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Putin and American conservatives: peas in a pod We don’t turn back our clocks for another four months. If American conservatives could have their way, they would turn back the last half-century. Back to when America was “great” in their eyes, in MAGA’s eyes. Back to when white dominance and The Lost Cause went unquestioned. Back to before the country agreed with the Civil Rights movement’s demands for equal voting rights and civil rights for minorities. Back to the world of the Cleavers and the Nelsons. Back to when women, too, knew their places. Nostalgia not for lost innocence but for lost dominance is what made Donald Trump so attractive to the movement that grew up around him. Speaking recently with Amanda Marcotte, David Neiwert (“The Age of Insurrection: The Radical Right’s Assault on American Democracy“) observed that fascism and neo-fascism have “actually been present in America since at least the early 1900s.” The increasing radicalization of the right has been there for years.

That didn’t take long They went there.

I just don’t know what to say about this… Tim Miller: Late Friday, the Ron DeSantis’s extremely online campaign team released a video to contrast the Florida governor’s stalwart bigotry with Donald Trump’s lighter touch and highlight the fact that their candidate stands out as the most hostile to LGBT Americans—in a field that, mind you, also includes Mike Pence. The ad, which seems to have been originally produced by anonymous Twitter user ProudElephantUS, was repurposed by the “DeSantis War Room” with the following message: “To Wrap up ‘Pride Month,’ let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other to celebrate it…” The video begins with a sizzle reel of Donald Trump promising to protect LGBT Americans, saying that he doesn’t care what bathroom Caitlyn Jenner uses, telling Barbara Walters that transgender women would be allowed to compete in the Miss Universe contest, and contrasting his views on gays favorably with how the group is viewed by Islamic terrorists.

Literally: The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean in early February was built, at least partly, using American off-the-shelf parts, a U.S. official has confirmed to ABC News. The official could not say whether any of the American gear was sold illicitly to China but said determining whether any of it came from illegal trade was a topic of serious concern among officials since some items — like chips — are forbidden to sell to certain markets. Later Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen.

This is just depressing: Six months since the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol completed its work, a far-right ecosystem of true believers has embraced “J6” as the animating force of their lives. They attend the criminal trials of the more prominent rioters charged in the attack. They gather to pray and sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” on the outer perimeter of the District of Columbia jail, where some two dozen defendants are held. Last week, dozens showed up at an unofficial House hearing convened by a handful of Republican lawmakers to challenge “the fake narrative that an insurrection had occurred on Jan. 6,” as set forth by Jeffrey Clark, a witness at the hearing and a former Justice Department official who worked to undo the results of the 2020 election. The 90-minute event was a through-the-looking-glass alternative to the damning case against former President Donald J. Trump presented last year by the Jan. 6 committee.

We knew Trump had called Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (remember seeing that video of him getting a phone call with the “hail to the chief” ring tone while he was signing the electoral count paperwork?) We had not heard for sure until now whether Trump was doing what we thought he was doing: In a phone call in late 2020,President Donald Trump tried to pressure Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to overturn the state’spresidential election results, saying that if enough fraudulent votes could be found it would overcome Trump’s narrow loss in Arizona, according to three people familiar with the call. Trump also repeatedly asked Vice President Mike Pence to call Ducey and prod him to find the evidence to substantiate Trump’s claims of fraud, according to two of these people. Pence called Ducey several times to discuss the election, they said, though he did not follow Trump’s directions to pressure the governor. The extent of Trump’s efforts to cajole Ducey into helping him stay in power have not before been reported, even as other efforts by Trump’s lawyer and allies to pressure Arizona officials have been made public.

I’ve written for UnHerd about how Labour is already selling out before it’s even in office, by pre-committing a future Labour government to permanent austerity. This is the legacy of the Labour’s takeover by the Blairite neoliberals: a party paralysed by fear — of the markets, of the orthodoxy, of Washington, of the voters. Back in 2021, Keir …

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I hate Christie’s bullying bullshit but he seems to be willing to fight fire with fire and I’m glad to see a GOP bully give Trump some of his own medicine.

Nope. DeSantis takes after his mentor in that regard too Gotta take care of the money men, amirite? The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) steered $92 million last year in leftover federal coronavirus stimulus money to a controversial highway interchange project that directly benefits a top political donor, according to state records. The decision by the Florida Department of Transportation to use money from the 2021 American Rescue Plan for the I-95 interchange at Pioneer Trail Road near Daytona Beach fulfilled a years-long effort by Mori Hosseini, a politically connected housing developer who owns two large tracts of largely forested land abutting the planned interchange. The funding through the DeSantis administration, approved shortly after the governor’s reelection, expedited the project by more than a decade, according to state documents. Hosseini plans to develop the land — which includes a sensitive watershed once targeted for conservation by the state — into approximately 1,300 dwelling units and 650,000 square feet of nonresidential use, including an outdoor village shopping district.

Trumpism a half century in the making A reference Rick Perlstein makes in “Reaganland” to a Senate speech made during 1978 debates over ratification of the Panama Canal treaty caught my attention recently. Sen. Thomas J. McIntyre (D-N.H.) decries the “ominous change” in American politics represented by “the bully boys of the radical New Right” and their “politics of intimidation.” Long before the Freedom Caucus, McIntyre called out Conservative Caucus “ideologues” who demand that “we must see every issue as they see it – unless there is something sinister in our motivation.” If you want to see more reactionary acrimony and personal destruction, McIntyre warned his colleagues, “stand aside and be silent.” It is instructive reading. Nearly a half century ago, movement conservatism in its nascency planted the seeds of Trumpism and MAGA extremism. “And in the fullness of time,” as the saying goes…. THE CANAL TREATIES AND THE NEW RIGHT (By Sen. Thomas J.