Parsing what it means to say ‘massacre’


Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running sequence printed each morning that collects important political dialogue and evaluation across the web.

New York Instances:

Trump Says Some Migrants Are ‘Not Individuals’ and Predicts a ‘Blood Bathtub’ if He Loses

In a caustic and discursive speech in Ohio, former President Donald J. Trump as soon as once more doubled down on a doomsday imaginative and prescient of america.

Together with his general-election matchup in opposition to President Biden in clear view, Mr. Trump as soon as extra doubled down on the doomsday imaginative and prescient of the nation that has animated his third presidential marketing campaign and energized his base in the course of the Republican major.

The darkish view resurfaced all through his speech. Whereas discussing the U.S. financial system and its auto trade, Mr. Trump promised to put tariffs on automobiles manufactured overseas if he gained in November. He added: “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood tub for the entire — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a blood tub for the nation.”

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Washington Submit:

Trump says some undocumented immigrants are ‘not folks’

The previous president additionally warned of “a massacre” if he doesn’t defeat Joe Biden in November

Later within the rally, Trump warned it will likely be a “massacre for the nation” if he isn’t elected. The remark got here as he was promising to hike tariffs on foreign-made automobiles, and it was not clear precisely what Trump was referring to along with his admonition.

“Now we’re going to place a one hundred pc tariff on each single automobile that comes throughout [the] line, and also you’re not going to have the ability to promote these guys — if I get elected,” he stated. “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a massacre for the entire. That’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a massacre for the nation.”

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George Conway on X by way of Threadreader:

There’s some commentary on right here saying we must always disregard Trump’s “massacre” remarks final evening as a result of he was speaking about potential harms to the auto trade.

That’s misguided. 1/x 

Trump could properly have been referring to a “massacre” in that trade. He’s sufficiently incoherent that, as is so usually the case with him, it’s exhausting to inform a technique different what precisely he’s speaking about at any given second. 2/x 

I’m keen to imagine for the sake of argument that he was referring to automobiles. And it makes no distinction to his malicious intent or to the hazard he and his rhetoric poses. 3/x 

What issues is that he persistently makes use of apocalyptic and violent language in an indiscriminate vogue on account of his psychopathy and correlative authoritarian tendencies, and since he’s simply plain evil. 4/x 

It’s a basic trait and strategy of authoritarian demagogues. He catastrophizes *every thing* to rile up his cultish supporters, and to bind them to him, and to make them keen to do his bidding. 5/x 

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John Stoehr/The Editorial Board:

The anti-Catholic hatred hidden inside ‘Christian nationalism’

Converse up earlier than it’s too late.

The end result of the presidential election doesn’t rely upon making conservative Roman Catholics like Laura Ingraham (or for that matter, conservative Jews like Steven Miller) see the risks they’re in. As Rev. Dan Schultz wrote not too long ago, “Christian nationalists” are a marginal bunch. There’s simply not sufficient of them. Their views are unpopular.

However so long as she and others gained’t perceive, or gained’t cease denying, how a lot they’re hated by their allies, they’ll proceed to present “Christian nationalism” a harmful credibility it doesn’t deserve and can solely abuse. It claims to talk for all Christians however its imaginative and prescient of America excludes, or has the promise to exclude, a overwhelming majority of Christianities. Perhaps it’s too late for Laura Ingraham. However Roman Catholics who cherish non secular freedom ought to converse for themselves.

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Jonathan Cohn/HuffPost:

Do not Know What To Make Of Trump’s 2024 Guarantees? Simply Look At What He is Truly Carried out.

Donald Trump’s simply as imprecise about his coverage proposals as he was in 2016, however this time he has a governing report too.

Even free speak of touching Medicare and Social Safety might be politically poisonous in America, particularly for Republicans, who’ve a protracted report of looking for to denationalise the beloved applications or cut back their advantages. Virtually instantly ― and in response to assaults from President Joe Biden ― Trump’s marketing campaign put out the phrase that he merely meant he’d reduce down on waste and inefficiency.

A day later, Trump was on the defensive throughout an interview with Breitbart Information. “I’ll by no means do something that can jeopardize or harm Social Safety or Medicare,” he stated.

With most politicians, you possibly can attempt to parse these statements, hoping to divine some insights about their true intentions and values. However Trump just isn’t a traditional politician. He not often talks about coverage and, in situations like these when he does, his statements are so hazy and filled with malapropisms that they may imply nearly something.

It’s nice materials for “Saturday Evening Dwell.” However for those who’re a voter attempting to determine what issues to Trump or what selections he’d make in workplace, you’re principally out of luck. And though an lack of ability to talk cogently about necessary points may appear to be a political legal responsibility, for Trump it could really be an asset, as a result of it obscures his extra unpopular positions.

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Simon Rosenberg/”The Hopium Chronicles” on Substack:

I would A lot Moderately Be Us Than Them, New Laborers’ Advert, The GOP Is Splintering/MAGA Is A Failed Politics

New Laborers’ Union Advert for Biden – One of many issues I’m actually wanting ahead to this 12 months is all of the work for Biden that going’s get performed exterior the marketing campaign itself. Like us, right here at Hopium, people aren’t ready round, asking for permission to go win this factor. They’re simply going on the market and doing the work.

In that spirit try this new advert for Biden from the Laborers Union. Its referred to as “The whole lot Is BOOMIN’” and is now operating in MI, PA, WI:

As I’ve been saying I believe one thing broke contained in the Republican Celebration when Dobbs occurred. It was simply an excessive amount of, too far, too harmful even for a lot of Republican voters. Trumpy candidates didn’t deliver their coalition collectively all through the battlegrounds in 2022, and we’re already seeing Trump and different MAGAs actually battle to deliver their coalition collectively in 2024. Trump has repeatedly underperformed public polling within the early states. A giant chunk of the GOP – 20%-30% – has deep reservations about backing Trump and MAGA; a exceptional quantity have stated they’re even open to voting for Biden.

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Cliff Schecter on Brian Karem’s present about Democrats preventing again:



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