Dem
47
GOP
53
Time for your weekly dose of dystopia.
The Apprentice, Transportation Edition: Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy first gained attention as a reality TV star, on The Real World: Boston. He met his wife, now the mother of his nine kids, on a different realty TV show, Road Rules: All Stars. He works for a reality TV star. And these things being the case, the Secretary has decided to return to the reality TV well. He and his family are starring in a five-part reality series called The Great American Road Trip, which will be broadcast on YouTube. Sponsors of the project include Boeing, Toyota, Shell, Royal Caribbean Group and United Airlines, all of which just so happen to be regulated by the Department of Transportation.
Our Take: We are, on the whole, supportive of politicians finding new ways to connect with the American people. However, the conflicts of interest here are too obvious to ignore. And on top of that, to do a "road trip" bit in the middle of a gasoline crisis is unbelievably tone deaf.
Best Laid Plans: Donald Trump is trying to repaint the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue. But he went about it in his usual haphazard way, failing to cross the t's and dot the i's, and now the project is the subject of a lawsuit seeking to stop the administration from proceeding.
Similarly, Trump really wants his now-billion-dollar ballroom. However, he did not build any sort of consensus, and he did not get Congress on board, even the Republicans. Many of them are up for reelection this year, and they don't particularly want to hand the Democrats a ten-figure anchor to hang around the GOP's neck. So, it is looking like that funding will go down in flames. What will happen to the giant hole in the ground next is anyone's guess.Our Take: So, because he of his propensity to go off half-cocked, Trump has now got a couple of problems for himself: (1) blue, (2) balls. Time will tell if he's able to clear things up.
Age Caps: Can't imagine why this might be on the minds of Americans, but the new NBC/Marist poll reports that about 80% of Americans would like to see term limits for Congress, and also a mandatory retirement age for members of the legislature.
Our Take: Term limits would serve only to shift power from elected officials toward lobbyists and bureaucrats, since the latter groups would have all the expertise and knowledge of how to get things done. A mandatory retirement age is, perhaps, a little less problematic. However, keep in mind that either or both of these changes would require constitutional amendments, and constitutional amendments have to be approved by... large majorities of both chambers of Congress. So, don't hold your breath.
Be Careful What You Wish For, Redux: We had an item last week, headlined "Be Careful What You Wish For," in which we noted that Ben Shapiro, who was once pretty far-right and fringy, has seen his influence wane because he's been pushed aside by folks who are even further right and more fringy.
Shortly after we published that item, Slate had a piece about Megyn Kelly, who's always been right-wing, but was still mainstream enough to get hired to host the Today Show. A keen judge of what side her bread is buttered on, she has "adapted" much better than Shapiro, and now sounds something like a blonde, white Candace Owens, with conspiratorial thinking, heaping helpings of various bigotries, and virtually no concern for something called "facts."Our Take: The good news is that while these people do reach an audience, it's actually a relatively small audience in the larger scheme of things, and an audience that would be inclined to believe nutty and hateful things whether or not they are being spoon-fed by the Megyn Kellys and Alex Joneses and Nick Fuenteses of the world. The country would be better off without them, but it's not THAT much worse with them.
Secret Agent (Wo)man: You know, that song by Johnny Rivers really does sound like he's singing "Secret Asian man" and not "Secret agent man." And, but for the gender, the double-meaning would work very well for the news that Mayor Eileen Wang (D-Arcadia) has agreed to plead guilty to charges that she has been acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government. She will, of course, also give up the mayoralty of her Southern California city.
Our Take: Well done, DoJ. Now let's get to work on officeholders who might be illegal agents for other foreign nations. Like, say, Russia.
Carpetbagger: As long as we are on the subject of California politics, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton had a bit of a crudité moment this weekend. He posted a video to his eX-Twitter feed in which he waxed poetic, in his British accent, about the crunchy-shelled "street taco" he had just gotten for free at "the original Del Taco" in Barstow.
The original Del Taco location was actually in Yermo, not Barstow. That is a forgivable mistake, since the Yermo location is closed, and the corporation actively tries to make people forget it ever existed. However, street tacos do not have crunchy shells. No, those are reserved for what (Z)'s local Mexican joint calls "Tacos de los Gringos." Street tacos ALWAYS have soft shells, usually corn tortillas, doubled up. That is something that approximately 100% of Californians know. Add in the non-American accent, not to mention that old Stevie apparently doesn't have to pay for his food like the rest of us, and it was definitely an unforced error.Our Take: Hilton will still advance to the general, but we foresee a lot of taco jokes in his future. That is in contrast, of course, to all the TACO jokes about Donald Trump.
Jungle Boogie: One more entry about California. We have consistently been disdainful of the Golden State's jungle-style primary. Some say that the "downside" of this scheme is that one of the two major parties will be shut out of the general election. But it's not really a downside... it's the whole point of the system.
California's Democrats were pleased with this when it was the blue team that benefited. But now, with the chance that two Republicans might end up facing off for the governorship, they're not so enthusiastic anymore. It is not likely to be a problem, as Republican Chad Bianco polls consistently in fourth place these days. Still, the California Democrats have gotten pretty comfortable with their newfound "whatever it takes" philosophy, and so blue teamers in the state legislature are considering the possibility of changing the rules on the fly, and going back to a traditional primary, effective immediately.Our Take: If this is what it takes to get rid of the jungle primary, then "hear, hear!" That said, we would certainly be pleased to see California adopt something like the Alaska top-four system, which finds room for both major parties while also discouraging hyperpartisan candidates.
And that's the rest of the story. (Z & A)