Rick Wilson > Quotes

“Trump isn’t Hitler. Hitler had normal-sized hands and the ability to concentrate for more than thirty seconds.”
― Rick Wilson, Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump — And Democrats from Themselves

“Don’t build a watch; tell voters the time.”
― Rick Wilson, Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump — And Democrats from Themselves

“Trump is a complete package of the Founders’ greatest fears—delusions of royalty, appeals to the basest appetites of the polity, populism over small-r republicanism, and vulnerability to the blandishments of foreign powers who so obviously are welcome to corrupt him with gifts or flattery of his ravenous ego.

To date, his actions have had the possible check of the 2020 election hanging over him, which has influenced him whether or not he admits it. Trump needs to win reelection to continue his nation-state level, god-tier grifting and to avoid prosecution.

He thrives not on a competition of ideas but on the division of the country. Our parties and politics will follow him down, fighting a dirtier, more savage battle until we’ve forgotten what it means to share even the most common baseline with our fellow Americans. The cold civil war is warming by the day. He’s not the only centrifugal political force, but he’s the most powerful.

This will only accelerate if he is reelected. There will be no end to his ambition and no check on his actions. He will conclude that he’s the winner who wins, and for him that will justify everything in his catalog of errors and terrors. We’ve learned there is no bottom with Trump, no level to which he won’t sink, no excess he won’t embrace.”
― Rick Wilson, Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump — And Democrats from Themselves

“Most presidents would instantly draw a sharp, clean line between campaign operations and the use of military force. This is the proverbial “wag the dog” scenario where a president in trouble seeks to bomb his way out of it by hitting a target overseas. With no adult supervision in the Pentagon—just who is the acting, provisional, temporary, staffing-agency, drop-in SECDEF this week?—no one should put it past Trump to escalate conflicts with China, Iran, or elsewhere when some part of his lizard brain tells him that some boom-boom will goose his polling numbers.

Some of my former GOP colleagues will whisper, “How dare you accuse the American president of ever using the military for…” and then drop the subject, because no matter how deep they are in the Trump hole, they know who this man is and what he’ll do. Trump proves time and again that morals, laws, norms, traditions, rules, guidelines, recommendations, and tearful pleading from his staff mean nothing when he gets a power boner and decides he’s going to do something stupid. President Hold My Beer comes from the Modern Unitary Executive Power theory, where there are no limits, no laws, and no right and wrong. I’m not saying it’s a matter of if Trump will wag the dog in 2020. I’m saying that anyone who thinks he wouldn’t is a damn fool.”
― Rick Wilson, Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump — And Democrats from Themselves

“As a result of Trump’s train-wreck trade war with China and the rest of the world, Midwest farmers have lost many of their international markets; to mitigate the political damage, the Trump administration has showered them with “relief payments” to the tune of over $28 billion. It’s red-hat instead of red-banner socialism. But don’t dare call it that—it’s just the government redistributing wealth because of its failed attempt to manipulate markets and dictate production.”
― Rick Wilson, Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump — And Democrats from Themselves

“Some days, you can almost convince yourself he’s trying to lose this election. It feels like he’s sabotaging himself with the tweets, the crazy talk, the scandals generated by his own slips of the tongue and thumbs.

Shake it the fuck off.”
― Rick Wilson, Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump — And Democrats from Themselves

“Every time I hear “Hillary won the popular vote,” I cringe.

The correct answer to this is “And?”

Winning the popular vote and $5.45 gets you a venti mocha latte at Starbucks.

It. Means. Nothing.”
― Rick Wilson, Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump — And Democrats from Themselves