Trump Fought the Law, and the Law is Winning
Pierre Delecto seeks the exit.
Recently in The Bulwark:
CHARLIE SYKES: Flooding the Zone
NICK RIPATRAZONE: The Brutal Wonders of a Late-Summer Run
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BILL LUEDERS: A Time for Consequences
AT HIS SENTENCING HEARING on September 5, Enrique Tarrio, the onetime leader of the Proud Boys, pleaded with the judge for leniency. “Please show me mercy,” he said, adding, “I ask you that you not take my forties from me.”
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed to the bench by then-President Donald Trump, proceeded to grant this request, in a monkey’s paw sort of way. He sentenced the 39-year-old Tarrio to 22 years in federal prison. That means he won’t just lose his forties but his fifties, too.
TIM MILLER: Farewell to Mitt Romney, Republican with a Spine
IN THE BEGINNING, I was paid to dislike Mitt Romney.
I took to it rather easily, to be honest.
On that first presidential campaign, back in 2008, his persona was an unpleasant combination that you can find only in society’s rarefied environs: completely cocksure and deeply awkward all at once. Romney was so awkward, in fact, that there is a YouTube video that I would turn to from time to time for laughs titled, “Mitt Romney and the Infinite Sadness.” It features such gems as Mitt chanting “Who let the dogs out? Who, who?,” and telling Wolf Blitzer he “lives for laughter.”
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DON MOYNIHAN: Wisconsin Republicans’ Naked Exercise in Authoritarian Power.
“DEMOCRACY IS A SYSTEM IN WHICH parties lose elections,” according to the political scientist Adam Przeworski. By that measure Wisconsin is not really a democracy.
Sure, the Republican Party of Wisconsin routinely is defeated in statewide elections. Indeed, since 2018, they have lost fourteen of seventeen such races. But can they be said to really lose when they refuse to accept their defeat and instead use power accrued by undemocratic means to minimize or even reverse those losses?
DALIBOR ROHAC: What Happened to Central Europe’s Center Right?
OF THE TWO UPCOMING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS in Central Europe, Slovakia’s and Poland’s, the latter, scheduled for October 15, is bound to attract more international attention. The reason is not only Poland’s size but also the fact that some will see it as a test of the country’s democracy almost a decade into rule by the populist-nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS). In reality, however, the Slovak election on September 30 bears a much more disconcerting message about the state of moderate, pro-Western politics in the region.
Whatever the outcome of Poland’s election, the center will hold. PiS might seek to turn Poland into an autocracy, but it faces a formidable center-right force in the Civic Platform (PO). Even if PO loses, it can rely on its deep bench—most importantly, the hugely talented mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski—to make a comeback in the presidential election next year or in 2027.
🚨 OVERTIME 🚨
Happy Thursday! And thanks to all who sent kind notes about our friend Terry Eastland. I could probably (and JVL, too) regale you with Terry stories in our newsletter for months. But we won’t. There are a lot of things that were left unsaid, and that’s fine with me: you got the gist. One story I wanted to link to, but forgot, was Terry’s “Casual” about his old, old Volvo1.
Pierre Delecto will be missed! I can understand why he wouldn’t want to be kicked around anymore. A new book he’s participating extensively with was the first sign, and now we’re hearing he’s going to name names. Here’s the author, McKay Coppins, in The Atlantic with an excerpt:
Romney sends his text: “In case you have not heard this, I just got a call from Angus King, who said that he had spoken with a senior official at the Pentagon who reports that they are seeing very disturbing social media traffic regarding the protests planned on the 6th. There are calls to burn down your home, Mitch; to smuggle guns into DC, and to storm the Capitol. I hope that sufficient security plans are in place, but I am concerned that the instigator—the President—is the one who commands the reinforcements the DC and Capitol police might require.”
McConnell never responds.
Defending globalization… A new multi-year project from the CATO Institute.
Inside the cockpit of a Ukrainian fighter jet… and the call for western F-16s.
House GOP makes its case… Ahead of impeachment. You have to pass impeachment to see what is in it, basically.
The classic D.C. lunch… “spaghetti and deviled eggs”?
Kevin McCarthy… is cornered.
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Forgive the link it’s hosted on now, but it’s worth a click.