David Pakman

You see it in the press conferences.

You see it in cable news hits.

You see it in the hallway interviews with Republicans.

We used to spend time debating the content of Trump's speeches.

Trump was belligerent or sharp or confused or whatever.

The signal is increasingly what is happening after Trump speaks when allies in his party are forced to stand up there and explain what happened and either defend it or not defend it.

Now, a few years ago, these were instant defenses.

There was the cleanup crew came out and they didn't really feel like they were doing cleanup.

They were excited.

They weren't second guessing Trump.

They defended every front with everything Trump said exactly as he said it.

You heard the man, right?

It was sort of that level of support that's gone.

And if you watch now, you see the pauses, you see the caveats in the language, you see the hedging.

And when they are asked straightforward questions, Trump said X, Trump did Y. You see a moment of silence.

the gears trying to grind their rust off of them.

And what Republicans are increasingly thinking about is not how do I forcefully support the dear leader?

It's how can I answer this without screwing myself by signing on to cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs stuff that Donald Trump either said or did.

It's like a translation layer.

Hey, Trump just said something completely whacked like, oh, it's good that Robert Mueller is dead.