Rational Republicans are losing the G.O.P. civil war.
........ Breaking away from the G.O.P. and starting a new center-right party may prove in time to be the last resort if Trump-backed candidates continue to win Republican primaries. ...... Unfortunately, history is littered with examples of failed attempts at breaking the two-party system, and in most states today the laws do not lend themselves easily to the creation and success of third parties. ........ So for now, the best hope for the rational remnants of the G.O.P. is for us to form an alliance with Democrats to defend American institutions, defeat far-right candidates, and elect honorable representatives next year — including a strong contingent of moderate Democrats. ........ Mr. Trump lost re-election in large part because Republicans nationwide defected, with 7 percent who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 flipping to support Joe Biden ......... we agree on something more foundational — democracy. We cannot tolerate the continued hijacking of a major U.S. political party by those who seek to tear down our Republic’s guardrails or who are willing to put one man’s interests ahead of the country. We cannot tolerate the leaders of the G.O.P. — in 2022 or in the presidential election in 2024 — refusing to accept the results of elections or undermining the certification of those results should they lose. ........ concerned conservatives must join forces with Democrats on the most essential near-term imperative: blocking Republican leaders from regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives ...... we will endorse and support bipartisan-oriented moderate Democrats in difficult races ...... And we will defend a small nucleus of courageous Republicans, such as Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Peter Meijer and others who are unafraid to speak the truth. ....... and will release a slate of nearly two dozen Democratic, independent and Republican candidates we will support in 2022. ........To defeat the extremist insurgency in our political system and pressure the Republican Party to reform, voters and candidates must be willing to form nontraditional alliances.
........ when push comes to shove, patriotic conservatives should put country over party. .......... additional independent-minded leaders are considering entering the fray in places like Texas, Arizona and North Carolina, targeting seats that Trumpist Republicans think are secure. ......... this experiment in “coalition campaigning” — uniting concerned conservatives and patriotic progressives — could remake American politics and serve as an antidote to hyper-partisanship and federal gridlock.
Our constitutional crisis is already here
The United States is heading into its greatest political and constitutional crisis since the Civil War, with a reasonable chance over the next three to four years of incidents of mass violence, a breakdown of federal authority, and the division of the country into warring red and blue enclaves.
.......... about these things there should be no doubt: ...... First, Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate for president in 2024. ....... the amateurish “stop the steal” efforts of 2020 have given way to an organized nationwide campaign to ensure that Trump and his supporters will have the control over state and local election officials that they lacked in 2020. Those recalcitrant Republican state officials who effectively saved the country from calamity by refusing to falsely declare fraud or to “find” more votes for Trump are being systematically removed or hounded from office. .........The stage is thus being set for chaos.
........ Imagine weeks of competing mass protests across multiple states as lawmakers from both parties claim victory and charge the other with unconstitutional efforts to take power. Partisans on both sides are likely to be better armed and more willing to inflict harm than they were in 2020. Would governors call out the National Guard? Would President Biden nationalize the Guard and place it under his control, invoke the Insurrection Act, and send troops into Pennsylvania or Texas or Wisconsin to quell violent protests? Deploying federal power in the states would be decried as tyranny. ............ Today’s arguments over the filibuster will seem quaint in three years if the American political system enters a crisis for which the Constitution offers no remedy. .........As has so often been the case in other countries where fascist leaders arise, their would-be opponents are paralyzed in confusion and amazement at this charismatic authoritarian.
............... The Founders did not foresee the Trump phenomenon, in part because they did not foresee national parties. ......... party loyalty has superseded branch loyalty, and never more so than in the Trump era. .............Critics and supporters alike have consistently failed to recognize what a unique figure Trump is in American history.
......... the passions that animate the Trump movement are as old as the republic and have found a home in both parties at one time or another. ............ Suspicion of and hostility toward the federal government; racial hatred and fear; a concern that modern, secular society undermines religion and traditional morality; economic anxiety in an age of rapid technological change; class tensions, with subtle condescension on one side and resentment on the other; distrust of the broader world, especially Europe, and its insidious influence in subverting American freedom — such views and attitudes have been part of the fabric of U.S. politics since the anti-Federalists, the Whiskey Rebellion and Thomas Jefferson................ What makes the Trump movement historically unique is not its passions and paranoias. It is the fact thatfor millions of Americans, Trump himself is the response to their fears and resentments.
This is a stronger bond between leader and followers than anything seen before in U.S. political movements. ........... Trump is different, which is one reason the political system has struggled to understand, much less contain, him. The American liberal worldview tends to search for material and economic explanations for everything, and no doubt a good number of Trump supporters have grounds to complain about their lot in life. But their bond with Trump has little to do with economics or other material concerns. They believe the U.S. government and society have been captured by socialists, minority groups and sexual deviants. They see the Republican Party establishment as corrupt and weak — “losers,” to use Trump’s word, unable to challenge the reigning liberal hegemony. They view Trump as strong and defiant, willing to take on the establishment, Democrats, RINOs, liberal media, antifa, the Squad, Big Tech and the “Mitch McConnell Republicans.” ............His charismatic leadership has given millions of Americans a feeling of purpose and empowerment, a new sense of identity.
