monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

. The combo of McCain's death and the picture of a president so caught up in his own neuroses and greedy machinations that his underlings have to run the country behind his back makes the Republicans look worse for November, not better.

What do you see as hand-wringing and which "progressives" are you referring to?

There’s every reason to believe that Kavanaugh will shield the president from accountability or restraints on his power. Yet even Republicans who think Trump is a menace are desperate to confirm his judicial pick.

What we have here, in miniature, is the corrupt bargain Washington Republicans have made with a president many of them privately despise. They know Trump is unfit, but he gives them tax cuts and right-wing judges. Those tax cuts and right-wing judges, in turn, strengthen the president’s hand, buying him gratitude from rich donors and potential legal cover. Republicans who participate in this cycle seem convinced that the situation is, and will remain, under their control.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” he said.

you buy into anything that your president says eh??

You have no "Bullshit filter" apparently

You don't think the offer of anonymity would depend on which President was being reported on?

If someone really has fitness for office concerns, they need to be on the record.

Not everything, just how the media covers politics and culture, they have a preference and push that preference.

or report it as an unsubstantiated story from an anonymous source

Most Republicans running for re-election will be shamelessly pro-Trump.

But the real danger here is that Republican politicians begin to believe that Trump isn’t a threat to them after all. My guess — and it’s only speculation — is that this has been true all along. While a presidential endorsement might move quite a few votes in low-interest primary elections because voters are looking for any kind of cue about who the acceptable candidate might be, it’s a lot harder for endorsements to move votes against an incumbent. Not impossible, but difficult.

If Republican politicians do start believing that they have little to fear from Trump, that would eliminate (or, more likely, just reduce) the incentive to avoid confronting him, at least after the midterms are over. And that could be a huge blow to Trump, with implications for everything from legislation and nominations to oversight to the possibility of a nomination challenge or even, perhaps, impeachment. Politicians do more than just respond to incentives — but they’re far more likely to do things when they have good political reason to do them. And there’s no bigger incentive than fear for their reelection. If they’ve believed Trump could defeat them, that explains a lot of their behavior. If that belief fades or fully evaporates, their behavior may well change.


Granted, we’re in the world of interpretation and perceptions here. One election defeat for a Trump-endorsed candidate might have little effect on his reputation for electoral clout among Republican voters — or it could have major effects. That part is impossible to know so far. All we do know with some confidence is that Republican politicians watch carefully what happens to politicians the president endorses in primary elections. And Trump has squandered at least some of something he’s worked hard to build.

They didn't have any senior officials in any other Administration who offered to publish an anonymous editorial to an influential newspaper

Oh, well, at least with CJ we have a virtual living example of one those people of Trump's base who would forgive him even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue.

we don't know that (are you a NYT insider?)

They didn't have any senior officials in any other Administration who offered to publish an anonymous editorial to an influential newspaper

we don't know that (are you a NYT insider?)

They didn't have any senior officials in any other Administration who offered to publish an anonymous editorial to an influential newspaper outlinging how the President is so mentally and emotionally dysfunctional that that his senior officials have to run the country behind his back.

Since that never happened before, your attempt to use this as evidence the media is picking on Trump because he's a Republicans falls apart.