This was a great piece. One thing I haven’t heard much about, though, is how constrained she was. She had to be vague bc everything was a risk of loss rather than a potential gain, because our party is so ironically and it unbelievably intolerant of idea diversity. It seems we have set up a landscape littered with landmines, just waiting for any misstep, and have zero consensus on what even constitutes a misstep in the first place. That gives off a huge whiff of self-censorship papered over with vague platitudes, which are a self-evident turnoff. But I don’t blame her necessarily for that—it’s wise not to open a bag of beef jerky when you’re being followed by a pack of wild dogs.
Why continue to call it a migration "crisis"? There are certainly problems with abuse of the asylum system and backlogs in the adjudication of asylum cases, and periodic scenes of local disorder that make easy fodder for GOP campaign ads. But what if any material impact, in your view, substantively justifies calling it a "crisis"? Forgive me if you think I'm quibbling here, but the "crisis" terminology has always seemed to me a hysterical misrepresentation designed to gin up evil, bigoted anti-immigrant sentiment, and I don't think you mean to do that here.
I’ve thought about this a lot leading up the election. Which one poses the biggest risk to America seems like a different debate than ‘less of two evils’.
I viewed Harris as a bigger risk than Trump. We have the benefit of a first Trump term to help us predict what a second term will resemble.
I expected Harris to be unfit in the foreign policy realm, risking greater escalations with Iran, China, and Russia. Some are already making conciliatory noises to a future Trump administration.
I didn’t expect Harris to keep the southern border closed or to keep a lid on inflation after she was warm to price controls and suggested forgiveable loans to minority populations.
I don’t see either as existential threats to democracy, but it is the Left who routinely mention packing the courts, ending the filibuster, etc.
I do fear Americans effectively ending democracy, however. Accepting Harris as an unelected presidential candidate, not demanding Trump debate his GOP rivals, not accepting election results (russiagate, January 6th).
The overwhelming nature of Trump’s victory may have staved off that future for a while, but it feels like we’re trending that direction.
This was a great piece. One thing I haven’t heard much about, though, is how constrained she was. She had to be vague bc everything was a risk of loss rather than a potential gain, because our party is so ironically and it unbelievably intolerant of idea diversity. It seems we have set up a landscape littered with landmines, just waiting for any misstep, and have zero consensus on what even constitutes a misstep in the first place. That gives off a huge whiff of self-censorship papered over with vague platitudes, which are a self-evident turnoff. But I don’t blame her necessarily for that—it’s wise not to open a bag of beef jerky when you’re being followed by a pack of wild dogs.
Why continue to call it a migration "crisis"? There are certainly problems with abuse of the asylum system and backlogs in the adjudication of asylum cases, and periodic scenes of local disorder that make easy fodder for GOP campaign ads. But what if any material impact, in your view, substantively justifies calling it a "crisis"? Forgive me if you think I'm quibbling here, but the "crisis" terminology has always seemed to me a hysterical misrepresentation designed to gin up evil, bigoted anti-immigrant sentiment, and I don't think you mean to do that here.
I’ve thought about this a lot leading up the election. Which one poses the biggest risk to America seems like a different debate than ‘less of two evils’.
I viewed Harris as a bigger risk than Trump. We have the benefit of a first Trump term to help us predict what a second term will resemble.
I expected Harris to be unfit in the foreign policy realm, risking greater escalations with Iran, China, and Russia. Some are already making conciliatory noises to a future Trump administration.
I didn’t expect Harris to keep the southern border closed or to keep a lid on inflation after she was warm to price controls and suggested forgiveable loans to minority populations.
I don’t see either as existential threats to democracy, but it is the Left who routinely mention packing the courts, ending the filibuster, etc.
I do fear Americans effectively ending democracy, however. Accepting Harris as an unelected presidential candidate, not demanding Trump debate his GOP rivals, not accepting election results (russiagate, January 6th).
The overwhelming nature of Trump’s victory may have staved off that future for a while, but it feels like we’re trending that direction.