The Do-Nothing Party
Plus: The ‘Criminal Immigrant’ Canard
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WILL SALETAN: The Do-Nothing Party.
OVER THE LAST DECADE, as the Republican party has hardened into a cult, it has sidelined or purged a series of principled conservatives. Sen. Mitt Romney, who stood alone among Republicans when he voted to convict Donald Trump at his first impeachment trial, has since announced his retirement. Rep. Liz Cheney, who served as chair of the House Republican Conference in 2019 and 2020, was expelled from that job in 2021 and voted out of Congress a year later for defending the Constitution against Trump’s coup attempt. Of the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in January 2021, only two remain in office.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Josh Barro: Dear Fed, Please Lower Interest Rates [Ad-Free🔐]
Shield of the Republic: The Art of Propaganda with Peter Pomerantsev
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MONA CHAREN: The ‘Criminal Immigrant’ Canard.
PRESIDENT BIDEN CHOSE TO SCRAP a bit with Marjorie Taylor Greene at the State of the Union—a choice that should remind us of the old saw, “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”
Greene has two modes: heckling and lying. This time, she was doing both by bellowing that Biden should “Say her name,” a reference to Laken Riley, the nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant. Biden said the name (though he mangled it) and added the reasonable observation that thousands of people are murdered every year by the native-born. A few progressive speech police then attacked Biden (!) for using the politically incorrect term “illegal” for the murderer, causing Biden to correct himself, and here we are—all covered in mud while the pig is grinning.
WILL SELBER: The Return of Al Qaeda to Afghanistan: How Seriously to Take the Threat.
MY PHONE BLEW UP in April 2021 after President Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. My contacts throughout the Afghan government asked for immediate meetings. While those of us working in the U.S. embassy in Kabul knew of the president’s deliberations, nobody was warned of his decision before he announced it to the world.
As a military diplomat, I tried to reassure jittery allies that we would continue to stand by them. Some Afghans were cocksure, predicting the Afghan government would defeat the Taliban, al Qaeda, and their Pakistani sponsors. Many senior-ranking Afghan National Army officers asked for visas to ensure the safety of their families so they could continue fighting. Other officials panicked, bargained, or eventually disappeared.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Thursday! I’ll be on the road tonight for TNB, listening, I hope, but not there in the comments to remind you to change your chat settings! Interested to hear what our Yutes have to say.
America’s southern border… has become a global crossroads (The Economist).
Inside the $50 Million “Never Trump” Plan… to Finish Him Off for Good. Sarah joins Greg Sargent on the TNR pod.
St. Patrick's Day's Origins… From our friends at the Connors Institute.
Go green? Not Republicans when they took back the House… Here’s why they ditched the green member pin (E&E News).
A new Ukraine GAO report… “DOD Should Improve Data for Both Defense Article Delivery and End-Use Monitoring.”
Here is the call between Putin… and Emmanuel Macron.
Stand up to Bully Putin… A new ad from our friends at Republicans for Ukraine.
Quote of the Day:
"It’s beyond sad how much news we indirectly receive from GoFundMe now."
—B+ member and former college floormate Jon B., in discussing a recent story in St. Louis about school violence.
Is AI Perpetuating Racial Stereotypes or Way Too Woke? The great Lewis Black investigates.
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