Just some background on Disney...I was selected in a college program for an internship at Disney World during the summer for college credit. We worked in the park and attended one day a week class on the business model of Disney World. We were allowed to take Disney information with us to be used in business classes. Very helpful; professors loved it.
I compare Disney World to the Vatican, in that it is surrounded by a federal government, but the company controlled how the company was run and were allowed concessions in almost every aspect how they ran that business. When I returned from working that summer my father was so excited to hear all I had learned. What I gained from the experience was that it was the most well-produced socialist society that I had ever known in the real world. Down to how much makeup and earrings you could wear to the best way to construct parking lots to move guests out at night. Side note: It was told to us not sure if true today that each Congressional member and family were offered a free trip to Disney World yearly. Cool huh? Food for thought.
I'm done with the Democrats. I am not donating to them, volunteering for them, or voting for them again until I get at least one of my immediate priorities addressed in some significant way.
1. Holding Jan 6th instigators and participants accountable from top to bottom, up to and including Trump.
2. Fixing our republic: Term limits for judges, voting rights legislation, shore up the flaws exposed by Trump and his toadies. I'd love much more but I'll stop there.
3. Climate change: No, what was in the infra bill was not enough and not because "extremists" set the narrative. Moderately helping a few green industries at a level that doesn't hold a candle to current and continuing fossil fuel subsidies ain't good enough, sorry. It might have been 10 or 20 years ago as a first step when we had a much longer runway but its laughable now. Problems don't pause themselves when you decide to kick the can.
I'm obviously considered an evil non-American by the Republican party and have been for a while so I won't be supporting them but the Dems aren't much better. I've been deferring to the desires of "moderates" for decades now and their triangulation, moderation, popularism (pick whichever bullshit term you want for not angering anyone or, in other words, doing nothing beyond the bare minimum of government responsibilities) strategy. Their strategy has continually failed since Bill Clinton (Obama was not the moderate choice even if he wasn't a "socialist" and Biden barely beat what is likely the worst President ever while he was in the middle of bungling a national emergency) but somehow its always the fault of progressives like me. I guess because I have the nerve to exist and voice an opinion? Well I'll do you moderate fuckers a favor. The party is yours. Do with it what you will. The responsibility and the inevitable failure will also be solely yours. Enjoy. Can't wait to see the parade of purple states that will be swinging Dem hard all of a sudden! Oh wait, I live in NC, not NY, LA, or SF......
Honestly my best hope at this point is the US crashes and burns hard enough that it can't be a potent force for evil like Nazi Germany was a century ago once it turns. The Republicans have proven themselves evil and the Dems have proven themselves cowardly and useless even in the rare instances they inexplicably manage to grab the levers of power. There are no viable paths to a good outcome within this system.
Sigh. So fixing our crumbling nfrastructure, health care for all, not turning our planet over to the next generation that's on fire, believing ExxonMobil/ Amazon etc al should pay taxes, that police abuse shouldn't be tolerated, that people who aren't just white, rural and Christian are also Americans isn't " popular"? How about helping families with you know child poverty? Nah I guess. Trying to tackle a third world like gun violence epidemic? Guess not.. Taking our public health from professionals not Joe Rogan? Oh silly me..that we should have voting rights ? I guess this is a minor thing NOT being Pro Insurrection. Smh..Democrats don't have a message problem they have a republican voter and electoral structural issue. They also have a " swing" voter issue, these folks I guess like to tell themselves they are some higher level of voter but it's just a story. At least republicans are for something..Insurrection, tax cuts for the rich, make America more backwards, more Guns etc. What's these swing voters underlying principle? They do actually swing elections in nearly a split country so every 2 years or so they wet their thumb stick ot in the air. If 46 percent of families that received the child care credit plan on voting for a republican then really what can be done? The infrastructure project hasn't happened yet so no credit?? Talk about the patience and understanding of a 7 year old. To read a click bait headline and go no further is intellectual laziness. To have no understanding of all the factors that have caused inflation or actually understand policy is worse. At the of the day if " swing " voters are willing to put a party that's Pro Insurrection back in power after just 2 years because CRT and the price of a gallon of gas then we deserve this dysfunction.
