 July 15, 2021 | by Chris Cillizza and Lauren Dezenski Donald Trump doesn't believe in coups. But if he did ...  Donald Trump wants to get something straight. He's not a big coup guy.
"Despite massive Voter Fraud and Irregularities during the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, that we are now seeing play out in very big and important States, I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government," Trump said in response to reporting from a forthcoming book that alleges that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley -- among other top generals -- was deeply concerned that the 45th President would lead a coup if he lost the 2020 election.
Which, well, OK. Trump is anti-coup! Except that his statement didn't end there.
Here's the next bit:
"So ridiculous! Sorry to inform you, but an Election is my form of 'coup,' and if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is General Mark Milley."
😦😦😦
So Trump is saying that he's against coups but if he DID, uh, do a coup, he definitely wouldn't do one with Milley? That's not comforting at all!
With Trump, it's always difficult to grade his degradation of the office of president for a simple reason: He just did so many things that no other person who had served in the office prior would even think of, much less act on.
That panoply of transgressions makes it difficult to say things like "the most dangerous" or "the worst." There are just so many.
Especially when you consider that we, as a country, are just over six months removed from an armed insurrection at the US Capitol that left more than 100 police officers injured, five people dead and nearly 530 charged for their roles in the riot.
The Point: That Trump isn't seemingly aware of that context -- or of the message he sends by talking about the sort of coup compadres he would want (or not) -- is par for the course. That doesn't make it any less scary.
-- Chris QUOTE OF THE DAY "Today we live in a world where misinformation poses an imminent and insidious threat to our nation's health." -- US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on the dire impact of misinformation about Covid-19 vaccination efforts around the world. THURSDAY'S TOP TWEETS  1. SCOTUS news! 2. Oh, Ron Johnson [slaps forehead] 3. A good 🧵on what the Delta variant is (and what it isn't) 4. This is quality internet content 5. It's Linda Ronstadt's birthday!
CHRIS' GOOD READS The New York Times' Ezra Klein asks the right question: What would it take for the general public to actually take climate change seriously?
Who will be the next Democratic House leader when Nancy Pelosi retires? Axios' Sarah Mucha makes a compelling case for Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark.
I think David Graham of The Atlantic is, basically, right with his thesis here: The America Joe Biden is speaking to doesn't actually exist.
I am a fan of Mental Floss for stories just like this: a champion Armenian swimmer who saved eight people from drowning.
They had me at "elastic waistbands on everything."
MUSICAL INTERLUDE There are few voices in rock music as distinctive and cool as Jim James'. James, the front man for My Morning Jacket, occasionally releases solo music too. (Here's one he did with the Louisville Orchestra.) His latest is a cover of the Steve Miller Band's "Seasons." "HI, THIS IS DONALD TRUMP."  Meet the high-flying and contrived online persona of Matthew Tunstall, a 34-year-old from Texas who over the past three years has raised millions of dollars operating two political action committees that impersonated the Trump campaign.
Much of Tunstall's ill-gotten wealth comes from PAC donations made by retirees, report CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck:
His PACs appear to follow a simple, cyclical pattern: they raise money to pay for robocalls so they can raise more money to pay for more robocalls. Nearly all of the money not used to sustain the PACs goes toward paying Tunstall. Even the paperwork the PACs are supposed to file regularly with the FEC raises serious concerns, according to experts, and the PACs frequently miss reporting deadlines.
Tunstall's operation is so egregious, it "could almost be construed as a performance art piece designed to showcase the FEC's fecklessness," said Rob Pyers, a campaign finance researcher who tracks scam PACs on Twitter.
Read on for more about what this means for the federal elections regulators ... and why this is not good news for those who want a functioning oversight system.
WHEN HINDSIGHT IS CONCERNING  A swath of new books about former President Trump's final months in office reveal even more concerning details than we knew before ... even by Trump's standards.
Chris breaks down what these bombshell excerpts tell about the chaos culminating Trump's tumultuous tenure.
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