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It seems that since they were elected British Labour, principally the Leader and Chancellor, have thought it necessary to put out ever increasing messages of doom and the need for tough fiscal action – aka austerity – despite them claiming when they were wooing the electorate that they would not pursue that ‘Tory’ option. Of…

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The headline for this NYT review of David Rhode’s new is puzzling. It says I thought the story was going to be about DOJ employees being afraid of getting in trouble if they spilled the beans to David Rhode. But it doesn’t really reveal anything like that except a passing reference to the fear for their jobs if Trump wins in November and to say that Merrick Garland wanted to preserve the norms of the Justice Department and that was hard because Trump is such a lying criminal. Be that as it may, it sounds like an interesting book anyway: Trump was the first president since Nixon to utterly reject the idea that federal law enforcement should operate independently of the president’s personal desires or prejudices. Rather, he sought to use the attorney general, special prosecutors, U.S. attorneys and the F.B.I. as instruments to help himself and his friends and to punish his enemies. Although Rohde doesn’t hide his conviction that Trump undermined democracy with his salvos against the Justice Department’s independence, he nonetheless writes in measured, restrained language that should hold up well in the light of history.

The Coalition has rebounded strongly from their NSW council election debacle, where they managed to not enrol their candidates, despite having 4 years to do so, by launching their slogan for the upcoming Federal election. ”Vote For Us Or Linda... Read More ›

As we know, the MAGA cult (aka the Republican party) has epic piles of chutzpah and sheer gall. But their new attack on Tim Walz as a pathological liar has got to be the most audacious projection they’ve ever done. Kevin Drum helpfully unpacked their ridiculous claims: Let us investigate the vast history of lying by Gov. Tim Walz as alleged by the Trump campaign: Retired from the National Guard as a command sergeant major.He did rise to the rank of command sergeant major, but upon retirement his rank reverted to master sergeant. Had children via IVF.Walz almost always refers only to “fertility treatments,” but a couple of times has used the term IVF. In fact he and his wife underwent IUI, commonly referred to as IVF but actually a different, more affordable fertility treatment. Won an award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce (2006).It was the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Taught in China for a year through a program at Harvard University  (2006).It was a program affiliated with Harvard. Earned the title of Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the Year (1989).He did indeed earn this award, but so did 51 other people.

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – August 25 2024

by Tony Wikrent

Strategic Political Economy

How Europe Could Reinvigorate Their Economy

Ian Wlesh, August 22, 2024

Force the US to reduce embassy staffs by 90% and remove all US NGOs and similar organizations.

Oh Lindsey. You are just as dishonest and delusional as your daddy: “You saw a hate fest full of insults. And Donald Trump said to Barack Obama, you’re a nice man after President Obama insulted and and jabbed President Trump continuously,” Graham said. “It was designed to draw him into an exchange of insults.” “It was light on policy, heavy on insults. So I told President Trump, then and now, you’re going to win this thing if you focus on policy,” he added. Graham then noted that people are not “joyful” on several matters including inflation and cost of living, and pitched a Trump second term. Democrats have been using themes of “joy” heavily since Harris became the nominee. “I think President Trump offers the best solution to change the trajectory of the country. And finally, if you’re waiting on Kamala Harris to come up with new policies, you’re going to die waiting, because she will continue what they’ve been doing for the last four years,” Graham said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton seems bereft of the qualities required in a leader, so it’s worth pondering how he and those who support him could show leadership. There’s no fixed prescription for leaders, but imagination, vision and a concern with altruism are invaluable, as long as those traits are augmented with touches of humanity, as Continue reading »

We need a no-holds-barred attack on corporate power to meet global threats. Humanity cannot — now — avoid troubled and turbulent times. Extreme events will powerfully influence the course ahead, the shape of things to come after the turmoil. They could help or hinder: provide the moral force for urgent action, or preoccupy us with Continue reading »

Following up the post below, I did want to highlight at least one newspaper who is asking “the question:” Even some of Donald Trump’s supporters are now asking the question that was the undoing of Joe Biden: is the former president fit for office? But while Biden’s run for re-election was largely sunk by a single disastrous televised debate before a national audience, Trump is ramping up doubts with each chaotic, disjointed speech as he campaigns around the country. While rambling discourse and outrageously disprovable claims, interspersed with spite and vitriol, may seem nothing new to many of Trump’s supporters and critics alike, the former president appears to have been driven to new depths by suddenly finding himself running against Kamala Harris a month ago.

