While Biden spent the weekend helping fend off Iran's missile and drone attack, supposedly pro-Israel Trump embraced the anti-Israel chant, "Genocide Joe," at his rally. Meanwhile, the trial involving the first time Trump allegedly broke the law to win an election gets underway. Bill Kristol and Ben Wittes join Tim Miller.
Is there a court employee tasked with following Trump's social media in case he strays into threatening or borderline doxing (whatever is possible given his limited access to information)?
What happened to Bulwark+? Why am I directed to Substack? What is happing with my paid subscription? Why don't you guys have a place where I can ask a question? Why, when I ask Substack do they tell me all about how to be a contributor?.
Thanks Ben for the heads-up on Question 30 ("Have you ever considered yourself a supporter of or belonged to any of the following: (the QAnon movement, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Boogaloo Boys, Antifa"). The tacky inclusion of QAnon and Antifa that bookend such a distinguished list of nefarious organizations certainly made me smile. Not least because it seeks to elevate QAnon and Antifa to the status of well-defined similarly nefarious entities whereas, in reality both are simply amorphous catch-all phrases that signal the morbid fears of right-wing conspiracy theorists. I was waiting for: Do you have any Stormy Daniels content bookmarked in your internet browser favorites?
I don't understand why it's become fashionable in pro-Ukrainian circles to dismiss Russia's nuclear deterrent. Like, you guys didn't even mention the most obvious difference between the situation in Ukraine and the situation in Israel. That's before we get to the scale problem; the area requiring protection in Ukraine is just massively bigger than in Israel, and there are a lot more missiles and drones involved, which probably means needing to hit some of those assets left of strike, in Russia. Then you have to do it all in an air denied environment.
All that means you're pretty much guaranteed to have the US directly engaging the Russian military. What could possibly go wrong?
I get that the aid situation is embarrassing, and Ukraine deserves better, but that doesn't mean we should just hand-wave away the risks and Leeroy Jenkins this stuff because it feels bad.
An expert on Russia at Peking University, Feng Yujun, was allowed to publish a piece in The_Economist on April 13 with the headline, "Russia is sure to lose in Ukraine, reckons a Chinese expert on Russia". One of many interesting things it says is, "In combination, these four factors (Ukrainian unity and resistance, foreign aid, the nature of modern war, and information) make Russia’s eventual defeat inevitable. In time it will be forced to withdraw from all occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea." Another is "Although China has not joined Western sanctions against Russia, it has not systematically violated them. " A third is is "Since the war began China has conducted two rounds of diplomatic mediation. Success has proved elusive but no one should doubt China’s desire to end this cruel war through negotiations. That wish shows that China and Russia are very different countries. Russia is seeking to subvert the existing international and regional order by means of war, whereas China wants to resolve disputes peacefully." Right after the Russian Foreign Minister visited Beijing, and just before the US House of Representatives finally considers Ukraine aid, the timing can hardly be coincidental.
Maybe that "bleeding" from Trump is his spray on tan is running.Much like Rudy and his hair dye dripping down the side of his face while conducting a news conference.Also Trump's dozing off during the first day of his trial revealed that for the first time in his life his mouth was open and nothing was coming out.
While it is disconcerting that a large number of younger voters have said Trump hasn't said offensive remarks recently, don't underestimate his ability to say totally bellicose and offensive things in the campaign.It is what he does.And it is in his DNA.
Tim is right to call out Trump for sympathizing with “genocide Joe” chants at his rallies. Who are these people anyway? I can’t believe they’re the usual hard left or islamist instigators who would show up at a Trump rally. But that’s just typical Trump myopia. If you criticize Trump’s opponent for any reason it’s okay. The bigger issue is where will Israeli-American relationship be twenty years from now? For most of my life support for Israel was the most bipartisan consensus policy in politics. Reagan got crap from both sides of the aisle just because he wanted to sell AWACS to the Saudis. Israel is now getting squeezed from both sides. The hard left and most Muslim immigrants outright hate Israel. The hard right is starting to turn on Israel too. Look at Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. And even the “principled”isolationists who may not be antisemitic like Rand Paul and JD Vance are starting to question American support for Israel. If I were Israel I wouldn’t count on American support forever, and that’s an unfortunate development
There’s a 100% chance that Kristol doesn’t know Jack about foreign and national defense strategies and an 80% chance that “jayinkiev” is sitting in a Russian troll farm in St. Petersburg.
"Stormy Monday" for the win!
