1. Why aren't more Republican lawmakers speaking out against Trump? In fact, why are most protecting him? Some history might help. Compare Ronald Reagan & Howard Baker during Watergate.
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6. Political analysts at the time & Reagan's own staff thought he was nuts. Why stick up for president mired in scandal. But Reagan's instincts were, in fact, right.
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7. What Reagan understood was that partisan Republicans (who he would need to win the primaries if running for president) would love his loyalty to Nixon, while less partisan voters would forget it.
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8. After Watergate, Reagan's star rose, while Howard Baker's more moderate version of Republicanism faded. Reagan had made the right bet: sticking to a sinking president makes sense in polarized, tribalist polity.
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9. Drawing on
@rickperlstein's excellent book Invisible Bridge &@MikeKoncewicz's fascinating forthcoming book They Said No to Nixon, I argue that we can't expect much GOP resistance to Trump:https://newrepublic.com/article/147558/trumps-loyalists-following-reagans-footsteps …Show this thread
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Nixon with a good assessment
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Did you know he always wore his jacket in the Oval Office? I still can't understand why they didn't make him King.
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Because they were too busy making him into a deity.
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Power is by definition powerful. There’s no real upside for anti trump republicans. Their voters mostly like Trump. An ugly fact. But still a fact.
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