I Can't Wait To Read American Carnage

On Saturday, Lloyd Green reviewed Tim Alberta's new book, American Carnage for The Guardian. He referred to it as "compelling, alarming and scoop-heavy history." Trump's obsessive attacks on Paul Ryan this week, guaranteed the book all the coverage it would need to put it into the top of the charts when it's released on Tuesday.

Like the deity on the sixth day of creation, Donald Trump has recast the Republican party in his own image. Aggrieved and belligerent is the new normal. The soul of the party has migrated from the sun belt to the Bible belt, from the suburbs to rural America, from a message suffused with upward arc to one brimming with resentment.

The 45th president has won the hearts and minds of the faithful while turning off the rest of America. According to a recent poll, Trump has garnered the approval of seven in eight Republicans even as he trails Megan Rapinoe, the star of the champion US women’s soccer team, 42%-41%. All this despite an economy that moves forward.

Tim Alberta, Politico’s chief political correspondent, has written a masterful must-read. Across 600-plus pages, he chronicles more than a decade of transformation and turmoil within what was once but is no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln.

Over the past half-century, the GOP has dramatically changed. New England and New York’s tony bedroom communities are now Democratic. The old Confederacy is a contiguous sea of Republican red. In the 2018 midterms, the GOP captured 9% of the black vote. In 1972, they got twice that.

Subtitled On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump, American Carnage delivers a lively tick-tock on how the party moved from George W Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” to the jagged contours of Maga. Trump emerges as the vehicle and voice of white evangelicals and white Americans without a four-year degree, the operative word being “white.”

Alberta is mindful that the winds of proto-Trumpism were present before Bush had left office. In his telling, Sarah Palin-- who once bragged of her husband and herself: “He’s got the rifle, I’ve got the rack”-- was a harbinger of a post-Bush world.

American Carnage records Karl Rove, Bush’s political brain, branding Palin “vacuous” and evidencing a Republican tropism toward “wanting people who would throw bombs and blow things up.” While Trump was the “ultimate expression” of that impulse, Rove says, Palin was an “early warning bell.”

As framed by Paul Ryan, the former House speaker and 2012 vice-presidential candidate: “The Reagan Republican wing beat the Rockefeller Republican wing. And now the Trump wing beat the Reagan wing.” Against the backdrop of failure in Iraq, the Great Recession, displacement and globalization, Trump delivered “hope” to voters Hillary Clinton discounted as deplorable.

Alberta’s storytelling is bolstered by his access to powers that be and were. Trump, Ryan and John Boehner, another ex-speaker, all go on the record. American Carnage is filled with scoop. It is an exercise in a pulling back the curtain, not breathlessness.

For example, Alberta lets us know the fix was in at Fox News for Trump during the Republican primaries, in a manner akin to the Democratic National Committee putting its thumb on the scales for Clinton. Ted Cruz, Texas’ grating junior senator, never had a real chance with the network built by the late Roger Ailes.

One Fox staffer told Cruz: “We’re not allowed to say anything positive about you on the air.” Or, as Cruz put it after Ailes’ death in 2017: “I think it was Roger’s dying wish to elect Donald Trump president.” Alberta lets us know that Ailes believed Barack Obama “really was a Muslim who really had been born outside the United States.”

American Carnage also crystalizes Trump’s own penchant for eavesdropping. In early 2012, as the primaries were heating up, Matt Rhoades, Mitt Romney’s campaign manager, met with Michael Cohen, Trump’s then consigliere who is now a resident of a federal correctional facility. They discussed the prospect of Trump meeting Romney. Alberta lays out what happened next: “Cohen was suddenly interrupted by a voice crackling over a speakerphone on the table. It was Trump. He had been listening the entire time …”

In describing the 2012 race, Alberta conveys the mistaken belief held by Romney’s team that that he would win based upon pre-election polling. American Carnage, however, makes no mention of a poll circulated on the Saturday night before the election by Alex Gage, which showed Obama with at least 300 electoral votes. Gage was a veteran of the Bush 2004 re-election effort and Romney’s 2008 campaign. His then wife, Katie Packer, was Romney’s deputy campaign manager.

