The Dilemma of Brilliant Jerks
Plus, remember when Trump wanted to prosecute Pelosi for destruction of documents?
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CHRIS TRUAX: Remember When Trump World Wanted to Prosecute Nancy Pelosi for Destruction of Official Documents?
Donald Trump himself condemned Pelosi for her āillegalā actions.
āWell, I thought it was a terrible thing when she ripped up the speech. First of all, itās an official document. Youāre not allowedāitās illegal what she did.ā
Of course, all of this outrage was misplaced because the copy of his speech that Trump handed to Pelosi was not an āofficial record.ā As a legal matter, it was simply a piece of paper and her personal property.
And now, almost exactly two years to the day later, President Trump has been referred to the Department of Justice forāand I have tears in my eyes as I write thisāripping up official documents.
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DAVID SHAYWITZ: The Dilemma of Brilliant Jerks.
We are left with a difficult, pragmatic question: Is it possible to selectively curtail the worst qualities of visionary leaders, while retaining all that is good?
Perhaps, with the appropriate refinements, we can create the space for a new category of equally effectiveāand ideally, even more effectiveātransformative leader to emerge; this is the dream and what Iād wish for myself, my colleagues, my family.
But itās also possible that, in our eagerness to minimize offense, we will instead condemn ourselves to anodyne leaders incapable of profoundly challenging the status quo. Worse still, such organizational stasis might even pave the way for a disruptive, malignant narcissist eager to step into the breach.
WILLIAM SALETAN: Hereās How Republicans Have Been Justifying the Censure of Cheney and Kinzinger.
Not everything in the RNCās censure resolution is a lie. Itās true, for instance, that Cheney and Kinzinger have engaged in behavior āinconsistent with the positionā of the House GOP. Itās also true that their conduct in the Jan. 6th investigation is ānot befitting Republican members of Congress.ā Thatās because the position of the House GOP is spineless obeisance to Trump, and the conduct of Republican members has been thoroughly corrupt. What unites todayās Republican party is a steadfast commitment not to any underlying principle, but to rationalizing a complete lack thereof.
REUBEN F. JOHNSON: The Rightās Argument Against Aiding Ukraine Is Wrongāand Dangerous.
People seem to have forgotten the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. It was an agreement signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia in which Ukraine agreed to transfer the nuclear weapons left on its territory after the collapse of the USSR back to Russia. In return, Moscow agreed to recognize the borders of these new nations in perpetuity and āto refrain from the threat or use of forceā against Ukraine.
In the present day, to quote a 2019 Brookings Institution assessment,
Russia has broken virtually all the commitments it undertook in that document. It used military force to seize, and then illegally annex, Ukraineās Crimean Peninsula in early 2014. And Russian and Russian proxy forces have waged war for more than five years in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, claiming more than 13,000 lives and driving some 2 million people from their homes.
If this is how a nation that voluntarily turns over its nuclear weapons has its security guarantees upheld, then no oneālooking at you, North Koreaāwill ever give up its nuclear arsenal. The Iranians will be given even more incentive to build one of their own. Pakistan and India will not stop increasing the size of their nuclear stockpiles. And nations such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Poland will be incentivized to develop their own nuclear capabilities.
Thatās how big the stakes are in Ukraine.
šØOVERTIME šØ
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Things are not looking good for J.D. Vance! All that debasement for 5%? I mean, heās hosting events at IHOPs and not Ohio-based Bob Evans. He canāt even Ohio properly.
Why the Olympics suck. Reasonās Nick Gillespie explains.
Downfall. The case against Boeing.
Thatās it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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