What If Trump Is Trying To Break the GOP?
What If Trump Is Trying To Break the GOP?
A.B. Stoddard: The future of the Republican party is an endless series of loyalty tests and Trump family vendettas. Good luck.
Leading The Bulwark…
What If Trump Is Trying To Break the GOP?
A.B. Stoddard: The future of the Republican party is an endless series of loyalty tests and Trump family vendettas. Good luck.
🎵 On the Pods…🎵
David Jolly: A Third Choice for Florida?
On today’s Bulwark podcast, David Jolly joins Charlie Sykes to discuss how Donald Trump seeks to break the GOP in half, the future of the GOP, the two party duopoly, and his political future.
For Bulwark+ Members 🔐
Secret Podcast: Georgia and the GOP Future
An early-morning Secret show about the Georgia race and the future that Republicans haven’t quite figured out yet.
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From The Bulwark Aggregator…
What The Polls Say About Georgia’s Senate Runoffs – Geoffrey Skelley and Nathaniel Rakich, FiveThirtyEight
Ossoff debates empty podium as Perdue refuses to participate – Marina Pitofsky, The Hill
Steve Doocy Confronts Newt Gingrich’s Baseless Voter Fraud Claim in Georgia: ‘How is Stacey Abrams Going to Steal Votes?’ – Colby Hall, Mediaite
After Condemning Georgia’s Election System As Untrustworthy, Trump Urges Republicans There to Vote in Senate Runoffs – Jacob Sullum, Reason Magazine
Michael Flynn Goes Full QAnon In His Post-Pardon Media Tour – Will Sommer, The Daily Beast
Trump’s Election Litigation Will Have Lasting Effects – Kim Wehle, The Atlantic
In Today’s Bulwark…
Weakness from Washington and Seoul Has Emboldened North Korea
Mitchell Blatt: After years of “friendship,” “love letters,” and “trust,” the Kim regime is as potent as ever.
The GOP’s Burghers of Calais
Eugene R. Fidell: GOP leaders in the grip of fear.
The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Tim Miller: The president of the United States asks his supporters to overturn a free and fair election through extralegal means. What could possibly go wrong?
The Abuser and the Terrorist
Abigail R. Esman: The underrecognized web of shame, honor, and twisted masculinity that connects domestic violence and political violence.
🚨 OVERTIME 🚨
It’s Monday… And I hope you had a great weekend. I made my family some homemade White Castle clone sliders, and they were delicious. They could have been better, the key is freezing the patties once you’ve rolled them out and poked the five holes, but they turned out great.
Does Ted Cruz really want to be a Senator anymore? Here he is, offering to argue in front of the Supreme Court for Rep. Mike Kelly and failed candidate Sean Parnell in their quixotic lawsuit that would:
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, and Sean Parnell, the Republican who ran against Lamb, filed a petition in Commonwealth Court on Nov. 22 alleging that the General Assembly illegally implemented statewide mail-in voting in October 2019. It suggested that either all mail-in ballots be disqualified, or alternatively, to throw out the entirety of Pennsylvania’s results in the general election so the legislature could appoint the state’s presidential electors.
I’ve noticed a trend in Ted Cruz’s nihilism, and it’s clear to me that he really hates his job. Because he thought that the next rung was President. And that will never happen. So here he is.
It’s one thing for Senators to file amicus briefs before the high court, quite another to offer to be their lawyer making the oral arguments. Really, not since the days of Daniel Webster. Just as jurists should recuse themselves from cases they handled before they reached the high bench (think Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor), you would wonder whether any of the recusal ethics concerns would concern any of the three jurists Cruz supported ardently. That wouldn’t bode well for Cruz’s assertion that this case is important and legitimate. (It’s not.)
Hopefully we won’t have to find out.
Let’s strengthen the Hatch Act. Since a lot of U.S. government policy operates on the honor system, and honor among men and women, and the ability to be shamed, the last four years have been pretty devastating for the rule of law. Insert the Hatch Act, which prevents virtually all federal officials from electioneering in their official role. The Wall Street Journal has this report on quack economist Peter Navarro, part of Trump’s island of misfit toys, and how he knowingly, and repeatedly violated it.
Let’s put some teeth in this.
Bulwark Communities!
Earlier today, JVL highlighted the new “Discord” community, which is popular among gamers. But another reader, set up a SubReddit. If you use either platform, join up and chat with your fellow Bulwark readers. Or feel free to email or tweet us to share your thoughts.
Aliens? A former Israeli official claims that aliens are real and they’re talking with the U.S. and Israel. But we’re not ready for them yet. Apparently.
Steve Kornacki adds sports. At The Ringer, an appreciation for the chart master helping bring the big board to the NFL.
Lin Wood promotes a disgusting conspiracy theory. Zachary Petrizzo reports, the Georgia lawyer is apparently pushing a conspiracy that Gov. Kemp’s daughter’s boyfriend (who worked for Kelly Loeffler’s campaign) was seemingly killed on purpose. “Everything is planned” he writes.
Speaking of crackpot lawsuits… Sidney Powell’s “Kraken” suit got laughed out of court today.
Hogan 2024? If this doesn’t look like a trial balloon, I don’t know what one looks like.
Finally, a Lifetime movie that might interest me. Because it involves Col. Sanders and fried chicken. KFC and Lifetime created a co-branded short film with Mario Lopez playing the role of a young Col. Sanders. Here’s the presser.
“To die, to sleep – to sleep, perchance to dream...” Anthony Hopkins reciting Shakespeare, to cleanse your palate.
Time flies… Ben Domenech and Sohrab Ahmari editions.
"If there is no way to disprove your political claims, then you should confront the fact that you have made a religion of your politics." A worthwhile column from Rod Dreher on what he calls “Fox Geezer Syndrome.”
The 70 Veepiest moments of our Trump Presidency. Do enjoy this compilation from Politico. You will see things that seem like they occurred a decade ago and you totally forgot.
That’s it for me today. See you tomorrow. As always, if you have any questions or comments, you know how to reach me: swift@thebulwark.com.
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