 protests, and the fate of the Voting Rights Act. This Substack Live first aired on Wednesday afternoon.
