The recent release of the tapes Bob Woodward made of his conversations with President Trump concerning the Covid-19 pandemic are sparking quite the uproar, an uproar to which I could not pay much attention to yesterday. Heather Cox Richardson has provided a lovely summary of the tapes and its impact, though. I particularly liked this:
When this story broke, Trump immediately tried to reassure his base by releasing yet more names of people he would consider for any new Supreme Court seats (the list is now more than 40 people long), and told reporters that perhaps he had misled Americans because he is “a cheerleader for this country.” Trump defenders were left trying to find someone to blame for the recorded interviews. Apparently, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham helped to persuade Trump to talk to the famous journalist and tonight, Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson blamed Graham for the debacle, implying he had deliberately undercut the president.
I wonder if Carlson made Graham’s rival for the South Carolina Senate seat Graham currently occupies, Cal Cunningham (D-SC), very happy. There’s nothing better than seeing your political enemies rending each other, and while, in a sane world, Carlson’s influence would be negative, today he’s going to have an impact on the Trumpian base. While the presence of Trump’s name on the ticket in South Carolina will alleviate the impact, assuming the base is still irresponsibly in “I don’t care!” mode, Carlson will still have an impact.
In other words, my second favorite lickspittle may have a hard time time climbing out of this hole.
