Political Musing
Off the Record Is Not Opposition
Republican officials have spent a decade privately recognizing the danger of Trump while publicly enabling him. Their anonymous anguish is not resistance. It is an alibi.
Political Musing
Where I spend way too much time reading about, thinking about, and writing about politics. It is just a reflection of how fucked up American politics is at the moment. Perhaps one day I will be able to write about Guitars again. I am not holding my breath though
The Empty Creel
Independent, but Somehow at the Helm
They vote for Democrats, raise money for Democrats, cut ads for Democrats — and proudly insist they're not Democrats. Fine, keep the label. But surviving the Republican shipwreck didn't make anyone captain of this boat. Part Two of The Empty Creel.
The Empty Creel
There Are No More Republicans in the Woods
The Never Trump movement may have already persuaded nearly everyone it can. Democrats need a growth strategy, not another search party.
The Backlash Machine
The Vague Progressive: Wilson, Race, and the Cost of Breathing Your Own Exhaust
Woodrow Wilson promised Black America a seat at the table, then had his cabinet quietly move the table to a different room. A hundred years later, progressives are still doing the "quietly move the room" trick — they've just gotten better at calling it strategy instead of segregation.
Political Musing
The Uptown Klan
Economic terrorism with a rotary club newsletter: how Mississippi's 'moderate' segregationists built the farm system for a murder.
Political Musing
The Fulcrum
In 1954 Mississippi built a segregationist club so extreme even its own founders told one guy to tone it down. Then the state gave him a job application for a spy agency. This is how a Supreme Court ruling armed both sides of a war.
Political Musing
There is no "Buckley Moment" Coming
History has three ways this ends: the extremists win, the party dies, or everyone pretends to make up and don't. Pick your favorite, because 'grow a spine' isn't on the menu.
Political Musing
Magic Blood, Magic Dirt, and the Party That Never Says Sorry
David French gets oh so close, but then he has to put his blinders on. But the real gem comes from the comment section.
Tech
The Hate Was Never New, Just the Bandwidth
Kathy Sierra got doxxed and death-threatened in 2007, seven years before Gamergate, with none of today's algorithmic muscle. The hate wasn't invented later. Someone just built better plumbing for it, and found out outrage pays the bills.
Political Musing
Will Win vs. Can Win
Ron Johnson tried to hand fake electors to Mike Pence. The Democratic establishment's real fear that cycle? Mandela Barnes's parking tickets. The electability model doesn't need to be right. It just needs to never be tested.
Political Musing
The Protection Racket
The consultant class are the Capos. Never Trump are the enforcers. The donor class is in the back of the restaurant. And your midnight ActBlue email? That's the vig. Welcome to the protection racket.
Political Musing
The Architects of the Rubble
How the Never Trump Brain Trust Built What They're Now Selling You Protection From