Washington

Analysis | Even Donald Trump can’t shift the momentum of Trumpism

Published

2 years ago

July 15, 2024

Analysis | Even Donald Trump can’t shift the momentum of Trumpism

After President Biden concluded his remarks Saturday evening — a denunciation of political violence in the immediate wake of an attempt to assassinate Donald Trump — CNN turned to a panel of political observers to offer their thoughts.

Scott Jennings, a longtime Republican political strategist, was skeptical. Members of his party, he said, were worried about the country and worried about the hostility shown to Trump.

“I hate to say it, but the rhetoric around him over the last few weeks that if he wins an election, our country will end, our democracy will end. It’s the last election we’ll ever have,” Jennings said. “These things have consequences, okay? I don’t know what the motivations of the shooter are. I don’t know any of the details. But I know the rhetoric around Trump has grown extreme.”

This sentiment has emerged often over the past two days in different manifestations. Jennings was correct in saying that he didn’t know what motivated the shooter; even on Monday morning that isn’t clear. But he assumed that the motivation was linked to the “extreme” rhetoric suggesting that Trump was a threat to American democracy. By extension, then, those expressing concern about Trump’s politics were culpable for the shooting — a link made more explicit by some in Trump’s orbit.

Many Trump supporters view these concerns as fundamentally illegitimate, if not cravenly opportunistic. Jennings appears to be among them. To some extent, this reflects how much erosion the country has already seen: Trump’s explicit effort to subvert the results of the 2020 election is retconned as appropriate or insignificant, largely because it was unsuccessful. Any critical observation of what an unfettered Trump might do in a second term is waved away as extreme, just as pre-2020 concerns were breezily dismissed.

It is also obviously useful for Trump supporters to argue that the shooting was downstream from unacceptable criticism of his candidacy. The presidential race, at least until Saturday afternoon, was heavily driven by the same dynamic at play in 2020: Trump supporters eager to vote for Trump and Biden supporters eager to vote against Trump. This is in part driven by concern about American democracy during a second Trump administration. If that concern can be reframed as melodramatic or dangerous — or if Trump supporters can cow Democrats into not elevating the issue — the impulse to vote against Trump might be muted. Some Biden supporters might simply stay home.

Since the shooting, Trump has given several interviews to friendly writers. Speaking to the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito, for example, Trump indicated that the attempt on his life prompted him to rethink what he would say during his acceptance speech at the Republican convention this week.

“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” Trump told Zito. “The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago.”

At Axios, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen leaned into this idea: Maybe Trump really can bring the country together.

“Imagine he gave a speech featuring something he rarely shows: humility,” they wrote. “Imagine him telling the nation that he has been too rough, too loose, too combative with his language — and now realizes words can have consequences, and promises to tone it down and bring new voices into the White House if he wins.”

This idea that Trump has the opportunity to reform his approach to politics and/or unify the nation is as old as Trump’s career as a national politician. And, sure, maybe this time it will happen, who knows? But after he won the election in 2016, he claimed that he would seek to unify the country. That quickly manifested as an insistence that Americans should rally around his presidency and his policies. Trump is nearly 80 years old and has been the same political actor for fully 10 percent of his life. The odds that this pattern is reshaped by the shooting — an unquestionably reprehensible act and an obviously dire threat — seem low. His first instinct in the moment on Saturday was to exhort the crowd to “fight.”

The idea that concern about Trump is rooted in his rhetoric or his brashness is a common one. His supporters say things such as that they are fine with a few “mean tweets” from Trump, as though that is the focus of his opponents. It isn’t. His critics, like his supporters, focus on what he does and what he hopes to do. Telling America that he’s been “too rough, too loose, too combative with his language” will almost certainly not convince anyone, but it also ignores the point: Will he still try to deport more than 10 million people? Will he still try to overhaul the federal government to install political loyalists?

Trumpism has grown well beyond Trump. Tucker Carlson is scheduled to speak at the Republican convention this week; his rhetoric about immigration and the war in Ukraine helped reshape how Trump’s base viewed both issues. Trump has the fervent support of a number of other far-right voices, like Jack Posobiec, who last week described the right’s opponents as “unhuman” and “atheist Marxist globalists.” Is the idea that Trump’s shift to positivity will somehow trickle down to his most fervent supporters and that their tone, too, will shift? Or that they’ll accept his reshaping his political agenda to appeal to more moderate voters?

