Sunday, December 22, 2024
Why did the Democrats get creamed? Sherrod Brown can tell you.
Why did the Democrats
get creamed? Sherrod Brown can tell you.
“I don’t look at
politics left and right. It’s who’s on your side.”
December
22, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. ESTToday at 6:30 a.m. EST
It is hard to think of a state that
has seen a faster and more dramatic political transformation than Ohio.
For more than half a century, the
Buckeye State was the quintessential, closely fought bellwether. Until its
streak was broken in 2020, it had voted for the presidential election winner a remarkable
14 times straight.
Had John F. Kerry taken roughly 60,000 more Ohio votes from George W. Bush
in 2004, he would have been president. Four years later, Barack Obama won the state by
nearly five percentage points; he did it again in 2012, but by less than half
that margin.
Then, Ohio swung hard to Donald Trump and the
Republicans — and it has remained there since.
Now, the man who was possibly the last
Democrat capable of being elected statewide, Sen. Sherrod Brown, has been
defeated and is heading home. Costing half a billion dollars, Brown’s losing
battle against Republican Bernie Moreno became the most expensive Senate race in the country. Brown
came up about three points short in his quest for a fourth term.
Why? Brown says the political shift in
his state began with a signal event: the passage of the North American Free
Trade Agreement in 1993, the first year of Bill Clinton’s presidency.
“Workers have slowly migrated out of
the Democratic Party,” he told me. “It accelerated as more and more jobs were
lost. And I still heard [about NAFTA] in this campaign, especially in the Miami
Valley, Dayton, where we still won, [and] up there in Mahoning Valley, where we
didn’t win.”
Workers came to view Democrats “as a
bicoastal elite party,” he explained. “We were too pro-corporate. They know
Republicans are going to shill for corporate interests. They expected Democrats
would stand up for them, and they don’t see that nationally.”
Then Trump came along and switched the
script, breaking with the GOP’s long-standing free-trade stance to denounce
NAFTA and other agreements, promote more protectionist policies and make
promises such as ending taxes on overtime. “Republicans are now,
for the first time, actually trying to talk to workers,” Brown said.
Still, in November, Brown ran more than seven percentage
points ahead of the top of the Democratic ticket in Ohio; where Vice
President Kamala Harris lost the
state’s union households by nine points, the
senator carried them by 13.
On Tuesday, he gave his final speech on the Senate floor. Occasionally
choking up, Brown had stood at a desk that had once belonged to Sen. Robert F.
Kennedy of New York — something he discovered on his first day in the
chamber, when he saw Kennedy’s signature in a drawer.
As Brown invariably does, he wore a
bright white lapel pin given to him decades ago by a steelworker in Lorain. It
depicts a caged canary. “At the turn of the last century, coal miners took the
canary down into the mines with them to warn them of poisonous gasses,” he
said. “The mine worker in those days knew he didn’t have a union strong enough
or a government that cared enough to look out for him. He was on his own. Over
the last century and a half, we have done so much to change that. And all of
those fights required going up against powerful special interests.”
That day, 40 or so of his Senate
colleagues who had gathered to hear Brown’s remarks wore identical pins in his
honor.
I caught up with Brown the morning
after that Senate speech. His suite on the fifth floor of the Hart Office
Building, where we spoke, was all but empty, the walls and desks already bare.
But although he himself will no longer
be there come January, Brown insists that Democrats can — and must — win back
the votes of working-class Americans. Those voters may disagree with some of
the party’s stances on social issues, such as guns, abortion, crime and
immigration, but will return to the fold “if we stay on economic issues and do
it right.”
“We have to sharpen our message. I
don’t look at politics left and right. It’s who’s on your side,” he said. “Work
really binds. I mean, what do we have in common? The term ‘dignity of work’
really cuts across all lines.”
Brown, 72, refused to call that speech
a farewell. “It is not — I promise you — the last time you will hear from me,”
he said. Indeed, in the waning hours of the congressional session, Brown
notched one last major achievement: passage of a bill that will give millions of
public sector retirees full Social Security benefits, instead of the reduced
payments they currently receive.