Dems could do well to begin making serious policies about housing. Dems could say ‘every 30 year old should be able to rent a reasonably priced house, with an option to purchase that house in x years, etc’ That would be very popular.
Well, I see that the Florida GoP has pulled the trigger on getting rid of Disney's special district. This should be interesting.
What is Disney's recourse at this point given that (if I understand correctly) the law will not take effect until June 2023--any lawyers out there with the appropriate expertise?
The delayed start date, of course, means that DeSantis is planning on being in a position in 2024 to not have to worry about the fallout of the action.
I hope Charlie is keeping track of the votes-- McCarthy is in or McCarthy is out.
Since the Presidential election next time is not in doubt, the interesting question is whether Trump will allow McCarthy to become majority leader. If he does permit it, somehow McCarthy will have to undergo some particularly degrading hazing ritual, like crawling on his hands and knees and barking like a dog. I hope it will be televised.
Maybe it's just enough that McCarthy knows that Trump will go thumbs up or thumbs down and at least until the new year will be hiding his hand in his pocket. It is said a coward dies a thousand deaths. That's an ordinary coward. How many deaths will McCarthy die from now until the leadership vote next January?
"Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays you instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” –Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, November 3, 1774
Burke was an advocate of enlightened aristocracy, so it's doubtful he would have had much use for "popularism." The case for the latter should rest on one of two premises: Either progressives are simply wrong on the merits, or Democrats and the country face a looming disaster which necessitates telling voters what they want to hear (whatever that is).
Personally I'm more comfortable with the former, since alleged crises are easy to invent and the political culture is close enough to idiocracy as it is.
I'm also unsure where "popularism" ends and "populism" takes over.
Even if giving voters what they (claim they) want were a feasible strategy, Democrats need to decide how much they're willing to compromise any semblance of principle to keep Republicans out of power. Not to mention whether it has a chance of succeeding.
Which I personally doubt, since I believe identity politics and class resentments have subsumed the Right, and that this trend has been building for decades. Sufficiently that large numbers of disaffected voters preferred the faux-messianic Barack Obama to conventional Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney. And then voted twice for Donald Trump.
It's interesting that Trump's followers display such a lack of guts, both good and bad. Many were down on Trump when it was obvious that he was bad for US democracy but none of them were willing to step up personally. Ironically, that gutlessness also saved US democracy when Mike Pence and others were ok being willing pawns in the attempt to cheat Biden out of the presidency, even suggesting ways it might be done, but none of them wanted to be the one to be seen as pulling the trigger. This includes Trump himself. He always wanted others to step up and do the deed. He could have attempted to invoke martial law but didn't. He tried to replace certain people with toadies but either allowed himself to be talked out of it or, when he succeeded, the replacement realized that they'd be seen as the one pulling the trigger and backed out.
As a graduate of one of the Claremont Colleges I'd like to make it very clear that the infamous Claremont Institute is not affiliated with the colleges. The Institute was founded by students of a professor at the colleges (CMC, CGS) and is headquartered in an adjacent town, and that is the extent of the connection. I am ever grateful for the education (in humanities) provided by Claremont, which has guided my life from A-Z.
Just come to the table with popular ideas and policies that are good for regular Americans and not just coastal liberals. That will do the trick as long as the Democrats actually do what they say they will.
Dems need popularism? Is Charlie kidding? I’ve observed poll after poll throughout not only Biden’s term but back during Obama’s, too, that the things Dems have tried to pass were very popular and passed in the House. The problem has consistently been the Republicans’ REFUSAL to pass any of the popular bills in the Senate. At this point, I can’t imagine who Charlie would vote for if elections were today.
re: McCarthy and McConnell: here is my comment I wrote for the NYTimes: These men have no dignity. They lack moral courage. But the most frightening aspect of this entire sordid affair is that they are pandering to their know-nothing base that takes every opportunity to vote against their own self interest.
This is the antithesis of leadership. It's simply following the crowd. And the money. And the Federalist Society. And all the other "think tanks" that give the word think, a bad name. And finally, they work together to split this country apart so that they can usher in an authoritarian that plays Putin's useful idiot. This is dangerous and it is wrong.
"But Mr. McCarthy’s resolve seemed to harden as the gravity of the attack — and the potential political fallout for his party — sank in."
