I will never understand why people are shocked by anything Trump is doing now. He said he was going to do all of this awful stuff. Not nominate Matt Gaetz for attorney general, but anyway. I do love that MAGA voters are in the FIND OUT portion of their F-ing Around and voting for him because of eggs and gas prices. I'm not too fond of it, but a majority wanted this. There are no surprises anymore.
I think you’re badly misreading your audience with this post. My sense is that most of your followers were very well aware of what Trump would do if re-elected. And they expressed that throughout the campaign. And now that it’s happening, they’re not surprised. They’re scared. And the people who put Trump over the top, the ones who made the difference in this election, they are the ones who you said we need to respect and not lump in with the MAGA wing of the party. My point is that I think your readers have known for a long while what could happen. And now that it’s underway, we don’t need a lecture. We need thoughtful perspective on how to survive the next four years. I very much believe in what you’re doing, Chris. But this post really disappointed me.
Couldn't agree more, Mark. I just saw that Harris won voters who follow the news by 6 points while Trump won those who don't follow at all by 19 points. The audience here would definitely fall within the first group. The lecture should be to the 50% of voters who voted for this chaos. I hope that a majority of them are surprised about each and every one of these bad cabinet picks and regret their vote every day. Yes, a lot of them wanted retribution, but I'm guessing there's a good chunk of them that didn't see all of this coming. As an informed voter, I still maintain the right to be surprised when these picks are far worse that even I imagined.
I am currently thinking more about resistance. Is there something meaningful I can do that doesn't require a lot of time or money to try to limit the damage Trump will do to the country (especially immigrants and low income people.)
Most intelligent political observers who have been paying attention (meaning us readers, not professional media of any sort...too many are so deeply into the "both sides" stupidity) are not surprised in the least with the clown car picks of Gaetz, RFK Jr, Pete Hegseth and to a slightly lesser extent Kristi Noem (but her stunning lack of qualifications to run DHS is still absurd)
That is why many of us have been screaming with our HAIR ON FIRE the clear and present danger of Trump II.
Unfortunately we have ALREADY been vindicated.
Also unfortunately, it's is going to get a LOT worse. MUCH worse than even the most cynical Never-Trumper can imagine.
And I would venture that is part of the goal. The rest of the goal is to create the structure for Trump to simply not leave the White House in 2028. I guarantee the plans for that are being worked now.
I think the only people who are surprised are the Trump voters and sycophants. The rest of us were listening to Trump and hearing what he said. We were not among the “Oh, he won’t really do that” tribe. Maybe we didn’t guess all the faces correctly, but we knew he would be dragging the bottom of the swamp. And sooner or later, the masses of trumpsters are going to be surprised too, when the tariffs get applied, Obamacare is repealed, and there is a national abortion ban.
Not really. Everyday essentials were cheaper under Trump than Biden. That's it. Check back in 6 months when prices are the same or even higher with tariffs and see how Trump voters feel.
Why would a US president listen to "experts" when he has great minds like Vance, Gaetz, Don Jr., RFrankensteinK Jr., Tulsi, Hegseth, etal to get his counsel from?
If Trump puts Americans back into another pandemic, locked away indoors, or free to wander around at will infecting as many as they can, and without a vaccine to save them because they have been banned, that might trigger a civil war. Right?
On your point #1, the part you are missing about the Trump picks is the Rorschach test that is Trump. Plenty of people hear what they want. You forgot to mention that Trump transition chairman Lutnick said specifically that RFK, Jr. would *NOT* be getting a role at HHS or FDA, and would instead be getting some kind of advisory role. The Mar-a-Lago billionaire set had been telling everyone that Trump would pivot to the middle. There is always someone in the Trump orbit, or in the Fox News ecosphere telling you some different thing that you can choose to believe.
As far as your part about JD Vance -- you ignored the most important part. Everything he said in that debate riff was largely complete bullshit. Yeah. Having things manufactured in China and elsewhere in low wage and low regulation countries makes our goods cheaper. It is just a fact. If he slaps all these tariffs on to get manufacturing onshored, inflation will explode and everything will cost more. Yes, there were some issues with supply chain and reliance on China that became problematic when they became more of a global competitor, but that wasn't super foreseeable during the 1980's and 1990's when free trade was all the rage. The reason we don't manufacture chemical pre-cursors to pharmaceuticals here, because they are dirty to make, and we have air pollution laws and water pollution and runoff laws that China and India do not have. To manufacture those things here, they will be a lot more expensive in order to contain that pollution, or we will just have a lot more pollution impacting some communities that are likely to be low income and minority. But that is too nuanced for Vance and low-info voters. But, it is also a problem that you didn't mention it, and took JD Vance's statement as if it was perfectly truthful and valid.