His future options include running
again for the Senate in 2026, when there will be a special election to fill the
unexpired term of the seat now held by Vice President-elect JD Vance (R).
I hope he does, because few have so
ardently championed the value of work. And his, it is clear, is not finished.
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Mona Charen - The Journal is a Joke
The
Wall Street Journal has become a parody of itself
In the Trump era, there is simply no Republican, no matter how deranged
or unfit, whom the Journal will not prefer to a Democratic opponent. The
spectacle of the Journal chastising the Biden administration without a solitary
word about Trump and his enablers is breathtaking.
By Mona Charen
Many American
institutions have beclowned themselves in the last 10 years — too many to list.
To count the right-leaning institutions that have not succumbed to Trumpian
populism takes only one hand.
But the decline of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has been
particularly galling because, compared to the Heritage Foundation, Hillsdale
College or the Claremont Institute, it had farther to fall.
In the pre-Trump era, the paper had some integrity. While the board was
broadly aligned with the Republican Party, its editorials didn’t hesitate to
differ with Republicans on major questions.
In the Trump era, the Journal has become, if not Pravda, then something
like the Nation. The Nation reliably whitewashed the sins of the Soviet Union
and other communist regimes because it regarded anti-communism as a greater
threat to the world than communism itself.
Similarly, The Wall Street Journal has gradually become a parody of
itself on the grounds that Democrats are always and forever the greatest threat
to the country.
With that guiding principle, there is simply no Republican, no matter how
deranged or unfit, whom the Journal will not prefer to a Democratic opponent.
In 2022, the Journal advised its Arizona readers to choose Kari Lake for
governor despite the fact Lake had called for the 2020 election to be
decertified, denounced mask-wearing and encouraged the use of
hydroxychloroquine during the pandemic, promised to criminally pursue
journalists who “dupe the public” and pronounced the nation “rotten to the
core” when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago.
The Journal didn’t mention most of that in its endorsement, claiming,
hilariously, that Arizona’s election was primarily about school choice.
This week, commenting on
the drone kerfuffle, the Journal intoned it couldn’t be sure what people were
seeing — but it was certain the whole thing could be attributed to the erosion
of trust in government.
Noting that “non-cranks” have reported seeing things that move strangely
in the dark, the Journal quoted Jon Bramnick, a GOP state senator from New
Jersey, who said, “It must be something going on that they can’t tell us
because they are so fearful of what the public’s gonna do when they hear what
the drones are doing.”
You might think the paper would rebuke this state senator for getting out
over his skis and encouraging conspiratorial thinking, but no, the editorial
notes: “This is how deep the suspicion runs. And when that happens, conspiracy
theories fill the air as much as drones do.”
And guess who’s responsible for this erosion of trust?
Spy balloons, drones, FEMA and more
The Biden administration has squandered its credibility to the point that
it’s rational not to believe what it says. Remember the Chinese spy balloon
that traveled across the continental U.S.? The administration downplayed its
importance while it was courting better relations with Beijing, only to shoot
it down over the Atlantic Ocean.
Whoa. If you want to cite relations with Beijing as a source of mistrust,
the Trump administration offers far more dire examples. While he was chasing a
“great trade agreement” with Xi Jinping (the terms of which were never honored,
by the way), Donald Trump repeatedly lied about and minimized the risk of
COVID-19, which had far more serious consequences for Americans’ lives than
waiting until the big spy balloon was over the ocean before shooting it down.
Nor did the Journal see fit to mention that Trump is, right on schedule
and very on-brand, stoking conspiracies of government malfeasance about the
drones. He popped off: “Can this really be happening without our government’s
knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot
them down!!!”
This is not to excuse President Joe Biden’s betrayal of trust in
repeatedly promising that he would not pardon his son and then doing so, or
misleading the public about the degree of his physical and mental decline.
But for the Journal to look at the world of 2024 and conclude the erosion
of trust in government is due to Biden without ever once mentioning Trump and
his minions are the most prolific bilge-spillers imaginable, is to be
completely without scruple.
