Myrtle Beach, SC Everyone is arguing about the removal and the removal is not the exhibit. The replacement is. On the twenty-first he posted a letter and withdrew. He endorsed Kamala Harris the same afternoon. By the evening of the twenty-second — about thirty-six hours later — she had public commitments from more than enough … Continue reading Was the operation to force Biden off the ticket in July 2024 a necessary correction by party elders, or a demonstration that the 2024 Democratic nomination had never been a voter-controlled process?
Politics
After the July 13 shooting at Butler, should Secret Service failures of line-of-sight, roof coverage, and local coordination have produced immediate resignations and a public after-action, or was “we will review” an adequate first-week response?
Gastonia, NC The director is testifying this morning, and by the time most people read this the question may have answered itself. Chairman Comer and Ranking Member Raskin sent a joint letter today calling on Kimberly Cheatle to resign. Not a Republican letter with a Democratic dissent — the chairman and the ranking member of … Continue reading After the July 13 shooting at Butler, should Secret Service failures of line-of-sight, roof coverage, and local coordination have produced immediate resignations and a public after-action, or was “we will review” an adequate first-week response?
When Judge Cannon dismissed the classified-documents indictment on appointments-clause grounds, was that a technicality that delays accountability, or a reminder that how a prosecutor is installed still matters in a republic?
Gastonia, NC "Technicality" is usually what people call a rule after they have decided they dislike what the rule is delaying. That is why I would not describe Monday's ruling that way. The appointments question goes to who was authorized to wield federal prosecutorial power in the first place, and that is not decorative procedure. … Continue reading When Judge Cannon dismissed the classified-documents indictment on appointments-clause grounds, was that a technicality that delays accountability, or a reminder that how a prosecutor is installed still matters in a republic?
Should Cabinet officers and congressional Democrats who privately doubted Biden’s capacity in 2023–24 have raised the Twenty-Fifth Amendment in public, or would that have been an undemocratic coup against a nominated incumbent?
Myrtle Beach, SC Before anybody answers this, read Section 4, because the mechanism people are demanding does not work the way they think. Section 4 requires the Vice President. Not a majority of the Cabinet acting alone — the Vice President and a majority of the principal officers. Her signature comes first and without it … Continue reading Should Cabinet officers and congressional Democrats who privately doubted Biden’s capacity in 2023–24 have raised the Twenty-Fifth Amendment in public, or would that have been an undemocratic coup against a nominated incumbent?
Should voters treat staff and senior aides as the real locus of Biden-era decisions after 2022, or is that an unprovable conspiracy that excuses the electorate from judging the name on the ballot?
Gastonia, NC Two different claims are riding in this question and only one of them can be supported, so let me separate them before anybody argues. The first claim: senior staff run the daily operations of the White House. That is true and it has been true of every presidency since at least Eisenhower. A … Continue reading Should voters treat staff and senior aides as the real locus of Biden-era decisions after 2022, or is that an unprovable conspiracy that excuses the electorate from judging the name on the ballot?
After the June 27 debate, did the collapse of the “he’s fine” line reveal a failure of elite information control, or a failure of voters who had access to the same clips for three years and chose not to price them?
Gastonia, NC The second half of this question is not an argument. It is a claim about what the public believed, and the claim is false, and it is false by very large margins that were published every month for two years. Voters priced it. In February an AP survey had roughly three-quarters of American … Continue reading After the June 27 debate, did the collapse of the “he’s fine” line reveal a failure of elite information control, or a failure of voters who had access to the same clips for three years and chose not to price them?
After the Supreme Court’s immunity arguments and decision, should official-act protection be understood as a narrow shield for core executive functions, or as the only remaining brake on a cycle of tit-for-tat prosecutions of former presidents?
Myrtle Beach, SC The phrase "narrow shield" sounds reassuring because it lets everyone say two things at once: we are not creating a king, and we are still preserving protected space around the presidency. After watching 2021 through this summer, I think that formulation is too comfortable — but I also think the question, as … Continue reading After the Supreme Court’s immunity arguments and decision, should official-act protection be understood as a narrow shield for core executive functions, or as the only remaining brake on a cycle of tit-for-tat prosecutions of former presidents?
From the earliest unscripted Biden appearances in 2021, should the press and the party have treated evident verbal and physical decline as a governing issue, or was dismissing the clips the correct institutional response until a debate made denial impossible?
Gastonia, NC One housekeeping note before anything else, because it matters to the argument and I have already heard people get it wrong twice this week. "Cheap fake" is two weeks old. The press secretary used it in the middle of June, about three specific clips — the G7 skydiver, the Juneteenth event, the Morehouse … Continue reading From the earliest unscripted Biden appearances in 2021, should the press and the party have treated evident verbal and physical decline as a governing issue, or was dismissing the clips the correct institutional response until a debate made denial impossible?
Have the gag orders entered against a leading presidential candidate protected the integrity of pending trials, or have they created a new form of pretrial speech control aimed at the campaign itself?
Gastonia, NC A gag that can live on a quiet defendant is a trial-management tool. A gag that has to live on the opposition's presumptive nominee is something more complicated, because the mouth being restrained belongs to the campaign as well as to the defendant. That is the tension, and I want to work through … Continue reading Have the gag orders entered against a leading presidential candidate protected the integrity of pending trials, or have they created a new form of pretrial speech control aimed at the campaign itself?
Has the accumulation of civil judgments, business restrictions, and criminal captions against one candidate created a practical ban on his ability to campaign, or is that simply what losing in court looks like?
Myrtle Beach, SC A formal ban is easy to recognize. A candidate is struck from the ballot, denied a forum, or prohibited by law from campaigning. That is not what has happened, and I would not use the word if that were its only meaning. He has traveled, spoken, raised money, held rallies, given interviews, … Continue reading Has the accumulation of civil judgments, business restrictions, and criminal captions against one candidate created a practical ban on his ability to campaign, or is that simply what losing in court looks like?
