Our Abiding Quarrel with Russia

Plus, remembering Roberta McCain...

Jim Swift

Oct 12, 2020

Our Abiding Quarrel with Russia

Brian Stewart: Russia has interfered in American elections before. It is doing so again.

On the Pods…

Tom Nichols on Trump and Superman

On today's Bulwark Podcast, Tom Nichols joins Charlie Sykes to discuss the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, court packing, the destruction of norms, and President Trump's Superman T-shirt idea.

Roid Rage

David Frum returns to B2D. He and the panel discuss the VP debate, the president’s mental state, abuse of power, and the future of the political parties.

Amy Coney Barrett, Court Packing, and Credibility

Our friends at Checks and Balances have a great new episode of Threats to This American Election out (which I produce). Adam J. White and Jonathan Adler join host Paul Rosenzweig to discuss the Supreme Court vacancy, how the pandemic might impact confirmation, and how the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation might impact the court, the Senate, the election, and beyond.

Bulwark+ member announcement…

Later this week, since there isn’t going to be a debate—SAD!—there will be a members-only livestream in place of the debate. We’ll talk about the election and the latest happenings from the campaign trail. Members will get an email the day of the event.

But if you’re not a member of Bulwark+ you can join us between now and then and help us grow the site and its offerings.

What are you waiting for?!

From The Bulwark Aggregator….

In Today’s Bulwark…

Make Anti-Communism Great Again

Daniel J. Samet and Shay Khatiri: Let’s be clear about the nature of the Chinese regime and the nature of our competition with China.

Fixing the Big Tech Bad Apples

Yevgeny Simkin: Netflix’s documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’ describes real problems—but the time has come to start proposing solutions.

Storm Warnings

Brent Orrell: Two recent novels, ‘The Second Sleep’ and ‘The End of October,’ are just prophetic enough to keep you awake at night.

How Influential Was Eddie Van Halen?

Nathan Smarick: The legacy of the guitarist, who died of cancer last week at 65.

Trump’s Captain Queeg Crackup

Richard North Patterson: Trump’s bonkers behavior—from his paranoid tweets to his f-bomb on Rush Limbaugh’s show to his bizarre pseudo-checkup on Fox—show he has gone utterly around the bend.

The Trumpist Death Cult

Brian Karem: The president is an egotistical, narcissistic shaman who promises his adoring worshipers that he will right all wrongs.

🚨OVERTIME🚨

Pumpkin patches are an adorable scam. I’m kidding of course that they’re a scam, we all have to eat, of course, and good things cost money: experiences, news, opinions, etc. Farming is very hard work.

We have a lovely farm in Fredericksburg, Virginia we go to for all of our experiential childhood farm visits: whether it’s picking pumpkins or strawberries or going on hayrides or a corn maze. We went this weekend, in the rain, and walked through acres and acres of pumpkin patches to only find either green pumpkins, or pumpkins that were partially consumed by animals.

We did get some good Instagrammable shots on this fruitless (DYSWIDT?) search, and paid the farm a handsome sum to use their playground, because such farms are rare and you should support them if you can.

The reality? We got our pumpkins for $1.99 a pop at my favorite grocer, Lidl.

From the grill… A few of you who saw my pictures on Twitter asked about my smoking the Boston Butt.

Jim Swift @JimSwiftDC

Not letting a little drizzle stop this smoke.

It worked out great. It took about eight hours, and I used a rub consisting of brown sugar, paprika, onion power, garlic powder, cayenne, and Tony Chachere’s. The twins did not like it, but the wife and I did.

To be honest, I prefer to smoke brisket more, but it’s always good to get outside your comfort zone.

One longtime reader asked about my grilling set-up: It’s a PK Original. They’re amazing and if you’re in the market for a grill/smoker, you should buy one.

RIP Roberta McCain… The mother of the late Sen. John McCain III and wife of the late John McCain, Jr. died today here in Washington. She was a force of nature. I staffed her at a couple of events at the 2008 RNC convention in St. Paul and she was larger than life.

Most people don’t know she had a twin sister, Rowena, who passed away in 2011.

Is this the future of conservatism? If you look at what appointed Senator Kelly Loeffler highlights as her supposed positives as the future of conservatism… count me out. Related: I just don’t get how you square the circle of bragging about donating all this money to Trump all the while bragging you’re largely self-funded.

The California GOP is hell bent on losing even more. This latest stunt demonstrates how unserious they are, and they might get in legal trouble because of it.

Congrats to LeBron. I haven’t been watching much sports these days since my teams are mostly out of it (though, the Browns are 4-1 and I’m afraid I might be high)… but LeBron James just won his title with his third team, the Lakers. Sorry, MJ, he is the GOAT.

Space, the final frontier.

NPR @NPR

Estée Lauder is reportedly paying $17,500 an hour to have astronauts take photos and videos of its skincare serum in space. NASA has set aside 90 hours of crew time for commercial and marketing activities like this.

trib.alInfluencers In Space: Astronauts Prepare To Receive Cosmetics And A New ToiletNASA has recently sent some Estée Lauder skin care products up to the International Space Station.

How does the math work here? I have a degree in business but wouldn’t consider myself an “economist.” I played one in Congress as an economic policy staffer and if you told me that you were going to lower premiums and somehow increase protections for those with pre-existing conditions I would want to know what drug you’re on. Other than Regeneron.

Jim Swift @JimSwiftDC

I'm not an economist but I played one in Congress but unsure of how "PEOPLE WITH PRE EXISTING CONDITIONS WILL BE PROTECTED AT AN EVEN HIGHER LEVEL THAN NOW" plays out with "big" premium reductions. Math doesn't work out.