Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

The willow is too close to the house.

No one could have predicted…

Republicans don’t trust women.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

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187Comments

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    Yoiks! That was a little terrifying.

    So basically…great ad, Lincoln Project! Keep ‘em coming!

  3. 3.

    Mike in NC

    Jennifer Rubin writes today about why Fat Bastard is attacking Obama again: because he’s a lazy racist turd whose bottle of snake oil is now empty, so he has to fall back on what his massive ‘gut’ tells him, namely try to keep the base riled up about Those Terrible People.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    That’s a good ad.  Says right up front:  Trump will lie.  This week and next week and next week …

    Gives cover to embarrassed Republicans and “independents” who think Democrats are icky.  Go for it, Lincoln Project.

  7. 7.

    Bruce K

    “If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.” – Winston Churchill

  8. 8.

    zhena gogolia

    @azlib:

    Yep. I find myself reading never-Trumpers like Jennifer Rubin, Tom Nichols, George Conway, etc., more than anyone else these days. They didn’t bite on the Tara Reade story, for one thing. They are keeping their eyes on the prize.

  10. 10.

    jonas

    Of course stuff like this doesn’t faze Trump’s cultists in the least — they’re all convinced it’s all 5-G waves and Chinese voodoo or something. But if we can peel away enough independents and former-GOPers who voted for Trump in 16 and who now have buyers remorse, esp in states like Michigan and Wisconsin, the Lincoln Project could have a real impact. Remember, all Trump’s and Parscale’s shennanigans and faux scandal-mongering are designed to do one thing and one thing only: hold on to Trump’s 2016 voters and depress Dem turnout. They don’t care about expanding their base one bit and that’s where they’re most vulnerable.

  11. 11.

    japa21

    Great ad. Always good to see the lie word used. My question is who will see it? I know the first one only showed on Fox News and I think only in DC. Targeted one person and it worked. They said they had more coming.

  12. 12.

    Bruce K

    Honestly, I think it’s too late to save the GOP. Hopefully it’s not too late to save America.

  14. 14.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: a lot of people I like on twitter (Brian Beutler, Mike Grunwald, Jamelle Bouie) are falling into old tropes about do-nothing Democrats because (for example) it took Elliot Engel a few hours to announce he was going to investigate the latest IG firing. A lot snark about the lack of oversight– from the party that impeached a president, for the third time in history, less than four months ago. The never-trumpers focus on the real enemy, the real problem.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    That is good. It captures the relentless nature of the horror. “And the next…”

    I hate to admit it because I think liberals pride themselves on their creativity (not me- not that creative) but their ads are better than ours :)

  17. 17.

    zhena gogolia

    @Bruce K:

    Here’s what they have in mind. Good luck with that.

    What’s critical here is that principled conservatives of all stripes recognize the need to build a new political coalition w/ new leaders after Trumpism loses. At a shrinking 40%, it isn’t viable. To ever win, we’ll need conservatives, libertarians, & Biden Rs as Ds go left.— Heath Mayo (@HeathMayo) May 15, 2020

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    @japa21: Yep, all they have to do is get Trump to react, and the ad gets millions in “earned media.” It’s a smart way to weaponize his own big fat ego against him.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    @zhena gogolia: Would love to hear ol’ Heath’s ideas about what policies would bring together “conservatives, libertarians, and Biden Rs” into a winning coalition.

    My guess is the ‘magical thinking’ quotient of said policies would be, oh, roughly 90%.

  23. 23.

    ET

    I feel like these ads are targeted to the voters that are Republican but not hard core tRumpers. The hard core tRumpers are never likely to leave him because he has them so conned and they have so much invested in him and those that are that invested can never give it up because their whole world would come tumbling down around them and that can’t be allowed to happen.

  27. 27.

    PenAndKey

    Seriously, I don’t even care who’s actually putting out these ads. This one, like the last one they put out, are about as expertly crafted as you’ll ever find. If the Lincoln Project wants to keep making them I’ll gladly put my support behind them and worry about our policy disagreements once Trump’s malignancy is in the history books

    @jeffreyw: And I hate to say it, because it says a lot about our country, but I feel like one of the strengths of this campaign is that it doesn’t rely on Democratic voices. The second it did a large chunk of the intended audience would simply tune it out.

  28. 28.

    Mai naem mobile

    I think locally Dems need to connect the total national death toll to a size of a local town. If you’re in Pennsylvania you say you’ve wiped out the population size of Reading.  In Florida you say  you’ve wiped out the size of Boca Raton etc.   People get a better idea  than just a big number which is unfathomable to a lot of people.  As the number gets bigger add a town or change towns or whatever. Unfortunately the number now is big enough to use some big city suburbs.

  31. 31.

    Just Chuck

    @japa21: It’s also on the Internet.  “Airtime” is something you only microtarget nowadays, and they targeted it at one guy in DC.

  34. 34.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @azlib: The enemy of my enemy is my friend ally for the time being.

    FTFY. (Cf. Soviet Socialist Republics, Union Of, 7 11 Dec 1941 – 2 Sep 1945. [Germany did not declare war on the USA until the 11th, and the US Congress returned the favor the same day. The USSR was not at war with the Empire of Japan until 9 Aug 1945.])

    There oughtt to be a place in the American political discussion for conservatives, & I for one would have no problem duking it out with our current co-belligerents should they, upon the rout of our mutual enemies, return to loyal and responsible opposition. But only with those qualifications.

  37. 37.

    Yutsano

    @Jeffro: Deficit scolding. It’s about all they will have that could move needles. And you know it’s coming. It’s already started.

  38. 38.

    clay

    @Gin & Tonic: The usual reason is because Democrats can’t just be anti-Trump; they need to present a positive reason to vote for them.  Never Trumpers, on the other hand, don’t have that concern.

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    From The Guardian‘s liveblog, the school reopening in France has run into a problem:

    France reports flare-up of Covid-19 cases linked to schools

    Just one week after a third of French schoolchildren went back to school in an easing of the coronavirus lockdown, there’s been a worrying flare-up of about 70 Covid-19 cases linked to schools.

