Trump is slipping — and his usual allies are turning into critics

AlterNet logoThe editorial board of the Trump-supporting Washington Examiner has condemned the president’s attacks on Joe Scarborough, arguing that “observers might even someday look back at this incident as the instant when things began to unravel.” I laughed derisively when I read that, but it’s probably true that there will be people who say this. In itself, the Scarborough incident is nothing new or particularly noteworthy. Accusing a former Republican congressman and impeachment manager at Bill Clinton’s Senate trial of murder is not categorically different from accusing Ted Cruz’s father of involvement in the assassination of a president. Making baseless accusations against his critics is on page one of Trump’s playbook. I don’t think there’s anything game-changing about this story at all, but it coincides in time with a major downturn in the president’s fortunes. It’s quite possible that in retrospect, the two things will look causally related.

For one thing, the Washington Examiner is not alone. The New York Post and the Wall Street Journal have also published editorials blasting Trump over his actions with Scarborough. Why these staunchly pro-Trump editorial boards have chosen this incident as their bridge-too-far is anybody’s guess, but they’ve both put their foot down. Everywhere we look, there are surprising breaks with the president. On Tuesday night, Sean Hannity of Fox News took the extraordinary step of chastising his listeners for following Trump’s example and not wearing masks or observing social distancing guidelines: “If you can’t social distance, please wear the mask. Do it for your mom, your dad, your grandma, your grandpa.” Also, on Tuesday, Twitter humiliated it’s most valuable patron by adding a disclaimer to a Trump tweet explaining his claims about vote-by-mail are untrue.

This is pretty nuts’: Kayleigh McEnany struggles to defend Trump’s vicious murder conspiracy theory

AlterNet logoWhite House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was forced to defend President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Tuesday, an unenviable task she nevertheless intentionally signed up for. She desperately tried to divert the attention back to Scarborough — without engaging in the president’s conspiracy theorizing — but offered no credible defense of the president’s conduct.

Trump has been spreading the debunked theory that Scarborough killed a staffer in 2001 while he was in Congress, even though it was determined she died of natural causes. The staffer’s widower wrote a released a letter on Tuesday pleading with Twitter to take down the president’s offensive tweets promoting the thoery. He said he was “angry,” “frustrated,” and “grieved” by the president’s promotion of the harmful allegations. Trump is perverting his late wife’s memory, he said, and he fears her niece and nephews will encounter these attacks.

When asked about the letter, McEnany said she wasn’t sure if the president had seen it. But she said their “hearts” are with the woman’s family “at this time.” It was a deeply ironic comment because the only particularly traumatizing thing about “this time” for the family is the president’s attacks, which come nearly two decades after the woman’s death. Continue reading.