Kudos to Mr. Gonzalez for the question. Trump’s answers are telling.
Voter: I am a Republican that’s no longer registered. Your inaction during your presidency was a little disturbing to me. What happened during January 6th and the fact that you waited so long to take action while your supporters were attacking the Capitol. Coronavirus, I thought… pic.twitter.com/Z6JFVUouZX
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.
The questioner has more of a sense of what Trump should be asked – every day – by the political media. We often hear that historians will have a lot to say about how Trump created chaos by breaking rules and boundaries with impunity, but mental health professionals will have even more to say about how a man whose narcissism left him unmoored from reality was able to take over a political party.
why Trump is doing so well, relatively, in the polls?
I love it when your MAGAt’s masks slip, whether it’s Trump above referring to the violent mob as “us,” or here when they let it slip they think Trump should be losing by a landslide. “He’s only losing by 1-4 points, can you believe it?” No we can’t, Ry, but we agree it’s pretty crazy and should be a lot more.
why Trump is doing so well, relatively, in the polls?
I love it when your MAGAt’s masks slip, whether it’s Trump above referring to the violent mob as “us,” or here when they let it slip they think Trump should be losing by a landslide.
Reminder: We are now just 19 days away from violent protesters being the “good guys” again.
I have been staring at this sentence for quite a while and I really don’t understand what it means. Seriously.
Does this mean that you think:
A. If Trump wins, and Democrats protest his election, suddenly the media narrative will change and protesters will be “good guys”?
B. Who ever is in power is the “good guys.” Therefore if Trump wins then his followers (who you seem to acknowledge include violent protesters) are the good guys?
C. If Harris wins, and Trump and Vance invariably don’t accept the results, that we should expect violent protests from their supporters?
@TheRyGuy: If you thought talk of Jan 6 helped Trump, you’d encourage it. Mention of Jan 6 triggers you because it reminds voters like Latino ex-Republican Ramiro Gonzalez that Trump is a violent, narcissistic crybaby who hates America because he hates himself deep down.
Trump lost in 2020. Then your Red Wave 2022 fizzled, and now 78-year-old elderly fascist Trump is trailing — despised by women and people of color while alienating educated whites and sane conservatives — because liberty and democracy, issues many voters care deeply about, are on the ballot.
Terrorists who attack the Capitol trying to overturn an election have never been the good guy. So Jan 6 and democracy will be on the frontline with abortion, economics, healthcare, and immigration for the next 19 days and beyond. Cope.
@Matt Bernius: I was wondering what that statement meant too. I finally settled on:
Violent protesters who stormed the Capitol, causing significant damage, will have the charges against them dropped because Trump considers them good guys.
He sounds like an abusive husband trying to rewrite the past. In fact, all of the defenses of 1/6 are akin to a defense of domestic violence and so much of Trumpism aligns with the belief that people who are terrible deserve to be listened to, or else.
I wonder how many Trump’s defenders find him reassuring because he reminds them of Dad.
Day of Love. Up there with the most noxious things he’s ever said. And the audience was definitely not buying what he was selling. Arms folded, some glaring at him.
The questioner has more of a sense of what Trump should be asked – every day – by the political media.
In-depth pieces have been good as always this cycle, but the daily punditry and beat reporting continues to underwhelm. Legacy media interviews are just awful.
Unlike the supposed pros, Mr. Gonzalez and the others there were concerned about important issues — not just insider narratives, their own brand, navel-gazing hot takes, and lazy gotchas.
In a couple of minutes, Mr. Gonzalez asked Trump to account for his botched COVID response, for Mike Pence’s non-endorsement, and for his inaction on Jan 6. This was more substantive questioning than we usually get from those who get paid by the networks.
Not a good look when podcasters and town hall questioneers can mount more thoughtful conversations than folks like Dana Bash (CNN) and Bret Baier (Faux News) who think journalism is no more than asking candidates to respond to the latest oppo talking point.
“Vice-President Harris, Trump said you aren’t black, what’s your response?”
“President Trump, Mark Milley said you’re a fascist, what do you think about that?”
You’re a professional journalist, and this is the best you can do. Really? Lazy af.
I was at the gym this morning, and the channel was talking about Trump saying he might call up the National Guard or even the military because of the enemy within and a Republican was interpreting it, saying we shouldn’t always take him seriously. I was thinking that Jan 20, 2009 was important in US history for two reasons. 1. Barrack Obama was inaugurated as the first black president. 2. This was the day that the Republican party stopped pretending that they cared about the country. They could have gotten rid of him when he was impeached the second time. Some say they didn’t have the guts, I think it is because most Republicans actually do believe in what he’s selling.
I would’ve asked about what he was doing in the three hours of the assault on the Capitol only. I liked that guy but giving Trump multiple questions enables dodging.
I wonder if Trump realized it was only a matter of time before someone button-
holes him properly on the three hours and that’s why he suddenly cut way back on these kind of things.
@Lucysfootball: It might well be that Republicans, at large, do want to buy what Trump is selling. Republican leadership, on the other hand, is motivated by wanting to win even though they don’t even know what the prize is anymore and, apparently, have no use for it even if they win. They may be getting swayed by believing that Republicans at large like what Trump is selling, but except for a few rabid ideologues (Gaetz and Johnson come to mind for some reason), I don’t think Republican leadership even cares what the product is anymore other than for tribal identification purposes. They are the uber windsocks of our era. It truly is “whatever liberals are against, updated as required.” No principles whatsoever to interfere with the self-promotion.
Lol, Mr. Gonzáles was not buying what El Felon was selling. And most of the audience was looking equally disapproving.
