I've seen a couple of the DCCC's ads supposedly supporting Trumpistas in the upcoming elections. Before Trump, they would have been regarded as "negative" ads, that is, attacking the candidate. They simply stated the candidate's more far-out Trumpy positions. I suppose they might improve the candidate 's name recognition. The only way otherwise they could be construed as pro Trumpista is in the perverse way that I blamed CNN for Trump's election, and not entirely facetiously. The network seemed to me to roll the clip of him mocking the handicapped NYT reporter every hour or so. I thought perhaps a lot of people inclined to support Trump anyway saw them and thought, "Yeah, I like this guy. He acts like I'd like to act if I thought I could get away with it." But then, I thought the Trump candidacy from the beginning was a covert operation by the Clintons, hence the total shock when Trump won.
I am a Josh Barro fan...and he could easily slip into the Bulwark pantheon. Check out his podcast: "Serious Trouble" with his legal-beagle wing man, Ken White. https://www.serioustrouble.show
But, his opening paragraph content: "Democrats have acted hypocritically, raising alarm about Trump being a unique threat to democracy..." how is that even remotely considered hypocritical unless Mr. Barro thinks that Biden, Obama, Clinton are/were threats to democracy.
Otherwise, the remainder of his writings are right-on (as we aging Boomers would say in the 60s and 70s, which White youths stole from Black culture...similar to stealing R&B songs in the 1950s that turned into R&R hits in which Black artists were left on the sidelines.)
First, JVL I very much appreciate getting the newsletter each week. They definitely open my horizons and I think they are all very good. I do share these with other folks in my network
As to Josh Barro and his analysis of "Team Normal" I tend to agree with him that the Dems are being hypocritical. Of course they want the Rep Party to implode. The risk, though, is that it doesn't and we end up with wing nuts in power.
I am reminded of the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 where Hitler attempted a "coup". A big failure but he came back and eventually succeeded. As he returned the "establishment" allowed him to gain power and they viewed the Nazi's as the "mouth breathers" that they wouldn't be caught dead with (like the people showing up now at Trump rallies). I can see the January 6th event in the same light as Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch - really stupid and little chance of succeeding. Note that Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for treason but only served 9 months. He came back and took power by "legitimate" means.
I hope that we will not let Trump come back. The Dems should do everything they can to defeat the Trump Cult/Election deniers even if that means supporting candidates that might defeat them in general elections.
In re to Josh Barro's piece, it would seem to me the real hypocrites are Team Normal. "Team Normal wants nothing more than for Trump to go away. Doesn’t matter how. Jail. Defeat. The January 6 Committee. Whatever. They’re not picky.
But also, Team Normal cannot—under any circumstances—appear to want Trump to go away. And so they wind up pushing back against and defending Trump from the processes that could drive him out of American politics."
Why should the Dems miss an opportunity to strengthen their chances of winning in the midterms and 2024?
Re culture: What can I do to make you more effective?
I highly recommend this book - The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work
I used to work for a company that designed and deployed custom employee surveys. We would always try to include a question about how supportive the work environment was for the employee to be productive. What we found was that one question was the most correlated with every other question., regardless of topic . How they felt about their co-workers, their management, senior management, their benefits, the ethics of the company, everything. To make employees feel like they want to continue to work at your company, both line and senior management should focus on making it easier for them to feel they have accomplished something as often as possible.
In all of this conversation, I'll bring this up again. The women's health issue is just getting basically ignored here. That is not clear thinking if one wants to consider motivational politics. The Kansas abortion vote was an enormous bell ringing in an empty sky.
The democratic candidates really need to lean into this issue hard. The constituency is huge, built in and fundamentally captive. It needs exploiting but in a good way. 50% of the population is being treated like cattle.
I'd wager that businesses as well as professionals are not going to want to move or expand in states where a women's choice is disregarded. The job market really is competitive these days and making things look unattractive to a potential candidate for a job is big, really big. Who wants to move to Texas and set up a medical practice with the atmosphere of Calvinists?
