Federalism for Me, Nationalism for Thee

A.B. Stoddard is a refreshing presence on today’s podcast as she and Jonah delve into ...

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A.B. Stoddard is a refreshing presence on today’s podcast as she and Jonah delve into starkly rank punditry and a discussion of the eerie intentionality behind Trump’s coronavirus response. In fact, A.B.’s wise words—on Fauci, on Trump’s fantasies, on panicked Texans—leave only a singular major question remaining: will Jonah end up rocking a man bun?

Show Notes:

–Steve’s piece on the canceling of Liz Cheney

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  1. Avatar photo
    Tracie

    Regarding the Democratic Left's attitude to Biden:

    "But again, all they want is November 3rd, so he's safe, for n o w."
    -Stoddard, min ~22.20

    Always enjoy Stoddard's wide-ranging analysis, but what I really like is how amidst all the punditry about down ballot races in multiple states - which most of us don't follow - she throws out these succinct, BS-free truths about the moment we're in.

    I note how she also appreciates how "tricky" Biden is, and how his team is clearly operating with some kind of strategy. She falls for no one's caricatures. Just describes how people operate and how people seem to respond.

    Great to hear her think out loud.

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  2. Julie Daulton

    I think if Ms. Stoddard is going to go down the path of Trump refusing to accept the election results, she should also discuss the possibility of Biden / Democrat party refusing to accept the election results. Between the so-called “resistance”, and obstruction, and fake “Russian collusion”, it is the Democrats who continue to fight the election results of 2016. I wonder if Biden (or whoever the nominee will be) loses, will progressive cities erupt in violence and secede from the US? I think it could happen, and maybe it is worth a discussion.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Marian Cates

      Hillary spent a lot of time in TV interviews (I saw them on Twitter) talking about 2016's stolen election. Since I don't have TV, I don't know if she finally stopped.

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      Tracie

      I live in one of them, so I hope not.

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    Marian Cates

    Great episode. I despaired as A.B. ran through various down-ballot elections b/c I can't follow that stuff. But after that, I enjoyed the insights A.B. shared. If the R party has lost its purpose and principles by going pro-Trump and is falling apart, then it needs to be discussed rationally. I'm glad to hear it discussed. We need to know what is, not what we wish for.

    The D party seems to be in bad shape, too, w/ the radicals making so much noise. When the Ds are eager to elect a man who is "past his prime," to put it kindly, it shows how weak their lineup is. So we have the insane incumbent vs. the "missing-a-step" career politician.

    You both seem to feel that the parties can never again reassert themselves. It will be interesting to see.

    As for the Rs losing the Senate: The Dems held both houses of congress for 40 years. The nation survived. Then Reagan was elected president and worked w/ congress. It used to be that members of congress would argue bitterly on the floor, then go to lunch together. Is all that camaraderie gone? I've read that it is (in NRO probably).

    All in all, an excellent episode.

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      Tracie

      "The D party seems to be in bad shape, too, w/ the radicals making so much noise."

      Noise is a good way to put it. I don't want to be around them, and that's a problem for me if I'm going to call myself a Democrat.

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    Philbnichols

    When I heard Stoddard shame Republicans for not immediately responding to Trump's questioning of election day, and Jonah's 'That's fair - and I'm gonna catch grief for saying that' - well, here's some contextual grief!
    I don't think 'that's fair' covers a charge that barely beat Cocaine Mitch's response by about an hour, and beat 'Punching Bag Liz' by 4-5 hrs. Republicans have responded. But shame on the ones who are playing along with Trump on this.

    I think the timeline worked just right to make Stoddard think there was no response, when actually there had hardly been time for a response.

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  5. ROBERT

    Jonah, may I have permission to rant - even though I'm not a good writer?
    This is a complete outrage! While Trump is making up fake invitations to throw out the first pitch at a Yankee game and while he is sending out tweets that undermine the public confidence in our elections, no one is laser focused on developing and implementing a massive testing program. No one has been hunkered down trying to build a workable plan to safely reopen schools.
    You can't make this stuff up- no one would believe it! We have serious problems that will not get solved unless we have serious leaders pulling us safely through it. If this were the military, Trump would have been relieved of command long ago - for dereliction of duty. If it were a war movie, his own troops would have turned on him and killed him.
    How can these people live with themselves when 30 million people are out of work? When every student from postgraduate college to kindergarten are having their lives delayed a year or so? When parents can't go back to work due to child care responsibilities?
    What's worse is there is no one on the horizon that can lead us out of this mess. You think Joe Biden can? AOC? Josh Hawley? No frickin way. The only people capable of making a positive difference are too boring to get elected- Justin Amash and Mike Gallagher for instance. People willing to roll up their sleeves and do some work! You probably know of others. But they are not outrageous and therefore can't get any media attention.
    Are we still a great country- as A.B mentioned? Hard to make that claim when in a country of 330 million people and the most advanced economy, we get a choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
    This is nuts! I'm going off the grid...

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      Tracie

      "The only people capable of making a positive difference are too boring to get elected- Justin Amash and Mike Gallagher for instance."

      Perhaps you're underestimating how attractive boring has become.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Thanks for the podcast Jonah!

    So the house is republicans have given up on, the senate is a toss up, the Presidency might just go bye bye (though at least the agreement is the polls are gonna narrow) and corona shall kill us all.

    Also Lincoln project stinks. I think I got the gist of this podcast.

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  7. linda

    I love AB. There I said it. I first saw her on Special Report and although we have our differences she is a real person and not a TV bot. She has opinions. Cool. She is (and I really hate to use this term) authentic. Always count on AB to bring it and never count on Mollie Hemmingway to do likewise. I'm probably closer to Mollie on a lot of issue but jeesh. Throne sniffing much, Mollie? Anyway, I'm a big fan and will weigh whatever she has to say because she is not a tool. I think she's right on the coming election and it will be one for the history books because no one has any class anymore.

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    BrettH

    The sort of rank punditry I yearn for. Go Hokies! Class of ‘09.

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    DougAz

    When I see blatant political hypocrisy, my phrase is "Rules for Thee, not for Me"...

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    RND

    Great job by both of you, but you are risking pissing off the Commentary podcast crew, as they view "crushing morosity" as their corner and may have to take you out to reclaim it.

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      Tracie

      There's more joy in JG's morosity.

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