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Notes -
Would they?
I thought the obviously correct interpretation of that clip is that Clayton knows that Biden won in 2020, but also knows that Trump thinks that he won and will not tolerate anybody telling him the truth. Saying that Trump won in 2020 is the calling-a-deer-a-horse loyalty test of Trumpism.
Clayton can't answer the question because if he says "Biden", Trump turns on him and he needs Trump's support, and if he says "Trump", he is firstly saying something on the record that is verifiably false, and secondly alienating everyone who isn't MAGA.
Surely it's a well-remarked-upon fact, at this point, that an awful lot of Republicans quietly, behind-the-scenes, think that Trump is crazy, but are willing to insincerely mouth agreement in order to keep their jobs, in the hope that by 2028 he'll go away and they can go back to normal? Maybe they're wrong - certainly the ongoing transformation of the Republican party will have effects, and it won't just reset back to where it was in 2012 - but I'm pretty confident that's what a great many of them are thinking.
Oh I completely agree with you. I was specifically arguing that that interpretation (that Clayton thinks Trump won in 2020) is false. I think many progressives will arrive at that conclusion, but I think it's the wrong one:
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