    Some schools were opened last week and a further 150,000 junior high students went back to the classroom Monday as further restrictions were loosened by the government, AP reports. The move initially spelled relief: the end of home schooling for many hundreds of thousands of exhausted French parents, many whom were also working from home.

    But the French education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer sounded the alarm today, telling RTL that the return has put some children in new danger of contamination. He said the affected schools are being closed immediately. French media reported that seven schools in northern France were closed.

    The situation highlights the precarious situation the French government is finding itself in as it seeks both to reassure the public that the country is moving forward past coronavirus and to react prudently to safeguard public health.

    Blanquer did not specify if the 70 cases of Covid-19 were among students or teachers. Given that the incubation period for the virus is several days, people are likely to have been infected before the reopening of the schools, he said.

    France reopened about 40,000 pre-schools and primary schools last week, with classes capped at 15 students. About 30% of children went back to school, Blanquer said. The government has allowed parents to keep children at home.

  40. 40.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Amir Khalid: @Immanentize:

    Sorry folks, I get around the paywall by using the Firefox reader tag.

    Rubin was solely about Trump and RWNJ racism and to expect a lot more in the coming months.

    Greg Sargent excerpt:

    President Trump’s abrupt decision to remove the inspector general of the State Department constitutes the latest in a string of corrupt efforts to remove public servants who prioritize real oversight and accountability over protecting Trump at all costs.

    But in the case of Trump’s termination of Steve Linick, the State Department IG, this could end up looking far worse than we know. There’s a backstory here that has not yet gotten scrutiny — one that could make the firing appear even more corrupt.

    House Democrats have discovered that the fired IG had mostly completed an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s widely criticized decision to skirt Congress with an emergency declaration to approve billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia last year, aides on the Foreign Affairs Committee tell me.

    “I have learned that there may be another reason for Mr. Linick’s firing,” Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement sent to me. “His office was investigating — at my request — Trump’s phony declaration of an emergency so he could send weapons to Saudi Arabia.”

    Committee Democrats have also learned that the State Department was recently briefed on the IG’s conclusions in that investigation, aides say. They do not know what role this investigation — and its conclusions — played in Linick’s removal, if any.

    But the committee is now trying to establish what those conclusions were and what links they might have to the firing, the aides confirm.

    “We don’t have the full picture yet, but it’s troubling that Secretary Pompeo wanted Mr. Linick pushed out before this work could be completed,” Engel said in the statement to me.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    @HumboldtBlue:   From your WaPost item, so others can read beyond the paywall:

    Yes, reporters have glommed onto Linick investigations of personal corruption by Pompeo:  use of aides for personal errands, possibly too many taxpayer-funded trips back to Kansas.  But:  fast tracking arms to the Saudis.  That is a whole ‘nother level, and likely implicates Prince Jared and Trump.

    But the fact that Linick has also mostly completed an investigation into the decision to fast-track arms to the Saudis adds another layer to this whole story.

    Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee — and its Senate counterpart — have launched an investigation into Linick’s firing. In letters to the State Departmentand the White House, they demanded documents be preserved and raised the possibility that the firing might have been an “illegal act of retaliation” against an unspecified ongoing IG investigation into Pompeo.

    Importantly, the Democrats are also demanding a full accounting of any and all IG investigations into Pompeo that are ongoing — and thus could have been the basis for the firing.

    One of these IG investigations, it turns out, is into Pompeo’s fast-tracking of arms sales to the Saudis.

  42. 42.

    Immanentize

    @PenAndKey: I agree with your second point.  Just like Trump’s gameplan, the more we can get former Trump voters to just not pull the lever for that guy, the bigger our win. AND, we actually have people moving from R to D this year.

  45. 45.

    CaseyL

    GOP-allied ad teams have been very good for years: they go for the gut-punch and don’t trouble themselves with trifles like nuance – or, often, truth.  GOP ads have been the bane of Democrats for decades.

    It’s nice to see them aimed at T* but, like you said, the instant T* is gone most of them will revert to trashing Democrats.

    I keep that in mind, even as I cheer them on.

  46. 46.

    UttBugly

    I read they only run these spots in the DC marketplace late night on FOX. Their target is one individual. They don’t want to change anything except Republican Presidents.

  48. 48.

    Roger Moore

    @ET:

    I feel like these ads are targeted to the voters that are Republican but not hard core tRumpers.

    Those people are the natural targets for a group of Never Trump Republicans, and it’s important to make a strong attempt to get their votes, or at least to convince them not to vote for Trump.  That said, I don’t think this is an especially effective at at energizing Democrats who might be less than enthusiastic about Biden, which is something the Democrats are better suited to creating.

  49. 49.

    Mai naem mobile

    @Gin & Tonic: because we listen to people who tell us we have to be positive and happy clappy and OMG if you attack a (GOP) POTUS you’re being unpatriotic.

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    There was an analysis piece at WaPo this weekend about the Biden campaign deliberately ignoring most of Trump’s personal attacks. We’re getting a preview of the scorched earth to come with Eric Trump basically calling Biden a pedophile and Don Jr. on the “Biden is senile” beat full time. After you’ve said that, what else is there to say?

    Biden staffers who commented for the article said you can’t get in the mud with Trump because that’s letting him dictate the terms. Another said it draws a contrast they welcome — Trump & Co. ranting about conspiracy theories and making absurdly over the top attacks and Biden mostly ignoring that and talking about the future in positive terms.

    At first I questioned that logic because despite post-election criticism, Clinton really did let some of that shit from Trump go by in 2016 and mostly focused on her own qualifications and plans. But I’m not sure there’s anything to learn from 2016 anyway because this is a different situation. Trump is the incumbent, not an “outsider” running against an incumbent’s successor. And Biden isn’t a woman.

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    “palmed his face like a basketball”

    Just got kicked out of Home Depot. This guy behind me in line was so close, I could feel his breath. I asked him nicely to step back and he leaned forward and coughed on me. I palmed his face like a basketball and shoved him. He fell to the ground all dramatic. Don't cough on me— Keegan Herring (@KeegHerr24) May 17, 2020

    Good. Bastard deserved it.

