Lunch Breaking
In an interview with NBC, Trump wouldn’t rule out seeking a third term in the White House. Hmm, I wonder if he’d cheat in an election, demand state officials find him thousands of votes, lie constantly about winning, lead an armed insurrection to keep his opponent’s victory from being certified, pardon those insurrectionists, and then staff his new administration exclusively with loyalists, all of whom have repeated the Big Lie? Of course he’s planning to stay in the White House, and of course no one in his current administration will try to stop him. The big question is how other government and corporate institutions will respond to threats to our democracy. The answers to that question so far have been decidedly mixed (at best). Politico: The Great Grovel: How Trump forced elite institutions to bend to his will. (As this article details, the word “forced” is not quite accurate.) “The details are varied but two themes are consistent. The first is an effort — far more organized and disciplined than any precedent from Trump’s first term — to bring institutions who have earned the president’s ire to heel. The second theme is even more surprising: The swiftness with which supposedly powerful and supposedly independent institutions have responded — with something akin to the trembling acquiescence of a child surrendering his lunch money to a big kid on the morning walk to school.” (To hammer home the analogy, Trump is literally cutting school lunch funding.)
+ The New Yorker’s David Remnick talks to Sen Chris Murphy about Trump’s attacks on universities and law firms (and their responses): “This is how democracy dies. Everybody just gets scared. You make a few examples, and everyone else just decides to comply.” We Are Sleepwalking Into Autocracy. (Not all of us. I haven’t been able to sleep for weeks.)
+ “Lawyers and big firms: For God’s sake, stand up for the legal profession, and for the Constitution. Defend the oath you took when you became officers of the court. If we stand together and fight, we will win.” NYT (Gift Article): Our Law Firm Won’t Cave to Trump. Who Will Join Us?
+ Ian Bassin: Why collective action is the only way. “Autocrats succeed when their targets stay isolated. They fail when people and institutions unite. The choice is stark. Stay silent and watch the system collapse — or stand together and survive.”
+ The latest disappointment: The White House Correspondents Association Speaks Cowardice to Power. “The White House Correspondents’ Association has canceled plans to have comedian Amber Ruffin perform at its annual dinner on April 26.”
