A New Chance for Democrats to Lead...
Plus, what it means to be a Republican in 2022.
Recently at The Bulwark:
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AMANDA CARPENTER has this lead story on What It Means to Be a Republican in 2022.
It’s the friendship of the mob boss: Do what he tells you and there won’t be any trouble. Which explains a lot of the behind-the-scenes grumbling in Republican politics. The guys paying protection money never actually like the mob boss.
Then there is the handful of Republicans who decided to openly buck Trump.
Ten Republicans in the House and seven Republicans in the Senate voted to impeach Trump for inciting the January 6th insurrection. Mitt Romney was among them. Generally known as a mild-mannered Mormon, he reportedly yelled, “You have caused this!” at the Electoral College-objecting Josh Hawley as Trump’s mob breached the Capitol.
Another objector, Jim Jordan, attempted to escort Liz Cheney away from danger during that time. She slapped his hand away, telling him, “Get away from me. You fucking did this.”
Today it’s the Romneys and the Cheneys who are getting yelled at.
Democrats say they're the party of government. Why not make it run more effectively — so the FDA isn't so ham-fisted and the CDC isn't so slow? Also, one year after Jan.6, how have our electoral guardrails still not been fixed? Bill Kristol joins Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
PHILIP ROTNER argues: If Giuliani-like sycophants had replaced just five officials, Trump’s coup would have succeeded.
Over two years ago, I wrote that Donald Trump’s failure to recognize, until it was too late, that he needed to corrupt the executive branch all the way down to the level of inspectors general had put him on a fast track to impeachment. Two federal inspectors general had exposed presidential misconduct in Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and, sure enough, Trump was subsequently impeached (although not removed). More likely than not, when Trump took office he had no idea what inspectors general did, so the idea that he’d better replace some of them with “his people” probably never occurred to him. Be assured, it’s occurred to him now.
A similar dynamic frustrated Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. His corruption of the federal government was negligent, only half done. While he had loyalists like Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General William Barr in key offices, their loyalty only went so far. They retained sufficient independence—or shame or residual political ambition or concern over their legacies—to be unwilling to go along with Trump’s attempt to overturn the election.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Happy New Year’s! There’s a lot on the docket, and a lot for us to focus on in the coming months, and we’re glad you are with us. But first of all, greetings from a snowy Washington, D.C. region. We are not equipped for snow. Where I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, each city had its own snow department. But unlike the D.C. area, Virginia is made up of vast counties with few actual municipalities. The state handles the roads, not the HOAs.
Which is how I found myself helping my neighbor digging out his sprinter van earlier this afternoon to make sure the plows, when they come, if they come, could get through. We got at least a foot of snow, which, in Cleveland, would have been a typical day ending in y. But here? It doesn’t happen that much, and the state uses contractors. It’s one of those public choice tradeoffs: Do you spend on a dedicated snow removal operation, or do you build the infrastructure to supply contractors, knowing that they’ll be less efficient, but you’ll save money?
The latter is generally what Virginia, outside of its few actual cities, does. It makes sense, for the most part. It’s a matter of tradeoffs. Which is why I found myself and my neighbors and their pick up trucks helping compact the snow and get his van back home until the cavalry came.
Can we talk about how China handled COVID two years ago? Not good! Guess who bought it? The Trump administration.
Hockey is awesome. Perhaps the best league of them all.
A good sports weekend… Go Buckeyes and go Blues!
That’s it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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