Our Best Stuff From the Week That 2024 Got Rolling

And an announcement from us.

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Former President Donald Trump speaks at the New Hampshire Republican state committee's annual meeting on January 28, 2023 in Salem, New Hampshire. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images.)

Hello and happy Saturday. If you’ve been missing the thrill of campaign season—the endless emails soliciting your donations, the commercials from candidates castigating their opponents and begging for your vote, the cable news panels breathlessly debating whether a candidate’s latest misstep is a mere blunder or absolutely fatal—this week was probably pretty exciting for you. And if you’re not that kind of person, you might have been wishing that we were like those other countries with parliaments and prime ministers where the election season lasts a couple of months, tops.

As Chris Stirewalt noted in his Friday newsletter, “the belief that somehow this would be the cycle with a slow start or how certain candidates would be exempt from the normal indignities and vicissitudes of the two-year slog in pursuit of power is revealed as a bunch of hokum.”

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is out and about hawking a new book, Ron DeSantis is launching new fronts in his war on wokism, and Donald Trump must be feeling the heat—he called for an end to federal funding for any school that teaches critical race theory or gender ideology and proposed the direct election of … school principals? Trump is also making visits to early primary states New Hampshire and South Carolina today. 

Heck, as Nick writes in Boiling Frogs (🔐), Marjorie Taylor Greene is basically running for vice president already. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Paul Britton

    Joe Burrow needs to be taken down a peg or two.

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      Paul Britton

      And just like that, he’s sacked on a 3rd down play!

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  2. Jon craig

    My condolences to the young men and women who have chosen to subject themselves to immersion in the parade of dysfunction and criminality that we call American electoral politics. You will soon realize you should have gone to law school or Canada. Personally I’m pondering recruiting a group of young patriots to permanently silence Ms. Taylor Greene, using only legal means, of course. It’s purely personal, I’m sick of hearing that stupid woman talk and ashamed that we allowed her to be elected to anything other than dog catchers. We suck.

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  3. Dschillingfrazier

    I beg of you. Please do not start the endless photos, quotes, and coverage of DJT. It has been such a welcome reprieve to not be confronted with his every thought every day. Don’t give him oxygen.

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    Julie from Texas

    I already signed up for Dispatch Politics! I'm so impressed with how this network has developed and its commitment to quality journalism and political opinion. Speaking of which...any idea when Kevin Williamson will be launching his own podcast?

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  5. Ltlredwagon

    Oh yeah, love the start of campaign season. By the way, for those interested I'm offering the NCAA bracketology through 2031.

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  6. Stevegreer990

    Keep up the good work guys...

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    Dave Conant - MO

    Good wrap-up Rachael. Thanks.

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      Rachael Larimore vertical-nib Author

      Thank you!

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    Paul Britton

    "Dispatch Politics" isn't a terrible name, but we can only hope the management didn't actually pay a consultant to come up with it.

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      Rachael Larimore vertical-nib Author

      That was a joke, I’m happy to report! (Maybe not a good one, but I tried!)

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      1. Rdtomasello51

        Have you considered a foreign policy or a religious newsletter. Love politics but think you have many newsletters that directly or indirectly reference political issues. Just my opinion.

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    Peter_Shalen

    OK, this is the kind of thing that confuses the hell out of me: "To extend the country’s borrowing limit, House Republicans will have to cut a deal with Democrats. That’s no simple task, given the varying set of demands some conservative members have raised in recent weeks..."

    It would make sense to me if "Democrats" and "Republicans" were reversed. But I don't see how the demands of conservatives (who I assume are Republicans) can make it hard to cut a deal with Democrats.

    This kind of thing happens almost every time I read a news story these days. Is it just me?

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    Nothing about Joe Burrow this week? Rachael, Rachael, Rachael! Or as an someone from the civil war era is alleged to have said "𝘾'𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙣"! It's gonna be a good game tomorrow. I can't call it, both have great offenses.

    The tough one for TheDispatch to cover will be abortion. Even at a site which is pretty friendly, it's a tense topic. I hope some fresh insights can emerge, but my sense is both sides are dug in for trench warfare.

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      Rachael Larimore vertical-nib Author

      I could write about Joe Burrow every week but I try to be sensitive to the readers among us who are not Bengals fans or ... gasp ... sports fans in general!

      As for abortion, we will try to tackle with careful reporting and sober, thoughtful analysis. I personally think that, regardless of what happens with state laws, that pro-lifers need to show a commitment to supporting pregnant women and their children. We’ve had more than a few articles by this point looking at different policy initiatives that the government could implement, and we’ll continue to do so.

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        Aylene Wright

        Thanks for the reply, and FWIW as a moderate on the issue who is repelled by the extreme parts of both the pro-life & pro-choice tribes, I have found TD coverage to be quite fair. For example, the article on CPCs that acknowledged that some on the pro-life side have indeed encouraged people running those centers to basically tell Noble Lies to women for the Greater Good, instead of just dismissing that accusation as pro-abortion propaganda.

        Especially as I have actually seen clips of Abby Johnson, while not quite telling people to lie, openly say things like how women who come in mistaking CPCS for abortion clinics "are our best customers", etc.

        Now, maybe the clips are edited to make her look bad. And it seems at least from the article that most CPCs eschew that kind of tactic, which I think is a good thing, as it would actually eventually detract from their cause.

        Anyway, TD acknowledging there is some merit to criticism of some CPCs, made the entire article more convincing than if they had ignored it and just produced a positive fluff piece, as IMO most conservative outlets do.

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      Pat Riot

      Republicans fought for over 40 years and burned the Supreme Court to the ground in order to make this warfare possible. RvW's overturn--and in a few years, it's effective reinstatement--is a once-in-a-lifetime event...

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      JohnM.

      I'm all for leaving it alone, outside of any news reporting. You're right, it's now being fought in the trenches.

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