Peter Baker Can Go Fuck Himself

 Doug J from Balloon Juice has a twitter account called NY Times Pitchbot where he mimics the ridiculous bothsides journalism practiced everywhere, but especially at the Times.

Today's analysis from Peter Baker on Trump's indictment renders the satire moot, by exceeding it.

The argument as such is that Trump's indictment represents some sort of crossroads for American democracy, because we've never indicted a former president before. We've never had a president like Trump before, you mewling moron. There have been scandals that plagued presidents, yet very few touched them directly, with the exception of Nixon. Grant and Harding and any number of Gilded Age politicians had corruption around them, but they themselves were honest. Even previously corrupt figures like Chester Arthur were elevated by the responsibility of the office.

Trump shat on every principle America purports to stand for.

Baker quotes legal experts and historians who say that the only surprise is that it took this long in the country's history to indict a former president. Then - giving equal weight - he quotes various GOP figures and apologists as if their criticisms were genuine. He does engage in some "balancing", for instance, when he pairs GOP quotes about how only "Banana Republics" indict former politicians with examples of the multitude of established democracies - France, South Korea, Italy and so on - who have in fact indicted former heads of government. Hell, Benyamin Netanyahu is currently facing charges and Boris Johnson could soon.

Unless the GOP apologists' quotes comes with the explicit words "However, this is false" then it remains a classic form of the Times bullshit objectivity that in fact enables our descent into a post-truth world.

A grand jury found that there was enough evidence to indict Trump. Trump is a private citizen. There will likely be more indictments surrounding his election fuckery. Trump is a uniquely corrupt figure in the history of the Republic. As the only president with no previous experience in the military or public service, he brought his self-centered, self-dealing ways to DC and proceeded to enrich himself while degrading our public institutions. We are a worse country for his having been president.

That's the story. That's it. It was Trump that shattered the precedents, not Alvin Bragg, and if you can't see that, you should not have a prime position on the front page of the NY Times.

Doomerism

 Yglesias looks at the role the audience plays in driving negative news stories. I would agree that people seem to want and yet hate the conflict they get, especially from cable news nets. This tends to focus news organizations towards conflict driven stories. In Yglesias' example, CNN is not-stop Nashville shooting, because the gun debate gets people fired up. Yet more kids this week have probably died on opioid overdoses, but there's no "conflict" there. The opioid epidemic is crushingly sad, but if there was a solution we could argue over, that argument would drive more coverage.

Which is why I don't watch cable news.

I do think he lets journalists - especially editors - off the hook for their role in driving clickbait headlines. In the Very Online Discourse, people will get outraged by a shared story with a horrible headline. If you actually read the story, it's not really saying what the headline suggests. Now, this is largely an audience problem, too. The editor no one will read a story titled "Worthy Canadian Policy Considered" but they will read "Trudeau Attacks Biden For Immigration Policy," even if Trudeau didn't attack Biden at all, but simply disagreed on part of the asylum process.

All of this is driven by our move online. While travelling last week (was it last week, Jesus), I stayed at Irish hotels who often provide old school newspapers made of actual paper.  It dramatically changed how I read the news. Headlines, scan first graph, second graph, continue or stop. Not having to physically click on a link and let it load, meant I got a much broader exposure to the stories in the Irish Times or The Guardian.

Of course, we can't go back, but as an old man, I would like to yell at Social Media to get off my lawn.

UPDATE: Hope is good and journalists should embrace it.

Not A Serious Party

 I heard some extremely bad analysis of Biden's polling this morning, about how his "handling of the economy" numbers were bad and this was worrisome. Normally, yes, this would be true.

However, there are two major things left off this calculus.

First, Donald Trump will almost certainly be the GOP nominee. Only death or some form of GOP shenanigans will prevent him from winning the nomination. That will make the election a referendum on January 6th. Plain and simple.

Second, the rank and file GOP seem increasingly obsessed with bullshit culture war issues that are mystifying and off-putting to those suburban voters that are increasingly providing Democrats with their margins of victory.

Banning books? I mean if it worked for Hitler, why not JV Hitler?

If that wasn't bad enough, who in their right mind goes after Dolly Freaking Parton?

Glenn Youngkin won the governorship of Virginia - I'm convinced - because of Covid school restrictions. However, the GQP has convinced itself that it was really "parental freedom," which means banning books and being moral busybodies in other people's kid's schools.

