"... Trump is of course consolidating autocratic power in many unnerving ways. As law professor Kate Shaw put it to The Times, Trump is simply assuming for himself authorities that his predecessors never thought they possessed: militarizing cities via manufactured pretexts, firing statutorily protected agency heads, refusing to spend congressionally appropriated funds, shaking down media organizations and major cultural institutions, and much more. Calling Trump “failing” might seem to undercut warnings about the autocratic threat he poses. [snip]
"There is a way to reconcile this authoritarianism-versus-failure paradox. Democrats can denounce Trump’s abuses for the Rubicon-crossing threat they pose—while also asserting that his multiplying failures are exactly why those abuses are growing more menacing and unconstrained. In short, Trump is a floundering figure of buffoonish incompetence who is simultaneously consolidating authoritarian power, which is precisely what makes this situation so combustible and dangerous. And Democrats can say exactly that." -- Greg Sargent, in The New Republic, "Trump Is A Weak And Failing President, And It's Time To Say So." There's a message if certain Democrats in the House and Senate know how politics works. And beyond saying, they have to have the spines to fight, and fight effectively.
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