Lugubrious Bat-Winged Malcontents

Today’s Ruminant finds Jonah irritated by back pain, enamored with California roller coasters, and concerned ...

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Today’s Ruminant finds Jonah irritated by back pain, enamored with California roller coasters, and concerned for the health of his loyal spaniel (send her your love!). It also features a lengthy exploration of whether China can still be politically liberalized, why the terms and conditions of Trump’s new social media network are so funny, and how executive privilege actually functions. Stick around until the end for updates about new features on The Dispatch, and a preview of upcoming guests.

Show Notes:

– The House votes to hold Steve Bannon in contempt

– Advisory Opinions explores January 6

– Jonah’s brief history of executive privilege

– Gimme some truth

– Fresh craziness from J.D. Vance

– Klon Kitchen on the dangers of China’s missile tests

– Lipset’s modernization theory

– Mike Pompeo on Special Report

– “We welcome stiff competition”

– Visions of China on The Dispatch Podcast

– The moral equivalent of war

– The Friday G-File

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Comments (68)
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  1. Avatar photo
    PC Albright

    Love the podcast but your statements regarding the Chinese hypersonic glide vehicle test are poorly informed. That test does nothing to alter the strategic balance between the US and China. They already hold the US at risk with their ballistic missiles, and have enough to easily overwhelm missile defenses, which are only effective against small raids. The only thing really worth getting upset about is what appears to have been an intelligence failure.

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    George.Skinner

    The term hypersonic really just refers to flight at speeds greater than 5x the speed of sound. Under those conditions, gas dynamics start to dominate the aerodynamics around a shape. ICBM rented vehicles are also hypersonic. To be precise, the Chinese test was a hypersonic glide vehicle. It had more maneuvering capability and range in the atmosphere than an ICBM. I still don’t know exactly what “surprised” intelligence agencies, but this is probably the least advanced type of hypersonic vehicle. It’s basically the same type of tech that the US started testing on the X-23 back in the ‘60s. The more advanced tech is an air breathing hypersonic vehicle, which uses a scramjet. That means you don’t need a huge booster like Long March 2 or an ICBM to launch it, and it would have much greater range.

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  3. Jaaron

    Your comments on China and your wondering about movies where they make a bad character sympathetic reminded me of the 2002 Chinese movie "Hero" (released in the U.S. in 2004). It's a beautiful movie, but the "hero" alluded to in the title (spoiler alert) sacrifices himself to further the cause of China's first emperor who is forcefully subjugating all of China's independent kingdoms to create a "unified" China. The movie is ultimately sympathetic to the brutal king's vision for China. It's an interesting window into how the Chinese view their national project.

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    Anne W (Raw5254)

    I enjoy your Saturday ramblings. I always learn something about politics and history or how things are *supposed* to work. I might not have this exactly right, but I believe you were talking about China’s middle class eventually influencing government. It made me think about Iran. Years ago a podcaster talked about how much the young people there were fascinated by our country, and were open to the what we have. And just recently I read an article in the Washington Post or WSJ by an Iranian journalist who was frustrated that the U.S. never talks about the protests going on there. It makes me wonder if there are better ways of dealing with China and Iran? I’m not proposing anything, just wondering.

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    Francesca

    Hoping the tests work out for Pippa

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    Ben Connelly

    Also check out my comment on Steve and Sarah’s interview with Klon Kitchen where I went into hypersonic vs supersonic vs rocket (ICBM). There’s a good reason we do not call ICBMs hypersonic even if they travel faster than hypersonic glide vehicles.

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    Ben Connelly

    It did not sound like you were phoning it in on this episode.

    Glad you and your daughter had a good time in CA and that she’s adjusting to college well. I’m sure COVID has made that worse. Regarding the Coddling stuff: it is real and the pandemic has made it worse. Speaking of which, you should have Jonathan Haidt on the Remnant!

    Regarding your back and chronic tiredness and Steve’s comments about still working startup hours: please, please do not burn yourselves out. The audience here at the Dispatch does not want you to sacrifice your mental and physical health for our sakes. We love the content, but we can do without it when you need to take breaks. Hopefully the holidays will be a good chance for you to relax. We do not need a G File on Black Friday for example.

    I look forward to hearing Charlie on the pod again.

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    Trevor Reid

    Fact check: Texas A&M is not a big frat school. (Yes I listened to the end). Not on the top 100 in Greek participation (from USNews), about 10% of the undergraduate population participates in Greek organizations. Compare to 24% (Auburn) or 30% (Oklahoma).

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    1. Sean

      Texas A&M is the closest thing to an actual cult I have ever come across.

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        Trevor Reid

        If you can tell me what “hullabaloo caneck caneck” means, I might be able to get you in.

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        1. Sean

          I'm married to an Aggie, so I don't think I need your help with that. When Jonah talked about A&M, I did know enough to think "no one goes to A&M for the Greek culture."

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            Trevor Reid

            My wife is married to an Aggie. She thinks it’s a cult.

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      Ben Connelly

      Or Washington and Lee: 80-90%

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    Christopher Hall

    Nice Hunt for Red October reference.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Christopher Hall

    I think Bannon’s stonewalling has more to do with burnishing his position as Lord High Protector of Trumpism than with executive privilege.

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