Hello and happy Saturday. How are your Thanksgiving preparations coming? Here in the Ohio bureau, we have the requisite two turkeys in the fridge, and I’ll do a big trip to the store tomorrow, before we put up the Christmas tree.
We have developed a handful of Thanksgiving traditions over the years: The dressing recipe is the same one my parents used at their grocery store, selling hundreds of pounds of it each Thanksgiving. We always get a picture of the kids and their cousins for my mom to include in her Christmas cards. And after dinner, we watch Christmas Vacation to kick off the holiday season—and recite all of our favorite lines as we go. One thing we don’t do, really, is go around the table and say what we’re grateful for. It’s not that we’re ungrateful—at all—it’s just, well, the food is getting cold and all.
I have noticed lately that a few friends have been posting daily on Facebook to share a few things for which they are grateful—little everyday things. And at first it seemed a little corny. But then I realized that maybe I was being a little jaded and cynical. Believe me—that comes pretty easily in this line of work. Our politics are unhealthy, and we’re in the business of covering politics. We spent the last year covering a very strange presidential election, one in which “unprecedented” referred to multiple plot twists and became something of a cliche. The end result left millions of Americans unhappy.
As we’ve discussed frequently in our articles, the next four years will be challenging. President-elect Donald Trump has put forth a slate of, um, unconventional appointees to key positions. We’re waiting to see if he’ll make good on campaign pledges regarding mass deportations and using the military against the “enemy within.”
It’s tempting to throw up one’s hands and sigh, to think that nothing matters anymore. But the challenges that Trump presents—to the constitutional order, the economy, Saturday Night Live writers trying to out-satire reality—actually remind us that we have a lot to be grateful for. We’ve got a pretty good thing going here in this country. We’ve come a long way since the Pilgrims sat down with the Wampanoag in Plymouth 403 years ago. If there wasn’t something special about our country, there wouldn’t be so many people upset by the thought of what a second Trump presidency will look like.
And as we get ready to gather with our families next weekend, it’s important to remember that politics isn’t everything. And while we all have other challenges in our lives, it’s good to take a deep breath and look around and be glad for what we’ve got. As it happens, one thing I’m grateful for is the ticket to the Ohio State-Indiana football game I bought in a moment of spontaneity on Friday. Kickoff is in a few hours, so I’m going to cut this short so I can get to the game on time.
Thanks for reading. Have a great Thanksgiving. I’ll be taking next weekend off—and I hope you enjoy your time with family and friends as much as I’ll be enjoying mine.
Yascha Mounk has some pretty solid advice for Democrats in the wake of Kamala Harris’ electoral defeat, but he’s not convinced they will take it. Ditch the “woke” nonsense, sure, but also, “Democrats need to convince Americans that they are willing to speak the truth even when that truth shocks the activist groups that make up a big part of their base; that they sympathize with ordinary citizens who are fed up with crime and chaos rather than with the petty criminals who disturb public order; and that they have figured out how to stand up for inclusion without violating common sense,” he writes. What has him skeptical that the left will heed common sense? For starters, he points to Gilberto Hinojosa and Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. Hinojosa was ousted as the Texas Democratic Party chairman and Moulton faced backlash for suggesting that the party should stop parroting progressives on issues like transgender rights. He writes: “Democrats are disproportionately dependent on young staffers who have recently graduated from prestigious colleges. Many of these staffers have been socialized in the hothouse culture of campus activism in which one supposedly offensive remark can lead to lasting social ostracism. And since they stand at the beginning of their careers, they often have a greater incentive to demonstrate ideological purity than to win the next election.”
Speaking of reasons the Democrats lost the election … Jessica Gavora explores how the Biden administration used Title IX, a law designed to give women equal opportunities in education, and later athletics, as a vehicle for allowing biological boys to play on girls sports teams. She writes about how girls’ increased participation in sports prompted the rise of “Title IX dads” who were deeply invested in their daughters’ athletic careers—and deeply protective of them when faced with the issue of transgender sports participation. “These Title IX dads didn’t like what they saw. But when they objected, they were called transphobes,” she writes. So it’s not surprising that Trump cast Kamala Harris as too supportive of transgender rights in the closing days of the campaign. It was a winning message.
The Sunshine State is having a moment in the limelight, and not just because Donald Trump is running his transition from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. He’s staffing up with prominent Floridians: Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Rep. Mike Walz as national security adviser, for starters. And when former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz flamed out as the nominee for attorney general, Trump replaced him with former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. But, Michael Warren writes, “No one represents this Florida takeover better than Susie Wiles, the co-chair of Trump’s 2024 campaign who will serve as his White House chief of staff.” He discusses Wiles’ rise in Florida politics and what she brings to Trump’s White House.
And here’s the best of the rest:
- As much as there might be to criticize in President-elect Trump’s proposed policies, Will finds a few reasons for optimism, especially regarding the FCC, energy policy, and the Department of Transportation, in Techne.
- Charlotte profiles Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and conservative TV host named as ambassador to Israel. She discusses Huckabee’s reverence for Israel—and how it’s tied to his evangelical Christian beliefs. But will his support for Israeli settlements in the West Bank dampen the Trump administration’s chances of expanding the Abraham Accords?
- Nick poses an interesting question in Boiling Frogs (🔒). What’s better for our democracy: that Donald Trump tries to implement his agenda through unconventional but legal means like recess appointments, or that he pushes through his appointees and policies with no regard for the other branches? He analyzes both potential scenarios.
- Jonah offers up a travelogue from his trip to India, from riding elephants to journeying through airport security. He writes: “I know many things I didn’t know before, but what I really know is how little I know about India. It is one of the oldest civilizations on earth, but its intellectual and religious touchstones are so different than those of the West, it’s incredibly humbling.”
The pods: On the Dispatch Podcast, Jamie interviews Andy McCarthy of National Review about what the Trump Department of Justice looks like. Sarah and David share some insights on the Federalist Society convention and discuss the dynamics of Supreme Court nominations on Advisory Opinions. And on The Remnant, Jonah relives his trip to India. Come for the yak cheese and stay for his thoughts on who might be the next attorney general.
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