Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: When things change, you can miss the signs if you're trained not to see
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Yes, this week is different. It’s a subtle change but you can feel it. Some reporters and editors have had enough. Some Republicans have had it (see Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?). Some voters have. And they, in November, will havAbbreviated Pundit Round-up: When things change, you can miss the signs if you're trained not to see
Yes, this week is different. It’s a subtle change but you can feel it. Some reporters and editors have had enough. Some Republicans have had it (see Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?). Some voters have. And they, in November, will have the last word. Olivia Nuzzi/New Yorker: The second former official said it was important to remember that “something always goes wrong” with Trump. “There’s always some issue in the White House when it comes to responding to a crisis, and 90 percent of the time, it’s crises that they create themselves, and you have to go in with the understanding that the baseline level for these guys is full retard, basically.” “When that was their excuse, I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s so ridiculous.” “The one thing that makes this week so much different is they’re actually trying to fight back. Typically, Trump would say something completely insane and they would just let the media cycle sit. At least they’re trying to fight back. They’re fighting back in the worst possible way, but like, you can see the effort. You know these guys are fucking idiots, but the effort is there.” The second former official added, “You have a lot of people who are just a bunch of small-timers and clowns, so when they fuck up a response, you almost can’t blame them because you knew what you were getting, you know? When you have people who suck at this and then they fuck up a response, you can’t really be angry. This is what you have. It’s like having a puppy that shits on the floor, you can’t get angry at the puppy. The puppy doesn’t know any better.” xIf you always predict that this isn't the straw that will break the camel's back, you'll almost always be right but will also always miss when the straw breaks the camel's back.— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 17, 2018 Josh Marshall/TPM: The Bigs Are Starting to Accept the Unimaginable Sometimes it’s specific, some kind of corrupt alliance; other times it’s amorphous, some kind of inexplicable hold Putin has over Trump by force of personality. But the kind of people who never said this kind of thing are saying it now. Somehow the President is compromised. Putin has something on him, or he has tempted his avarice with something. But there’s simply no innocent explanation for what we’re seeing. That’s the shift. The Monday press conference made cautious, prominent people start to come to grips with the reality that Donald Trump, as crazy as it sounds and as difficult as it may be to believe, is under some kind of influence or control by a foreign adversary power, whether by fear or avarice or some other factor. As yet, there’s little difference of behavior from elected Republicans. And I don’t expect any. What veteran foreign policy or diplomatic hands say on CNN is not the most important thing. But I think they are indicators of a change, a change of perception I expect is occurring among many who can’t yet speak. Read more