As recently as February 15, the House Oversight Committee described as one piece of “key evidence” in its impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden an “FBI Form 1023 alleging then-Vice President Joe Biden engaged in a bribery and extortion scheme and ultimately received $5 million from a Burisma executive.” About a week later, that item was scrubbed from the evidence list without comment.
I’m amazed at the extent to which literally aligning with a hostile foreign power for very questionable domestic political goals has become the preferable position of a significant slice of the Republican Party. They see fellow Americans with divergent policy goals as more of a threat than a country who is invading people whilst aligned with other hostile powers (Iran, North Korea, China). It really beggars belief that this level of othering and loathing of your own countrymen is sustainable.
Polarization has killed both the hearts and the minds of too many Americans in the activist and political classes. If Dems oppose it, and if it superficially waves some culture war red meat for our mindless consumption, then it must be good, so we're pro Russia now. If GOP oppose it, and if if it superficially waves some culture war red meat for our mindless consumption, then it must be good, so we're pro Hamas. It's domestic american culture war and polarization above all else, and common sense, public interest or even basic human decency be damned. The only difference between the parties is that the crazies aren't in culture of the Democratic party - for now.
Especially how the Republicans fell for the Russian propaganda of the fake Hunter laptop, as warned by all our intelligence services immediately before the election.
Republicans (by this I mean politicians, supportive infotainment, and supportive voters/audiences/"fans") will keep swallowing it as long as it tastes good.
"And when your whole party is moving in concert to launder that government’s intelligence operations into oppo research on your domestic political opponents, then you are part of the problem."
The Republican/Conservative movement mass consensus of "blob" will instinctively do this because of simple self-serving bias, and since hatred and destruction of the other "blob" is its unifying force, it has low-tolerance for questioning the provenance or propriety of any form of oppo research, and turns against the internal critic/dissenter, no matter what their party/movement bona fides are. The last few years are littered with the career remains of indispensable elite Republic politicians and conservative intellectuals who turn out to represent and command no substantial body of primary voters when they dissent from the instincts of the Conservative blob.
"For conservatives who don’t want to see their whole movement dancing on strings pulled in Moscow, it’s long past time to open their eyes and do something."
Within their movement, they are outnumbered, helpless hostages. People who tried to lead internal opposition of varying forms of timidity or boldness simply lose.
And as usual, many Republicans, conservatives, and centrists will follow a common line that discounts or takes for granted Republican usual behavior. This has the perverse effect of making Democrats responsible for all outcomes, of Democrats own actions and inactions, as well as those of Republicans, because Republican irresponsibility is taken for granted. So I could imagine many Republicans, conservatives, and ever-triangulating centrists insist that to solve the Republicans' Russian propaganda addiction problem, the Democrats need to remove the temptation by not presenting a target. So the Democrats need to be exercising power or contesting power so that neither the Russians are interested in misinforming about them and Republicans are not interested in being misinformed. Clearly Democratic nonexistence is the only solution, right?
I agree with most of what you wrote, but isn’t saying that Trump won “with Russian assistance” a little over the top? The empirical evidence suggests that Russian social media ads did not make a difference, and it was the upper class media signal boosting the Clinton email scandal that sunk her campaign. I’m an ardent Ukraine supporter, but both parties are guilty of excessively politicizing Russia to the detriment of Ukraine.
Why does the GOP base love Russia and hate China? Russia is white and tolerates no dissent. China is not white and tolerates no dissent. Russia does it to “them.” If China rules the world, “they” would do it to “us.” It really is that simple.
On the one hand true, but on the other hand, Russian promotion of Christianity is really limited to the Orthodox Church. Evangelical Christians are subject to harassment by state authorities for proselytizing.
Why the need from left pundits to credit Douthat for being "smart"? Chait has it right, Republican support for Putin is a way to signal support for Trump.
It might not be the correct position but I just can’t get over the “Bleemer and Gorpman” factor with the Russia stuff. They’ve been at this for eight years. It hasn’t worked!
Russian homicide numbers don't sound like something I would trust without skepticism, but it's worth pointing out that their overall trend and level pretty much match all of their Eastern European neighbors.
