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Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss the president's latest commutations including that of the former governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich, and the upcoming Nevada caucuses in the Democratic primary.
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Good pod, as all have been so far. On media bias, I constructively wonder if y’all, in the midst of accurately describing it, aren’t also furthering it. A small example: with Bloomberg oppo all the rage, much of it deserved, the left and msm are making “stop and frisk” the equivalent of racist policing. David uses it here as a throw away negative adjective about Mayor Mike, but this is only one example. As Heather McDonald and others have painstakingly laid out, much of the stop, question, and frisk policy was logical, evidence based, and popular with the Black Caucus and others. Sending police where crime is makes sense. Now, bad application of ANY police tactic should be condemned, but we shouldn’t let the left use short hand language to move the goal posts.
Something Jonah said during the pod struck me. He said, in effect, that Trump's interest is in loyalty not to his administration, or to an idea, but to Trump personally at any cost. That's why after his people go out on a limb to defend him he proceeds to saw off the branch. He doesn't care about whether the argument is right, he wants the defender asserting that *whatever* Trump says is right at any point in time.
If you read any of the literature about dealing with pathological narcissists (PNs), a common theme is that they cannot be cured. To see themselves as others do would so warp their sense of self that they could no longer function. People are a means to an end, and the end is always about them. As a result, the only way to win the game is not to play.
Most people are fortunate enough to go through life with limited encounters with PNs, which I'm guessing is most of the people who have signed on to the administration. As long as he's in office, I think Jonah's instinct is right. People will continue to climb out on the branch (what choice do they have other than to resign), and Trump will continue to saw them off.