Mastodawn

From David Brooks:

“We all struggle to be the best version of ourselves we can be, & #Romney’s struggle is now taking him into retirement & out of the #Senate. On the way he gave us a gift, in the form of a series of conversations w/ @TheAtlantic’s #McKayCoppins, who has written a book on him….

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/14/opinion/mitt-romney-senate-trump-mcconnell.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Opinion | Mitt Romney Has Given Us a Gift

You can’t negotiate with narcissism.

The New York Times

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Nonilex Sep 14, 2023

“#Romney puts on the record what so many of us have been hearing for years off the record — that the #Republican Party has become a party of #fakers, that its congressional #leaders laugh at Donald #Trump contemptuously behind his back while swooning over him before the cameras.

“Mitch #McConnell is the tragic figure in Romney’s tale. He comes across as — & I (Brooks) believe actually is — a decent man who is trying to mitigate the worst of Trump’s effect on his party.

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Nonilex Sep 14, 2023

“But we see the daily corrosions that #McConnell must endure to keep up this front — turning a blind eye to Trump’s #crimes, turning a blind eye to the #threats that were coming in the lead-up to #Jan6.

“At one point, McConnell resorts to the rationalization we’ve heard a thousand times — that if Trump loses & the Democrats win, they will pass a hard-left agenda that will ruin America forever.

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Nonilex Sep 14, 2023

“#McConnell has to exaggerate how radical Joe #Biden is, & what the #electorate will support, in order to justify supporting his own party’s lamentable leader.

“McConnell’s core problem is that you can’t negotiate with #narcissism. Every time you make a concession to Trump’s selfishness, it voraciously seeks to devour another pound of your flesh.

#Romney

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Nonilex Sep 14, 2023

“#PaulRyan also makes a sad appearance…. #Romney tells Coppins that Ryan called him during the 1st #impeachment…, seemingly lobbying Romney to acquit. Preserve your viability w/#Republicans, Ryan advises; preserve your ability to do good.

“It’s advice that once seemed plausible & which guided many upright people to enter the #Trump admin as voices of #sanity. The 1st problem w/it is that the #cult of #Trumpism demands absolute #fealty. One moment of honest dissent & you are cast from the ranks.

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Nonilex Sep 14, 2023

“The 2nd problem is that loyalty to #Trump is ultimately enforced by the #threat of #violence. As the Coppins piece makes clear, there were #Republicans who chose not to vote yes on #impeachment or #conviction bc the outcome either way was inevitable & bc they didn’t want potential #assassins coming after them or their families. We have crossed beyond the bounds of normal #democratic #governance.

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Nonilex Sep 14, 2023

“The 3rd problem is that if you ally yourself w/a #ConArtist, you have to become part of the #con yourself. You have to become #TedCruz, who went to #Princeton & #HarvardLaw & is married to an employee of #GoldmanSachs, ludicrously popping a brewski live on TV — an elite nerd’s attempt to appear #populist.”

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Jim Doppke Sep 14, 2023

@Nonilex I believe this is the first time I have ever seen McConnell described in these terms. I don't know if Brooks thinks he can fool people on a broad scale about it, or if he is the most benighted person in the United States of America. Actually, that's not true. I do know.

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Nonilex Sep 15, 2023

@jimdoppke there was an earlier section of the op-ed that I didn’t transcribe where he described having written a disparaging article about Romney then seeing Romney’s sons shortly after & perceiving hurt in their eyes. Then after that being invited to the Romney home where they treated him graciously. I wonder if since that experience he has been averse to printing anything similar.

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