The Social World

Category: Politics

  • Can Spanberger offer Virginia more than vague platitudes?

    Can Spanberger offer Virginia more than vague platitudes?

    Abigail Spanberger’s victory in the Virginia gubernatorial election should come as no surprise. In the last 50 years, the state has only once elected a governor who belongs to the same party as the president. While the outcome might not be out of the ordinary, it doesn’t bode well for the Republican party in next year’s midterms – Spanberger won by a 15-point lead, much wider than the two-point margin of the 2021 race.

    Spanberger is a former CIA officer who served three terms in Congress. Her opponent Winsome Earle-Sears has served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor since 2021, but failed to connect with voters in the way that Virginia’s incumbent Governor Glenn Youngkin did. Sears’s slightly chaotic, unconventional style of debating and campaigning gave her a reputation for being unpolished and perhaps too “Trumpy” for comfort. 

    It’s the first time Virginia has had two women running for governor, but the state’s Democrats framed this election as a referendum on a man: Donald J. Trump. They pointed to the impact of the President’s tariffs on the price of consumer goods and pinned the blame on him for government shutdown-induced economic pain. The high concentration of government employees in the Virginia suburbs outside of Washington, DC, means that many voters will have lost their jobs due to OMB layoffs, or to DoGE cuts earlier this year. 

    Sears tried to return to the culture wars issues that saw Republicans voted into the top three state offices in 2021 (governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general). Glenn Youngkin has spent the past four years successfully implementing policies banning critical race theory in schools, rolling back mask mandates and requiring students to use locker rooms and bathrooms according to their sex. If these policies are no longer as salient as they were four years ago, it’s down to the fact that state Republicans carried out their mandate.

    Ghazala Hashmi beat John Reid, a Republican talk-show host, for lieutenant governor. Reid’s campaign was rocked by allegations that he’d been posting gay porn on Tumblr, which he denied. It was the source of disunity among the three candidates early on in their campaign, and at one point Youngkin had been calling for Reid to step out of the race. That dysfunction left voters with a sense that the Republicans weren’t cut out for governing the state together.

    Jay Jones won the attorney general race, despite the “October surprise” revelation of his texts fantasizing about killing another Virginia representative. By then, many Virginians had cast their ballots in early voting, and such a wide margin between the two candidates for governor is likely to have carried him far enough to beat the incumbent AG Jason Miyares. 

    Spanberger refused to call on Jones to step out of the rack and went no further than calling his texts “abhorrent.” In her victory speech, she said Virginians chose “pragmatism over partisanship,” “commonwealth over chaos,” “leadership that will focus on problem-solving, not stoking division.” These vague platitudes might be what voters want to hear, but time will tell whether a ticket which has, by refusing to condemn Jones, all but endorsed violent rhetoric in politics can actually lower the temperature of politics.

    Still, the Republicans might have cause for some hope in the midterms. They will try to frame the 2026 elections as a referendum on the socialist turn of the Democrats and the mayoralty of Zohran Mamdani. Abigail Spanberger had the benefit of campaigning on the basis of what she was not: not Trump, not MAGA. The Democrats’ directionlessness of late has allowed her to not be tied to the Democratic party on a federal level. But it’s unlikely that voters beyond NYC and urban coastal cities will find the socialism represented by Democrats like AOC, Sanders and Mamdani palatable.

  • California’s Prop 50 passed because grifters were scared of losing their grift

    California’s Prop 50 passed because grifters were scared of losing their grift

    While it’s premature for a full autopsy of the No on Prop 50 campaign, the opposition clearly faced structural hurdles that went well beyond Governor Gavin Newsom’s thinly veiled presidential ambitions. The pundits are quick to make it a referendum on President Donald Trump, but upon deeper inspection, we’re seeing big government going all in to retain power behind the Sierra Curtain. The grifters are scared of losing their grift

    The progressive left rallied effectively to boost Newsom’s ego-play because its core supporters, especially government unions and allied special interest, depend on taxpayer resources to sustain their influence, giving them strong incentives to mobilize. Watching DoGE cuts slash welfare programs, housing subsidies, federal educational grants and infrastructure dollars cease or go to red states was just too much to bear for the blue staters.  

    By contrast, the center-right coalition’s challenges stem from decades of neglecting local political infrastructure while fixating on high-profile exodus narratives from the state. Many would rather stay home and complain about the system and lose than get in the game. While unions and progressive special interests can line people up and scour the neighborhoods for loose ballots to be cast.

    Progressive dominance in legislative battles over the past two decades has made Republicans largely irrelevant in Sacramento, deterring out-of-state donors from investing in what appear to be long-shot defenses of a handful of congressional seats. Their dollars stretch further in red states with lower barriers to impact. And conservatives and political moderates have given up on the beautiful climate in California and made a permanent change by voting with their feet. The once reliable votes are stacking their fortunes in echo chambers while those who stay and battle it out wonder if the state can be golden again. 

