This one is too powerful, overwhelming and true to simply provide a link to click on to read:
Donald Trump’s ineffectual insertion of himself into the speaker ruckus is only one marker of his decaying political powers. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By JACK SHAFER
01/05/2023 03:51 PM EST
Jack Shafer is Politico’s senior media writer.
Do you remember the first time you defied your parents — and got away with it? Or the first time you told a boss to shove it — and he shoved it? Donald Trump found himself on the receiving end of this sort of abuse Wednesday, as he pressed the 20 House Republicans blocking Kevin McCarthy from the speakership to vote for his man — and they collectively blew him off.
“Vote for Kevin, close the deal, take the victory,” Trump wrote (in all caps) on Truth Social. “Republicans, do not turn a great triumph into a giant & embarrassing defeat.”
But not only did the Gang of 20 defy Trump’s pointed directive, one of their leaders sassed him from the floor of the House. GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who is as Trumpy as you can get without resorting to a comb-over, said she was unmoved by his phone calls to the Gang telling them to “knock it off,” and issued orders back to Trump himself: “The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, ‘Sir, you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw.”
Trump’s ineffectual insertion of himself into the speaker ruckus is only one marker of his decaying political powers. His fervent support of Mehmet Oz, Herschel Walker, Adam Laxalt and Blake Masters for Senate seats bombed at the ballot box. On Election Night, Fox News, once a steadfast ally, labeled him “The biggest loser tonight” for the Republicans’ poor results. His acid tongue, once corrosive enough to end the careers of his foes, has become impotent: His attempt to brand presidential rival Ron DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” backfired, making Trump the object of derision instead of DeSantis. In December, he hit a seven-year low in his standing with voters. His desultory 2024 presidential campaign has drawn only yawns from the press and politicians, setting him up for a devastating magazine profile by Olivia Nuzzi that portrays him as a sad duffer living in the opulence of the past like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
This is not to say that current events have completely husked Trump and dumped him in the compost. He still commands a core of supporters and a demonstrable ability to fundraise, so let’s keep his political obituary in the prewrite bin for now. But every politician is born with a sell-by date pressed on his forehead, and Trump is no exception. If he’s starting to stink of irrelevance to politicians like Boebert and Matt Gaetz, people he more or less invented, then his political time might be drawing to an end.
Part of Trump’s decline is his fault. Why did he have to jump into the speaker fight to support somebody who is so untrustworthy and reviled? Why did he think that a buffoon like Walker, an opportunist like Oz, or a barking mallard duck like Masters were bankable Senate candidates? But Trump’s decline is equally structural. A politician out of office never carries the swat of a politician in office, no matter what heights he once commanded. As president, Trump could make the nation snap to with an executive order or a military threat directed at Iran or North Korea or a Cabinet firing or a saucy press conference. He could create loyalists by dispensing jobs and favors. He could maintain them with fear tactics. Today, he has less power to affirmatively direct the national conversation than a late-night talk show host and he no longer frightens anyone. Other ex-presidents, like Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have accepted their diminished powers and conserved what remains of their influence by entering only fights they know they could win. This fundamental lesson of politics has yet to reach Trump.
Another cause of the Trump deterioration resides in the ambitions of others. As long as he was president, Trump had no rival for the White House among Republicans. He was the go-to guy. But once Joe Biden felled him and he lost the crown, other Republicans who aspired for the presidency were freed to exercise their political dreams. They didn’t have to kill the king. The king had been killed, or at least exiled, freeing them to explore the old leader for his weaknesses should he chose to return. But now, Trump is just in their way, and their personal ambitions outweigh their personal fealty. So far, the aspirants haven’t directly rebuked Trump the way the Gang of 20 has, but in ignoring him they’ve signaled that they think his time has passed. Why risk a murder charge by playing the role of Brutus when you can count on the tide to carry Trump away?
“All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs,” the racist British politician Enoch Powell observed in 1977. Trump’s end had to come sooner or later. But it’s coming now.
Trump’s Worst Fear Is Coming True: He’s Being Ignored
Even some of his biggest supporters in Congress are rebuffing his call to back Kevin McCarthy for speaker.Donald Trump’s ineffectual insertion of himself into the speaker ruckus is only one marker of his decaying political powers. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By JACK SHAFER
01/05/2023 03:51 PM EST
Jack Shafer is Politico’s senior media writer.
Do you remember the first time you defied your parents — and got away with it? Or the first time you told a boss to shove it — and he shoved it? Donald Trump found himself on the receiving end of this sort of abuse Wednesday, as he pressed the 20 House Republicans blocking Kevin McCarthy from the speakership to vote for his man — and they collectively blew him off.
“Vote for Kevin, close the deal, take the victory,” Trump wrote (in all caps) on Truth Social. “Republicans, do not turn a great triumph into a giant & embarrassing defeat.”