So, yeah, the point is to blow everything up, but I don't think that most voters were voting for no fluoride in the water, or the gutting of the FDA. I will also tell you that with his national security picks being supremely unqualified -- totally leaving aside their security issues -- the first attack on the homeland or our troops is going to come with a *LOT* of finger pointing and recriminations. You can't appoint Kristi Noem to DHS, and act surprised when she has no idea what she is doing, since she has no security or law enforcement background. Same for Gaetz. Same for Pet Hergseth. Same for Gabbard. Not one of them have even close to the requisite amount of experience in the law, law enfocement, national security, intelligence, or even the management of large organizations that is necessary for those jobs.
So, the media shoudl focus on that, and not just getting spit-take reactions and documenting the discomfort of Senators who are embarrassed. The media should be putting up deep dive segments on how they compare to the qualifications of their predecessors, and then explaining what the role of those agencies are in detail. That would be useful.
I think you got something very wrong here, starting with "stop being surprised." You sound like the cynical crusty veteran reporter (think Cary Grant in His Girl Friday or Clark Gable in "It Happened One Night) who just marvels at the niavte of the "rubes" who are dumb enough to buy the paper you work for and too stupid to realize anybody with one bit of sense would see the world as it really is. I think it's important to be surprised and outraged. Empathy, information and connection are the order of the day, not condensation and superiority. I do enjoy your work and am a subscriber. Thanks.
VP Harris would likely make a very good governor of California.
It was obvious, from the outset, her liberal ideology wasn’t gonna play in the Midwest swing states and it didn’t. California will be a more comfortable place for her to govern.
Oh PLEASE! Much of what I have read in the news and columns like yours is "Oh it's just Trump being Trump". Like he would never put Worm-Brain in charge of Health and Human Services. I suppose then if he executes Mark Milley, we should turn the other way and say "Stop acting surprised."
I will never understand why people are shocked by anything Trump is doing now. He said he was going to do all of this awful stuff. Not nominate Matt Gaetz for attorney general, but anyway. I do love that MAGA voters are in the FIND OUT portion of their F-ing Around and voting for him because of eggs and gas prices. I'm not too fond of it, but a majority wanted this. There are no surprises anymore.
I think you’re badly misreading your audience with this post. My sense is that most of your followers were very well aware of what Trump would do if re-elected. And they expressed that throughout the campaign. And now that it’s happening, they’re not surprised. They’re scared. And the people who put Trump over the top, the ones who made the difference in this election, they are the ones who you said we need to respect and not lump in with the MAGA wing of the party. My point is that I think your readers have known for a long while what could happen. And now that it’s underway, we don’t need a lecture. We need thoughtful perspective on how to survive the next four years. I very much believe in what you’re doing, Chris. But this post really disappointed me.
Couldn't agree more, Mark. I just saw that Harris won voters who follow the news by 6 points while Trump won those who don't follow at all by 19 points. The audience here would definitely fall within the first group. The lecture should be to the 50% of voters who voted for this chaos. I hope that a majority of them are surprised about each and every one of these bad cabinet picks and regret their vote every day. Yes, a lot of them wanted retribution, but I'm guessing there's a good chunk of them that didn't see all of this coming. As an informed voter, I still maintain the right to be surprised when these picks are far worse that even I imagined.
I am currently thinking more about resistance. Is there something meaningful I can do that doesn't require a lot of time or money to try to limit the damage Trump will do to the country (especially immigrants and low income people.)
Yes, survival is top priority.
😣
Most intelligent political observers who have been paying attention (meaning us readers, not professional media of any sort...too many are so deeply into the "both sides" stupidity) are not surprised in the least with the clown car picks of Gaetz, RFK Jr, Pete Hegseth and to a slightly lesser extent Kristi Noem (but her stunning lack of qualifications to run DHS is still absurd)
That is why many of us have been screaming with our HAIR ON FIRE the clear and present danger of Trump II.
Unfortunately we have ALREADY been vindicated.
Also unfortunately, it's is going to get a LOT worse. MUCH worse than even the most cynical Never-Trumper can imagine.
The Trump voters totally own it. And they’re surprised that the leopard is looking at their faces??
Except most Trump voters will love these clowns.
Elections certainly have consequences!
The problem is many of these picks for cabinet positions can do real harm to people.
And that he's all for it... Make America Great Again, right?! Gah!
Make Polio and Tooth Decay Great Again.
And I would venture that is part of the goal. The rest of the goal is to create the structure for Trump to simply not leave the White House in 2028. I guarantee the plans for that are being worked now.
I think the only people who are surprised are the Trump voters and sycophants. The rest of us were listening to Trump and hearing what he said. We were not among the “Oh, he won’t really do that” tribe. Maybe we didn’t guess all the faces correctly, but we knew he would be dragging the bottom of the swamp. And sooner or later, the masses of trumpsters are going to be surprised too, when the tariffs get applied, Obamacare is repealed, and there is a national abortion ban.