We’re making it too complicated; it’s the Republican version of “but her emails”. Think about what happened right before the 2020 election, and the fact that the key aspects of that Hunter Biden story turned out to be true.
Imagine: right before the election, the entire “normal” media and a bunch of guys from intelligence services deemed a negative story about Donald Trump Jr to be Russian misinformation, social media companies wouldn’t even let you link the story, then Trump won the election and the story turned out to be true. At what point would Democrats believe a story about Donald Trump Jr ACTUALLY IS Russian misinformation? At what point would a Congressional Democrat tell their voters “actually, this time . . .”?
Not to mention maybe one or two other “huge if true” Russian stories that didn’t pan out. Also, after the FISA issue and the Nunes memo mess, you have to wonder if there isn’t a very deep and real mistrust between Congressional Republicans and the FBI.
I'm suspicious of any kind of dirty story that comes out right before the election, and that applies to the Donald Jr scenario. There is simply not enough time to vet and properly process the information before the election and so I would be happy to see it not contaminate the airwaves.
The Hunter Biden story *is* a Russian operation, though. The emails may be real. If you believe the story of how they came to light, please come to my poker night! I'd like to discuss with you some lucrative real estate investment opportunities.
Look, if I'm selling you diet pills, are you more or less likely to think they work if I tell you they're from the planet Zoltan? The people scolding the media for not immediately swallowing the Hunter Biden laptop are asking them to believe that, with all the horseshit around, there must be a pony somewhere.
Your comment I was responding to seemed to suggest that the e-mails should be disregarded regardless of whether they are real or not because of how they were recovered.
I conceded they're real, just like John Podesta's emails and Trump's leaked tax returns. I'm just responding to the assertion the story "turned out to be true". It did, if you ignore the fake parts.
To anyone discussing the "story" of any of those documents, they're referring to the contents of the documents, not how they were supposedly discovered.
Actually, if Putin takes Ukraine, Moldova is next. There are already Russian military units there "protecting a separatist" movement created by Moscow. Also not a member of NATO.
Can confirm after a trip to Poland a couple weeks ago, they are scared shitless that they are next, and firmly believe that Trump winning will make this far more likely.
Republicans always loved symbolic, non-substantive issues (Pledge of Allegiance, flag burning, Ground Zero Mosque) because their programs are unpopular.
And partisans love attacking the other guy's family, for various reasons. Indeed, some of the more partisan Democrats were extremely into making attacks on Trump's family, and we saw similar (if more muted) attacks on the Bush family from Democratic partisans in years back, and attacks on the Clinton and Carter families by Republicans. Plus Birtherism which, while not a direct attack on Obama family members, was related to this sort of attack.
I think what's different about the Hunter Biden stuff is that usually there's grown-ups in the party who realize that obsessing about the President's family is politically ineffective and even toxic and that the people who are doing it are usually seen as fringe and crazy by the public. So it's something you allow your backbenchers and some sympathetic journalists to do but you ignore it for the most part.
Republicans, though, have lost that plot, probably for the same reason they have lost a lot of plots-- they can't control their crazies anymore.
One other point, though-- I really don't think it matters if Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lara Trump condemns the death of Navalny. Honestly, we put way, way, way too much weight into things like "what politicians say about world events", especially backbenchers. (And Lara Trump, of course, is just an in-law of a politician, not even a backbencher.) The reality is that the florid "I condemn this dastardly act" speeches are basically theater anyway, don't accomplish anything, and we'd probably do fine in terms of our foreign policy with a policy of never commenting on those sorts of world events at all. The real issue about Ukraine policy is whether there are still enough votes for aid and, if so, is Mike Johnson preventing a vote that would pass. Not whether everyone is giving speeches condemning Putin or not.
After 3 (?) years of near daily hippy punching, deserved as that may be, it is good to see a post that bluntly calls a spade a spade. More please.
I’m amazed at the extent to which literally aligning with a hostile foreign power for very questionable domestic political goals has become the preferable position of a significant slice of the Republican Party. They see fellow Americans with divergent policy goals as more of a threat than a country who is invading people whilst aligned with other hostile powers (Iran, North Korea, China). It really beggars belief that this level of othering and loathing of your own countrymen is sustainable.