  52. 52.

    Amir Khalid

    @Gin & Tonic:

    ET nails it in comment #23. The target audience is Republicans who are not part of Trump’s Deplorable base. If they hear this message from Democrats, it will sound like the usual partisanship. If they hear fellow Republicans say it, they might be more receptive.

  53. 53.

    hells littlest angel

    More and more I think the only thing that can save us — because a corrupt government needn’t enforce its laws, including election laws — is a massive stroke or heart attack. So good job, Lincoln project. Keep it up.

  54. 54.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker: I have said that Trump pulls everyone into the gutter because that is where he is King.  Ignoring his gutter talk, I think, is smart.  Let surrogates just point out how much Trump and his dirty family are in the gutter.

  55. 55.

    JimV

    I have to say, I feel much better about the Never-Trumpers personally than I did before Trump. I’m pretty sure they aren’t hypocrites now. At least not totally. I can listen to somebody who understands what Trump is. I can’t to somebody who doesn’t or pretends not to.

  57. 57.

    bemused

    I remember when Al Franken with his comedian knowledge of getting to the punch lines commented about democratic messaging in 2010, “Our bumper sticker has…just too many words. And it says Continued on next bumper sticker”. The never trumpers ads are short and punchy. Dems need to tighten up their messages and not go over long or too many issues per ad. Franken also said, “We have to stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the merely very good.”

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    @Jeffro: I’d like to see them talk in specifics about all their failed policies that got us here, starting with (but not ending with) Reagan’s tax cuts.  Do they still think that tax cuts fix everything?  If so, there’s really not much to talk about because they’re not serious.  They’re just making mouth noises to try to find some incantation to get back into power.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  59. 59.

    Mai naem mobile

    @zhena gogolia: Al Franken had Steve Schmidt on his last podcast. I kind of heard 75 % of it while driving around but the gist of what I heard him saying was he’ll vote for Dems but never become a registered Dem and he’ll join a right of center party if one shows up. He decried the anti – science  philosophy of the current GOP.  BTW he mentioned that Schwarzenegger was the only governor who has ever passed climate change legislation.  I didn’t think that was true. I thought Jerry Brown and Jay Inslee had  passed stuff.

  60. 60.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think there’s a difference between the attacks on Biden and the ones on Clinton.  The attacks on Clinton had been very well set up.  People have been making attacks on Clinton corruption for decades, so they’re well seeded in the public, and the specific attacks they used were prepared for by years of public hearings.  Even their targets of opportunity were based on something remotely real, like Hillary actually getting sick.

    In contrast the weird conspiracy stuff about Biden doesn’t have the same kind of preparation.  They were obviously hoping to make some hay from the Burisma stuff, but that seems to have fallen through.  And some of the other conspiracy stuff has been circulating for a while, but only in the fever swamps among committed right wing wackos.  Instead of trying to set stuff up, they’re jumping straight to broadcasting those weird conspiracy theories to people who just don’t understand enough of the backstory to make heads or tails of it.

    It’s like telling just the punchline of a joke.  To your friends who have heard the same joke a thousand times, it may be funnier to just repeat the punchline, since it lets you skip over the boring setup and jump straight to the good part.  To someone who has never heard the joke, it’s just mystifying.

  61. 61.

    HumboldtBlue

    But it’s not just among voters 65 and older where Trump is slipping. He’s also fallen almost as far among voters 55 and older. Trump is essentially tied with Biden among that age group, even after winning these voters by 10 points in 2016, 53 percent to 43 percent, according to the CCES. Trump’s numbers have also fallen with 45- to 64-year-olds, as well as 50- to 64-year-olds (an alternate category employed by many pollsters), but the last Democrat to win 45- to 64-year-olds was Barack Obama in 2008 — albeit barely, 50 percent to 49 percent.

  63. 63.

    Ramiah Ariya

    I am reading the Financial Times article on the Covid-19 Trump response and I want to say a few things as a long time observer of US politics:

    First, criticising Trump on the US leadership angle is no good. It is very easy for a libertarian /Trumpite to shout “America First” at you and walk away. The world was certainly not looking for American leadership, so it seems a strange concern.

    Secondly, the comparisons to South Korea constantly are also not useful. Most people would tune it out (as would I, if India was compared to South Korea). That does not come across as reasonable criticism to me.

    I think the easiest criticism of Trump is that he contradicted his own statements and his administration’s guidelines every few weeks. You know what, recommending hydroxychloroquine is fine – provided it was consistent govt policy. If it was not, that seems like the correct place to hammer him. What happened to all the “investigations” of injecting disinfectants that that Homeland Security officer promised on the stage with Trump? Are they still testing if that is possible?

    It is fine not to believe in expert opinion, provided your own opinions and stands are consistent. Those inconsistency and contradictions are the ones that I hope the American press and ads highlight.

  64. 64.

    Doug R

    Decent ad, but I think it pulls its punch with “almost 10,000 more dead”.

    I know they’re trying to be cautious, but they could say “almost 2,000 more dead EVERY day after day after day”.

    Just trying to help.

  68. 68.

    Miss Bianca

    @zhena gogolia: It’s more than mildly alarming to me that I’m finding the attitude of Never-Trumpers more palatable to me these days than my alleged ideological allies on the left. I don’t expect it to last – I don’t WANT it to last – but it’s something of a relief to see at least SOME right-wingers making a case for good government.

  70. 70.

    Immanentize

    @Roger Moore:

    Instead of trying to set stuff up, they’re jumping straight to broadcasting those weird conspiracy theories to people who just don’t understand enough of the backstory to make heads or tails of it.

    This is so true. It’s like Kay says, they are just entirely lazy. They see attacks in the past that worked and say, “Let’s attack” with no careful groundwork or seeding. Bush and Cheney were masters at this — getting a rumor to start somewhere (Drudge) have it move to a paper in the UK (owned by Murdock mostly) then picked up in the US by Fox which forced papers like the NYTimes to write an article about “some are concerned….” Then and only then, Cheney would go on TV and only talk about the NYTimes article. Rather evil/brilliant.

