Cauc and Aww

American democracy just took another knee to the caucus. Yes, we knew an easy Trump victory was coming. Yes, we’ve long known that a Biden-Trump redux was in the cards. But that somehow didn’t ease the PTSD of waking up to another morning of Trump headlines and the sad reality that one of America’s political parties has lined up behind a reality-denying seditionist with a rap sheet long enough to cover Dwight Schrute’s sales nut for a year. But here’s the reality of the campaign path down which we’ve now embarked. This election will be disturbingly close. It will be decided by a few hundred thousand voters in a handful of states. No matter how loud you yell, none of them will hear you. And those who are trying to shape those opinions know full well that yelling doesn’t work. I don’t have the mind (and I definitely don’t have the stomach) to parse through all the details of the Iowa caucus results. But some things to keep an eye on include Trump’s dominance among evangelical voters (from school boards to SCOTUS, there’s a religious war happening in America), the Big Lie’s continued efficacy (a Majority of Iowa GOP caucus-goers don’t believe Biden legitimately won in 2020), the chasm between voters of different education levels, and the fact that there is a depressingly small but quite meaningful chunk of GOP voters who find Trump unfit (including a majority of Iowa Haley backers who say they’d jump to Biden if Trump is the nominee). That chunk will grow with any conviction. Ron Brownstein in The Atlantic (Gift Article) breaks it all down: What Trump’s Victory in Iowa Reveals.

+ While you’re stressing about another year of Trump news, he’s busy with his latest court appearance. What to watch for in the second E. Jean Carroll defamation case.