{"id":1141,"date":"2019-02-09T10:12:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T15:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1141"},"modified":"2019-02-09T10:33:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-09T15:33:08","slug":"republicans-got-us-into-this-mess-and-they-have-to-get-us-out-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1141","title":{"rendered":"Republicans Got Us Into This Mess, and They Have to Get Us Out of It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The\nidea sounds crazy \u2014 until suddenly it doesn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"312\" data-attachment-id=\"1142\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?attachment_id=1142\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture7.jpg?fit=468%2C312&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"468,312\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Picture7\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture7.jpg?fit=468%2C312&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture7.jpg?resize=468%2C312&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture7.jpg?w=468&amp;ssl=1 468w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture7.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><figcaption>Credit: Victor Kerlow <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Opinion:  By Jonathan Rauch and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/column\/peter-wehner\">Peter Wehner<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nRauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Mr. Wehner is a\nsenior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Feb. 8, 2019<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>At\nfirst glance, in the wake of the roars of approval President Trump received\nfrom Republican lawmakers during his State of the Union address on Tuesday\nnight, it may seem fanciful to think the president might be forced out of\noffice by members of his own party. At second glance, too. Yet sometimes things\nthat seem impossible one moment become inevitable the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nbelieve that Mr. Trump\u2019s strength among Republicans is more precarious than it\nappears. For reasons both substantial and practical, we believe his\ndisgorgement by Republicans can happen, might happen \u2014 and should happen.\nContrary to conventional wisdom, removal by his party would be as healthy for\nAmerica\u2019s democracy as his removal by the voters, perhaps more so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being\nsane, we understand why the prospect of Mr. Trump\u2019s being forced to resign or\nface impeachment and conviction before the end of his term is unlikely. His\nlosing a renomination fight seems only slightly more likely. After all, his\nejection depends on a significant part of the Republican Party turning against\nhim \u2014 and right now it belongs to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nTrump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/203198\/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gallup approval rating<\/a>\namong Republicans is almost 90 percent and has never dipped significantly below\n80 percent. His followers defenestrate Republicans who defy or repudiate him.\nIn the recent midterm elections, Mr. Trump and his backers further consolidated\ntheir grip on the party, even as they lost their grip on the House of\nRepresentatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But\nthat is hardly the whole story. Recent developments should deeply worry\nRepublicans, starting with those disastrous midterms. The Republican Party may\nhave held on to the Senate, but Democrats now control the House of\nRepresentatives because they won more congressional seats than they had since\nthe post-Watergate tsunami of 1974. They gained seven governorships and nearly\n350 state legislature seats. According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aei.org\/publication\/aei-political-report-polling-voters-views-on-2018-issues-and-how-groups-have-voted-over-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exit polls<\/a>, Democrats\nimproved over their 2014 midterm showing by six or more percentage points among\nmen, women, married voters, unmarried voters, whites, Hispanics, Asians, voters\nunder 30, voters over 59, moderates, independents, urbanites and voters with\ncollege degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nother words, Republicans lost significant ground among everyone except Mr.\nTrump\u2019s core base of rural, evangelical and \u201cnoncollege\u201d supporters (and even\namong them, the Republican margin shrank a bit). This happened with\nunemployment lower than at any time since 1969 and with Republican turnout at\nits highest level in a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nTrump\u2019s hard-core base is large enough to dominate the Republican Party, at\nleast for now, but it is not large enough to dominate the country. In the long\nrun, a third or so of the country cannot effectively govern the other\ntwo-thirds with an unpopular agenda and a Twitter account. Mr. Trump will\nalmost surely achieve less legislatively in the second half of his term than he\ndid in the first, when Republicans controlled both branches of Congress \u2014 and\neven then their record was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/truth-o-meter\/article\/2019\/jan\/17\/comparing-trump-obama-campaign-promises-two-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not impressive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nshort, by consolidating behind Mr. Trump, the Republican Party is isolating and\nalienating itself from the broader public. Indeed, the Trump paradox is that\nhis support deepens among his most persistent admirers even as it erodes\neverywhere else. As a result, Mr. Trump headed into his third-year State of the\nUnion message with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/donald-trump-state-union-approval-rating-lowest-except-ronald-reagan-1318366\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">second-lowest approval rating in\nhistory<\/a>, despite a roaring economy. (Ronald Reagan, who bested Mr.