Editors’ Blog

On the issue of whether Trump is “done,” as I put it below, the primary itself really isn’t the question. There seems little doubt that another Republican could defeat Donald Trump for the nomination, though I’m skeptical of whether that person is Ron DeSantis. The more operative question is what you do with Trump after you beat him. Normally you have a primary battle and one candidate comes out on top. It may be a cakewalk or a brutal slog. But one candidate gets the most delegates and the others fall in behind that candidate.

It’s very difficult, though, to imagine Donald Trump losing a hard fought primary struggle and then just gracefully falling in line as a surrogate for the guy who beat him. In fact, it’s basically impossible to imagine that happening.

I’ve treated it as a given that Trump is the nominee in 2024 if he wants to be. But today’s “Major Announcement” from Trump, which ended up being a new set of NFT playing cards with Trump in a bulging Superman suit, crystalizes my growing doubts about whether he still has the juice to go another round. We’ve also seen a couple polls this week which show a clear majority of self-described Republican primary voters prefer Ron DeSantis over Trump, albeit with DeSantis continuing Trump’s policies. But polls can change. Nor does a poll more than a year out from the first primary capture all the kinetic dimensions of an actual primary battle. What is less changeable are the growing signs that Trump is just a loser.

A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate discuss TPM’s series on The Meadows’ Texts, which went to 34 members of Congress and numerous figures, and that show the plot to overturn the election in real time.

You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.

Appreciate everyone who has written in. Here’s a few more:

TPM Reader GS:

Seconding everything in David’s post this morning. It really sunk in for me how explosive this story was this week when Kimmel brought it up in his monologue. So proud to be a TPM reader and subscriber–and thanks for helping to keep us sane!

Lots of TPM love like this over the past few days:

TPM Reader SC:

Congrats and you all make me so proud! I just wanted to let you all know, great job on this series of journalism! I realized that as I’m scanning the headlines and reading the articles, that I kept thinking, “My subscription paid for this!”

Catch up on all the latest developments on the Meadows Texts with the Morning Memo.

One of the most bracing, bizarre aspects of Mark Meadows texts with members of Congress is the fact that many truly seemed to believe the most absurd claims and conspiracy theories. This wasn’t just red meat they were tossing out on Fox and Newsmax. They were saying this stuff, in earnest, in the privacy of text messages with longtime colleagues. But even this, I would say, isn’t the heart of the matter. There’s something else we see in the very first texts, before the TV networks called the race but when the writing was clearly on the wall. It can most easily be summarized as: Trump can’t be allowed to lose. On Nov. 6, 2020, Rep. Brian Babin tells Meadows that they “refuse to live under a corrupt Marxist dictatorship.”

There are a lot of other exciting things happening at Talking Points Memo dot com this week.

But just because we’re launching a massive exclusive series after months of work that reveals some of the most dramatic details yet about the scope of Republican members of Congress‘ involvement in trying to overturn the election does NOT mean we’ve forgotten that it’s Golden Dukes season.

Gotta give the people (you) what they want (opportunities to celebrate those weirdos who did the worst best).

We’re giving over most of the front page to the Meadows Texts, but don’t miss Morning Memo: The Meadows Texts Jump From Politics To Pop Culture.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R) of South Carolina tells local press that his January 17th, 2021 call to place the United States under martial law to keep Trump in office — first reported yesterday by TPM — came from “frustration.”