So I made it to whatever town this is on the Illinois side of the border across from Saint Louis. Three years of Uber driving in Pittsburgh have made driving a lot less fun than it used to be, even when I’m away from Pittsburgh. And I’m exhausted.
And I’m not caught up.
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
I was going to write that Jon Allsop’s optimism that the January 6 committee had changed minds seemed a bit much. If you read down in his column, what emerges is that Republican voters are more willing to consider alternatives to Donald Trump but their admiration for him remains largely undimmed. That’s a lot more nuanced than Allsop conveyed as he took note of pundits admitting they were wrong.[1]
But no, it appears that the hearings have hurt Trump with moderate Republicans and independents.[2]
That doesn’t necessarily translate to a defeat for white Christian nationalism. As David Lauter notes, “Moving on from Trump doesn’t necessarily mean repudiating Trumpism.”[3] This is a terribly crucial point: I’ve previously noted that Trump doesn’t control Trumpism,[4] which I now call white Christian nationalism, and which I continue, at least for now, to think will, as the culmination of a longstanding project, soon be in effectively permanent control of the country.[5] I’m really tired as I write this, but I’m thinking that conceivably, the movement, though certainly not the country, might be better off without Trump’s financial and coup-related legal sagas.
Jon Allsop, “The January 6 committee revolutionizes democratic storytelling,” Columbia Journalism Review, July 22, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/january_6_committee_review.php
David Lauter, “Jan. 6 hearings have wounded Trump, and more decline may be ahead,” Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2022-07-22/jan-6-hearings-have-wounded-trump-more-decline-may-be-ahead-essential-politics?sfmc_id=1348269
Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri, and Eric Tucker, “Jan. 6: Trump spurned aides’ pleas to call off Capitol mob,” Associated Press, January 22, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-panel-hearing-3e3dc618ed8cee37147cf6a792c0c0fa
- [1]Jon Allsop, “The January 6 committee revolutionizes democratic storytelling,” Columbia Journalism Review, July 22, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/january_6_committee_review.php↩
- [2]David Lauter, “Jan. 6 hearings have wounded Trump, and more decline may be ahead,” Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2022-07-22/jan-6-hearings-have-wounded-trump-more-decline-may-be-ahead-essential-politics?sfmc_id=1348269↩
- [3]David Lauter, “Jan. 6 hearings have wounded Trump, and more decline may be ahead,” Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2022-07-22/jan-6-hearings-have-wounded-trump-more-decline-may-be-ahead-essential-politics?sfmc_id=1348269↩
- [4]David Benfell, “Trumpism, Donald Trump, the January 6 coup attempt, and a smoking gun that may never be found,” Not Housebroken, January 28, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/12/14/trumpism-donald-trump-the-january-6-coup-attempt-and-a-smoking-gun-that-may-never-be-found/↩
- [5]David Benfell, “My 2024 forecast,” Not Housebroken, June 21, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/10/my-2024-forecast/; David Benfell, “Start changing the border signs: ‘Welcome to Gilead,’” Not Housebroken, June 24, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/06/18/start-changing-the-border-signs-welcome-to-gilead/↩