So, just in the last week, Trump has made an extremely divisive Supreme Court nomination, threatened to blow up NATO, promised billions of dollars in new and unpopular tariffs, and provoked huge demonstrations in the UK. His next stop is a meeting with Putin, where the two strongmen will mug for the cameras like old friends and probably agree in private on, well, God knows what.
The Summer of Love, it ain’t.
Trump Summer
Hot summer streets
And the internet’s sizzling.
It’s all around.
Trying to smile
But the air is so heavy with dread.
Strange voices are saying
What did he say?
Things no one understands.
It’s too close for comfort.
The b.s. is just out of hand.
(Chorus)
It’s a Trump, Trump summer.
Why can’t he leave us alone?
It’s a Trump, Trump summer
‘Till he’s gone.
Supreme nominations
A big NATO meeting
And Putin, too.
It’s too much to handle
I wish I could get up and go.
It’s a Trump, Trump summer.
Why can’t he leave us alone?
It’s a Trump, Trump summer
‘Till he’s gone.
Hope it’s just two years from now.
(Repeat chorus)
Parody of “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama.
He was a young man in a hurry. Cool and cerebral, he won over the establishment and became his country’s leader at an early age. He then succeeded in weathering an enormous national crisis.
Is it Obama or William Pitt the Younger? You decide.
Judges are not, strictly speaking, politicians, but it is fairly easy to identify Kavanaugh as a PBP, given his overriding interest in striking down regulations. Amy Barrett, on the other hand, clearly was a Reactionary.
The core of the current GOP is the deal in which PBPs support social conservative legislation and judges in exchange for regressive tax cuts. As I’ve noted before, the events of the last several years show that the Reactionaries think they have gotten the short end of the stick. They want more, and they expect Trump to deliver.
Ross Douthat, who is a mixture of CD and Reactionary (but mostly the latter), thinks there will be hell to pay in the GOP if Kavanaugh is just a vote to nibble at the edges of Roe. That makes sense, on its face, but is he right? I think not; the Reactionaries are so committed to Trump that they would learn to live with a “moderate” justice, just as they have learned to love Putin and Kim.
He was a bright, affable, left-wing politician with a great appetite for life. Unfortunately, his love of food made him fat, and his taste for women made him suspect in respectable circles. He had a successful career, but he never truly fulfilled his potential.
Is it Bill Clinton or Charles James Fox? You decide.
I obviously don’t share many political opinions with Kavanaugh, but he is a mainstream conservative thinker with a long and distinguished history of public service. His record is the best insurance we can reasonably request that he won’t turn into a stooge for Trump. If the Democrats somehow managed to defeat his nomination, the next choice would probably be worse.
In a better world, he would be open about his jurisprudential views during the confirmation process, and he would be approved fairly quickly, with few objections. Instead, this will turn into a battle to mobilize both the blue and the red bases, he won’t give any meaningful answers to questions, the blue NGOs will try to destroy him personally, and he will be confirmed in a close vote, anyway.
It’s going to be a miserable few months.
There are three things to remember about Ted Cruz. First, he’s a committed and intense Reactionary, with a few CL ideas about economics thrown in to appeal to the Koch brothers. Second, he’s almost insanely ambitious. Finally, in the service of #1 and #2, his tactics are extremely flexible. One day he supports Trump; the next day he doesn’t. He’s used so many people in Congress for his own purposes that even his ostensible ideological allies don’t like him.
There is something about Cruz that just smells like death. There is a reason why I pitted him against Dracula in a previous post. It is easy to imagine him burning heretics in an earlier era.
That conveniently brings us to his historical twin–Philip II of Spain, who was described as “lugubrious” in a book I read over my vacation. “Lugubrious” is a perfect word for Cruz.
You could question the wisdom of David Davis’ resignation, but there is no doubt, given his continuing support for the PM, that it was a principled, very British kind of act. Given Bo Jo’s history of rank opportunism, however, his resignation should be viewed as an attempt to bring down a crumbling government and create a path to power for himself.
Will it work? The one area in which Theresa May excels is in keeping power, so don’t bet the ranch on it.
Other than tax cuts, there’s nothing that unites the GOP factions like a Supreme Court nomination. The Reactionaries and CDs look forward to having a culture warrior on their side; the CLs and PBPs anticipate further deregulation of business.
Trump’s nominee will be announced in his usual “Apprentice” fashion this evening. Whoever it is will undoubtedly be of great help during the campaign, and thereafter, to a GOP that agrees internally on very little else.
He grew up in a rich and powerful family that was viewed as slightly less than respectable in the highest circles. As a result, he had a chip on his shoulder his entire life.
He swaggered and loved displays of military might. Contemptuous of rules, he put his faith completely in power. He took on his country’s political establishment and destroyed traditional foreign alliances shortly after taking power. His bluster alienated almost every nation in the neighborhood. His subordinates viewed him as a loose cannon who was incapable of being restrained; on more than one occasion, that turned out to be true.
In the end, he wrote a blank check to the one remaining ally his country had, and the result was disastrous. He lost his job, and his country lost the war.
Is it Trump or Kaiser Wilhelm II? Time will tell.
Pruitt made the moral and legal connection between unprincipled deregulation and grifting clear to everyone. Now he’s gone, and Trump will undoubtedly replace him with a blander version of the same thing. That’s not much of an improvement.
The GOP is divided on virtually everything except tax cuts and the Supreme Court, so it is no surprise that Hamilton gets mixed reviews, as well:
CLs: Ugh! We hate big government! Jefferson rocks!
PBPs: Yeah, baby! The patron saint of American capitalism!
Reactionaries: We don’t like the immigrant part, but at least he made America great with his focus on economic and military power.
CDs: Not keen on his personal morality, but we approve of his stance on slavery.
CLs: The Revolution was about freedom from big, oppressive government.
PBPs: It’s about capitalism and the biggest economy on the planet. Damn right we’re proud of it.
CDs: Freedom from established religion.
Reactionaries: God, guns, and guts made America free. We celebrate military victories, Christianity, and good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon culture. Down with foreigners!
Would You Sell Your Soul For A Tax Cut?
Would you sell your soul for a tax cut?
If you’re Ryan, you certainly would.
Help the rich when you can.
Cause you follow Ayn Rand.
You would do it again if you could.
Would you sell your soul for Neil Gorsuch?
For McConnell, it wasn’t in doubt.
Cause Gorsuch unites
Every part of the right
And he kept a big liberal out.
Would you trade your soul for your ego?
For Trump, that’s barely a choice.
The one is so small
You can’t see it at all
While the other’s as loud as his voice.