Just in the last few weeks of the campaign, Trump falsely alleged the
Federal Emergency Management Agency was purposely withholding hurricane
assistance in order to funnel funds to illegal immigrants, the Congo was
emptying its prisons to send convicts to the United States and the 2020
election was stolen.
Trust is crucial to the successful functioning of society. Many social
science studies have found that nations with high trust have less corruption
and greater prosperity than those with low trust. It makes sense. If you
believe that most people are untrustworthy, you will rely only on those within
your own family or tribe and be less likely to engage with outsiders.
The drone affair is fluff and will doubtless be forgotten in a month if
not sooner. But the spectacle of the Journal chastising the Biden
administration without a solitary word about Trump and his enablers (in whose
ranks they stand) is breath-taking.
Mona Charen is policy editor of The Bulwark and host of the “Beg to
Differ” podcast.
Friday, December 20, 2024
How Colleges Really Talk About Rich Applicants
How Colleges Really Talk About Rich Applicants
HARRY LITMAN
Trump
and House Republicans’ coordinated hit job
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
I think Liz Cheney will probably emerge just fine from
the ordeal that the Republicans in the House Oversight Subcommittee have
prepared for her. But the scheme to make her suffer for the sin of having
served responsibly on the January 6 Committee tells us a lot about the contours
of the coming Trump 2.0 wave of reprisals.
In a report released on Tuesday, the House Oversight Subcommittee,
chaired by Trump loyalist Barry Loudermilk, wrote that Cheney should be
investigated by the FBI for crimes growing out of the work she did as Vice
Chair of the Committee. Trump was quick to second the proposal, with a feigned
stance as a mere observer:
"Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained
by the subcommittee, which states that 'numerous federal laws were likely
broken by Liz Cheney, and these violations should be investigated by the
FBI.'"
The report alleges, outrageously, that Cheney committed crimes in her communications with critical January 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson. Hutchinson was initially represented by an attorney supplied and compensated by Team Trump. According to Hutchinson’s account in her 2023 book, “Enough,” that attorney coached her not to be forthcoming and to refrain from saying bad things about “the boss.”
Hutchinson reports that she initially played ball but
then had a crisis of conscience. She grew particularly concerned when her
attorney made noises about no longer cooperating with the Committee, exposing
her to the possibility of contempt. At that point, she reached out to Cheney
through an intermediary and had a series of indirect and a few direct
communications with the Wyoming congresswoman.
Then, on June 28, 2022, as a riveted audience watched
on TV, Hutchinson, with new counsel, provided perhaps the most dramatic
testimony of the January 6 hearings. She detailed Trump’s indifference, and
even enthusiasm, about the melee that he had set in motion and the knowledge
and culpability of her boss, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Her manner was
direct, forthright, and, I thought, slightly pained. Nobody I know didn’t
believe her every word.
In a previous interim report, Loudermilk and company
had tried to tag Cheney with unethical behavior for communicating with
Hutchinson in the absence of her Trump-supplied lawyer. That accusation doesn’t
cut it for what they’re looking to do now, namely having her investigated for
multiple felonies.
And what justification does the report supply to
justify its stunning suggestion that Cheney violated multiple federal criminal
laws in her committee work? The report says next to nothing. It asserts in
colorful and vaguely sinister-sounding language that Cheney “colluded” with
Hutchinson. And it supplies citations of a few federal statutes but doesn’t
attempt to match them up directly with Cheney’s conduct.
The necessary insinuation, however, is that Cheney
pushed Hutchinson to provide a false account. Each of the three crimes that
Loudermilk calls out requires that Hutchinson testified falsely in her return
to the Committee (and, to go after Cheney, additional requirements that Cheney
somehow shaped the false testimony). So, in Loudermilk’s account, Hutchinson’s
first mealy and hedged testimony that she gave while being advised by the
Trump-supplied lawyer was true, while the dramatic and detailed account we all
saw on television was a bunch of lies.
