Donald Trump

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  5/21/2023
  

  Trump and DeSantis Two Peas in a White Nationalist Pod

  by Clarence Lusane

  Any Republican candidate will need to lean in to the politics of white Christian nationalism ascendant on the right; Trump has needed the MAGA movement as much as it's needed him. 

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• SOURCE: The Hill
  5/11/2023
  

  Proud Boys' Convictions for Seditious Conspiracy Won't End the Far Right Threat

  by Tom Mockaitis

  Despite the conviction of leading organizers of the January 6 attack on the Capitol (which aimed at overturning Joe Biden's election), the extreme right will remain a threat, partly because of the flourishing of online channels for hate and partly because the Republican Party has framed the insurrection as legitimate political expression. 

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• 4/30/2023
  

  We Pay the Price for Failing to Treat Ex-Presidents as Ordinary Citizens

  by James D. Robenalt

  Deferential treatment given to Richard Nixon after his resignation, including not only his pardon but also lenient treatment by the Watergate grand jury, set precedents for impunity that the nation suffers from today. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  4/13/2023
  

  Legal Historian Jed Shugerman: Yes, Trump's NY Indictment is a Legal Embarrasment

  Isaac Chotiner interviews the law professor and digs deeper into his skepticism of the state charges against Donald Trump. 

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• SOURCE: Dissent
  4/18/2023
  

  The January 6 Committee's Report Shows it's up to Politics, not History, to Judge

  by Matthew Sitman

  The committee's report will never be able to create or sustain closure on the Trump era or the hard right turn of conservatism; only voters and political organizers can do that. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/5/2023
  

  Legal Historian: Trump Indictment is an Embarrassment

  by Jed Handelsman Shugerman

  The appropriate response to Trump's disregard of the rule of law isn't to replicate it in "34 half indictments," a filing that fails in terms of law and politics. 

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• SOURCE: TIME
  4/4/2023
  

  It's Not Clear if Winning in 2024 Could Shield Trump from a Conviction

  by Olivia B. Waxman

  The lack of clear precedent about the relationship between the federal and state law enforcement systems and the timing of Trump's indictment and potential trial mean that the election will be ensnared in a potential constitutional crisis. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  3/30/2023
  

  From Trump to Putin: How People Came to Look to Timothy Snyder for Predictions

  Although some had dismissed his warnings of an autocratic seizure of power as "doomerism," the events of January 6 and the Russian invasion have made the historian a widely-read public intellectual. 

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• SOURCE: NPR
  3/31/2023
  

  Douglas Brinkley on a Presidential First: Indictment

  NPR's A Martinez talks to presidential historian Douglas Brinkley about the historical significance of the indictment of former President Donald Trump.

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• SOURCE: CNN
  3/24/2023
  

  How Will Trump Try to Spin an Indictment to His Advantage?

  by Julian Zelizer

  Trump's familiarity with commanding attention—even, or particularly, negative attention—and penchant for grievances mean that being indicted in any of the cases against him would put him in a comfortable role on the campaign stage. 

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• SOURCE: CNN
  3/24/2023
  

  Trump's Choice of Waco is Waving the Bloody Shirt to the Far Right

  by Nicole Hemmer

  By rallying in Waco at the 30th anniversary of the Branch Davidian siege and killings, Trump has signaled to the far right and the militia movement that he's their candidate. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  3/7/2023
  

  Fox's Handling of the "Big Lie" was Cowardly, but Not Unusual

  by Kathryn J. McGarr

  News organizations' standards of objectivity have long allowed public figures and politicians to proclaim lies without pushback, leaving the public to be arbiters of truth and falsity. 

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• SOURCE: Religion Dispatches
  3/8/2023
  

  Trump's Apocalyptic CPAC Speech Aimed Squarely at Southern Evangelicals

  by Thomas Lecaque

  In the past, Evangelicals and other apocalypse-minded constituencies have projected their views onto Donald Trump. Now, Trump seems to be fully embracing the bit, suggesting that violence above and beyond politics will usher in the Kingdom. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/8/2023
  

  Fox News Texts Show Long History of Ideological Media

  The revelation that Fox hosts promoted what they knew were lies about the 2020 election reflects what Nicole Hemmer calls a 70-year effort by the right to sow distrust in mainstream media. 

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• SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer
  3/7/2023
  

  Face It: CPAC Was a Mussolini Moment

  by Will Bunch

  After Trump's CPAC speech promised that he'd be an instrument of retribution against his followers' enemies, it's time to stop tiptoeing around the historic parallels, writes columnist Will Bunch. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/1/2023
  

  Edsall: Is Trump Trapping the GOP in Conspiratorial Madness?

  Ron DeSantis can bolster his standing with the right by governing. Donald Trump, still the leader of the party, must invoke conspiracies and cartoonishly evil enemies. Historian Jeffrey Herf helps Thomas Edsall understand if there's an off-ramp. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  2/27/2023
  

  Can Republicans Rally Around DeSantis as an "Electable" Choice?

  by Robert Fleegler

  In the wake of disastrous overreach by House Republicans in impeaching Bill Clinton, the party cohered around George W. Bush as a candidate without Beltway baggage. If the party can't do the same thing in 2024, they risk being dragged down by Donald Trump. 

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• 2/22/2023
  

  Can Rebellion Be Too Big To Fail? Reflections on Jefferson Davis and Trump

  by Wallace Hettle

  If Jefferson Davis's release on bail in 1867 and pardon before trial in 1868 seemed to signal his diminishment as a national figure, the rise of the Lost Cause mythology with Davis as its martyr showed it was a serious mistake to excuse insurrection. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/21/2023
  

  Georgia Grand Jury to Recommend Indictments in Trump Effort to Overturn Vote

  The grand jury forewoman suggested that the identities of the parties recommended for indictment were "not rocket science" and that no one will be surprised when the names are revealed.

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• 2/12/2023
  

  Between Perpetrating a Hoax and Charging One: American Politics in the Waste Land

  by Jed Rasula

  The centenary of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land reminds readers of the rumors that the poem was published as a hoax. While pulling off a hoax takes cleverness, invoking the word to dismiss inconvenient facts is an abdication of responsibility that plagues political culture today.