    So, the immediate commentary is going to be focused on the funding shortages and inability for formerly prolific fundraisers, like ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy who promised to raise $100 million and fell well short. While that’s an easy target, it misses the point. 

    The lack of funds was not the reason the No on Prop 50 teams lost. What the campaign truly lacked was a unifying, charismatic voice like former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. His disdain for Trump, combined with his commonsense independence and once-in-a-generation celebrity appeal, could have supercharged opposition messaging through videos, posters and mailers.

    Newsom’s victory didn’t prevail on the merits or even unlimited funds alone. He was able to puppeteer the legislative support he needed, stifle litigation on the merits in the courts and remind other politicos dependent upon the state’s good graces that any commentary contrary to his wishes was met with pain. We saw it during the 2021 recall and he still had a lot of people with their head on a swivel after that adventure, In the end, Newsom didn’t have to make that much of a sell when he knew that the opposition campaign was splintered. So we watched him filibuster all he wanted while the center-right faltered by failing to articulate a crisp, compelling alternative vision for fair redistricting process. 

    What the people needed was a legitimate hero who could move the needle. Instead, California’s last action hero mailed it in.

    Rather than show up for prime time and throw everything he had to protect his legacy of the independent redistricting commission, the Governator kept his activism to wearing a provocative t-shirt several weeks ago followed by a few token guest appearances on television with some light talk on opposing Prop 50. And that’s it. Rather than go all out and battle the man who has besmirched everything he fought for while he toured Sacramento 15 years ago, he retreated to the green room. The temporary changes in Congressional lines we were promised will be made permanent.  

    Will there be lawsuits on processes and the role of federal law? Yes, the opposition to Prop 50 has those ready to drop. There is going to be some panic as a handful of radically gerrymandered Congressional seats are heading into an unfair fight for 2026. Who know how that will all shake out for California, the state that is set to lose at least 3 seats in the 2030 reapportionment. And for the several red states that are watching a leftist takeover of California and New York City, it’s likely we’ll have another couple dozen Republican seats carved up before the end of the year, negating anything that Newsom and his cronies thought they were accomplishing. 

    Newsom won this battle, but we all lost the war. 

  • Far left is the new face of the Democratic party

    Far left is the new face of the Democratic party

    If you think America doesn’t permit assisted suicide, you haven’t been watching the New York mayoral election. The city is deliberately killing itself.

    The country’s largest city, its financial and media capital, had a choice among three truly dreadful candidates: a deeply-tarnished former governor, a Republican who runs in every election except Homecoming Queen and had no chance of winning this one (but refused to withdraw), and a young socialist with a winning smile, dreamy programs, Islamist allies, and zero administrative experience. Predictably, New York voters chose the absolute worst. Zohran Mamdani won handily.

    Now, they’ll have to live with Mamdani’s socialist programs, which fail everywhere and break the bank in the process. The city’s budget is already underwater, drowning in red ink. Mamdani’s proposed programs – Free! Free! Free! – will pour buckets more red ink onto the already-crimson spreadsheet.

    Raising taxes, always the left’s panacea, won’t help. Andrew Cuomo did that as governor (among his many failures), predictably driving hundreds of thousands out of the city and the state. The state’s current governor, Kathy Hochul, has already said she won’t bail out the city. Neither will President Trump. Train wreck ahead.

    Having voted for this bloody collision between dreams and reality, New Yorkers have entered the Olympic contest for America’s worst mayor. The competition is tough. Far-left leaders in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland have shown just how badly their policies work, yet none is willing to change.

    These mayors are all Democrats, and they aren’t outliers in today’s party. No party leaders have denounced them. Some have openly supported them and will be saddled with those endorsements in future elections, after the costly programs fail, crime rises, and taxpayers flee to welcoming jurisdictions. Republicans will make sure national Democrats are tagged with those failures.

    The Democrats’ move to the left is not confined to one city or state. It’s a broad movement that could threaten the party’s hold on centrist independents. In city after city, Democratic mayors support open borders, sanctuary city status, lax policing, no cash bail, weak punishment for criminals, onerous regulations and heavy taxes on anyone who can pay them. They are politically indebted to teachers unions, who have saddled taxpayers with expensive K-12 schools (almost $40,000 per student in NYC), eliminated competition and trapped families in these failing institutions, unless they move.

    Mamdani checks every box on that list and goes even further. He wants to open city-owned grocery stores for the poor. Those never work. He wants to raise the minimum wage. That will kill small businesses and raises prices for those that survive. He wants free bus rides for everyone. He cannot pay for them and has no way to deal with hordes of homeless riders, looking for a warm place to sleep and inject drugs.

