Healthcare and the 2024 Election
Plus: Russia’s Vile New Anti-Ukraine Propaganda
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CHARLIE SYKES: “I Was the Apple of His Eye”
JVL: The #Resistance Was Right 🔐
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DANIEL MCGRAW: Will Health Care Be a Major Issue in 2024?
DESPITE WHAT THE CAMPAIGN CONSULTANTS and analysts on TV would have you believe, politics is not all that complicated. The clichés have it basically right: More often than not, success comes from showing a personality that is likable, coming up with ideas that people think will put more money in their wallets, kissing babies, praising God when appropriate, and—above all else—telling the voters why you are better than whomever you are running against. Voters may not want a fire-breathing dragon running for office, but they do want a candidate who shows some passion.
I mention these political basics not because you are unaware of them but because this year’s Republican presidential contenders seem to be. I’ve never seen a group of seasoned politicians—those who have gone through the campaign grind many times—acting so mealy-mouthed and passionless in their approach to getting votes, because they are so scared to go after Donald Trump. It’s like Trump is holding the paddle at a frat pledge meeting and they keep saying to him, “Thank you, sir, may I have another.”
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
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CATHY YOUNG: Russia’s Vile New Anti-Ukraine Propaganda.
LAST WEEK, RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA achieved a new low in its quest to sell Russia’s war in Ukraine. A slickly produced but extremely unsubtle feature film underwritten by Vladimir Putin’s government falsely suggests that the Russian invasion was merely a preemptive strike about an imminent Ukrainian attack; that it’s a war against “Nazis,” not Ukrainians; and that the atrocities known around the world as Russian war crimes in Ukraine were actually perpetrated by the Ukrainian side. The fictional story of a Belgian Jewish violinist who accidentally becomes an eyewitness to the awful truth, the film deliberately evokes World War II and Holocaust films, above all Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, to frame Ukraine’s defenders as the new Nazis.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Monday! The summer of indictments, and summer itself, is over. The signs are here: new backpacks, kids posing for pictures with signs as they wait for the bus, scrubbing shoes that were perfect for half a day before they met tree sap with rubbing alcohol, and most jarring—new schedules. (At least DST is a few months away…)
My travels will continue this week, so while Overtime will go out, it might be shorter than usual. I’m headed out west again, to say goodbye to a loved one, my father in law. When my last remaining grandparent died many years ago, my chief of staff in the Senate observed in a condolence card: “Grandparents are special people.” Indeed.
Back in Virginia… A local gas station chain is carrying the much-beloved “Dole Whip.”
The Vivek Pyramid Scheme… The insurgent DeSantis killer has a plan to bundle money, and it sounds like something straight out of the office.
A very serious allegation… Against embattled Newsmax: Pay to play?
The Instagram Account… That Shattered a California High School.
Fentanyl all the things! Louisiana Republican AG hopeful Liz Murrill falsely claimed abortion pills may be laced with fentanyl.
You love to see it… John Eastman’s pretrial release conditions, including a $100k bond.
Ted Cruz falls for an old internet hoax… And tries to laugh it off. Does he even want to be a Senator anymore?
Mike Lee after dark… Sharing InfoWars-style COVID conspiracies at 1 in the morning.
How one company… Owns color.
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