President Trump voters were in fact listening to what he was saying, that’s why he won the election handily.
Not really. Everyday essentials were cheaper under Trump than Biden. That's it. Check back in 6 months when prices are the same or even higher with tariffs and see how Trump voters feel.
I’ve got it on my calendar!
Talk to you in May!
MAGA
End of July. Six months from inauguration. Should have been more precise.
👍
Why would a US president listen to "experts" when he has great minds like Vance, Gaetz, Don Jr., RFrankensteinK Jr., Tulsi, Hegseth, etal to get his counsel from?
😵
Trump as the voice of common sense wisdom? You mean, like shooting bleach into our veins? What could go wrong?
Can I not be surprised, but still be shocked?!
I know you're not a KO fan, but he said where as Lincoln has a cabinet of rivals Trump will have a cabinet of trifles.
If Trump puts Americans back into another pandemic, locked away indoors, or free to wander around at will infecting as many as they can, and without a vaccine to save them because they have been banned, that might trigger a civil war. Right?
Happy days.
Another car on the clown 💩 show train. 🧐😣
I’m NOT surprised in the slightest. I’m appalled.
Ditto.
Same
On your point #1, the part you are missing about the Trump picks is the Rorschach test that is Trump. Plenty of people hear what they want. You forgot to mention that Trump transition chairman Lutnick said specifically that RFK, Jr. would *NOT* be getting a role at HHS or FDA, and would instead be getting some kind of advisory role. The Mar-a-Lago billionaire set had been telling everyone that Trump would pivot to the middle. There is always someone in the Trump orbit, or in the Fox News ecosphere telling you some different thing that you can choose to believe.
As far as your part about JD Vance -- you ignored the most important part. Everything he said in that debate riff was largely complete bullshit. Yeah. Having things manufactured in China and elsewhere in low wage and low regulation countries makes our goods cheaper. It is just a fact. If he slaps all these tariffs on to get manufacturing onshored, inflation will explode and everything will cost more. Yes, there were some issues with supply chain and reliance on China that became problematic when they became more of a global competitor, but that wasn't super foreseeable during the 1980's and 1990's when free trade was all the rage. The reason we don't manufacture chemical pre-cursors to pharmaceuticals here, because they are dirty to make, and we have air pollution laws and water pollution and runoff laws that China and India do not have. To manufacture those things here, they will be a lot more expensive in order to contain that pollution, or we will just have a lot more pollution impacting some communities that are likely to be low income and minority. But that is too nuanced for Vance and low-info voters. But, it is also a problem that you didn't mention it, and took JD Vance's statement as if it was perfectly truthful and valid.
So, yeah, the point is to blow everything up, but I don't think that most voters were voting for no fluoride in the water, or the gutting of the FDA. I will also tell you that with his national security picks being supremely unqualified -- totally leaving aside their security issues -- the first attack on the homeland or our troops is going to come with a *LOT* of finger pointing and recriminations. You can't appoint Kristi Noem to DHS, and act surprised when she has no idea what she is doing, since she has no security or law enforcement background. Same for Gaetz. Same for Pet Hergseth. Same for Gabbard. Not one of them have even close to the requisite amount of experience in the law, law enfocement, national security, intelligence, or even the management of large organizations that is necessary for those jobs.
So, the media shoudl focus on that, and not just getting spit-take reactions and documenting the discomfort of Senators who are embarrassed. The media should be putting up deep dive segments on how they compare to the qualifications of their predecessors, and then explaining what the role of those agencies are in detail. That would be useful.
I think you got something very wrong here, starting with "stop being surprised." You sound like the cynical crusty veteran reporter (think Cary Grant in His Girl Friday or Clark Gable in "It Happened One Night) who just marvels at the niavte of the "rubes" who are dumb enough to buy the paper you work for and too stupid to realize anybody with one bit of sense would see the world as it really is. I think it's important to be surprised and outraged. Empathy, information and connection are the order of the day, not condensation and superiority. I do enjoy your work and am a subscriber. Thanks.
Tulsi Gabbard is a national security threat, so her nomination is beyond horrible. Yikes……..
VP Harris would likely make a very good governor of California.
It was obvious, from the outset, her liberal ideology wasn’t gonna play in the Midwest swing states and it didn’t. California will be a more comfortable place for her to govern.
That was a nice post.
Oh PLEASE! Much of what I have read in the news and columns like yours is "Oh it's just Trump being Trump". Like he would never put Worm-Brain in charge of Health and Human Services. I suppose then if he executes Mark Milley, we should turn the other way and say "Stop acting surprised."
JD had a special kind of gall in postulating straw arguments. What “experts” advocated shipping off the industrial base to overseas?