And how do we know that the later testimony was
perjurious? Here’s where the Loudermilk report comes up empty. The report jumps
to that conclusion based on the mere fact that Hutchinson’s later testimony
changed. Of course, the more likely conclusion is that the later testimony was
truthful and Hutchinson didn’t hoodwink the entire country with an account that
played as totally honest.
Notice, by the way, the attack on Cheney implies that
the Trump reprisal operation will also extend to Cassidy Hutchinson. The
overreach, raw politics, and sheer injustice of that move should inspire
revulsion on the part of anyone who saw her brave testimony.
Cheney, for her part, was quick to strike back at
Loudermilk’s threadbare report, calling the report’s accusations “lies and
defamatory allegations.” She vigorously defended the work of the committee. And
then she went to the heart of what the Loudermilk report is really about: an
effort to whitewash Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol.
Cheney wrote, “January 6
showed Donald Trump for who he really is—a cruel and vindictive man who allowed
violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers
while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct the supporters to
stand down and leave.”
Cheney’s forceful response may be a preview of coming
attractions. I think Cheney will have the better of the battle. Her independent
dignity will contrast favorably with the imperious Inquisition-style attacks of
the vengeance squad.
That’s particularly true because she has the truth on
her side. We needn’t dig deep to determine if Loudermilk’s report provides any
credible basis for investigation into Cheney for federal crimes. The report
does not even begin to state a case for criminal conduct. Communications
between witnesses and committee staff—or even the committee Chair—are routine
features of partisan hearings. The fact that Hutchinson had a lawyer
(Trump-supplied, and possibly himself improperly serving two masters), whatever
ethical problems it may present, is in no way a crime.
Despite failing to make a case for any criminal
activity, Loudermilk goes to the trouble of stating that Cheney would not have
the protection of the speech and debate clause on the grounds that talking with
a committee witness does not fall under the legislative sphere. That’s dubious.
Participation in committee hearings or investigations is down-the-middle
legislative activity and subject to the clause’s protections.
The bigger point is Cheney doesn’t need those
protections, not having done anything wrong other than serve on a committee
investigating Trump. Absent proof of something that almost certainly isn’t the
case—that Hutchinson’s testimony that kept the country rapt was all just a
bunch of lies crafted with the help of Cheney—any referral to the DOJ would
today be a non-starter. With no real evidence supporting the basic charge that
Cheney manipulated Hutchinson to lie, no self-respecting prosecutor would give
it a second look.
But that’s not where the story ends in our
post-November 5 world, where Kash Patel (whose GOP support seems to be
consolidating) is all-in on Trump’s lies and payback plans.
Loudermilk’s referral is only the potential first step
in a full-feature Orwellian nightmare that Trump and company likely have in
store for those they consider disloyal. Under normal circumstances, referrals
from Congress to DOJ go through professional nonpartisan review by career
staff. That’s, of course, what happened for the various January 6-related
contempt motions when the department wound up green-lighting Bannon but
declining to charge Meadows.
But Loudermilk’s unsupported suggestion figures to
arrive at a Patel-led FBI and a Department of Justice overseen by Trump
partisans, beginning with Pam Bondi and including many of his personal lawyers
from the last few years of legal proceedings. Plus, the Supreme Court, in its
immunity opinion, specified that a president’s ability to discuss or demand
investigations from the FBI is a core executive power beyond the reach of
criminal law. This means Trump will be able to insert himself into the process
with impunity.
At this point, we can connect the dots of an ugly
authoritarian picture. Loudermilk and the House send over a baseless
recommendation, and Bondi, Patel, and the FBI go corruptly running with it.
Cheney would be without legal recourse to challenge any of it; she would have
to take her lumps and pay her lawyers while the investigative process plays
out.
The point is that even if they are peddling fabricated
charges, a Trump-controlled FBI and DOJ can still make life miserable for a
subject of an investigation that they eventually decide not to charge. The
stress, reputational harm, and, not least, the expense of a detailed
investigation is a form of potent damage, even ruin, for which there is almost
never any subsequent redress. This is a particular danger for Cassidy
Hutchinson if the new gang decides to go after her.
