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Mark
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Those driving around with me on the search for common ground and enough fellow citizens to populate that ground to build a society based on a Presumption of Grace and not a Presumption of Hate will find solace and hope in this Associated Press headline:
Biden's 1st Month Was About Erasing the Mark of “Former Guy”
Sure, the Blues would take from that story that justice is being done as Joe Biden wipes out as much of the Trump legacy as the law allows as quickly as possible.
And the Reds would say the current Oval occupant has broken the record for executive orders in the first month in an abandonment of his unity pledge, because he lacks a mandate to legislate, and by making foolish, leftwing policy choices.
But at least there would be factual consensus that this is what Mr. Biden’s first month in office has been about.
A week from today, the “Former Guy,” a/k/a Donald J. Trump, a/k/a 45, a/k/a wants maybe to be 45.2 (a/k/a 47), is slated to give an afternoon speech in Orlando, the city of make believe, at the annual CPAC convention, amidst a constellation of MAGA shooting stars:
It would be wonderful if during this intervening week, all of us could reach consensus on the truthiness and the implications of this Ross Douthat column, to date the most essential WWoN read of 2021.
Keying off of the passing of Rush Limbaugh, the piece explains the past, present, and future of not just the conservative movement and the Republican Party, but also, implicitly, of the prospects of a politico-socio-media culture of a Presumption of Grace.
Douthat delineates the various overlapping paradoxes, ironies, and cruelties embedded in the reality that the Limbaugh-Trump movement can win down ballot elections (thanks in part to gerrymandering and to the disproportionate power of rural states in the Senate); make its top practitioners powerful, famous, and wealthy; and provide the grassroots energy any political party needs to survive.
At the same time, these dynamics drive out innovate new ideas that could capture 65%+ of popular support; make many of the most emotional and powerful themes of the movement built on lies and dangerous rhetoric; and keep the party from being able to win the national popular vote (and make the Electoral College pretty tough too).
Here’s part of Douthat’s brilliant tour de force tour de history:
Limbaugh’s talk radio imitators, then Roger Ailes with Fox News, and then — disastrously — a great many Republican politicians, who realized that an intense ideological fan base was enough to win them elections in safe districts and might make them media celebrities in the bargain.
This pattern created problems that compounded one another. As Conservatism Inc. became more of a world unto itself, it sealed out bad news for conservative governance, contributing to debacles that doomed Republican presidents — Iraq for George W. Bush, Covid for Donald Trump. These debacles helped make conservatism less popular, closer to a 45 percent than a 55 percent proposition in presidential races, a blocking coalition but not a governing one. And this in turn made the right’s passionate core feel more culturally besieged, more desperate for “safe spaces” where liberal perfidy was taken for granted and the most important reasons for conservative defeats were never entertained….
Conservatives have lost real-world territory by building dream palaces, and ceded votes by talking primarily to themselves….
[F]or Limbaugh especially, we can say that their gifts were ample, their ascent remarkable, their influence enduring — and yet their most important legacy has been ashes and defeat.
As I have suggested before, the Reds further our national divisions and do themselves no favors in terms of furthering a conservative policy agenda by ignoring the truth of these words.
And the Blues further our national divisions and do themselves no favors in terms of furthering a progressive policy agenda by ignoring the implications of the truth of these words.
So read the column, and then let’s figure out what to do next about a reality that is good for Sean Hannity’s ratings (and Rachel Maddow’s ratings…), but not good for the country.
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ESSENTIAL READING
* The New York Times on Team Biden’s preparations to find the right Black woman to be picked for a non-existent Supreme Court vacancy, with the overlays of educational and experiential diversity a significant part of the equation.
HALPERIN SAYS: The prospective candidates touted here are extraordinarily well qualified on paper. I recommend a YouTube tour of the list if you want to get a sense of who might actually be picked. And remember: all roads lead to some combination of Joe Manchin, Susan Collins, and the elimination of the filibuster (for all matters).
* The Washington Post snags a Lindsey Graham interview as part of its look at the most and least important story of the Trump/Biden Era: What does the Gentleman from South Carolina actually want – and can he have it?
HALPERIN SAYS: Sunday, Graham is scheduled to golf with the former president, and oh to be a many-eared salamander on the fairway!
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Get all the latest Wide World of News on our new 24/7 website the Walking Duck.
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In Saturday’s editions, I wrote “moral” when I meant “morale,” which was very bad for my morale, which is the moral of the story.