The GOP’s Cowardice Means They Will Live in Fear Forever
Their refusal to disqualify Donald Trump means he’ll be able to intimidate them for years to come.
Leading The Bulwark…
The GOP’s Cowardice Means They Will Live in Fear Forever
ROBERT TRACINSKI: The party’s refusal to disqualify Donald Trump means he’ll be able to intimidate them for years to come.
🎧 On the Pods / For Bulwark+ Members… 🔐
James Hohmann on Why the GOP is Back on the Juice
On today’s Bulwark podcast, James Hohmann of the Washington Post joins host Charlie Sykes to discuss why the GOP can’t quit Trump, the Biden confirmations, and how President Biden will govern with a razor-thin majority.
WEEKEND TRIAD: The Republicans UnCivil UnWar
TIM MILLER: Mitch versus Trump? LOL no.
MORNING SHOTS: The Tea Party at 12 🔐
CHARLIE SYKES onThe debate over hugging.
THE TRIAD: The GOP Future Is Already Here 🔐
JVL: There is no "civil war." There is only Trump.
THE SECRET PODCAST: The Nazi Question 🔐
Sarah and JVL talk some CPAC and then have a disagreement about what to do with 95-year-old Nazis. And then they have questions about Peloton.
From The Bulwark Aggregator…
Ted Cruz wants to be a populist. But he can’t get it right. – Joel Stein, The Washington Post
The U.S. Vaccine Strategy Is Good, Actually – Olga Khazan, The Atlantic
Florida Guv Gave Out VIP Vaccines. This Is Who Got Screwed. – Francisco Alvarado, The Daily Beast
The Pandemic Will End—but Covid-19 May Be Here to Stay – Maryn McKenna, Wired
Grocery Store Owners Say That Pandemic Hazard Pay Laws Are Putting Them Out of Business – Christian Britschgi, Reason Magazine
Collins to oppose Tanden for OMB, further jeopardizing her nomination – Marianne Levine, Politico
Trump aide preps primary against Ohio impeachment supporter – Alex Isenstadt, Politico
In Today’s Bulwark….
What About Joe?
WILLIAM KRISTOL: Why can’t anti-Trump become work-with-Biden?
How George Washington Didn’t Lead
LINDSAY M. CHERVINSKY, NOEMIE EMERY, DAVID HEAD, AND CRAIG BRUCE SMITH: Sometimes, greatness resides not in what you do but in what you don’t do.
What Ails Our Politics?
BRENT ORRELL: Many things, but perhaps the state of the American family most of all.
Will ‘Almond Milk’ and ‘Plant-Based Meat’ Exist Under a Biden FDA?
CHRISTIAN SCHNEIDER: Big Dairy and the meat industry have had enough of the competition and want the government to regulate the language used by imitation marketing.
The Trouble with Biden’s Answer on China
CATHY YOUNG: The president's town hall remarks were taken out of context, but still leave a lot to be desired.
Failing Government, Freezing Texans
HEATHER GOLDEN: A cold and chaotic week in Galveston.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
USA! 🇺🇸 USA! 🇺🇸 USA! 🇺🇸 41 years ago today, Team USA beat the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics.
It was before my time, but as a hockey player and fan of the sport, it is one of those storied games. (Disney’s Miracle is wonderful, by the way.) And as I type this, an autographed Jim Craig hockey puck sits four feet to my right. A very kind Christmas gift from a sibling.
I read recently that Craig is selling off a lot of his memorabilia, so if you’re a hockey fan and have cash to burn, your chance is coming to own some history.
The Pandemic Wall. I think at certain points we all have hit it in some fashion. But the important question, is how do we respond?
RIP Shlomo Hillel. In the NY Times, a fascinating obituary about an incredible man who saved Jews in Iraq.
The most perfect screenshot has never been tak…
Wait, what? President Trump offered Kim Jong-un a ride on Air Force One?
The problem with #influencers. At Current Affairs, an interesting long read.
Will Ted Cruz get a primary challenger? As CNN reports, signs point to yes.
Meanwhile, in Cleveland… The mayor’s grandson is in trouble with the law again, leading police from the suburb of Parma on a wild police chase.
He later turned himself in after endangering many lives.
The Cruz Cancun story gets more complicated… As Axios reports that Senator Cruz’s college roommate attended the trip, too.
NY severs ties with Trump on ice rinks. Anyone who knows the history of the Trump organization and New York’s ice rinks might wonder how the relationship lasted this long… But now that it’s been severed, I can picture the fundraising pitches from the National Republican Senatorial Committee:
Do you want a chance to win a Trump ZAMBONI for your next MAGA parade? Be the envy of all your friends? Donate in the next 20 minutes for quintuple the entries!*
*Winner must transport Zamboni from Bayonne, NJ to their house on their own dime.
Pour one out… For yet another local haunt that closed. But not due to COVID-19, but the greed of developers. I’m biased, because some of my distant in laws own a crab-house in the region, and while I don’t eat sea food, you cannot beat the atmosphere of a good crab-house.
Tim’s is located on the opposite side of the Amtrak/VRE/CSX tracks on the Potomac river. As you can see, it does not have a big parking lot. A lot of their business comes from boaters.
Their food is great.
Here’s what our local weekly InsideNova quotes the owner as saying:
The restaurant opened on the shores of the Potomac River at the end of the Cherry Hill peninsula 28 years ago.
Bauckman owned the restaurant property for many years, but after Hurricane Isabel left severe damage in 2003, he said he was “hamstringed” by Prince William County into selling it to the former owners of the surrounding land. That company eventually went out of business and ownership shifted from bank to bank until SunCal purchased the property for the Potomac Shores development.
“I learned a long time ago dealing with these developers that everybody has a vision,” Bauckman said. “That’s the reality.”
Naturally, SunCal was unavailable for comment. Sad. I hope to stop by and patronize them once more before they close at the end of next month. But they do have a sister restaurant down the river. Shame.
Remote incentives? Smallish towns in Arkansas and other places are offering people $10k to move to their state and live there for a year. And even throwing in a mountain bike, The Wall Street Journal reports. (Really they should be throwing in an amazing PK Grill.) One of my old roommates took advantage of one of these to move back to Oklahoma, and they can be pretty appealing. We’ll see in a few years if they work!
The end of Daft Punk. All good things must come to an end…
WWIAFTM goes skydiving. Let’s end with some good stuff.
We Must Found Institutions, Not Just Preserve Them: A Conservatism of Creation. Writing at The Public Discourse, our friend Andy Smarick observes:
Conservatives frustrated with the direction of our nation should redirect their energies away from podcasts and Twitter and toward a more productive type of civic engagement: the creation of new institutions. Social entrepreneurialism is a venerable tradition on the American right, and it can be the best way—especially in this particular moment—to bring about the types of change that serve to conserve the most important aspects of society, culture, and governance.
If something is broken, or gets killed, go build a better new thing. We’ve tried to do that here (so please don’t redirect your energies away from our podcasts!), but Smarick is right. Sometimes things can’t be fixed. Focusing our energies on making new things is often a better use of our time.
With that, if you haven’t joined, we’d encourage you to do so.
If you’re already a member and want to give the gift of Bulwark+ membership to a friend or loved one who might appreciate what we’re up to? We’ve got you covered.
Remember, while we don’t have a comments section, you can always email us (me: swift@thebulwark.com) or send us a note on Twitter or Facebook. Or join the unofficial Discord or Reddit pages to meet fellow Bulwarkers.
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