Trump crashes the market (again); Hegseth melts down; the Supreme Court rebukes DJT’s lawlessness; the lessons of the Magna Carta… and the three institutions that just might provide checks and balances to Trump’s authoritarian shock and awe. Plus: the broken brain of Ron Johnson.
On today’s “To the Contrary Podcast,” I’m joined by Lawfare’s Ben Wittes. You can watch or listen right here or on YouTube / Listen (and subscribe) on Apple/ Spotify / iHeart / RSS Feed.
The broken brain of Ron Johnson
“GOP’s Ron Johnson peddles fringe 9/11 conspiracy theories, reaches new low.”
The New York Times described Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson as Trump's successor as the Republican Party’s “foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation.”
It’s apparently time to add the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to the list. Mediaite noted:
Though it seemed difficult to believe, after the far-right host asked the Wisconsin Republican what he wants to know about 9/11, Johnson said, "Well, start with Building 7,” adding that he believes there was “a controlled demolition” at the World Trade Center.
He went on to say, “Who ordered the removal and the destruction of all that evidence, totally contrary to any other firefighting investigation procedures? I mean, who ordered that? Who was in charge? I think there’s some basic information. Where’s all the documentation from this investigation? There are a host of questions that I want — and I will be asking, quite honestly, now that my eyes have been opened up.”
FFS.
I’ve long ago stopped trying to explain what fetid brainworm transformed Wisconsin’s senior senator into a gibbering conspiracist. So, yes. I apologize for everything. And don’t ask me what happened to that fuqqing guy, because I honestly don’t know.
I'm willing to admit that I could have been wrong all along, but I remember when Ron Johnson was not the freakish crackpot he has become. Unfortunately, he is not alone — and the list of the crazed and twisted is long and depressing.
Someday, I hope that someone will take a serious, deep dive into the question of how many brains have been broken during the Trump era. I'm not talking about the embrace of looney or extreme ideas; I want to understand the process by which our reality-bending world has actually melted the brains of so many people in and out of government. Is it the constant flood of bullshit? The constant need to defend the indefensible? The immense pressure to flip, adjust, and keep up with the latest flotsams of crazy? The need to enthusiastically embrace ideas that they know, deep down, are deranged? Does sealing yourself off from rationality in alternative reality silos deprive both the psyche and the brain of the oxygen needed to function? Is the pressure to be an asshole so intense that it just breaks people?
Or, as is more likely, is the brokenness a pre-existing condition?
Is there something about our politics that attracts the weakest, the most depraved, and the most reckless among us? And, if so, maybe we shouldn't be surprised by a world filled with Johnsons, MTGs, and Nancy Maces.
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ICYMI: MTG reacted to the death of Pope Francus thusly:
Far-right Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene declared that "evil is being defeated" in the wake of Pope Francis' death.
"Today there were major shifts in global leaderships," said the self-identified "Christian nationalist" in a post on X Monday morning, roughly nine hours after the pontiff's passing.
"Evil is being defeated by the hand of God."
FFS.
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And God knows what is happening to Nancy Mace, whose beauty store cursing episode with a constituent went viral this week.
In the video, a voter asks her whether she plans more townhall meetings. She responds by yelling “f*** you at the man. “You people on the left are crazy,” she ranted, “you're absolutely f------ crazy".
But she was so proud of her obscene, unhinged performance that she posted a video of the encounter herself, “writing that an "unhinged lunatic, a man, wearing daisy dukes, at a makeup store got in my face today".
Please let that sink in: She posted the video herself. The woman needs help. But she has a vote in the Congress of the United States.
Chode-ness is Contagious
I’ve described Pete Hegseth — the man who, for the moment, still sits atop the Pentagon — as a dipsomaniacal chode.
But alas, like the broken brains above, he is not alone. I give you the Pride of Oklahoma, the Esteemed Senator Markwayne Mullin, whose devotion to the embattled DOD boss knows no bounds:
Impressively performative. Yes, but his offer to lay down his life for the ex-Fox News host did not land well, especially when observers noted that Mullin had never actually served in any of the Armed Forces. Ever.
And he’s this guy:
BONUS: Speaking of Hegseth, make sure you read this insider account from his former spokesman: “Former Top Pentagon Spokesperson Details ‘Month From Hell’ Inside the Agency - POLITICO.”
Some highlights of my conversation with Ben Wittes:
Talking about the Abrego Garcia case may not be a political winner. But it is absolutely the fight we have to have. “The tectonic plates of democracy”
Here a quick transcript:
WITTES: So I don't know if it's a political loser, and honestly, I don't care.
SYKES: That's where I am.
WITTES: The knights who forced John at Runnymede to adopt the Magna Carta, which is where all this stuff comes from, maybe they should have focused on kitchen table issues….
This stuff is the tectonic plates of democracy.
You don't have a democracy if the president can pick people up and send them to a dungeon without charges or, deport them. And, if you want a democratic culture...This is the fight. This is one of the core fights you have to have.
There's elections and there's this. And there isn't really very much else.
This is what prevents political repression.
There is some, you know, free speech. That's important too.
But there's very few things and none of them is more important than arbitrary arrest and punishment.
And so I would say to Gavin Newsom, with all due respect, what democracy are you protecting? You know, you're kind of missing the point….
You know, like Frederick Douglass could have demanded something other than citizenship and voting rights, right?
I mean, like, I'm sure there were more kitchen table issues….
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Rebuking defiance: The Supreme’s Court’s extraordinary power play.
Judge Wilkinson and Judge Luttig: Two lions of the conservative world…
Tuesday dogs
From my daughter’s new “A Dog a Day” Substack:
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