453 Comments
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thoughtful paul's avatar

I want to vote for Sarah. Equally informative, and always right. (right?)

Adam Jones's avatar

I can’t wait to read Douthat’s glowing endorsement of Vance’s new book 😂

Bonnie Covey's avatar

What category are you in?

K McCarty's avatar

OMG, thanks for the cybertruck video. LOVE!!!

Carol S.'s avatar

What's most chilling about the rundown of Orban's actions to consolidate power is knowing that there are influential people here in America who have watched Hungary closely enough to be aware of all that - and who say without hesitation that it's the model of governance they want to see established here.

Nibbles McDaniel's avatar

Pretty much the same struggle as led to the American Revolution: oligarchy control and ownership versus self-determination and tenancy. It's amazing how this never changes.

Ray Van Cleve's avatar

This is pure unadulterated JVL and I’m here for it

Norma Prina Murphy's avatar

Thanks for this (and especially the belly laughs from the cybertruck video!)

Disha Patel's avatar

JVL you got my webby vote. I'd vote for you as El Presidente too. :-)

AC's avatar

Where does Rod D go now that Hungary has gone woke? Abandon the pretense and go to Russia?

Paula Rudnick's avatar

Hey, Ross -- the pope doesn't seem to have a problem calling out ruth when he sees it. What is the point of being devout if doesn't inspire us to aim higher?

Jeff Smith's avatar

GREAT piece on the swastikar! Thank you for sharing that...

Robert J Danolfo's avatar

JVL, After that expose it makes the Hungarian people's achievement in the realm of miraculous. God bless them and let's hope us Americans can learn a few things about removing regimes.

Stephen Brown's avatar

A stake in the heart? Leave the vampires alone. What did they ever do to you?

Maggie's avatar

An easier task than driving a stake through its heart would be chopping it in half with a machete. Stake-driving requires strength of will, precision, and coordination, and Trumpism is an ever-moving target. The goals shift, the grievances shift, the vocabulary shifts. Chopping Trumpism up with a machete feels more achievable.

Break the Republican coalition. Tell the MAGA ride or die crowd that the "mainstream" Republican Party is abandoning Trump. They aren't really committed enough to the immigration policy and dear leader's foreign policy.

And tell the country club/chamber of commerce set that MAGA doesn't give a rat's behind about their 401Ks or the global economy.

I'm becoming convinced that if you could get MAGA to split off into the American version of Le Font National (France's far right party in the 2010s) it would rob the right of electoral viability long enough for the Republican Party to reform itself into something less horrible (not out of virtue, but out of greed and self preservation). Something less overtly corrupt...and the overtness of the corruption is as much of a problem as the corruption itself.

Jeff Smith's avatar

While I realise and accept that this isn't about Ross Douthat, it doesn't hurt to point out that Ross is a hypocritical idiot. Why the NYT pays him escapes me...