I really don't think that's going to prove to be a very popular position. 

Gun Crazy

 The Washington Post has two good stories about AR-15s. 

This one explains one of the reasons why police officers want and probably need high powered weaponry. The reason is that any freaking yahoo they encounter could have military grade weaponry. An underrated reason why police use lethal force is that they probably do feel outgunned at any particular moment.

The second is more harrowing and not for those who aren't willing to stare at hard truths. The WaPo has created an interactive model of how an AR-15 bullet destroys the human body. It isn't visually graphic, but it describes the destructive impact of these bullets by using two real school shooting victims as examples, including 6 year old Noah Pozner from Sandy Hook. 

It's a tough read, but I feel like it should be required reading, especially for Brett Kavanaugh who argued that there is no difference between a hand gun or hunting rifle and these weapons of war.

As if on cue, we had another school shooting, because we always do. 

We always do.

Maybe Proportional Representation Isn't The Answer

 One of the great flaws of our democracy is our electoral system that bestows 100% of the seat to someone who wins the most votes not a majority of the votes. (This offer not valid in Maine and Georgia.)

This means that we force our politicians into two large catch-all parties that manage to include Mitt Romney to Lauren Boebert and Joe Manchin to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It's weird and frequently it no longer works because there is no real way to cobble together legislation between the Romney-Manchin wings. Maybe they can do some permitting reform and social media regulation this Congress, but I doubt it. It's dysfunctional.

One solution would be to adopt a truly national legislature that is elected via proportional representation. Instead of voting for AOC, you might vote for the American Worker's Party or the Green Party. Whatever percentage of votes that party got, they would get the same number of seats. This way, you would have many different voices being represented and you could get odd coalitions coming together to pass legislation.

Theoretically.

In reality, PR systems tend to produce chaos (except in places like South Africa were one party dominates the electoral landscape). PR parliamentary systems lend themselves to coalition governments that are always on the verge of collapsing.

Which brings me to Israel. Benyamin Netanyahu is a crook, or at least he's pretty damned close to one. Yet, he's the only figure who can hold together a rough coalition of religious and right wing zealots to cobble together a government. So, you have a prime minister who is facing an indictment trying to rewrite the rules of the Israeli constitution regarding judicial independence. 

The country has erupted in outrage and protest. In some ways, this is healthy, as it shows a deep commitment to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. Israelis don't seem to want to let Netanyahu potentially corrupt the courts. 

Netanyahu though, can't back down without fracturing his coalition. Because he's beholden to the worst rightist elements in Israeli politics he has to govern from the far right rather than a theoretical center. 

While Emanuel Macron was able to ride out his controversial measures and the protests that engulfed France, he has the advantage of set term of office. You can't really get rid of him until the next election. Netanyahu could lose a vote of confidence this week and we would have snap elections.

Israel has seemed increasingly ungovernable for many of the same reason the rest of the Western world has seemed ungovernable recently: religious and cultural conservatives - often cloaked in hypernationalism - are pitted against a more secular, culturally pluralistic polity. 

The culture wars are not unique to America. We see them in Brexit, in Israel, in France, in Hungary...really everywhere.

The basic liberal idea of live-and-let-live is under attack from all sides.

And I'm Back

 Spent a lovely week plus with my eldest son in Ireland. The people are lovely, the landscape beautiful, the food...well the Guinness is good. We got to see Ireland win the Six Nations Rugby championship in a crowded pub in Dublin, my son was a good sport through many museums, saw the Donegal coast, the Giant's Causeway and held a one hour old baby lamb. Good times.

What did I miss?

Apparently the Ron DeSantis Train had a Palestine, OH moment. The fact that he's a charmless asshole (as opposed to Trump who had a weird charm to being an asshole in 2016) might have something to do with it.

Trump hasn't been indicted yet, but he seems to want to add "threatening violence against a DA" to the list of charges.

I dunno.

Maybe I'll go back to Ireland. I don't mind the rain.

Radio Silence

 I'm taking a week long trip and leaving my computer at home.

This will prevent me from point out that 

- Biden is good actually.

- Trump, DeSantis and the GQP are pretty bad.

Hope the three or four of you who read this can sustain yourself in my absence.

Is The American Taliban Capable Of Learning?