Polarization has killed both the hearts and the minds of too many Americans in the activist and political classes. If Dems oppose it, and if it superficially waves some culture war red meat for our mindless consumption, then it must be good, so we're pro Russia now. If GOP oppose it, and if if it superficially waves some culture war red meat for our mindless consumption, then it must be good, so we're pro Hamas. It's domestic american culture war and polarization above all else, and common sense, public interest or even basic human decency be damned. The only difference between the parties is that the crazies aren't in culture of the Democratic party - for now.
“There is a of local government in America”
There’s a missing word: should be: “there is a lot of local government,” or something like it.
Almost an exact echo of 1930s Communists, reminds me of this by Scott Alexander.
https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/08/11/book-review-chronicles-of-wasted-time/
Well all this is true.
Especially how the Republicans fell for the Russian propaganda of the fake Hunter laptop, as warned by all our intelligence services immediately before the election.
"Republicans can't stop swallowing Russian propaganda"
Republicans (by this I mean politicians, supportive infotainment, and supportive voters/audiences/"fans") will keep swallowing it as long as it tastes good.
"And when your whole party is moving in concert to launder that government’s intelligence operations into oppo research on your domestic political opponents, then you are part of the problem."
The Republican/Conservative movement mass consensus of "blob" will instinctively do this because of simple self-serving bias, and since hatred and destruction of the other "blob" is its unifying force, it has low-tolerance for questioning the provenance or propriety of any form of oppo research, and turns against the internal critic/dissenter, no matter what their party/movement bona fides are. The last few years are littered with the career remains of indispensable elite Republic politicians and conservative intellectuals who turn out to represent and command no substantial body of primary voters when they dissent from the instincts of the Conservative blob.
"For conservatives who don’t want to see their whole movement dancing on strings pulled in Moscow, it’s long past time to open their eyes and do something."
Within their movement, they are outnumbered, helpless hostages. People who tried to lead internal opposition of varying forms of timidity or boldness simply lose.
And as usual, many Republicans, conservatives, and centrists will follow a common line that discounts or takes for granted Republican usual behavior. This has the perverse effect of making Democrats responsible for all outcomes, of Democrats own actions and inactions, as well as those of Republicans, because Republican irresponsibility is taken for granted. So I could imagine many Republicans, conservatives, and ever-triangulating centrists insist that to solve the Republicans' Russian propaganda addiction problem, the Democrats need to remove the temptation by not presenting a target. So the Democrats need to be exercising power or contesting power so that neither the Russians are interested in misinforming about them and Republicans are not interested in being misinformed. Clearly Democratic nonexistence is the only solution, right?
I agree with most of what you wrote, but isn’t saying that Trump won “with Russian assistance” a little over the top? The empirical evidence suggests that Russian social media ads did not make a difference, and it was the upper class media signal boosting the Clinton email scandal that sunk her campaign. I’m an ardent Ukraine supporter, but both parties are guilty of excessively politicizing Russia to the detriment of Ukraine.
Why does the GOP base love Russia and hate China? Russia is white and tolerates no dissent. China is not white and tolerates no dissent. Russia does it to “them.” If China rules the world, “they” would do it to “us.” It really is that simple.
Russia also promotes religion, while China dislikes religion.
On the one hand true, but on the other hand, Russian promotion of Christianity is really limited to the Orthodox Church. Evangelical Christians are subject to harassment by state authorities for proselytizing.
Why the need from left pundits to credit Douthat for being "smart"? Chait has it right, Republican support for Putin is a way to signal support for Trump.
It might not be the correct position but I just can’t get over the “Bleemer and Gorpman” factor with the Russia stuff. They’ve been at this for eight years. It hasn’t worked!
https://newrepublic.com/article/155833/bombshell-impeachment-hearings-destroy-gorpman-bleemer
Russian homicide numbers don't sound like something I would trust without skepticism, but it's worth pointing out that their overall trend and level pretty much match all of their Eastern European neighbors.
