Make the Abrams the Free World’s Tank
Plus, do you want to know a secret?
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CHARLIE SYKES: Springtime for Nazis... On Twitter
JVL: Tank Wars 🔐
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JOHN G. FERRARI and GISELLE DONNELLY: Make the Abrams the Free World’s Tank.
The news that the Biden administration will announce the transfer of about 30 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine has reignited the debate that surrounded the latest meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the informal association of countries providing military aid to Ukraine. There is all-but-universal agreement (outside Germany) that Ukraine needs tanks. Several European countries have offered to donate German-made Leopard 2s, but they need German permission first. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz predicated that permission on the United States delivering M1s to Ukraine first. While the M1s are better tanks, they won’t arrive for months, whereas Leopards could be put into the battle much more quickly.
MONA CHAREN: Lying to Parents About Trans Kids Hurts Kids.
Imagine that you are the parent of a 15-year-old girl and discover that her school has been concealing her daytime behavior from you. Your daughter has joined a far-right Mormon spin-off cult, believes in plural marriage, has spoken of dropping out of school to get married, and declines to participate in physical education because wearing gym clothes violates her religious beliefs. Is it possible to imagine that any public school would keep parents in the dark in a case like that?
Of course not. Because teachers, counselors, and administrators would be certain that parents should be involved in something so potentially momentous for their daughter—even if she preferred not to confide in them.
Biden has been seen as scandal-free, but his classified docs case may cost him a big political asset: the benefit of the doubt. Plus, Trump’s map in the ’24 primaries looks smaller. And the fallout from the arrest of a former FBI agent with ties to Russia. Jonathan Alter joins Charlie Sykes today.
Charlie and Mona mull Andrew Sullivan's take on appealing to the young, as well as schools keeping parents in the dark about trans kids, phonics, and Biden's unhelpful defensiveness.
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BILL LUEDERS: Do You Want to Know a Secret?
In the basement of my home I keep a document that reveals a closely guarded secret of H-bomb design. The administration of President Jimmy Carter said its disclosure would cause “grave, direct, immediate, and irreparable harm” to the national security of the United States. Carter, a nuclear engineer by training, personally signed off on the effort to keep this secret from being spilled, writing at the top of U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell’s memo spelling out this intent: “Good move, proceed. J”
JEFFREY CLEMENS AND STAN VEUGER: We Gave States Too Much COVID Relief.
It is now widely accepted that the United States overdid its fiscal policy response to the COVID-19 crisis. A major component of this overly enthusiastic response was aid to state and local governments. Across two presidents and four major pieces of legislation, this aid amounted to close to a trillion dollars, much of it from the March 2021 American Rescue Plan. Much of this money ended up not making up for budgetary shortfalls so much as adding to inflationary pressure.
As a result of the federal funds, states found themselves with large budget surpluses. Despite the pandemic, fund balances climbed from $122 billion to $343 billion nationwide between the 2019 and 2022 fiscal years. In response, both blue and red states have enacted a range of targeted tax cuts and spending measures.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Happy Wednesday! In local news, a pair of teenagers died after their car crashed going 100 miles per hour on a windy back-road I often use when visiting family. My kids call it the rollercoaster road. Their car, before stopping, was airborne for 130 feet. Slow down.
It’s a day ending in y… There’s another George Santos scandal…
Did you read the coffee pod carbon impact story? Here’s what it got right and what it got wrong.
How the world will know… If Russia is preparing to launch a nuke.
THIS IS CENSORSHIP! CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN! At least that’s what Newsmax is telling viewers now that they’ve been dropped by DirecTV. Who do I call to tell my cable company I’d rather not be paying for low-rent Tucker Carlson impersonators?
Harry Reid’s machine… Lives on in the Senate.
Go for Sep… The final tests of the space shuttle program.
No there there. Bill Kristol joins David Axelrod and Mike Murphy for Hacks on Tap.
The Right is starting to get better at comedy… Just kidding: They’re still missing the joke.
This is how The People’s Convoy ends… Not with a bang but with a multi-level marketing scheme.
Meet a snitch… Who is trying to get rid of NYC’s “ghost cars.”
The most embarrassing Jeopardy! I’ve ever watched. Patton Oswalt cleans up against a WNBA star and TV doctor.
That’s it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
