Zohran. Pipe Bombs. Naps.
A few thoughts on the past week.
Hey everyone. At some point this week (either the normal Friday Jackal or as a bonus), I will write about the Supreme Court potentially giving us all a tax cut and ending Trump’s tariffs. And, depending on the news, I’ll probably write about James Comey’s indictment too. Oh, and I guess Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump were a thing. But I had a few other thoughts in the meantime.
Naps are great.
Last weekend, Elisabeth and I napped on both Saturday and Sunday while the two kids were sleeping. I support naps. But I have never fallen asleep while I was in the middle of doing a job. Someone else did:
Trump fought his sleepiness for roughly 30 minutes during a meeting in the Oval Office, which was packed full of people. I have to say, being able to fall sleep in that busy of an environment is a talent and I commend him. It is also not the first time Trump has fallen asleep in public this term, and he was a very frequent napper during his criminal trial in New York. He is 79 and likes to nap; there are worse things.
But of course it’s bad and a reminder that he is too old to do the job. There were immediate comparisons to Joe Biden, who also fell asleep in public a few times during his presidency. But I don’t think the comparison is fair, because Biden’s shut-eye time usually came after long trips overseas or after extended time in public. In contrast, Trump’s meeting was in the early afternoon in the Oval Office. Joe Biden never fell asleep in that environment, and if he had, there would have been pandemonium. Neera Tanden observed as much:
I think Neera is right, but others disagreed. T. Becket Adams took great exception:
So, I thought I would ask a helpful question:
Becket never answered, but I got a lot of angry replies from other people, which is weird because it was just a question! The reason (I think) a lot of those replies are angry is because most Trump supporters know the answer: Biden did not fall asleep in the Oval. Some even conceded as much to me.
There is simultaneously a similarity between Trump and Biden, but there is also an asymmetry. Yes, they are both old and clearly in decline, but as I tried to point out multiple times last year, Trump is worse than Biden, even now. Here is a transcript from Trump, just 3 days ago:
We do billions of dollars in trade with Hungary. Why would they give that up? And they gave up so much else. Look, they gave up everything. This country was poorly run. I think if I didn’t win the election, we might not have a country, if you want to know the truth, not a recognizable country. But our relationship was immediately good as soon as I won the election because Viktor’s one of the people that’s highly respected, and we had a great relationship with Hungary. We do again. That was an easy one. Yeah.
“We do again.” Sometimes when Trump speaks it reminds me of The Office episode where Kevin decides to omit words because “few words do trick.”
But that is just a recent example. Trump frequently does not make sense when he speaks, to the point where his own press secretary has to translate for him afterwards. Sometimes the media has to do this as well, which has infamously been dubbed “sane-washing” by Democrats.
You can say whatever you want about Trump’s locution, but if you watch old videos of him it is clear he is in cognitive decline, and Republicans - like the ones who were angry about my question - do not want to see it. They saw that Biden was too old for the job, but are now ignoring age when it is applied to Trump. To the non-partisans, it is obvious that Trump is too old to be President, and Trump supporters refuse to see it.
How are you going to tie Zohran into this?
I’m getting there, just hold tight. There was a “story” last week about the identity of the January 6th pipe bomber. A media(ish) outlet, The Blaze, had purportedly identified the would-be bomber, and spoiler alert: It was not a Trump supporter, but a Capitol Police officer. You guessed it: The pipe bombing incident was an inside job, according to The Blaze.
Except the story is nonsense. Leaving aside the fact that it was written by a convicted participant in January 6th and a source for the story has a long history of embellishment, it makes absolutely no sense. I am not going to link to it, but the entire “analysis” is based on the gait of a certain Capitol Police officer and the videos we have of the pipe bomber. That’s it. Will Sommer, from the Bulwark has a good summary here, but suffice it to say the story has been completely walked back by The Blaze. Glenn Beck - its owner - has thrown cold water on it, and members of Congress who initially hyped it up have now gone back and deleted their tweets. This is likely because the officer in question - who I am not naming here to avoid adding to their misery - is planning a defamation suit against The Blaze, which will be very strong.1
But the story didn’t have to completely fall apart for us to know that it was bogus. Its entire narrative is based on a false premise: That Trump and his supporters were the victims on January 6th. I didn’t mention this when I talked about the violence on “both sides” after the Charlie Kirk assassination, but a troubling development on the Right is that they invent conspiracy theories to excuse the violence on their side. After Kirk was murdered, Democratic politicians emphatically condemned it en masse. When Paul Pelosi was attacked by a Trump supporter, conservatives and their media invented a story that he was actually there for a little sex party with Mr. Pelosi. January 6th, you see, wasn’t really Trump supporters. Instead, it was the F.B.I. who did it and the rioters were entrapped. The shooter in Minnesota wasn’t really a Trump supporter; he actually was mad at Democrats for not protecting illegal immigrants!
An important part of right-wing media is the belief in conspiracy theories, to the point where they are now all fighting about whether or not Israel actually murdered Charlie Kirk (seriously). I think a lot of this is downstream of Trump, who himself is a huge conspiracy theorist, where every slight against him is a plot enacted by “they” and “them.” There are, of course, conspiracy theorists on the Left who think that the 2024 Election was stolen (there are currently legal challenges happening in New York related to that) or that Israel actually did October 7th. The key difference here is that Democratic officials do not engage in the conspiracy theories and they remain at the fringes of the Party. Donald Trump himself and some Republicans in Congress actively engage with conspiracy theories, which encourages Republican voters to believe them.
Some of this is the chicken or the egg problem: Do Republicans have to be conspiratorial to satisfy their base, or is the base conspiratorial because Trump is conspiratorial? I don’t think it’s all Trump, but he is a significant factor.
DUDE. ZOHRAN.
OK, we’re there. This is where Zohran comes in: I have now written a few times about how I think his policy proposals will be bad, especially things like rent control and/or price controls. The difference between Zohran and Trump is that I can have a debate with Zohran and/or his supporters about policy, whereas any conversation I have with Trump supporters is going to be about reality. Who won the 2020 election. Were the COVID vaccines an evil weapon launched by Anthony Fauci. Do Jewish Space Lasers™ exist. Was the pipe bomber a Capitol Police officer. Did the F.B.I. secretly do January 6th to…keep Joe Biden from getting into office by delaying the vote but also doing it on his behalf.
Or let’s start off with something even more basic: Are freaking tariffs a tax? I am not kidding, I have had full on arguments with Trump supporters over something Trump said on video, and they will still insist Trump didn’t say it.
A poll came out yesterday that said 40% of Americans feel “politically homeless,” with neither Party meeting the needs of the American people. I can relate, but there is definitely an asymmetry between the Parties: One engages with reality and the other does not.
I think that is an ongoing problem for the GOP, since it will be hard for them to reach educated voters and anyone who isn’t brain-warped by conservative media.
Let’s not forget, this wasn’t all that long ago:
And “Zohran. Pipe bombs. Naps.” makes more sense than anything the GOP has said since.
See you Friday.
I did get confirmation of this but I am betting The Blaze retracts the story, which may stave off a suit or at least will lead to a settlement.