I am still in MO-1 and will absolutely vote for Wesley Bell (spouse has already done so due to a disability that makes at least standing on long lines at the polling place difficult); I have spoken to Bell and shook his hand and told him I have supported him since day one; but the Bell campaign/UDP does not seem to know this. Two copies of the same UDP mailer came in the mail today. And I think there is a competitive state representative race to replace Joe Adams. But in general taking a Republican ballot is a good strategy because the less crazy people need every vote.
I said to spouse that the 25th Amendment exists because of a situation such as what we might face with Joe Biden where Woodrow Wilson was completely out of it and his wife was president more than any actual elected official. Fortunately the federal government was much less complicated in those days. (After looking it up in Wikipedia a more immediate reason was Eisenhower not being sure how much he could transfer power to Nixon during several health scares.)The Democrats chose Biden in 2020 in the first place because he was the least demonizable candidate and have to think about whether people trust Harris or a presidency by committee of the cabinet members who are hardly the far left of the party. Absolutely the least opportunity for objectively pro-Hamas people to disrupt the convention the better. The day after the debate I thought about what I would do if I knew that the entire political world I had ever known had only until November to live and whether it would reasonably be what I am doing now.
Please see Cathy Young completely destroying the Niall Ferguson essay in the Bulwark. One of the better points was that the identity politics left has a core value of personal autonomy. They have inherited this from the 1960s and 1970s identity politics left who were doing this in reaction against the Soviet Union which they could no longer morally support. The younger people I know with media bullhorns seem borne back ceaselessly into the past to fight the old battles that the boomers fought for the same freedoms.
Trump vs. Sanders was understandably terrifying not because "populism" but because people would have had a choice between the two most extreme major party candidates ever. Even if there have been Democrats who have Sanders's policies it would have been brought up that a) socialism is Sanders's brand at any rate and b) technically Sanders isn't a Democrat and would have to work with the Joe Manchins of the world to fulfill any of his promises.
You didn't link to the podcast--you linked to Reynolds's Notre Dame homepage-- and Reynolds's YouTube channel does not have an obvious episode that you are in. It looks very interesting though.
I am still in MO-1 and will absolutely vote for Wesley Bell (spouse has already done so due to a disability that makes at least standing on long lines at the polling place difficult); I have spoken to Bell and shook his hand and told him I have supported him since day one; but the Bell campaign/UDP does not seem to know this. Two copies of the same UDP mailer came in the mail today. And I think there is a competitive state representative race to replace Joe Adams. But in general taking a Republican ballot is a good strategy because the less crazy people need every vote.
I said to spouse that the 25th Amendment exists because of a situation such as what we might face with Joe Biden where Woodrow Wilson was completely out of it and his wife was president more than any actual elected official. Fortunately the federal government was much less complicated in those days. (After looking it up in Wikipedia a more immediate reason was Eisenhower not being sure how much he could transfer power to Nixon during several health scares.)The Democrats chose Biden in 2020 in the first place because he was the least demonizable candidate and have to think about whether people trust Harris or a presidency by committee of the cabinet members who are hardly the far left of the party. Absolutely the least opportunity for objectively pro-Hamas people to disrupt the convention the better. The day after the debate I thought about what I would do if I knew that the entire political world I had ever known had only until November to live and whether it would reasonably be what I am doing now.
Please see Cathy Young completely destroying the Niall Ferguson essay in the Bulwark. One of the better points was that the identity politics left has a core value of personal autonomy. They have inherited this from the 1960s and 1970s identity politics left who were doing this in reaction against the Soviet Union which they could no longer morally support. The younger people I know with media bullhorns seem borne back ceaselessly into the past to fight the old battles that the boomers fought for the same freedoms.
I've been meaning to check out that Cathy Young piece but haven't gotten around to it.
I think you're right about 2020. Biden was also the choice to stop Bernie Sanders and probably the only Democrat who could've beaten Trump.
Trump vs. Sanders was understandably terrifying not because "populism" but because people would have had a choice between the two most extreme major party candidates ever. Even if there have been Democrats who have Sanders's policies it would have been brought up that a) socialism is Sanders's brand at any rate and b) technically Sanders isn't a Democrat and would have to work with the Joe Manchins of the world to fulfill any of his promises.
You didn't link to the podcast--you linked to Reynolds's Notre Dame homepage-- and Reynolds's YouTube channel does not have an obvious episode that you are in. It looks very interesting though.
The episode hasn't been released yet. I'll post it when there's a link.