The Scary Spectacle of Trump’s Last Month in Office
Mixed signals are not a good sign...
Leading The Bulwark…
The Scary Spectacle of Trump’s Last Month in Office
BRIAN KAREM: Mixed signals about the pandemic, silence about the Russian cyberattack, and toying with martial law.
🎧 On the Pods… 🎧
DAILY PODCAST: Robert Tracinski on the GOP’s Flying Monkey Problem
On today's Bulwark Podcast, Robert Tracisnki joins Charlie Sykes to discuss the corrupting influence of coalitions and our coming political dealignment.
Across the Movie Aisle: 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Reviewed; Plus, Barack Obama's Best-Of List Analyzed
On this episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) break down Barack Obama’s list of the year’s best movies and TV shows and wonder why it is people cannot accept he loves the middlebrow features beloved by the hosts of Across the Movie Aisle
For Bulwark+ Members… 🔐
The Triad: Everything Is Awful: Part 2,036
JONATHAN V. LAST wonders: 2021 has to be better, right?
Morning Shots: The Mad King's Endgame
CHARLIE SYKES on why every day brings a new humiliation.
Secret Podcast: Trump: Endgame
Sarah and JVL run through 14,000,605 scenarios on how this administration can end.
Across the Movie Aisle: Beauty and the Pharma Bro: The Craziest Story of the Year
On this week’s special bonus episode of Across the Movie Aisle, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa break down the craziest story of the year: Elle’s huge piece on the Bloomberg journalist who threw her life away because she fell in love with one of the most-hated men in America: Martin Shkreli, the Pharma Bro. How could she give up her marriage and her job for a man who “disrespected the Wu-Tang clan”?
From The Bulwark Aggregator…
South Dakota’s coronavirus surge is turning nursing homes into a ‘battle zone’ – Liz Essley Whyte, The Center for Public Integrity
‘I will put them on the floor’: McConnell promises votes for Biden’s Cabinet picks – Quint Forgey, Politico
Pennsylvania Trump supporter charged with voter fraud – Dominick Mastrangelo, The Hill
Trump’s Enablers Will Meet Their Shakespearean Ends – Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic
Rudy Distances Trump From Sidney Powell as She Visits White House for Third Time – Justin Baragona, The Daily Beast
The Full(est Possible) Story of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping Press Conference – Olivia Nuzzi, Intelligencer
In Today’s Bulwark….
The Military Would Not Participate in a Coup. Trump Can’t Understand Why.
SHAY KHATIRI: Politicians from both parties have called on the armed forces to enforce election outcomes. The generals know better.
Holding the House 31 Accountable
NEAL R. SONNETT, EUGENE R. FIDELL, AND DENNIS AFTERGUT: Of the 126 House Republicans who signed the brief supporting the frivolous Trumpian Supreme Court lawsuit, 31 are lawyers. The bar should sanction them.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
It’s Christmas time… And at the Swift household, our fridge is getting as full as Santa’s bag of presents. And my twins just revealed to me what my Christmas present was. (Don’t tell my wife.)
One thing I’m always thankful for is my fishing cooler from Igloo, when, a little over a year ago, our freezer and fridge crapped out due to a $7 part failing. It can store food for 7 days, and they’re not kidding. So I am well prepared for hosting the parents for a week before they decamp from Ohio to Florida. (Don’t worry, we all got COVID-19 tests, though I was the last to get one.)
Yes, please.
Hopefully, next, Murphy will make The Distinguished Gentleman 2, where Thomas Jefferson Johnson reinvents himself and wins on the MAGA ticket.
Project GoFundMeTas… A worthwhile look at why James O’Keefe seems to produce a lot of people who get the far-right to fund their GoFundMe funds.
The 50 Defining Phrases of 2020. Which is your favorite?
Mine has to be: “Anybody that wants a test can get a test.”
Think about how much more quickly we could have prepared the economy to reopen if Trump and Jared Kushner didn’t drop the ball? Heck, had the Trump administration taken COVID-19 more seriously, and responded better, they may have even pulled off a win.
When Civil War 2.0 Agitators change their minds…
Charlie Kirk is sad. The founder of TPUSA says (incorrectly) he deleted his Twitter because his friends were calling his content dumb.
Prayers for the real Kent Brockman.
Dwayne Haskins is a COVIDiot. Come on, man. The former Ohio State Buckeye said: “I will learn and grow from this and do what’s best for the team moving forward.” Consider me skeptical.
The story behind Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Only in America.
121 minutes with Guy Fieri. Spend some time with a misunderstood Great American, the mayor of Flavortown.
When he and his wife, Lori, married in 1995, the Mayor changed his name from Guy Ferry to the original Fieri in honor of his Italian grandfather, who had anglicized it when he immigrated to America. The younger Fieri was already running a string of successful restaurants with a business partner out of Santa Rosa, peddling the kind of signature flavor combinations that would later make him notorious (“Dragon’s Breath Chili Nachos” was the name of a dish at his sushi-and-barbecue concept called Tex Wasabi’s), when he entered, and won, a show called The Next Food Network Star in 2006. A few years earlier, one of his employees, an aspiring hairdresser, had asked to practice on the boss, which was how the famous bleached-spikes look was born. After the show wrapped, a TV executive sidled up to the Mayor and said, “You’d better get used to that hair color, buddy.”
The NRCC can go fly a kite. We used to think of ourselves as a pro-family party, but the actions by Trump administration and, recently, by the NRCC suggest otherwise:
“Despite collecting a $174,000 taxpayer-funded salary, Conor Lamb couldn’t be bothered to show up to work yesterday, voting by proxy and giving his district’s vote to New Jersey lawmaker Mikie Sherrill,” said Michael McAdams, NRCC Spokesman, in the email. “Every Pennsylvania voter should know that Lamb stayed home on the couch instead of fulfilling the job they elected him to do.”
Here’s the thing: Rep. Conor Lamb and his wife just had their first child. That’s a pretty good reason to defer to a proxy, who is typically a friend who honors your wishes.
Here’s the 2x4 in the eye of the GOP.
Four days ago, Rep. Matt Gaetz, (R-FL) filed a proxy letter telling the clerk that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) would be casting his votes.
"I am unable physically to attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency..."Gaetz writes.
Here’s the speech Matt Gaetz gave precisely one day after sending his letter at the TPUSA confab:
During that speech, which is a real barn burner, Gaetz proclaims:
“I’m not going back to losing politely with Mitt Romney. I’m not going back to the Bushes or the Cheneys. This is Donald Trump’s party, and I am a Donald Trump Republican.”
It’s true. Gaetz has chosen to go along with the guy who loses, not politely at all, and tries to bring Democracy down with him.
But hey: "I am unable physically to attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency..."
Burn it all down.
That’s it for me for today. You know how to reach me if you have questions, comments, or thoughts: swift@thebulwark.com. If you’re not a member of Bulwark+, yet, there’s always time to join:
And if you’re already a member and looking to surprise your #NeverTrump friend or family member, and you’re like me and a little late on gift buying. Don’t worry. We have you covered.
We even let you schedule when it takes effect, so don’t worry, it won’t ruin the surprise.
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