Former GOP strategist Rick Wilson writes about how the Republicans get over. Normally, I would say that they haven’t got the greatest track record in presidential races over the past 30 years so why listen to them? But with the imbecilic, narcissistic, pathological liar Donald Trump’s inexplicable popularity I think it’s probably a good idea to at least consider some of their tactics: Republican political operators are raised on two rules. Just two. Rule 1: Just win, baby. Rule 2: Stay on message. If you have doubts about either of the rules, refer to the other rule. Just Win The “Just win” rule is precisely what it sounds like; victory is the only goal, and everything else is noise and distraction. “Just Win” is the rule that leads Democrats to wonder repeatedly why garbage-tier GOP candidates win in states and seats in which they should be competitive. It’s the reason the GOP will defend the indefensible until the last dog dies, whether policy or politician. It’s why the shamelessness of the GOP political class, of which I was once a successful and very well-compensated member, is their superpower.
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Michelle Cottle is right about this: The dysfunctional dance taking place in the House between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his right flank has driven me to consider something I never imagined possible: that Matt Gaetz is right. A House speaker can be successful only with the confidence of the members who put him or her in charge, when he or she can follow through on promises made and concessions extracted. Indeed, there may be no job in American government that calls for crackerjack deal-making skills more than that of speaker: so many egos, alliances and grievances to manage to keep things moving. Mr. McCarthy, in his desperate pursuit of the speakership last winter, ran around making promises willy-nilly to the House’s small band of right-wingers, and he will now rise and fall on how he handles those commitments and expectations. So far, things are not looking good for Kev — and, by extension, for a functional Congress. Miffed at the speaker’s handling of the spending fight, the right’s hard-liners have been threatening to oust him, shut down the government or both.
But such is the power of the Main Signal that all the concrete accomplishments are already forgotten, blown away like leaves in the wind, while the vibes-based age critique is front-and-center in everyone’s consciousness. And so we may get fascism. Great work everyone. — David Roberts (@drvolts) September 19, 2023 This is so depressing, and a major media failure. Devastatingly dangerous.
STEVE BANNON (HOST): Comer announced that this joint effort, you know, Oversight with Judiciary, this, you know, moving towards the impeachment of Biden, that they’re going to meet next week, and they’re going to subpoena the bank records, so that will be September – be the last couple of days of September, almost October, October 2023. They’re going to go subpoena the bank records of Hunter Biden, something they should have done in the first week. And this is why it’s a clown show, and they’re not serious. It’s all performative. Unless you’re on them 24/7, and I mean, on them. Up in their grill. Nothing will happen. They don’t want to do anything. This is the same surrender caucus. The reason the country is in the shape it’s in, is because the Republican Party under Bush and under these clowns have rolled over and been part of the problem, while lulling you to sleep over TV for stupid people. Seriously. And they make a big deal about it. We are going to subpoena. Hunter Biden’s bank records. Dude, that should have happened the first day for drama.
This is a quick test of whether Word successfully exports its own inline equations to the Web, after I was informed that inline MathType equations weren’t exported. One thing which never ceases to bemuse me is the intellectual insularity of mainstream economics. Every intellectual specialization is, by necessity, insular. Specialization necessarily requires that, to have … Continue reading "The Impossibility of Microfoundations for Macroeconomics"
Remember those so-called sensible Republicans who didn’t think they should launch an impeachment inquiry? Well, they’ve seen the light: Before House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched an impeachment inquiry, center-right Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., urged his party not to go down that road, saying it was “too early” given the lack of evidence against President Joe Biden. But two days after McCarthy made that decision last week, Bacon, who represents an Omaha-based district that voted for Biden in 2020, shifted his tone and said he wasn’t taking issue with it. “If there’s a high crime or misdemeanor, well, let’s get the facts,” Bacon told NBC News, adding that he had been “hesitant” about it earlier — but now it’s done, and he stands by McCarthy, R-Calif. “I don’t think it’s healthy or good for our country. So I wanted to set a high bar. I want to do it carefully. I want to do it conscientiously, do it meticulously,” Bacon said. “But it’s been done.
I think Philip Bump’s analysis of the Trump interview problem is on point. The rest of the media should know this by now: Donald Trump’s success in the 2016 Republican nominating contest was, at its essence, uncomplicated. Running against a cadre of sitting and former elected officials, Trump said things they wouldn’t — mostly the things that were being said in the right-wing media and by pundits on Fox News. The reputation for “truth-telling” his supporters embrace was born of his willingness to elevate false, popular claims, particularly about the left. He wasn’t elected for his policies; in fact, he broadly rejected the idea that people cared much about policy. The only thing that’s changed over the past eight years, really, is that everyone should know the playbook by now. We should know that he will 1) flood the zone with things that are burbling on the right-wing fringe, 2) make sweeping promises without much follow-through and 3) reject any criticism out of hand, spinning it into a reason to praise himself. And so it was with his interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday.
Is Kavanaugh standing back and standing by? The GOP loves a twofer, or even a threefer. Political maneuvering some might call strategic might less flatteringly be called sneaky or outright dishonest. Diabolical is not out of the running. Donald Trump withholds final payments to subcontractors, for example, just enough that court costs make it a losing proposition for a subcontractor to take him to court to recover what he owes. Or Trump plays delay, delay, delay when he finds himself in court holding a losing hand. Gerrymandering cases are another example. GOP legislatures draw district maps patently illegal under the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Democrats and aligned groups take them to court, win, and judges orders new maps. Then GOP legislators draw a second set of unacceptably gerrymandered maps, and the exasperated court appoints a special master to draw them instead. It happened in North Carolina. Or the GOP-led legislature might simply defy the courts until there is no time left before the next election to implement new maps. Something like what happened in Ohio. Or in the case of Alabama, that maneuver is where dark money meets hidden agenda.
One thing which never ceases to bemuse me is the intellectual insularity of mainstream economics. Every intellectual specialization is, by necessity, insular. Specialization necessarily requires that, to have expert knowledge in one field—say, physics—you must focus on that field to the exclusion of others—for example, chemistry. Given the extent of human knowledge today, this goes … Continue reading "The Impossibility of Microfoundations for Macroeconomics"
Values drag Honestly, the headline summarizes well a column that tells us little we don’t already know, but let’s run with that: The Republican Party Has Devolved Into a Racket. But you knew that. Professors Sam Rosenfeld and Daniel Schlozman make their case that “the G.O.P. has lost a collective commitment to solving the nation’s problems and become purposeless.” But you knew that too. Trump, his Big Lie co-defendants, and Mitt Romney’s assessment of his Senate Republican colleagues marks a party “aimless … beyond the struggle for power and the demonization of its enemies.” The pair include a walk down memory lane from the 1970s until the party was consumed with conspiracism and its “long provenance on the American right, reaching back to McCarthyism and the John Birch Society.” “For Republicans, the only election results they respect are the ones that they win… I guess “heads I win, tails you lose” is the GOP approach to electoral democracy in America in 2023.