Now, the Trump government can only take this scheme so
far. Any actual federal charge of Cheney would be DOA, and likely invite a
stern reprimand from a federal judge. (This is a general risk for DOJ lawyers
in the coming regime, where Trump may try to order up all manner of legal
nonsense.) A baseless charge could even subject DOJ lawyers and FBI
investigators to discipline.
There are a few larger lessons to be gleaned from this
episode. The first is that we can expect the Trump 2.0 authoritarian agenda to
be legalistic; that is, it will provide a veneer of legitimacy by exploiting
and corrupting the existing legal mechanisms of democracy. Authoritarian
reversions needn’t depend on brownshirts or boots on the ground. A notable
example of this is the way Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (whom Trump
has often extolled for his policies and leadership style) has co-opted the country’s
legal mechanisms for his personal interest. (Oh and by the way, Orbán has
visited Trump on at least two occasions this year, including one earlier this
month where the two men were joined by—you guessed it—Elon Musk.)
Second, Trump’s wide-ranging control of different
government actors gives him the option of relying on others to do the dirty
work. He has a large crew of loyal servants whose job it is to take the
political heat. That permits him, as we saw him do often in the first term, to
hedge or even feign neutrality towards actions that may backfire with the
American people. So here, for example, he certainly knew what the Loudermilk
committee was planning for Cheney, but he adopted the stance of an outsider who
was just taking note of the trouble Cheney might be in, even though there’s
little doubt that he is the architect of that trouble. But when it blows up, he
can claim he never was vehement about investigating the congresswoman. Likewise
for the referral when it happens. He can adopt a public stance that he is
leaving it in Patel’s hands but still control (and with Supreme Court-conferred
immunity) the decisions of his DOJ and FBI.
Finally, at the bottom of a Trump scheme to draw blood
against someone disloyal, there will always be a lie. Trump wants to avenge his
enemies, but he wants to distort the truth even more. His ultimate aim is to
erase his criminal conduct from the pages of history and emerge as the man he’s
claimed to be from the start: a victim of the deep state whose conduct has
always been “perfect.”
Joyce Vance
LINKS TO RELATED SITES
- My Personal Website
- HAT Speaker Website
- My INC. Blog Posts
- My THREADS profile
- My Wikipedia Page
- My LinkedIn Page
- My Facebook Page
- My X/Twitter Page
- My Instagram Page
- My ABOUT.ME page
- G2T3V, LLC Site
- G2T3V page on LinkedIn
- G2T3V, LLC Facebook Page
- My Channel on YOUTUBE
- My Videos on VIMEO
- My Boards on Pinterest
- My Site on Mastodon
- My Site on Substack
- My Site on Post
LINKS TO RELATED BUSINESSES
- 1871 - Where Digital Startups Get Their Start
- AskWhai
- Baloonr
- BCV Social
- ConceptDrop (Now Nexus AI)
- Cubii
- Dumbstruck
- Gather Voices
- Genivity
- Georama (now QualSights)
- GetSet
- HighTower Advisors
- Holberg Financial
- Indiegogo
- Keeeb
- Kitchfix
- KnowledgeHound
- Landscape Hub
- Lisa App
- Magic Cube
- MagicTags/THYNG
- Mile Auto
- Packback Books
- Peanut Butter
- Philo Broadcasting
- Popular Pays
- Selfie
- SnapSheet
- SomruS
- SPOTHERO
- SquareOffs
- Tempesta Media
- THYNG
- Tock
- Upshow
- Vehcon
- Xaptum
Total Pageviews
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Blog Archive
-
▼
2024
(1036)
-
▼
December
(88)
- A BOWEL MOVEMENT IS OUR NEXT PRESIDENT
- PRESIDENT MUSK
- Why did the Democrats get creamed? Sherrod Brown c...
