Obama Breaks Silence on Trump’s ‘Unimaginable’ Presidency - “Imagine if I had done any of this,” the former two-term president said.

[u/Quirkie]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obama-breaks-silence-on-trumps-unimaginable-presidency/

[u/Grand-Pen7946]

The original circus leader was Newt Gingrich. A lot of Congressmen from the 80s and 90s of both parties have frequently said that there was a radical shift in tone when he showed up. There have been a lot of opportunists and charlatans, but Newt successfully created an institution of theatrics and doing politics for show.

A lot of the negative effects of the Reagan era and its philosophy were really pushed and enacted by Newt in the 90s, with Bill Clinton complicitly playing along to appease him. That's not to absolve Clinton of his own genuine neoliberalism, but much of the shockwave of Reagan does come from Newt Gingrich who turned Congress into a circus, and you can draw a straight line from him to Lauren Boebert and her ilk.

[u/fcocyclone → u/Grand-Pen7946]

The Atlantic had a great piece on that

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/

[u/Bellerophonian → u/fcocyclone]

Thanks for sharing

[u/BillyBatts83 → u/fcocyclone]

Great piece, thanks for sharing.

[u/vf-guy → u/Grand-Pen7946]

Let's not forget that raging turd Paul Ryan.

[u/usernamedanistaken → u/Grand-Pen7946]

I tried to find it, but there is a REALLY great documentary on specifically this and his rise (and fall) as Speaker. I think PBS did it, so it's probably on YouTube somewhere

[u/mac3687 → u/usernamedanistaken]

Now I'm looking!

[u/snowlock27 → u/Grand-Pen7946]

Newt and his Contract With On America.