    Promoting these policies makes Mamdani, like Chicago’s Brandon Johnson and LA’s Karen Bass, a walking billboard with flashing lights proclaiming, “Move to Florida. Move to Nashville or Charlotte. Move your bank to Dallas. Get the hell out.”

    Leadership in the Democratic Party has not resisted this dramatic shift to the left. Their embrace sends message to voters in next year’s midterms, and Republicans will amplify it. The message says, “The far left is the new face of the Democratic Party.” Mamdani is now the most prominent face, followed closely by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The éminence grise is Bernie Sanders.

    Their airy promises might win votes in deep blue cities and states, but they are losers in the rest of the country. That’s why Democratic Party spokesmen are already rushing to spin a counter-narrative, “We’re a lot more than Zohran Mamdani. Just look at the moderates we elected in Virginia and New Jersey. We’re a big tent.” The party’s success nationally depends on selling that message.

    They add that rising Obamacare premiums are the fault of Republicans, not flaws in the program itself. And, of course, they keep repeating, “Orange Man Bad.”

    Those messages have gained traction with voters – they helped Democrats win impressive victories on Tuesday – but the messages are entirely negative. They aren’t accompanied by positive, workable policies. That gap becomes obvious when these Democrats are charged with running cities and states. None are thriving, people are leaving, and voters are switching registration.

    Democrats also have a problem with their “big tent” message. It’s hard to sell nationally for several reasons. First, Mamdani’s victory in New York City is by far the biggest story of the off-year election. Important as it is to win the governor’s mansions in Virginia and New Jersey, those will soon become local stories. Not so with Mamdani’s victory. It will remain a major national event, partly because New York is the country’s media capital, partly because Republicans will make sure voters consider Mamdani the face of the Democratic Party.

    The Republican message will be simple: “Democrat really means Socialist.” If Mamdani’s programs fail, they will become national news, even if mainstream media try their best to hide them.

    Second, what Democratic spokesmen sell as “moderate” winners in NJ and Virginia may not sound so moderate to voters outside the Boston-Washington corridor and the West Coast. That political gap has been especially clear on cultural issues, notably transgender women in girls’ locker rooms and sports.

    Third, party primaries make it hard for both Democrats and Republicans to renounce the hardline positions favored by their activist base. Those activists dominate primary elections and fund the campaigns. Unless candidates win those primaries, they’ll never make to it to November. And they won’t win the primaries by taking moderate positions and alienating the base.

    This hyper-partisan logic locks in candidates to hardline positions and strenuous resistance to the opposing party, not a search for bipartisan compromise in the general election and afterwards. This obdurate resistance is not the responsibility of one party alone. It comes from both, and for the same reasons. If Trump says you are not fully committed to the MAGA agenda, he’ll back a primary opponent.

    The result has been a deepening cleavage between the two parties, reinforced, most recently, by gerrymandering. The new districts leave even fewer contested House seats where candidates win by appealing to moderate, independent voters. The winning strategy is to appeal to the base, win the primary, and push for high partisan turnout in the general election, not tack to the center.

    Although the Democratic victories Tuesday night were not unexpected, the results are still ominous for Republicans. The results were expected because the party out of power typically wins the “off year” elections and midterms. If that pattern holds next November, Democrats will retake the House and have a shot at winning the Senate. Gerrymandering might make that task a little harder for Democrats, but not much, especially after Tuesday’s vote to increase Democratic districts in California.

    The Republicans’ best chance of staving off defeat will be strong economic growth, low unemployment, and moderate inflation (under 3 percent). They will be helped by the massive surge of inward foreign investment, prompted by Trump’s tariffs. Lower interest rates would also help, unless they are accompanied by higher inflation. If the economy turns down, however, the roof will cave in for Republicans.

    They can already feel the roof leaking after Tuesday’s results. They do see one silver lining, though. Zohran Mamdani. Republicans will do everything they can to make him the national face of the Democratic Party. They will include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders on the same poster.

    It won’t be too hard for Republicans to promote them since Mamdani is a fresh, new face and the Democrats’ energy is clearly on the left. There is no equally-prominent, charismatic Democrat on the center-left to offset them. There is only an older generation, fading away.

    Senior Democrats understand the problem. They know the party’s sharp move to the left doesn’t play well outside deep blue cities and states. Their best response is one they are already touting: “We listen to our voters. What they want in New York is different from what they want in Richmond or Atlanta. We hear them. We’re a big tent party.”

    The question for voters is whether they think the Democrats’ tent is filled with lion tamers or clowns.

  • Mayor Mamdani will terrify America

    Mayor Mamdani will terrify America

    Zohran Mamdani is the mayor-elect of New York City, and the progressive wing of the  Democratic party is Champagne drunk celebrating his ascension. 

    But should it be? Mamdani has only narrowly prevailed in a race with a clear spoiler candidate, Republican Curtis Sliwa, lead-blocking for him against a charmless opponent, former governor Andrew Cuomo. With tougher, more honorable competition, it’s possible – likely, even – that he may not have even made it to the general election, much less won it.

