Trump Opens His Big Mouth Again
The Conversation
Somehow, Trump Is a Tough Act to Follow
Gail Collins: Bret, what would you exist doing now if you were Mitch McConnell?
Bret Stephens: Wishing I weren't.
Gail: OK, I know, a bit hard to envision. But pretend.
Bret: Well, if I were him I'd desire to become Senate majority leader once over again. That means three things.
First, I'd demand to find a style to unseat the four most vulnerable Democratic incumbents: Raphael Warnock in Georgia, Marking Kelly in Arizona, Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire and Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada. My guess is that all of them volition lose except for Hassan, unless Republicans nominate crazy people. Which — if y'all recollect Christine "I'm Not a Witch" O'Donnell or Todd "Legitimate Rape" Alike — Republicans are wont to do. Also, I'd accept to hold on to the seats being vacated by Republicans in Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Gail: OK, Democrats, Senate candidates for you to rally around …
Bret: Second, finessing the politics of the inevitable fight over Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee. I think a lot of Americans were put off by Biden's hope to nominate a Black adult female, non because they are racists or sexists but because they don't recall race and sex should be the primary criteria in selecting Stephen Breyer'southward replacement.
Gail: We're basically simply talking near putting some diversity into what's historically been a securely undiverse part of the government.
Bret: The political problem for McConnell is that Americans might be even more than put off by the sight of Republican Senate Judiciary Commission members similar Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley — the insurrection caucus — pompously, pedantically, hyperbolically and hypocritically lecturing a nominee on the meaning of the Constitution.
Gail: Ah, Ted Cruz. Annihilation that's a problem for the Democrats becomes a petty easier if Ted Cruz is in the opposition. Cancún holiday, anyone?
Opinion Debate Volition the Democrats face a midterm wipeout?
- Marking Penn and Andrew Stein write that "only a broader course correction to the centre volition requite Democrats a fighting chance in 2022" and beyond.
- Kyle Kondik asks how probable a Autonomous comeback volition be in an ballot year where the odds, and history, are not in their favor.
- Christopher Caldwell writes that a contempo poll shows the depths of the party's troubles, and that "Democrats have been led astray by their Trump obsession."
- Ezra Klein speaks to David Shor, who discusses his fearfulness that Democrats face electoral catastrophe unless they shift their messaging.
Bret: And finally: Donald Trump. If I were Mitch, I'd spend my gratuitous time reworking the lyrics from "The Sound of Music" into something called "How Practise You Solve a Trouble Like the Donald?" As in:
How do yous solve a trouble like the Donald?
How do you catch a clown and pivot him downward?
I'll leave it to readers to come upwards with the rest, with abject apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Gail: If there'southward one affair I am confident well-nigh, it's the creativity of our readers on matters relating to making fun of Trump. Have at it, guys.
Bret: He lies so fast and spews bombast
Pence says he's not all in that location …
Gail: Meanwhile, Congress is off — no doubt exhausted from that big lift of voting to keep the government in performance. When lawmakers get back, Biden has made it pretty clear he'd settle for a few serious parts of his Build Dorsum Better program. Anything you like? I'd exist happy to rally around subsidies for high-quality kid care.
Bret: A twelvemonth ago, I would non take opposed something like that, even though I'm more often than not skeptical of programs that are likely to go permanent entitlements. But we now have a national debt of more than $30 trillion, which is upwards from $20 trillion in 2017. It's unsustainable. Nosotros've already had multiple blowout spending bills for Covid relief and infrastructure. Along with ultralow involvement rates, the spending has led to the highest inflation in xl years. We are sprinting toward national bankruptcy unless we change course.
Which is to say, I hope Biden drops Build Back Better from his Land of the Marriage. Since the speech is probably being drafted now, what do you think it should say?
Gail: Maybe something similar: "My fellow Americans, we demand to give more help to our needy citizens, peculiarly mothers with too few resources to see their many responsibilities. But the national debt skyrocketed later my predecessor cut taxes on the rich. Let'due south disengage that mistake."
Bret: He-he. This is the part where the camera turns to Kyrsten Sinema, who isn't going to vote for tax hikes. And shouldn't, either: It would be political malpractice to raise taxes in the teeth of high inflation.