Of course this is nothing new… That’s just a smattering of the commentary on this. Something very strange is going on and you have to assume it comes from the editors who earlier made it clear that they were unhappy with the Democrats for failing to give them the proper respect to which they believe they are entitled. (That would be, at the very least, adapting their electoral strategy to run to the Times whenever they are beckoned.) Combined with the “Both Sides” journalism which leads them to have to whitewash Trump’s outrages in order to balance their coverage, we have a serious problem. Donald Trump’s pathological lying and his party’s scorched earth tactics are not even on the same planet as the Democrats’. Sadly, it’s not just them. I guess the Democrats have no choice but to simply accept the asymmetry of the press coverage which is made many times worse by the fact that the right already has an extremely effective partisan media dedicated to pushing Trump’s lies. We’ll just have to maintain a critical eye through the campaign and beyond.

But not the click-hungry media James Fallows notes the lack of balance in how the media treats Republicans vs. Democrats: A reminder in campaign coverage: -Dozens of serious stories in major outlets examined Biden’s age and cognition as matters of “fitness to govern.” -I still have not seen any such story about Trump. I welcome learning of ones I’ve missed. -Instead, these are*all played as “campaign messaging challenges.” Politics, not governance. Latest example, big front-pager in WaPo, with print headline “Aides seek to steady a swaying Trump.” Not “is he fit to govern.” Online hed shown below. Biden: threat in governance. Trump: lost mojo for campaign. These are not the same. But Trump has lost his more than his mojo. He’s losing his audience. Kamala’s comms team is trolling him relentlessly over it. I don’t know if Digby posted these already. (I’ve been kinda busy.) But if we’re not comparing sizes, but mojos, Team Harris has it. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download.

The dark-money web behind a voter purge, the Senate obstacles standing in Harris’ way, and more from The Lever this week.

Did you detect a theme at the DNC? An underappreciated story from the DNC convention last week was how Democrats finally seemed to get their messaging act together.  Speeches at the DNC convention that ended Thursday night dwelled less on Donald Trump and his many crimes and miserable plans for this country. Democrats focused more on where they want to take America and everyone in it. As Vice President Kamala Harris said in her acceptance speech Thursday night, “we have so much more in common than what separates us.” Freedom was the central theme of the convention. Freedom is a core American value. For conventioneers and viewers slow on the uptake, Beyoncé’s “Freedom” regularly blasted the United Center as a bumper between program segments. Throughout the four-day convention, speakers invoked freedom not as an abstraction or as justification for stockpiling weapons. Democrats embraced freedom as the expression of personal and family autonomy, freedom as the catalyst for realizing people’s hopes and dreams for a better future.

In my 2011 review of George Clooney’s political drama The Ides of March, I wrote: The art of seduction and the art of politicking are one and the same; not exactly a new revelation (a narrative that goes back at least as far as, I don’t know, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar). Politicians are seduced by power. However, a politician first must seduce the voter. A pleasing narrative is spun and polished, promises are made, sweet nothings whispered in the ear, and the voter caves. But once your candidate is ensconced in their shiny new office, well…about that diamond ring? It turns out to be cubic zirconium. Then it’s all about the complacency, the lying, the psychodramas, and the traumas. While a lot of folks do end up getting ‘screwed’, it is not necessarily in the most desirable and fun way. Once again, we are ensconced in a political season chockablock with pleasing narratives, promises, and sweet nothings.