How Mike Lee Ditched Constitutional Conservatism for the Cult of Trump
Mona Charen on how the Utah Senator is ignoring the constitutional crisis right in front of his nose.
Leading The Bulwarkā¦
How Mike Lee Ditched Constitutional Conservatism for the Cult of Trump
MONA CHAREN: The senator, lawyer, and author of books on the Founding is ignoring the constitutional crisis right in front of his nose.
š§ On the Podsā¦ š§
Adam Kinzinger on Censure Frenzy and Strange New Respect
On todayās Bulwark podcast, Rep. Adam Kinzinger joins Charlie Sykes to discuss the GOPās censure obsession, why heās working to find conservatives who want to put country first and not Trump first and the future of legislating and compromise in what is increasingly a binary political culture.
For Bulwark+ Membersā¦ š
MORNING SHOTS: The Sideshow Becomes the Main Event š
CHARLIE SYKES on the GOP's obsession with Dr. Seuss.
THE TRIAD: Joe Biden: Deal Maker š
JONATHAN V. LAST: The best deals are the simple, boring ones.
From The Bulwark Aggregatorā¦
MAGA Fans Rage at Trumpy Channel for Censoring Conspiracies ā Will Sommer, The Daily Beast
5 Pandemic Mistakes We Keep Repeating ā Zeynep Tufekci, The Atlantic
Disloyalty Is Trumpās Secret Weapon ā Johnathan Bernstein, Bloomberg Businessweek
Email and Slack Have Locked Us in a Productivity Paradox ā Cal Newport, Wired
Why Did Republicans Outperform The Polls Again? Two Theories. ā Emily Ekins, FiveThirtyEight
The road to Joe Bidenās foreign policy runs through Bob Menendez ā Andrew Desiderio and Nahal Toosi, Politico
House ethics office says thereās āsubstantial reason to believeā Rep. Steven Palazzo misused campaign, congressional funds ā Felicia Sonmez, The Washington Post
In Todayās Bulwarkā¦.
Why Bidenās State Department Demoted Saudi Arabia
SHAY KHATIRI: The new administration is trying to find the right balance between values and narrow interest.
1619, 1776, and Us
CATHY YOUNG: What the conflict over the NYT extravaganza and the much-mocked Trump commission report is really about.
On Voting Rights, GOP Lawyers Say the Quiet Part Out Loud
KIMBERLY WEHLE: Arguing before the Supreme Court, they admit their case isnāt about principle or election integrityāitās just about winning.
šØOVERTIME šØ
Glenn Beck is not sorry about all that.
For any of my fellow conservatives concerned about Hasbroās decision to change the branding of Mr. Potato Head, I will gladly sell you my twinsā slightly used ones at $50k a piece. Consider it an investment in Freedom.
Congressman Buck is like a windsock.
And just remember:
Weird how that happens. Conservatives used to understand that. Ken Buck doesnāt. Or is pretending not to.
Even if you defeat me, Russertron, others will rise to defeat your tyrannyā¦
The House adjournsā¦ You were wondering why the fencing and National Guard are still (regrettably) around the Capitol. You have your answer.
The Qwazies think Donald Trump is going to come back as President tomorrow. Letās hope nobody gets hurt and nothing happens.
Wait Just One American Momentā¦ At National Review, which recently, and silently, took Dinesh DāSouza off their masthead (good for them!) Jack Butler has a must-read on this new organization, American Moment. To Butler, their ācomplaints about conservatism seem somewhat disingenuous ā and self-serving.ā I agree.
A study in contrastsā¦ Texas is reopening fully and repealing a government mask mandate, and grocer H-E-B is allowing patrons to choose not to wear a mask. And Texans I know who love H-E-B, which is a great megagrocer, are not happy.
But Lidl, my favorite grocer, is strengthening their mask policy:
Good for them.
āI wish I never met Trumpā You and me both, buddy. OH SNAP. Itās conspiracy peddler and Trump superfan Alex Jones saying this?
What happened to Jordan Peterson? Admittedly, Iāve not ever been a fan of the man, but for years, he captivated a lot of people in conservatism. (Unlike Marjorie Taylor Greene, I donāt believe in āgurusā of any kind.) In The Atlantic, a good look at what happened when he disappeared from our radar screens. Hereās a taste:
āWe compete for attention, personally, socially, and economically,ā he writes in Beyond Order. āNo currency has a value that exceeds it.ā But attention is a perilous drug: The more we receive, the more we desire. It is the culture warās greatest reward, yet it started Jordan Peterson on a journey that turned a respected but unknown professor into the man strapped into the Russian hospital bed, ripping the tubes from his arms, desperate for another fix.
Is this bad?
The Times reports that āInspector Generalās Report Cites Elaine Chao for Misuse of Office.ā
The report said the Justice Department declined to investigate her promotion of her familyās shipbuilding business while serving as transportation secretary in the Trump administration.
Read the whole thing. Itās brash and brazen. Her nickname at DOL among staff during Bush 2.2, Iām told, was the āice queenāā¦ sort of an homage to Anna Wintour as fictionally depicted in The Devil Wears Prada. Because she was often hard on and unreasonable with staff. Seems like that continued in her job with Trump at DOT:
The investigators also found that she repeatedly asked agency staff members to help do chores for her father, including editing her fatherās Wikipedia page, promoting his Chinese-language biography, and directing two staff members from the transportation secretaryās office to send a copy of her fatherās book āto a well-known C.E.O. of a major U.S. corporationā to ask if he would write a foreword for the book.
But hey, she resigned out of protestā¦ right?
Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunderā¦ Itās one of my favorite lines from JFKās address to the Canadian Parliament. And while geography has made us neighbors and history has made us friends, seeing the Canadian 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron and the U.S. Coast Guard save 30+ lives on a sinking ship 200 km out in the Atlantic and not losing a single soul is a good note to end on.
See you on the livestream tomorrow! Drop me a line at swift@thebulwark.com.
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