Tim Talks Politics - The Weekly Brief, August 31, 2018
The Weekly Brief - August 31, 2018
Remembering ‘Maverick’ McCain
The fact that he was known as a maverick and was also a Navy pilot is all we need for the Top Gun reference. In all honesty, though, the loss of John McCain this week to brain cancer is indeed a tragedy.
Remembrances and eulogies poured in from all sides as former staff and friends remembered McCain’s principles and bipartisan commitment. It speaks volumes of where America stands politically as McCain’s death raises concerns over rising polarization in the Senate. And though the general public exhibits a strong distaste for polarization at an ethical level, Politico reports that there are material economic effects as well.
Konfirming Kavanaugh
As the Senate returns from its summer recess, hearings on the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court are scheduled to begin next week. The official SCOTUS blog provides a nice resource list of articles on Kavanaugh and his key rulings; and Pew Research surveys the American adult population to provide some stats on where the public stands on key issues that may come before the court (an oddly democratic interpretation of a decidedly non-democratic institution).
Defending Donald Trump
After last week’s crazy events surrounding the Mueller investigation and the Cohen plea bargain, talk of impeaching Donald Trump seems to have simmered down in the mainstream media as political reality sets in: The impeachment case remains weak.
Conservative media platforms, however, don’t seem to be leaving much to chance and have mounted something of defense. Nathanael Blake, writing in The Federalist, argues that illegal action does not render other action illegitimate, while the Daily Signal makes the case that Cohen may not have, in fact, violated campaign finance law.
The defense of Donald Trump appeared to get an additional boost this week with news of a new trade deal with Mexico, but the American Enterprise Institute warns that this new deal is far from a net gain.
Future Dems
With all eyes on the developing/anticipated ‘blue wave’ in November, some discussion on the future of the Democratic Party is shifting towards 2020 and the presidential primaries.
The narrative is that the Dems are being pulled to the left in the midterms, are flirting with socialism, which creates an opening for Bernie Sanders to successfully run for the party nod in 2 years. However, The Atlantic runs two stories that upend that narrative a bit: Elizabeth Warren as the chief obstacle to Bernie’s ambitions and the pro-market (?) alternative to social-democratic strain he advocates.
Defense, Force Posture and War
More bad news on the Afghanistan front with reports of the Afghan army abandoning bases outside a key city in the north. The possibility of fresh Taliban gains on the heels of a collapsing national army sounds like 2014 ISIS, but that may be over generous according to Barak Mendelsohn.
Mendelsohn argues in War on the Rocks that jihadist movements consistently struggle with an aggregation problem; they can’t export themselves. So while news in Afghanistan certainly is not good, it’s important to keep it in global perspective if you’re the United States trying to make decisions about defense priorities and spending.
1984: China Edition
Though China is talking a strong game on the global stage, moves closer to home may indicate a power still insecure as the CCP takes an increasingly hard line against personal religious belief in a creepily dystopian internal document: “Party members who have [a] religious belief should have strengthened thought education.” Ongoing tensions with Taiwan also present hidden pitfalls to Chinese diplomacy.