Every now and then I run across a point of view (POV) expressed so powerfully and poignantly, that coincidentally mirrors my view on a particular subject at that moment in time, that instead of creating a post, I, instead, share that POV. Given that prologue, you already know, today is one of those days.
Unlike most of the precedent posts of this sort from me, today’s contribution comes to you via third hand transference. Chris Cillizza, a CNN commentator wrote about an analysis of Donald Trump constructed, and shared by Steve Schmidt, one of the principal architects, and one of four founders, of a what is likely the most famous, or depending on your perspective, infamous, anti-Trump groups. As someone who works for CNN, Trump loyalists may contend that label applies to Cillizza too. Schmidt, however, brings an entirely different perspective and set of bona fides to the table. He is a founder of The Lincoln Project.
Mr. Schmidt is a longtime (as in lifelong) Republican, and has deep ties to the GOP establishment, and to the Party’s orthodoxy. Of course, in contemporary reckoning, those are not necessarily perceived as the value adding components they would have been before Trump became the Master of the Republican Universe. Still, Schmidt’s involvement in the Party apparatus runs deep. He ran John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, he worked on Lamar Alexander’s 2000 presidential campaign, he worked on Capitol Hill for Republicans, he served as communications director of the House GOP’s campaign arm, and he helped Arnold Schwarzenegger become California’s Republican Governor, in addition to running Senator McCain’s presidential campaign. He has been a partisan GOP fighter for most of his life.
In other words, he is deeply ensconced, and long-term invested in Republican supremacy, as it relates to the American political landscape. Cillizza described Schmidt’s commentary as, “Brutal.” This is his unvarnished summarization of the Trump Effect:
"Donald Trump has been the worst president this country has ever had. And I don't say that hyperbolically. He is. But he is a consequential president. And he has brought this country in three short years to a place of weakness that is simply unimaginable if you were pondering where we are today from the day where Barack Obama left office. And there were a lot of us on that day who were deeply skeptical and very worried about what a Trump presidency would be. But this is a moment of unparalleled national humiliation, of weakness.
"When you listen to the President, these are the musings of an imbecile. An idiot. And I don't use those words to name call. I use them because they are the precise words of the English language to describe his behavior. His comportment. His actions. We've never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so staggering on a daily basis by anybody in the history of the country whose ever been charged with substantial responsibilities.
"It's just astonishing that this man is president of the United States. The man, the con man, from New York City. Many bankruptcies, failed businesses, a reality show, that branded him as something that he never was. A successful businessman. Well, he's the President of the United States now, and the man who said he would make the country great again. And he's brought death, suffering, and economic collapse on truly an epic scale. And let's be clear. This isn't happening in every country around the world. This place. Our place. Our home. Our country. The United States. We are the epicenter. We are the place where you're the most likely to die from this disease. We're the ones with the most shattered economy. And we are because of the fool that sits in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk."
Cillizza doubled down by insisting that despite its tone and tenor, Schmidt’s comments encapsulated “a decidedly succinct assessment of what Trump's conduct in office -- from coronavirus to protests over police brutality and back -- have meant to the Republican Party and the country.” In thoughtful reflection, I can earnestly report, I concur. “Donald Trump: One Republican’s Take Down!”
I’m done; holla back!
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Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:
https://lincolnproject.us/news/the-urgency-of-defeating-trump-falls-to-all-of-us/
https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/06/donald-trump-one-republicans-take-down.html
https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/06/donald-trump-one-republicans-take-down.html
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