Archive for 2018

MATTHEW CONTINETTI: How Trump Survives.

The economic boom is crucial in understanding why Trump enjoys the 88 percent approval among Republicans that keeps him politically viable. There are other factors too. Recent days brought two of them into sharp relief. Trump continues to goad, highlight, and benefit from an antagonistic news media. The overwhelmingly negative coverage of Trump paradoxically works to his advantage by driving his supporters to rally to his side. When the press gets a story wrong, Trump is vindicated. His voters have less reason to trust the elite media institutions they see as allied against them in a struggle over American identity. . . .

Democrats—and most Republicans for that matter—have yet to grasp the ideas of political economy that Trump intuits: government that privileges American citizens through tight-labor markets, border security, trade reciprocity, and entitlements.

Nor do Democrats understand that American populism is not simply economic. It is cultural. It has long been associated with traditional values and practices, an unreconstructed patriotism, and support for law and order. No matter how well Democratic proposals might test, the party will not succeed at the national level unless it addresses and mollifies the social concerns of the white working class. Pelosi, Schumer, and Sanders have not tried.

Feeling superior to the white working class is why most Democrat leaders are Democrats. That makes it hard.

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE PASSES SEX QUOTAS FOR CORPORATE BOARDS: CNN cheers. Hans Bader explains why it’s unconstitutional. Now it’s up to the governor to decide whether to sign an unconstitutional bill.

 

OPEN THREAD: Ring the month of August out right.

5 MINUTES AT THE GYM OR THE POOL MAKES THAT VERY, VERY CLEAR: Tattoo Industry Wins Over Millennials.

I’ve seen a few tattoos that I really like, but overall they seem to be chosen with insufficient thought as to design and location.

CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS: YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN US AND IN-N-OUT. CALIFORNIA: UH. . . A call to boycott In-N-Out meets its own resistance.

Anthony Grigore is a Democrat. But as he waited Thursday at an In-N-Out Burger in El Segundo for his meal, Grigore made it clear party loyalty would only go so far.

Just hours earlier, the head of the California Democratic Party called for a boycott of the famed burger chain after a public filing revealed that the company had recently donated $25,000 to the state’s Republican Party.

“Eating at In-N-Out is such a standard thing to do across California,” Grigore said, dismissing the boycott idea as a bit silly.

California has emerged as the center of the Democratic resistance since President Donald Trump took office. But this activism might have met its match when it comes to In-N-Out, a California institution that some hold with the same level of esteem as the Golden Gate Bridge and Joshua Tree.

By the end of the day, Democrats were distancing themselves from the idea and Republicans were enjoying a political feast, with some making big lunch orders to show their support for the chain and posting photos on social media.

“We have all of our children eating In-N-Out burgers. Even my son’s German shepherd eats In-N-Out,” said state Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, whose staff ordered 25 burgers and 50 bags of fries for lunch.

Political experts said they aren’t surprised that In-N-Out has proved hard to demonize, especially if the company’s sin was simply donating to the Republican Party.

“The stomach overrules the mind,” Jaime Regalado, emeritus professor of political science at California State University, Los Angeles. “A cheap, good-tasting burger is hard to dismiss politically.”

Also, this whole boycott-everything business has gotten tedious. As Saul Alinsky said, a tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.