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has been singled out for criticism by the Biden campaign and Democrats because it outlines what right-wing supporters of Trump want to see should he return to the White House — including a centralization of power in the chief executive that would erode democracy. A shift in tone from Trump at the convention won’t somehow relegate that document and its authors to insignificance. It’s still the vision embraced by the right. And Trump has proved to be malleable in the face of criticism from his base; his shift on vaccines is evidence enough of that.

Trump credits his thankfully minor injuries from the assassination attempt to his having fortuitously turned his head to make an observation about a chart being displayed on a screen in front of the crowd. That chart had been shown before; it provides a misleading and exaggerated assessment of border crossings under Biden as part of Trump’s rhetoric about the dangers of immigrants. It’s a good reminder that the issue for his opponents isn’t that Trump uses mean words when describing his policies; it’s that they object to the policies and the dishonesty used to promote them.

In another address on Sunday night, Biden reiterated that the way to stop Trump was not with violence but at the ballot box (though he said “battle box,” a reminder of the political conversation before Saturday). This was a way to subtly contrast himself with Trump, reinforcing that democracy is the mechanism for allocating power in the United States.

It was a change in tone, but not in policy.

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Washington

PHOTOS: Long Beach State Dirtbags vs. Washington State, Baseball

Published

3 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

PHOTOS: Long Beach State Dirtbags vs. Washington State, Baseball

The562’s coverage of Dirtbags Baseball for the 2026 season is sponsored by P2S, Inc. Visit p2sinc.com to learn more.

Long Beach State dropped a 9-7 decision against Washington State on Sunday afternoon, closing out a busy weekend on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field.

The visiting Cougars took the lead for good in the eighth inning when Long Beach Poly grad Ryan Skjonsby delivered a game-winning two-run single with two outs and the bases loaded. Skjonsby was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run scored and three RBIs for Washington State in their road victory.

For the Dirtbags, catcher Damon Valdez scored twice and had a key two-run single in the sixth to help lead a Long Beach comeback. Trevor Goldenetz had a pair of hits at the top of the order, including an RBI triple. Camden Gasser walked twice and singled, improving his on-base percentage to .574 on the season.

Long Beach State (4-7) will be back in action at home on Tuesday with an exhibition match against Waseda University from Japan. The Dirtbags will then visit San Diego State on Wednesday and open Big West play at UC Santa Barbara this weekend.

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Washington

Week Ahead in Washington: March 1

Published

15 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – Operation “Epic Fury” — the weekend military operations carried out by the U.S. and Israel against targets in Iran — tops the agenda for Congress as lawmakers return to Washington.

Sunday, President Donald Trump said the new leadership in Iran wants to talk to the Trump Administration.

Democrats in both chambers called for Congress to return as soon as possible for classified briefings on Iran, followed by a move to vote on the War Powers Act. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war on another country.

Congress’ return to Washington was originally delayed due to the start of the 2026 midterm elections cycle.

Tuesday, voters in Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas head to the polls for primary elections.

North Carolina and Texas are drawing significant attention, as both states are facing congressional redistricting and competitive primary races for Senate seats.

In Texas, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R) is facing primary challenges from state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt. On the Democratic side, Rep. Jasmine Crockett is facing state Rep. James Talarico.

In North Carolina, candidates are vying to replacing retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R) . They include former Governor Roy Cooper (D) and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.

Also this week, the Rev. Jesse Jackson is laid to rest. He will be honored Wednesday in Washington before a final memorial service Saturday. Jackson died Feb. 17.

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Washington

Caps Fall in Montreal, 6-2 | Washington Capitals

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Caps Fall in Montreal, 6-2 | Washington Capitals

Cole Caufield scored in the first minute of the first period and added another goal later in the frame, sparking the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-2 win over the Capitals on Saturday night at Bell Centre.

Washington entered the game with a modest three-game winning streak and six wins in its last seven games. Although they were able to briefly draw even with the Habs after Caufield’s opening salvo, Caufield and the Canadiens responded quickly and the Caps found themselves chasing the game for the remainder of the night.

