Category Archives: Donald Trump

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Former President Donald Trump said in a Fox Business interview on Friday morning that immigration is a bigger economic threat to the US than inflation.

"The border is a bigger problem than inflation," Trump said during a lengthy call to guest host David Asman.

Trump's immigration policies cut off 2 million of the 3 million workers the US economy needs, Insider's Jason Lalljee and Andy Kiersz reported last week. Still, he floated this claim with no evidence or specificity on undocumented immigrants harming the job market.

Trump's downplaying of inflation also runs counter to the Republican Party's recent messaging, which has sought to hammer President Joe Biden on rising prices.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio tweeted: "Biden is eating lobster in Nantucket for Thanksgiving, while you struggle to afford groceries at home." And GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida recently called inflation "a gold mine for us" when it comes to attacking Biden.

Mounting economic discontent has become a serious problem for Biden's presidency and the Democratic Party as his approval ratings have hit historic lows.

As he often does in interviews and at his rallies, Trump mentioned that he studied at Pennsylvania University's Wharton School of Finance after allegedly cheating on his SATs to transfer from Fordham University to Penn to claim authority on a speculative opinion on inflation.

"So I graduated from Wharton, and I guarantee you they're right," Trump said, referring to the Congressional Budget Office's findings on Biden's Build Back Better Act. The agency said the bill won't bring in enough revenue to be "paid for" and avoid running a deficit.

"They're talking about it's actually $5 trillion," Trump said shortly afterwards about the CBO score, which clocked the total cost of the social spending billat $1.7 trillion, not $5 trillion.

"That will make inflation, bring inflation to a level nobody's seen before," Trump continued even though the report does not make any assessments about inflation.

While firing off other economic takes, Trump also claimed that "within a year I would have been bigger than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined" in oil production.

At another point, Trump called on Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to resign over voting for Biden's infrastructure bill and allowing it to pass. He also repeated his lie about winning the 2020 election, with no pushback from Asman,and falsely claimed that Biden's vaccine mandates are causing supply chain issues, most of which originate overseas where the US president has no jurisdiction.

Although Trump wanted to continue speaking past the half-hour mark of the show, Asman had to cut him off before moving on to a segment about the markets being down over concerns surrounding another COVID-19 variant.

Read more:

Trump: 'The border is a bigger problem than inflation' - Business Insider

Former White House advisor Stephen Miller claimed that there would already be updated COVID-19 vaccines to deal with the Omicron variant if Donald Trump were still president today.

"If President Trump was still in office, by the way, we'd already have modified vaccines to deal with the new variant," Miller said, speaking to Sean Hannity on Friday night.

Scientists first detected the new Omicron variant in South Africa. It has since spread to several other countries, including Israel and Belgium, prompting a spate of travel restrictionsacross Europe, Asia, andNorth America, Insider's Aria Bendixreported. A health official said on Saturday that two cases of the variant have beendetected in the UK.

The variant itself has multiple mutations that might make it easier for it to evade antibodies that developed in the body after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. The mutations might also cause the variant to spread easily even among vaccinated people. Because of the numerous mutations, the World Health Organization has labeled Omicron a "variant of concern," a distinction given to the most threatening coronavirus variants. Delta, the variant that surged all throughout the summer in the US, was the last one to receive the label.

It's not clear yet whether existing COVID-19 vaccines will protect against the variant. But vaccine manufacturers in the US already considering their options.

Pfizer, for example, said it will be able to manufacture and distribute an updated version of its COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days if Omicron is found to be resistant to its current vaccine.The company expects to know within two weeks whether the variant is resistant to its current vaccine, a company spokesperson told Reuters.

In his interview, Miller did not specify how Trump would have sped up the timelines proposed by Pfizer and other vaccine manufacturers like Moderna.

The vaccines against COVID-19 were developed under the Trump administration. It took 11 months to get themout to the public after the first confirmed coronavirus case in January 2020.

