Larry Hogan Is Running a West Wing Campaign in an Idiocracy World
Plus: Will Wisconsin Voters Elect a Jerk for U.S. Senate?
Recently in The Bulwark:
BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: Trump Can’t Escape Jan. 6th
JOE PERTICONE: An Independent Senate Candidate Sets off Alarm Bells in Deep-Red Nebraska 🔐
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NAME: Larry Hogan Is Running a West Wing Campaign in an Idiocracy World
Baltimore, Maryland
FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE Larry Hogan’s event was about to start in Baltimore last week, and the campaign had a problem on its hands.The Copper Union beer garden, where the “Democrats for Hogan” event was being held, was almost entirely empty—the exception being a table in the center, where a group of women sat, drinking beers. The Hogan campaign’s bus had just arrived, but with about fifteen minutes to go, even those few remaining patrons were heading for the doors.
BILL LUEDERS: Will Wisconsin Voters Elect a Jerk for U.S. Senate?
ERIC HOVDE’S CAMPAIGN IS “running out of money.” He told me so the other day. He’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But apparently he can’t afford to keep up with the cost of his own attack ads.
“Fellow Conservative,” began his recent email, addressed to me. “I need your immediate help to keep this ad running 24/7 online in Wisconsin through Election Day!” He said it was very important that this particular ad continue to run, as it represents “our best opportunity to expose undecided Wisconsin voters who will decide this TOSS-UP election to Tammy Baldwin’s willingness to line her own pockets at the expense of Wisconsin voters.”
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Kaitlan Collins: Still Surreal [YouTube]
The Michael Steele Podcast: Finding Faith (with Don Lemon)
Beg to Differ: Vance Impersonates a Decent Guy [YouTube]
Shield of the Republic: An Unlikely Network of Dictatorships
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GISELLE DONNELLY: How Serious Is the Risk of a ‘Wider War’ Breaking Out in the Middle East?
EXPLODING PAGERS, THE STRIKES THAT KILLED Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, raids into southern Lebanon, Iranian retaliatory missile attacks: To many eyes, it appears that the greater Middle East is being sucked up in a cycle of escalation. “The long-feared ‘wider war,’” declares New York Times reporter David Sanger, “is here.”
KIM WEHLE: “Fucking Nuts”: New Details on Trump’s 2020 Election Fraud
ON WEDNESDAY, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE TANYA CHUTKAN unsealed Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 165-page brief outlining his strategy for prosecuting the January 6th case against Donald J. Trump. This comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s astonishing ruling in Trump v. U.S. that presidents have criminal immunity under the Constitution for crimes committed using their official power. The filing makes clear that Smith is not backing down on the prosecution, which under his revised indictment contains the same four original counts that prompted the immunity decision in the first place. Smith’s brief reveals new tidbits about Trump’s disturbingly cavalier attitude towards the threat his actions posed to the safety of his vice president, Mike Pence, and to our democracy writ large.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Thursday! It’s birthday season in the Swift household, so today’s Overtime might be a little shorter than usual as we prep for a trio of birthday parties.
🎵On the Jukebox… 🎵 Coldplay’s “All My Love” which officially comes out with their new album at midnight. I heard on the radio today that Chris Martin will talk you through the new album on your local iHeart Top 40.
Liz Cheney on the trail! Here are some excerpts from her speech in Ripon, WI.
🚨Bulwark Live in the Blue Wall!🚨
Come see us live in Philadelphia on October 17, Pittsburgh on October 18, and greater Detroit on October 19. Tickets going on sale soon—be on the lookout, and see you there!
Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters… sentenced to 9 years behind bars (CPR). I don’t know about you, but there’s something cathartic to the indignant “LET GO OF ME!” from her arrest video. I remain a skeptic of cameras in the courtroom, but did enjoy this judge laying down some truth and the law. What an absolutely deserved sentence.
You Love to See It Dept., cont’d… InfoWars and its assets are up for auction, and the VDARE website’s shutdown and cancel culture swan songs? You do just love to see it.
Top Execs Exit Trump Media… Amid Allegations of CEO’s Mismanagement and Retaliation (ProPublica)
A PREVIEW OF TRUMP’S TRADE WAR: As Andrew highlighted in today’s Morning Shots, the costs of the East Coast longshoremen’s strike to the economy, felt throughout the supply chain and ultimately by consumers, could be substantial. If the cost is $1 billion a day, divided evenly across the population, that’ll cost you $3 a day. Of course, it’s a market economy with substitute goods and the pain will not be spread evenly. It may cost your family more.
There’s also the panic buying and hoarding. Remember that from the late days of Trump I during the pandemic? (I still have a few rolls of commercial-grade paper towels from Restaurant Depot.) In the short term, with a month until the election, this could be bad news for Kamala Harris if voters blame her. Republicans, no friends of labor, are trying to help them come to that conclusion!
But viewed through a different lens, aren’t these higher prices and chaos exactly what Donald Trump is promising? It will be particularly tough on American producers who are reliant on exports, and we’re already seeing the long-term effects of Trump’s trade policies, which the Biden administration has foolishly continued. Retaliatory tariffs from China have caused soybean exports, as just one example, to drop 75 percent year over year.
Despite Trump overstating the importance of his tweaks to NAFTA but with a new acronym (USMCA) the trade war Trump promises threatens to undo that, turning not only China into an enemy, but Mexico as well. During the early Obama administration, a dispute over Mexican trucking (where the U.S. was in the wrong) prompted Mexico to ding a wide ranging array of goods, from strawberries to Christmas trees.
Unnecessary chaos, waste, and higher prices for everyone with job losses to boot. The effects of this strike are just a small taste of what Donald Trump is explicitly promising. He might be dumb enough to think that tariffs aren’t borne by consumers, but consumers know better. How much that factors into their vote is to be determined.
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