5 Five Ways Political Dysfunction Is Harming National Security
Plus: MTG's vacation plan is quickly foiled.
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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, itās 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.
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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 workāand 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 Extinctionā¦. Florida Democrats Just Made It Their New Mascot, reports Sarah Rumpf at Mediaite.
Boeing and the trouble goingā¦ The Boeing NASA program, Starliner, ran into some trouble earlier this week. Ars Technica reports: āThe 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 āhuge 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 Brandonās view, to remain silent as Trumpās administration added $8 trillion to the national debt.
Thatāll do it.
Ruhroh! If literal brain worms werenāt enough for the RFK camp, NBC News reports: āRFK 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 Bidenā¦ and hear him, to judge whether the GOP hype about his health was legit. Hereās what he concluded.
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That is the zip code of the U.S. House of Representatives. iykyk, as the kids say.
