Tonight: My conversation with Liz Cheney
What would Trump do? He's telling us.
My apologies for yet another unscheduled, irregular newsletter. But I wanted to flag this for you, because I suspect that we will have a lot to talk about:
Liz Cheney In Conversation with Charlie Sykes – Oath and Honor
BigTent is pleased to host a conversation featuring Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) and MSNBC contributor and author Charlie Sykes. This conversation will explore a range of topics including the future of democracy, insights from Cheney’s book ‘Oath and Honor’, the dynamics within the Republican Party, perspectives on Trump and the Capitol assault, and previously undisclosed stories from Congress. Additionally, they will delve into ways we can safeguard American democracy.
REGISTER HERE.
What Would Trump Do?
This week’s Time is an absolute must-read. No one can say we were not warned.
What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world.
To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland.
He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans.
He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers.
He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding.
He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury.
He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense.
He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.
Questions? Anyone?
And, of course, the obligatory dog pictures
Auggie is looking wistful today because I haven’t taken him out yet.
Eli on guard in the bedroom.
Auggie exploring the woods.
FLASHBACK: Baby Eli and Pete.
Nota Bene
Programming note: I’ll have further thoughts about the anti-Israel protests… the upheaval at Columbia… and the 1968 Democratic National Convention… later today in the Atlantic Daily Newsletter. (You really should subscribe.)
Charlie, can we dispense with the analogies of today’s college protests with 1968? These encampments are more Occupy Wall Street than Kent State. Their aims and tactics are similarly confused and unobtainable. Good analysis has been done on the difference between divesting from Israel than from S. Africa or fossil fuels, for example. These students might as well hang a sign around their necks that say: Raise my tuition. Reduce my grants. Make me borrow even more. One thing that is painfully clear is that the arguments to forgive student loans probably took a big hit this week.
I had heard snippets of the Time Magazine article in the morning and then read it at night. I didn't think I would learn much. But my take was this is the best of what and how journalism should be regarding covering Donald Trump going forward. So far Media (I hate that term) hasn't learned the lesson on how to cover Trump.Or better yet they over learned it. With the exception of a few news cable channels ,a few sites, (The Bulwark, Lincoln Project,On the Contrary) the coverage has been to simply ignore him. Hopefully,Time Magazine sets a new trend in coverage.