When Congressman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, announced he would vote against President Trump’s second ouster earlier this month, he hinted he might regret it someday.
McCaul said he wanted more time to review “the facts and evidence” about the facts that led to the Capitol revolt. He said he was opposed to the dismissal “at this time”, but added: “I’m really afraid there will be more facts coming to light in the future that put me on the wrong side of this debate.”
This date has been bouncing in my brain all weekend. The public is learning new facts about three different threads of the Trump presidency: Trump’s latest coup attempt; the insurrection that led to the dismissal; and its mismanagement of the pandemic.
“It was even worse than we knew” is the takeaway …
Dr. Deborah Birx is speaking
The coordinator of Trump’s Covid-19 working group, Dra. Deborah Birx, granted an in-depth interview with CBS’s Margaret Brennan. Portions were aired Sunday morning on “Face the Nation” and the full 89-minute interview is now online, both in video and text. Among the many news: he says he almost never saw or talked to Trump. She says she was getting a “parallel set of data and graphs” she didn’t know. Brennan asked if it was “misinformation,” but Birx didn’t answer.
Birx’s late confessions took a widespread examination on Sunday. Dr. Seema Yasmin’s reaction to Reliable: “He seems to be on a national apology tour now, but where was his skepticism … when he was in the administration and had the platform and position, at least potentially, to be honest the public? ” Maggie Haberman also offered her vision on Twitter: “A lot of journalists tried to talk to Birx while he was there. He wasn’t interested. And when he spoke publicly at first, he appeared in line” with Trump …
“The skunk at the picnic”
I think we will continue to learn more and more about how Trump’s coveted denial hurt the country.
Over the weekend, Donald G. McNeil Jr. of The New York Times spoke at length with Dr. Anthony Fauci about Trump’s life, and said of Birx, “it was a much more painful situation for her.” because it was much more tied to the WH. Fauci said Trump sometimes called him to “express disappointment at me for not being more positive,” and Trump surrounded himself with “people who said things that made no scientific sense,” but he always felt it was better to stay in his place instead of resigning. “I always felt that if I walked away, the skunk at the picnic would no longer be at the picnic,” Fauci said. “Even if it wasn’t very effective in changing everyone’s mind, I found it important that they knew the nonsense couldn’t be heard without me putting it back on.” Keep reading …
But are these revelations opening up?
Thanks to the efforts of media outlets like the NYT, WSJ, and CNN, we continue to find out more about the latest outbursts of Trump’s coup attempt.
We are also hearing more and more about the assault on the Capitol. The other day I was struck by this WaPo story, entitled “Members of the self-proclaimed militia planned to attack the Capitol the days before the January 6 attack, according to court documents,” because it quoted messages that a of the accused leaders received during the riot. “When he posted a one-word message,‘ Inside, ’he received exhortations and directions describing tunnels, gates, and hallways,” the FBI said. Whose indications? How? There are so many things we don’t know yet.
Similarly, this NYT story described how a Capitol police lieutenant hurried to protect house lawmakers by stacking tables and chairs in a makeshift barricade. “He had 31 shots for the service weapon and has told others he feared he needed them all.” I can’t help but wonder: is this new information sinking? Or have most people decided on 1/6?
The view from NW PA
Maria, a regular viewer of “Reliable Sources,” sent me an email after Sunday’s program to say, “In my hometown of Trump, northwestern Pennsylvania, it’s as if the insurgency isn’t it happened, Trump won the election, Trump was the most successful POTUS, and Dems will take his liberties. TALK ABOUT THE INSURRECTION OR PANDEMIC AND MANY PRAISE TO Trump. ” This is anecdotal, of course, but it is exactly what I see on the radio and television right …
“They don’t even share vocabulary.” But …
Claire Galofaro and Juliet Linderman of the AP presented a story about “bridging the political gap,” which dates from Frederick, Maryland, to Route 80 from where I grew up. The story was ridiculed because of this he tweeted summary: “He believes the election was stolen from Donald Trump. He believes what dozens of courts and officials have found: that Joe Biden is the legitimate winner. They are trying to find a common ground, but they wonder if they and the nation. – You can do it. “
I get all the criticism, that is, that she believes in fantasy and he believes in reality, and history should simply tell. But I really want people to click on it the tweet and read about profile topics. History may make you hope more for our collective future. Yes, the subjects in the profile “do not agree on basic facts. They do not even share vocabulary. They use the same words (truth, proof, patriotism), but they do not mean the same thing.” All this is true. But they remain friends. And that still matters. Keep reading …
The dismissal will be brought forward this week
The dismissal items will be walked from the House to the Senate Monday evening. A dismissal trial is likely to consume the month of February. But “what’s clear,” Manu Raju of CNN dit On Sunday, it is that “after comments from Republican Party senators over the past week, there is virtually no way to 17 votes to condemn Trump unless something changes in the process or if the party’s dynamics change.”
>> “Trump has begun to believe 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, citing people familiar with his thought …
FOR THE RECORD
– Margaret Hoover on CNN: “Let’s be clear, there has been no better opportunity for the Republican party to divorce conspiracy theorists and kooks than this dismissal trial.” (Twitter)
– Speaking of conspiracy theorists, Maria Bartiromo will host Fox this week at 19:00 …
– David Folkenflik on Fox’s strategy: “What they’re doing is trying to figure out what kind of public stance they can take to maintain as much loyalty and audience as possible …” (NPR)
– Glenn Kessler and colleagues. on “Trump’s final presidency count: 30,573 false or misleading claims, with almost half in his last year …” (WaPo)
– The “lost cause” of election fraud is alive and well on talk radio, included on Rudy Giuliani’s WABC radio show in New York, according to Azi Paybarah … (NYT)
– Another reminder that America is not really a 50/50 country: “In his first week in the Oval Office, President Biden earned high approval ratings for his response to coronavirus (69%) and confidence in its ability to unify the country (57%), “according to this new ABC / Ipsos survey … (ABC)
No president should be classified in a curve …
But in many ways, Trump was ranked in a curve throughout his presidency. Each period was observed without a hateful tweet. All signs of a “new tone” were praised. The bar was too low, too low, for Trump. Now Biden’s team is willingly raising the bar again. When Ron Klain, WH’s chief of staff, said on Twitter over the weekend it was great to see Fauci on Rachel Maddow’s show, a place where Fauci was forbidden to go there during Trump’s term – Klain said Fauci will now be seen “anywhere else where he wants to express his opinion.” Maddow answered and thanked Klain and said “I’ll take you.” This is the really important part: now the press has to face Biden’s team …