Alberta sheds light on Trump’s thinly reported May 2016 meeting with Rove. Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s then campaign manager, called the get-together “good” without saying more. American Carnage brings color and detail.

Trump appears both ignorant of the realities of the electoral map and appreciative of the tutorial. The two men review Trump’s path to an electoral college majority, Rove correcting his eager but pride-filled pupil. Trump poses the possibility of winning California, New York and Oregon, only to be shot down. The last time any of those states went Republican was more than 30 years ago.

Rove explains that Iowa, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are winnable if the campaign husbands its time and energy. Trump turns to Steve Wynn, a casino magnate subsequently felled by allegations of sexual misconduct, and exclaims: “Why aren’t people in my campaign talking to me about this?”

Alberta makes clear that Trump was the only candidate capable of harnessing populist fury into something more than a collection of raw emotions. Clinton’s worship at the altars of identity politics and political correctness helped cost her the election, just as Trump’s lack of a filter endeared him to his base.

Although Clinton finished with nearly 3 million more votes, Trump sits in the Oval Office. As Alberta observes, authenticity remains in high demand, more so than reality.

Trump is embattled but far from despairing. “I fucking love this job,” he “howls” to no one in particular, backstage at a rally in Columbia, Missouri, in November 2018.

He knows he is transformative.

“Honestly,” Trump tells Alberta. “Can there even be a question?”

Friday Was An Especially Bad Day For Trump And His Regime

In his new book, American Carnage, Tim Alberta quotes Justin Amash, speaking of his Republican colleagues: "These guys have all convinced themselves that to be successful and keep their jobs, they need to stand by Trump. But Trump won’t stand with them as soon as he doesn’t need them. He’s not loyal. They’re very loyal to Trump, but the second he thinks it’s to his advantage to throw someone under the bus, he’ll be happy to do it."

Trump tossed Alex Acosta overboard yesterday, presumably after getting Acosta-- who he praised effusively, to agree to never reveal how many underage girls Trump shtuped at Epstein's Caribbean whore house for minors (and one elderly Russian masseuse). Trump said it was entirely Acosta's decision, although it certainly didn't seem like that was a decision Acosta was about to make during his painful hour-long press conference Wednesday. Standing next to Acosta, Señor Trumpanzee called him a "great labor secretary-- not a good one." He told reporters that Acosta "did a very good job...we're gonna miss him. He also mentioned "He's a tremendous talent. He's a Hispanic man. He went to Harvard. Which I so admire. Because maybe it was a little tougher for him. And maybe not."

Earlier in the week, Fox.com reported that Trump has now changed his tune on Epstein completely:

Trump said Tuesday he was “not a fan” of financier Jeffrey Epstein, despite making comments in the past praising the wealthy hedge fund manager.

During a meeting in the Oval Office with the emir of Qatar, the president was asked about his relationship with Epstein, 66, who pleaded not guilty Monday to sex trafficking in New York federal court.

“I know him, just like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,” Trump said. “People in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach.”

“I had a falling out with him a long time ago,” Trump continued. “I don’t think I’ve spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan. I was not a fan of his. That I can tell you. I was not a fan.”

Back in 2002, when New York Magazine was profiling Epstein, Trump touted their relationship.

“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump reportedly said. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

...“I met Secretary Acosta when I made the deal to bring him onto the administration. I can tell you that for two and a half years, he has been just an excellent secretary of labor. He’s done a fantastic job,” Trump said. “What happened 12 or 15 years ago with respect to when he was a U.S. attorney I think in Miami-- if you go back and look at everybody else’s decisions, whether it’s a U.S. attorney, or an assistant U.S. attorney, or a judge, you go back, 12, 15 years and look at past decisions-- I think you’d probably find that they would wish they did it a different way.”

Trump added that he “heard there were a lot of people involved” in the Epstein decision, “not just him.”

“I can only say this from what I know, and what I do know is he has been a really great secretary of labor-- the rest of it, we’ll have to look at it. We’ll have to look at it very carefully,” he said. “I feel very badly actually for Secretary Acosta because I have known him as being someone who has done such a good job. I feel very badly about that situation.”