Is there a court employee tasked with following Trump's social media in case he strays into threatening or borderline doxing (whatever is possible given his limited access to information)?
But Tuesday’s just as bad…
What happened to Bulwark+? Why am I directed to Substack? What is happing with my paid subscription? Why don't you guys have a place where I can ask a question? Why, when I ask Substack do they tell me all about how to be a contributor?.
Hey Tim, putting “Stormy Monday” as the closing music was an inspired choice!!
Thanks Ben for the heads-up on Question 30 ("Have you ever considered yourself a supporter of or belonged to any of the following: (the QAnon movement, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Boogaloo Boys, Antifa"). The tacky inclusion of QAnon and Antifa that bookend such a distinguished list of nefarious organizations certainly made me smile. Not least because it seeks to elevate QAnon and Antifa to the status of well-defined similarly nefarious entities whereas, in reality both are simply amorphous catch-all phrases that signal the morbid fears of right-wing conspiracy theorists. I was waiting for: Do you have any Stormy Daniels content bookmarked in your internet browser favorites?
I don't understand why it's become fashionable in pro-Ukrainian circles to dismiss Russia's nuclear deterrent. Like, you guys didn't even mention the most obvious difference between the situation in Ukraine and the situation in Israel. That's before we get to the scale problem; the area requiring protection in Ukraine is just massively bigger than in Israel, and there are a lot more missiles and drones involved, which probably means needing to hit some of those assets left of strike, in Russia. Then you have to do it all in an air denied environment.
All that means you're pretty much guaranteed to have the US directly engaging the Russian military. What could possibly go wrong?
I get that the aid situation is embarrassing, and Ukraine deserves better, but that doesn't mean we should just hand-wave away the risks and Leeroy Jenkins this stuff because it feels bad.
An expert on Russia at Peking University, Feng Yujun, was allowed to publish a piece in The_Economist on April 13 with the headline, "Russia is sure to lose in Ukraine, reckons a Chinese expert on Russia". One of many interesting things it says is, "In combination, these four factors (Ukrainian unity and resistance, foreign aid, the nature of modern war, and information) make Russia’s eventual defeat inevitable. In time it will be forced to withdraw from all occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea." Another is "Although China has not joined Western sanctions against Russia, it has not systematically violated them. " A third is is "Since the war began China has conducted two rounds of diplomatic mediation. Success has proved elusive but no one should doubt China’s desire to end this cruel war through negotiations. That wish shows that China and Russia are very different countries. Russia is seeking to subvert the existing international and regional order by means of war, whereas China wants to resolve disputes peacefully." Right after the Russian Foreign Minister visited Beijing, and just before the US House of Representatives finally considers Ukraine aid, the timing can hardly be coincidental.
https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2024/04/11/russia-is-sure-to-lose-in-ukraine-reckons-a-chinese-expert-on-russia
The ending blues song was so perfect!!
Maybe that "bleeding" from Trump is his spray on tan is running.Much like Rudy and his hair dye dripping down the side of his face while conducting a news conference.Also Trump's dozing off during the first day of his trial revealed that for the first time in his life his mouth was open and nothing was coming out.
While it is disconcerting that a large number of younger voters have said Trump hasn't said offensive remarks recently, don't underestimate his ability to say totally bellicose and offensive things in the campaign.It is what he does.And it is in his DNA.
Tim is right to call out Trump for sympathizing with “genocide Joe” chants at his rallies. Who are these people anyway? I can’t believe they’re the usual hard left or islamist instigators who would show up at a Trump rally. But that’s just typical Trump myopia. If you criticize Trump’s opponent for any reason it’s okay. The bigger issue is where will Israeli-American relationship be twenty years from now? For most of my life support for Israel was the most bipartisan consensus policy in politics. Reagan got crap from both sides of the aisle just because he wanted to sell AWACS to the Saudis. Israel is now getting squeezed from both sides. The hard left and most Muslim immigrants outright hate Israel. The hard right is starting to turn on Israel too. Look at Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. And even the “principled”isolationists who may not be antisemitic like Rand Paul and JD Vance are starting to question American support for Israel. If I were Israel I wouldn’t count on American support forever, and that’s an unfortunate development
There has never been or ever will be a John McCain moment regarding Donald Trump.
Awesome Blues music at the end, and of course another great podcast!
There’s a 100% chance that Kristol doesn’t know Jack about foreign and national defense strategies and an 80% chance that “jayinkiev” is sitting in a Russian troll farm in St. Petersburg.
Show notes, show notes, show notes for the music!! Who’s singin’ those blues, baby?