It's also unclear what effect Trump specifically would have on the updated vaccine progress that President Joe Biden wouldn't have. Both Pfizer and Moderna indicated they would know whether the Omicron variant is resistant to their current vaccines within the next couple weeks. Johnson & Johnson is also conducting testing.

Originally posted here:

Former WH advisor: Trump would already have new vaccines for Omicron - Business Insider

James Austin Johnson only just joined the cast of Saturday Night Live this fall, but hes already made a big impression. The comedian not only played President Joe Biden in the opening sketch of the season but hes also portrayed the former president, Donald Trump, to rave reviews. After decades of Trump impersonations on the late-night sketch series, fans have voiced their overwhelming support for the most recent one.

Johnson collected the vast majority of votes in our best SNL Trump poll results, with a whopping 61% of the vote. The actor has only played him twice on SNL, though he has cultivated his impression of Trump for many years through viral videos. In a distant second place, Alec Baldwin collected 22% of the vote. Baldwin played Trump through his turbulent presidency and even won an Emmy for his performance in 2017, with additional nominations in 2018 and 2021.

Darrell Hammond came in third place at 10%, despite playing him for the longest period of time. Phil Hartman, the original Trump impressionist for SNL, placed in fourth at 3% of the vote. Johnson, Baldwin, Hammond and Hartman are the best-known Trump portrayers on the show, with all others playing the businessman in an episode or two.

Among that smaller group, Jason Sudeikis received 1% of the vote (though he won our best SNL Biden poll), followed by Leslie Jones and Vanessa Bayer at 0.5%. Taran Killam, who actually played him in three episodes, and John Cena failed to collect a single vote in the poll.

Considering Trump has left office, it is likely that we will see less of Johnsons impression on SNL, though they have already found a way to integrate him into multiple Judge Jeanine Pirro (Cecily Strong) cold opens.

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James Austin Johnson is already the best SNL Trump, according to you [POLL RESULTS] - Goldderby

Former US President Donald J Trump has announced that he will be publishing a photo book covering the four years of his presidency, titled Our Journey Together. The book is said to feature over 300 images captioned by Trump himself.

His first official book since leaving the White House, all images have been hand-chosen by the former President and we can expect to see the documented journey of his (controversial) successes achieved during his perplexing political reign.

Read More: Trump's photography legacy

The book is available for preorder now directly via Trump's website 45books and from retailers such as Amazon. According to a statement from his office, the photo book will be released on 07 December with preorders expected to ship out in early December.

The book is priced at $74.99 (approximately 56.35 / AU$104.95), or you can expect to pay $229.99 (172.84 / AU$321.94) for an assured to be genuine signed copy. Trump's website does state, however, that any requests for signed personal messages will not be accepted.

Our Journey Together is published by Winning Team Publishing, a company co-founded by Sergio Gor and Donald Trump Jr after they worked together on his father's re-election campaign last year. The photo compilation of 320 pages will show a glimpse of Trump's most pivotal moments from his historic presidency.

The New York Times has reported that numerous industry executives and traditional publishers had no knowledge of the photo book prior to its announcement, with further rumors suggesting the photo book is not in any shape a broad reflection on Trump's presidency but an exhaustive memoir at best.

Trump was quoted back in June stating that he was "writing like crazy" and that when the time comes, we'll see "the book of all books".

Read More:

Joe Biden's photographer shoots with Sony kitBest books on photographyBest coffee table books on photographyBest Black Friday camera deals

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Donald Trump is publishing the photo book "of all books" - Digital Camera World

During a November 23 Fox News interview, former President Donald Trump was sharply corrected by frenemy Sean Hannity live on air. Newsweek reports that the duo was discussing the FBI's infamous Russia probe.

Investigator John Durham, who was appointed to look into the initial treatment of alleged ties between the U.S. and Russia, has come highly recommended by Trump and his allies. They also heavily criticized the FBI probe, particularly when it came to the bureau's reliance on the infamous Steele dossier. "The Durham report you know, it's come out. It could have been a little earlier, but it's unbelievably completed. I would imagine..." Trump began, only for Hannity to cut across him to clarify, "It's not even out yet, though."