    Only when compared to a corrupt, sleazy, nepobaby with blood on his hands, and a beret-clad, narcissistic cat-man whose own friends begged him to step aside, did voters view Mamdani as a much-needed alternative. Both the Republican and Democratic establishments in New York have much to reflect upon – and atone for. Mamdani’s victory is less a ringing endorsement of his agenda than it is an indictment of the lazy, complacent power brokers to whom he’s meant to be a middle finger.

    Moreover, while he may scratch every neurotic, fanciful itch to plague his party’s radical base, Mamdani’s mayoralty will most assuredly prove a failure. And on a scale that neither the nation, nor even the Democrats, will be able to deny. 

    The tragedy of it all, though, is that for the country to avoid falling into the hands of an explicitly anti-American socialist, its greatest city will have to do just that. For New Yorkers, it’s difficult to imagine Tuesday night’s results yielding anything but pain, and, indeed, suffering. Four years ago, Eric Adams swept into office amid not only the Covid-19 pandemic, but the crime epidemic that accompanied it. The intervening years have seen a partial recovery, with significant decreases in some of the most important categories.

    Mamdani threatens to reverse what progress has been made. In 2020, amidst the pandemic crime wave, he declared that “police do not create safety,” and “actually create and amplify violence,” even going so far as to suggest that non-cops should be the ones to respond to domestic violence calls. In other comments, Mamdani smeared law enforcement as “racist,” “wicked,” and “anti-queer,” lamented the “boot of the NYPD” on residents’ necks, and reveled in officers’ tears.

    The mayor-elect may have tacked to the center and apologized to the NYPD during his campaign, but the sheer number of prior statements expressing his vitriol in no uncertain terms suggests that his backtrack was one borne of convenience rather than a genuine change of heart. Not only can New Yorkers expect Mamdani to implement policies that will leave them and their loved ones less safe, but his presence in Gracie Mansion will send unmistakable messages to police and criminals alike – with terrible consequences.

    Similarly, while Mamdani has succeeded, in large part, thanks to his focus on affordability, his agenda in action will make life anything but. Price controls have failed anywhere and everywhere they’ve been tried, but that hasn’t stopped Mamdani from touting them as the fix for the city’s housing crisis. What else? How about free transit and childcare, a ludicrous minimum wage hike up to $30 an hour, and, get this, city-owned and operated grocery stores.

    These heavy-handed interventions into the free market, which are meant as stepping stones toward a seizure of the means of production, if Mamdani himself is to be taken at his word, are sure to have the exact opposite effect they’re meant to. It has been said that a rising tide lifts all votes. By driving wealth out of the city and punishing that which remains, Mamdani will lower the tide to the detriment of every boat on the Hudson, from the most magnificent yacht to the smallest dinghy.

    New York’s fall is a moral one, too, of course. It isn’t just a city in America, it’s a symbol of it. Alas, there is little sign Mamdani has anything but resentment for his adopted country or the values for which it stands. Hence his shameless photo-ops with an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and a far-left influencer who believes the United States had 9/11 coming. 

    And all of that is to say nothing of his undeniable sympathy for Hamas, or his obsessive hatred for the world’s Jewish-majority state, about which he has articulated conspiracy theories worthy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. 

    So yes, New York has fallen, but not permanently. The good news is that David Dinkins and Bill de Blasio’s disastrous tenures both led to furious, righteous backlashes, and so too will Mamdani’s. 

    The better news is that Mamdani’s shortcomings will serve as a warning system for the nation. 

    The closest parallel to Mamdani on the national stage, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, lives in his city. Both rose to national prominence inside of blue bubbles where progressive politics are not just popular, but required. Both have proudly claimed, rather than run away from, the dreaded “socialist” descriptor. Both have been praised for their communications skills and social media strategies. And both defeated avatars of a complacent – even stultifying – Democratic establishment on their way to victory.

    Ocasio-Cortez is among the early favorites in the 2028 Democratic primary, and was a vocal backer of Mamdani’s campaign. Ironically though, she may end up a victim of his success.  

    For the better part of a decade now, Ocasio-Cortez has been able to skate by as a congresswoman – one of 435 – whose unpopular, destructive ideas are never actually put into action. Now, those ideas will take centerstage as New York plays the role of a lab rat seemingly blissfully unaware of the toll the experiment took on its forerunners, let’s call them San Francisco and Chicago. 

    America as a whole is seemingly next up, but will have every opportunity to opt out after surveying Mamdani’s handiwork.

    So enjoy that Champagne tonight, progressives. It isn’t the kind that ages well.

  • Democrats win New Jersey governorship with Trump scare tactics

    Democrats win New Jersey governorship with Trump scare tactics

    The votes are in – and they’ve shattered any illusion that New Jersey is a swing state.

