Friday Mailbag!

It's question-answering time.

Happy Friday.

We made it.

Also, Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate.

I am more of a “Galentine’s Day” person, to be honest.

We are now in — checks watch — week 400 4 of the Trump presidency. And you have LOTS of questions about it.

I answered a bunch below. If I didn’t get to yours, never fear! 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, the Mailbag is a post for paid subscribers. Anyone can read the first few questions (and answers) but to read the whole thing you need to become an investor in what I am building.

Which is easy to do! It’s $6 a month or $60 for the year. And you can join our ranks right here:

Q: What’s gnawing at me? The question I have probably branches off in several directions, but beneath it all, is there really any way out of this mess? It seems the nation has missed every exit ramp on the highway to dictatorship. I can see a dozen ways that this ends catastrophically for the nation and the world, but I’m not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel.

A: There is a LOT of sentiment like this in the Mailbag this week. And, I understand the sentiment. Donald Trump is moving very fast and breaking lots and lots of things.

He promised a fundamental rethinking of executive power and that is what he is giving us. You can be shocked but you really shouldn’t be surprised. He campaigned on most of the stuff he is doing. Loudly.

As for throwing out words like “dictatorship” and “fascism,” I am not a fan. I think people are far too cavalier in using terms like that. And, in so doing, you allow the very real questions about what Trump is doing in office to get lost.

In my conversation with

Steve Vladeck

this week, he affirmed something I also believe: The Supreme Court won’t be a rubber stamp for Trump. And that Trump is testing his limits with the courts but won’t ultimately totally ignore their rulings. (And, unlike me, Steve is a lawyer and a Constitutional law and Supreme Court expert.)

I’d also note that even in this Foreign Affairs piece that is deeply critical of Trump and clear-eyed about the threat he potentially poses, the two authors didn’t say we are headed toward a dictatorship. Quite the opposite. Here’s the relevant passage:

Even in a worst-case scenario, Trump will not be able to rewrite the Constitution or overturn the constitutional order. He will be constrained by independent judges, federalism, the country’s professionalized military, and high barriers to constitutional reform. There will be elections in 2028, and Republicans could lose them.

So while I think it is fashionable — and lucrative — in some circles to declare the end of democracy, I also think it’s irresponsible. And turning it up to 11 has the potential to miss the real impacts of what Trump is doing and plans to do. Not everything is a mountain. There are molehills.

I know that’s not a popular sentiment among many liberals. That’s ok! You are absolutely entitled to your view! But my goal here is not to be popular. Or do fan service. It’s to be as honest and authentic as I can be.

Q: As McConnell casts his no vote and lectures his colleagues about re-litigating science, do you think he sits down, closes his eyes and thinks, "All I had to do was vote yes to impeach and he'd be gone."? He is the ultimate Republican team player. But with how mad people were with Biden, he could have had President Haley, the Senate control, and probably still have the House too. He'll never say it, but does he think it.

A: I made a video on this very subject this AM!

To expand slightly on the points I made there: I have to believe that McConnell’s 2021 vote to acquit Trump after January 6 is the biggest regret of his political life.

I can see his calculation back then: He figured Trump had already disqualified himself with January 6 so why split the Senate conference by voting to convict him?

The problem, of course, was that McConnell badly underestimated both Trump and Trump’s appeal within the Republican party.

That vote was, without question, the last real chance the GOP had to sideline Trump. And they didn’t take it. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Q: I’m really struggling with the state of things. I appreciate your effort to tell it like it is, but why should I subject myself to bad news every day? It’s not healthy. What’s your advice for someone who wants to be engaged, but is having a hard time seeing the value in it when nothing is really going to change for at least two years, probably four? It’s not burying my head in the sand. But it is accepting that there may not be much to be gained from a mental health perspective in reading up on and following events on a regular basis.

A: I get it. I think a lot of people went way overboard in their news consumption during Trump’s first presidency and I think are trying to more healthily navigate it the second time around.

My view is this (and, yes, it is self serving): Don’t read everything. Find 3-5 trusted sources. People you like. Who will keep you up to date. Follow them. That’s it.

I simply do not believe that shutting out ALL news is a solution. Just because you aren’t paying attention doesn’t mean a) it’s not happening and b) it can’t affect you.

Q: Trump is at all-time popularity / approval (for him). I think most of us expect he'll screw it up. So, what is the "bridge too far" that you expect him to do to lose people (e.g., Biden & Afghanistan)?