"Republicans are correct that many Democrats have acted hypocritically, raising alarm about Trump being a unique threat to democracy while they act to strengthen his grip on the Republican Party."
Please explain. I'm not being sarcastic, I really want to know because it sounds a lot like "both-sides-ism" to me.
The "3 body problem" story reminds me of the part in the Gulag Archipelago where nobody wanted to stop clapping for Stalin because the first to do so would get singled out for being too independent, and hence purged.
Regarding the Barro article; it's hardly surprising that the Republican response to losing is to demand mercy and forbearance and to attempt to accept the compromise that was on the table before they lost the battle. It's exactly what they did with gay marriage. All those years in the late 90s and early 00s where they were offered a compromise of accepting civil unions, but they refused. Until 10 years later when it was obvious that the culture had turned and they lost; then it was only natural for people who supported gay rights to accept a compromise with someone who had no leverage left whatsoever. Even though they spent decades going into gay enclaves and enforcing their will in a way that would never admit any compromise. Just anther result of their conviction that they are the only ones operating from a moral position.
And in other news - just read an article about a FL R candidate for their legislature saying, “Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds on sight! Let freedom ring!” Name - Luis Miguel, and Twitter banned him for life. Don't hear any "normal" GOPs condemning him.
When will we recognize that Tik Tok is a propaganda tool of the CCP. When will regulators recognize this and take appropriate action - shut it down in the US.
Team Normal Republicans number exactly zero: except Cheney and Kinzinger and their tribe has excommunicated them. So Republicans have achieved absolute zero: zero integrity, zero testicles, zero spine. They carry Trumps urine as if it were gold and bathe in it proving Trump does enjoy the golden shower.
Loved the David Epstein article. Thanks for sharing it!
I've seen a couple of the DCCC's ads supposedly supporting Trumpistas in the upcoming elections. Before Trump, they would have been regarded as "negative" ads, that is, attacking the candidate. They simply stated the candidate's more far-out Trumpy positions. I suppose they might improve the candidate 's name recognition. The only way otherwise they could be construed as pro Trumpista is in the perverse way that I blamed CNN for Trump's election, and not entirely facetiously. The network seemed to me to roll the clip of him mocking the handicapped NYT reporter every hour or so. I thought perhaps a lot of people inclined to support Trump anyway saw them and thought, "Yeah, I like this guy. He acts like I'd like to act if I thought I could get away with it." But then, I thought the Trump candidacy from the beginning was a covert operation by the Clintons, hence the total shock when Trump won.
Just read that DeSantis is poking his nose into Ohio, endorsing Vance and PA, endorsing Mastriano, in person. Trump may not like it.
I am a Josh Barro fan...and he could easily slip into the Bulwark pantheon. Check out his podcast: "Serious Trouble" with his legal-beagle wing man, Ken White. https://www.serioustrouble.show
But, his opening paragraph content: "Democrats have acted hypocritically, raising alarm about Trump being a unique threat to democracy..." how is that even remotely considered hypocritical unless Mr. Barro thinks that Biden, Obama, Clinton are/were threats to democracy.
Otherwise, the remainder of his writings are right-on (as we aging Boomers would say in the 60s and 70s, which White youths stole from Black culture...similar to stealing R&B songs in the 1950s that turned into R&R hits in which Black artists were left on the sidelines.)
First, JVL I very much appreciate getting the newsletter each week. They definitely open my horizons and I think they are all very good. I do share these with other folks in my network
As to Josh Barro and his analysis of "Team Normal" I tend to agree with him that the Dems are being hypocritical. Of course they want the Rep Party to implode. The risk, though, is that it doesn't and we end up with wing nuts in power.
I am reminded of the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 where Hitler attempted a "coup". A big failure but he came back and eventually succeeded. As he returned the "establishment" allowed him to gain power and they viewed the Nazi's as the "mouth breathers" that they wouldn't be caught dead with (like the people showing up now at Trump rallies). I can see the January 6th event in the same light as Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch - really stupid and little chance of succeeding. Note that Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for treason but only served 9 months. He came back and took power by "legitimate" means.