Can't the press be clear just once - it had EVERYTHING to do with "the potential political fallout for his party" and nothing else. That's exactly what governs today's GOP.
If Desantis is willing to revoke Disney's special status for remarks made about legislation he signed into law, then surely he'd be on board for revoking The Villages special status for the rampant MAGA voter fraud that took place there in 2020.
How would any Republican in Congress think that Democrats were going to take care of that son of a bitch for them? The system is not set up so that you can take care of the son of a bitch through strict party-line votes, unless one party holds 2/3 of the Senate and a majority of the House. It never was going to be and never could be just Democrats. The GOP, almost to a person, has spent the last seven years bitching off the record to any reporter who would listen about how unfit Trump is, about how poisonous he is to the country, while publicly doing everything they can to keep him in place. They scream about Biden not standing courageously enough with Ukraine, offer no insight into what he should actually be doing differently, and yet where has their courage been since Trump became president? Has Paul Ryan done anything other than enable this disaster? Have Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, JD Vance done anything other than fall into line once Trump won in 2016, going from critic to lickspittle over night? The raw cowardice of these people, and the shamelessness, is really revolting.
Absolutely love the Mallory McMorrow speech. Love the hyper-aggressive decency. I think Democrats could make this a theme. For example, one of the leading candidates for governor in my state of Nebraska made a fortune raising huge numbers of hogs. His workforce included large numbers of Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal. (Of course he claims he never "knowingly" hired any illegal immigrants.) But in his advertising he is aggressively anti-immigrant, never uttering a kind word or acknowledging the humanity of immigrants, legal or illegal. Surely a McMorrow-esque attack could be constructed from these facts. What type of man makes millions on the backs of immigrants, and then aggressively attacks their political interests?
On a side note, I've noticed a subtle shift in the meaning of the word "liberal" in this election cycle. One of the three leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor is being attacked as a "liberal." I think this is being interpreted by the electorate as making the charge that he is not sufficiently Trumpy and not that he is deficient on tax policy or some other issue. Interestingly, this candidate seems to be rising in the polls and as of now, may be tied for first.
Just some background on Disney...I was selected in a college program for an internship at Disney World during the summer for college credit. We worked in the park and attended one day a week class on the business model of Disney World. We were allowed to take Disney information with us to be used in business classes. Very helpful; professors loved it.
I compare Disney World to the Vatican, in that it is surrounded by a federal government, but the company controlled how the company was run and were allowed concessions in almost every aspect how they ran that business. When I returned from working that summer my father was so excited to hear all I had learned. What I gained from the experience was that it was the most well-produced socialist society that I had ever known in the real world. Down to how much makeup and earrings you could wear to the best way to construct parking lots to move guests out at night. Side note: It was told to us not sure if true today that each Congressional member and family were offered a free trip to Disney World yearly. Cool huh? Food for thought.
Love your work thank you for the Bulwark.
Respectfully,
Cleo Huval-Moore
I'm done with the Democrats. I am not donating to them, volunteering for them, or voting for them again until I get at least one of my immediate priorities addressed in some significant way.
1. Holding Jan 6th instigators and participants accountable from top to bottom, up to and including Trump.
2. Fixing our republic: Term limits for judges, voting rights legislation, shore up the flaws exposed by Trump and his toadies. I'd love much more but I'll stop there.
3. Climate change: No, what was in the infra bill was not enough and not because "extremists" set the narrative. Moderately helping a few green industries at a level that doesn't hold a candle to current and continuing fossil fuel subsidies ain't good enough, sorry. It might have been 10 or 20 years ago as a first step when we had a much longer runway but its laughable now. Problems don't pause themselves when you decide to kick the can.
I'm obviously considered an evil non-American by the Republican party and have been for a while so I won't be supporting them but the Dems aren't much better. I've been deferring to the desires of "moderates" for decades now and their triangulation, moderation, popularism (pick whichever bullshit term you want for not angering anyone or, in other words, doing nothing beyond the bare minimum of government responsibilities) strategy. Their strategy has continually failed since Bill Clinton (Obama was not the moderate choice even if he wasn't a "socialist" and Biden barely beat what is likely the worst President ever while he was in the middle of bungling a national emergency) but somehow its always the fault of progressives like me. I guess because I have the nerve to exist and voice an opinion? Well I'll do you moderate fuckers a favor. The party is yours. Do with it what you will. The responsibility and the inevitable failure will also be solely yours. Enjoy. Can't wait to see the parade of purple states that will be swinging Dem hard all of a sudden! Oh wait, I live in NC, not NY, LA, or SF......