We’re making it too complicated; it’s the Republican version of “but her emails”. Think about what happened right before the 2020 election, and the fact that the key aspects of that Hunter Biden story turned out to be true.
Imagine: right before the election, the entire “normal” media and a bunch of guys from intelligence services deemed a negative story about Donald Trump Jr to be Russian misinformation, social media companies wouldn’t even let you link the story, then Trump won the election and the story turned out to be true. At what point would Democrats believe a story about Donald Trump Jr ACTUALLY IS Russian misinformation? At what point would a Congressional Democrat tell their voters “actually, this time . . .”?
Not to mention maybe one or two other “huge if true” Russian stories that didn’t pan out. Also, after the FISA issue and the Nunes memo mess, you have to wonder if there isn’t a very deep and real mistrust between Congressional Republicans and the FBI.
I'm suspicious of any kind of dirty story that comes out right before the election, and that applies to the Donald Jr scenario. There is simply not enough time to vet and properly process the information before the election and so I would be happy to see it not contaminate the airwaves.
The Hunter Biden story *is* a Russian operation, though. The emails may be real. If you believe the story of how they came to light, please come to my poker night! I'd like to discuss with you some lucrative real estate investment opportunities.
Except that, if the contents of Hunter's computer are real, then it doesn't seem to matter how they came to light?
Look, if I'm selling you diet pills, are you more or less likely to think they work if I tell you they're from the planet Zoltan? The people scolding the media for not immediately swallowing the Hunter Biden laptop are asking them to believe that, with all the horseshit around, there must be a pony somewhere.
Your comment I was responding to seemed to suggest that the e-mails should be disregarded regardless of whether they are real or not because of how they were recovered.
I conceded they're real, just like John Podesta's emails and Trump's leaked tax returns. I'm just responding to the assertion the story "turned out to be true". It did, if you ignore the fake parts.
To anyone discussing the "story" of any of those documents, they're referring to the contents of the documents, not how they were supposedly discovered.
Actually, if Putin takes Ukraine, Moldova is next. There are already Russian military units there "protecting a separatist" movement created by Moscow. Also not a member of NATO.
Can confirm after a trip to Poland a couple weeks ago, they are scared shitless that they are next, and firmly believe that Trump winning will make this far more likely.
Thanks for the report! What had you traveling to Poland?
Work, have a lot of team members in Poland. Was worried about the weather but it was really not bad!
Seems like the weather would be similar to the Upper Midwest or Upper New England? That can be bad in the winter, but could be worse.
Alternate theory:
Republicans always loved symbolic, non-substantive issues (Pledge of Allegiance, flag burning, Ground Zero Mosque) because their programs are unpopular.
And partisans love attacking the other guy's family, for various reasons. Indeed, some of the more partisan Democrats were extremely into making attacks on Trump's family, and we saw similar (if more muted) attacks on the Bush family from Democratic partisans in years back, and attacks on the Clinton and Carter families by Republicans. Plus Birtherism which, while not a direct attack on Obama family members, was related to this sort of attack.
I think what's different about the Hunter Biden stuff is that usually there's grown-ups in the party who realize that obsessing about the President's family is politically ineffective and even toxic and that the people who are doing it are usually seen as fringe and crazy by the public. So it's something you allow your backbenchers and some sympathetic journalists to do but you ignore it for the most part.
Republicans, though, have lost that plot, probably for the same reason they have lost a lot of plots-- they can't control their crazies anymore.
One other point, though-- I really don't think it matters if Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lara Trump condemns the death of Navalny. Honestly, we put way, way, way too much weight into things like "what politicians say about world events", especially backbenchers. (And Lara Trump, of course, is just an in-law of a politician, not even a backbencher.) The reality is that the florid "I condemn this dastardly act" speeches are basically theater anyway, don't accomplish anything, and we'd probably do fine in terms of our foreign policy with a policy of never commenting on those sorts of world events at all. The real issue about Ukraine policy is whether there are still enough votes for aid and, if so, is Mike Johnson preventing a vote that would pass. Not whether everyone is giving speeches condemning Putin or not.