    Even with Kerry, there were a whole lot of people who hated him with a right wing passion for his stance on Vietnam. Two purple hearts? Fuck you. Avoid service, drink and whore around? You are our man!

  73. 73.

    WaterGirl

    @hells littlest angel: I actually think that’s the worst thing that could happen.  Decent people who tend vote Republican are hopefully appalled by Trump.  They could vote for Biden, or stay home.

    If Trump drops dead, then they will vote for the Republican, no matter who it is.  And that will hurt us down-ballot, as well.

  74. 74.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Roger Moore:

    People have been making attacks on Clinton corruption for decades, so they’re well seeded in the public,

    and the Professional Left was only too happy to join its bellowing support

    @Betty Cracker: Great point, and I like the joke analogy.

    Yes, great way to explain it.

  75. 75.

    Immanentize

    @Doug R: Where do you see that?

    You do realize that reporting generally stops over the weekends in many places, but then hits its high point every Wednesday and Thursday every week, right?

    That is not because of the virus, that is just people who are bureaucrats reporting when they are at work.

  76. 76.

    germy

    I’ve been seeing this beautiful commercial a lot:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OW4AFbzjGk

    Reassuring to women who are pregnant or nursing babies.  Basic message is “I was born in times like this.  And now I’m 100!”

    Some hope for people who are worried for their babies

    “you just take care of that little miracle”

  77. 77.

    Montanareddog

    @Another Scott: you are a jackal that I respect and admire and with whom I never disagree; until this comment. Wilson, Schmidt, Rubin, Boot, Kristol, Nichols, Conway, etc. are allies during a period of existential peril for the US as we knew it. I don’t think mea culpas are at all necessary.

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    @Ramiah Ariya: Good insights, and I mostly agree with those observations. One possible contradictory data point: the guys who run the Pod Save America podcast (former Obama admin staff) have been doing focus groups among swing voters in Wisconsin and other places for a while, and they were surprised to find Trump’s beclowning America on the world stage is a real sore spot with unaffiliated voters. I think you’re right about hardcore libertarian/America First types, but a lot of ordinary citizens with loose political affiliations are embarrassed by Trump’s antics and loss of American prestige abroad, so it may be worth highlighting.

  79. 79.

    zzyzx

    This is insane. I mean it’s one thing to take a quote out of context, explain what it “really” means, and then fight against that. That’s a standard trick. It’s another to outright announce in advance that that is your plan.

    Inbox: Trump Campaign Announces Launch of 'Truth Over Facts' Investigative WebsiteSo I guess the war on facts has a name now. pic.twitter.com/GQBMx7Q1O5— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) May 18, 2020

  81. 81.

    Immanentize

    Ok.  I am steeling myself to go into my office.  My class starts tomorrow and I need notes and materials.  I have not been there since late March.  Wish me a no-Covid experience.

  82. 82.

    Montanareddog

    @zzyzx:

     

    Trump Campaign Announces Launch of ‘Truth Over Facts’ Investigative WebsiteSo I guess the war on facts has a name now.

    “Truthiness” as an explicit campaign strategy now. Must be Kelly-Anne Conway’s input.

  84. 84.

    MattF

    @zzyzx: Umm… whut?? I had to blink [blink blink] and then re-read that. They could be more subtle and call it ‘Bullshit Just For You.’

  85. 85.

    Jeffro

    @Yutsano: Maybe.  I think that would unify about 20% of the country at this point and actually motivate an even smaller percentage to actually do something (much less form the basis for a new party), but we’ll see.

  87. 87.

    Montanareddog

    @Immanentize:

     

     

    I think we just need to show him in the golf cart when all of the world’s leaders are walking to get that point across. It was so gross — like Cleopatra on a pallet

    The incident at a summit I found more appalling was when he shoved the president or prime minister of, I think, Montenegro to get to the front of the stage. That was status panic and arrogance manifest.

  88. 88.

    Kent

    @HumboldtBlue:

    President Trump’s abrupt decision to remove the inspector general of the State Department constitutes the latest in a string of corrupt efforts to remove public servants who prioritize real oversight and accountability over protecting Trump at all costs.

    But in the case of Trump’s termination of Steve Linick, the State Department IG, this could end up looking far worse than we know. There’s a backstory here that has not yet gotten scrutiny — one that could make the firing appear even more corrupt.

    I gotta wonder if maybe we are getting a bit of Streisand Effect here.  Trump’s firing of IGs is actually providing the House with a giant flashing red sign saying “LOOK HERE! AND FIND THE SCANDAL”   Had they just ignored the State IG they probably could have just brushed it all under the rug give everything else that is happening.  They could have just kept the IG in place, classified his reports, bottled them up in bureaucratic process and no one would have been the wiser.  The press would have been uncurious about yet another Trump scandal.

    Now we have a front page scandal.  And a soon to be unemployed IG who will no doubt be happy and free to go testify in front of Congress and the TV cameras about every thing he knows.

    I know this is really a power play on Trump’s part and the real audience is all the other IGs and potential whistleblowers out there.  But still.  They are being really stupid about it.  You don’t fire someone in the Federal government to silence them.  That is amateur hour.

  89. 89.

    Roger Moore

    @Immanentize:

    I don’t know how much of their stuff is straight laziness and how much is that the media is just less receptive to their techniques than it used to be.  I think Burisma could have been a big deal, but the news media actually investigated and figured out the real story rather than just repeating the Republican talking points.  Similarly, Tara Reade was apparently trying to tell her story for a while, but the news was unwilling to bite on it because they couldn’t substantiate anything.  I don’t know how much of this is the Republicans losing their touch, how much is the media being generally savvier and more careful, and how much was the media being specifically vulnerable when it came to attacks on Hillary Clinton.

  92. 92.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    So basically…great ad, Lincoln Project! Keep ‘em coming!

    Yes, yes, yes!

    You can run this ad every week, with no alterations, and it will still sting.

  94. 94.

