I think people may be over-estimating how bad this piece is. In the very next paragraph Klein says Trump had inhibitors around him in his first term and concludes that things will be far worse if he’s elected again. It takes awhile to get to its point but it’s not sane-washing Trump. - ThreadSky

michaelhobbes.bsky.social • 127 days ago

I think people may be over-estimating how bad this piece is.

In the very next paragraph Klein says Trump had inhibitors around him in his first term and concludes that things will be far worse if he’s elected again. It takes awhile to get to its point but it’s not sane-washing Trump.

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richburroughs.dev•127 days ago

The number of former members of his administration that have come out against him is something I’ve never witnessed and I’m an old.

takethepith.bsky.social•127 days ago

And it's one of many stories that the Times could do weeks of articles to highlight, much like they did with (non)stories like Clinton Emails or Biden Old. But they just don't do that with Trump. Ever.

rogerailes.bsky.social•127 days ago

Professor M. Murray: "read @ezraklein's latest in the NYT and ... seriously, what did I just read? The answer to this question is obvious. Aside from the women bleeding out in parking lots and the ravages of a deadly pandemic, it wasn't 'so bad' because TFG wasn't prepared. They're prepared now."

rogerailes.bsky.social•127 days ago

Those "inhibitors" were fighting other staffers for a piece of the grift. They were just less successful in grifting, and destroying.

E-Z MeUndies also forgets that Trump didn't have a supermajority of corrupt Justices on Day 1.

rogerailes.bsky.social•127 days ago

The Trump years were not good. There is no difficulty answering that question. Obama answered it. It took a while for Trump to fuck things up and for momentum to grow. It wasn't self-serving shits in the Trump Adm. that delayed the destruction, it was citizens fighting back as hard as they could.

wood-mousse.bsky.social•127 days ago

Thats still too much credit, because things were not "so good" or even "at least OK". Just because he acknowledges things will be worse (and could have been worse), does not absolve him of understating how bad it was.

doogie2k.bsky.social•127 days ago

Also I'm not convinced anyone could have prevented the tent morgues. We didn't know what the fuck we were dealing with in the first couple of months!

booond.bsky.social•127 days ago

We knew by Mid-February that people were dying in Italy. We had a short window to get masks and other equipment for people and for staff at hospitals, to try and save Nursing home people, and to quarantine the remainder of us. Trump was worse than useless. The issue wasn't no deaths but mass deaths.

doogie2k.bsky.social•127 days ago

We knew it was dangerous. I don't think there was a real understanding of how dangerous, and anyway the decisions that led to a lack of PPE, ventilators, etc. were made years and years earlier.

Like, I will never hand it to Trump under any circumstances, but I don't know that Clinton changes much.

booond.bsky.social•127 days ago

Clinton would've had the person in China that Trump removed. She would've had the playbook Trump tossed. She'd know to ramp up production. Italy had 1500 cases a day by 3/1. We called a public emergency 1/31 but Trump kept trying to deny what was happening because he had no idea what to do.

natanael.bsky.social•127 days ago

He literally blocked aid in the beginning because the virus was predominantly spreading in big cities which were leaning towards voting democrat, it was literal actual sabotage.

They literally even stole shipments of medical equipment which states ordered!

doogie2k.bsky.social•127 days ago

Alright, I'll admit I did forget that part completely until now.

aasmith.bsky.social•127 days ago

I think it is a bad setup. I had to read it multiple times (and in his voice) before I realized he was making the opposite point.

anniegt.bsky.social•127 days ago

Imma keep saying it. Trump has progressive cognitive decline. You can't "understand" what's going on with him. He walks and talks & sometimes make sense doesn't make him normal. I'd bet my life savings if u did formal neuropsych testing on him he's got significant & progressive cognitive deficit

troysch1.bsky.social•127 days ago

"here's an effective argument for why trump will be even worse" was a fine thesis, but the lead up, in particular that graph, was both goose meme "what kind of people thought trump's' term was OK ezra" and exonerative of the media for creating a narrative that justifies the belief first term was OK

aaronblackshear.bsky.social•127 days ago

He should question his own premise of things being "okay" for separated families, Muslims, people who could not get the PPE he either gave to Putin or let Jared steal, the people breathing the air or drinking the water he allowed to get dirtier, the immigrants living in constant fear, etc etc etc

nycsouthpaw.bsky.social•127 days ago

For my part, I understand Klein’s thesis is that the Trump administration was so good, or at least OK, for America because of all the noble Republicans who worked in the WH and stood in the way of Trump’s id when it mattered. I just don’t agree with the premise at all. It wasn’t good or even okay.

speedofdebbie.bsky.social•127 days ago

Maybe the framing should be, “as bad as the first term was, a second would be much worse, bc the guardrails are gone.”

ludmirdevotee.bsky.social•127 days ago

I think it might be a great pitch to Republicans who liked the Trump administration to vote for Harris, but I'm not them so I don't actually know, and Klein also isn't them so he probably also doesn't know

ludmirdevotee.bsky.social•127 days ago

But like idk I'll probably tell my dad to read or listen to this because he thinks I am freaking out or exaggerating and anything with a stress on how the non-insane Republicans have been denouncing Trump will help I think

themjl.bsky.social•127 days ago

1. I Almost Died in 2020
2. My 403B lost almost 35% of its value (only recently regained)
3. I saw Chill-trucks full of corpses.
4. My taxes went UP.
5. Couldn't get TOILET PAPER, ffs.

