Friday Mailbag!

Welcome to Trump's Washington.

Happy Friday.

We made it!

Donald Trump is, once again, bending time. He’s been president for four days but it feels like, well, a lot longer.

He is flooding the zone every day with executive orders, social media pronouncements and speech-giving.

I think the political world is experiencing a bit of whiplash — especially after the decidedly slow pace (and press aversion) of the Biden presidency. It’s going to take a little time to adjust.

You had — understandably — LOTS of questions about the week that was (and everything to come) in politics. I answered a bunch below.

You can also tune into my YouTube livestream at 1 pm eastern today where I will answer many more!

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:

Let’s do this.

Q: I feel like the resistance to Trump is at an all-time low. And those who do speak out are being ignored and often scorned for their opinions. Meanwhile, Trump is building momentum to change the country, and the world in his image. My guess is you’ll pass over this question in favor of something less dire, but I am genuinely frightened at where we are headed. I don’t have confidence that there are enough people to continue standing up to Trump again and again. Do you feel just as confident in the strength of our systems today as you were in November, or even last week?

A: I NEVER pass on a tough question!

I agree that the resistance to Trump is both less organized and less passionate than it was at this time 8 years ago. Democrats are in some level of disarray after the 2024 loss and Republicans are, for the most part, lining up behind Trump as expected.

That said, I see plenty of reasons to believe the system will hold. First of all, our country — as

Steve Schmidt

pointed out in a Substack Live we did earlier this week — has survived worse than Donald Trump before.

We didn’t always get to the right place quickly but we, eventually, found it.

I would add that there is already evidence of Republicans not totally capitulating to Trump. Republican Senators tanked the nomination of Matt Gaetz in a week. At least two (and maybe three) Republican Senators are going to vote against Pete Hegseth later today.

It may not be the full bore rebellion against Trump that liberals want out of Republicans. I get that. But that was never going to happen.

The issue is not whether Trump will get a lot of what he wants. He will. The issue is whether, when he pushes FAR beyond the bounds of acceptability, there are Republicans willing to stand up and push back.

Maybe I am being pollyannish but I think there is some early evidence they will.

Q: Chris - love what you’re doing and hopefully you’ll be able to keep up with the break neck pace over the next 4 years! We certainly need you in these times.

My question is what’s your honest opinion on the Musk “salute?” Do you believe it’s all one big misunderstanding or there’s something more there? Thanks again!

A: Thanks much. I am committed to keeping at this! I DO need your continued support to do that, however. So if you are on the fence about being a paid subscriber, I hope you decide to invest in me.

As for the Musk gesture, I purposely didn’t write about it. Mostly because I didn’t feel like I could say definitively that he was purposely doing the “Heil Hitler” thing. He is a goofball. Could he have just been making weird gestures? I think that’s plausible.

I know some of my friends on the left think that is naive. They are CONVINCED Musk was purposely throwing up the Nazi salute. I can’t say they’re wrong. I just didn’t feel like I could say that.

The other thing — and I am going to do a bigger post on this soon — is that I am really trying to avoid engaging in outrage porn for the next four years. Being constantly outraged may help drive paid subscribers (there’s a lot of evidence of that around the Internet) but it’s a) not my thing and b) not helpful to anyone trying to navigate through all of this to a better place.

Q: As a person who has been open about your faith journey, what do you personally make of the Bishop Mariann Budde sermon story? It was predictable that Trump would react defiantly. I mean he beefed with the Pope in his first term if I remember right. I was interested/discouraged reading the angry responses from people in the more conservative evangelical community. Has watching the behaviors of different segments of Christianity during the Trump era impacted your own faith?