    Jeffro

    @Immanentize:Ignoring his gutter talk, I think, is smart.  Let surrogates just point out how much Trump and his dirty family are in the gutter.

     

    As long as the surrogates do in fact hit back and point out what trash the trumpovs are, I’m good with this.  Uncle Joe stays positive while everyone else fires for effect = winning combo

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think you could make a good ad along those lines by explicitly comparing South Korea’s response to ours.  Don’t just say that Korea had its first case on the same day as us but they were able to fight it successfully.  Show how they went straight from finding a case to doing something about it, while Trump was actively impeding our response.

  96. 96.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott:I’d like to see them talk in specifics about all their failed policies that got us here,

     

    Please tell me you’re not holding your breath!  =)

     

    starting with (but not ending with) Reagan’s tax cuts.  Do they still think that tax cuts fix everything?  If so, there’s really not much to talk about because they’re not serious.

     

    Truth.  Actually, if they want to show they’re serious, then at a minimum I need to hear them earnestly talking about raising taxes on the wealthy.

  98. 98.

    Rand Careaga

    @Roger Moore:

    It’s like telling just the punchline of a joke.  To your friends who have heard the same joke a thousand times, it may be funnier to just repeat the punchline, since it lets you skip over the boring setup and jump straight to the good part.

    You’re not really here for the hunting, are you?

  99. 99.

    Betty Cracker

    @germy: Can’t help but think the Trumpsters are really overplaying their hand on the “Biden is senile and inarticulate” thing. They’re ratcheting expectations down so low, which is never a good idea, but subtlety isn’t in their wheelhouse.

  105. 105.

    Brachiator

    @Ramiah Ariya:

    First, criticising Trump on the US leadership angle is no good. It is very easy for a libertarian /Trumpite to shout “America First” at you and walk away. The world was certainly not looking for American leadership, so it seems a strange concern.

    Some conservatives view Trump as leader of the free world, and see narrow America First jingoism as a betrayal.

    Secondly, the comparisons to South Korea constantly are also not useful. Most people would tune it out (as would I, if India was compared to South Korea). That does not come across as reasonable criticism to me.

    Fair point. But it is useful to compare successful and unsuccessful efforts at dealing with the virus.

    I think the easiest criticism of Trump is that he contradicted his own statements and his administration’s guidelines every few weeks. You know what, recommending hydroxychloroquine is fine – provided it was consistent govt policy. If it was not, that seems like the correct place to hammer him. What happened to all the “investigations” of injecting disinfectants that that Homeland Security officer promised on the stage with Trump? Are they still testing if that is possible?

    No. Trump’s nonsense about malaria pills was just the assertion of his ignorance because he disagreed with expert opinion.

    It is fine not to believe in expert opinion, provided your own opinions and stands are consistent. Those inconsistency and contradictions are the ones that I hope the American press and ads highlight.

    Again, no. A leader can follow expert opinion and still have problems. But ignoring expert opinion again and again will always lead to disaster.

  106. 106.

    Kent

    @HumboldtBlue: It is especially stupid on their part if they were trying to groom Pompeo for a Senate run.  Because now the Dems have free licence to hold hearings about corruption in Pompeo’s State Department when they get back to business in the fall.

    I gotta wonder if the total hollowing out of the White House staff under Trump is leading to more of these sorts of mistakes.  There is no one left there who has a fucking clue.

  107. 107.

    JaneE

    @Gin & Tonic: Republicans have never had a problem with fighting hard, if not downright dirty. They also have a lot of experience in playing on voter’s fears to influence their votes.  They know the electorate they created, and if they can peel away even a few Trump supporters, the zeal of ex-Trump-supporters for spreading the word will likely be on par with the zeal of former smokers or recent religious converts.

  108. 108.

    germy

    Karl Rove knows Trump’s stewing about all those Brad Parscale’s conspicuous consumption stories, right? He’s rested and ready.— Schooley (@Rschooley) May 18, 2020

  110. 110.

    hells littlest angel

    @WaterGirl: My point is that I fear there won’t be a fair election — or any election at all — if Trump stays alive.

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Immanentize:

    Ignoring his gutter talk, I think, is smart.  Let surrogates just point out how much Trump and his dirty family are in the gutter.

    That’s the Kerry 2004 strategy, isn’t it?

  114. 114.

    Montanareddog

    1. @germy:

     

    The guy from Montenegro had expressed some criticism of Putin, from what I understand

    Genuine question: was there some reporting that this may have been a motivating factor, or was it just a coincidence that a Putin critic happened to be standing between a play-acting POTUS and a photo op?

  116. 116.

    Brachiator

    @HumboldtBlue:

    But it’s not just among voters 65 and older where Trump is slipping. He’s also fallen almost as far among voters 55 and older. Trump is essentially tied with Biden among that age group, even after winning these voters by 10 points in 2016, 53 percent to 43 percent, according to the CCES

    Thing is, Trump and his people are flat out saying that they are willing to sacrifice this group to the pandemic if it will boost the economy and rescue Trump’s presidency.

    There is a nice political ad just waiting to be made to hammer this point home.

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: I hope the never-trumpers turn their fire on Rove a little bit

    and maybe start pointing out that George W Bush is, once again, ignoring a threat to the country

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    @Ramiah Ariya:

    IMO,

     

    The best angle is to hold up the 69 page PANDEMICS FOR DUMMIES GUIDE that 44 created.

     

    That there was a PANDEMIC  INFRASTRUCTURE SET UP IN THE GOVERNMENT that Dolt45 fired.

     

    There should be an ad that the Democrats should run NOW

     

    opening with Dolt45 saying that nobody knew this could happen…

     

    then show the Pandemic For Dummies manual….

    and the list of, I think, it was 38-44 people set up across the government….

    and say, that Dolt45 fired them

    make an extra point of the office IN CHINA that he got rid of..

     

    bottom line…Dolt45’s incompetence has cost all these American lives.

  120. 120.