But not only did the Gang of 20 defy Trump’s pointed directive, one of their leaders sassed him from the floor of the House. GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who is as Trumpy as you can get without resorting to a comb-over, said she was unmoved by his phone calls to the Gang telling them to “knock it off,” and issued orders back to Trump himself: “The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, ‘Sir, you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw.”
Trump’s ineffectual insertion of himself into the speaker ruckus is only one marker of his decaying political powers. His fervent support of Mehmet Oz, Herschel Walker, Adam Laxalt and Blake Masters for Senate seats bombed at the ballot box. On Election Night, Fox News, once a steadfast ally, labeled him “The biggest loser tonight” for the Republicans’ poor results. His acid tongue, once corrosive enough to end the careers of his foes, has become impotent: His attempt to brand presidential rival Ron DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” backfired, making Trump the object of derision instead of DeSantis. In December, he hit a seven-year low in his standing with voters. His desultory 2024 presidential campaign has drawn only yawns from the press and politicians, setting him up for a devastating magazine profile by Olivia Nuzzi that portrays him as a sad duffer living in the opulence of the past like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
This is not to say that current events have completely husked Trump and dumped him in the compost. He still commands a core of supporters and a demonstrable ability to fundraise, so let’s keep his political obituary in the prewrite bin for now. But every politician is born with a sell-by date pressed on his forehead, and Trump is no exception. If he’s starting to stink of irrelevance to politicians like Boebert and Matt Gaetz, people he more or less invented, then his political time might be drawing to an end.
Part of Trump’s decline is his fault. Why did he have to jump into the speaker fight to support somebody who is so untrustworthy and reviled? Why did he think that a buffoon like Walker, an opportunist like Oz, or a barking mallard duck like Masters were bankable Senate candidates? But Trump’s decline is equally structural. A politician out of office never carries the swat of a politician in office, no matter what heights he once commanded. As president, Trump could make the nation snap to with an executive order or a military threat directed at Iran or North Korea or a Cabinet firing or a saucy press conference. He could create loyalists by dispensing jobs and favors. He could maintain them with fear tactics. Today, he has less power to affirmatively direct the national conversation than a late-night talk show host and he no longer frightens anyone. Other ex-presidents, like Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have accepted their diminished powers and conserved what remains of their influence by entering only fights they know they could win. This fundamental lesson of politics has yet to reach Trump.
Another cause of the Trump deterioration resides in the ambitions of others. As long as he was president, Trump had no rival for the White House among Republicans. He was the go-to guy. But once Joe Biden felled him and he lost the crown, other Republicans who aspired for the presidency were freed to exercise their political dreams. They didn’t have to kill the king. The king had been killed, or at least exiled, freeing them to explore the old leader for his weaknesses should he chose to return. But now, Trump is just in their way, and their personal ambitions outweigh their personal fealty. So far, the aspirants haven’t directly rebuked Trump the way the Gang of 20 has, but in ignoring him they’ve signaled that they think his time has passed. Why risk a murder charge by playing the role of Brutus when you can count on the tide to carry Trump away?
“All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs,” the racist British politician Enoch Powell observed in 1977. Trump’s end had to come sooner or later. But it’s coming now.
? Matt Gaetz votes Donald John Trump again
The Dems and RINOs heads are spinning right now.
They are literally freaking out!
This whole thing is mindf*cking them all.
Can you imagine Trump moving as Speaker.
It would be the ultimate revenge.
And it would guarantee justice!
And the entire nation and world would get a free ticket to watch!
There is a better chance of your converting to Judaism, becoming a rabbi and giving Biden a BJ than this happening!! lol? Matt Gaetz votes Donald John Trump again
View attachment 56285
The Dems and RINOs heads are spinning right now.
They are literally freaking out!
This whole thing is mindf*cking them all.
Can you imagine Trump moving as Speaker.
It would be the ultimate revenge.
And it would guarantee justice!
And the entire nation and world would get a free ticket to watch!
? BREAKING: Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of El Chapo, was captured in a military operation in Sinaloa, Mexico.
Sinaloa Cartel hitmen swarmed the closest airport, hoping to intercept and free him.
Footage from onboard an AeroMexico flight that was shot at whilst taxiing for takeoff at Culiacán airport. Cartel members are currently conducting multiple attacks in retaliation for the arrest of Ovidio Guzman.
? I’m sure it’s a coincidence that on the same day Trump makes a statement on fighting the Drug Cartels, that El Chapo’s son was arrested in Sinaloa, MX.
Yep, nothing to see here at all.
WE KNOW who's in control!
Sinaloa Cartel hitmen swarmed the closest airport, hoping to intercept and free him.
Footage from onboard an AeroMexico flight that was shot at whilst taxiing for takeoff at Culiacán airport. Cartel members are currently conducting multiple attacks in retaliation for the arrest of Ovidio Guzman.
? I’m sure it’s a coincidence that on the same day Trump makes a statement on fighting the Drug Cartels, that El Chapo’s son was arrested in Sinaloa, MX.
Yep, nothing to see here at all.