 There has been a lot of pre-emptive angst over the hearing - in Texas, naturally - about whether to overturn the use of mifepristone, a medication that induces abortion early in pregnancy. The judge in question, Matthew Kacsmaryk is about as true blue a culture warrior as you can find. A lot has been made about how the plaintiff shopped around to get this case before Kacsmaryk, because he might be the only judge in the country stupid enough to rule in their favor.

I say stupid, because the backlash to Dobbs was a major driver in Democrats overachieving in 2022, and if the Talibangelicals foist this decision on the country...holy shit.

The "merits" of the case involve the plaintiffs' claims that the FDA did not conduct adequate scientific review or research protocols...for a drug that has been safely used for two decades. There are open questions about whether the plaintiffs have standing to even bring the suit. The written law is pretty clear about the FDA's ability to approve drugs and the 6 year window - long since shut - to appeal that decision. 

If Kacsmaryk decides to rule in the plaintiff's favor, it will unleash a shitstorm...or maybe not. A ruling in the plaintiff's favor will immediately be stayed by a Circuit court somewhere else. At least...I think so. Deciding that the FDA does not have the statutory rights to do the thing that was explicitly written into law is so fucking bonkers that I can't imagine it surviving a Circuit Court challenge, though if any Circuit would, it would be the Fifth, which is the Circuit Kacsmaryk is in. However, this ruling would presumably be nationwide, which could allow the 11th Circuit - or perhaps all but the 5th - to issue a stay and expedite a hearing.

The obvious question to all this is that unless he throws out the plaintiffs for lack of standing or rules in the FDA's favor - and remember, this guy is a wingnut's wingnut - it will eventually reach the Supreme Court. 

At that moment, we will see if the Assembly of Religious Experts has learned anything from Dobbs. Sure, Alito and Thomas will rule that the FDA was never authorized by George Washington, so it doesn't technically exist, but I can't see Roberts siding with this unprecedented act of judicial activism. If Kavanaugh or Gorsuch joins him...crisis averted.

If, however, the Assembly of Religious Experts rules that the FDA has no power to rule a drug that has been used safely for 20 safe, it provides an interesting opportunity and peril for the Biden Administration. Frankly, they should simply say that they are not going to enforce an unconstitutional ruling. Let the Howler Monkeys howl. Neuter the Court. Andrew Jackson did, though that's not an argument in favor.

The Supreme Court's powers exist because the other branches allow them to exist. As Jackson said, "Mr. Marshall has made his decision, now let us see him enforce it."

Would Biden do it? Two years ago, I would've said, no, but I think this might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. 

Can the black robed religious zealots cloistered in the judicial sinecures see the political devastation that such a decision would bring?

Oh, Look

 Biden and Yellen were right about containing the financial crisis. Though it does sound like the Fed might keep raising rates, although much of the inflation reporting is stupid. 

Oh, and the GOP response to the banking crisis is predictably stupid as dirt.

UPDATE: Chait on the GOP response:

The “blame wokeness” strategy appears to be an effort to fill the howling void that exists where a coherent Republican analysis of this issue ought to be and instead divert attention to the party’s current fixation. But the whole assumption it draws upon is deeply weird. Are people supposed to assume that, back in the good old days when banks were run entirely (and not just mostly) by white men, there were never financial panics?

Stemming the Tide

 The question of whether it was proper to "bailout" the depositors it SVB was largely rendered moot by the run on another bank in NY. The failure of Signature Bank will likely be tied to a reliance on low interest rates and exposure to the ongoing fraud that is "crypto". All mid-sized regional banks are suddenly suspect, so Biden and the Fed are going to insure ALL deposits, not just the $250,000 cap.

By insuring the liquidity of accounts at these two struggling banks (and presumably every other mid-size bank), they are trying to stop the runs on banks before they happen. "Your money is safe. Relax."

Josh Marshall takes on the idea of a bailout and what it means politically, as opposed to economically. The bailouts of 2008 actually worked really well and paid for themselves. If anything it was the long delay by the Bush Administration to guarantee accounts that created the panic in the fall of 2008. By acting pre-emptively, the hope is that this crisis will resolve itself fairly quickly.  The toxicity of "bailouts" is unfair, because they really do work. 

What was toxic about 2008 was the lack of consequences for those who wrecked the economy. My guess is that Biden won't make that mistake again. By limiting the damage to a few banks, you can keelhaul those bankers without spooking a fragile banking system. As the Chinese saying goes, "Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys." Make an example out of SVB and Signature. Bring their execs up on charges if you can. 