    Brachiator

    @Mai naem mobile:

    Al Franken had Steve Schmidt on his last podcast. I kind of heard 75 % of it while driving around but the gist of what I heard him saying was he’ll vote for Dems but never become a registered Dem and he’ll join a right of center party if one shows up.

    I will have to listen to this podcast episode. I wonder what this guy is afraid of. That he will catch cooties from the Democrats?

    He decried the anti – science  philosophy of the current GOP.  

    Another wedge to be exploited.

  123. 123.

    Roger Moore

    @rikyrah:

    I think it’s about more than just grandparents seeing their grandkids.  The whole thing is awful for older people.  Even people who are trying hard to be responsible about staging a return to normal life have been saying that older people are going to have to stay home for their own protection for the indefinite future.  And the people who are being irresponsible are being pretty forthright in saying that it’s OK to sacrifice the olds on the altar of restarting the economy.

  125. 125.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Amir Khalid: why is anyone surprised? This was pretty much on the cards for any country that had a lock down, once they started to open up, unless a very strict social distancing regime was put into place.  And especially for primary school kids, getting them to stay at least 1.8 meters/6 feet from each other, keep their masks on, AND sanitizing anything before each individual  touches it is difficult.

  126. 126.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    I know that I bring this up… I honestly believe that this is about grandparents not being able to see their grandchildren

    Yep. I think you’re right. This makes it very personal for some people, and also not just about their fear for survival.

    Great point.

  128. 128.

    Kathleen

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thank you. I find the so called Right so much savvier and insightful than our “friends on the Left”. I’ve had it with the 3 clowns you cited. This “How The Dems Disappointed Me Today Too Kewel For Skewel”  cottage industry is perceived by many so called journos as a lucrative gig. I’m sick of it.

  131. 131.

    Mai naem mobile

    @Betty Cracker: I’ve framed the COVID mismanagement by mentioning  Doctors Without Borders coming to the Navajo reservation to help out like we are a third world country and gotten agreement from non political people. Maybe it’s because it truly embarrasses me and I sound shrill about it.

    Pre-COVID I used to frame the loss of US prestige in having money come here to be invested and  how that made buying a car(and getting other credit) relatively easy in this country.  You can’t put this in an ad but one on one it’s a direct effect on their lives  that people can grasp.

  132. 132.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:

    I think you are right. I’m an old but I have no family and have for a good part of my life, learned to live alone. That’s not the norm for most people, including me. But I can accept it because I’m used to it. Most older people are not, I believe that they see the ending segment of their lives as being wasted. And that’s a difficult thing to accept.

  133. 133.

    MisterForkbeard

    @zzyzx: If I remember right, ‘Truth Over Facts’ was something Biden said over a year ago when answering a question. He was clearly trying to say that there’s context to facts and all, but it’s easily pilloried. It was also forgotten quickly, because it was pretty obvious what it was about.

    So I guess this is where we’re going. Trump’s strategy is to take nothingburgers and ‘bring in experts’ to explain what this is all REALLY about, which will always be: dementia/senility/babykilling/helping black people or mexicans, etc.

  134. 134.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    I think it’s about more than just grandparents seeing their grandkids.

    True, but grandparents have a very personal stake in this, and grandparents vote. Funny, this also reminds me of a West Wing clip that I recently saw where the president talked about the tenacity and power of grandparents. A senator who was also a grandfather was trying to get support for a bill which would help his autistic grandchild.

    The whole thing is awful for older people.  Even people who are trying hard to be responsible about staging a return to normal life have been saying that older people are going to have to stay home for their own protection for the indefinite future.

    Here is a larger question. Some people have been talking about getting back to normal. But what does this really mean in a post pandemic world?

    Do we make accommodation in social spaces for people who might be most at risk? Or do we simply expect that older people and people with health issues stay out of society? Or worse, nervously take their chances?

    ETA. I note that I am someone with health issues that put me in a high risk group.

  136. 136.

    trnc

    @Roger Moore: It’s like telling just the punchline of a joke. To your friends who have heard the same joke a thousand times, it may be funnier to just repeat the punchline, since it lets you skip over the boring setup and jump straight to the good part. To someone who has never heard the joke, it’s just mystifying.

    “The Aristocrats.”

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    @Brachiator:

    For Peanut, her life since Mid-March has been Monday thru Friday morning, over with her father and grandmother.

     

    Friday afternoon- get in the car and come over here for the weekend, so that she can see me and her other grandmother.

     

    Her mother is in healthcare, and they talk through facetime :(

     

    My sister in Minneapolis is an essential worker. She sees her grandbaby through the car window. She just turned 1, and doesn’t get why she doesn’t get to come in and spend her time with Nana.

    The other grandmother is a snowbird stuck in Florida, who would have been on her way back from Florida when COVID-19 struck.

  139. 139.

    rikyrah

    @Roger Moore:

     

    I think it’s about more than just grandparents seeing their grandkids.

     

    I know that it’s more than that. But, in a way, it’s not. Because wrapped up in that is so much.

    Their lives are at risk. The highest risk group. And, in order to keep them safe, they have to be away from family.

    Then, you have a political party, which, has said, OUT LOUD, that they should just be ready to sacrifice themselves for the ‘economy’.

     

    They also know that these nursing homes are literal possible deathtraps. And , some seniors are stuck there.

     

    It’s a whole lot wrapped up in that statement.

     

    And, now, we have Dolt45 saying, ‘open the schools’.

    And, if you’re a grandparent, you’re like,’ that muthaphucka wants my baby to sacrifice for his phucking re-election?’

  140. 140.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    The West Wing clip about grandfathers.

    Similarly, decisions about the pandemic is about simple, direct things. Like family and never seeing your grandkids again because Trump screwed things up.

    We have to make the political personal, not just about number of active cases or the rules of social distancing.

  141. 141.

    rikyrah

    @Brachiator:

     

    There is a nice political ad just waiting to be made to hammer this point home.

     

    Start with the Lt. Governor of Texas, and just keep on putting GOPers and Fox personalities saying that shyt OUT LOUD.

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    A sample political ad. “Grandparents”

    Narrator reading a graphic. “President Trump doesn’t care about you.”

