Category: Uncategorized

To the extent that DeSantis tried attacking Trump at all, it was from the right on social issues. That didn’t go well. Haley is attacking Trump from the right on fiscal issues and foreign policy; that isn’t faring too well, either. But what would have happened if a genuine populist–both on social and economic issues–had challenged the man on golf cart? Would the result have been different?

Probably not, because the GOP rich men north of Richmond would have done everything in their power to tank this hypothetical candidate. They like their populism on the bogus side, and totally oriented towards social issues. Nevertheless, it would have been a lot more interesting than the race we actually had.

Biden keeps pushing a Palestinian state on Bibi, and Bibi keeps pushing back. It appears that Biden is getting played, and our supposed insider influence has come to nothing. The left is outraged. It’s easy to see why.

But I think Biden is playing a longer game here. The audience for his diplomacy isn’t Bibi; it’s the Israeli public and the rest of the war cabinet, which is openly split on what happens next in Gaza. Bibi is wildly unpopular, and an election isn’t far away. Can he really run on a platform of saying no to the rest of the world and footing the entire bill for the occupation of Gaza and still win? I have my doubts.

Based on the limited available data, reasonable people can disagree as to whether social media, on balance, are bad for kids. It probably depends on the individual circumstances. The logical response, then, is to leave the issue to their parents.

The Florida GOP doesn’t agree. It is pursuing a bill that would ban minors from setting up social media accounts, regardless of their parents’ wishes.

This stacks up with the treatment of transgender children as another example of GOP hypocrisy on “parents’ rights”. The reality is that the GOP only believes in “parents’ rights” when the parents in question are pushing a reactionary agenda.

It’s an ideological issue masquerading as an authority and process question.

Bret Stephens looks at the incredibly extensive (and expensive) network of Hamas tunnels under residential areas and concludes that the terror group is responsible for every single death in Gaza. Is he right?

No, because his analysis ignores the international law principle of proportionality. If Israel is entitled to kill as many Palestinian civilians as necessary in order to kill a single Hamas fighter, it has a green light to commit genocide.

Israel is not, in reality, committing genocide in Gaza, but this kind of reasoning doesn’t help its cause. Yes, the Israelis are acting in self-defense, and yes, giving Hamas fighters a free pass in order to spare civilians is a reward of sorts for disgusting and irresponsible behavior. But that doesn’t mean the Israelis have a blank check to do anything they want in Gaza. As Biden correctly continues to tell them, they need to do everything in their power to separate civilians from fighters and kill only the latter.

The first stage of the war met the international standard. After that, I have my doubts.

The leadership of CNN knows Trump is good for business, but bad for the country. They are apparently struggling with the issue of whether to cover the man on golf cart’s speeches, presumably because they don’t want to provide a platform for his lies. Is this a good idea?

Ignoring Trump is a mistake at all possible levels. Trump’s current edge in the polls is due largely to his refusal to face hostile questioning at the debates. As a result, the race is currently a referendum on Biden–a battle that Trump is likely to win.

America needs to see Trump at his most demented in order to remember what life was like in 2020. That means giving him lots of coverage and letting him speak for himself. If he does, he will shoot himself in the foot with everyone but the base. He can’t help it; it’s who he is.

We didn’t have to be here. If Mitch McConnell had worked to get a decision against Trump in the second impeachment trial, the GOP nomination would still be up for grabs. Now Mitch is going to have to support a man he absolutely despises, knowing that if Trump wins in November, his job and his legacy will be in jeopardy. Talk about a self-inflicted wound!

This is all because Mitch thought Trump was finished; he could avoid alienating the base by acquitting the man on golf cart without running any risks to the party and himself. Bad call, buddy.

It’s official now–the GOP is the MAGA Party. This was Haley’s best chance, but she couldn’t get it done. Trump will be the nominee.

But I don’t expect Haley to give up, for two reasons. First, as I explained before, she has nothing to lose by continuing to irritate the base, since they will never embrace her under any circumstances. Second, there is a theoretical possibility that the Supreme Court could find that Trump is disqualified to hold office as an insurrectionist. What do the Republicans do then? They need a Plan B until the Court rules, just in case.

It is becoming increasingly clear that tens of millions of Americans look back longingly at the Trump economy of 2019. The events of 2020 have been somehow erased from their brains. It is incumbent on Biden and his friends to jog their memories.

But simply attracting attention to Trump’s unsavory past isn’t enough; he needs to be asked about his vision for the future, and how he plans to get there. How, exactly, does he think he can bring back 2019? Won’t massive tariffs cause inflation? Where will we find the workforce to staff all of the new manufacturing plants he wants to see, given the current unemployment rate, particularly in light of his plan to deport millions of workers? How can we afford another tax cut, given the current deficit? Why does it make sense to invest in dying rather than growing industries? And so on.