But, yes, such fine fine happy memories! Klein got lots of clicks that year! Can't wait to relive that time!

processanalyzer.bsky.social•127 days ago

The manson killings would have been much worse if Patricia Krenwinkle wasn’t there to protect the nation.

maledicta.bsky.social•127 days ago

Trump didn't have absolute immunity in his first term! Throughout his whole presidency he was surrounded by people (correctly) telling him that he couldn't do what he wanted to do because it was illegal. Who is going to say that now post U.S. v. Trump?

jauntywk.bsky.social•127 days ago

And with the arsonists at the GOP so so happy to use the courts to burn everything down.

They got what they most wanted after Trump left. And this is a hell that will keep burning, seemingly, no matter who is elected.

Fuck this illegitimate arsonist court, fuck nominee blocking/Neil Gorsuch/🐢.

elizabeth-d.bsky.social•127 days ago

And his worst enablers learned valuable (to them) lessons his first term.

goldman60.nclf.net•127 days ago

I think it's pretty clearly sane washing his first term, just not him as a person.

richardparkin.bsky.social•127 days ago

Conclusion should have been front and centre. Of course, it's going to be worse. It's going to be a shitshow. SC has given him immunity and he will have no scruples about using it. Musk will have no scruples about using either.

themjl.bsky.social•127 days ago

fuck that.

I know all too well what the "coddling the abuser"/"Maybe he wasn't so bad!" dynamic looks like... Klein is Enabling, here.

(And, quite possibly, unconsciously feathering his nest in the hopes he won't get sent to the Camps in 2025😂😂😂)

themjl.bsky.social•127 days ago

PS: Folks, the first step in breaking the 'Stuck in High School Mindset' is to realize that the Yearbook Committee is, by definition, more concerned with their YC Social Status than they are anything else. Back then, and now.

Want the truth? Learn how to pass notes.

robpollard45.bsky.social•127 days ago

It's not sane-washing, for sure, but one issue is it accepts as a premise something no one gives Biden & others: Trump didn't damage the avg person before the pandemic.

Does *anyone* go around saying, "The Middle East was pretty quiet for Biden before Oct 7, 2023"?

All four years count!

bookbird.bsky.social•127 days ago

And he explicitly says that he’s talking about memory at this point. Not fact. He read this on his podcast today and I actually thought it was quite good.
The next time I hear somebody say “I like that Trump says it like it is”, I want them to read this. It’s for exactly that person.

necs.bsky.social•127 days ago

I do not understand the rending of garments over this. I'm assuming people are just the toxic mix of bored and anxious.

brianhansbury.bsky.social•127 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/brianhansbury.bsky.social/post/3l74mbhddeo2g

seanvictor.bsky.social•127 days ago

Yeah, I listened to the audio version this morning and felt clearly the main thing Klein was reacting to was the “brain leaking out of his ears” narrative, that Trump was always this bad, and he’s completely unrestrained now. I don’t see how this is sane washing? The reaction has been odd to me

seanvictor.bsky.social•127 days ago

I think the most legitimate criticism has been the “we don’t have words for Trump” without scrutinizing seriously who he means by “we” in that statement (implicitly it’s the formal press, and you could argue that they simply refuse to learn the obvious lessons) but I don’t think that sinks the point

wattle.bsky.social•127 days ago

He wasn't always this bad cognitively. Listen to him talking in 2015

trdon.bsky.social•127 days ago

Did you listen to it? He is positively giddy when he’s talking about Trump. It’s gross

thatkraz.bsky.social•127 days ago

Yeah https://bsky.app/profile/thatkraz.bsky.social/post/3l64g5bzchl22

maraleia.bsky.social•127 days ago

You don't write a long-ass article about this when 1200 words will suffice. Ezra took to long to get to this point in his piece. That's helping MAGA in and of itself.

erk.bsky.social•127 days ago

I disagree with Kleins dichotomy between old age being a cause of recent behavior and simply not having inhibitions. Why can’t it be both? Why can’t Trump getting older have an additive or compounding effect on his personality traits. Also like Trump IS OLD - there’s no reason to deny it.

erk.bsky.social•127 days ago

The difference between Biden’s behavior in his old age and Trump’s behavior in his old age might literally just be 2-3 years. Like Klein in the same breath acknowledges the swiftness of Biden’s decline but also says old age doesn’t explain Trumps behavior.

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