    Clip of Trump talking about how CoronaVirus deaths are acceptable

    Narrator. “Trump doesn’t care if you can never play with your grandkids again. ”

    Clip of couple at a house, holding their children up to a window, where the grandparents can only wave to them from the other side of the glass

    Narrator. “Trump doesn’t care if you die.”

    Clip of a person in an ICU on a ventilator

    Clip of Trump babbling about the beautiful economy.

    Narrator. “Trump doesn’t care.”

  145. 145.

    Seanly

    @jonas:

    This.

    I couldn’t imagine anyone who didn’t vote for Trump being inclined to vote for him before COVID-19. The events since then make me more hopeful that we turn a few thousand here & there (at least!). We need to keep one of the absolutely worst human beings alive out of a second term.

  148. 148.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: Serious question.

    I have always considered myself progressive. Does Progressive now = Bernie?  Have the Bernie-bots taken over the term progressive?

  151. 151.

    Brachiator

    OT. Ken Osmond, who played the oily little weasel Eddie Haskell on “Leave It To Beaver,” has passed away at age 76.

    He really nailed that role. He was the kid you loved to hate.

    RIP

  152. 152.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @zhena gogolia @immanentize

    Tomorrow my architect partner has an inspection/meeting at a downtown apartment building recently completed.

    Of course, I’m a nervous wreck about it.  We’ve tried to be so careful and have been in public indoors only like 2 or 3 times for the past 2 months.

    I feel for you and let’s hope everyone gets their tasks done efficiently!

  153. 153.

    zhena gogolia

    So I’m at my office for the first time since March 13. There are construction guys on the first floor in a conference room, without masks. I’m discovering that I get extremely claustrophobic in a mask. And since when I left my office I didn’t realize I wasn’t coming back for two months, I didn’t clean up. So they’ve thrown out pretty much everything that was on my desk, including souvenirs. It’s very weird and upsetting.

  155. 155.

    hitchhiker

    @HumboldtBlue:

    A person who is 55 today came of age when Ronald Reagan was the cheery, ascendant face of the Republican party. That’s my only explanation for why so many people that age +/- five years identify as Republican and are still unwilling to change their minds.

    Even with trump destroying everything in reach.

    It’s going to be something if that demo abandons him next fall.

  157. 157.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl:

    I have always considered myself progressive. Does Progressive now = Bernie?  Have the Bernie-bots taken over the term progressive?

    really bugs me the way they’ve taken over/been given that term

  159. 159.

    Brachiator

    From the Guardian. Cellphone data suggests that lockdown protestors may be spreading the virus widely.

    Cellphone location data suggests that demonstrators at anti-lockdown protests – some of which have been connected with Covid-19 cases – are often traveling hundreds of miles to events, returning to all parts of their states, and even crossing into neighboring ones.

    The data, provided to the Guardian by the progressive campaign group the Committee to Protect Medicare, raises the prospect that the protests will play a role in spreading the coronavirus epidemic to areas which have, so far, experienced relatively few infections.

  160. 160.

    rikyrah

    As it becomes patently obvious that Trump’s presidency will go down as one of the worst in history and that his achievements are minuscule compared with Obama’s, Trump becomes even more frantic to position himself as a superior president. https://t.co/inqJbp4Yxn— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 18, 2020

  161. 161.

    tokyokie

    @Brachiator:

    Thing is, Trump and his people are flat out saying that they are willing to sacrifice this group to the pandemic if it will boost the economy and rescue Trump’s presidency.

    There is a nice political ad just waiting to be made to hammer this point home.

     

    And bring in a bunch of older, yet popular, actors like Betty White (98), Ed Asner (92), Morgan Freeman (82), Jack Nicholson (83), James Earl Jones (89), Mel Brooks (94), Bob Barker (96), and Carl Reiner (98) to read the ad copy. “Trump wants all of us to die to help his fat-cat pals.” I’m pretty sure all of them are staunch Democrats.

  163. 163.

    HumboldtBlue

    @rikyrah:

    The concluding paragraph.

    When Trump is staring at international humiliation and political defeat, he first went to the well of anti-Asian xenophobia (e.g. imploring an Asian America reporter to ask China her question). When that fails to hit the mark, he goes back to his touchstone: racism directed against African Americans. He remains convinced that if he just gets his rabid base sufficiently engaged, he can pull out another improbable win. And prepare yourself: Should Biden select an African American vice president (as I think he should), the grotesque racism that will ooze from the right will make birtherism seem innocuous.

  164. 164.

    hitchhiker

    @rikyrah:

    I honestly believe that this is about grandparents not being able to see their grandchildren

    For sure. Also:

    • The ones with money can’t travel, which is what they saved for and planned to do in retirement.
    • The ones who were planning to end up in nice retirement homes are suddenly looking at nursing homes with utter horror.
    • The ones with adult kids suddenly unemployed & stuck with massive college debt are pissed off to see the next generation struggling through no fault of their own.

    It’s funny, because olds (like me) generally have gone thru enough to realize that shit happens, and you figure it out. But THIS is shit happening on such a grand goddamn scale — and with so little coherent leadership — that it’s both scary and enraging.

  165. 165.

    HumboldtBlue

    @hitchhiker:

    But THIS is shit happening on such a grand goddamn scale — and with so little coherent leadership — that it’s both scary and enraging.

    That should be the graduation theme for every person who expected to participate in an important social milestone this year.

  166. 166.

    The Lodger

    @Kelly: Unless the Oregon Supreme Court has speeded up its workflow substantially, that Baker County ruling is going to stand for about five years.

  167. 167.

    Brachiator

    @hitchhiker:

    A person who is 55 today came of age when Ronald Reagan was the cheery, ascendant face of the Republican party. That’s my only explanation for why so many people that age +/- five years identify as Republican and are still unwilling to change their minds.

    The weird thing is that some of these people care more about Trump’s wants than their own needs. From the Guardian, a Trump supporter who has lost people to the virus.

    Trump stands accused of driving up the coronavirus death toll by downplaying the public health threat and urging the country to “reopen” too quickly. But Snover does not see the president as having failed her family.

