The GOP’s ‘Glenn Youngkin Model’ Stalls Out on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The GOP’s ‘Glenn Youngkin Model’ Stalls Out on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Plus, The Long History of Glenn Greenwald’s Kissing Up to the Kremlin.
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CATHY YOUNG: Has the Tide Turned in Ukraine?
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TIM MILLER: The GOP’s ‘Glenn Youngkin Model’ Stalls Out on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Last fall, the members of the old guard GOP consultant class and their friends in the conservative media gushed about a new playbook for winning in the post-Trump era without the embarrassing conspiracy-mongering and far-right flirtations that were sullying their brand.
They called their shiny new toy the Glenn Youngkin Model.
This top-of-the-line machine included all the bells and whistles and came with a trunk full of cash for consultant-enriching ad buys. It would provide everything that the DC GOP thought their base voters wanted (school board culture-warring, lib-owning, #winning) paired with the attributes suburban swing voters were looking for (the specter of competence, no embarrassing tweets, a whispered acknowledgment that he doesn’t really believe all the crazy stuff, and the image of a family man who looks good in a tech vest).
CATHY YOUNG: The Long History of Glenn Greenwald’s Kissing Up to the Kremlin.
In the months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, maverick journalist Glenn Greenwald has emerged as one of the loudest anti-Ukraine voices in the American media, with all the usual themes: transparent gloating over Russia’s apparent war gains in Eastern Ukraine; alarmism over United States support for Ukraine leading to World War III; even the flogging of “American biolabs in Ukraine” conspiracies in his Substack newsletter and in videos. While Greenwald has made overwrought claims about the “neo-Nazi menace” of the Azov Regiment, his only response to reports of Russian atrocities in Bucha has been to warn about the dangers of falling for “war propaganda” and “social media’s manipulations.”
This stance from Greenwald, a former lawyer who has been widely lauded for his investigative journalism and civil liberties advocacy, in particular, for his role in helping former National Security Agency subcontractor Edward Snowden expose illicit NSA surveillance and his Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of that story—has been met with bafflement and disappointment from many of his erstwhile admirers, who lament that “Glenn lost his way.”
But Greenwald has been baffling and disappointing legions of his progressive admirers for years with his cozy relationship with the MAGA right. And a look at his career shows that his pro-Kremlin affinity goes way back—as part of a more general tendency to sympathize with foes of the U.S.-led “neoliberal” (or “neoconservative”) international order.
The Supreme Court’s leaked opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade may or may not impact the midterm elections. We talked to a group of swing voters (women from swing states who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020), and they weren’t happy about it. Rachel Vindman, co-host of the podcast The Suburban Women Problem, joins Sarah to listen to…other suburban women. They also discuss how the group feels about the Biden presidency.
The Jan 6 committee has brought in a TV pro for this week’s prime-time hearing, and Republicans sound worried it could be a blockbuster. Plus, the prospects for a gun bill, and the moral gray area of a Biden visit to Saudi Arabia. Will Saletan’s back for Charlie and Will Monday.
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MARGARET McMULLIN: After Uvalde, How Do Teachers Keep on Teaching?
He turned in his story at the last minute, not giving us much time to read before our class discussion later that afternoon.
The story was about a student on a deadline to write a story. After fighting with his girlfriend and drinking all night, the protagonist comes into his last class in creative writing and shoots everyone in the room. Dead.
It was May 2015. Finals week at the University of Evansville, a small private liberal arts school in Southern Indiana, where I had been teaching for nearly 25 years.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
The Pandemic __________… During this pandemic, I’ve been thinking a lot about possessions and things, because I am somebody who develops obsessions (and good that I know this!)
Right before the pandemic hit, we bought a house. It was much further away from Washington than where we used to live, but with twins and a dog, we needed space. A yard. (Later, a pandemic dog, Rusty.)
We live so far away, I take a commuter rail on the days I do come in. Sometimes I even take Amtrak. I can either buy a physical ticket or have one on my phone. In the before times, I would use my phone as a hotspot (only Amtrak has wifi) and listen to a podcast while putting the finishing touches on Overtime going home. One day in 2019, my phone died. The screen stopped working. It would not restart. The podcast kept playing. Wifi kept working. Screen to show the conductor your ticket? I was destined to get one of my own, but ultimately did not.
What I did do was immediately order another phone from Republic Wireless, a Motorola Power phone, that had three days of battery. (Which I hardly needed during a pandemic.) But the phone served me well and I didn’t think about it until Saturday night, when it became the first ever victim of a broken screen. The cost to fix it was about 60% of its value, and it was running out of space. So time for a new phone, which can come to you in one day, but if you want film photos produced it now takes up to two weeks.
I am not sentimental about my phone, but until it ceased to provide value, I barely thought about this $200 device that got me through the pandemic. What’s something that’s helped you? My other one was my PS4, which helped me connect with friends during the early days of the pandemic.
I can’t say that I did much with my phone, it didn’t go to a Game 7 of a World Series, or an event that makes political history, or was there for the birth of my kids, but it did keep me informed, in touch, and documented the pandemic here in this house, and at that price? Not nothing. Especially considering the costs of the value it provides compared to what those individual devices cost, say, in 1982. Or 1992.
Previous phones would become baby monitors, or if they had any battery left, toys with Peppa Pig crammed on them. But this phone sits ready for the great beyond: recycling.
Don’t get bent up about Marjorie and Milo… Yes, the picture looked a little fake (the I.D. expiration dates are usually a different font). Yes, she is going to be a member of Congress next year. But don’t let that distract you from the fact that the fringes of the GOP showing there’s nothing the “normal” Republicans will do about what they’re doing to the party. Right, Leader McCarthy? That’s the real story.
The 1/6 blitz… Here’s what Trump and Republicans are doing. And why.
Boris Johnson survives… But is wounded from the no-confidence vote, at least to the public.
Is this Saint Louis City destroying… A world class garden?
The NBA Super Fan… Who got rich fighting rent control out west.
How the “postal illuminati” works. And how it changes our world.
U.S. poverty in 2021… A historic.. low?
“Mr. President, the American people will buy whatever we tell them to….” Canadian Bacon has become real, in Ohio.
Speaking of Ohio… Cleveland’s #1! (In attacking postal workers.)
Did you pre-order Tim’s book? Want it signed? We got you covered.
MATT LABASH on anger management.
That’s it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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