Trump, Wars for Profit, and the Injudicious Justice Alito
Plus: Ukraine Regains Momentum
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BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: Liberals Shouldn't Give Up On āLaw and Orderā
JVL: America Should Appreciate How Joe Biden Handled His Son's Trial š
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WILL SALETAN: Trump Only Believes in Wars for Profit
TRADITIONALLY, WHEN THE UNITED STATES goes to war, our president says itās for democracy, human rights, or some other noble cause. But Donald Trump doesnāt care about such things. Republicans who work in foreign policyāeven those who pretend in public that Trump is a good manāknow this. Thatās why, when they want him to support military intervention abroad, they speak to him in the only language he understands: money.
Sen. Lindsey Graham has been at this game for nearly a decade. In Afghanistan and Syria, Graham used the prospect of exploitable natural resourcesālithium in Afghanistan, oil in Syriaāto talk Trump into keeping American troops in those countries. Now Graham is repeating the same tactic in Europe. Heās telling Trump that by sending money and weapons to Kyiv, the United States can eventually extract mineral wealth from Ukraine.
MONA CHAREN: The Injudicious Justice Alito
I AM NOT A FAN OF HIDDEN microphone ambushes. Itās sneaky and dishonest. The kind of ambush that journalist and activist Lauren Windsor pulled off at the recent Supreme Court Historical Society dinner was particularly unseemly because she posed as a conservative activist type and attempted to lead the witnessesāSupreme Court justices and spousesāinto saying something clickbaity that could be shopped to an ideological ally in the press. Windsor, a progressive, is taking a leaf from James OāKeefeās playbook.
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CATHY YOUNG: Ukraine Regains Momentum
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FEW MONTHS MAKE. On February 21, the headlines warned, āWar in Ukraine Is Turning in Putinās Favor After Months of Stalemate.ā Last week, they told a different story: āPutin Is Running Out of Time to Achieve Breakthrough in Ukraine.ā Bloomberg News, source of both those headlines, reported in the newer piece that, while Russia had made ālimited progressā when Ukraine was short on weapons, now that Western aid had started flowing Ukraine was halting the Russian offensive.
And thus the bad news/good news cycle about Ukraine enters another optimistic phase.
JILL LAWRENCE: Joe Biden Wonāt Give Up on Hunter or America
WE GET IT, AMERICA. You think Donald Trump is tough and Joe Biden is compassionate, and therefore not tough enough. But youāve got it exactly backwards. Trump whines so constantly about āwhat Iāve been throughā that he should adopt āPoor, Poor, Pitiful Meā as his campaign song.
Donāt mistake Bidenās empathy for weakness. The major challenges he has confronted in his first term have required focus, discipline, and strengthāfrom the death, destruction, and global destabilization of two raging wars to his own sonās prosecution on gun charges and the juryās guilty verdict Tuesday.
šØOVERTIMEšØ
Happy Wednesday! Out here, itās about to get hot (at least for here!), so if youāre in the #heatdome, I hope you have plans to stay cool: both in real life and online! And if youāre in southern Florida, stay safe!
āGeorgia Is Our Laboratoryā: Inside Trumpās Plan to Rig 2024 (Rolling Stone).
ā13 Daysā Part Deux? Russian warships, nuclear submarine enter Havana Harbor under watch of U.S. destroyers (Miami Herald)
Do Less. Itās Good for You. (Time)
I now understandā¦ why Justice Alito threw his wife under the bus:
Lady MacBeth eventually regretted her complicity in ushering forth ugly and violent acts, uttering, āOut, Damn Spot!ā while sleepwalking. However, in 2024 America, Martha-Ann Alito has no time for such melodramatic self-reflection or contrition. Instead, she looks forward to proudly flying another hateful flag, fully awake, with eyes wide open, a clear heart, and a German taste for revenge.
The Man Who Couldnāt Stopā¦ Going to College (NYT Magazine)
Right-Wing Media Are in Troubleā¦ The flow of traffic to Donald Trumpās most loyal digital-media boosters isnāt just slowing; itās utterly collapsing (The Atlantic).
Back in the ancestral home landā¦ Sidney, Ohioās Chris Gibbs has this powerful testimonial as a former Trump voter for Biden.
Yes, Thereās a Trump Presidential Library at the National Archivesāand Itās Hiring (Washingtonian).
Brian Steelā¦ is free, pending appeal.
The Fall of the House of Chestnutā¦ Scott Nover in Slate on the loss of Americaās greatest athlete.
āļøMy āIndian Luxury Timepieceāā¦ Bulwark+ Founding Member Clarke Smith on his Titan keepsake from his work in India.
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