Mark Leibovich Talks “Thank You for Your Servitude”

Steve is joined by Mark Leibovich to discuss his new book Thank You for Your ...

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Steve is joined by Mark Leibovich to discuss his new book Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission. How did the Republican Party get to its present predicament? Leibovich gives us his eyewitness account of how the former president transformed Washington, and a major American political party.

Show Notes:

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ryne Click

    I loathe the patriots, but I love Mark Leibovich. He’s a national treasure. Big Game and This Town are required reading.

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    Jason Gibson

    I loved this guy. An expert on Donald Trump, Trumpism, the New England Patriots, and Tom Brady. A brave man who is devoted to examining corruption in all of it's forms

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    Bill Nelson

    I must say that I not a fan of the Atlantic after what they did to Kevin Williamson. Wonder if this guy was a part of that.

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  4. GregS

    When we look at the GOP, where members of Congress feel they have to violate their conscience because they're afraid for the physical safety of their families, should we not necessarily conclude that it is now a fascist party? Sure the Congresspersons who are afraid may not be fascist in their heart of hearts. But as a practical matter, by voting along with the fascists, they are no better right?
    How can it possibly be a good thing to do anything to allow such a party to have power until the fascist elements have been excised from it?
    Do you really think that voting for good Republicans who nevertheless support McCarthy and McConnell and go along with fascists because they're afraid is a good way of resisting the woke and fighting inflation?

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    Todd T

    For Donald Trump, losing is the new winning.

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  6. Dominic

    Oh boy, this was extremely depressing. Need some August AO fun after this one.

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  7. Ron Croxton

    "He's their murder weapon."

    That's it right there, the entire Trump phenomenon. A motivated electorate punking the left by backing a fascist sociopath. Credit where it's due: it has worked phenomenally.

    It's also Trump's biggest vulnerability. Desantis can win the nomination by repeating a single phrase: " The left wants Trump to be nominated because he can't win, and won't get anything done if he does. I am what a lefty truly fears, a competent and electable anti-woke champion."

    If he can sell that message, Desantis will face Biden in '24 - and since he's not one of the one people that Biden can beat, he'll be the next president.

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    Paul B

    Longtime listeners know that Steve has an *insane* take on how Trump would be most weakened by a 2024 GOP primary campaign chock-full of fellow presidential aspirants all training fire on him. And, based on the stunned, bewildered responses of his fellow Big 4 Dispatch compatriots, I know I'm not alone in wondering whether he's just doing a bit.
    After listening to Steve and Mark's conversation about how these attacks might play out on competency grounds, I'm now downgrading his take from "insane" to merely "fanciful wishcasting."
    All told, another wonderful interview with a fantastic writer!

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    Pastorfbt

    Fascinating discussion about a really depressing subject.
    And I am so there for the Patriots love. Not to mention being old enough to have been a Giants fan back in the day.

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    Tracie

    Center left normies like myself may censor ourselves to avoid social media dogpiles from people who declare their pronouns and demand conformity to proactive "anti-racist" behavior and language norms. However, public Republicans avoid criticizing Trump for fear of their physical/actual safety - the definition of living under authoritarianism, as you point out. As a person of a certain age, I recognize the difference between those two threats. I still judge the cowards on the right, but as someone who *doesn't* believe words=violence, maybe I'm a little too fearful of typed words. Though, some of it is certainly wanting to avoid getting sucked into social media debates.

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      Young Riprock

      I’m not really sure that’s the same. I don’t think most people are concerned for their safety for speaking out against Trump. That seems to be pretty exclusive to politicians. People who censor themselves because of liberal excesses on language policing is a much broader populace.

      Both are bad, and fear of violence is worse than fear of dog piling and ostracism. But because the scope of the affected group is so much different, it seems a little apples to oranges, IMO. Interesting thought though.

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        Tracie

        So, this was a contrast on two levels:
        1) public person (e.g. politicians) vs a private nobody (e.g. me.)
        2) moderate right-leaning (non-MAGA Republicans) vs moderate left-leaning (people like me who've always voted Democratic but don't have special pronouns and call protests+fires+break-ins "riots" and find AOC really annoying....)

        Not clear because it was just a not fully formed thought I posted. Not a journalist. Stakes aren't that high.

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        Tracie

        It was like 650AM and I was about to pop into work. Listened to the podcast on the drive in. Was going to be an FB post, but wasn't sure it would make sense to anyone who hadn't listened to the pod.

        So, this post probably requires more knowledge of me, personally, and my tendency to get pile-ons from friends and acquaintances who - say - live in Evanston IL and are really active in BLM.

        So, an "interesting" but not coherent thought. Thanks for your reply.

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