Shut It All Down (Dispatch Politics Takeover)

Plus: John Fetterman's depression wear.

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16

The general incompetence of GOP’s leadership has prompted a Dispatch Politics coup of today’s Dispod. Mike hosts as David and Andrew join to discuss the shutdown fiasco, voters perceptions of GOP candidates, and John Fetterman’s depression wear.

Show Notes:

-Watch this episode on YouTube

-Real Clear Politics 2024 Iowa Republican Presidential Caucus

-CNN Poll: Trump leads in New Hampshire while Ramaswamy, Haley, Christie and DeSantis battle for second

-Wednesday’s Dispatch Politics newsletter

-Real Clear Politics General Election: Trump vs. Biden

-62% of New Yorkers say Biden unfit for another term

-Biden takes on Trump and age questions in new fundraiser speech

-Drucker’s interview with Senator Tom Cotton

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Comments (16)
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  1. Phillyex1

    Great podcast. I think it’s definitely worth our time to talk about Slob Fetterman. If you have no respect for the institutions to which you belong, then that institution will not long continue to function in the way it was meant to. This goes equally for the republicans burning down the House.

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  2. Russell J

    Good job keeping the podcast rolling through Sarah’s absence.

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    Ehoop

    I think the way to look at it is that whether a Senator's attire is appropriate can be judged by their constituents at election.
    That and although I'd prefer some dignity, we REALLY don't need a stuffy English gentleman's club deliberating and legislating over the free world, even as charming as such things are on screen.

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    Rajeev

    In primaries only national polls matter state by state polls are irrelevant. When a candidate is nationally dominant or competitive that’s what matters.

    Winning a quirky state Iowa with an even odder voting system that is about gaming the rules & organization does a candidate little good. In fact it usually backfires. Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, etc. we’re three of the most disliked politicians you could find among Americans nationally & would’ve been electoral disaster if they were actually the nominee. California Republicans don’t become Iowans after Iowa votes. In fact it’s usually the opposite and it’s about to happen to DeSantis. Winning Iowa for Republicans makes them so untenable to New Hampshire voters.

    In modern tines, if you have a national strength you can win if you don’t you cannot … it’s as simple as that. Pete Buttigieg ran an almost flawless campaign to emerge from a field of 30 to win in Iowa and barely finish 2nd in New Hampshire to Bernie. However, Biden was the favorite despite failing in those early states because he and Bernie had the national poll numbers.

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    1. MathewA

      You really think Ted Cruz would have been worse than Trump???

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        George.Skinner

        Cruz is smarter than Trump and actually knows what he’s talking about. That said, Cruz is a really unpleasant, oily character in contrast to Trump’s celebrity and charisma. My guess is that Cruz would’ve lost with the same sort of margins as 2012 Romney, maybe a bit worse. The pity is that a loss in 2016 might’ve brought the Republicans to a reckoning with their destructive populist streak before the damage could spread as far as it has now.

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    Rajeev

    Trump isn’t just looking at the general election electorate for his comments on abortion. He knows what all the other candidates know that far right anti-abortion politics is bad for the Republican primary electorate as well as the general election voters.

    Republican voters have been clamoring for a candidate like Trump that isn’t preachy on issues of abortion or adultery. The Anti-Abortion zealots will always come back to Trump anyway. Ted Cruz/Marco Rubios can win primaries in Kansas but not in California, New York, Florida, Ohio, Arizona, etc.

    Donald Trump reached out to so many Republican primary voters that could care less about abortion. And he got the anti-abortion folks anyways.

    Donald Trump is a shoo-in for the primary and their best bet just like in 2016/2020 to win the presidency. He’s not gonna beat Biden in the popular vote but he could easily sneak an electoral college win like he did in 2016 and almost did in 2020

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    Rajeev

    The primary election has been over since the beginning. There is no alternative candidate. If any of these people finish second and others stop out that just will help Trump no matter who it is.

    This has been the easiest election to forecast ever. At this point Vivek is building a coalition for the future. For the rest it’s kind of a swan song but that would imply they were relevant at one point.

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    J. Eric

    Informative and entertaining. Thank you

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  8. Richard Kennedy

    NWYT: Women get more leeway than men do on dress codes (radically conservative religious sects notwithstanding. Pelosi is pretty much the most elegantly attired female member of the House, for example. Senator Synema though has in her way flouted the customs for female senators. I don’t know, semi-formal Cruise Wear describes much of her wardrobe? In dressing down, Fetterman has bottomed everyone.

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    OJFL

    I do not think Mr. DeSantis is the alternative to Mr. Trump. The alternatives seem to be people like Mr. Pence, Mr. Scott, or Mr. Pence, or Mrs. Haley, or the governor of North Dakota, and among those the one who is probably best positioned in Mrs. Haley. It is a shame that everyone seems to be focusing solely on Mr. DeSantis when it seems she would be the best candidate to lead Republicans to victory.

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    Pastorfbt

    It's not news but the craven pandering to this man who is not only manifestly unfit for the Presidency but actually dangerous...is profoundly depressing.
    And the NWYT segment at the end requires a ZZ Top soundtrack.

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      OJFL

      With all that we know about him, the way he has behaved since 2015, the way he changes position all the time, it is depressing that none of that affects the position of the primary electorate.

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    2. Richard Kennedy

      Which one?

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        Pastorfbt

        I meant TFG but I'm not inclined to debate about it either. Cheers.

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        1. Richard Kennedy

          Oh, I wasn’t wanting to start anything at all. The vagueness of the statement prompted the question. A case can be made that you described both of the obvious choices to varying degrees. Besides, my impression has been that we usually agree on most of what I encounter from you. Hope you thrive.

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