But stopping the spread of a financial panic is absolutely the right thing to do.

What will be interesting to watch is how this mini-panic might cause the Fed to relax on interest rate increases. It was clearly tied to the zeal with which the Fed is raising rates, as that made many of the banks' equities and collateral worth much less than these banks assumed they would be. An entire business model built on cheap money is unraveling, and while inflation is mildly irritating at the moment, a financial crisis would really suck.

The Fed tends to be overconfident in its own wisdom, but I hope they look at these rumblings of crisis and realizes that - while these banks made bad bets - they had a role to play in this.

This Time Will Be Different

 The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank may or may not reverberate beyond the world of tech start-ups and venture capitalism. My guess is that it won't. Silicon Valley turned out to be deeply reliant on low interest rates, probably because all those high flying tech firms don't make any actual profits and so they have to keep floating debt and taking loans. SVB filled an important role in the make-believe world of virtual wealth. With tech companies laying off employees - despite no underlying weakness in the economy - I would wager that it was the inability to continue borrowing at low rates that forced them to layoff workers and now led to a run on SVB.

However, it's not just about the centrality of debt to tech companies. It's also about a certain type of libertarian tech bro (they are melting down all over Twitter, naturally) who thinks that they and they alone have figured out a new way to print money. We also can't rule out that the bank run was created by actual vampire Peter Thiel in order to short the stock. 

The Federal Reserve has continued their aggressive raising of rates to quell inflation. That seems weird, because inflation has stalled. It almost feels like the Fed is trying to force a small recession on the country that seems completely superfluous to our needs.

The moral of the story, however, is a simple one: there is no magic formula to avoid the laws of economic gravity. Regulation is the only proper way to control these malefactors of great wealth before they tank the economy again.

Self-Sorting As Tantrum

 The process of self-sorting, whereby people move to communities of like-minded people, is one of the most important trends in American civic and political life. While partisan gerrymandering is a huge problem, the natural gerrymanders caused by right wingers moving to Florida and Texas is another big driver of polarization. 

Democrats have been hurt by the fact that their voters are crammed into compact House district in urban areas where they usually get 75% of the vote.

Anyway, Trump and Musk want to make that their model, too.

Why Are Americans Still Poor?

 If you're interested, I suggest you read this.

Make Them Toxic

 Once again, I have to tip my hat to Josh Marshall for distilling the central truth of this political era into a viable strategy for winning elections over the next 4-8 years.

Most Americans do not support and in fact actively deplore the January 6th insurrectionists. It was a day of deep emotional resonance and outrage that is largely baked into people's minds. That's the central insight that Marshall gets that savvy pundits and strategists seem to miss. 

You're not going to win an election as a Democrats running ads against a Republican accusing him of being unfriendly to businesses that promote clean energy, because the "unfriendly to businesses" violates people's baseline understanding of the two political parties. That's why embracing bad messaging like Defund the Police - even at the margins - is bad; it creates a narrative, true or false, that can become embedded in people's minds. Democrats are more likely to be critical of cops - which is fine and good - but that opens the door to losing Hispanic voters whose uncle is a cop.

Right now, the overwhelming message from Democrats (not Biden but rank and file Dems) is that the GOP has become a party of authoritarian nutjobs. They support election denying and insurrectionists. They shit on the Constitution. They admire Putin's strong man tactics. 

Tucker Carlson - the ostensible subject of Marshall's post - is an odious, cynical cretin. He doesn't believe the shit he's saying - we know that from the documents discovered in the Dominion lawsuit - but he accurately understands that his hardcore viewers believe it. He doesn't care about "truth"; he cares about his rating share.

The problem with the Republican party is Republican voters. Not all of them, but the true base of the party is a christofacist movement intent on dragging America to a very dark place. This applies to DeSantis as well as Trump.

I was half listening to my wife's podcast with Ezra Klein and Trans rights. It reminded me of the quote from Francis Wilhoit: 

    Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law            protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

The idea that the GOP wants an America that exists only for certain people - and that group can change at any minute - and you are not party of that group of Real American Traitors...that's how you make the GOP toxic.

Hard Ball

 This story about a community college in Idaho will likely play out on Florida and other red states before too long. Yanking accreditation from these schools really seems like the only play, if the people in charge of education care about...education.