Trump then doubled down on "the foundations" of Durham's report while Hannity attempted to clarify matters. Durham has yet to issue any findings, and the probe is still ongoing. Russian analyst Igor Danchenko was indicted by a grand jury on five counts of making false statements to FBI agents, during 2017 interviews surrounding the Steele dossier, on which he was a researcher, per Newsweek. Trump, meanwhile, maintains there was no collusion with Russia in the 2016 election. Trump swerved the conversation to Durham's report after Hannity asked him about his intentions for 2024, about which the former president has remained vague.

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Sean Hannity Corrected Donald Trump Live On Air. Here's Why - The List

This hints at a weakness of the new focus on misinformation: Its a technocratic solution to a problem thats as much about politics as technology. The new social media-fueled right-wing populists lie a lot, and stretch the truth more. But as American reporters quizzing Donald Trumps fans on camera discovered, his audience was often in on the joke. And many of the most offensive things he said werent necessarily lies they were just deeply ugly to half the country, including most of the people running news organizations and universities.

Its more comfortable to reckon with an information crisis if theres anything were good at, its information than a political one. If only responsible journalists and technologists could explain how misguided Mr. Trumps statements were, surely the citizenry would come around. But these well-meaning communications experts never quite understood that the people who liked him knew what was going on, laughed about it and voted for him despite, or perhaps even because of, the times he went too far.

Harpers Magazine recently published a broadside against Big Disinfo, contending that the think tanks raising money to focus on the topic were offering a simple solution to a political crisis that defies easy explanation and exaggerating the power of Facebook in a way that, ultimately, served Facebook most of all. The author, Joseph Bernstein, argued that the journalists and academics who specialize in exposing instances of disinformation seem to believe they have a particular claim on truth. However well-intentioned these professionals are, they dont have special access to the fabric of reality, he wrote.

In fact, Ive found many of the people worrying about our information diets are reassuringly modest about how far the new field of misinformation studies is going to take us. Ms. Donovan calls it a new field of data journalism, but said she agreed that this part of the field needs to get better at figuring out whats true or false. The Aspen report acknowledged that in a free society there are no arbiters of truth. Theyre putting healthy new pressure on tech platforms to be transparent in how claims true and false spread.

The editor in chief of The Texas Tribune, Sewell Chan, one of the Harvard courses participants, said he didnt think the program had a political slant, adding that it helped me understand the new forms of mischief making and lie peddling that have emerged.

That said, like the term fake news, misinformation is a loaded and somewhat subjective term, he said. Im more comfortable with precise descriptions.

I also feel the push and pull of the information ecosystem in my own journalism, as well as the temptation to evaluate a claim by its formal qualities who is saying it and why rather than its substance. Last April, for instance, I tweeted about what I saw as the sneaky way that anti-China Republicans around Donald Trump were pushing the idea that Covid-19 had leaked from a lab. There were informational red flags galore. But media criticism (and Im sorry youve gotten this far into a media column to read this) is skin-deep. Below the partisan shouting match was a more interesting scientific shouting match (which also made liberal use of the word misinformation). And the state of that story now is that scientists understanding of the origins of Covid-19 is evolving and hotly debated, and were not going to be able to resolve it on Twitter.

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Inside the Misinformation Wars - The New York Times

By Mary Page Bailey | November 17, 2021

SK Innovation and Energy (Seoul, South Korea) has selected Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines, Ill.) for a feasibility study to retrofit SKs hydrogen plant with carbon capture. SK will explore capturing and sequestering 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from existing hydrogen production assets at its refinery in Ulsan, Korea using a range of Honeywell UOP technologies. The CO2 will be re-injected into depleted natural gas reservoirs, beginning in 2026.

