Hi james,
Donald Trump was given four long years to demonstrate proficiency for the presidency. What he did instead was demonstrate a profound, unparalleled, and altogether historic ineptitude at doing the job. Now, that same guy is asking the American people to hire him back.
(To listen on spotify, CLICK HERE. To listen on Apple Podcasts, CLICK HERE.)
Usually when you’re considering taking on an employee, you reach out to the people they’ve worked with in the past for referrals. In the case of Donald Trump, we don’t have to reach out to anyone because an army of his former cabinet members, aides, and officials have already come forward to share exactly what they think. The consensus? Not only are they telling us not to hire Donald Trump — they’re urging us to bar the doors and ban him from the store.
Just last week, Trump’s own former Vice President Mike Pence announced that he would not be endorsing him this time around. Given the fact that a mob of Trump supporters whipped into a fury by Trump himself tried to execute Pence on January 6th, it’s hardly shocking that he would land on this decision. What is shocking is how many other have come to the same decision, from Trump’s chief of staff to his secretary of state.
Demand the Trump-appointed judge recuse herself from the indictment case!
Of course, none of these anti-endorsements alone is enough to sink Trump’s candidacy. But there is a cumulative effect. Just like Nikki Haley’s refusal to endorse, Pence’s won’t swing the MAGA cult away from its master. What it will do is chip away at voters in the margins and galvanize moderates towards supporting Biden. In 2020, the president beat Trump by just 20,000 votes in Wisconsin and only 12,000 in Georgia. Margins are everything.
Beyond the political math, Pence’s uncharacteristically wise decision has another effect. It further weakens Trump’s manufactured persona as the ultimate alpha male leader. He wants to project a sense that he wields total autocratic power over the Republican Party but these constant defections make it impossible for him to maintain that illusion. That sense of helplessness then directly fuels his constant outbursts, which in turn remind moderate voters of his profound instability. There is a psychological war being waged on Donald Trump by members of his own party and he cracks a bit more every day.
So, where does all of this good news land us? Simple. We glean what optimism we can from it, then we promptly put it aside and go right back to the hard work of winning this election. Knowing that Trump is vulnerable doesn’t mean that we can be any less forceful in our strike. We have to stay organized and engaged. We have to remind our friends and family of Biden’s accomplishments and Trump’s failures.
Most of all, we have to impress on our fellow Americans one salient fact. By the time November rolls around, our faces should be as blue as our ballots from repeating it over and over again. We cannot allow it to become normalized even as we shout it from the rooftops. Because friends, the 2024 election really boils down to one thing.
Democracy is at stake.
Stay focused, stay energized.
Brian
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