\nTrump for this dubious honor in 1983, spoke at the nadir of a deep recession.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile,\nchaos is consuming the Trump administration. The president, cowed by his base,\nengineered a very unpopular government shutdown for which most people held him\n(and his party) responsible. He finally agreed to a deal to reopen the\ngovernment, but only on terms dictated to him by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to\nthe dismay of some of his most prominent right-wing supporters. In December,\nhis mercurial decision-making drove his widely respected defense secretary to\nquit in protest. Scandals and corruption besiege the president on every side.\nHis administration is being investigated by a special counsel, by the Southern\nDistrict of New York and soon by House Democrats armed with subpoena power. The\npresident\u2019s behavior is becoming more erratic and bizarre, and his own aides\nhave confided that he is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/trump-kelly-white-house-fear-bob-woodward-book-1105477\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unhinged<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What,\nthen, might flip Mr. Trump\u2019s removal from impossible to inevitable? The most\nlikely possibility is also the most obvious: the collapse of his support among\ncenter-right Republicans who so far have wavered but not completely turned\nagainst him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether\nthis happens depends on future events, the most ominous of which would be the\ndiscovery of clear criminality by the president or those closest to him\n(including family members). Another inflection point might be an economic\nrecession. A third might be Mr. Trump\u2019s mismanagement of a crisis. A fourth\nwould be the continued deterioration of the president\u2019s behavior. (By most\naccounts the president feels less constrained than ever.) And yet another might\nbe the prospect that he will lead his party to comprehensive defeat in 2020,\nespecially if he is weakened by a primary challenge. We would be surprised if\none or more of these developments did not occur, and a combination is easily\nwithin the bounds of probability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watergate\nshowed how a president\u2019s standing can cave in. Congressional Republicans\nsupported and protected President Richard Nixon until the Watergate tapes\nprovided irrefutable evidence of his wrongdoing. Then they withdrew their\nsupport and he resigned to avoid impeachment and conviction. There may be no\nsingle smoking-gun tape in Mr. Trump\u2019s case, but the sheer weight of financial\nand ethical wrongdoing could become too much, even for many Republicans. And\ntoday\u2019s Republican politicians, while more partisan than in Nixon\u2019s day, remain\nacutely sensitive to public opinion. If some combination of criminality,\nincompetence or crisis moves the center-right against the president, his end\ncould come quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nthat happens, Mr. Trump might step down to avoid impeachment, particularly if\nhe were promised clemency for himself and his family. Short of outright\nresignation or removal, he could suffer enough defections so that he might\nannounce he will not seek re-election. That would be a half-measure, but one\nthat would allow the post-Trump conversation to begin. The Johnson-Nixon era\nprovides precedents for all of these scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nunderstand the argument that the best result would be for voters, rather than\nthe Republican Party, to do the job of removing Mr. Trump. But we believe this\nargument neglects an important reason that Mr. Trump\u2019s removal by his party\nwould be at least as healthy, democratically speaking: It would reinvigorate\nthe idea that political parties exist not just as vehicles for politicians but\nalso as protectors of vital democratic norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nmost troubling \u2014 and from our point of view the most disappointing \u2014\ndevelopment of the Trump era is not the president\u2019s own election and subsequent\nbehavior; it is the institutional corruption, weakness and self-betrayal of the\nRepublican Party. The party has abandoned its core commitments to\nconstitutional norms, to conservative principles and even to basic decency. It\nhas allowed itself to be hijacked by a reality television star who is a\npathological liar, emotionally unsteady and accountable only to himself. And\nRepublicans have embraced presidential conduct that, had it been engaged in by\na Democrat, they would have denounced as corrupt, incompetent and even\ntreasonous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\ndisagree with those who think that Mr. Trump\u2019s removal by his own party would\nweaken democratic accountability; if anything, the opposite is true. The United\nStates has only two major political parties, and it needs both to be healthy,\nrational and small-d democratic. They are our system\u2019s most durable and\naccountable political institutions and they comprise its first and most\nimportant line of defense against political demagogues and conscience-free\ncharlatans. By reasserting its institutional prerogatives \u2014 by setting limits\nto the depredations and recklessness it will accept \u2014 the Republican Party\nwould be acting to deter hijackers in the future. In doing so, it would defend\nour democracy, not weaken it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nany event, the Republican gamble that the party can ride out the Trump era\nwithout suffering tremendous damage is looking worse every day. As Republican\nlawmakers have privately told us and