Trump’s Border Czar Is a Terrible Person
Plus: Assad’s Enemies Are Not Our Friends
Recently in The Bulwark:
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BILL LUEDERS: Trump’s Border Czar Is a Terrible Person
ON NOVEMBER 11, THE DAY AFTER President-elect Donald Trump anointed him “border czar” in the next administration, Tom Homan appeared on Fox News, where he has worked as a contributor, to offer up a peculiar assurance: “Frankly, I don’t care what people think about me.”
That’s good, because I think—and I know I am not alone in this—that Tom Homan is one of the worst people on earth. Even among the ideologues, extremists, and sycophants being pulled together as Trump’s 2.0 team, he stands out for his sheer ugliness, meanness, and pious phoniness.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Anne Applebaum: Planning for a Techno-Oligarchic Regime [YouTube]
The Secret Podcast: This Is How They Get Away with It 🔐 [YouTube]1
Beg to Differ: Trump's Most Dangerous Nominee
Bulwark+ Live:
Across the Movie Aisle: Golden Globes Snubs and Nods
George Conway Explains it All (to JVL): The FBI's Turning Point 🔐 [YouTube]
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BILL ROGGIO AND WILL SELBER: Assad’s Enemies Are Not Our Friends
THE FALL OF BASHAR AL-ASSAD’S brutal regime is a moment for celebration. He is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the immiseration of millions more. Like his late Baathist co-partisan, Saddam Hussein, Assad used the state to torture, kill, and maim innocent civilians for decades. He will now join Edward Snowden in exile in Russia, where he will almost certainly try to be a player in Syria’s future.
American government officials should be eager to seize this opportunity, but wary about rehabilitating enemies for the sake of creating false allies. Over the last twenty years, American officials have fooled themselves that some terrorists could be made statesmen, only to watch them slaughter more innocents. We’ve emboldened the Taliban and al Qaeda by treating Sirajuddin Haqqani as a statesman. We’ve repeatedly released terrorists in custody, only to see them return to the battlefield stronger and deadlier.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Friday! I hope you’re ready for a festive weekend. While I am not typically a Christmas person, I’ve learned that you can’t really personally defeat America’s festive nature, much as The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic may try. And this year, of all years, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
🎵On the Jukebox🎵… Birthday boy Dick Van Dyke (99!) still has the juice in the official release of Coldplay’s “All My Love”.
Luigi Mangione Wrote Online About a Spine Disorder… Other Patients Say It’s Hell (Miles K. Lee, Rolling Stone)
Six Childhood Scourges We've Forgotten About… Thanks to Vaccines (NYT) 🎁
America voted for a dumpster fire… Democrats just need to let it burn itself out (Chris Truax, The Hill)
OpenAI whistleblower… found dead in San Francisco apartment (SF Mercury)
'That was wrong'… Crystal Mangum says she falsely accused Duke lacrosse players of rape in 2006. (WRAL)
“I’m a 32 yo polio survivor… because I was not vaccinated.” Grace R. writes: “Pass on my story, repeat it, tell it to any vaccine hesitate parent. No kid deserves vaccine preventable diseases.”
Here’s Mitch McConnell, who will probably vote for RFK Jr2., responding publicly to one of his aides who wants the FDA to, not making this up, recall the authorization for the Polio vaccine.
BBC complains to Apple… over misleading shooting headline (BBC). Keep AI out of the news decision business, please.
Hospitals Gave Patients Meds During Childbirth… Then Reported Them For Positive Drug Tests (The Marshall Project)
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
Yes, it was Sam Stein (at HuffPo) JVL and Sarah reference in today’s show. Go back in time to see him on MSNBC talking about it 9 years ago.
Prove me wrong, Cocaine Mitch.