Gail: Bret, this is just the get-go of the week and I've decided to brand information technology a dominion that I don't think about Sinema until at least Wednesday. Irritated as I am nigh Joe Manchin'southward roadblocking, I have to give a little slack to a guy whose land gave Trump almost 68 percent of the vote two elections in a row.
Bret: Makes me appreciate Sinema more than. Political independence has distinguished Arizona senators like John McCain and Jeff Scrap, and she's carrying that bohemian flag. More tin can exist said for former astronaut Mark Kelly, who may likewise accept stayed on the International Space Station for all the difference he's making equally a senator.
Gail: Let'southward talk almost something else, delight. I but finished reading "The Dazzler of Dusk," a new book by our colleague Frank Bruni. Take yous had a risk to read information technology all the same?
Bret: An extraordinary, moving and beautifully written book. As many of our readers probably know, Frank lost much of his sight about 5 years agone on business relationship of a rare stroke that blurred vision in i eye and that could still strike the other. Frank existence Frank, the experience only helped open his eyes to the stories of other people dealing quietly with grief, disability, chronic illness and inner torment — oft despite professional success or otherwise placid exteriors.
Gail: It's terrific, actually, for anybody who wants to bargain with mortality.
Bret: One of the subjects Frank examines is mental wellness. It seems particularly timely as we enter the tertiary year of Covid-land. There are so many people who may not accept gotten sick with the virus, just who have yet croaky under the strain of cocky-isolation, social distancing, schoolhouse closures and all the other restrictions. I call back information technology'southward hitting the elderly specially hard, because they're at such greater take a chance if they go sick. Merely it has also been devastating for kids in schools who were forced to attempt to learn remotely or been deprived of the company of friends or otherwise had their personal evolution stunted.
How practice you retrieve people will remember the pandemic 50 years from now?
Gail: It depends on whether this happens again. If — fingers crossed — this is an experience everybody can wait dorsum on equally a once-in-a-lifetime matter, we'll probably all exist reacting to time to come crises by saying, "Well, yeah, this is bad simply remember Covid …"
Bret: I suspect there will be tens of millions of people who will be bearing psychological scars for the residuum of their lives.
Gail: And do you think something like this volition happen again?
Bret: Maybe something worse. If information technology turns out that Covid-xix was the result of some kind of lab accident involving "proceeds of function" research, it'due south entirely possible to imagine a similar catastrophe being unleashed, even on purpose.
But even if that theory doesn't pan out and we aren't hit by another pandemic, I think we've been living in the Age of the Unthinkable, from 9/eleven to the Trumpastrophe to what might very soon be a calamitous war in Europe. Worse may come. Whatsoever contenders?
Gail: We agreed long ago that we wouldn't discuss foreign affairs due to my conviction that so many of our stance folk are wiser on that subject field than I am. Then I'm passing on the obvious great deject of Russia-Ukraine.
Bret: My friend Garry Kasparov wrote a prescient book a few years agone about Vladimir Putin called "Wintertime Is Coming." Adjacent fourth dimension I see him, I'll suggest he call the sequel "Leap Isn't."
Gail: On the domestic front, for all my paranoia about Covid, I've been remembering when I was a kid and everybody was terrified of polio. First graders hearing stories from their parents most all the children who died or were disabled for life.
Then the terrible, terrible time when AIDS seemed to be a potential death sentence for then many in the gay community. And when it comes to many less dire illnesses, science also found new cures, or at least effective means to control them.
Bret: Very true. But here'southward what'south depressing: When the Salk vaccine came out, most anybody celebrated and got vaccinated, and polio all but disappeared from the developed world. When scientists developed antiretrovirals to manage H.I.5., people living with the virus embraced the new medication as the lifesaver it is. Yet here nosotros are with a vaccine that can save you from dying or going to the hospital with Covid, and tens of millions of people refuse to assist themselves by taking it. Which goes to bear witness that no pandemic is deadlier than stupidity.
Gail: None of this, of course, is an statement for not being paranoid virtually Donald Trump.
Bret: If Democrats don't shape up, if all they do is bellyache about Republican meanies and if they tin can't master the ABC's of governance — from safe streets and secure borders to stable prices and open schools — at that place's a good adventure he's going to exist president once more.
Boy, did this get dark. Happy Presidents' Day, America.
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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/opinion/biden-trump-mcconnell.html
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