    The Democratic Party will hold onto the New Jersey governorship, with governor-elect Mikie Sherrill beating Republican Jack Ciattarelli in his third attempt at the governor’s mansion.

    While Sherrill was always the favorite, polls continued to narrow even in the final stretch of the race. This pushed both parties into increasingly aggressive, even desperate, tactics.

    In mid-October, Sherrill accused Ciattarelli of “kill[ing] tens of thousands of people in New Jersey, including children” with opiates through a “misinformation” campaign pushed by a medical company he once owned.

    When even The New York Times couldn’t dig up proof, the Democratic National Committee poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the state – in addition to the $3 million already committed.

    And over the last weekend, bigwig Democrats including Barack Obama turned out to stump for Sherrill. “Let’s face it, our country and our politics are in a pretty dark place right now,” Obama said before rambling off a list of grievances against Donald Trump.

    Democrats stuck to the same script: ignore Ciattarelli, and scare voters with Trump.

    Yet Ciattarelli leaned into the Trump connection, incorrectly believing that MAGA political capital could pull him through.

    After distancing himself in the 2021 campaign, Ciattarelli enthusiastically admitted that Trump has been “right about everything” (which Democrats turned into an attack ad) this time around. Trump endorsed him with equal enthusiasm in May: “Jack has gone ALL IN, and is now 100 percent (PLUS!)”

    Republicans, meanwhile, pumped massive resources into the Garden State in the final stretch: five full-time staffers, 50 county captains and over 15,000 volunteers from attorneys to poll workers. They even rolled out a new app called VotePro, a voter mobilization tool to help more efficiently allocate last minute resources.

    On the night before the election, Ciattarelli even held a heartwarming photo-op with his son, an Army Officer who returned from Kuwait.

    But even election day bomb threats in North Jersey didn’t keep voters from the polls.

    Off-year elections aren’t typically monitored in the national press, but a once deep-blue Jersey has drawn national attention as it turned increasingly purple in recent years. Trump only lost the state by six points in 2024, and Ciattarelli has gained ground with each campaign. With independents making up over one-third of the state’s voter pool, Republicans thought momentum was on their side.

    Beyond the governorship, both parties clearly saw this election as an indicator for elections to come. The most salient question was whether New Jersey and its 14 electoral votes could potentially be up for grabs in 2028. But the broader strategic question remains: is Trump an asset to the party even when he’s not on the ballot, or is the specter of Trumpism just too scary for swing-voters?

    Democrats will now surely double down, by tying everything they can to the Bad Orange Man. They may be right – but they also leave themselves vulnerable.

    With his slicked-back hair and Jersey accent, Ciattarelli always leaned into being a goombah as much as he embraced Trump. Sherrill meanwhile – with her Navy service, Georgetown law degree, and pantsuits – was effectively designed in a lab to win elections. Perhaps Jersey voters simply appreciated her blandness over a goofy state caricature.

    That bodes just as poorly for Republicans, as they race to see who the next big populist personality will be. A bland suit might just outperform a subpar personality, even in the age of populism.

    But Democrats can equally hinder themselves if they continue to make everything about Trump even when he eases into political retirement. Trump derangement can easily turn into a personality itself – and it’s just as off-putting as anything the Republicans deliver.

    In the end, the election will likely change very little in New Jersey. Sherrill will follow in the footsteps of incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy, another faceless politico.

    This election may just not have the national implications Democrats hope for. But Democrats will no doubt delude themselves into thinking Sherrill’s victory harkens a future beyond Trumpism. 







  • Marjorie Taylor Greene auditions for The View

    Marjorie Taylor Greene auditions for The View

    Last week, in anticipation of her appearance on The View this morning (or afternoon, depending on your local listings), Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted out an image of her perfect “100 A Liberty Score,” given out by Conservative Review and Blaze Media. “Nothing has changed about me, I’m 1,000,000% America ONLY,” she wrote. “Sorry I’m not sorry. I don’t obey Republican men’s demands that I, as a woman, don’t remain seen but not heard.”

    Well, there’s no chance of us not hearing Rep. Greene. As I’ve pointed out before, it rings a little hollow to cry “sexist Republican” when you a) are a Republican and b) the thoroughly Republican-dominated government includes a Justice Department and a Department of Homeland Security run by women and a female White House Chief of Staff. But there MTG was today, on The View, crying sexism. 

    MTG molded into the all-female panel very well. Whoopi Goldberg bemoaned high soybean prices and the Argentina bailout, two topics on which I’m sure she has substantial expertise. “What is going on?” she asked MTG. 

    “I don’t know,” Greene said. “I’m so America First. I feel like I live it and breathe it.” People in her district, she said, “are so tired of their hard-earned tax dollars being sent overseas to foreign wars, and foreign aid and foreign causes, while life in America just becomes more and more unaffordable.” 