While Trump’s critics see him as too narcissistic to be any kind of leader, his supporters admire his unapologetic, militant selfishness. Unlike establishment Republicans, Trump speaks without embarrassment on behalf of an aggrieved segment of Americans, not exclusively White, who feel they have been taking it on the chin for too long. And that is all he needs to do. ................ There was a time when political analysts wondered what would happen when Trump failed to “deliver” for his constituents. Butthe most important thing Trump delivers is himself
. His egomania is part of his appeal. In his professed victimization by the media and the “elites,” his followers see their own victimization. ................millions of Trump supporters have even been willing to risk death as part of their show of solidarity
: When Trump’s enemies cited his mishandling of the pandemic to discredit him, their answer was to reject the pandemic. ........... While the defeat of a sitting president normally leads to a struggle to claim the party’s mantle, so far no Republican has been able to challenge Trump’s grip on Republican voters ......... “We weren’t there to steal things. We weren’t there to do damage. We were just there to overthrow the government.” .......... Most Trump supporters are good parents, good neighbors and solid members of their communities. Their bigotry, for the most part, is typical white American bigotry, perhaps with an added measure of resentment and a less filtered mode of expression since Trump arrived on the scene. .......... Although zealous in defense of their own rights and freedoms, they are less concerned about the rights and freedoms of those who are not like them. ............. Europeans who joined fascist movements in the 1920s and 1930s were also from the middle classes. No doubt many of them were good parents and neighbors, too. ......... Trump has returned to the explosive rhetoric of that day, insisting that he won in a “landslide,” thatthe “radical left Democrat communist party” stole the presidency in the “most corrupt, dishonest, and unfair election in the history of our country”
and that they have to give it back. ........Already, there have been threats to bomb polling sites, kidnap officials and attack state capitols.
............. Nor can one assume that the Three Percenters and Oath Keepers would again play a subordinate role when the next riot unfolds. Veterans who assaulted the Capitol told police officers that they had fought for their country before and were fighting for it again. ............... Just as “generations of patriots” gave “their sweat, their blood and even their very lives” to build America, Trump tells them, so today “we have no choice. We have to fight” to restore “our American birthright.” ........... Trump’s grip on his supporters left no room for an alternative power center in the party. One by one, the “adults” resigned or were run off. .............. elected officials feared taking on the Trump movement and that Republican job seekers either kept silent about their views ormade show-trial-like apologies for past criticism
............ German conservatives accommodated Adolf Hitler in large part because they opposed the socialists more than they opposed the Nazis, who, after all, shared many of their basic prejudices. .......... since Trump took over their party, many conservatives have revealed a hostility to core American beliefs. ......... The Republican Party today is a zombie party. ....... the party’s main if not sole purpose today is as the willing enabler of Trump’s efforts to game the electoral system to ensure his return to power. ......... Reps. Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik, in their roles as party leaders, run interference for the Trump movement in the sphere of legitimate politics, while Republicans in lesser positions cheer on the Jan. 6 perpetrators, turning them into martyrs and heroes, and encouraging illegal acts in the future. ............ Republicans focus on China and critical race theory and avoid any mention of Trump, even as the party works to fix the next election in his favor. The left hand professes to know nothing of what the right hand is doing. .......... even these anti-Trump Republicans are enabling the insurrection. Revolutionary movements usually operate outside a society’s power structures. But the Trump movement also enjoys unprecedented influence within those structures. ......... The world will look very different in 14 months if, as seems likely, the Republican zombie party wins control of the House. At that point, with the political winds clearly blowing in his favor, Trump is all but certain to announce his candidacy, and social media constraints on his speech are likely to be lifted, since Facebook and Twitter would have a hard time justifying censoring his campaign. With his megaphone back, Trump would once again dominate news coverage, as outlets prove unable to resist covering him around the clock if only for financial reasons. ............... And he will have the Trump movement, including many who are armed and ready to be activated, again. Who is going to stop him then? ......... they have refused to work with Democrats to pass legislation limiting state legislatures’ ability to overturn the results of future elections, to ensure that the federal government continues to have some say when states try to limit voting rights, to provide federal protection to state and local election workers who face threats, and in general to make clear to the nation that a bipartisan majority in the Senate opposes the subversion of the popular will .............. A Trump victory is likely to mean at least the temporary suspension of American democracy as we have known it. ......... In a little more than a year, it may become impossible to pass legislation to protect the electoral process in 2024. Now it is impossible only because anti-Trump Republicans, and even some Democrats, refuse to tinker with the filibuster. .........Democrats need to give anti-Trump Republicans a chance to do the right thing.
