The Mismeasure of Ideology
Plus, Is the “China Model” Finally Failing?
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OLIVER TRALDI: The Mismeasure of Ideology.
Since at least the Clinton years—which saw the first Republican House majority since the 1950s, the advent of Fox News, the rise and fall of Newt Gingrich, two government shutdowns, impeachment proceedings, and then a contested presidential election in Bush v. Gore—political scientists and public commentators have been fascinated and made anxious by renewed polarization. That decade, Americans started increasingly grouping themselves into one of two camps, and those camps started getting crazier; Bill Bishop’s 2004 book The Big Sort explained the first part of this, and Cass Sunstein’s 2009 book Going to Extremes the second. But sophisticated explanations have apparently done little to slow or stop the process, and intuitive solutions—trying to get out of social media bubbles, for instance—may actually make polarization worse. For many, the rise of Donald Trump represented the apotheosis of contemporary polarization: Here was a man who would take his party to crazy places fueled solely by hatred of the other side.
DALIBOR ROHAC: Is the “China Model” Finally Failing?
The past decade has not been kind to optimists who hoped that economic liberalization would beget a gradual embrace of democracy by countries around the world. “China will move increasingly to political freedom,” Milton Friedman predicted in 2003, “if it continues its successful movement to economic freedom.”
Of course, under Xi Jinping’s rule, China moved away both from its pro-market economic outlook and tightened the totalitarian control of its society with an Orwellian system of constant surveillance and concentration camps. Could the current protests against the government’s oppressive zero-COVID policies across Chinese cities vindicate Friedman and others who predicted a convergence of political and economic freedom?
Richard Reeves discusses his book Of Boys and Men. The panel then considers China’s COVID turmoil, and the poisons unleashed by Trump into our national bloodstream, including anti-Semitism.
Kanye not only ruined the cover story on Trump’s Nazi dinner, he also wrecked Tucker’s plan to make him a conservative icon. Plus, prematurely clearing the field for DeSantis, Trump’s judge gets slapped down, and Hunter’s laptop will be a punchline. Tim Miller’s back with Charlie Sykes.
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WILLIAM SALETAN: Paying for Dinner.
Last week, Donald Trump dined at Mar-a-Lago with two vocal antisemites: Ye—the artist formerly known as Kanye West—and Nick Fuentes, an avid racist and anti-Jewish propagandist. In the days since, Trump has claimed that he didn’t know who Fuentes was. But he has defended his invitation to Ye, and despite entreaties to condemn the two men, Trump hasn’t done so.
Some Republican officials have rebuked the former president for this episode. But most haven’t, and many have found creative ways to excuse him, brush off the incident, or avoid criticizing him by name. Here are some of their evasive maneuvers.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Happy Friday! Today on the cable nets, it will be non-stop World Cup coverage. Go 🇺🇸! I’ll be rooting for Tim Ream, a Saint Louis University Billiken. A Billiken has been on each of the last 7 USMNT teams.
Programming Note: OVERTIME will be going out a little bit later during the lead-up to the holidays.
D.C. to make buses free.. It’s been a slow-motion plan for a while now and will help the working poor tremendously. Yet, the transit agency is still experimenting with preventing fare evasion on trains.
Ted Cruz sided with Bernie Sanders… Over giving sick days to rail workers, as Congress acted quickly to avert a strike. But likely did so to give himself cover in voting against the final bill, as Sanders’s amendment failed.
The return of the Lamb… He may have lost to Fetterman, but he might be Pennsylvania’s next AG. A position that usually leads to a run for Governor.
That’s it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
