Donald Trump
Let's just clarify this one more time: Bill Barr is playing y'all.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 19, 2020
Adam Serwer blasts the acquittal of Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial, the fealty that Trump demands and receives, and the implicit endorsement of Trump’s authoritarianism.[1] What resounds without him even saying it is that Nancy Pelosi scored an own-goal, one I must confess I did not foresee, in bringing the impeachment in the first place, that is, if you believe she wanted Trump successfully impeached in the first place.
I also think here of the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. It’s surely an imprecise analogy to say the least, as the U.S. already has an empire vast beyond Roman emperors’ wildest fantasies, effectively enlarged through institutions such as NATO, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, as well as through other “alliances.” But it may be time for me to dredge up the story of—if memory serves and if he has not been unduly lionized—Cicero.
Adam Serwer, “The First Days of the Trump Regime,” Atlantic, February 19, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/trump-regime/606682/
- [1]Adam Serwer, “The First Days of the Trump Regime,” Atlantic, February 19, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/trump-regime/606682/↩