Not Better Off Ted

I long appreciated the Al Franken joke which went something like: I like Ted Cruz a lot more than most of my colleagues, and I fucking hate Ted Cruz.

How exactly he managed to lodge in himself in as the senior senator from Texas is a bit of a mystery, but I suspect keeping that job depends on the state being reliably Republican.

He certainly isn't going to overperform  other Republicans running for statewide offices in 2030. Maybe he won't need to, but he has to be a bit nervous!

Sure, Ted, you're the guy for the job.

Sen. Ted Cruz believes he is the person to help retake Texas for the Republican Party following historic wins by Democrats in the midterms.

Cruz announced a new Austin headquarters for Saving Texas, a nonprofit organization with ties to him, Axios reported.

Sure Dude

Stephen's gonna reunite the incel army.

Stephen Miller wants to use his new role as White House chief of staff to win back young and minority men who helped elect President Trump in 2024 but swung toward Democrats in the midterms, two people familiar with the administration's plans tell Axios.

...

His priorities will sound familiar to Trump watchers: eliminating what the administration considers "woke" policies from colleges and workplaces, lowering prescription drug prices, and rooting out government and health-care fraud.

Absolutely twitter-brained. 

Leadership

My amateur but not entirely clueless opinion is there was never any chance of stopping Jeffries from becoming Speaker, but there was/is some chance of stopping Schumer.

That isn't a comment on who deserves it more/less, just on the dynamics.

As for the merits, there is one simple case against Chuck which isn't a comment on his skills or even his age: he's been Leader for 10 years and maybe that's enough?

Morning

 Weird Wednesday.

Happy Hour

Once again.

America's Worst Humans

Bill Gates. Not just for this, of course.

Pedocons

 Gym Jordan is the next House Minority Leader.

Flashbacks

I remembered that in 2004 both Kerry and Bush did interviews with Dr. Phil, who asked both of them if they spanked their kids.

Well Okay Then

Ex-Fetterman and new centrist fake think tank guy Adam Jentlesen with Ezra Klein.

Right. So one of the things that we found in our research is that there are issues that would never pop into your average poll of top voter concerns, that nonetheless are extremely powerful signals to people that you have a heterodox point of view and that you don’t think in a rigidly ideological way.

So one example is the issue of what’s called social promotion in schools — the idea that you just promote kids to the next grade regardless of whether they failed the tests or not.

Being against that is something that people don’t expect to hear from Democrats these days. They think of Democrats as everybody-gets-a-trophy squishes.

So if you say: If kids fail the test or fail the requirements of their grade, they should not be promoted — that sends a really powerful signal to voters that you’re a different kind of Democrat.

Being against homeless encampments is a very powerful signal.

Being open to things like spanking — those issues are incredibly culturally loaded but I think connect with voters on a values basis.

So we don’t always have to be talking about trans sports or climate change or border security. There are lots of ways for people to develop these complicated appeals that reflect the complex ways that voters interact with the world beyond these four or five issues that we’re always talking about.

Out: always talking about trans sports (who was doing this?).

In: talking about spanking.

Gotta hire some consultants to tell Dems how to put spanking references into their speeches.

Workplace Collegiality

I don't know precisely what Stepehen Miller's ascension to Chief of Staff means for most of us, but I do know he's going to make life hell for everyone who remains there. That is funny, at least.

One reason all of these people are so fucked up is they are assholes surrounded by nothing but assholes. They all hate each other and they don't understand that most of us don't actually live like that.

But Stephen takes that to the next level. Have fun, MAGA deadenders!

Oh No

I think it's been forgotten, mostly, that Fetterman had delusions of running for president, not that long ago. I'm not sure if he still had those delusions before the election (doubtful), but now whatever path he had to remaining relevant is gone.

Leaving aside the specifics of the man, I do think it is much much much more difficult to be the mavericky party switcher (either direction) than it once was. Fetterman can't out-MAGA someone in a PA Republican primary, even if Republicans don't hate him.

Morning

Low T Tuesday.

Happy Hour

Get happy 

Ruh-Roh

 Vanderbilt University:

Subpoena His T-Levels

 Impeachment filed for Hegseth by Massie.

• Article I - Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 2(c): Charges Secretary Hegseth with waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat. It establishes that the war was unlawful from its inception.
• Article II - Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 5(c): Charges Secretary Hegseth with continuing the Iran war after both Houses of Congress directed the removal of U.S. forces through H. Con. Res. 86. It focuses on his refusal to obey Congress’s express direction to terminate unauthorized hostilities.
• Article III - Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 5(b): Charges Secretary Hegseth with continuing hostilities in Iran after expiration of the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day termination period and any potential 30-day withdrawal period. It establishes that he treated mandatory statutory deadlines as discretionary.
• Article IV - Ignoring Laws that Minimize Civilian Casualties: Charges Secretary Hegseth with ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties. 
• Article V - Extrajudicial Killings: Charges Secretary Hegseth with replacing maritime law enforcement with unauthorized lethal military targeting of suspected drug traffickers, resulting in at least 243 deaths. It also addresses denial of quarter, secondary strikes on survivors, failure to rescue shipwrecked persons, and the creation of artificial legal authorities for the campaign.

Genius Businessman

Sure, Elon.

In his Monday post, Musk disputed claims that Tesla was ending production of the Cybertruck because it was unprofitable. 

Rather, he said, the "opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck is vastly outweighed by the value of incremental Cybercab production."

It makes so much money and we have so many more orders than we can handle but I have this OTHER idea...

Pope Douthat

 This is funny. I'm afraid we gotta hand it to Ross here.

ROSS DOUTHAT: --President-- Mr. President. You have had the most charmed and remarkable life of any American in my entire lifetime, and you are telling me that before the judgment throne of God you couldn't find it in your heart to forgive some of your enemies? After all that's been given to you? Come on. Help me out here.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean, it's such an easy answer. All I have to do is say, "Yes, I can."

ROSS DOUTHAT: I-- I, again, I don't think it's an easy answer--

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Honestly, Ross, can I-- can I be honest--

ROSS DOUTHAT: --that's why I asked it. Yes.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:  I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.

ROSS DOUTHAT: Lots of presidents are remembered with a single line, "He freed the slaves." "He won the Cold War." A hundred years from now while you're working out your situation in purgatory what is the line that your presidency is remembered with?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That I made America great again.

Only a little bit, as he didn't think this would be a tough one for Trump to lie through, but the purgatory line is funny.

Does Trump Still Care If He Is Popular?

I think that there have been two things that make him change course (correctly or not): flashing red numbers at the stock market and a genuine desire to be popular.

I don't think he cares about either nearly as much as he used to (and Natalie obviously keeps him in an alternative reality chamber much of the time) but we will see!

Could You Have Waited Until January, At Least

About the only time we're out of "election" season in the US is maybe, just maybe, the first 6 months of a new president's term.

Elections aren't like sports championships. They are more the beginning of the season than the end. It would help if more pundits/journalists saw it that way instead of instantly picking their new fantasy teams.

Morning

Blue Monday