A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Trump’s Slow-Burn Authoritarianism
An important piece out this morning from my former colleague Greg Sargent that grapples with one realistic and less overtly authoritarian scenario for a second Trump presidency:
A second Trump presidency could unleash a kind of lower-profile, slow-burn authoritarianism, something that unfolds much more quietly and largely behind the scenes. In its targeting of internal enemies and its efforts to carry out revolutionary changes via far-right governance, it could end up being much less dramatic, visible, or splashy—but at the same time, extremely insidious, difficult to track, and very challenging to mobilize against.
Sargent talks to people who are already gearing up to be targeted or have their clients targeted by a Trump administration, with an unconstrained DOJ willing to do the president’s bidding. It may not lead only to show trials but also to the slow, expensive, grinding down of perceived foes, vocal critics, and public servants just doing their jobs:
These are Trump critics who have already hired lawyers who are advising them to gird for low-grade bureaucratic bullying. They are advocates anticipating years of legal warfare against vulnerable populations like transgender Americans. They are state-level officials scouring statutes to prepare for legal tussles over who controls the National Guard. They are career government officials bracing for the corruption of official information to serve the autocrat in chief’s whims and propagandistic needs, and the underhanded subversion of rulemaking processes to deliver spoils to his cronies.
I’ve been hearing for months about people inside and outside of government who are girding for Trump II because of the roles they’ve played in, variously, investigating Trump, serving in the Biden administration, or simply working for a targeted department or agency. It’s toxic stuff that has real world effects already, even if Trump ultimately loses election. The potential threat itself is corrosive to the civic space.
A quick final point: Trump won’t have to pick between scenarios like the one Sargent lays out and more overtly authoritarian ones. It can be both/and.
Security Beefed Up For Jan. 6, 2025
Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote, set for Jan. 6, 2025, has been designated a “national special security event” for the first time. That elevates it to the same level as the inauguration, the national political conventions, the UN General Assembly, and the Super Bowl.
Strange Bedfellows Alert
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, forced to resign his position in the George W. Bush administration over the U.S. attorneys scandal, penned an op-ed endorsing Kamala Harris for president, calling Donald Trump “perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation.”
Important
WaPo: Trump stokes suspicions about assassination attempt, raising fears of more violence
Hate To See It
Right-wing extremist Laura Loomer traveled with Donald Trump aboard his private plane to the Philadelphia debate and hung out with him Wednesday during events in Manhattan and Pennsylvania commemorating the anniversary of 9/11, which she has called “an inside job.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) took the opportunity of Loomer’s increased profile to call her out for a tweet from over the weekend that targeted Kamala Harris, declaring it “appalling and extremely racist.”
That set off Loomer, who began attacking Greene over her sex life and for being a “raging anti Semite.”
Good times.
Meltdown
ICYMI:
I asked Stephen Miller, one of Donald Trump’s top advisors, what is the evidence for saying that Caracas and Venezuela are safer than the United States. He began by answering that it is the government’s numbers. I asked him if he trusted Maduro’s numbers. And this was his… pic.twitter.com/qkXTNiGmt0
— José María Del Pino (@josemdelpino) September 11, 2024
A Philly Massacre
More debate fallout and reaction:
- Another debate? The Harris campaign continued to push for another presidential debate while the Trump campaign weighed its options.
- The xenophobia: “[T]he debate highlighted how Mr. Trump has escalated his assaults on immigrants in the 2024 presidential campaign, and how he uses the issue to overshadow other topics, including tariffs or the economy.”
- Reax: Josh Marshall and Kate Riga process the debate …
2024 Ephemera
- WaPo: Elon Musk’s misleading election claims reach millions and alarm election officials
- The North Carolina Supreme Court’s last-minute decision ordering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed from the fall ballot after the statutory deadline will cost state taxpayers $1 million to destroy old ballots and reprint new ones.
- Real consequences:
Grotesque
TPM’s Josh Kovensky: Father of Child Killed in Ohio Crash Begs Trump, Vance To Stop Politicizing Son’s Death
Leonard Leo Pushes To ‘Weaponize’ Conservative Ideas
“[V]astly insufficient funds are going toward operationalizing and weaponizing [conservative] ideas and policies to crush liberal dominance at the choke points of influence and power in our society,” conservative activist Leonard Leo told organizations he funds, in a letter obtained by Axios.
Mike Johnson Has The Tiger By The Tail Again
After yanking his preferred temporary spending bill – larded with a poison pill anti-immigrant provision – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) finds himself in the same servile position as every other recent GOP House speaker. Behold the headlines:
- TPM’s Nicole Lafond: Trump And Johnson’s Bid To Suppress The Vote, Shut Down The Government, And Stoke Panic Falls Apart
- NYT: Johnson Scraps Vote on Spending Extension Amid Bipartisan Resistance
- WSJ: GOP Objections Force Johnson to Pull Bill Keeping Government Open
- Politico: Johnson faces GOP ire after conservative spending plan blows up
- Punchbowl: Speaker Mike Johnson is in an extraordinarily unenviable position.
‘There’s A Lot Information On The Internet’
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) distinguishing himself as one of Tennessee’s best and brightest:
Hagerty on Trump’s claims about Haitian immigrants: I’ve heard conflicting reports. There’s conflicting evidence. There’s a lot information on the internet that this is happening. pic.twitter.com/DQ5xnTsca2
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 12, 2024
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
