In Other Terrible News...

 SCOTUS gutted Chevron, basically reducing the ability of government agencies to write rules. Now, if I'm reading this right, courts will decide the limits of what an agency can do without direct Congressional approval. This will create absolute chaos in the regulatory state, which is the goal.

For all the drama over Biden's terrible debate performance, this is the sort of real world consequence that matters and why it's imperative for a Democrat - any Democrat - to win in November.

Josh Marshall has collected emails from readers about last night and this one was interesting. There was one "BIDEN MUST GO, THIS IS THE END" but the rest took variations on this tone:

It’s important to hold fast onto the idea that what happened last night was not anything like the Access Hollywood tape in real life. It was an old man who acted old. He still has the same agenda, the same moral scruples, and the same team he did before. He’ll still do the same stuff if he’s re-elected.

Do I wish we had a better fighter in the fight? Sure! But the reason we don’t is deeply complicated by cross-coalitional pressures that are hard to resolve. You know who else has cross-coalitional pressures that are hard to resolve? The other side! That’s why they’ve got an out-and-out misogynist bigot at the top of their ticket even though not all of them are misogynist bigots. 

So what I’m saying is, have some time pride. Don’t confuse means and ends. Could Biden lose? Of course! But he hasn’t lost yet and he could actually use our help talking our book instead of flailing around helplessly. So like the man says, get up off the floor, dust yourself off, and get back to work.

The next week will be critically important to whether Biden can re-write the narrative about the debate. Debates themselves are really weird and not indicative of how good a job you do as president. They are a decent yardstick of you will do as a candidate, and Biden's performance legitimately calls into question whether he can carry on as a candidate.

The Chevron decision underscores the extent to which this matter beyond the narrow hatred of Trump and the unique threat he brings to American democracy. This is the oligarchic intent of the entire Republican Party right now.