Honestly my best hope at this point is the US crashes and burns hard enough that it can't be a potent force for evil like Nazi Germany was a century ago once it turns. The Republicans have proven themselves evil and the Dems have proven themselves cowardly and useless even in the rare instances they inexplicably manage to grab the levers of power. There are no viable paths to a good outcome within this system.
Sigh. So fixing our crumbling nfrastructure, health care for all, not turning our planet over to the next generation that's on fire, believing ExxonMobil/ Amazon etc al should pay taxes, that police abuse shouldn't be tolerated, that people who aren't just white, rural and Christian are also Americans isn't " popular"? How about helping families with you know child poverty? Nah I guess. Trying to tackle a third world like gun violence epidemic? Guess not.. Taking our public health from professionals not Joe Rogan? Oh silly me..that we should have voting rights ? I guess this is a minor thing NOT being Pro Insurrection. Smh..Democrats don't have a message problem they have a republican voter and electoral structural issue. They also have a " swing" voter issue, these folks I guess like to tell themselves they are some higher level of voter but it's just a story. At least republicans are for something..Insurrection, tax cuts for the rich, make America more backwards, more Guns etc. What's these swing voters underlying principle? They do actually swing elections in nearly a split country so every 2 years or so they wet their thumb stick ot in the air. If 46 percent of families that received the child care credit plan on voting for a republican then really what can be done? The infrastructure project hasn't happened yet so no credit?? Talk about the patience and understanding of a 7 year old. To read a click bait headline and go no further is intellectual laziness. To have no understanding of all the factors that have caused inflation or actually understand policy is worse. At the of the day if " swing " voters are willing to put a party that's Pro Insurrection back in power after just 2 years because CRT and the price of a gallon of gas then we deserve this dysfunction.
Dems could do well to begin making serious policies about housing. Dems could say ‘every 30 year old should be able to rent a reasonably priced house, with an option to purchase that house in x years, etc’ That would be very popular.
Well, I see that the Florida GoP has pulled the trigger on getting rid of Disney's special district. This should be interesting.
What is Disney's recourse at this point given that (if I understand correctly) the law will not take effect until June 2023--any lawyers out there with the appropriate expertise?
The delayed start date, of course, means that DeSantis is planning on being in a position in 2024 to not have to worry about the fallout of the action.
I hope Charlie is keeping track of the votes-- McCarthy is in or McCarthy is out.
Since the Presidential election next time is not in doubt, the interesting question is whether Trump will allow McCarthy to become majority leader. If he does permit it, somehow McCarthy will have to undergo some particularly degrading hazing ritual, like crawling on his hands and knees and barking like a dog. I hope it will be televised.
Maybe it's just enough that McCarthy knows that Trump will go thumbs up or thumbs down and at least until the new year will be hiding his hand in his pocket. It is said a coward dies a thousand deaths. That's an ordinary coward. How many deaths will McCarthy die from now until the leadership vote next January?
Charlie, if Mandela Barnes wins the Dem primary will you vote for him to help defeat Ron Johnson or vote third party/write-in instead?
Gut check time.
"Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays you instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” –Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, November 3, 1774
Burke was an advocate of enlightened aristocracy, so it's doubtful he would have had much use for "popularism." The case for the latter should rest on one of two premises: Either progressives are simply wrong on the merits, or Democrats and the country face a looming disaster which necessitates telling voters what they want to hear (whatever that is).
Personally I'm more comfortable with the former, since alleged crises are easy to invent and the political culture is close enough to idiocracy as it is.
I'm also unsure where "popularism" ends and "populism" takes over.
Even if giving voters what they (claim they) want were a feasible strategy, Democrats need to decide how much they're willing to compromise any semblance of principle to keep Republicans out of power. Not to mention whether it has a chance of succeeding.
Which I personally doubt, since I believe identity politics and class resentments have subsumed the Right, and that this trend has been building for decades. Sufficiently that large numbers of disaffected voters preferred the faux-messianic Barack Obama to conventional Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney. And then voted twice for Donald Trump.