others, they know Mr. Trump will not\nchange. The incontestability of his psychological defects and character flaws\nhas finally sunk in. What remains to be done is for Republicans to prevent what\nmany of them privately know is quite likely for their party if Mr. Trump\nremains their leader: a crash landing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nthat sense, Mr. Trump\u2019s presidency has become to the Republican Party what\nVietnam was to President Lyndon Johnson. By 1965, Johnson saw Vietnam for the\nunwinnable quagmire that it was, but he feared and ultimately bowed to the\nshort-term consequences of withdrawing. \u201cIt\u2019s like being in an airplane and I\nhave to choose between crashing the plane or jumping out,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/lbj-knew-early-vietnam-was-quagmire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told his wife<\/a>. \u201cI do not\nhave a parachute.\u201d We know today that Johnson made the wrong decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Increasingly,\nit is dawning on Republicans that they are making the same mistake. But they do\nhave a parachute, one named Mike Pence. The vice president would continue many\nof Mr. Trump\u2019s policies, if that\u2019s what they want, but potentially without all\nthe dysfunction, a result that conservatives could live with and that the\nvoters could judge for themselves in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\na <a href=\"https:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/commentary\/canceling-brexit-becoming-inevitable-by-anatole-kaletsky-2018-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent column<\/a> about the\nsudden possibility that Britain would change its mind about Brexit, the\neconomist Anatole Kaletsky remarked: \u201cIn times of political turmoil, events can\nmove from impossible to inevitable without even passing through improbable.\u201d\nThe same is true of Trexit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of\ncourse, Mr. Trump\u2019s exit is a long shot. In democracies, sick political parties\nusually need years in the wilderness before they can heal. We have not talked\nourselves into being confident, or even particularly optimistic, that the\nRepublican Party will treat its own fever. But if there is one thing that the\nage of Trump has clarified, it is that \u201cunimaginable\u201d and \u201cimpossible\u201d are not\nat all the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">Jonathan\nRauch (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jon_rauch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@jon_rauch<\/a>) is a senior fellow at the Brookings\nInstitution and the author of \u201cPolitical Realism: How Hacks, Machines, Big\nMoney and Back-Room Deals Can Strengthen American Democracy.\u201d Peter Wehner (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Peter_Wehner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@Peter Wehner<\/a>), a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public\nPolicy Center, served in the previous three Republican administrations and is a\ncontributing opinion writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The\nTimes is committed to publishing <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/01\/31\/opinion\/letters\/letters-to-editor-new-york-times-women.html\"><em>a diversity of letters<\/em><\/a><em> to the editor. We\u2019d\nlike to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/help.nytimes.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115014925288-How-to-submit-a-letter-to-the-editor\"><em>tips<\/em><\/a><em>. And here\u2019s our email: <\/em><a href=\"mailto:letters@nytimes.com\"><em>letters@nytimes.com<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Follow\nThe New York Times Opinion section on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nytopinion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Facebook<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/NYTOpinion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Twitter (@NYTopinion)<\/em><\/a><em> and <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nytopinion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Instagram<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 10, 2019,\non Page SR3 of the New York edition with the headline: Republicans Have to Get\nUs Out of This Mess. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytreprints.com\/\">Order Reprints<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/pages\/todayspaper\/index.html\">Today\u2019s Paper<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The idea sounds crazy \u2014 until suddenly it doesn\u2019t. Credit: Victor Kerlow Opinion: By Jonathan Rauch and Peter Wehner Mr. Rauch is a senior fellow&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8VBh7-ip","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":843,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=843","url_meta":{"origin":1141,"position":0},"title":"As they back Trump, evangelical leaders face their own sex scandals","author":"Donnie","date":"March 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By Sarah Pulliam Bailey\u00a0WASHINGTON POST\u00a0\u00a0MARCH 31, 2018 ASSOCIATED PRESS\/FILE 2006 Frank Page, president and chief executive of the Southern Baptist Convention\u2019s executive committee, resigned this week because of an \u2018\u2018inappropriate relationship.