Friday Mailbag!

It's all happening.

Happy Friday!

We made it!

Today is my first day of being 49. Feels a lot like 48 so far. I’ll keep you updated.

Every Friday I answer a whole bunch of subscriber questions about the week that was in politics. I did that below. (I am nothing if not consistent!)

If I didn’t get to your question don’t despair! I am hosting my weekly livestream at my YouTube channel at 1 pm eastern today. Come hang out and ask questions there too!

As always, anyone can ask a question. But the full Mailbag is a post for paid subscribers only.

Not one? Become one today! It’s $6 a month or $60 for the year.

Hold on to your butts!

Q: How extremely far off the rails do you think Trump will have to go before Republicans would stand up to him in any meaningful way? Invading Canada or Mexico to add them to U.S. territory? Starting a war with western Europe on the side of Russia? Disbanding Congress like Emperor Palpatine? Or is it just the reality that they'll never stand up to him?

A: I DO think there is a line.

Take the Cabinet confirmations. Yes, Republicans ultimately got in line behind RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth. But they also tanked Matt Gaetz in a week.

That suggests to me a line does exist. Now, I am well aware that that line is nowhere near where some of the more, um, active commenters on this newsletter would like it to be.

But, that’s largely a partisan difference. Trump is a Republican president and a revolutionary in many ways. He is not going to pick people for his Cabinet that liberals or even establishment types like.

How will Congressional Republicans define that line on foreign policy? I honestly do not know — although I would think that putting American military forces on the ground in Canada, Mexico or Greenland would probably do the trick.

Q: Chris, I know you believe our country will survive Trumps craziness and that the guardrails will hold. My question is about the post Trump era. How do our allies or anyone else for that matter, ever trust us again? If I were Europe, Japan, Canada, etc, I would no longer view the US as a country that can be counted on.

A: A terrific question that I would be a fool to say I know the answer to.

What I will say is that there is NO doubt in my mind that Trump’s eight years in office will echo long after he is gone from the White House.

That’s particularly true in terms of foreign policy because I think Trump has transformed how the GOP looks at America and its place in the world.

Trump is in the process of reimagining the alliance structure — and organizations like NATO and the United Nations — that have stood for decades. And whoever comes after him as the leader of the Republican party seems very likely to me to follow in those footsteps.

The best-case argument for what Trump is doing is that the world is very different now than it was in the wake of World War II and we need to move on from the alliances and assumptions that have largely governed American foreign policy since then.

The counter-argument, of course, is that those alliances have prevented another world war for the better part of the last 80 years — and so maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to re-jigger them.

Q: Chris, I tend to agree with you that while Trump is crazy and a terrible President, America's institutions will largely hold, elections will continue, etc. But I do confess I'm more concerned seeing some of his latest moves (Adams case dismissal, abandoning Zelensky). How about a 1-10 scale of your concerns from election day to inauguration day to today? Any changes? (and let's say 1 is "relax, it's fine", 10 is "the fascist dictatorship is here").