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Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American” is the highest earning politics blog on Substack, the platform I use to publish “Wide World News.”
She is significantly more commercially and artistically successful than I am at the newsletter dodge. And she gets significantly better press coverage than I do, also.
Here is her today lede:
There are a number of very different stories swirling out there this Friday. I have been trying to make sense of them and will tell you what I see, with the warning that I could very easily be wrong, so ignore at will.
With the exception of the word “Friday,” please tell me why that shouldn’t be how I frame every edition of WWoN.
I mean, why fight success?
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On the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer spending bill:
I think the Senate will soon pass a version pretty close to the House measure, on a 50-50 tie vote that Vice President Harris breaks, after much Manchinurian Candidate/Senator faux agonizing, and then the House will pass the Senate version with no Republican votes and a handful of Democratic defections, after much progressive real agonizing, at which point President Biden will sign it into law, with the warning that I could very easily be wrong, so ignore at will.
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Joe Biden talked tough on Russia and Saudi Arabia on Friday, but some American reporters were more impressed than Putin or Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud probably are, and definitely more impressed than Nick Kristof (“President Biden Lets a Saudi Murderer Walk”) and the Washington Post ed board (“Mohammed bin Salman is guilty of murder. Biden should not give him a pass.”).
(The Wall Street Journal ed board, however, expresses Blinkenian Realism: “The Khashoggi report and sanctions send a message of U.S. disgust at an awful crime. But in a nasty and brutish world, the U.S. still needs partners like the Saudis.”)
In an interview with Univision, Mr. Biden suggested more was coming, however:
“I spoke yesterday with the king ... Made it clear to him that the rules are changing and we’re going to be announcing significant changes today and on Monday…We are going to hold them accountable for human rights abuses and we're going to make sure that they, in fact, you know, if they want to deal with us, they have to deal with it in a way that the human rights abuses are dealt with."
I think that the Biden Administration will in the end side more with Paul Gigot than Nick Kristof because…well, because, that is what American presidents (whether they are George H.W. Bush or Donald Trump or anyone else) do when it comes to the Saudis, even now that the U.S. is less energy dependent on them, with the warning that I could very easily be wrong, so ignore at will.
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Saturday, the president:
Then he goes to Delaware, which feels more like home than living across the street from the Chamber of Commerce, with the warning that I could very easily be wrong, so ignore at will.
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CPAC features more speeches Saturday from some prominent conservatives, including Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ first big national remarks as a candidate for governor of Arkansas, as the Dominant Media maintains its posture towards Donald Trump’s Republican Party and the world braces for a Sunday afternoon address to a braced world from The Man Himself.
There is a lot to learn about the hearts and minds of 74 million people plus from the rhetoric in Orlando (not just from the speakers but from the attendees); perhaps most important is that an anti-establishment sensibility still animates many, including Bernie Sanders supporters as well, so keep listening, with the warning that I could very easily be wrong, so ignore at will.
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Democrats and Republicans are both divided about how to address the minimum wage going forward, and/but American workers need a raise, so let us all hope that this is one area where disunity, partisanship, and contentiousness can be put aside and something can get done, with the warning that I could very easily be wrong, so ignore at will.
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