\u2019\u2019 WASHINGTON \u2014 As white evangelicals have been some of President Trump\u2019s staunchest defenders, a handful of their leaders find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Family","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=15"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-31_19-58-58.jpg?fit=825%2C518&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-31_19-58-58.jpg?fit=825%2C518&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-31_19-58-58.jpg?fit=825%2C518&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-31_19-58-58.jpg?fit=825%2C518&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":265,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=265","url_meta":{"origin":1141,"position":1},"title":"Here Are the Top Officials in the Trump White House Who Have Left","author":"Donnie","date":"February 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0LARRY BUCHANAN,\u00a0ALICIA PARLAPIANO\u00a0and\u00a0KAREN YOURISH\u00a0UPDATED\u00a0FEB. 28, 2018 The\u00a0announcement\u00a0that Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, will leave the administration is the latest in a string of departures to shake up the West Wing. Eight of the people in the swearing-in photo below no longer work in the White House or have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Presidential Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Presidential Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_09-54-44.jpg?fit=1049%2C594&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_09-54-44.jpg?fit=1049%2C594&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_09-54-44.jpg?fit=1049%2C594&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_09-54-44.jpg?fit=1049%2C594&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1068,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1068","url_meta":{"origin":1141,"position":2},"title":"White House Memo: \u2018Drama, Action, Emotional Power\u2019: As Exhausted Aides Eye the Exits, Trump Is Re-energized","author":"Donnie","date":"June 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Maggie Haberman\u00a0and\u00a0Katie Rogers Several high-profile aides, including John F. Kelly, the president\u2019s chief of staff, are said to be thinking about how much longer they can do their jobs.CreditTom Brenner\/The New York Times WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump has gone overseas to embark on some of the most consequential diplomatic negotiations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Presidential Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Presidential Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-10_21-12-18.jpg?fit=797%2C506&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-10_21-12-18.jpg?fit=797%2C506&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-10_21-12-18.jpg?fit=797%2C506&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-10_21-12-18.jpg?fit=797%2C506&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":161,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=161","url_meta":{"origin":1141,"position":3},"title":"Trump\u2019s Stance on Russia Sanctions Angers Both Moscow and Washington","author":"Donnie","date":"January 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0By\u00a0NEIL MacFARQUHAR\u00a0and\u00a0PETER BAKER\u00a0\u00a0JAN. 30, 2018 Photo President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Hamburg, Germany, last year. Many of Mr. Putin\u2019s closest advisers appear on a Trump administration list of people identified because their \u201ccloseness to the Russian regime.\u201d\u00a0CreditStephen Crowley\/The New York Times MOSCOW \u2014 The Trump\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Presidential Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Presidential Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_12-22-57-1.jpg?fit=767%2C477&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_12-22-57-1.jpg?fit=767%2C477&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_12-22-57-1.jpg?fit=767%2C477&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_12-22-57-1.jpg?fit=767%2C477&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":165,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=165","url_meta":{"origin":1141,"position":4},"title":"Trump\u2019s Conspicuous Silence Leaves a Struggle Against Russia Without a Leader","author":"Donnie","date":"February 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0PETER BAKER\u00a0\u00a0FEB. 17, 2018 Photo President Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday. Mr. Trump has made little, if any public, effort to rally the nation to confront Moscow for its electoral intrusion or to defend democratic institutions against continued disruption.\u00a0CreditAl Drago for The New York Times WASHINGTON \u2014\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Presidential Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Presidential Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_12-25-05.jpg?fit=767%2C510&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_12-25-05.jpg?fit=767%2C510&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_12-25-05.jpg?fit=767%2C510&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_12-25-05.jpg?fit=767%2C510&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1061,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1061","url_meta":{"origin":1141,"position":5},"title":"Trump Upends Global Trade Order Built by U.S.","author":"Donnie","date":"June 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Ana Swanson June 10, 2018 President Trump has criticized the tariffs imposed on American goods as \u201cridiculous and unacceptable.\u201dCreditDoug Mills\/The New York Times WASHINGTON \u2014 At the rockiest annual meeting of major Western powers in decades, President Trump criticized the tariffs imposed on American goods as \u201cridiculous and unacceptable\u201d and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;National News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"National News","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-10_21-02-42.jpg?fit=796%2C502&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-10_21-02-42.jpg?fit=796%2C502&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-10_21-02-42.jpg?fit=796%2C502&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-10_21-02-42.jpg?fit=796%2C502&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1144,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions\/1144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}