WE KNOW who's in control!
I am sure it is just a coincidence that right after Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest, you went on another big spiel about how it was caused
by the Covid Vaccination and that hundreds of millions across the globe had either dropped dead or were about to if they
had also been vaccinated!!
Yes this is actually true in that WE that includes the like of myself, wilbur, habsburger, schmirt, etc have CONTROLLED
DOCUMENTED AND EXPOSED YOU for who and what you are since you started this thead!!
? 2023 IS THE YEAR OF DEATH AND REBIRTH
It is going to be intense for the entire world, individually and collectively.
The darkness inside all of us is going to surface at the same time the darkness of the collective surfaces.
It is already happening this week.
Pay attention.
Prepare yourself.
Control your emotions.
It's not going to be pretty for most.
Some may become so violent they take their own lives or harm others.
Do not instigate those who become agitated.
Instead, walk away or diffuse the situation.
The "tough guy" approach isn't going to work.
LOVE and COMPASSION are the only answers.
This is the year the old guard officially collapses and the new earth begins to rise up.
It's going to get really ugly at times but stay aware, stay strong and STAY UNITED.
MAY GOD BLESS US ALL.
? ? ? ? ?
It is going to be intense for the entire world, individually and collectively.
The darkness inside all of us is going to surface at the same time the darkness of the collective surfaces.
It is already happening this week.
Pay attention.
Prepare yourself.
Control your emotions.
It's not going to be pretty for most.
Some may become so violent they take their own lives or harm others.
Do not instigate those who become agitated.
Instead, walk away or diffuse the situation.
The "tough guy" approach isn't going to work.
LOVE and COMPASSION are the only answers.
This is the year the old guard officially collapses and the new earth begins to rise up.
It's going to get really ugly at times but stay aware, stay strong and STAY UNITED.
MAY GOD BLESS US ALL.
? ? ? ? ?
I LOVE the trolling by Trump and others coming from every direction!
What a GREAT movie!
The Swamp is in FULL panic and meltdown with no clue what to do! While the American people are getting a great crash course on how our government is SUPPOSED to work. I'm sure the Uniparty would love to wrap things up in secret behind closed doors ditching the current voting system and switching to phony mail in ballots so they could RIG it like do everything else.
So much GREAT information in this epic thread. But then the tards dumb it down pissing and shitting everywhere with their deranged TDS clown "great reads" that NEVER happen!
Shout out to Crying Adam Kizinger's family who keep reminding him he's working for Satan...because he is.
What a GREAT movie!
The Swamp is in FULL panic and meltdown with no clue what to do! While the American people are getting a great crash course on how our government is SUPPOSED to work. I'm sure the Uniparty would love to wrap things up in secret behind closed doors ditching the current voting system and switching to phony mail in ballots so they could RIG it like do everything else.
So much GREAT information in this epic thread. But then the tards dumb it down pissing and shitting everywhere with their deranged TDS clown "great reads" that NEVER happen!
Shout out to Crying Adam Kizinger's family who keep reminding him he's working for Satan...because he is.
We have heard the same bullshit and failed prediction a number of times from you beginning when you started this
thread in 2020 as well as 99.8% other FAILED predictions on your part most notably Trump's reinstatement/devolution!!
And please how the hell can you or anyone else tell people to love and be compassionate when you love and admire Putin,
cheer him on and are in ecstasy when many thousands of people were/are murdered by him as well as his wanton
destruction of Ukraine!!
What you should have said in your final sentence is that may YOUR "God" of Satan, murder, violence, hate,
war, poverty, starvation, disease,and deaths by any means "bless" you and the people of your ilk on and to continue
their "good work!!"
trump spent 70k on his hair in one year???
Even the ultra low iqanons like Lenny can't believe that!!!
The stupid! It burns!!
The ultra low iqanons in this thread are really stupid, like trump likes his followers.
He hit the jackpot here!
Posting documents and receipts here!
I love this time of the year!
MSN
www.msn.com
Even the ultra low iqanons like Lenny can't believe that!!!
The stupid! It burns!!
The ultra low iqanons in this thread are really stupid, like trump likes his followers.
He hit the jackpot here!
Posting documents and receipts here!
I love this time of the year!
For me, the debacle which is occurring with McCarthy is an early indication that the current Republican Party as we currently
know it, which has been dominated until now by the Trump way of doing things is crumbling and will eventually give way
to one of the traditional values for which the GOP stands for and a new breed of Republicans
which is going to emerge over the next few years!!
As I stated earlier today, imo people like Adam Kinzinger are going to represent the wave of the future for this Party
if it is going to survive!!
Back later on tonight!!
know it, which has been dominated until now by the Trump way of doing things is crumbling and will eventually give way
to one of the traditional values for which the GOP stands for and a new breed of Republicans
which is going to emerge over the next few years!!
As I stated earlier today, imo people like Adam Kinzinger are going to represent the wave of the future for this Party
if it is going to survive!!
Back later on tonight!!