I hope that we will not let Trump come back. The Dems should do everything they can to defeat the Trump Cult/Election deniers even if that means supporting candidates that might defeat them in general elections.
In re to Josh Barro's piece, it would seem to me the real hypocrites are Team Normal. "Team Normal wants nothing more than for Trump to go away. Doesn’t matter how. Jail. Defeat. The January 6 Committee. Whatever. They’re not picky.
But also, Team Normal cannot—under any circumstances—appear to want Trump to go away. And so they wind up pushing back against and defending Trump from the processes that could drive him out of American politics."
Why should the Dems miss an opportunity to strengthen their chances of winning in the midterms and 2024?
May I just say this? Because I cannot be the only one to see it...
But were Liz Cheney and Sarah Longwell "separated at birth"?
(okay Liz is older, and I mean no disrespect to Sarah who looks much
younger because she is, but really, put a pair of glasses on Sarah... and wow... )
Is it just me?
Glad to see Barro's piece plugged.
Re culture: What can I do to make you more effective?
I highly recommend this book - The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work
I used to work for a company that designed and deployed custom employee surveys. We would always try to include a question about how supportive the work environment was for the employee to be productive. What we found was that one question was the most correlated with every other question., regardless of topic . How they felt about their co-workers, their management, senior management, their benefits, the ethics of the company, everything. To make employees feel like they want to continue to work at your company, both line and senior management should focus on making it easier for them to feel they have accomplished something as often as possible.
In all of this conversation, I'll bring this up again. The women's health issue is just getting basically ignored here. That is not clear thinking if one wants to consider motivational politics. The Kansas abortion vote was an enormous bell ringing in an empty sky.
The democratic candidates really need to lean into this issue hard. The constituency is huge, built in and fundamentally captive. It needs exploiting but in a good way. 50% of the population is being treated like cattle.
I'd wager that businesses as well as professionals are not going to want to move or expand in states where a women's choice is disregarded. The job market really is competitive these days and making things look unattractive to a potential candidate for a job is big, really big. Who wants to move to Texas and set up a medical practice with the atmosphere of Calvinists?
"Republicans are correct that many Democrats have acted hypocritically, raising alarm about Trump being a unique threat to democracy while they act to strengthen his grip on the Republican Party."
Please explain. I'm not being sarcastic, I really want to know because it sounds a lot like "both-sides-ism" to me.
The "3 body problem" story reminds me of the part in the Gulag Archipelago where nobody wanted to stop clapping for Stalin because the first to do so would get singled out for being too independent, and hence purged.
Regarding the Barro article; it's hardly surprising that the Republican response to losing is to demand mercy and forbearance and to attempt to accept the compromise that was on the table before they lost the battle. It's exactly what they did with gay marriage. All those years in the late 90s and early 00s where they were offered a compromise of accepting civil unions, but they refused. Until 10 years later when it was obvious that the culture had turned and they lost; then it was only natural for people who supported gay rights to accept a compromise with someone who had no leverage left whatsoever. Even though they spent decades going into gay enclaves and enforcing their will in a way that would never admit any compromise. Just anther result of their conviction that they are the only ones operating from a moral position.
And in other news - just read an article about a FL R candidate for their legislature saying, “Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds on sight! Let freedom ring!” Name - Luis Miguel, and Twitter banned him for life. Don't hear any "normal" GOPs condemning him.
When will we recognize that Tik Tok is a propaganda tool of the CCP. When will regulators recognize this and take appropriate action - shut it down in the US.
Team Normal Republicans number exactly zero: except Cheney and Kinzinger and their tribe has excommunicated them. So Republicans have achieved absolute zero: zero integrity, zero testicles, zero spine. They carry Trumps urine as if it were gold and bathe in it proving Trump does enjoy the golden shower.