“I didn’t mind some of the things that we did tonight,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I thought we created enough offensively, we just made way too many catastrophic mistakes to be able to sustain that.”

In the first minute of the game, Caufield blocked a Jakob Chychrun point shot, tore off on the resulting breakaway and beat Charlie Lindgren for a 1-0 lead for the Canadiens, half a minute into the contest. Lindgren was making his first start since Jan. 29, following a short stint on injured reserve for a lower body injury he sustained in that game.

After the two teams traded unsuccessful power plays, the Caps pulled even in the back half of the first. With traffic in front, Declan Chisholm let a shot fly from the left point. The puck hit Anthony Beauvillier and bounded right to Alex Ovechkin, who had an easy tap-in for career goal No. 920 at 13:16 of the first.

But Montreal came right back to regain the lead 63 seconds later, scoring a goal similar to the one Ovechkin just scored.

From the left point, Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble put a shot toward the net. It came to Nick Suzuki on the goal line, and the Habs captain pushed it cross crease for Caufield to tap it home from the opposite post at 14:19.

Less than two minutes later, Lindgren made a dazzling glove save to thwart Caufield’s hat trick bid.

Midway through the middle period, Montreal went on the power play again. Although the Caps were able to kill the penalty, the Habs added to their lead seconds after the kill was completed; Mike Matheson skated down a gaping lane in the middle of the ice and beat Lindgren from the slot to make it a 3-1 game at 12:22.

Minutes later, Montreal netminder Jakub Dobes made a big stop on Aliaksei Protas from the right circle, and Suzuki grabbed the puck and took off in the opposite direction. From down low on the right side, he fed Kirby Dach in the slot, and Dach’s one-timer made it 4-1 for the Canadiens at 16:34 of the second.

In the waning seconds of the second, Dobes made one of his best stops of the night on Beauvillier, enabling the Canadiens to carry a three-goal lead into the third.

Those two quick goals in the back half of the second took some wind out of the Caps, who were playing their third game in four nights following the three-week Olympic break.

“We kill off a penalty, and then we end up going down 3-1right after the penalty,” says Caps center Nic Dowd. “Those are challenging to give up, right? You do a good job [on the kill], it’s a 2-1 game, and then all of a sudden, before you blink, it’s 4-1 and then the game gets away from you.

“And they defended well tonight; It’s tough to score goals in this League, and you go into the third period, and you’ve got to score three. You saw that [Friday] night when we played Vegas; they were able to score two, but it’s tough to get that third one. I think we have to manage situations a little bit better. It’s a 2-1 game on a back-to-back, we just kill a penalty off, or maybe we just have a power play – whatever it is – we have to manage that, especially in an arena like this, where the crowd gets into it on nothing plays. They can really sway momentum – and in a good way – for their home team.

“We just have to understand that if we don’t have our legs in certain situations, because of travel, it’s back-to-back or whatever, we really have to key into the details of the game and not let things get away from us quickly.

With 7:28 left in the third, Ovechkin netted his second of the game – and the fifth goal he has scored in this building this season – on a nice feed from Dylan Strome to pull the Caps within two goals of the Habs, who have coughed up some late leads this season.

But Montreal salted the game away with a pair of late empty-net goals from Suzuki and Jake Evans, respectively.

In winning six of their previous seven games, the Caps had been playing with a lead most of the time. But playing from behind virtually all night against a good team in a tough building is a tall task under any circumstances. And it was exactly that for the Caps on this night.

“They score on the first shift,” says Strome. “Obviously, Saturday night in Montreal is as good and as loud as it gets. They just got a fortunate bounce; puck was off Caulfield’s leg, and a perfect bounce for a breakaway. It’s just one of those things where we got down early and now they kind of fed off the momentum of the crowd.

“But I still think our game is in a good spot, and we’ve just got to keep stacking wins. Obviously, we’ve played more games than everyone so we’re going to need some help, but we’ve just got to keep stacking wins. It’s tough on the back-to-back in Montreal, but we’ll find a way to bounce back on Tuesday [vs. Utah at home] and then go from there.”

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