Trump’s ‘Save America’ Scam
Plus, Kemp-Warnock Voters: They’re Real And They’re Spectacular.
Recently at The Bulwark:
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AMANDA CARPENTER: Trump’s ‘Save America’ Scam.
In 2019, Donald Trump’s charitable foundation was fined $2 million for misusing funds and ordered to shut down. The foundation’s misdeeds included:
improperly furthering Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign;
funding the purchase of a 6-foot portrait of Trump;
buying ads to promote Trump hotels; and
paying settlements for legal claims against Trump unrelated to the charity.
In short, Trump abused his foundation’s special tax status as a charity to help himself.
TIM MILLER: Kemp-Warnock Voters: They’re Real And They’re Spectacular.
Calhoun, Georgia
Last week I went on a pilgrimage to a remote hamlet a few hours inland from the Atlantic seaboard. My aim was to investigate the existence of an endangered species whose possible reemergence could have a dramatic impact on our fragile political ecosystem.We call this increasingly rare breed: the split-ticket voter.
The split-ticketer’s decline has been thoroughly documented by our foremost political biologists. The number of House districts that have a representative from a different party than their presidential vote has plummeted this decade. Ron Brownstein has written about this phenomenon in both chambers of Congress at length. “In 2016, for the first time ever, every Senate race went the same way as the presidential contest in that same state; in 2020, the same thing happened, except in Maine.” In fact, the current Senate has the fewest split-ticket delegations since the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment gave us the direct election of senators.
Nevada's economy was hit especially hard by COVID. Now, the Democratic governor and senator are paying the price in their re-election campaigns...or are they? The dean of the Nevada press corps, Jon Ralston, joins Sarah to talk about a Nevada focus group...and whether voters in the Secretary of State race are playing Russian roulette with American democracy.
Trump hosted a Q extravaganza, DeSantis won’t let anyone else be more cruel than him, Lindsey keeps pushing his abortion ban pitch, and the risk of polling errors. Will Saletan is back with Charlie Sykes for Charlie and Will Monday.
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QUEEN ELIZABETH FUNERAL COVERAGE 👑🇬🇧
BRENT ORRELL: What the House of Windsor Does.
In the days of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, culminating in her funeral today, commentators have attempted to sum up her remarkable seventy years as monarch of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and the Commonwealth realms, crown dependencies, and overseas territories. She and her family have provided—through fictional portrayal and actual drama—a living soap opera, generating the kinds of problems that only the truly wealthy can get into, and always under the klieg lights of modern media. The lives of the House of Windsor have been vastly entertaining, but is this all we’ve gotten—or all we will get—from monarchy?
Yes—and no. To the extent that Elizabeth had formal power, it was over her family (“Yes, you will be summering in Balmoral, and we don’t want to hear another word about it”) as she guided an unruly brood through to adulthood and beyond. She was always perfectly calm in public, impossible to rattle (even while being shot at), always ready with the right word, the right expression—the essence of reassurance as the “clattering train” of modernity threatened to go off the rails. No matter how bad the day was, she—a child who lived through the Blitz and the at times ignominious end of an empire—was there, a comforting presence to remind her nation and the world that every problem eventually passes, and that hope is just around the corner. The motto of her reign could have easily been “Hang On.” During Margaret Thatcher’s administration in the 1980s, a speech was prepared for the queen to broadcast in the event of imminent nuclear war; the prepared remarks called on people “up and down the country” to remain calm and look for ways to help their neighbors. Elizabeth was a monarch suited to the stresses of the apocalypse.
ADAM J. WHITE: Having a President vs. Having a Monarch.
“With her death, it’s hard not to fear that so much she exemplified—restraint, duty, grace, reticence, persistence—are disappearing from the world.” As Andrew Sullivan suggested in his reflections on Queen Elizabeth II, the best aspects of her public life contrast sharply with the worst aspects of modern politics. She dedicated herself to duty in service of her country; our own leaders, by contrast, tend to use their office for personal or political gain. While she exemplified her country and office at its best, our leaders too often exemplify our country, and our politics, at their worst.
This seems a point on which all agree. “Over seven decades,” the Wall Street Journal editorialized, “the British monarch offered steady, self-effacing leadership.” “The affection in which she was held reflected, above all, a sense of duty that seemed innate,” the Financial Times wrote, a “resolve to uphold the responsibilities that had been thrust upon her.”
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Happy Monday! I took new area dog, Rusty, to the vet today for his annual checkup. I’ll spare you the details (he resisted!) but as I was waiting a family came out and it was immediately clear to me they had lost their furry friend. Nothing can ruin your day like that when it’s going well. If you, or anyone you know, has recently lost a pet, read/send them this.
I am not a Monarchist… But I’m of English ancestry, so I watched today’s funeral. Also, one of my dogs is Scottish and the other, in part, Australian. So, Commonwealth dogs. If you missed it, here’s a nice synopsis. I don’t know the song, it could be from something else or an original composition, but it was fitting. RIP.
Speaking of funerals… Farewell to Patrick from Popehat. So far as “internet friends” go, he will be missed.
America is already great. White Castle bites? Yes, please.
Why Bill Barr Turned on Trump… Our friend Donald Ayer has thoughts.
Glenn Youngkin campaigning for kooks… Remember when we warned you about him? He’s doing it again, this time in Arizona. I guess some missed his previous campaigning for Tudor Dixon in Michigan or Paul LePage in Maine. I wonder how many NoVa Youngkin voters feel they’ve been had?
How time flies… 30 years since Rookie of the Year.
Meanwhile… Eli Manning tries out for Penn State.
The “NatCons” and the will to power… What Stephanie Slade saw at NatCon3.
For you crime mystery people… A story from my hometown of Shaker Heights.
That’s it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.