    This is what she campaigned on, she said. “Everyone is saying Marjorie Taylor Greene has changed. Oh no. Nothing has changed about me.” Manufacturing in her district is crumbling, she said. Small businesses, shuttered during COVID, cannot reopen. People are suffering in Georgia, which is why it’s fortunate that their representative is in New York City chit-chatting with Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines. “I’ll do anything I can to save this country,” she said. 

    “Maybe you should become a Democrat, Marjorie,” Joy Behar said to  her, in all seriousness. 

    “I’m not a Democrat,” she said. “I think both parties have failed.” 

    “So you don’t believe in the Q-Anon conspiracies anymore?” Hostin asked her. 

    “Oh, I went over that a long time ago,” said Taylor Greene, who recently commented to Bill Maher that she thinks UFOs may actually be “fallen angels.” 

    “So you’ve changed,” Hostin said, hopefully. 

    “No, I haven’t. I was a victim – just like you were – of media lies and stuff you read on social media. You all have attacked me on this show many times.” 

    “We have.” 

    “Because of things you’ve read about me that weren’t true.”

    “Or clips we’ve seen.”

    “Or clips that took me out of context.” 

    At another moment, Behar said, “you’re slamming Republicans too much. You’re taking my job.” 

    Maybe that’s the point. Taylor Greene laughed, as unwitting victims of social media conspiracy theories are wont to do.  

    “You’re slamming Republicans a lot on topics like healthcare, and the Epstein Files,” Behar said. “I know Truman’s still your favorite president. I mean, Truman is mine.” 

    Behar was referring to Harry S. Truman, who died long before MTG was born, but the comment brought to mind a different, somewhat more contemporary Truman. The whole world is now Taylor Greene’s Truman Show. She made a lot of new friends today on that glistening set. 

    “There’s a lot of paid social media influencers,” she said, to a chorus of “mmm hmms.” 

    “And I found it very interesting that they were the MAGA accounts” – with ‘MAGA’ in air quotes – “but they were all paid, and they all attacked me when I announced I was coming to join you ladies on The View. And I think that was very weak and pathetic. But when I talk about weak Republican men, I’m pretty much talking about the leadership in the House and the Senate. They’re not getting our agenda done.” 

    There’s more than a shred of authentic critique in what Taylor Greene is saying. But we’ve all had someone ring our doorbells, trying to sell us something that we don’t want, or that we don’t need. And I’m pretty sure that today on The View, the house megaphone for clueless, entitled liberalism, MTG wasn’t trying to sell America First. The only product on offer was herself.  

  • What to expect from today’s elections

    Americans head to the polls today, with gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey and mayoral elections in New York City and Minneapolis. The races are being talked of as an early test for Trump, a bellwether for the public mood after a breakneck ten months back in the Oval.

    A qualifying remark. Each of these races are taking place in traditionally blue cities and states – Virginia has not voted for a GOP presidential candidate since 2004; New Jersey since 1988; Minnesota since 1972. Still, these places – even New York – trended strongly purple at the last election; in this sense, today’s elections will be a test of the so-called “vibe-shift” and its extent.

    On the other hand, back in 2021 the success of Glenn Youngkin’s gubernatorial bid in Virginia was said to be a bad omen for the new Biden presidency. Serious reversals in what can still be called Democratic strongholds would likely throw the party into renewed crisis. 

    Virginia

    In the Old Dominion, Republican Winsome Earle-Sears takes on Democrat Abigail Spanberger for the governor’s mansion. As Margaret Mitchell has noted, the issues that carried Youngkin’s candidacy – such as critical race theory and transgender bathrooms – are not nearly as salient as they were in 2021, with much of this agenda having since been rolled back. In this sense, Earle-Sears is a victim of the right’s broader success. In their absence Virginia politics is now returning to its default mode: as a state dominated by government and government-adjacent employees concentrated in “NoVa” (Northern Virginia) – fertile ground for the former CIA officer Spanberger. RealClearPolitics’s poll of polls has her leading by around 10 points.

    Meanwhile, the race for the state’s Attorney General has achieved a rare national prominence due to a scandal involving the Democratic candidate, Jay Jones. Last month it was revealed that in 2022 Jones had, in a series of texts and calls to a GOP colleague, called for the deaths the then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert as well as his children. Polls have Jones and the Republican incumbent Jason Miyares neck-and-neck. 

    Polls close in Virginia at 7 p.m. ET, with most precincts expected to report by 9-10 p.m.

    New Jersey

    Republican Jack Ciattarelli is having another tilt for the governorship after coming within 3 percent of victory back in 2021 – this time against Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill. New Jersey is probably the most promising prospect for the GOP tonight: the state only plumped for Harris by 6 percent – an unthinkable margin ten years ago. A Republican in the governor’s mansion of this stalwart blue state would be a major endorsement of the President’s agenda. RealClearPolitics’s poll of polls has Sherrill leading by 3.3 percent.