We selectedHoneywell UOP for this feasibility study because of their multiple proven cost-effective technologies for the capture of CO2 and hydrogen purification that will assist in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, said Dr. Seonjun Lee, head of Institute of Environmental Science & Technology of SK Innovation. This project falls in line with the carbon neutrality initiative that South Korea has pledged to achieve by 2050.

With the global demand for hydrogen expected to grow significantly within the next decade, hydrogen producers need a low-cost carbon capture system to help them meettheir sustainability goals, said Ben Owens, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions. Honeywell UOP is uniquely positioned for this feasibility study as ourmultiple technology offerings for carbon capture based on solvents, membranes, cryogenics, and pressure swing adsorption (PSA) systems can be optimized to meet the project needs.

As one of the leading refineries in Korea,SK Energyproduces various petroleum products at the Ulsan Complex, which can refine 840,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and sells them in both domestic and overseas markets.

Link:

SK Innovation to use Honeywell UOP technology for carbon capture and sequestration - ChemEngOnline

Aerogel Market Research Report by Type (Carbon, Metal Chalcogenides, and Metal Oxide), by Processing (Additives, As Manufactured (Virgin), and Composites), by Technology, by Form, by Application, by Region (Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2026 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

New York, Nov. 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Aerogel Market Research Report by Type, by Processing, by Technology, by Form, by Application, by Region - Global Forecast to 2026 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06183243/?utm_source=GNW

The Global Aerogel Market size was estimated at USD 819.42 million in 2020 and expected to reach USD 947.25 million in 2021, at a CAGR 15.93% to reach USD 1,990.09 million by 2026.

Market Statistics:The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR GBP, JPY, and AUD. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2019 are considered historical years, 2020 as the base year, 2021 as the estimated year, and years from 2022 to 2026 are considered the forecast period.

Market Segmentation & Coverage:This research report categorizes the Aerogel to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:

Based on Type, the market was studied across Carbon, Metal Chalcogenides, Metal Oxide, Metals, Polymer, and Silica.

Based on Processing, the market was studied across Additives, As Manufactured (Virgin), and Composites.

Based on Technology, the market was studied across Other Technologies and Supercritical Drying.

Based on Form, the market was studied across Blanket, Monolith, Panel, and Particle.

Based on Application, the market was studied across Aerospace, Automotive, Construction, Day-Lighting & LVHS, Industrial & Cryogenics, Marine, Oil & Gas, Performance Coating, Pharmaceuticals, and Transportation.

Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.

Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.

Competitive Strategic Window:The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.

FPNV Positioning Matrix:The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Aerogel Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.

Market Share Analysis:The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.

Competitive Scenario:The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.

Company Usability Profiles:The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Aerogel Market, including Active Aerogels, Aerogel Technologies, LLC., Aerogel Uk Ltd, Armacell Group, Aspen Aerogels, Inc., BASF SE, Blueshift Materials Inc., Cabot Corporation, Dow Chemical Company, Enersens SAS, Gelanggang Kencana Sdn. Bhd., Green Earth Aerogel Technologies, Guangdong Alison High-tech Co., Ltd., Intelligent Insulation Ltd, JIOS Aerogel Corporation, JLM OIL & GAS LLP, Nano Technology Co., Ltd., Ocellus, Inc., Taasi Corporation, and ZheJiang Surnano Aerogel Co., Ltd..

The report provides insights on the following pointers:1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments

The report answers questions such as:1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Aerogel Market?2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Aerogel Market during the forecast period?3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Aerogel Market?4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Aerogel Market?5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Aerogel Market?6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Aerogel Market?7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Aerogel Market?Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06183243/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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Aerogel Market Research Report by Type, by Processing, by Technology, by Form, by Application, by Region - Global Forecast to 2026 - Cumulative Impact...

WASHINGTON (AP) A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, granting for now a request from former President Donald Trump.

The administrative injunction issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit effectively bars until the end of this month the release of records that were to be turned over Friday. The appeals court set oral arguments in the case for Nov. 30.

