Leading The Bulwark…
Who Will Win Ohio’s Evangelicals?
JIM SWIFT: The evangelical vote is the “Heart of it All.”
🎧 On the Pods… 🎧
A.B. Stoddard: Democrats Face the Headwinds
On today's podcast, A.B. Stoddard joins host Charlie Sykes to discuss Biden's polls, Pelosi's challenge, and GOP crackpottery.
For Bulwark+ Members… 🔐
MORNING SHOTS: Arizona Braces For A Hurricane Of Bull#*%&
CHARLIE SYKES: Here come the Cyber-Ninjas
THE TRIAD: JVL is BACK!
JVL is tanned, rested, and pessimistic about everything.
WEEKEND MAILBAG: Darts and Laurels On Afghanistan
CHARLIE SYKES shares your emails.
From The Bulwark Aggregator…
Retired flight attendant is pushing a beverage cart from Boston to Ground Zero to honor slain co-workers - Sydney Page, The Washington Post
U.S. Warns of Islamic State Threat to Americans in Afghanistan - Andrew Restuccia, The Wall Street Journal
John Oliver Calls Afghanistan ‘A Stain on Biden’s Legacy’ - Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast
ICU doctor leans on experience treating coronavirus in announcing bid for Tennessee governor - Mychael Schnell, The Hill
Afghan Central Banker Sees Currency Drop, Capital Controls Ahead - Eric Martin, Bloomberg Businessweek
In a Land of Scarce Water, Prices Should Be the Guide - J.D. Tuccille, Reason
In Today’s Bulwark...
Biden Brings Back the Ugly American
SHAY KHATIRI: His dismissal of America’s allies is tactless, ungrateful—and Trumpian.
We Just Empowered Al Qaeda
MARY HABECK: President Biden claims that the terrorist group is “gone” from Afghanistan. Not quite.
Tucker Carlson’s Unpatriotic Nationalism
SHIKHA DALMIA: Those Americans embracing Victor Orbán and his spirit of “illiberal democracy” are rejecting something fundamentally American.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend. Ours was spent watching the Paw Patrol movie at the twins first movie experience ever at Alamo (went well!) and at the water park. Oh, and discovering that the lawn mowing service decapitated one of my sprinkler heads for the water system.
As I was fixing the water head (provided the piping isn’t damaged, it’s relatively easy), I noticed that air traffic into Dulles airport was rerouted over our neighborhood. I looked up and saw a plan that looked like it was from Qatar Airways.
So, I opened up my FlightRadar app, and low and behold, it was.
I stopped what I was doing, and had the twins, who were playing in the back yard, wave at them. There is no way they could have seen us, but there very well could be refugees, or Americans who were in Afghanistan on that plane. I read that Qatar Airways was flying a lot of refugees from Doha, where a lot of folks are being flown from Kabul.
My kids are too young to understand what refugees are, but it was good to wave to welcome home our fellow countrymen and women, and say “welcome here” to those fleeing the Taliban. Even though a sort of meaningless gesture in the abstract, it was a moment where I was able to put aside my frustration and think of what lies ahead for those refugees. It’s a hard road. And my biggest problem is a broken sprinkler head for a grass watering system. Perspective is important.
If you’re in the D.C. proper area, unlike me, here’s how you can help with the refugees coming here, via our colleague Ben Parker.
Not a lot of refugees staying in Washington will be living in the District of Columbia. In fact, they’re probably quite likely to be living out where I live. My neighbor’s Mosque does a lot with its refugee help program, and I hope you’ll consider donating like I did. I’ll share more worthwhile charities as I get them. Thanks, as always, for your generosity.
And while we’re talking about helping refugees… Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s PAC has raised over $100,000 for charities dedicated to helping resettle Afghanis.
Becoming Trader Joe… This Vic Matus joint in the WSJ about Trader Joe’s founder, Joe Coulombe, is right in my wheel house!
More on the performative J.D. Vance…
FOX and the Big Lie. This first portion of a 4 part ABC (Australia) documentary is worth 45 minutes of your time.
Dying to own the Libs… That’s what I’d call this NYT video feature if I were the editor of the item about COVIDiocy in Arkansas.
A message for unity from beyond the grave… From former GOP Rep. Paul Mitchell, who left the GOP over Trump. Click through and watch.
John Oliver on the Afghanistan stain on Biden’s legacy… “The only question is: How big does he want that stain to be? And that is really up to him.”
Going undercover in a scam call center… We’ve all gotten those calls from “the IRS” or “Social Security” but a lot of our fellow Americans fall for these scams. One guy in India decided to take a stand, as VICE documents.
COVID ate the Cyber Ninjas’ homework… You can’t make this up.
That’s it for me for today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow. Tech support questions? Email support@substack.com. Questions for me? Drop me a line: swift@thebulwark.com
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.