Ezra Klein

And the FBI in the sort of internal chaos misses some things and you have deaths on American soil. That's a huge amount of risk you've taken on. I mean, the guy they fired, Chris Wray, he was Trump's appointee. It wasn't some Democrat. Trump named him in his first term. But Elon, right, what he did here was he created a kind of death star of primary money.

And he has said that, like, if you cross Trump in Congress, even as a Republican, you're done. Like, between Trump's control of attention and loyalty and my ability to outspend you, like, you're toast. I think what that reveals is that what he wants is for power to be centralized under Trump. We've been talking about through bureaucracy, but he also wants it to be true in Congress.

And he has said that, like, if you cross Trump in Congress, even as a Republican, you're done. Like, between Trump's control of attention and loyalty and my ability to outspend you, like, you're toast. I think what that reveals is that what he wants is for power to be centralized under Trump. We've been talking about through bureaucracy, but he also wants it to be true in Congress.

And he has said that, like, if you cross Trump in Congress, even as a Republican, you're done. Like, between Trump's control of attention and loyalty and my ability to outspend you, like, you're toast. I think what that reveals is that what he wants is for power to be centralized under Trump. We've been talking about through bureaucracy, but he also wants it to be true in Congress.

I am not a Donald Trump fan, but obviously other people are Donald Trump fans, right? Obviously, I think at this point, Elon Musk is a Donald Trump fan, but much of the country thinks this guy is great. And I think we should take what they are doing at word and deed. The point of Donald Trump is that Donald Trump is right about things. We should give him power and he should use that power.

I am not a Donald Trump fan, but obviously other people are Donald Trump fans, right? Obviously, I think at this point, Elon Musk is a Donald Trump fan, but much of the country thinks this guy is great. And I think we should take what they are doing at word and deed. The point of Donald Trump is that Donald Trump is right about things. We should give him power and he should use that power.

I am not a Donald Trump fan, but obviously other people are Donald Trump fans, right? Obviously, I think at this point, Elon Musk is a Donald Trump fan, but much of the country thinks this guy is great. And I think we should take what they are doing at word and deed. The point of Donald Trump is that Donald Trump is right about things. We should give him power and he should use that power.

My sense is you have some mixed feelings about him, but not everybody does. And this sort of very consistent application of authority across the people he's named. J.D. Vance, the difference between Mike Pence and J.D. Vance is J.D.

My sense is you have some mixed feelings about him, but not everybody does. And this sort of very consistent application of authority across the people he's named. J.D. Vance, the difference between Mike Pence and J.D. Vance is J.D.

My sense is you have some mixed feelings about him, but not everybody does. And this sort of very consistent application of authority across the people he's named. J.D. Vance, the difference between Mike Pence and J.D. Vance is J.D.

Vance said explicitly in the whole run up to the vice presidential sweepstakes that his view of what went wrong in the first administration is between the bureaucracy and the staff, too many people are trying to inhibit Donald Trump. and that what he would do is tell Trump that he's got to get rid of these generals and he's got to get people who will do what Trump actually said.

Vance said explicitly in the whole run up to the vice presidential sweepstakes that his view of what went wrong in the first administration is between the bureaucracy and the staff, too many people are trying to inhibit Donald Trump. and that what he would do is tell Trump that he's got to get rid of these generals and he's got to get people who will do what Trump actually said.

Vance said explicitly in the whole run up to the vice presidential sweepstakes that his view of what went wrong in the first administration is between the bureaucracy and the staff, too many people are trying to inhibit Donald Trump. and that what he would do is tell Trump that he's got to get rid of these generals and he's got to get people who will do what Trump actually said.

The view of Trump's fans, the view of his allies, is that the first term didn't go well enough because they had too much opposition from Republicans in Congress who talked Trump into things they shouldn't have talked him into and too much opposition from the civil service and even from Trump's own staff.

The view of Trump's fans, the view of his allies, is that the first term didn't go well enough because they had too much opposition from Republicans in Congress who talked Trump into things they shouldn't have talked him into and too much opposition from the civil service and even from Trump's own staff.

The view of Trump's fans, the view of his allies, is that the first term didn't go well enough because they had too much opposition from Republicans in Congress who talked Trump into things they shouldn't have talked him into and too much opposition from the civil service and even from Trump's own staff.

I think a very simple heuristic of why these terms are so different is that the most important member of the Trump family, Trump aside, in the first term was Jared Kushner and maybe Ivanka. And the most important member of the family in the second is Don Trump Jr., Right. Kushner brought in a bunch of inhibitors.

I think a very simple heuristic of why these terms are so different is that the most important member of the Trump family, Trump aside, in the first term was Jared Kushner and maybe Ivanka. And the most important member of the family in the second is Don Trump Jr., Right. Kushner brought in a bunch of inhibitors.

I think a very simple heuristic of why these terms are so different is that the most important member of the Trump family, Trump aside, in the first term was Jared Kushner and maybe Ivanka. And the most important member of the family in the second is Don Trump Jr., Right. Kushner brought in a bunch of inhibitors.

He brought in mainstream figures like Gary Cohn and, you know, Kushner represented other parts of society that, you know, were sort of mixed on Trump and they wanted him to do certain things and not others. And there was maybe a productive tension. McConnell, you know, was majority leader. He was more powerful than Thune is. Paul Ryan was speaker. He's more powerful than Mike Johnson is.