Similarly, if DeSantis' goons now governing Disneyworld create real problems...close the park. As soon as you layoff a few thousand people and surrounding businesses go belly up, watch how fast the luster wears off DeSantis's Orbanesque tactics.

Bakhmut

 There have been notable examples in history of militaries grinding themselves to dust over targets of limited strategic importance. Stalingrad comes to mind. Bakhmut is another example of two armies apparently bleeding themselves dry over a place of little actual import.

We have become accustomed to seeing the Ukrainian Army as better led, certainly better motivated and making the wisest tactical and strategic choices - at least compared to the Russians. So, hopefully, the meatgrinder of Bakhmut isn't depriving them of the manpower and resources that they will need for what everyone assumes will be an offensive towards Melitipol. 

It's fine for Russia to punch itself out trying to take Bakhmut, but Ukraine will need a counteroffensive at some point.

A Cruel Experiment

 This WaPo piece departs from the usual "Cleetus Safari" format, whereby a reporter goes to the heartland and explains why people love Donald Trump and hate Critical Race Theory (or whatever). Instead, it's a detailed narrative of the people in Kentucky who are seeing the shit hit the fan when it comes to SNAP benefits (basically food stamps of yore).

During Covid, we saw a massive expansion of benefits to keep the economy moving. Included in stimulus checks and the like was a massive increase in things like child tax credits and SNAP benefits. For a brief moment, people who had been experiencing food insecurity were able to feed themselves. Now, they are going to lose that ability.

On the one hand, you have to wonder how much these increased benefits contributed to inflation. We saw this in the '70s when high energy prices and a more generous welfare state saw an increase in inflation. Perhaps the price of low inflation is immiserating the poorest Americans. I hope not.

Regardless, these are precisely the vulnerable people in "flyover country" that the Republican Party purports to represent. These are Trump and JD Vance's "forgotten Americans." Except, of course, Trump and Vance don't give a flying fuck about these people, beyond the elected office that they can bestow on them, because of drag shows or trans rights or whatever.

It's doubtful that Democrats can leverage this, but not impossible. People will stand a certain level of misery, but they usually won't tolerate having something and then having it taken away. In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear - a Democrat - tried to keep the benefits going by vetoing the bill to rescind them. Republicans overrode his veto. 

You would think that this would make the people lining up for food angry at Republicans, but they are more likely to be angry at "the government" which means Democrats and Joe Biden or maybe even Beshear. 

It will take an immediate introduction of legislation in the Senate to extend the benefits. Republicans will block the extension. Then you have to blanket these communities with messages about how Representative Soandso is standing between your neighbor and a decent meal.

While I've been impressed with certain aspects of Biden's political acumen, using the messaging ability of controlling one of but not both Houses of Congress has not been a major strength. Whether Roe or now SNAP, there's an opportunity, but it won't just happen.

What we are seeing is what America could be like with a more generous welfare state... and what happens when it's ripped away.

The Wrong Targets

 Erik Loomis - with whom I rarely agree - has a post about water rights in the Southwest, which makes the same sort of mistake that I think a lot of leftists make when talking about environmental issues. His point is that Native groups are trying to preserve elements of their environment but struggle because White people want golf courses in Phoenix. 

The problem is that residential and recreational use of water is a small part of the water use in the Colorado Basin. About 80% of the water used in that arid region is used for agriculture, notably winter vegetables. Because it's relatively warm, you can harvest winter vegetables. OK, but there is also a massive amount of water used to grow alfalfa for cattle feed. What's worse, much of that alfalfa is shipped overseas. 

The Southwest is burning through its water supplies to feed cattle in other countries. That is a terrible idea for any number of reasons, but given the crisis in the Southwest, it's insane. 

What's worse, the stubbornly independent Western farmer resists efforts to make irrigation more efficient and sustainable. How can you get this staunchly libertarian group of people to submit to even subsidized efforts to move to drip irrigation?

But back to leftist critiques of places like Vegas and Phoenix. 

There is a cultural stigma attached to these gauche, tacky places that simmers just below the environmental complaints, but the real issue is this weird focus on personal behavior to change macrotrends. It is more important in some circles to be more virtuous than thou than to actually solve the problem. Take carbon. I think hybrids should be the focus of transitioning to more fuel efficient vehicles. They are convenient and fuel efficient, but they aren't EVs. Of course, EVs have to charge themselves from an electrical grid that often produces carbon itself. 

