Megan Messerly,    -  PoliticoStephan: I have gotten to a point where I can not stand to hear Trump's voice, but last night as he spoke I turned the captions on so I could read what he was saying as he said it. The whole speech was either bragging or lying or both. What I did not understand was why the Democrats did not all get up and walk out of the chamber. That is certainly what I would have done. As I read the captions I realized that in addition to his sheer nastiness, Trump is now echoing the MAGAt think tanks that now dot Washington, and seek to legitimize what he says with papers and social media posts. We have become a country I don't recognize. A small majority of American voters has chosen a Congress and a President that are in the process of inflicting so much damage to the United States, that it is going to lead us into a recession and possibly a depression. Even worse it is going to render us unprepared for the climate disaster that is descending upon us. The exterior of Heritage Foundation headquarters is seen in Washington, D.C., June 7, 2024. Credit: Francis Chung / Politico President Donald Trump took office eight years ago as the ultimate outsider whose rhetoric often shocked Washington but was seldom taken seriously by the policy shops that have long helped administrations transform their agenda into action. Now, he has an army of think tanks and other advocacy groups behind him, reverse-engineering even his off-the-cuff statements into white papers, training legions of his acolytes — and jockeying for influence. All want to be seen as part of the MAGA brain trust, a paradoxical and often tricky job for a president who prides himself on operating from his gut and disdains the traditional policy process. That means when Trump says he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico, turn Gaza into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” buy Greenland, or ignore congressional spending laws, there’s likely now someone who not only takes the idea seriously but can tell you why they think it’s a sound policy that fits into a broader worldview. There are [...]

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