    Polls close in New Jersey at 8 p.m. ET, with most precincts expected to report between 10 p.m. and midnight. 

    New York

    Easily the most prominent of today’s contests, the race for the New York mayoralty has become a proxy war for the future of the Democratic party, with millennial socialist Zohran Mamdani unexpectedly beating hoary old Andrew Cuomo to the nomination, who is now running as an independent. If Mamdani wins, as the polls still suggest he will (despite narrowing considerably in recent days), then this will represent the first triumph for the American hard left since Bernie Sanders’s victory in the Nevada primary back in 2020.

    There’s also the perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, whose homespun manner and trademark red beret (the uniform of the “Guardian Angels” neighborhood watch, which Sliwa founded in 1979) has won him a devoted following. Donald Trump has, however, chosen to endorse Cuomo as the best chance to ward off the socialist tide. RealClearPolitics’ poll of polls has Mamdani on 46.1 percent, Cuomo on 31.8 percent, and Silwa on 16.3 percent. The Mamdani camp is said to be feeling bullish amid reports of record youth turnout. 

    Polls close in New York City at 9 p.m. ET, with a projection expected at 1 a.m.

    Minneapolis

    Another intra-Democratic scrap in Minneapolis, where the hard-left Omar Fateh seeks to oust Jacob Frey – who, as you may remember, played a key role in the events of summer 2020 after the death of George Floyd. Fateh was endorsed by the Minneapolis branch of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (the local Minnesotan chapter of the Democratic party), but the endorsement was revoked in August amid claims of electoral skulduggery by the Fateh camp at its convention. Another complicating factor is that Minneapolis uses a ranked-choice voting system, meaning that – unlike Mamdani – Fateh cannot rely on division among the non-socialists to win.

    Polling for this race has been scant, but a recent survey found that 51 percent of city residents had an unfavorable view of Frey.

    Polls close in Minneapolis at 9 p.m. ET, with a projection expected between 11 p.m. and midnight.

  • How Dick Cheney made Donald Trump

    How Dick Cheney made Donald Trump

    Former vice president Dick Cheney, who died on Monday at age 84, loathed Donald Trump. In a 2022 election campaign ad for his daughter, Liz, a congresswoman from Wyoming, he declared: “In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.” Yet Cheney was more responsible for Trump’s rise than almost anyone else in the Republican establishment. He helped to mastermind the calamitous Iraq War and preached the unitary executive theory of the presidency. Instead of vilifying Cheney, MAGA-world should offer him a bouquet of appreciation.

    Recall that it was during the 2016 South Carolina primary that Trump first showed his real independence from the folderol surrounding the Iraq War. Trump created shock and awe by denouncing it. “The war in Iraq,” he said, “was a big, fat mistake.” Until then, Republicans had marched in lockstep beneath the George W. Bush banner.

    After Trump’s abortive attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Liz Cheney headed a commission to expose his machinations. But it blew up in her face. The Cheney brood now became heroes to Democrats. During the 2024 election Kamala Harris was endorsed by Dick Cheney. Harris said that she was “honored” to have the backing of the “well-respected” Cheney. Well-respected? Harris was in essence effacing the true legacy of Cheney and the Iraq War. Writing in the New York Review of Books, Fintan O’Toole acutely notes that Trump had recognized that Americans had “soured on the extended occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan… It is quite extraordinary that the Democrats allowed Trump a virtual monopoly on the exploitation of this profound disillusionment, and that Harris never stopped to ask who, exactly, Dick Cheney remains “well-respected” by.

    Who indeed? The Cheney era has become synonymous with imperial overreach and disdain for constitutional safeguards. Cheney’s hubris had its sources in Watergate, when he served as a young aide in the Nixon administration. He rose seamlessly in Republican ranks, entering Congress in the 1978 election as a representative from Wyoming. His highpoint was serving as Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War when America repelled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.

    But Cheney and his aides, including Paul Wolfowitz, became obsessed with the idea of toppling Saddam himself from power. This idee fixe led Cheney to empower the neocons after 9/11, when America failed to capture Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora and instead focused its effort on concocting a fictitious case for war in Iraq. Cheney and his cohort succumbed to paranoia, seeking to tie Saddam by whatever means necessary to the attack on the Twin Towers. This was fantasy. But it issued in a war that turned into a debacle. At the summit of their power and influence the neocons were discredited by a bungled crusade to implant democracy in the arid soil of the Middle East.

    It wasn’t until the 2006 midterm elections, when the GOP suffered a brutal buffeting, that George W. Bush began to follow a more pragmatic approach, ousting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Cheney’s influence had passed its high-water mark. Bush started to realize that he had been conned by the neocons. “Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole?” Cheney once remarked. “It’s a nice way to operate, actually.” It was indeed. But the consequences of Cheney’s decisions continue to reverberate in insalubrious ways.

