Speaking to reporters Tuesday, President Donald Trump seemed unusually crazed and power-mad, even for him. He imperiously refused to take a question from an ABC reporter as punishment for an interview with JD Vance that went badly. He boasted about cutting only Democratic programs. He crudely belittled a female reporter. He confirmed he supports heinous new restrictions on media coverage of the Pentagon. And he threatened to nix federal funds to New York if “communist” Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor. We think all this suggests Trump is newly emboldened. We talked to Brian Beutler, author of a new piece about the urgency of the moment on his excellent Substack, “Off Message.” He explains the futility of news organizations paying bribes to Trump, why conventional politics will no longer suffice, how the Resistance must find a new kind of politics to meet the moment, and what the “No Kings” protests might accomplish toward this end. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.
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Trump Erupts at ABC over Vance On-Air Fiasco as Presser Goes Off Rails
As Trump’s exchanges with reporters appear more power-crazed than usual, a sharp observer of our slide into authoritarianism explains why the Resistance must find a new kind of response before it’s too late.
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