WaPo:
Five reasons Trump would have wanted Andrew McCabe fired
All available evidence suggests Trump wanted McCabe to be fired. But why, besides spiting a man the president Trump has pilloried as a deep-state enemy? There are several reasons:
Yep. Now back to our regularly scheduled APR.
Joshua Mound/TNR:
Resolving the Democrats’ False Choice
How the party can win both the “missing Obama millions” and the Obama-to-Trump voters
The belief underlying Hillary Clinton’s electoral strategy was that she was free to court white suburban moderates because Trump’s racism would translate into high support and turnout from African Americans and Latinos. But the election results proved otherwise. For decades, the Democratic Party has taken black voters—and voters of color, more broadly—for granted, believing that they had nowhere else to go. But as 2016 showed, they did have somewhere else to go: home. …
The white voters for whom racism trumps all are lost to Democrats. So there’s no sense, morally or politically, in the Democrats’ returning to Sister Souljah–style racial pandering to whites. But by combining racial and cultural progressivism with an economic platform that’s equal parts Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matter, Democrats can turn out Obama voters who stayed home in 2016 and win back some Obama-Trump voters.
I’m in.
Kansas City Star:
‘He’s ahead. Wake up.’ Kansas Republicans fear defeat in 2018 congressional race
The results in Pennsylvania are "definitely encouraging," said Davis, a Lawrence attorneyand former Kansas House minority leader.
"It shows that Democrats can win in red districts in this environment," he said.
Davis has campaigned as a centrist and, similar to Lamb, has said he will not vote for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, for House speaker.
Do those two together. We win
9% of Trump voters. Exactly what I have been saying. That’s about the limit of persuasion, though.
Jason Sattler/USA today:
Pennsylvania lesson for Democrats: Get angry at Trump & GOP, not your own candidates
If Democrats believe the more fevered warnings they’ve been making — that Trump is a historic threat to democracy, that the GOP Congress is more interested in obstructing justice for him than investigating him, that two more years of this will fry what’s left of our nerve endings — the upcoming elections aren’t just elections. They are a national emergency: the only possible way to put a keen eye on corruption, the Census and foreign intrusion in our elections.
That isn’t to say Democrats shouldn’t make demands on their candidates and run competitive primaries. There are more than 110 GOP-held districts that are more Democratic than Pennsylvania’s 18th. Few nominees will triangulate to the degree Lamb has. But in a historic crisis such as what we face now, differences of opinion shouldn’t be read as differences of principle. And true anger needs to end up focusing on defeating Republicans whenever there’s a chance to defeat Republicans.
Lee Drutman, Larry Diamond and Joe Goldman/NY Times:
Is Trump Giving Authoritarianism a Bad Name?
But a year into the Trump administration, Americans are rejecting authoritarian alternatives to democracy. In a new survey by the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, we found that the percentage of Americans who expressed support for a “strong leader who doesn’t have to bother with elections or Congress” fell to levels not seen since the mid-1990s. In particular, young people overwhelmingly reject authoritarian rule, despite concerns about a rising generation retreating from democracy (raised most prominently by Roberto Foa and Yascha Mounk).
Mr. Trump is almost certainly giving authoritarianism a bad name. Support for authoritarian rule declined most among Democrats and young people, while significantly increasing among Republicans.
So when it comes to American authoritarianism, perhaps the problem isn’t so much Mr. Trump as it is hyper-partisanship.
Vox:
A Princeton sociologist spent 8 years asking rural Americans why they’re so pissed off
Hint: it’s not about the economy.
Robert Wuthnow
I’m not sure that Washington is doing anything to harm these communities. To be honest, a lot of it is just scapegoating. And that’s why you see more xenophobia and racism in these communities. There’s a sense that things are going badly, and the impulse is to blame “others.”
They believe that Washington really does have power over their lives. They recognize that the federal government controls vast resources, and they feel threatened if they perceive Washington’s interest being directed more toward urban areas than rural areas, or toward immigrants more than non-immigrants, or toward minority populations instead of the traditional white Anglo population.
Sean Illing
But that’s just racism and cultural resentment, and calling it a manifestation of some deeper anxiety doesn’t alter that fact.
Robert Wuthnow
I don’t disagree with that. I’m just explaining what I heard from people on the ground in these communities. This is what they believe, what they say, not what I believe.
I’m not arguing it ain’t racism. I’m saying see it, figure a way to deal with it that isn’t throwing PoC under the bus.
Ed Rogers, as partisan as they come/WaPo:
As a Republican, I see a 12-alarm fire raging. Why can’t Trump?
To be clear, this is what a losing cycle looks like. And this is what a wake-up call sounds like. Everyone seems to see it and hear it except for President Trump. But Trump is the only person who can move the needle for Republicans right now. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have limits on the reach of their megaphones. They will do what they can to rally voters behind the Republican agenda, but only the bully pulpit of the presidency will make a real difference.
I’m not saying Trump’s judgment is bad, or that the Cabinet is in disarray, but nominating OJ Simpson for Dept. of Sports seems like a mistake.
In honor of the day:
When America Despised the Irish: The 19th Century’s Refugee Crisis
Today, 32 million Americans—10 percent of the country’s population—celebrate their Irish roots. There was a time, however, when the thought of Americans honoring all things Irish was unimaginable. This is the story of the prejudice encountered by refugees from Ireland’s Great Hunger and how those Irish exiles persevered to become part of the American mainstream.
In memorium: