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Tom Nichols Profile picture
@RadioFreeTom
Sep 12, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
This is now a "you're not agreeing with me enough in the way I want" arguments, and it's non-falsifiable. If the GOP majority works with a Dem president to get deficits down, they love deficits. If they run deficits, they love deficits. Well, okay. /1
My point is that under Trump they're no longer even *nominally* opposed to deficits, and that *is* new. Yes, I get it @JoshuaMound, politics is full of hypocrites who hate any spending but the spending they like. Duh. /2
@JoshuaMound But you give way too much credit to this as a clever strategy (yes, #eyeroll I saw the link) and not enough to the reality that there were Republicans who did care about deficits more than as a device. Not everything has always been about owning the libs. /2
@JoshuaMound You also ignore that both parties spend on what *they* think matters, and Reagan's military buildup was (imo) necessary. Neither of us know what GWB would have done absent 9/11. But that's not the point. There was a definable difference between the parties on this. Now, none. /3x

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More from @RadioFreeTom

Tom Nichols Profile picture
Sep 30, 2018
You know, every so often I have to listen to a lot of bellyaching about coastal elitism, and the notion that 50 million of us in the BOS-WAS corridor are disconnected from real America. Often, I'm told not to criticize small-town Murica by people who've never lived there. /1
Conversely, I'm told by people who've never been in a town that breaks five digits that the megalopolis I live in is some kind of weird exception. This is logic-defying at best. /2
I grew up in a small city, I've lived in three major cities, I've lived in a rural college area in boondock New England, and I live in a town of about 25,000 now. Enough with the "who's real America." Let's ask a different question. /3
Read 10 tweets
Tom Nichols Profile picture
Sep 16, 2018
I'm not making the argument that committing a crime is right, I'm worried that high school will now be the disqualification for everything else later on. With that said, @Susan_Hennessey and others are making me think harder about the SCOTUS angle. /1
@Susan_Hennessey Because I'm also swayed by @asymmetricinfo's argument that this is why we seal juvenile records. (I totally reject any equivalence between one night at 17 and accusations against Clarence Thomas as an adult pattern, but that's a different argument.) /2
@Susan_Hennessey @asymmetricinfo But there's one aspect to all this that would bring me to the side of disqualification: if this happened as the accuser describes it, and BK has since lied about it or refused to accept it even privately, then it *does* say something about SCOTUS character. /3
Read 4 tweets
Tom Nichols Profile picture
Sep 15, 2018
I think one reason people are focusing on the "65 women" letter is so that they don't have to dwell on the fact that this is a last-minute accusation about high school from someone who didn't want to go forward with it, and that there's no other evidence to go on. /1
This is now a second-order level of accusation, in effect saying "he knew it was true so he had all these women lined up for the moment it came out." That's some pretty 4D chess right there.

Better explanation: all nominees have a war room that coordinates stuff. /2
But even more important: I hope Democrats think about the precedent that one accusation about *high school* from one accuser - with no supporting evidence and no desire to move forward on the accusation - is now a grenade to throw at a SCOTUS nom. /3
Read 4 tweets
Tom Nichols Profile picture
Sep 9, 2018
While I think the anonymous writer should resign and come forward, I think a lot of people are being way too casual about this. It's like telling generals and admirals to throw their stars on the President's desk (like, during Vietnam) and just walk out. It's not that easy. /1
If you really believe the president is nuts, and that whoever replaces you will be worse, you might well feel the need to send up a flare for help while deciding to stay in place, not least to protect others you work with or to stop things you think would be catastrophic. /2
The anonymous letter is not arguing that the president is making "wrong" decisions, it's that the President of the United States is completely off his rocker, can't really make decisions at all, and no one is willing to say so out loud. That's changes the context. /3
Read 4 tweets
Tom Nichols Profile picture
Sep 8, 2018
Your Friday Tweetstorm (rebooted).
Trumpers are mounting a lot of desperate defenses of the week’s bad news, with lots of shouting at the Never Trumpers (because we don’t matter) and anxiety about who wil be left on “the day after."
This is because they know we’re right. /1
There’s no more question about “who will be proved right.” The Never Trumpers were right, and our worst fears are playing out right now. Yes, the GOP got its judges. And no, the economy hasn’t collapsed. (yet). The rest is happening as we speak. /2
By this I mean continuing attacks on our constitutional norms by the WH itself; a war on our IC and LE communities; the attempt to politicize the DoJ; even the shredding of the AG. (Karmic payback for Sessions, but wow.) /3
Read 10 tweets
Tom Nichols Profile picture
Sep 5, 2018
If the author of the NYT had used his/her/their name, all we'd be talking about is who they are, where they grew up, their entire career resume, who else they ever worked for, and where they are now.
The message of the oped itself would be completely lost. /1
We'd be having endless debates among people who'd be on TV by tonight yelling "I knew X and he/she is the finest person I know!" and "I know X and he/she was a jerk when we worked together!" and long human-interest in X's long road to GOP dissidence and blah blah blah. /2
And no one would be talking about what we should be talking about, which is that there are people in the WH who think the President is incapable of executing his job and has to be insulated from making any dangerous decisions. /3
Read 5 tweets

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