Thanks, Noam Chomsky

This morning, Trump told Jonathan Swan from Axios that he has never confronted Vladimir Putin ...

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This morning, Trump told Jonathan Swan from Axios that he has never confronted Vladimir Putin about Russian bounties that were paid to the Taliban to kill American troops, partly because the president doesn’t believe it happened in the first place. But we know from several credible intelligence reports that the president was briefed on the Russian bounties months ago. On today’s episode, Steve reminds us, “It’s been weeks since this was first reported, it’s been months since this was first briefed, and the president of the United States is officially silent on the fact that Russians are trying to kill our troops in Afghanistan.”

In other news, a fledgling theory has taken hold among Trump’s staunchest acolytes: that the president is falling behind in the polls because cancel culture has made MAGA supporters afraid to publicly profess their support for the president. But are there enough SMAGA supporters to sufficiently account for Biden’s double digit lead in the polls? Jonah suggests that this “silent majority” rhetoric has simply become a coping mechanism for the GOP to keep Trump from losing his mind. Tune in to today’s episode to hear our Dispatch podcasters discuss the Burn It All Down Wars, Biden’s veepstakes, and what they’re all reading at the moment.

Show Notes:

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  1. Lynn Schmidt

    For me, "Burn it All Down" comes down to the Impeachment Trial. I read the Mueller Report. No president should do the things Trump did and get away with it. One of David's arguments for not burning it down is to keep a check on the Biden administration. If you follow that argument, then check and balances are only partisan and do not require a check on one of the other co-equal branches of government. The Senate GOP would not vote to remove Trump because they were afraid of his base, a primary challenge, or a mean Tweet. They did not do their jobs and they failed spectacularly. If you or I had failed like that at our jobs, we would be fired. Those in the GOP that refused to hold Trump accountable and therefore, they should be fired from their jobs.

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      Ethan Cordray

      That's about the size of it for me. Trump committed crimes against the American People (capital letters intentional) and our Constitution, crimes worthy of removal. By not voting for his removal, those senators betrayed the People and the Constitution and must be removed from office. There is, unfortunately, no legal mechanism by which to do this besides electing their opponents. So that's the option we must pursue.

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    Adam

    Aw guys, your rapport has gotten so great so quickly. I’m glad to have Jonah giving intellectual credibility to my own habit of falling asleep to my iPad, which till now I’ve defended to my fiancée by insisting my brain needs a break.

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    Leo

    Pandemic legacy is pretty good. The only problem I found is that it was a bit too simple, so it was easy for people to quarter back, making it a bit less of a cooperative game.

    Has anyone played Spirit Island, it seems to make the game complex enough that each player ends up having to work out how their character works separately, and end up cooperating on the shared goals, without other people telling them their best moves.

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    Luke Sherman

    Quite good as always. Now I feel like I can connect with most of of the folks on the podcast on some level after finding out about Sarah's board game addiction (although I would highly recommend Betrayal Legacy if it hasn't been played), David and Jonah's general pop culture nerdery, and that Milwaukee connection with Steve. I am a bit disappointed that there wasn't any sci-fi or fantasy novels brought up when reading was mentioned, but to each their own. Good job and keep up the interesting analysis and articles.

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    CynthiaW

    Very fun. I love Steve! He sounded like me when all my sons are geeking out. Pass the Spanish wine.

    I carry "Pond Life" in my daypack along with "Common Forest Trees of North Carolina."

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      Ethan Cordray

      Obviously, somebody just needs to make a board game about Spanish wine to get Steve into the hobby.

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        CynthiaW

        We have a game, Photosynthesis, about growing trees. It seems like the concept could be adapted to vineyards. Photosynthesis has no element of chance, only fixed action - the movement of the sun - and player choice. You'd want to introduce a weather component and an economic component to the wine game.

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    Matt Y.

    I was glad to hear you mention the Democratic Party history of nominating Senators for Vice President. I was just looking at their history today and found that they haven't nominated a governor for VP since 1924. (Other than a couple Senators who were former governors). So that's not good news for Gretchen Whitmer.

    Republicans love governors, having put one in either the 1st or 2nd spot on the ticket in every election since 2000 except when renominating incumbents.

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      Ethan Cordray

      This is one of those weird facts that really seems like it must mean something, but I have no idea what.

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  7. David Williams

    Sarah, thanks for asking the question that I asked in the live event last week. For full disclosure the book I’m reading before bed is a galley copy of David French’s upcoming book. I’ll be reviewing the book once I’m finished. But for the record everyone needs to go right now and pre-order the book. Right now. Spoiler alert: It’s really, really good.

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    Rev Snow

    It is suggested that the SMAGA theory is put forward in part as an attempt to lift the spirits of the President. This inspires the fantasy in me where the spirits of the President are dashed. They are driven so low that he drops out of the race, and the battle to shape the post-Trump GOP begins now. Let the Polk option take effect!

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      Ethan Cordray

      I remember when they were saying the same things in 2008 and 2012. It wasn't true then, either.

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        Rev Snow

        It was claimed that McCain and Romney had silent lurking reservoirs of support? I missed that.

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    JohnF

    Just listened to the podcast. As always, very enjoyable and informative.
    The one thing I'd comment on, however, is that I think you guys missed the boat a bit on the Burn-It-All-Down section. Steve made the point that the end result of this kind of approach would be a much-more Trumpian Rump Republican Party. He said that as if that would be a bad thing. As an outspoken BIIAD (Burn-It-All-Downer), I see that as a feature rather than a bug. for the following reasons:
    1. The only reason that Political Parties make dramatic changes is if they have to go through a near-extinction event. This doesn't happen all that often in the US, but it happens all the time in Parliamentary Democracies (usually because sometimes the only way to rid yourself of the leader of a ship in a Parliamentary system is to sink the ship).
    2. A smaller, more-Trumpian Republican caucus may be noisier, but they also won't have any power. No matter how vocal and enthusiastic the remaining caucus members might be, they won't be able to deliver anything to their supporters. This will make them even less popular the next time around. It is also a lot less fun to be in Congress when you don't have any power and even less fun when there are no prospects of that changing. This promotes a strong desire to make a Party more electorally successful.
    3. Having experienced this kind of massive electoral failure, the question is what to do to make sure that this never happens again. One method is for those who were abandoned by the Party to gain control over it again. Another is to start fresh with a new Party. Although the latter happens often in Parliamentary Democracies, it doesn't really work in the US. Consequently, Conservatives who left Trump and abandoned the GOP (or were abandoned by it) are more likely to gravitate back to the Party to try to fix it. People like Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz are far more likely to face Primary challenges than if the 2020 election results are much more favorable to the GOP.
    4. Meanwhile, while flipping competitive seats may dilute the influence of moderates in the GOP, the voters in these districts are most likely to replace a moderate Republican with a moderate Democrat. The net effect of this will be to increase the proportion of moderates to progressives within the Democratic Caucus and reduce the influence of people like AOC. As a Moderate and Centrist, I'm much more likely to be satisfied with legislation produced by a Democratic House that is mostly made up of moderates than a Democratic House that has a significant Progressive wing (currently, Progressives make up about 40% of the overall caucus). Since there is virtually no chance that the House will flip back to the Republicans in 2020, having moderates in the governing party will be much better for those of us in the Center than having moderates in opposition (IMHO).

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      Ethan Cordray

      Well said, thanks.

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    Tracie

    Nice rant, Steve.

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