Acosta is not the only administration official facing questions over the Epstein case.

Attorney General Bill Barr on Monday had said he would recuse himself from the case due to his past legal work at a firm that represented Epstein in 2008. But a Justice Department official told Fox News on Tuesday that after consulting with career ethics officials, Barr will not recuse himself from the current case being led by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York. The attorney general, though, will remain recused from any "retrospective review" of the 2008 case.

Barr won't be the next person Trump throws under the bus though. That honor belongs to for Indiana Senator Dan Coats. Yesterday, Jonathan Swan reported that Trump is telling confidents he's eager to remove Coats as director of national intelligence. Trump hasn't been paying any attention to anything Coats says since he angered Trump when he criticized his relationship with Putin during an on-stage interview with NBC's Andrea Mitchell last year and when he testified before the Senate that North Korea isn't giving up their nuclear weapons (which Trump wants his base to think is going to happen).

One potential replacement Trump has mentioned to multiple sources is [dangerous unhinged psychotic] Fred Fleitz, who formerly served as chief of staff to national security adviser John Bolton. Fleitz was previously a CIA analyst and a staff member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently the president of the Center for Security Policy. Trump has told people that he likes Fleitz and has "heard great things." Fleitz has publicly criticized Coats and even called for Trump to fire Coats on Lou Dobbs' Fox Business program after Coats' Senate testimony. Fleitz accused Coats of undermining and "second-guessing" the president.

With all this going on, it's worth noting that yesterday the House voted, 251-170 to pass Ro Khanna's amendment to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act reminding Trump, unambiguously, that he can't bomb Iran without congressional approval. 27 Republicans voted with all but 7 Trump-Democrats. One Trump-crony who voted with the Democrats on this was Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who attacked his own party: "If my war-hungry colleagues, some of whom have already suggested we invade Venezuela and North Korea and probably a few other countries before lunchtime tomorrow; if they’re so certain of their case against Iran, let them bring their authorization to use military force against Iran to this very floor. Let them make the case to Congress and the American people." On passage, Khanna noted that "This is a historic moment for Congress. Although President Trump campaigned on ending costly wars oversees, his chosen advisors, one which includes the architect of the Iraq war, and actions to increase tensions with Iran prove he is far from living up to that promise. With more than 25 Republicans voting in favor of passage, this amendment is proof that opposition to war with Iran transcends partisan politics. Some of the President’s closest allies voted for this amendment. Americans came together around the idea that we must avoid a war with Iran." The Democrats who crossed the aisle to vote with Trump were:

• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Stephen Lynch (New Dem-MA)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY)
• Jefferson Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)

Brianna Wu is the progressive Democrat running for the Boston area seat Lynch occupies. I asked her how she felt about his Trump vote yesterday. "What can I say? If there’s a bad call to be made," she said, "Lynch is your guy. This is the man that voted for the disastrous Iraq War and never apologized for his decision that got my friends killed. Unlike Lynch, I did learn a thing or two from the horrors of Iraq and the 36,376 American troops who were killed or wounded. We’ve been here before, Democrats in Congress give the executive the power to go to war without oversight. It didn’t end well in Iraq, and it wouldn't end well in Iran. Strength is not cowboying your way into every problem. Strength is working with others. It’s acting deliberately, and with all the information available. We know the contempt Trump has for both our intelligence agencies and the State Department-- so it’s hard to imagine a reason for Democrats to give this president the unchecked power to go to war."

Eva Putzova is in a primary battle with a former Republican state legislator pretending to be a Democratic, Blue Dog Tom O'Halleran, who, needless to say, reverted to form and voted with his GOP pals on this one. Eva explained this morning that "Only Congress can authorize the U.S. to go to war. For my opponent to relinquish that authority to the most volatile President in the country’s history is irresponsible, morally wrong, and dangerous. I grew up near mass graves and will always advocate for diplomacy and peaceful resolution of conflicts. The only winners in a war are the arms dealers."