Trump’s Authoritarian Promise Is Distilled Into A Single Paragraph
INSIDE: Ken Paxton ... Liz Cheney ... Pete Buttigieg
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Good morning — it’s John and Nicole today. David will be back on Tuesday.
Stop the Steal 2.0 cranks into a higher gear
Donald Trump stepped off stage in Wisconsin Saturday and blasted out a social media post that crammed his authoritarian promise into a 159-word paragraph. The Truth Social post went up at 7:01 p.m. ET; it was copy-pasted over to the platform formerly known as Twitter some two hours later, where the larger audience there heard the same message. (The candidate’s X account has largely been posting campaign memes and press release-like announcements since it was reactivated.)
It was a return to dangerous form after the Republican candidate spent August subdued, seemingly sad that he would not be facing Joe Biden after all. The post claimed, incorrectly, that Democrats stole the election in 2020. It promised votes in the 2024 election “will be under the closest professional scrutiny.”
“WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences,” Trump wrote. This threat, he promised, “extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.”
In a way, this is familiar. Its also quite serious: a promise to imprison his enemies, junta-style, that extends not just to his political foes but to those who run elections and those who donate money to candidates. Its a broadside against Democratic society of the sort that was unrivaled in American history before Trump. It’s a kind of high water mark, even for him.
The threat functions on a few levels. It is a bid to instill fear in those who oppose him, to intimidate voters — a note picked up on by Marc Elias, a longtime Democratic election lawyer currently working for Kamala Harris. “We won’t let Donald Trump intimidate us,” he wrote on social media. “We won’t let him suppress the vote.”
The ominous post also signals to his base, again, that any election Trump loses is not one they can accept. And it rehashes the 2020 lie, after various allies (including the white nationalist Groypers) expressed exasperation that he, briefly, dropped his election denying during a podcast interview last week.
On Sunday, he moved from the broad to the specific, pointing in a Truth Social post to an interview on Tucker Carlson’s show to claim, falsely, that 20 percent of mail in ballots in crucial swing state of Pennsylvania are fraudulent. “We will WIN Pennsylvania by a lot, unless the Dems are allowed to CHEAT. THE RNC MUST ACTIVATE, NOW!!!” he declared. (Carlson’s guest was talking — inaccurately — about the 2020 election. Trump’s Truth Social post suggests that the statistic applied instead to 2024, which would be even more preposterous: Pennsylvania officials have not processed any 2024 mail-in ballots yet.)
Like in 2020, there’s little room to be surprised here. Trump — especially over the last 72 hours — is telling us exactly what to expect in November.
Seriously and literally, pt. 1,000,000
Trump had some other things to say while on the stump over the weekend.
He theorized that executing his plan to deport undocumented immigrants would be “a bloody story.”
He promised to get rid of the Department of Education, telling his Wisconsin audience he would “send it back to the states” so that “Ron Johnson can run it.”
Project 2025, stand back and stand by
In case you were still keeping tabs, political prosecutions, mass deportations, and scrapping the Department of Education are all part of Project 2025, the deeply unpopular agenda for a second term produced by reactionary think tanks and former Trump administration staffers about which the former president insists he knows nothing.
But:
Debate week round-up
A pre-debate Times/Siena poll was released Sunday, showing Trump one point ahead of Harris. Times polling guy Nate Cohn tries to make sense of whether this poll is an outlier or signals a shift in the race.
A CBS/YouGov poll finds Trump and Harris effectively tied in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. No matter what poll or polling aggregator you look at, the race is incredibly close.
Harris and Walz plan to campaign in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin following the debate.
Liz Cheney revealed Friday that her notorious dad, Dick Cheney, is worried enough about Trump that he, too, will be voting for Harris. “In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” the elder Cheney said in a statement later that day.
At the Saturday rally, Trump shrugged off the DOJ’s series of recent announcements about Russia’s attempt to interfere in the election, including the allegation that Russian operatives had tricked very high profile, U.S.-based conservative influencers into ending up on RT’s payroll. “It’s Russia, Russia, Russia all over again,” Trump said.
‘Rigged’: Trump reported plan of attack during the debate is to whine about the rules and accuse the moderators of being biased. Nothing new there.
House GOP may force shutdown to appease Trump
The House is back from recess this week and expected to begin deliberations on spending bills ahead of a government funding deadline at the end of the month. Nicole wrote last week about House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) loyalty to Trump and how the speaker may find himself caving to demands from his far-right flank, which includes attaching a redundant a bill that makes non-citizen voting illegal (it’s already illegal) to any stopgap funding bill brought to the floor in coming weeks.
In doing so, House Republicans are helping Trump spread lies about the myth of non-citizen voting, and giving him some baseless voter fraud fodder to point to if he loses in the fall.
Politico has new reporting this morning that suggests Johnson may be having second thoughts about linking the pieces of legislation, as his speakership may also be hanging in the balance: Johnson’s future speakership could hinge on the spending fight.
Ken Paxton continues to terrorize constituents
AP: Texas sues to stop a rule that shields the medical records of women who seek abortions elsewhere
It’s not clear whether public officials have sought patient medical records related to abortion. But the state has sought records related to gender-affirming care, demanding them from at least two out-of-state health centers last year. Like many Republican-controlled states, Texas bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Ron DeSantis continues to terrorize constituents
Tampa Bay Times: Floridians unnerved by police visits about abortion petition signatures
The officer’s visit appears to be part of a broad — and unusual — effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to inspect thousands of already verified and validated petitions for Amendment 4 in the final two months before Election Day. The amendment would overturn Florida’s six-week abortion ban by proposing to protect abortion access in Florida until viability.
Good luck this week
David has gotten into recommending music in here lately, a development we support. In that spirit, John recommends you take a listen to MJ Lenderman’s new album, ideal for fans of Bill Callahan, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Silver Jews, Songs: Ohia, Wilco, Waxahatchee, that sort of thing.
Have a good day. 🫡
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The honest headline you’ll never see:
Trump promises opponents ‘long term prison sentences’
NYT coverage of the notorious WI rally was a few ticks better than the way those rallies are usually covered - a generous dose of - yes- sane-washing his rants - where here their reporter, Michael Gold, included a fair amount of verbatim nonsense and incoherent ramblings by tRump, without the usual "reinterpretation" and selecting one or two seemingly rational sentences upon which to build a report.
Massive online criticism having an effect? We'll see...no promises.