Wonking Out: Biden Should Ignore the Debt Limit and Mint a $1 Trillion Coin U.S. government securities are the bedrock of the global financial system, used for collateral in many transactions. Threatening federal cash flows could therefore provoke a worldwide meltdown. ........... The Republican Party has become both radical and ruthless; let’s not forget that most G.O.P. legislators refused to certify President Biden’s election. .......... this radicalized party cheerfully authorizes trillions in borrowing whenever it holds the White House, it weaponizes the debt limit whenever a Democrat is president. .......... Democrats control both houses of Congress, but Republicans are using the filibuster to block an increase in the debt ceiling with only weeks to go before we hit a wall and default on payments — and
they aren’t even making specific demands. They simply don’t want to share any responsibility for governing
. .............. Republicans have learned a terrible truth: Voters don’t know or care about process; they only react to how things are going.Perilous, Roadless Jungle Becomes a Path of Desperate Hope The recent surge at the Mexican border is likely to grow as more migrants, mostly Haitian, risk everything negotiating the notorious Darién Gap on their way to the United States. ........ “We very well could be on the precipice of
a historic displacement of people in the Americas toward the United States
,” said Dan Restrepo, the former national security adviser for Latin America under President Barack Obama. “When one of the most impenetrable stretches of jungle in the world is no longer stopping people, it underscores that political borders, however enforced, won’t either.” ........ The Darién, which forms part of the Isthmus of Panama, is a narrow swath of land dividing the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Parts are so inaccessible that when engineers built the Pan-American Highway in the 1930s, linking Alaska to Argentina, only one section was left unfinished. That piece —66 roadless miles of turbulent rivers, rugged mountains and venomous snakes — became known as the Darién Gap.
Today, the journey through the gap is made more perilous by a criminal group and human traffickers who control the region, often extorting and sometimes sexually assaulting migrants. ............... The number of migrants who have made the journey so far this year is more than triple the previous annual record set in 2016. ........ has transformed Necoclí. Sewers overflow in the street. Water has stopped flowing from some taps. Markets now sell kits made for crossing the Darién; they include boots, knives and baby slings. ....... Returning to Haiti was not an option, she said. The country is in tatters after a presidential assassination and an earthquake, its economy faltering and its streets haunted by gangs. The only choice, Ms. Alix said, was the road north. ....... Government officials are largely absent from the Darién. The area is controlled by a criminal group known as the Clan del Golfo, whose members view migrants much as they view drugs: goods they can tax and control.
Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar Over Instagram’s Effect on Teens The social network has been all hands on deck as it grapples with revelations that it knew the harmful effects its Instagram photo-sharing app was having on teenagers. ............. teenage girls saying that Instagram made them feel worse about themselves ......... Inside Facebook, top executives have been engulfed by the crisis ........... Next to one slide in the research that said “teens who struggle with mental health say Instagram makes it worse,” the company added that the headline was imprecise. Instead, it wrote, “The headline should be clarified to be: ‘Teens who have lower life satisfaction more likely to say Instagram makes their mental health or the way they feel about themselves worse than teens who are satisfied with their lives.’”
Seth Meyers Muses on Trump’s Weekend Iowa Rally The host said that seeing the former president speak was like “watching an open-mic night at the senior center.” ........... “He treated supporters to an hour and 43 minutes of bitching about the election he lost and how he didn’t lose it, and how he didn’t concede because it was stolen from him, and all that stupid nonsense that runs on a loop in his brain.” — JIMMY KIMMEL ............. “He was never here, and yet, we named a whole city in Ohio after him.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
Philanthropy Is a Scam The superrich often claim their philanthropy is meant to “change the world.” But it’s really meant to keep it exactly the way it is. ......... If they can invent technologies that uproot the ways we work and live, the logic goes, they can figure out world hunger. ....... figures like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have more recently managed to fly under the radar and give away comparatively minuscule sums ............. The ambitious “philanthropreneur” takes aim at the clunky, inconvenient elements of civic life and international governance and, in doing so, opens up new avenues for his business. ........... In the philanthropist’s view, the world is good — a world of growing wealth, a widening middle class, and lesser inequality — but suffers enduring problems which can, with enough money and the right approach, be solved at great scale. The governments and NGOs usually tasked with addressing these problems are beset by tradition, red tape, and bureaucratic sprawl. Their own brand of social justice, by contrast, follows only the imperative for ruthless innovation. While states often struggle to pursue long-term goals while responding to immediate crises, a billionaire’s foundation — far less regulated and with nearly infinite money — can easily do both. ..................... When it comes to the objectives of the giving, many state that it is not only a social obligation but potentially healthy for business (hence why profits never really suffer even when the billionaires give away large portions of their shares). That giving, therefore, has the explicit dual aim of maximizing social benefit and return on investment. .............. given that
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