The Lincoln Project is busy today. Steve Schmidt was on television earlier addressing the issue of Lisa Murkowski “struggling” with the decision to vote for Donald Trump or not. Here’s what he said, and it is music to my ears. Raw Story: “We saw the president direct violence against peaceful protesters this week, and seen the president lie to the country nearly 20,000 times,” said Schmidt. “We’ve seen the president divide the country and incite violence. And we’ve seen a level of ineptitude in this historic pandemic that defied description, but included standing in front of the nation when tens of thousands are dead, talking about his ratings or telling the American people that it is a good idea to ingest or household disinfectants. We’ve seen a president preside over the shattering of an economy. We have seen a president race-bait, demean, disgrace his office, to desecrate the bonds of affection that exist between us as Americans.” “He has completely, utterly failed in the execution of his duties,” said Schmidt. “He has attacked our institutions. He has no fondness for liberal democracy. He doesn’t understand the American ideal and idea. And the notion that you would struggle with the question of four more years of this or President Joe Biden is extraordinary to me. I can’t fathom it. I can’t process it.” “It is the choice between a good man and a bad man,” said Schmidt. “A moral man versus an immoral man. A patriot versus somebody who has desecrated our freedoms and ideals by his assaults on American people. The choice between Trump and Biden isn’t a difficult one. It is a choice between decline and the chance of a restoration and recovery from these tragic events. That is what the election is about. And she shouldn’t be sweating it in the way that she is. It is not a troubling decision. It is an easy one.” Isn’t that poetry? Couldn’t you just listen to that all night? Especially knowing that it’s coming out of the mouth of a Republican strategist? Oh, how that makes it all the more sweet. And here’s more from George Conway, publishing in the Washington Post: So much of Trump’s inaptness and ineptness in these and other matters stems from his exceptional narcissism, and the empathic deficit that attends it. Few who have considered it would today doubt, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) so perceptively put it in 2016, that Trump was “a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen.” But it’s more than just narcissism that drives this failing, flailing president. However difficult they can be, even extreme narcissists can have consciences. They don’t necessarily cast aside behavioral standards or laws, or lie ceaselessly with reckless abandon. Trump’s behavior is conscienceless, showing utter disregard for the safety of others, consistent irresponsibility, callousness, cynicism and disrespect of other human beings. Contempt for truth and honesty, and for norms, rules and laws. A complete inability to feel remorse, or guilt. As a New Yorker profile of Trump put it nearly a quarter-century ago, Trump lives “an existence unmolested by the rumbling of a soul.” That’s Donald Trump’s problem yesterday, today and tomorrow. It’s our problem, too, for now: We remain governed by a soulless man with a broken mind. The damage will continue, and it won’t […]
