How Unqualified Is Kristi Noem? Let Us Count the Ways.
Plus: President Biden, Don’t Pardon Hunter
Recently in The Bulwark:
BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: Entering Our Crank Era
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PAUL ROSENZWEIG: How Unqualified Is Kristi Noem? Let Us Count the Ways.
STEVE BANNON FAMOUSLY SAID that his strategy is to “flood the zone with shit.” Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations take a page directly from Bannon’s playbook.
Several of Trump’s nominations—Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard to name two—are so manifestly dangerous that they may, just may, be rejected by the Republican Senate. Likewise, his nominations of those who are deeply unqualified, like Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have the effect of distracting attention.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Marc Caputo and Dan Goldman: Trump v. the United States [YouTube]
The Next Level: Trump's Mess with the Cranks [YouTube]
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Marc Caputo and Dan Goldman: Trump v. the United States [YouTube]
This Report Could Torpedo Matt Gaetz's Career [YouTube]
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KIM WEHLE: Speak for America, Democrats
WITH EACH DAY’S HEADLINES EMERGING from the Trump transition team—some merely disturbing, others terrifying—the half of the country that voted against Donald Trump is left standing alone.
Who in the Biden administration is shoring up whatever guardrails remain?
Who in the White House is bothering, while the bully pulpit remains theirs, to educate the public about how the Constitution is supposed to operate?
MONA CHAREN: President Biden, Don’t Pardon Hunter
WHILE ALL EYES ARE ON Mar-a-Lago and the goons Trump is nominating to besmirch high government offices, there is another potential threat looming to the rule of law, and it comes not from MAGA world but from the sitting president. I’m referring to the possibility that President Joe Biden might pardon his son Hunter Biden.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Wednesday… Rain has come, which magically turns to 30 lawn bags of leaves, and 🤞… maybe some snow flurries here in the Queen City?
The House Ethics Committee is deadlocked on releasing the Gaetz investigation. A reminder that all process arguments are insincere, including this one.
🎵On the Jukebox…🎵 Coldplay - ‘The Karate Kid’
Trump set to appoint Project 2025 architect… Russ Vought to Office of Management and Budget (MMFA). Remember when Trump disavowed Project 2025? Fun times.
Musk and Ramaswamy… meet the real deep state, by John J. DiIulio, Jr. at Brookings, who observes: “The number of people who get paid from the U.S. Treasury but work for private businesses and nonprofits is now more than three times as large as the entire on-payroll federal civilian workforce.”
Get ready to slash some small businesses, bros!
Though I have my doubts that the “DOGE” is going to do anything. I could be very wrong about that and it could be very bad, but I have my doubts this dual-headed snake of a fake agency is going to be anything other than a temporary grift mechanism / personal elevation vehicle for Musk and Ohio’s P.T. Barnum.
Republicans Were Ready to Torch Elon Musk… for Blowing the Election. Then Trump Won (Miles Klee, Asawin Suebsaeng, Rolling Stone)
I Never Panic. I’m Panicking Now. (Lydia Polgreen, NYT 🎁)
We Who Wrestle With God by Jordan Peterson review… The conservative polemicist’s new book is a bizarre study of the Bible featuring Jiminy Cricket, Harry Potter and Tinkerbell the porn fairy. (James Marriott, The Times)
Tom Green… on leaving LA and not looking back. (In Depth with Graham Bensinger)
Do you love the McRib? If so, do I have news for you. Hopefully the “sauce drop” goes better than Timex’s $1 watch fiasco.
If You're An Authoritarian Peckerhead Who Keeps An Enemies List.....Then put me on it, writes Matt Labash. 🔐
I don’t normally watch spot… when cable is on passively in the background, but was glad to see that Lin Manuel-Miranda has a god-tier watch: the $13 Casio F-91. Though, I’d totally get it if he wore a Hamilton.
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