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It is neither coincidence nor poetry that the final weeks of the Trump administration is finally seeing the cleaving of the Republican Party into two meaningful branches: The Enablers and The Enoughers.
All over the digital universe, you can read and hear lots of characterizations of Donald Trump’s endgame behavior (his alarming telephone call with Georgia election officials, his attempt to overturn the Electoral College results, his stoking conspiracies and division that will undermine the duly elected president of the United States) – characterizations that suggest he is “suddenly desperate,” “increasingly unhinged,” “feeling his power slipping away.”
No, folks.
It is said occupants of the Oval Office don’t change the presidency; the presidency changes them.
It is said, but in this case, it is wrong.
For independent chroniclers who have studied Trump for years and for The Enablers, this is nothing new. The greatest error made in describing Trump over the course of his presidency has been made by those who call him “mercurial” or “unpredictable.”
What we heard on his phone call, what we see in his attepts to organize an effort to take the election away from the voters, what we see in his willingness to (eagerness to, really) put his own interests ahead of the nation, is not just par for the Trump course.
This IS Donald Trump. Always has been.
Lying, threatening, cajoling, creating a self-interested world of darkest make believe?
If they were being honest, at least 60% of Trump’s children, 67% of the women to whom he has been married, 80% of his cabinet, and 100% of both all of his chiefs of staff and the Republican congressional leadership would not object to those descriptions.
Are The Enoughers speaking up now because Trump has moved from words to deeds?
Not really.
Their longtime rationalization for not crossing him – that he is just saying stuff or tweeting stuff – in theory should still apply. Whether he broke any law in pressuring the Georgia secretary of state is not the kind of thing that in the past has bothered them overtly any more than his pressuring President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
They just like conservative judges and lower taxes — and dislike what Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi believe — enough to have made their peace for four years with what Donald Trump is. What Jared Kushner knows him to be.
Not that what we are seeing isn’t bad, but after Biden becomes president we are going to find out that Trump did a whole lot worse during his time in office, with greater consequences, than anything he has done since Election Day.
The Enablers have made their choice.
The Enablers (David Perdue come to mind) can justify, distract, change the subject, and be afraid of Twitter mobs, primary challenges, and angry Trump telephone calls.
The Enoughers can put out statements or record/leak presidential conversations in the Final Days. They can pretend they are standing up and being counted because Trump has crossed some new, solemn line.
But they would be pretending.
The Enoughers haven’t seen a new side of Donald Trump. They haven’t suddenly developed a moral compass.
They just have calendars.
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Speaking of calendars and rough transitions:
WIDE WORLD OF NEWS DAYBOOK AND WEEKAHEAD
Monday:
* Day: Joe Biden addresses supporters of Georgia’s two Democrat Senate candidates in the Peach State. You know exactly what he will say, and I seriously doubt he will give a long speech.
* Evening: Donald Trump entertains at exacerbates at the final political rally of his presidency pegged to an actual election in Dalton, GA. I have no idea what he will say, but I seriously doubt he will give a short speech.
Tuesday:
* Election Day II in Georgia. There is nothing you can read or watch to have any more idea of who will win these races than you had last week. Pro tips: wait for the voters to vote and the counters to count; don’t believe any polls, including on Election Day.
* Lawyers and observers on both sides gear up bigly.
Wednesday:
* Congress meets to open up the Election College envelopes. Republicans decide whether to present any actual/alleged evidence of fraud, or simply rail against voting procedures, Mark Zuckerberg, and conceptions of the Constitution that they don’t like. Republicans realize that Amy Klobuchar is more organized than they are. Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi join forces to decide if “up to two hours” means “two hours.”
* Lawyers lawyer.
Thursday/Friday:
* Potentially more days of Congress tussling over envelope opening.
* Lawyers lawyer.
* The Republican National Committee mulls over and kicks 2024 tires.
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Georgia Republican Party Chair:
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Arguably the most essential dynamic of the Era of Trump has been the near unanimous support the president has had at the MAGA grassroots translating into the near unanimous support he has had among Republican elected officials.
This important political week will be defined to a large extent by the end of that lock-solid lockstep as much as by anything else.
A few to note (of many, many and more tk):
* Was Enabler, now Enougher:
* Was Enabler, now semi-public Enougher, to become fuller Enougher after Georgia votes:
Mr. McConnell has been fielding calls from anxious Senate Republicans, telling colleagues that it was a bad idea to join the group, according to a person familiar with the matter. (Wall Street Journal)
McConnell declined on Sunday to address the dissension in his ranks. “We’ll be dealing with all of that on Wednesday,” he said. (Washington Post)
* Coming soon: More Enoughers:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) said in an interview Sunday that she has spoken in the past week to a dozen Republican senators who assured her that they will argue alongside Democrats to uphold democracy and ratify Mr. Biden’s win. “As concerning as it is to us, it’s also concerning to them,” Ms. Klobuchar said. “This is really just one of those moments that you have to rise to the call of your country and not the call of Twitter. ” (Wall Street Journal)
(Essential looking Washington Post graphic delineating Senate Republicans as “Enablers,” “Enoughers,” or “TBD.”)
* Thoroughly unsurprising Enougher:
House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney circulated a memo to her colleagues arguing that challenging the election results would be unconstitutional and could set an “exceptionally dangerous precedent.” (Politico)
* Somewhat Suprising Enoughers:
A group of seven House Republicans — including Freedom Caucus members such as Ken Buck (Colo.) and Chip Roy (Texas) as well as Rep.-elect Nancy Mace (S.C.) and libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — put out a rare and lengthy statement Sunday afternoon opposing the effort to challenge the election. The statement was also signed by Reps. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.).
They argue that the constitution makes clear that states — not Congress — are responsible for selecting electors, though they said they "are outraged at the significant abuses in our election system."
“We must respect the states’ authority here,” the lawmakers wrote in their statement, obtained by POLITICO. “Though doing so may frustrate our immediate political objectives, we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals. We must count the electoral votes submitted by the states.” (Politico)
* Enabler at heart, Enougher in practice:
Absent from the campaign trail in the final week leading up to Election Day has been Gov. Brian Kemp. Although Kemp campaigned frequently for the senators earlier in the fall, he has been missing from the final Republican push ahead of Tuesday’s runoffs, embroiled instead in a contentious standoff with President Donald Trump following Trump’s inaccurate claims that he won the November election in Georgia.
Repeated requests for comment about Kemp’s absence went unanswered Sunday by the governor’s office and Loeffler’s campaign as the senator made her way from campaign events in Henry County north to Bartow and Cherokee counties. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
* Never Enoughers:
President Trump on Monday is expected to give Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor… Trump … is also expected to give Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), another confidant, the same award next week…” (Washington Post)
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ESSENTIAL READING:
The Pentagon said on Sunday that it had ordered the aircraft carrier Nimitz to remain in the Middle East because of Iranian threats against President Trump and other American officials, just three days after sending the warship home as a signal to de-escalate rising tensions with Tehran.