EU markets are about to be flooded by relatively cheap Chinese EVs, says The Economist. And a good thing, too; they will help fight climate change and inflation. If domestic car companies are damaged by the exports, so what? History tells us they’ll adjust. If the Chinese want to pay Europeans through extensive subsidies to drive their cars, God bless them.

The argument makes a certain amount of sense, even if it is politically tone deaf. The bottom line, however, is that you can make the same arguments about the American efforts to promote the domestic production of green products, but The Economist thinks those are an appalling example of protectionism.

I sense a double standard here. The Chinese are just being Chinese, so we don’t expect much from them, but the Americans have an obligation to stand up for free trade even when no one else will do so due to the toxic politics.

David French thinks Congress represents the truly democratic element of the federal government. He, like many other commentators, also believes it is broken. His solution? Overturn Chevron, and things will get back to normal. Is he right?

Not in this case. The reasons for congressional dysfunction–the filibuster and a right-wing party that is more interested in drama and oppressing half the population than good governance–have nothing to do with Chevron, and will not go away if it is overturned.

If Chevron completely disappears, two things will happen. First, power will flow from unelected experts (bureaucrats) to unelected, increasingly partisan non-experts (judges). That’s not exactly a win for democracy. Second, the validity of all of our administrative rules will be back on the table, which is a recipe for chaos.

We just have to hope that Roberts and Barrett succeed in limiting this decision to issues that don’t really require special expertise. That is possible, but hardly a given.

Nothing good, as you probably guessed.

By quitting early in the process, DeSantis is trying to improve his chances for 2028; he is, in effect, engaging in damage control with the reactionary base. If he wants to be Trump’s heir, he needs to feed the base red meat on the regular basis. That means a steady diet of anti-wokeness legislation as long as he remains in office.

You can’t wait, I know.

Nikki Haley pretty much has to win New Hampshire. If she doesn’t, she’s likely, in Chris Christie’s words, to get smoked in South Carolina, and that will be that.

But don’t expect her to drop out, like DeSantis, because, unlike him, the Indian woman knows she will never win the hearts of the base. She has nothing to hope for from either Trump or his supporters. She is fighting for an alternative version of the GOP, not to be Trump’s heir.

She also has plenty of money and a clear field. Trump could go to jail, or choke on a cheeseburger. Why not fight on? Miracles do happen sometimes.

As far as DeSantis is concerned, God created him to be president, and who is he to deny the divine will? He has consequently convinced himself that the reactionary base still loves him; it only wanted him to wait his turn. As a result, he has dropped out earlier than expected and endorsed Trump. His reward, he imagines, will be the nomination in 2028.

DeSantis isn’t Ted Cruz; I fully expect him to do everything in his power to elect Trump between now and November. Nevertheless, I think he’s kidding himself if he believes the base will forgive him for his presumption in challenging their hero. In addition, he will be out of office by the beginning of 2027. Where will he go to generate headlines and win free time on Fox News?

His time has come and gone. The GOP nominee in 2028, if we even have an election at that point, won’t be one of the Class of 2024.

With the support of Mike Johnson, the usual coalition of Democrats and semi-sane Republicans have kicked the budget can back to March. We’ll undoubtedly do the same thing again in two months. This time, however, there is relatively little talk of defenestrating the Speaker, or of demanding concessions to keep him in office. Why?

For two reasons. First of all, both the Democrats and the Republicans have come to understand that there are no plausible better alternatives to this bizarre status quo until the election in November. Second, the GOP thinks it is going to win a crushing victory in November. Why look like a bunch of nihilists and put the election in jeopardy just for a premature rush of dopamine?

The belief of GOP voters that victory is imminent and inevitable is going to present a huge problem in November if, as in 2020 and 2022, it doesn’t happen. For now, however, it is working in the public interest.

Donald Trump believes that negotiations are a test of manhood, and that there can be only one winner. In his world, there is no win-win; there is only I win, you lose. How do you win? Mostly by creating and using leverage as ruthlessly as possible.

With that in mind, you would think he would be talking up Ukraine, and threatening to escalate American assistance, if he wants to make a deal with Putin. He is, of course, doing no such thing. What does that tell us?

Trump is a Putin fanboy, and he hates Ukraine. That’s what’s motivating him here. He doesn’t want to make a deal on Ukraine, and extract concessions from Putin in return; he just wants to prove his worth to the killer in the Kremlin.