When Texas Republican spokesman Michael McCaul announced he would vote against President Trump’s second impeachment earlier this month, he added that he could regret it. at some point.
McCaul said he wanted more time to review “the facts and evidence” about the events leading up to the Capitol riot. He said he was against impeachment “at this time” but said, “I am really afraid that there will be more facts that come to light in the future that will put me on the wrong side of this debate.”
That quota has been running around my brain all weekend. The public is learning new facts about three different strands of Trump’s leadership: Trump’s last coup attempt; the revolution inspired by impeachment; and its treatment of the pandemic.
“It was even worse than we knew” is the takeaway …
Dr. Deborah Birx speaks
Trump has the coordinator of the Covid-19 action group, Dr. Deborah Birx gave an in-depth interview with Margaret Brennan from CBS. Excerpts aired on “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning, and the full 89-minute interview is now online in video and text format. Among the many pieces of news worthy of it: She says she almost never saw or talked to Trump. She says he was getting a “parallel data set and graphics” which was not a secret to him. Brennan asked if it was “disinformation” but Birx did not answer.
Birx’s birch confession sparked widespread scrutiny on Sunday. Dr. Seema Yasmin’s view on trust: “It feels like now that she’s on a national apology tour, but where was she skeptical … when she was in administration and had the stage and the position, maybe at least, to be honest with the public? “Maggie Haberman also gave her perspective on Twitter: “A lot of reporters tried to talk to Birx while she was there. She was not interested. And when she spoke in public early, she appeared in a lockout” with Trump …
“The skunk at the picnic”
I think we’re going to learn more and more about how Covid Trump’s refusal hurt the country.
Over the weekend Donald G. McNeil Jr. he went far with Dr. Anthony Fauci talked about life under Trump, and said of Birx, “it was a lot more of a sad situation for her,” because she was much more connected to the WH. it seemed to me that I was not getting more positive, ”and Trump circulated himself“ with people saying things that made no scientific sense, ”but he always felt he was better. stay at his job rather than retire. “I always felt that if I was walking away, the picnic at the picnic would no longer be littered,” Fauci said. “Even if I wasn’t very efficient at it. changing everyone’s mind, the idea that they knew zero could be spewed without my pushing back, I felt important. “Read on …
But do those revelations break through?
Thanks to the efforts of news outlets like the NYT, WSJ, and CNN, we will hold out more about the last gasps of the Trump coup attempt.
We are also hearing more and more about the attack on the Capitol. I was struck by this WaPo story the other day, titled “Self-stripped militia members were planning to storm the days of the U.S. Capitol before the Jan. 6 attack, court documents say,” because it was issuing messages that one of the accused ring leaders was received during the riot. “When he sent a one-word message, ‘Inside,’ he received comments and instructions referring to tunnels, doors and halls, the FBI said.” Direction from whom? How come? There are so many we don’t know yet.
Similarly, this NYT story recounted how the Capitol Police lieutenant intervened to protect house lawyers by gathering tables and chairs into a mobile barricade. “He had 31 rounds for his service weapon, and he has told others he feared he would need them all.” I can’t help but wonder: Is this new information sinking? Or have most people made up their minds about 1/6?
The view from NW PA
Maria, a regular observer of “Reliable Sources” emailed me after Sunday’s show to say: “In my hometown of Trump’s Northwestern Pennsylvania, it’s like the revolution that happens, Trump won the election, Trump was the most successful POTUS ever, and Dems are going to take away their freedom.Moreover, it was ANTIFA, not MAGA caused the violence, the uprising. THERE IS ZERO TALK OF THE INSURRECTION OR THE PANDEMIC and much praise for Trump. ” This is news, of course, but that’s what I see on rectangular radio and TV …
“They don’t even share terminology.” But …
AP’s Claire Galofaro and Juliet Linderman submitted a story about “dividing the political divide” with Frederick, Maryland, up Route 80 from which I was raised. The story was ridiculed because of this tweet summary: “She believes the election was stolen from Donald Trump. He believes it is the discovery of dozens of courts and officials: Joe Biden is the rightful winner. He is trying to find common ground but I think can they – and the country – – do it. “
I get all the criticism – that is, that she believes in fantasy and that he believes in reality, and that story should tell. But I really wish people would click past the tweet and read about the topics of the profile. Maybe the story will make you more optimistic about our future. Yes, the image subjects “do not agree on basic facts. They do not even share terminology. They use the same words – truth, affirmation, patriotism – but they do not means the same thing. “That is all true. But they are still friends. And that still matters. Read on …
Impeachment moves forward this week
The impeachment articles will be walked from the House to the Senate on Monday afternoon. An impeachment lawsuit is likely to eat out in February. But “what is clear,” CNN’s Manu Raju said On Sunday, that is, “after comments from GOP senators over the past week, there is almost no way for 17 votes to condemn Trump – unless something changes in a lawsuit or if the dynamics of the party will change. “
>> “Trump has begun to believe that there are fewer votes to condemn than there would have been if the vote had been held almost immediately after Jan. 6,” Haberman reported Sunday night. , naming people who were used to thinking …
FOR THE TABLE
– Margaret Hoover on CNN: “Let ‘s be clear, there is no better opportunity for the Republican party to separate from the conspiracy theories and the kooks than this impeachment test is coming up.” (Twitter)
– Speaking of conspiracy theories, Maria Bartiromo will be hosting 7pm at Fox this week …
– David Folkenflik on Fox strategy: “What they are doing is trying to figure out what kind of public position they can take to maximize their loyalty and audience. to keep them … “(NPR)
– Glenn Kessler and co. on “the latest story of Trump’s presidency: 30,573 false or misleading claims – with nearly half coming in his last year …” (WaPo)
– The “lost cause” of a live and well-chosen poll is on talk radio, including the WABC Rudy Giuliani radio show in NYC, reports Azi Paybarah … (NYT)
– But there is another reminder that America is not really a 50/50 country: “In his first week in the Oval Office, Pres. Biden gave high approval rates for his response to the coronavirus (69%) and confidence in the ability its united country (57%), “all new ABC / Ipsos polls … (ABC)
A president should not be ranked on a curve …
But in many ways Trump was ranked on a loop throughout his leadership. All the time without a hate tweet was noted. All signs of “new tone” were praised. The bar was set low, far too low, for Trump. Now Biden’s team is willing, happily picking the bar back. When WH chief of staff said Ron Klain on Twitter over the weekend it was great to see Fauci on Rachel Maddow ‘s show – a place where Fauci was forbidden to go During Trump’s tenure in office – Klain said Fauci can now be seen “anywhere else he wants to speak his mind.” Maddow replied and thanked Klain and said “I’ll keep you to him.” That’s the really important part – the media now has to keep Biden’s team going …