"It all feels like the ending of a chapter, a milestone of an authoritarian project’s faltering under the weight of its arrogance and accumulated mistakes."
@davidfrum.bsky.social
I hope you're right.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Trump cares a lot about his ballroom. People who seek his favor have learned to care too. But still, attempted murder as an after-the-fact justification for a home renovation? It seems not only radically beside the point but also quite a humiliating climbdown.
I've lost track of how many times someone predicted the end of Trump's "reign of error" was at hand. I'll believe that when the Democrats take both houses in the midterms.
Don't be fooled; this is just more of the same.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
🎁🖇️MAGA’s Strange Quiet After the Shooting
Instead of a crackdown on his enemies, Trump wants his ballroom.
By David Frum
April 26, 2026, 4:28 PM ET
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
MAGA’s Strange Quiet After the Shooting.
Instead of a crackdown on his enemies, Trump wants his ballroom.
The unusual caution may indicate a White House intuition that this particular gunman is not a promising candidate to cast as an agent of a broad conspiracy.
As bad news accumulates for Trump—the backfiring of his attempted congressional gerrymanders, the worsening of the U.S. economy, plunging poll numbers, a gathering global oil crisis—the energy and self-confidence seem to be seeping out of this administration.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The White House response to last night’s shooting is to double down on the ballroom construction project.
“[A]ttempted murder as an after-the-fact justification for a home renovation?”
This time we have a gunman that was motivated by an anti-Trump agenda. Yet,
MAGA has been strangely quiet after the shooting.
Instead of a crackdown on his enemies, Trump keeps citing the attack as proof of the need for his wished-for golden palace ballroom.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
"It all feels like the ending of a chapter, a milestone of an authoritarian project’s faltering under the weight of its arrogance and accumulated mistakes."
After the Shooting, MAGA Is Unusually Quiet - The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...