  • Dick Cheney dies at 84

    Dick Cheney dies at 84

    Former vice president Dick Cheney died last night aged 84. He arrived in Washington as a congressman for Wyoming, then became secretary for defense under George H.W. Bush and served for eight years as George W. Bush’s vice president. He was considered by many to have pulled the strings behind the Bush administration.

    What is perhaps his most lasting legacy is the “Cheney Doctrine,” which influenced America’s decision to engage in wars in the Middle East. He campaigned for a military response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which drove his conviction that any country, organization or individual that posed a threat to the US, or that might in the future, needed to be taken out. 

    Cheney had something of an imperial mind, a belief that presidential power had to be restored after it had been curbed following the executive crises of the 20th century, like the Vietnam war and Watergate. His will to power earned him comparisons with the Star Wars villain Darth Vader – critically by the left, and admiringly by Steve Bannon: “Darkness is good. Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power.”

    Cheney was critical of Donald Trump, especially after the 2021 election. He called Trump a “threat to the republic” and a “coward” who tried to steal the election using “lies and violence.” Yet it could also be said that the Cheney years paved the way for a powerful executive like Trump. Where one president acted in the shadows, the other craves the limelight.

    I grew up in the Bush-Cheney years, with a father who was frequently away from our family on deployments fighting in Middle Eastern conflicts. If circumstances had been slightly different, if my father had not come back, I might easily see Cheney as one of the great villains of American history. I would not be alone in thinking so. Cheney is one of the most unpopular figures in US politics of the 21st century, and the America First movement has arisen largely in reaction to his foreign wars.

    My instinct is still to be highly critical of entanglements abroad, but it is impossible to judge what the world would be like if America had not fought the war on terror. Throughout his life, Cheney held that what he had done was necessary. He believed at the time, and continued to believe, that invading Iraq was the right thing to do.

  • Do black lives still matter?

    Do black lives still matter?

    It was an ethnic massacre so bad that it could be seen from space. Satellites picked up bloodied patches of soil in North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, after Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) swept into the besieged city. Pools of blood and piles of bodies were identified. Thousands of people are feared to have died in the appalling violence. Many thousands more have fled for their lives. Others remain trapped in the city.

    The scenes of slaughter were so blatant that it should have brought marchers out onto the streets in passionate protest. But there wasn’t a peep from the usual suspects. Was this because the killings did not take place in Gaza or the West Bank, but in Sudan, one of Africa’s largest countries? The perpetrators, of course, weren’t the Israel Defense Force, but Sudanese militants fighting a vicious civil war in the vast country.

    The RSF, which had been besieging the town of El Fasher for 18 months, is primarily an ethnically Arab group. The victims in the most recent atrocities appear to be black Africans in the famine-stricken and war-torn Darfur province of eastern Sudan. When El Fasher finally fell, helpless civilians were gunned down in cold blood. There are reports that in one maternity hospital alone almost 500 people – including patients and their families – were killed. The Sudan Doctors’ Network said that RSF fighters had “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present.”

    In London, this was seemingly of little interest to the marchers whose protests against “genocide” by “Zionists” in Gaza have regularly disfigured the streets of Britain’s capital since Hamas carried out their pogrom on October 7, 2023 – the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Do black lives matter?

    The slaughter in El Fasher echoed the massacres in Darfur in 2003, which were declared a genocide by the United Nations. In those terrible scenes, Sudanese government militias killed approximately 200,000 black African Darfuris and tortured, abused and displaced thousands more. Once again, protests in Britain were notable mostly by their absence.

    This one-eyed hypocrisy is remarkable, since Sudan, like Palestine, is a former de facto British colony. Events there were once of such pressing concern that the Victorian-era prime minister William Gladstone was forced by public opinion to send a military expedition up the Nile to save the legendary General Gordon, who was besieged by followers of a messianic Islamic leader called the Mahdi in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

    The expedition arrived too late and Gordon was murdered by a Mahdist mob. For years after that, British troops attempted to gain control of Sudan by force. In 1898, the young Winston Churchill rode in one of the Army’s last cavalry charges at the battle of Omdurman when an Anglo-Egyptian army commanded by Sir Herbert Kitchener killed 20,000 Mahdists for the loss of fewer than 500 of their own men.

    The tomb of the Mahdi was desecrated and Kitchener was widely – but falsely – rumored to have used his skull as a drinking goblet. When Sudan finally won independence in 1956, the country continued to be the scene of conflict and inter-ethnic slaughter as the ethnically Arab north oppressed the mainly Christian and black African south.

    This finally led to South Sudan breaking away and being recognized by the UN in 2011 as Africa’s most recent independent state. But coups, civil wars and inter-ethnic violence continue to scar the Sudan. So when will the London rent-a-mobs pay attention and act? I’m not holding my breath.