BTRTN: It's Different When Coats Turns on the Turncoat

[reggieandlee]

Born to Run the Numbers on the Helsinki fall-out, and the out-sized significance of Dan Coats' condemning tweet:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/07/btrtn-its-different-when-coats-turns-on.html

Excerpts: "There’s a clear pattern now. There are people that Trump is afraid to go to war with. People who Trump knows are not the least bit afraid of him. Quite the opposite: these are people who terrify Trump. These are the people who never get degrading nicknames. People who Trump can’t buy, can’t smear, can’t kill, and can’t beat. It’s a very short list, with the names Mueller and Putin on top. And now you can add Coates to the list. The difference is that Dan Coats is one of Trump’s own. He is of the base, from the base, and by the base. That’s what’s new...

"Deep down, Dan Coats is the kind of narrow-minded, omni-phobic slanderer of liberals that Trump’s base counts as one of their own. Dan Coats was not one of the sixteen midgets who said vicious things about Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, only to morph into toadies when vanquished. Coats did not come from Exxon Mobil and label Trump a moron. He did not get himself on the cover of Time Magazine in an attempt to usurp credit for victory from Trump. He is not Corker, Flake, McCain, or anybody named Bush. Dan Coats has held an extremely senior position in the White House from Day One without a whiff of confrontation or controversy. Dan Coats has weapons-grade conservative bona fides and no axe to grind. But that, indeed, is the point. That’s the good news... The base is now hearing it from one of their own."

[lagomorph777]

1. Interesting take.

How does it play out in practical terms? Does the Turd base know who Dan Coats is?

[reggieandlee]

3. Perfectly fair question...

I have no statistical source to quantify the breadth of awareness of Dan Coats among Trump's base. I do believe that his awareness jumped exponentially -- across the political spectrum -- when he launched his famous tweet. And in the news swirl that followed, it became clear that he was a long standing member of Trump's team who had openly defied the president. So it is hard to gauge the impact of Coat's rebellion among the rank and file, but the coverage was at saturation levels during a period of intense media coverage.

But Republicans in government know who Coats is, and I assume most have a sense that he is a long-standing staunch conservative who is highly aligned with some of the party's more extreme positions, most notably on LGBT issues. They also may know that Coats has a long-standing and deep mistrust of Russia and Putin. Taken in sum, it must have appeared to be a very sharp act of defiance on Coats' part. One of the key points the article was making was that Republicans in government saw one of Trump's own people openly rebel and emerge unscathed. That could embolden others to do the same... and the consequence of that would be a direct influence on the rank and file.

Thanks for commenting.

[lagomorph777]

4. An early leak in the dam?

I hope so.

[coeur_de_lion]

2. But he hasn't actually turned on him yet