You’re Only Leaving Trump Now?
Plus, Are the ‘Twitter Files’ a Nothingburger?
Recently at The Bulwark:
CHARLIE SYKES: What Were You Thinking?
TIM MILLER: Biden’s Big Effing Gay Bacchanal 🔐
SECRET POD: Mona and Ben: Miracles Happen 🔐
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BILL LUEDERS: You’re Only Leaving Trump Now?
Marc Thiessen has had enough. The American Enterprise Institute fellow wrote in his Washington Post column last week that former President Donald Trump has finally gone too far.
“It’s time for Trump supporters to acknowledge a sad but undeniable truth: Trump is spinning out of control,” Thiessen wrote, no doubt salting his keyboard with tears. “Yes, his presidency was filled with historic accomplishments, and he was treated unfairly by his critics in Congress and the media. But since the election, something has snapped.”
Really? What has Trump done to deserve this stern rebuke? (It’s not completely clear which election Thiessen is referring to that caused something to snap. The one more than two years ago? The one on November 8? Take your pick.)
JOE PERTICONE: Clock Is Ticking on Chance to Fix the Electoral Count Act.
A last-ditch effort to reform the Electoral Count Act is underway on Capitol Hill—but it remains uncertain whether the bill, which makes changes experts consider crucial to the integrity of future elections, will be enacted before time runs out on Democratic control of both chambers of Congress.
To address failings in the current law that were laid bare on January 6th, legislators aim to solidify and streamline the final steps in the existing electoral process.
READ THE REST ABOUT THE EXPECTED REFORMS:
Americans are less divided than they think about how schools should teach about our nation’s history. Conflict entrepreneurs are stoking polarization and cherry picking extreme opinions as majority views. More in Common’s Dan Vallone joins guest host Mona Charen today.
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CATHY YOUNG: Are the ‘Twitter Files’ a Nothingburger?
The “Twitter Files” saga, in which a few journalists handpicked by Elon Musk have been posting selected bits of information about Twitter’s pre-Musk operations, is now entering its second week and taking the cacophony of predictable ideological polemics to new highs, or rather new lows. It has also been subsumed in the bigger drama of Musk’s war with the “legacy” Twitter leadership, which includes the abrupt dissolution of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council moments before it was to hold its first Musk-era meeting on Zoom. And the whole story has now devolved into QAnon- and Pizzagate-style pedophilia accusations abetted and instigated by Twitter’s new boss.
BRENT ORRELL: The GOP Gets Ready to Cause Another Debt Ceiling Crisis.
Fresh off their third defeat in three consecutive election cycles, congressional Republicans appear ready for another Pickett’s Charge on entitlement programs. Defying the nostrum that there’s nothing learned from the second (or third) kick of a mule, House and Senate Republicans now seem fully on board with the idea of holding the federal budget—and possibly the economy and the nation’s credit rating—hostage in a futile effort to try to force major (and, it’s worth mentioning, needed) reforms to the nation’s health and Social Security programs. We’ve been here before, and it’s worth revisiting 1995, the year this gonzo strategy was debuted, for an illustration of just how bad the 2023 casualties could turn out to be.
For the final Thursday Night Bulwark of 2022, we’re planning a holiday extravaganza. There will be trivia, predictions, rank punditry and lots of laughs. Join Bulwark+ so you can get in all the holiday cheer!
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
🎵On the Jukebox…🎵 Coldplay’s ‘Flags.’
The end of The Weekly Standard… Today in 2018, our colleague Adam Keiper observes, was the last day for us. It was sad, but many of us regrouped to build The Bulwark, and later, some former TWSers built The Dispatch. I still remain insulted and entertained by this letter. I cherished my time there (read Adam’s thread), but you know what? We really got to shine, building this thing of ours without corporate suits pushing bad strategies on us.
A lot of you were TWS readers and came with us. Thank you for helping us get here. Many of you found us in the intervening years. We’re glad you are here.
Speaking of media layoffs… The Washington Post’s staff is bracing for some. I still miss their wonderful Sunday magazine. Sad to find out what, as a subscriber, I’ll be missing in 2023. Losing one’s job is never fun, but around the holidays, it is considerably worse.
Did somebody say fusion energy? If you’re looking for a 90’s classic topical to recent news about fusion, look no further than The Saint.
The Dems aren’t done with Sinema… Argues Molly Jong-Fast in Vanity Fair.
A doggone good story… 14 months after Zeppelin the dog went missing in CA, he was found… 1,600 miles away in Kansas. Chip your pets!
The left’s chronic NIMBY problem… Edward Luce argues in FT: “The Republican motive was obvious: kill anything with Joe Biden’s name on it. The Democratic left’s motive was self-defeatingly familiar: ‘If it’s not perfect, we’re against it.’” The Democrats did get through some amazing policy achievements this last Congress, but they’re going to have to be more flexible this one: perfect cannot be the enemy of the good when you don’t control everything anymore.
Elaina Plott Calabro… I noticed on The Bulwark subreddit that you guys loved the episode JVL did with her. She’s wonderful. Go read this piece by her if you haven’t. (No spoilers on what it’s about.)
Just ask for Lobster Lover Joe… A neat interview with a guy who loves a specific chain restaurant, Red Lobster, more than I love White Castle.
You hate to see it… The race for RNC chair is devolving into a bit of a circus.
That’s it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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