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The Bulwark is home to Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, Bill Kristol, JVL, Sam Stein, and more. We are the largest pro-democracy bundle on Substack for news and analysis on politics and culture—supported by a community built on good-faith.
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Overtime

5 Five Ways Political Dysfunction Is Harming National Security

Plus: MTG's vacation plan is quickly foiled.

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Jim Swift
May 08, 2024
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Recently in The Bulwark:

  • BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: Why Biden Won’t Abandon Israel

  • MARC CAPUTO: Tony Fabrizio feels good about Trump’s chances. And it’s ā€˜kinda weird.’

  • JVL: November Will Not Be Like May šŸ”

Overtime is for everyone. If you’re a subscriber: thank you. If you’re not, there’s no better time to subscribe to Bulwark+ than today. If you like today’s issue, you can share this newsletter with someone you think would value it.


STEFAN KATZ: Five Ways American Political Dysfunction Is Harming National Security

IT IS NO SECRET THAT American political dysfunction is becoming a weakness abroad and even a threat to our national security. But because the dysfunction has, by various metrics, grown steadily worse for decades, it’s worth looking beyond the current gridlock and the upcoming election to think about how well our nation will respond to security crises in a few years. The outlook is bleak. Here are five ways our political disorder imperils our long-term national security.

READ THE REST.


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  • Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Adam Kinzinger: A Small Man

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🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Wednesday! The result tonight in the House was not pretty for Marjorie Taylor Greene. Joe Perticone provides Overtime readers this update from the 205151:

Marjorie Taylor Greene finally pulled the trigger on her motion to vacate Mike Johnson from the speakership. Greene's move occurred right after what were slated to be the final votes of the week and prompted a chorus of boos from the chamber. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) immediately motioned to table it, which passed 359-43 along with seven abstentions.

Greene's stunt came after several fruitless meetings with Johnson. Her lack of leverage and overall support are why the resolution went down in flames. To sum it up, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) told reporters on the Capitol steps:

"Most of us, by the time we turn 12 years old, figured out that tantrums don't actually work—and apparently not everybody in Congress has got the memo."

Interestingly, 11 of the 43 were Republicans.

The Florida Panther Is Clawing Back From Brink of Extinction…. Florida Democrats Just Made It Their New Mascot, reports Sarah Rumpf at Mediaite.

Boeing and the trouble going… The Boeing NASA program, Starliner, ran into some trouble earlier this week. Ars Technica reports: ā€œThe surprise is not that Boeing lost commercial crew but that it finished at all".ā€ Yikes. There will be business school Management 400 courses built around the fall of Boeing.

FreedomWorks closes up shop: Politico reports that the libertarian organization has shut down for good, effective immediately, a victim of Trumpian populism.

After Trump took control of the conservative movement, Brandon said, a ā€œhuge gapā€ opened up between the libertarian principles of FreedomWorks leadership and the MAGA-style populism of its members. FreedomWorks leaders, for example, still believed in free trade, small government and a robust merit-based immigration system. Increasingly, however, those positions clashed with a Trump-aligned membership who called for tariffs on imported goods and a wall to keep immigrants out but were willing, in Brandon’s view, to remain silent as Trump’s administration added $8 trillion to the national debt.

That’ll do it.

Ruhroh! If literal brain worms weren’t enough for the RFK camp, NBC News reports: ā€œRFK Jr.'s new hire who downplayed Jan. 6 appears to have been at the Capitol during the attack.ā€ We might be at risk of the RFK camp being more pro-Jan. 6 than the Trump campaign!

Eric Robert Stolz needed to see Biden… and hear him, to judge whether the GOP hype about his health was legit. Here’s what he concluded.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Editor’s note: I will be at the 5/15 event in D.C. and look forward to meeting you there!

Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.

—30—

Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.

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That is the zip code of the U.S. House of Representatives. iykyk, as the kids say.

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