The stay gives the court time to consider arguments in a momentous clash between the former president, whose supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, and President Joe Biden and Congress, who have pushed for a thorough investigation of the riot. It delays the House committee from reviewing records that lawmakers say could shed light on the events leading up to the insurrection and Trumps efforts to delegitimize an election he lost.

The National Archives, which holds the documents, says they include call logs, handwritten notes and a draft executive order on election integrity.

Biden waived executive privilege on the documents. Trump then went to court arguing that as a former president, he still had the right to exert privilege over the records and releasing them would damage the presidency in the future.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Tuesday rejected those arguments, noting in part, Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President. She again denied an emergency motion by Trump on Wednesday.

In their emergency filing to the appeals court, Trumps lawyers wrote that without a stay, Trump would suffer irreparable harm through the effective denial of a constitutional and statutory right to be fully heard on a serious disagreement between the former and incumbent President.

The Nov. 30 arguments will take place before three judges nominated by Democratic presidents: Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, nominated by former President Barack Obama, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of Biden.

Given the cases magnitude, whichever side loses before the circuit court is likely to eventually appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The White House on Thursday also notified a lawyer for Mark Meadows, Trumps former chief of staff, that Biden would waive any executive privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The committee has subpoenaed Meadows and more than two dozen other people as part of its investigation.

His lawyer, George Terwilliger, issued a statement in response saying Meadows remains under the instructions of former President Trump to respect longstanding principles of executive privilege.

It now appears the courts will have to resolve this conflict, Terwilliger said.

The committee late Thursday threatened to begin contempt proceedings against Meadows if he doesnt change course and comply.

Simply put, there is no valid legal basis for Mr. Meadowss continued resistance to the Select Committees subpoena, the committee wrote to Terwilliger, saying it would view Meadows failure to turn over documents or appear at a scheduled deposition on Friday as willful non-compliance.

The House has already referred former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to the Justice Department for potential criminal prosecution for contempt of Congress.

___

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Mark Sherman contributed to this report.

See the article here:

Court temporarily delays release of Trump's Jan. 6 records - Associated Press

Former President Donald Trump addresses supporters during an August rally in Cullman, Ala. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

Former President Donald Trump addresses supporters during an August rally in Cullman, Ala.

Let's assume you have spent at least a few minutes this week thinking about former President Donald Trump or something he has said or done. So ask yourself: Did anything seem different? Was it the same thought process with the same attitude as when you thought of him, say, two weeks ago?

You may not have noticed any difference. Or it may seem too subtle to measure or describe. Trump has been such an enormous force and phenomenon on our political landscape that a small change in his salience or trajectory may not be perceptible right away. Both have evolved over time and continue to evolve.

If, on the other hand, you sensed something in the air, it may have been more than the belated arrival of autumn after the summer's lingering heat.

Consider this: November brought the first election in six years that was neither directly nor indirectly a referendum on Donald Trump. The big story of the night was Virginia and the huge rural and Republican turnout for businessman Glenn Youngkin, who, after the GOP primary, had done all he decently could to separate himself from the former president and run on his own.

Trump immediately attributed the victory to "my base," and indeed most of Youngkin's voters had surely been Trump's voters first. But this month they turned out for another, distinctly different model of Republicanism and Trump's minimal involvement did not seem to matter that much.

What's more, Youngkin won because he far exceeded Trump's showing in the pivotal Virginia suburbs where Democrats had been dominating in recent elections at all levels.

In New Jersey, Democratic turnout was nothing short of embarrassing and their incumbent governor, Phil Murphy, nearly lost. Republican turnout was dandy, especially outside the urban-suburban corridor from metro Philadelphia to metro New York.

But here again, Trump had not been a major factor in the race, despite being a frequent presence in the state that is home to his Bedminster golf club. Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican who nearly won, had spoken at a "Stop the Steal" rally in 2020. But in June he billed himself as "an Abraham Lincoln Republican" after defeating two primary rivals who ran on Trump's false claims about the 2020 election.

