Intellectual integrity is rare among Republicans these days. The governing wing of the Republican party is nearing extinction. Here’s everything Republicans could be doing to stop Trump — except they’re not doing any of it, because they frickin’ love him. Thread: “One key lesson of 2017 was that everything liberals have said about right-wing hypocrisy was true — in fact understated”. Donald Trump’s presidency is the libertarian moment. Steve Benen on why the rehabilitation of George W. Bush is a mistake. David Frum is a political party of one: The famous Never Trump thinks conservatism is “obsolete”, but will Republicans listen to him?
The weak, effective authoritarian: Trump’s critics are dividing into two camps, but their respective arguments aren’t as mutually exclusive as they seem. Trump’s tweets have been a legal disaster for the Justice Department. Trump’s latest interview shows he’s not really the president: He’s holding the office but not doing the job. Is President Trump a stealth postmodernist or just a liar? “There’s never a bottom. Always some new sub basement of shamefulness beneath the previous sub basement”. John Stoehr on why the Democrats need to act like Republicans. Trump is winning: Trump is making us a little more like him, and politics a little more like the tribal clash he says it is.