Marks

Hamilton Nolan:

The problem with this impulse is that inherent in the hope of working with this guy is the accompanying understanding that you must not try as hard as you can to smash the guy at the same time. You can’t say “Donald Trump is a loathsome fascist” and then say in the next breath “We look forward to crafting a worker-friendly trade policy with you, sir.” Yet, hey, guess who the people are who, collectively, are nurturing all of these disparate hopes of winning on their pet issues? They are the opposition. We are entering an age of gangster style fascism. We are going to need all of the opposition that we can get. If most of the opposition is busy flattering itself that they can soften Trump on this or that, they are not doing their most important work: Trying to destroy his entire political project. That political project is, I remind you, one of destroying the rest of us. An opposition that can’t dedicate itself to being the opposition is a weak opposition, indeed. And Trump has always enjoyed a weak opposition.

If you think that you are a savvy politician because you got Trump on your side regarding congestion pricing and meanwhile he is stripping thousands of your citizens of their birthright citizenship, you are wrong. If you think that you are a savvy union leader because you got Trump to a little better place on trade and meanwhile he is stripping every woman in your union of her right to abortion, you are wrong. If you think that you are a savvy liberal writer because you cajoled Trump into a little better place on foreign policy and meanwhile he is telling your trans friends that the government will no longer legally recognize their identity, you are wrong. You have made a miscalculation. You have not taken in the full picture of what you are dealing with here. You have been sold a worthless little bauble in exchange for something real. You have not done the math. You are the Greater Fool.

The bad guys are in charge right now. You can’t triangulate your way out of this. All you can do is fight.