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The Descent Into Madness
In a wild rally in Ohio and Fox News sit-down interview, Donald Trump continued to demonstrate this weekend how utterly unfit for any public office he is, how disastrous a second term would be, and how much pain and suffering he would inflict on actual people.
Trump casually engaged in dehumanizing rhetoric, threats of violence, vows of retribution, and unhinged commentary. Nothing new, you say? Perhaps. But at this point if you can no longer register alarm for the country or for yourself, muster it for those who are and will be direct targets of Trump’s fantasies of revenge and systemic violence. In the meantime, what are we left to do if not document day by day, step by step the rapid descent into madness that Trump promises in a second term?
The “J6 anthem” is now routine at Trump events, coupled with Trump assurances that he will immediately pardon what he calls the Jan. 6 “hostages”:
"Please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6 hostages" pic.twitter.com/YLVTrOg1hQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 16, 2024
Trump is now calling for the members of the House Jan. 6 committee to be jailed.
In a fawning interview with Howard Kurtz (no relation), Trump did not recoil at the comparisons to Hitler and Mussolini:
Trump on criticism that he's using the same rhetoric as Hitler when he calls migrants "vermin": "I didn't know that, but that's what they say."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2024
He then doubles down on the Nazi rhetoric. pic.twitter.com/oBnlFEFA2m
I’ve only picked a few of the most egregious examples from this weekend. There was more. So much more.
Credit Where Due
Mainstream news outlets aren’t completely deaf to the Trump threat:
Dark Humor
Essential Reading
Yale historian Timothy Snyder:
Strongman rule is a fantasy. Essential to it is the idea that a strongman will be your strongman. He won’t. In a democracy, elected representatives listen to constituents. We take this for granted, and imagine that a dictator would owe us something. But the vote you cast for him affirms your irrelevance. The whole point is that the strongman owes us nothing. We get abused and we get used to it.
What Pence’s Refusal To Endorse Trump Means
Trump’s own vice president has joined the dozens of former Trump officials who are not supporting his re-election but instead are warning of the dire consequences of him reattaining the Oval Office:
Former Obama White House official Dan Pfeiffer notes: “I can’t believe I am writing this, but Donald Trump’s Vice President refusing to endorse him is a big deal, and overly cynical Democrats like myself shouldn’t dismiss it outright.”
BREAKING …
Just out this morning from the WaPo: Trump is eyeing Paul Manafort for 2024 campaign role
SCOTUS Oral Arguments Today In Major Case
The Supreme Court oral arguments today in the Biden administration social media case is as important for how the case arrived at the high court as it is for the underlying interests at stake.
If you read just one thing in advance of oral arguments, make it this JustSecurity piece by Justin Hendrix and Ryan Goodman titled “A Conspiracy Theory Goes to the Supreme Court: How Did Murthy v. Missouri Get This Far?”
Other reading material as you prep for oral arguments:
- Mary B. McCord: The Supreme Court Cannot Ignore the National Security Implications of the So-Called ‘Jawboning’ Case
- NYT: How Trump’s Allies Are Winning the War Over Disinformation
Justice Breyer: SCOTUS Has Taken A Wrong Turn
Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has a new book coming out and sat for an interview with the NYT where he warns: “Something important is going on. The court has taken a wrong turn, he said, and it is not too late to turn back.”
Keep An Eye On This
Judd Legum: Will Senate Democrats cave to an Islamophobic smear campaign against Adeel Mangi, a Biden nominee to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals?
MUST READ
TPM’s Hunter Walker: House GOPers Teamed With Conspiracist Who Called Migrants ‘Apes’ And ‘Congo-Cannibals’
What’s Next In the Georgia RICO Case?
With the judge’s order Friday excoriating District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade’s subsequent withdrawal as special prosecutor in the case, the big question is whether the judge’s ruling can be appealed immediately – and the delays that will inevitably result.
The Mess That Is Now The Hush Money Case
The state judge overseeing Trump’s hush money trial in New York delayed the trial at least 30 days, did not set a new trial date, and (angrily) ordered Trump and District Attorney Alvin Bragg to submit detailed timelines of their efforts to obtain relevant materials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York ahead of a new hearing set for March 25 in which he will try to get to the bottom of what happened that caused the trial delay and who, if anyone, is to blame for it.
Keeping It In Perspective
Morning Memo feels a constant tension between the imminent threat of Donald Trump and the only threat that dwarfs him: climate change. I usually feebly resolve the tension with a reminder to self that nothing will do more to set back the transition to a carbon-free economy than Trump’s re-election. But in the meantime, warming is not slowing and the knock-on effects of climate change slowly come into clearer focus. But the unknowns remain staggering, such as the last year of record-smashing sea surface temperatures:
[F]or the last twelve months, the seas have been so feverish that scientists are starting to worry about not just the physical impacts of all that heat but the theoretical implications. Can the past year be explained by what’s already known about climate change, or are there forces at work that haven’t been accounted for? And, if it’s the latter, does this mean that projections of warming, already decidedly grim, are underestimating the dangers?
For ongoing insights on sea surface temperatures, you can follow Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science.
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