I’ve been wanting to shout this from the rooftops, and now I can. I’ve just signed a contract for my next book, which is called King Capital, with Random House, where I’ll be working with Molly Turpin, who edited one of my favorite books of the last decade. After floundering around for a few years, with one false start after another, I’m thrilled to be writing this book and working with Molly. I feel more than lucky that Sarah Chalfant (The Wylie Agency), who did so much for this shidduch, is my agent. Now to write the book. In the meantime here’s a brief article on the sale, which was reported in yesterday’s Publishers Marketplace.
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Can urban Democrats? Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state won a seat last November in her rural, working-class Third Congressional District. She shouldn’t have. Wasn’t expected to. National Democrats wrote her off. Her victory was “widely considered the biggest electoral upset of 2022,” the New York Times reminds Thursday readers. We’ll come back to her. Q: When is majority rule not majority rule? A: When it’s washed through the legacy of the country’s slave-era constitution. That constitution, combined with a) political parties’ (one in particular) urge to gerrymander and/or legislate their way into permanent power, and b) left- and right-leaning people’s tendency to sort themselves into urban and rural areas of the country, means that in many statewide and local races, a majority of citizens do not get to elect candidates who reflect their views. Call this democracy-lite. There is no need to rehash how that’s played out in 21st century presidential outcomes.
“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?” Conservatives do not own freedom. It is a contested value. Or it would be if the left did more contesting. Time to start. George Packer considers Freedom’s dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power, by Jefferson Cowie, a Vanderbilt historian, in the context of what Packer calls “the new fatalism.” It is the notion that America is trapped in the past and cannot change. Recent, less white-centric histories replace old, self-serving myths but perhaps lead to disillusionment. Part of the stuckness results from historical white appropriation not only of African bodies but of what white dominance views as an unassailable narrative: Cowie’s theme is how the sacred American creed of freedom serves to justify racial domination. At every turn in the harsh tale of Barbour County [Alabama], white residents resisted challenges to their supremacy by invoking their birthright as free people.
If the GOP establishment is desperate to stop Trump, I have wondered why they haven’t changed the winner-take-all delegate rules in various states which gives Trump a built in advantage in a big field with his hardcore base of about 30% of the party. Well, it looks like they might be doing that: The piece to which she refers said this: Ahead of 2020, the Trump campaign successfully played the role of the party establishment. From their perch at the White House, his aides shaped state parties’ rules to make it harder for challengers to accumulate delegates. The goal — which they achieved — was to strangle any primary challenges before they could develop. Heading into 2024, the Trump team’s outlook is very different. With memories of the 2016 efforts to stop Mr. Trump’s victory in mind, they have been canvassing state parties to hunt for opportunities to shape convention and delegate rules to Mr. Trump’s advantage. Though people involved in the effort said no lobbying for rule changes had yet occurred, the Trump team has begun calling officials of state parties and has dispatched staff members to attend some party gatherings.
In other words, it’s the Trumpers who have Trump Derangement Syndrome.
For now This is a very interesting finding in a new USA Today/Ipsos poll about Americans’ view of “woke”, the epithet being hurled by Ron Desantis with virtually every breath he takes: Republican presidential hopefuls are vowing to wage a war on “woke,” but a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds a majority of Americans are inclined to see the word as a positive attribute, not a negative one. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed say the term means “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.” That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans. Overall, 39% say instead that the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.” That’s the view of 56% of Republicans.
Shadow Home Secretary sides with Tory horror occupying Home Office and condemns comparisons with 1930s race-hate – but this is not a blunder or an anomaly, rather an exposure of what the Labour right is Examples of Labour’s moral and political bankruptcy are coming thick and fast. Yesterday, Keir Starmer amplified the Tories’ racist narrative […]
No Labels joins the Republicans They say they are going to do a “unity” ticket but in fact it is a third party ticket that will put Trump back in the White House. They aren’t idiots. I have to assume they know this. Here’s Tim Miller from a few months ago on this topic: Starting a new third party is all the rage these days, especially out here in Never Trumpistan. The Yang Gang is teaming up with some future former Republicans for the Forward Party. Rich people have burned given power couple Mark Penn and Nancy Jacobson $50 million to try and make a No Labels ticket happen. My friend Juleanna Glover made a (fairly serious) case for a Jon Stewart candidacy. Say the phrase “unity ticket” and clap three times and Bill Kristol might show up in your living room. The third party question is raised at all my book-tour stops. (Coming to a city near you!) And it is the subtext of every conversation with a lonely, politically homeless soul wondering What Are We Going to Do.
The best justice money — and corrupt ideology — can buy: You would think, based on the flurry of litigation unfolding there, that a lot of drama is going down in Amarillo, Texas. Of the couple dozen lawsuits Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has filed against the Biden administration, over a third have been funneled through the relatively small city, despite its distance from the state capital. But it’s got one thing going for it: Trump appointee Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has already amenably batted down Biden administration policies on immigration, access to contraception and LBGTQ protections.
Newsom reminds businesses that they need to take into account big blue states too Pick your fighter: California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday the state will not be doing business with Walgreens Boots Alliance over its decision not to dispense an abortion pill. Last week, the national pharmacy chain said it would not distribute mifepristone in 20 states after conservative attorneys general threatened legal action.MORE: USPS is allowed to continue delivering abortion pills, Justice Department says In a tweet, Newsom criticized the decision, writing, “California won’t be doing business with Walgreens or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk. We’re done.” In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for Newsom said the state was “reviewing” its relationship with Walgreens. “We will not pursue business with companies that cave to right wing bullies pushing their extremist agenda or companies that put politics above the health of women and girls,” the statement read.