Over at Lawfare, Benjamin Wittes explains the tragedy/farce farce/tragedy of former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe’s dismissal and now impending indictment for false statements made in the course of an internal investigation. The record is perfectly clear: Andrew McCabe was fired immediately prior to the vesting of his pension and now very likely will be…
Tag: Republican Party
Nate Silver explains it all for me. Pretty much.
Before the 2016 election—before the death of reason—elections impresario and general numbers dude Nate Silver put together and posted on his fivethirtyeight website the video shown above, “Long Before Trump, There Was Ross Perot”. What was interesting to me was not so much Perot seen as a precursor to Herr Donald as the conviction expressed…
The “Struggle” for the “Soul” of the Republican Party: When Vapid Met Vaporous
Unless you actually have a life, you may be aware of a “struggle” going on now for the “soul”, loosely speaking, of the Republican Party. In one corner you have Brink “Mr. Nice Guy” Lindsey, arguing in National Affairs for “Republicanism for Republicans” and in the other Tucker “Bow Tie/Blue Collar” Carlson, who moans that…
The demise of the Weekly Standard: Only evil deeds go unpunished
Yes, the word is that Bill Kristol’s bawling, brawling neocon baby, the Weekly Standard is no more, mourned in predictably fatuous fashion by co-founder John Podhoretz, “The Murder of the Weekly Standard* and long-time contributor David Brooks, among others, for heroically refusing to swallow the Trumpian swill that is now de rigueur on the Right,1…
Omigod! Are those monkeys flying out of Albert R. Hunt’s butt? Okay, I guess not.
“There is a simple way Republicans can show some mettle [and defy Trump]: if five senators — starting with Maine’s Susan Collins, who complains it’s unacceptable to impede Mueller but does little about it — say they won’t vote for anther federal judge until legislation is enacted guaranteeing the independence of the special counsel. The…
Max Boot’s The Corrosion of Conservatism: A major mea culpa just a few culpas shy of a load
Max Boot has written another “what happened to conservatism?” book, similar but superior to Charles How the Right Lost its Mind Sykes and Rick Everything Trump Touches Dies Wilson, because Boot, unlike both Sykes and Wilson, is willing to re-examine the historical record and discover, among other things, that, yes, the young William F. Buckley…
Sweeping up a few Republican crumbs
Okay, that’s a bit harsh, even though, let’s face it, a lot of Republicans are crumbs. A week or two ago, I ran a piece, “John McCain, Paul Ryan, and the Myth of the Virtuous Republican”, in the course of which I quoted fairly extensively from two often interesting “I’m outta here” books by (more…
John McCain, Paul Ryan, and the Myth of the Virtuous Republican
John McCain is one of those guys who, when he dies, people say “he was the last of a dying breed.” No one will ever say that about Paul Ryan. John McCain was a genuine war hero, a man who preferred to face hardship, torture, and even death rather than abandon his comrades. Paul Ryan…
Trump Derangement Syndrome—An illusion affecting many Republicans, leading them to believe that the face they see in the mirror each morning is not Donald Trump’s
Here’s the truth, Republicans: You are Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is you!
Rowdy, partisan Democrats prevent Republicans from cutting out an FBI agent’s heart
Those Republicans and Democrats! Those Democrats and Republicans! They fight like cats and dogs! It makes you want to throw up your hands in disgust, amirite? That’s the way such reliable purveyors of “fake news” as the New York Times (“Hearing for FBI Agent Devolves Into Debacle”) and the Washington Post (“Shouting, bickering, and other…