The questioner has more of a sense of what Trump should be asked – every day – by the political media. We often hear that historians will have a lot to say about how Trump created chaos by breaking rules and boundaries with impunity, but mental health professionals will have even more to say about how a man whose narcissism left him unmoored from reality was able to take over a political party.
@TheRyGuy:
Yes, history invariably recognizes the heroism of people who smear shit on walls.
I love it when your MAGAt’s masks slip, whether it’s Trump above referring to the violent mob as “us,” or here when they let it slip they think Trump should be losing by a landslide. “He’s only losing by 1-4 points, can you believe it?” No we can’t, Ry, but we agree it’s pretty crazy and should be a lot more.
I love it when your MAGAt’s masks slip, whether it’s Trump above referring to the violent mob as “us,” or here when they let it slip they think Trump should be losing by a landslide.
@TheRyGuy:
No. I think his position is morally reprehensible. It is not hurting him in the polls, unfortunately.
I mean, do you think Jan 6 was a “day of love”?
Do you think Mike Pence did the wrong thing that day?
Do you think of the Capitol police as “them” and the insurrections as “we”?
Do you think that one of the more noteworthy aspects of that day was the size of Trump’s crowd?
I guess, in fact, you must. Or, at a minimum, you just don’t care because your guy may win the White House.
Nothing he says or does matters or, I guess, you like what he says and does but are too cowardly to just admit it.
@TheRyGuy:
I have been staring at this sentence for quite a while and I really don’t understand what it means. Seriously.
Does this mean that you think:
A. If Trump wins, and Democrats protest his election, suddenly the media narrative will change and protesters will be “good guys”?
B. Who ever is in power is the “good guys.” Therefore if Trump wins then his followers (who you seem to acknowledge include violent protesters) are the good guys?
C. If Harris wins, and Trump and Vance invariably don’t accept the results, that we should expect violent protests from their supporters?
@TheRyGuy: If you thought talk of Jan 6 helped Trump, you’d encourage it. Mention of Jan 6 triggers you because it reminds voters like Latino ex-Republican Ramiro Gonzalez that Trump is a violent, narcissistic crybaby who hates America because he hates himself deep down.
Trump lost in 2020. Then your Red Wave 2022 fizzled, and now 78-year-old elderly fascist Trump is trailing — despised by women and people of color while alienating educated whites and sane conservatives — because liberty and democracy, issues many voters care deeply about, are on the ballot.
Terrorists who attack the Capitol trying to overturn an election have never been the good guy. So Jan 6 and democracy will be on the frontline with abortion, economics, healthcare, and immigration for the next 19 days and beyond. Cope.
Narrator: his rioters did have guns
@Stormy Dragon:
Indeed. Never forget those two women who exclaimed gleefully: “We’re going to find Nancy Pelosi and put a bullet through that bitch’s brain.”
@Matt Bernius: I was wondering what that statement meant too. I finally settled on:
He sounds like an abusive husband trying to rewrite the past. In fact, all of the defenses of 1/6 are akin to a defense of domestic violence and so much of Trumpism aligns with the belief that people who are terrible deserve to be listened to, or else.
I wonder how many Trump’s defenders find him reassuring because he reminds them of Dad.
Day of Love. Up there with the most noxious things he’s ever said. And the audience was definitely not buying what he was selling. Arms folded, some glaring at him.
@Charley in Cleveland:
In-depth pieces have been good as always this cycle, but the daily punditry and beat reporting continues to underwhelm. Legacy media interviews are just awful.
Unlike the supposed pros, Mr. Gonzalez and the others there were concerned about important issues — not just insider narratives, their own brand, navel-gazing hot takes, and lazy gotchas.
In a couple of minutes, Mr. Gonzalez asked Trump to account for his botched COVID response, for Mike Pence’s non-endorsement, and for his inaction on Jan 6. This was more substantive questioning than we usually get from those who get paid by the networks.
Not a good look when podcasters and town hall questioneers can mount more thoughtful conversations than folks like Dana Bash (CNN) and Bret Baier (Faux News) who think journalism is no more than asking candidates to respond to the latest oppo talking point.
“Vice-President Harris, Trump said you aren’t black, what’s your response?”
“President Trump, Mark Milley said you’re a fascist, what do you think about that?”
You’re a professional journalist, and this is the best you can do. Really? Lazy af.
I was at the gym this morning, and the channel was talking about Trump saying he might call up the National Guard or even the military because of the enemy within and a Republican was interpreting it, saying we shouldn’t always take him seriously. I was thinking that Jan 20, 2009 was important in US history for two reasons. 1. Barrack Obama was inaugurated as the first black president. 2. This was the day that the Republican party stopped pretending that they cared about the country. They could have gotten rid of him when he was impeached the second time. Some say they didn’t have the guts, I think it is because most Republicans actually do believe in what he’s selling.
I would’ve asked about what he was doing in the three hours of the assault on the Capitol only. I liked that guy but giving Trump multiple questions enables dodging.
I wonder if Trump realized it was only a matter of time before someone button-
holes him properly on the three hours and that’s why he suddenly cut way back on these kind of things.
@Lucysfootball: It might well be that Republicans, at large, do want to buy what Trump is selling. Republican leadership, on the other hand, is motivated by wanting to win even though they don’t even know what the prize is anymore and, apparently, have no use for it even if they win. They may be getting swayed by believing that Republicans at large like what Trump is selling, but except for a few rabid ideologues (Gaetz and Johnson come to mind for some reason), I don’t think Republican leadership even cares what the product is anymore other than for tribal identification purposes. They are the uber windsocks of our era. It truly is “whatever liberals are against, updated as required.” No principles whatsoever to interfere with the self-promotion.