Aaron RuparApr 20, 2023

"The reality is the Republican Party basically went off the rails when McCain picked Sarah Palin, and the press averted its eyes from this lunacy ever since then."

Check out my entire conversation with @froomkin https://aaronrupar.substack.com/p/aaron-rupar-show-dan-froomkin#details

Dan Froomkin on press accountability in the Trump era

Listen now (34 min) | "It's tough love."

Public Notice
Show threadDan Gillmor
@atrupar it was earlier imo, with Gingrich the main instigator at the time. @froomkin
Apr 20, 2023 at 2:16amWeb
Show threadMark W. AlexanderApr 20, 2023
@dangillmor @atrupar @froomkin Gingrich was, and is, the original existential threat to democracy.
Show threadJesseApr 20, 2023
@dangillmor @atrupar @froomkin They were both inflection points.
Show threadShawn Smith PeirceApr 20, 2023

@dangillmor @atrupar @froomkin Significantly correct.

Nixon was the first major divergence, but Gingrich was the one beyond which everything else changed - because Gingrich’s basic rule was Nixon’s primary rule on steroids: It’s OK If You’re A Republican.

When power at all costs is the only rule, as it became for Repubs after Gingrich, monsters like Palin & Trump are inevitable. The latter two are just notable signposts on the rapidly passing road to Hell.

Show threadKimberleyApr 20, 2023
@dangillmor @atrupar @froomkin That tracks.
Gingrich definitely sent them swirling around the drain. The decision to put Palin on McCain's ticket was an obvious sign they were going down. And the felling of Dick Lugar's statesmanlike career signaled -- to me, at least -- that the situation was unrecoverable.