What's more, transportation makes up about 27% of greenhouse emissions in the US, and that includes trucks, trains and airplanes. Industry makes up 24% and electrical generation 25%. Why should we focus on the margins between plug in EVs and hybrids, when we lose our focus on industry? 

Finding a way to reduce carbon emissions in metal work, concrete and other industrial practices would have immediate impacts on the amount of carbon emissions, but I guess you can't lord it over your benighted friends if we tackle carbon emissions that way. A widespread commitment to nuclear power would be the easiest and fastest way to de-carbonize our economy, but "nukes are bad" and powering your home via nuclear power isn't "sticking it to the man" I guess.

Still No Good Republicans

 Nikki Haley's appearance at Tragic: The Gathering is a great example of the descent of the GOP into blubbering lunacy. Haley is - most likely private life - a decent enough person for a politician. She did take down the Confederate battle flag from South Carolina's capitol grounds, for instance. 

Yet, she has to embrace the drooling idiocy of modern "conservative discourse."

I have said and will continue to say that certain rhetorical flourishes among left wing activists (Defund the Police!) were counterproductive. But you don't and never will hear Joe Biden talk about defunding police forces. Meanwhile, the very best (presumably) that the GOP has to offer is that treating trans people with respect is worse than a pandemic that killed over a million Americans.

It IS Probably The Phones

 A few days ago, the CDC released a study of unhappiness in teenagers - especially girls - that seemed to signal what could only be called an epidemic. Theories abounded, but I have to agree with Noah Smith that it's most likely the combination of smart phones and social media.

It would be pointless to recap his argument faithfully, as he does a very good job of marshalling studies and evidence. I will say that I've noticed in my own life the fundamental difference between coming online and reading things (or even watching things) and the easy access via my phone to TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. 

I'm trying to find some sort of structure to regulate how much time I spend wasting my life, not because it's unenjoyable, but precisely because it is so much fun. My interactions with social media are - on the whole - pretty positive. But I understand how powerful the negativity bias can be and how vulnerable young people, especially girls, can be.

You Don't Have To Publish That

 I agree with Martin Longman that this piece by Thomas Meaney is a steaming pile of shit.

Meaney has been a Ukraine doomer all along and now - this time, for real, no seriously - his pessimistic take is the Very Serious One we should all listen to.

Will Ukraine win back large swaths of territory with its spring offensive? Hard to say, but the idea that "entrenched Russian troops" will fare as well as entrenched Ukrainian troops seems to ignore the basic dynamic of morale and the will to fight that Ukraine has shown and Russia has not. Fixed fortifications do not have a stellar track record in the last few centuries.

Additionally, imperial powers trying to conquer a people who don't wish to be conquered have a very poor track record. Ukraine is fighting a war of survival, Russia a war of choice. Ignoring that should disqualify you from predicting the future of the Ukraine War.

There Are No Good Republicans

 <Borat Voice> MY WIFE...was listening to a podcast where they talked to Peter Meijer, the Michigan Congressman who voted to impeach Trump in 2021, was then primaried by a lunatic (whom the DCCC boosted) and lost. He's now setting himself up to run for the open Senate seat in Michigan. Remember, he voted to impeach Trump over January 6th.

He was asked if he thought Biden should be impeached over things like the OSHA vaccine mandate and he seemed to say yes. 

First, this won't erase his sin of voting to impeach Mango Mussolini. He's toast. Second, this shows how an ostensibly "good" Republican has to debase himself to win GOP primaries. You simply can't be a John Kasich-type Republican anymore. Hopefully, more and more suburban Republicans are becoming Democratic leaning independents or outright members of the non-crazy party.

Even the right leaning Republicans are learning how hard it is to thread the needle between having an active brain and moral compass and being a Republican politician in thrall to the worst people in America.

Take a look at CPAC. This was the marquis event in conservative politics for decades. Now, it's so full of Near Nazis and Kloset Klansmen that savvy politicians are staying away. Jon Oliver ran a bit on James O'Keefe, where he noted that O'Keefe basically stole money from his supporters to fund a ridiculous lifestyle of a wannabe musical theater star. Nevertheless, his ouster from Project Veritas was met with howls of protest from the like of Rage Hobbit Ben Shapiro and Ambulatory Meat Sack Steve Bannon. The fact that he was grifting off his followers didn't matter as long as he "pwned the libs."

If an entire political movement exists to hate and destroy the other, that's inherently dangerous for democracy.