In short, both parties were left to contemplate how Republicans ran well without Trump being either on the ballot or in office, while Democrats found it hard to hold the gains they had been making in the suburbs in the Trump years. Those gains had been the key to the Democrats' capturing the House in 2018 and the White House in 2020.

It does not take much imagination to add that the suburbs are likely to be the key battleground again next year, when the stakes will be control of the House and Senate and 36 governorships.

The New Jersey result also prompted a crack from the Garden State's last Republican governor, Chris Christie. A presidential candidate himself in 2016, and considered by some a prospect for 2024, Christie couldn't resist noting that he had been reelected as New Jersey's governor (in 2013) with "60% of the vote" whereas when Trump sought a second term "he lost to Joe Biden."

One might have expected more sympathy from Christie, whose long history with Trump included prepping him for the debates with then-candidate Biden in the fall of 2020.

None of this should be interpreted to mean the period of "the Trump years" is approaching an end. For all we know, it has not yet reached its halfway point.

But the era has been nothing if not dynamic, with big swings up and down for the former president's popularity while he was in office and since. And while his approval sank to its all-time low in the Gallup Poll (34%) after the Jan. 6 rioters breached the Capitol, Trump has nevertheless defended that incident in his recent statements.

Just this week he released a statement saying: "The real insurrection happened on November 3rd, the Presidential Election, not on January 6th which was a day of protesting the Fake Election results."

As has often been his pattern, Trump does not dispute facts, he substitutes a complete counterfactual scenario (once famously described as "alternative facts") that he prefers to reality.

In this most recent instance, he was responding to the flurry of subpoenas issued by the House panel investigating the events of Jan. 6 and their connection to Trump's White House. The subpoenas cover many of Trump's inner circle, including his last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and Trump's 2016 campaign strategist Steve Bannon both of whom have already refused to comply. On Friday, Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury for contempt of Congress.

Whatever the committee may eventually find and report, a lengthy process that highlights a parade of non-cooperative witnesses who defy lawful subpoenas does not convey an impression of innocence.

There is no question that the former president remains the leading figure in the Republican Party, and arguably the most dominant personality on the American political stage. His only rival in that regard is the current president of the United States, who does not seem interested in competing for "most dominant personality" and that is putting it mildly.

With 26 months to go before the 2024 primaries begin, there is consensus that if Trump chooses to run again he will "clear the field" and reclaim his party's presidential nomination. At this moment, the party's nomination appears to be up to him not the party.

But one message to emerge from this month's developments is that not all Republicans are accepting the current terms of their marriage to the former president. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has urged Trump to stay out of the party's primaries in 2022. Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has defied the former president (whom she had voted to remove from office in the second impeachment trial) by running for reelection despite his decrees against her.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the chairman of the Republicans' Senate campaign committee for 2022, has indicated the party should focus on economic issues, education concerns and Biden's travails. When asked about Trump's insistence on having GOP candidates in 2022 promote his claims about 2020, Scott says "Americans are focused on the future" and adds: "We're not going to talk about the last election."

On the same day as Scott's interview, Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei, published a piece reporting on Republicans who were "slowly but surely charting a post-Trump ideology and platform."

These are, for now, straws in the wind. Among those he calls "my base," Trump remains the Alpha Male he has always cast himself to be.

No one commands his legions quite the way he does.

All acknowledge he brought new energy and millions of new voters to the Republican cause. He largely remade the federal judiciary in the image of the conservative Federalist Society. He cut taxes.

But he also lost the House, the Senate and the White House in the course of just one term. No president in either party had done that after such a short time in office since Herbert Hoover nearly a century ago.

Moreover, in the next year, as Youngkin goes from "new kid in town" to "favorite get" for conservative media, and the adjudication of Jan. 6 drags on everywhere else, Rick Scott's advice for his party's candidates is likely to look better and better.

Link:

Without Trump, Republicans showed unexpected strength on the ballot - NPR