It's interesting that Trump's followers display such a lack of guts, both good and bad. Many were down on Trump when it was obvious that he was bad for US democracy but none of them were willing to step up personally. Ironically, that gutlessness also saved US democracy when Mike Pence and others were ok being willing pawns in the attempt to cheat Biden out of the presidency, even suggesting ways it might be done, but none of them wanted to be the one to be seen as pulling the trigger. This includes Trump himself. He always wanted others to step up and do the deed. He could have attempted to invoke martial law but didn't. He tried to replace certain people with toadies but either allowed himself to be talked out of it or, when he succeeded, the replacement realized that they'd be seen as the one pulling the trigger and backed out.
As a graduate of one of the Claremont Colleges I'd like to make it very clear that the infamous Claremont Institute is not affiliated with the colleges. The Institute was founded by students of a professor at the colleges (CMC, CGS) and is headquartered in an adjacent town, and that is the extent of the connection. I am ever grateful for the education (in humanities) provided by Claremont, which has guided my life from A-Z.
Just come to the table with popular ideas and policies that are good for regular Americans and not just coastal liberals. That will do the trick as long as the Democrats actually do what they say they will.
Dems need popularism? Is Charlie kidding? I’ve observed poll after poll throughout not only Biden’s term but back during Obama’s, too, that the things Dems have tried to pass were very popular and passed in the House. The problem has consistently been the Republicans’ REFUSAL to pass any of the popular bills in the Senate. At this point, I can’t imagine who Charlie would vote for if elections were today.
re: McCarthy and McConnell: here is my comment I wrote for the NYTimes: These men have no dignity. They lack moral courage. But the most frightening aspect of this entire sordid affair is that they are pandering to their know-nothing base that takes every opportunity to vote against their own self interest.
This is the antithesis of leadership. It's simply following the crowd. And the money. And the Federalist Society. And all the other "think tanks" that give the word think, a bad name. And finally, they work together to split this country apart so that they can usher in an authoritarian that plays Putin's useful idiot. This is dangerous and it is wrong.
"But Mr. McCarthy’s resolve seemed to harden as the gravity of the attack — and the potential political fallout for his party — sank in."
Can't the press be clear just once - it had EVERYTHING to do with "the potential political fallout for his party" and nothing else. That's exactly what governs today's GOP.
If Desantis is willing to revoke Disney's special status for remarks made about legislation he signed into law, then surely he'd be on board for revoking The Villages special status for the rampant MAGA voter fraud that took place there in 2020.
How would any Republican in Congress think that Democrats were going to take care of that son of a bitch for them? The system is not set up so that you can take care of the son of a bitch through strict party-line votes, unless one party holds 2/3 of the Senate and a majority of the House. It never was going to be and never could be just Democrats. The GOP, almost to a person, has spent the last seven years bitching off the record to any reporter who would listen about how unfit Trump is, about how poisonous he is to the country, while publicly doing everything they can to keep him in place. They scream about Biden not standing courageously enough with Ukraine, offer no insight into what he should actually be doing differently, and yet where has their courage been since Trump became president? Has Paul Ryan done anything other than enable this disaster? Have Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, JD Vance done anything other than fall into line once Trump won in 2016, going from critic to lickspittle over night? The raw cowardice of these people, and the shamelessness, is really revolting.
Absolutely love the Mallory McMorrow speech. Love the hyper-aggressive decency. I think Democrats could make this a theme. For example, one of the leading candidates for governor in my state of Nebraska made a fortune raising huge numbers of hogs. His workforce included large numbers of Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal. (Of course he claims he never "knowingly" hired any illegal immigrants.) But in his advertising he is aggressively anti-immigrant, never uttering a kind word or acknowledging the humanity of immigrants, legal or illegal. Surely a McMorrow-esque attack could be constructed from these facts. What type of man makes millions on the backs of immigrants, and then aggressively attacks their political interests?
On a side note, I've noticed a subtle shift in the meaning of the word "liberal" in this election cycle. One of the three leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor is being attacked as a "liberal." I think this is being interpreted by the electorate as making the charge that he is not sufficiently Trumpy and not that he is deficient on tax policy or some other issue. Interestingly, this candidate seems to be rising in the polls and as of now, may be tied for first.