- Mona Charen - The Journal is a Joke
- How Colleges Really Talk About Rich Applicants
- HARRY LITMAN
- Joyce Vance
- DANA MILBANK
- DON'T LET THE MAGAts LIE AGAIN - THEY SHOT THEMSEL...
- Trump's walk back on lowering prices is a media fa...
- HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
- (Dobbs) Prosecuting The Prosecutors
- Finally, someone has the courage to stand up to Tr...
- THE DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA
- The Cost of Pardoning the Jan. 6th Defendants
- CHILLED
- Four Ways to Unbend the Media’s Knee
- NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN
- Trump's Time interview provides a sobering reminder
- The Fear Is the Point
- Biden must ignore pardon myths and protect Patel’s...
- A low, low point for ABC News
- The Real Reason Why Americans Approve of Trump’s D...
- Inside Trump’s Planned War on Leakers and the Press
- The Rich, The Powerful, The Cowardly
- ABC News caved when it settled with Trump
- JOYCE VANCE
- It’s Time for Outgoing Democrats to Play Hardball
- The Tale of Cousin Wray-Wray and Aileen Cannon
- McConnell has the chutzpah to complain about Trump...
- Welcome to the Trump-RFK Jr. quack-fest
- GREG DOBBS
- Trump nominee Tulsi Gabbard cozies up to America's...
- PUBLIC NOTICE
- RICK WILSON
- JOYCE VANCE
- DAN RATHER
- Donald Trump Is Picking Fights. Will Anyone Hit Back?
- FRANK BRUNI
- THE MAGAts WERE WARNED
- CHARLIE SYKES
- A Scandalous Resignation
- TIME TRACKS TRUMP'S NEWEST LIES
- WE'RE TIRED OF WAITING FOR THIS TRAITOR AND CORRUP...
- The Trump Family’s Many Entanglements
- HOWARD TULLMAN JOINS LISA DENT ON WGN RADIO TO TAL...
- HOW MANY FAMILY MEMBERS, FLUNKIES, FLOOZIES AND RE...
- WHY AREN'T ALL THESE PIGS IN JAIL INSTEAD OF BECOM...
- LOU RAIZIN: Downtown Chicago needs reimagining. It...
- NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN
- WE NEED TO LOCK THIS CLOWN UP BEFORE HE KILLS THE ...
- HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
- JOYCE VANCE
- SOMEONE NEEDS TO WAKE UP OLD WEAK JOE (AND SCHUMER...
- THE BIBLE BELT
- CONMAN - DROWNING IN STUPIDITY
- JOYCE VANCE
- The trouble with billionaires, especially media ow...
- Fact-checking Trump's interview with 'Meet the Press'
- HEATHER COX RICHARDSON - OBAMA
- JOYCE VANCE PREEMPTIVE PARDONS
- SCUMBAG FANTASY
- CONCEPTS
- The Silicon Valley Billionaires Steering Trump’s T...
- Don’t Let Donald Trump Take Your Soul, Too
- IT'S NOT ABOUT POLITICS
- MAGA Dimwit Tommy Tuberville Blurts Out Awkward Tr...
- An Assassin Showed Just How Angry America Really Is
- Why I Just Resigned From The Los Angeles Times - H...
- The Honeymoon Won't Last
- KUSHNER HEADS A FAMILY OF CROOKS AND GRIFTERS
- Hunter’s pardon isn’t the issue. What matters are ...
- Fox News ignores Pete Hegseth misconduct allegatio...
- J. Edgar Q-ver
- The Next Pardons
- FOX FRAUD
- NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN
- Outrage overload
- CONGRATS TO OUR GREAT NEW COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTO...
- Trump Is Building the Most Anti-Semitic Cabinet in...
- Heather Cox Richardson
- My plea to newsroom leaders at this dangerous moment
- A dangerous and unqualified choice for the FBI
- Trump and His Team Are ‘Laughing’ at Biden’s Commi...
- The Hammer of the Oligarchy
- WE NEED TO CRASH KASH - TRAITOR, ELECTION DENIER, ...
- Trump’s FBI Flex
- Instrument of Revenge
-
▼
December
(88)