What You Need To Read About Politics 9/25 Edition
My roundup of the week's most important stories
The story of last week, this one — and likely most of the fall — is the mess that is the House of Representatives. The House spent last week flailing around doing absolutely nothing to prevent a government shutdown on October 1. The paralysis is entirely preventable, as I explained in a separate column. But given the importance of this topic — what it means for keeping the government open, what it tells us about the extremism of the GOP, and what it says about the ability of Congress to function, a bunch of the 29 links below address this situation.
I’ve selected pieces that cover the topic from every angle — big picture questions about the functionality of Congress, explanations of why the far right fringe essentially controls the House, discussions of the policy topics at play, and more. They also look at the ramifications of a government shutdown, whether it happens now or in a month or six weeks, as well as what this means for the GOP and its capacity for governance.
My goal is make sure you have the most up to date information on the situation, as well as good analysis from people who know Congress well.
But there are also other important topics that I don’t want to get lost in the shuffle. These include the behavior of the GOP in Texas, where the state senate acquitted the thoroughly corrupt MAGA-loving state attorney general, despite an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the state house impeaching him. Then we have an excellent column from Charlie Sykes on how it might backfire if Wisconsin Republicans follow through on their threats to impeach a newly elected state Supreme Court justice if she doesn’t recuse herself from cases on partisan gerrymandering.
These articles are further reminders that this is not your father or grandfather’s GOP. The party has moved from a center right one, to a conservative one, to a far right extremist one with zero commitment to democracy. And it’s critically important that Americans understand this to comprehend the disfunction in Washington and the polarization plaguing politics. It also explains why so many see 2024 as an existential election for American democracy.
I’ve also spotlighted two fascinating pieces by the New York Times’ Nate Cohn that delve into data on President Biden’s struggles with non-white voters, and the question of whether Donald Trump’s electoral college advantage is lessening. The numbers in both stories were fascinating, and Cohn provides a nuanced picture of where things stand and what might be behind some of the demographic shifts.
For the first time, I’ve included a piece that is history more than news. It’s a legendary column that turned 60 years old last week, and it’s worth your time reading. The column was a poignant, courageous missive by legendary journalist Eugene Patterson, then at the helm of the Atlanta Constitution. Patterson wrote in response to the white supremacist terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963 that killed four innocent children. The editor excoriated his fellow southerners for fomenting the hate that produced the bombing.
Why share this column in 2023? What resonated for me was how it blamed the people whose rhetoric sowed the hate, or who did nothing to stop it, more so than the bombers themselves. And it gets at one of my great worries about the state of our politics in 2023. Words have meaning, and many Republicans — and conservative media personalities — routinely stir up their base with red meat rhetoric about a deep state, a weaponized government, threats to the American way of life, and more that are exactly the sort of dangerous — and false — language that can produce violence.
They see this language as representing the concerns of their constituents. Cynically, they also understand that it’s politically beneficial and necessary for advancement in Donald Trump’s Republican Party. But Patterson’s poignant column is a warning to us from the past that such words have consequences. It’s a cautionary note to speak out against such rhetoric and to punish politicians who deploy it. It’s also a plea to our politicians to stop courting disaster.
Out of the 29 pieces I linked (plus a quote of the week, a tweet of the week, and a video clip of the week), maybe the two absolute must reads are both long reads.
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