    “I don’t think people give him enough credit,” she said. “If you think about what a businessman he was, and how much he loved that booming economy, do you know how hard it was for him to shut the country down? That was hard. So I give him credit for that.”

    Elsewhere, people jump through all kinds of mental hoops to defend Trump. Even when it contradicts the facts. They forget that Trump fought with governors and see him as supporting them.

    “I think he’s doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances, where you’ve never been through it really before,” she said of Trump. “I think he was absolutely correct in leaving it up to the governors – they know their states better than making blanket statements for everybody.”

    They simply refuse to acknowledge his failures.

    Trump couldn’t ask for a better bunch of suckers for his grift.

  169. 169.

    Miss Bianca

    @hitchhiker: I came of age then and I loathed Ronald Reagan. Viscerally loathed him from the very beginning. Maybe because I was already a Drama Kid, I always had trouble believing that grown-ass people could fall for his shit. “He’s an ACTOR! He’s just reciting his lines!”

  172. 172.

    Jeffro

    Um I believe the orange moron just said he’s taking hydroxywhatever on live TV…for REALZ!

  173. 173.

    trollhattan

    Please proceed governorMr. president.

    President Trump said that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for several weeks, PBS Newshour reports.

    Trump has touted the drug as a possible prevention against the coronavirus even though there’s no scientific evidence that it works.

    Trump said he consulted with the White House doctor about taking the drug, but it was not recommended for him:  “I asked him what do you think. He said, ‘Well if you’d like it.’ I said, ‘Yeah I’d like it. I’d like to take it.’”

    The FDA issued a warning last month that the unproven drug should only be taken in hospitals because of the risk of heart complications.

    Hope he quadruples the dose.

  174. 174.

    trollhattan

    We’re going to need to redefine “intelligence.” Turtle is plopping little Marco into Burr’s seat on the Intelligence Committee.

  176. 176.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @trollhattan: I find this entirely plausible, too

    Dana Houle @DanaHoule· 24m
    Trump isn’t taking hydroxychloroquine. The question is why exactly is he saying he is?

    I can’t quite make up my mind whether it’s more likely that he would be more afraid of the side-effects, or whether he’s more scared, personally and politically, of getting the bug

  178. 178.

    mad citizen

    @tokyokie: Great idea for a commercial.  I’d love it if Larry David took it on as a personal project to make some anti-Trump commercials–just going on and on about what a moron trump is.  He could certainly afford to play it in DC on Fox just to get under trump’s skin.

  179. 179.

    mad citizen

    @Miss Bianca: Gosh yes, all of this!  I’m 59 and never got what people saw in Reagan at all.  Of course Republicans will take anyone to lead them.

    Biden being our guy is so genius.  I was thinking about bad it would be if the nomination was still in doubt–what if Bloomberg, say, had gained enough traction?  Got to thank Warren for that takedown.

  180. 180.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    Doctor gave him a placebo?

    Probably. But it doesn’t matter. Between this and the promise of a vaccine, Trump is doing everything he can to undermine health authorities, bring everything back to normal, and try to nail re-election. The blatant duplicity is breathtaking, but Trump clearly believes his supporters will eat his bullshit. And he may well be right.

  181. 181.

    Another Scott

    @Montanareddog: I was referring to Jethro’s pointer to the Heath Mayo tweet about some “new” coalition of conservatives, etc.  Is Mayo a “never Trumper”?  It looks like he isn’t.

    https://medium.com/@HeathMayo/13-ways-trump-isnt-conservative-8fe355e2b88

    Yeah, it’s the No True Irishman defense.

    Is he going to vote for Democrats?  Sure doesn’t sound like it.  It sounds like he’s going to vote for every Republican not named “Trump”.  It’s all about minimizing the obvious damage that Donnie is doing to the brand, not the damage he’s doing to the country and to real people.

    No thanks.  YMMV.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  184. 184.

    Mai naem mobile

    @RedDirtGirl: Doctors Without Borders did send a group a couple of weeks ago to the Navajo Reservation because we’ve become a failed state like the DRC or something and can’t take care of our own.

     

    @hitchhiker: I dealt with an older guy at work  who was a small time homebuilder who was a straight line Republican until Reagan. There was some legislation passed under Reagan that hurt small builders and benefitted big builders. He said it took him till Reagan to figure out that the GOP was only out there for the very wealthy.

  185. 185.

    J R in WV

    @Roger Moore:

    I don’t know how much of this is the Republicans losing their touch, how much is the media being generally savvier and more careful, and how much was the media being specifically vulnerable complicit when it came to attacks on Hillary Clinton.

    I think I fixed this for you. The media was vulnerable with regard to Secretary Clinton, because they were joyfully attacking her right along with Republican lies about her.

    I think she and her campaign were not prepared to believe most Americans would actually believe the bull shit shoveled out by Trump and his minions and the Republican establishment.

    Thus they had a really hard time defending her as they couldn’t believe she needed to be defended. After all, Secretary Clinton was the most popular woman in the nation just weeks before she started her presidential campaign!

  186. 186.

    Sab

    @Ruckus: My husband kind of feels that way, but he is certainly not willing to risk his grand-daughters life or health to see her. She is only six and autistic, but she can work a smart phone and her mother sends videos. His staying at home so visibly is meant to be an example to them to be serious about this.

    I still go to the grocery, and the bank drive thru, with gloves and mask. Husband used to send daughter to the store for him until we found out she would go to six different stores to get everything on his list.

  187. 187.

    Sab

    @WaterGirl: My grandmother was born in Wisconsin in 1895. Her father and paternal uncles were sons of an Irish immigrant laborer and his Irish wife. The boys all went to land grant college. Three went on to medical careers,  and one to law . Her uncle ( dad’s youngest brother, the lawyer) became a progressive Republican governor of Wisconsin, and signed a Workers’ compenation law and child labor law.

    It has been a long, long time, but Republicans weren’t always monsters. In his day, there were Progressive Republicans and then the Taft type Republicans.

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