The State Assault on Voting Rights Hurts All of Us
Michael Steele and Carlos Curbelo on how the GOP are cynically supporting anti-voting measures.
Leading The Bulwarkā¦
The State Assault on Voting Rights Hurts All of Us
MICHAEL STEELE AND CARLOS CURBELO: Republicans are cynically supporting anti-voting measures that will ultimately hurt both partiesāand our country.
š§ On the Podsā¦ š§
Denver Riggleman on our Hold My Beer Politics
On todayās Bulwark podcast, former Rep. Denver Riggleman joins Charlie Sykes to talk about the state of our āhold my beerā politics, the GOPās assault on voting rights and how theyāve weaponized āstop the stealā, and what itās like voting your conscience in Congress.
SECRET PODCAST: The Birx Rehabilitation Tour š
JVL and Sarah talk about Dr. Deborah Birx and consequences.
For Bulwark+ Membersā¦ š
MORNING SHOTS: "Ret Conning" Trumpism š
CHARLIE SYKES on Dr. Birxās transformation, plus, Georgia's original sin.
āļø THE BULWARK GETS MAIL: Charlie shares readersā thoughts š
THE TRIAD: Shame on Deborah Birx š
JONATHAN V. LAST: She wasn't doing her best in a bad situation. She was aiding and abetting the federal government's COVID disaster.
From The Bulwark Aggregatorā¦
Meet the Fake Lawyer Who Goes to War for Anti-Mask Restaurants ā Kelly Weill, The Daily Beast
The demand for ideological loyalty at all costs ā Josh Kraushaar, National Journal
Americaās Covid Swab Supply Depends on Two Cousins Who Hate Each Other ā Olivia Carville, Bloomberg Businessweek
Trump lawyer Lin Wood to run for South Carolina GOP chair ā Reid Wilson, The Hill
Biden nominees are cruising to confirmation with GOP votes ā Shawn Zeller, Roll Call
āHeās toastā: GOP leaves Raffensperger twisting in the wind ā David Siders and Zach Montellaro, Politico
The reason Biden is popular is no secret: He does popular things on important issues ā Harry Enten, CNN
In Todayās Bulwark...
A Poor Start for U.S.-Asia Diplomacy
ADAM GARFINKLE: How mutual misperceptionsāabout regional intentions, domestic politics, the Trump record, and moreācomplicate policymaking.
How the U.S. Should Respond to the Trouble in Georgia
IAN KELLY AND DAVID J. KRAMER: The struggling republic needs American support and encouragement.
Beverly Cleary, Americaās Sage of Childhood
ADDISON DEL MASTRO: Remembering the Oregon librarian whose booksāincluding the Ramona Quimby storiesātook middle-class suburban children seriously.
Amoral Fiction
BILL RYAN: Charles Willefordās novels portray the weird and evil as no more of a spike on the EKG of everyday life than eating breakfast or reading a magazine.
šØOVERTIME šØ
Hope youāre having a good Mondayā¦ and had an enjoyable weekend. I did some indoor camping with the wife, twins, and dog, and we even made some Toas-Tites.
Elizabeth Warren overstepsā¦ Patterico has a good take on her Twitter spat with Amazon.
How many people died because of a family feud? Americaās largest COVID swab manufacturer, as Bloomberg reports, has been in a family feud that probably resulted in a non-zero number of unnecessary deaths.
Donald Trump, toast giver. This speech is amazing. In that it was amazingly inappropriate for a wedding. Immediately, I thought: oh, how bad for the couple. But then I reconsidered: who wants to get married at Mar-A-Lago? In my faith tradition, the wedding is typically held at the brideās parish, and the reception is there, too. There are of course, exceptions. But I looked up the groom, and as a Trump superfan whose dad is friends with Donald Trump, and having both golfed with him, I bet the men ate it up. The bride? Who knows. But she knew what she was marrying into, tacky as this cameo was.
What I canāt decide is: Is this more Wedding Crashers, Old School, or Wedding Singer? Perhaps bits of all three.
How much is that doggy in the window? Katrina Gulliver delves into the rise in demand for pandemic puppies.
I regret to inform youā¦ Michelle Bachmann is at it again.
Ever Free. The Ever Given is free! While this meme may die off, please enjoy the ability to aidrop the Ever Given in a local body of water near you. And this Sea Shanty. And here, at WSJ is why the āSuper Moonā may have helped.
This week in amazing carpet bagging from former professional wrestlers.
The GOP attack on voting rights. Writing in Reason, Matthew Harwood argues:
Members of Congress now have a choice. They can see what Republican state legislatures are doing and consider using their power under the Elections Clause to do something about it. Republican members can put principle over party, recognizing that it may harm their electoral chances in the short term.
I wonder what theyāll choose.
Vaccine passports. Thereās going to be a lot of talk about this in the coming months. Iād point you to two good reads at Bloomberg on how theyāre going to be a gold ticket for travel, and, also, how, logistically, theyāll be difficult to implement.
Had we done a better job of implementing REALID, this likely wouldnāt be as much of a problem as it is now with easily forged postcards.
Florida Man Ron DeSantis (who is also governor) is blustering against the idea, saying heāll do everything he can to prevent them from happening. He is also threatening to sue the Feds if they donāt allow cruise ships to go YOLO once again. Which sets up an inevitable conflict.
But hey, at least he had a band at his press conference. No, seriously. I am not making this up.
Will be interesting to see if DeSantis, like many other Republicans, goes from decrying #BakeTheCake to forcing private businesses to do something they don't want to do.
Womp Womp. Sorry, Boomer insurrectionist. Jail is supposed to be hard.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Senator James Lankford just found out what playing patty fingers with the insurrectionist right and backing off results in: a primary challenge. Hope it was worth it, Senator!
How North Korea gets its oil. The New York Times does a deep video dive.
The Cows of Fukushima. I remember where I was in my office in the Longworth House Office Building when we got word of the tsunami. That was 10 years ago. Here are some interviews with folks from the area, a decade after the disaster, at VICE news.
Last but not leastā¦ A great rundown of why failed AZ Congressional candidate, Twitter shitposter, and sometimes guest on Tucker Carlson Jesse Kelly is a $60.8 Million Tapeworm. It may be from last year, but it still holds.
Thatās it for me for today. Questions, thoughts, observations? Drop me a line: swift@thebulwark.com
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