I am just through the door from several days’ travel and am wiped out, so this will not be a real letter.
asserted
this → wipe → travel
First: it was exactly ten years ago tonight that then–Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told the American people that Russian president Vladimir Putin hoped to have a “puppet” in the White House, and that Donald Trump was that puppet.
asserted
Trump → tell → House
A scowling Trump responded: “No puppet.
asserted
Trump → scowl → puppet
Clinton continued: “It’s pretty clear.
asserted
It → continue → ?
Trump interjected: “You’re the puppet.”
asserted
You → interject → ?
Clinton continued: “It’s pretty clear you won’t admit…”
asserted
you → continue → ?
Trump interjected: “No, you’re the puppet.”
asserted
you → interject → ?
Clinton: “...that the Russians have engaged in cyberattacks against the United States of America, that you encouraged espionage against our people, that you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do, and that you continue to get help from him because he has a very clear favorite in this race.”
asserted
he → engage → race
Trump shook his head disparagingly.
asserted
Trump → shake → head
Ten years later, Trump is openly embracing Putin and is working to destroy the strongest and most successful alliance in human history to cement that partnership, apparently with an eye to enriching himself.
asserted
Trump → embrace → himself
And so, the events of the present change the way we see the past.
asserted
we → change → past
Had Trump strongly supported Ukraine as Congress has demanded, and stood firm against Russia, a country that is, after all, a minor economic player whose military is flailing at its attempt to absorb its neighbor, we would rightly dismiss Clinton’s warning as campaign hyperbole.
asserted
we → support → hyperbole
As it is, though, Trump’s tie to Putin—the story he has always tried to bury by calling it the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax”—seems likely to emerge as the central story of the Trump years
asserted
he → try → years
As Clinton wrote today: “In just the last few days: Trump made a deal for the U.S. to buy Russian diesel, an economic lifeline for Putin; he and Elon Musk blamed each other for an order that slowed down Starlink satellite connectivity over Ukraine, hampering the country’s defenses during a devastating Russian attack; and Trump waived sanctions on Russia that Congress, led by his late friend Lindsey Graham, had pushed for.
asserted
Congress → write → friend
Now, Putin has proposed a summit with Trump and Xi to decide Ukraine’s fate for them, bulldoze a century of international cooperation, and frame Russia as an equal to the U.S. and China.
asserted
Putin → propose → U.S.
“We’ll see if Putin’s puppet continues to dance on his strings.”
asserted
puppet → see → strings
Second, as no one paying even a modicum of attention can have missed, Trump is so unpopular that support for Republicans has fallen into historically low numbers.
asserted
support → pay → numbers
The gutting of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), tariffs that have destroyed markets for agricultural products and increased prices, the war on Iran that has sent prices of gasoline and especially diesel soaring and thus increased the cost of everything that travels by train or truck, the blatant corruption that is lining the pockets of Trump and his cronies while ordinary Americans can’t make ends meet, and now Trump’s open embrace of Russian president Vladimir Putin—all wildly unpopular positions—mean that the districts that were firmly Republican by double digits just two years ago are now up for grabs.
asserted
that → destroy → grabs
That shift has revealed something interesting.
asserted
shift → reveal → something
Republicans running for office are refusing to hold town halls or to engage in debates with Democratic challengers.
asserted
Republicans → run → challengers
When they do show up, they tend to show how unserious they are about filling elected office, as Republican Dan Sullivan of Alaska illustrated when he asked the moderators at a debate with Democrat Mary Peltola if she had been given the questions beforehand because she seemed to be reading from notes while he didn’t know how to answer the questions.
asserted
he → show → questions
As the moderators quashed his allegation, Peltola noted: “I’m prepared!”
asserted
Peltola → quash → allegation
In the past, Republicans in safe Republican districts did not have to appeal to constituents or campaign, apparently because the letter “R” was enough to get voters to make a mark next to their name.
asserted
voters → have → name
In this new environment in which constituents are furious with Republican policies, Republicans hoping to be elected continue to keep their heads down, apparently hoping that they can be elected, or reelected, if they simply keep their mouths shut.
asserted
they → hop → mouths
Their invisibility raises the question of why these people, who evidently don’t care about representing their constituents, would want to hold national office.
asserted
who → raise → office
Perhaps they want to hobble the federal government to enable wealthy businessmen to gain even more control over the country.
asserted
they → want → country
Perhaps they want to enable the rise of a theocracy.
asserted
they → want → theocracy
Perhaps they are hoping to make money off their offices.
asserted
they → hop → offices
Perhaps they simply want the prestige of a federal office.
asserted
they → want → office
But the extreme gerrymandering of states at the hands of Republican lawmakers that made their candidates shoo-ins in the past also means those Republican candidates are weak.
asserted
candidates → make → past
New scrutiny of those candidates as Democrats challenge them is revealing just how weak they are.
asserted
they → challenge → them
In Texas, for example, Republicans are running Trump’s hand-picked candidate for the U.S. Senate, state attorney general Ken Paxton, a stunningly corrupt man who has recently been revealed to have spent New Year’s Eve 2024 partying in Dubai with a mistress and two men who are fugitives from U.S. law.
asserted
who → run → law
In Kansas the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate is incumbent senator Roger Marshall, a man who has been revealed as having sued more than 700 of his obstetrical patients for unpaid bills, resulting in 81 arrests.
asserted
who → reveal → arrests
In North Carolina, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley has little to recommend him other than Trump’s endorsement; the same could be said of the Republican candidate for Senate from South Carolina, Darline Graham, whose main qualification is that she is former South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham’s sister.
uncertain
she → have → Carolina
The story is the same across the country as Republicans field subpar candidates.
asserted
Republicans → field → candidates
Even in Maine, where Senator Susan Collins should have been a strong candidate for the party, stories of apparent corruption are undermining her candidacy.
asserted
stories → undermine → candidacy
As Paul Waldman noted in Public Notice on October 15, these stories and others are “just the Senate candidates.
asserted
stories → note → October
Up and down the ballot, the [Republican Party] has nominated crackpots and nitwits, none more colorful than Victor Marx, their nominee for governor in Colorado.
asserted
Party → nominate → Colorado
Marx refuses to say how many people he has killed (though he says his stepfather forced him to commit his first murder at age 7), hunts demons, claims he can call in US airstrikes, and boasts of being a seventh-degree black belt in a martial art he invented.
uncertain
he → refuse → art
In contrast to the Republicans hoping to coast to election, the Democrats running for office are holding town halls, listening to the people of their districts, needling their opponents who refuse to debate, and using the word “mission.”
asserted
who → hop → mission
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
