American Right
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The Moderate Fallacy against Indicting Trump
If the matter culminates in an indictment and trial of Mr. Trump, the Republican argument would be more of what we heard day in and day out through his administration. His defenders would claim that every person ostensibly committed to the dispassionate upholding of the rule of law is in fact motivated by rank partisanship
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A Word about Liz Cheney
I can think of few jobs that are less desirable than being a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives. There's a reason why so many Republicans with a lick of sense and a shred of human decency retired. Only a fool would think of it as a prize to be clung to.
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Theda Skocpol on Looming Illiberalism
In an inteverview in the Atlantic: Skocpol: {Trump]’s not necessary for an authoritarian movement to use the GOP to lock in minority rule. The movement to manipulate election access and counting is so far along. I think it’s too late, and we’re vulnerable to it because of how we administer local elections. What’s happened involves
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The FBI on a Slippery Slope
As a follow-up to yesterday's post, from The Shovel We are certainly no fans of Donald Trump–let’s make that clear from the outset. But yesterday’s raid by the FBI on the home of a former president sets a dangerous precedent. A precedent which now means that anyone who evades taxes, attempts to undermine an election,
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Gotti Residence Searched by FBI for Evidence of Crimes–and in Civil Case Takes 5th
Would we have seen any less of a defense of John Gotti if Republicans had elected him rather than Trump? Here's what they'd say: John Gotti is a Catholic and a good family man. He's not a politician, but a successful businessman who understands how to get things done. Sure, he's not perfect, but he's all
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Stop Saying that Republicans Are the Party of Law and Order
Order maybe; Law, not so much. Too many in the punditry are talking about conservative Republicans as if they're hypocrites because they endorse the lawlessness of J6 or because they're now calling to defund the FBI. The GOP has not been a party that respects the rule of law for a long, long time–at least
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So Much Crime, so Little Time
In all the fuss about J6, I wonder if congress or anybody will ever get to the bottom of Trump's relationship with Russia. I suspect that his treasonous relationship with Russia will only come to light once his sedition here has been proved. Since I'm feeling more confident about the latter, it's just a question
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Why Don’t Biden’s Achievements Matter?
Pildes cites American National Elections Studies data on white voters in the 2016 election showing that Trump won among all income categories of whites making less than $175,000, while Hillary Clinton won only among whites who made in excess of $175,000. …Democratic support plunged from 49 percent to 27 percent among Hispanic conservatives between 2012
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How Neoliberalism Captured the Cultural Left I
A version of this essay first appeared in July 2014. It was inspired by Crispin Sartwell's Atlantic article "The Left-Right Political Spectrum is Bogus". This post expands on it and supplements recent posts about how the postmodern cultural left, whether it realizes it or not, is a form of cultural Neoliberalism. It argues that Neoliberalism is
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Toward a More Perfect Union
I've used this phrase a few times in the last couple of weeks. It's from the Constitution's preamble, and famously echoed in Lincoln's first inaugural, and eloquently elaborated in Obama's famous campaign speech in 2008. It struck me as I was thinking about it that both the Right and the Left want a more perfect