Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.
We begin today with Zack Beauchamp of Vox, and his answer to the question “What makes the shoe salesman unique among GQP politicians?”
Trump’s celebrity charisma alone isn’t enough of an explanation. Otherwise, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would bestride the GOP like a colossus. Nor is Trump’s fawning coverage in the conservative media. Fox News has repeatedly tried to turn the Republican base away from Trump and toward figures like DeSantis, only to have to kiss the ring when the voters didn’t follow their lead.
The answer, at least as far as I can tell, is that Trump’s cult is the product of his unique ability to channel the cultural grievances at the heart of the current Republican Party.
Again and again, social scientists found that the best predictor of Trump support among Republican voters is the degree to which they feel discomfort with the changing nature of American demographics and social norms. Trump has sold himself as the only person capable of fighting back against the alleged elite conspiracy behind these changes, saying things like “I alone can fix it” and “I am your retribution.” From these building blocks, he has created a full-scale political movement dedicated to reconquering America.
Trump’s appeal isn’t premised on delivering concrete policy goals, nor even “owning the libs” with high-profile stunts. It is about assuaging the sense of fear and resentment at their America being replaced: about achieving victories that assuage the sense of psychological assault created by things like mass immigration, a Black president, shifting gender roles, and a beloved beer brand cutting an ad with a trans influencer. Donald Trump, as a figure, represents the America they know and love. His victories are their victories, his defeats their defeats.
Philip Bump of The Washington Post wonders what Elon Musk wants from Donald Trump.
Musk has already ruled out contributing to Trump’s campaign, writing on his social media site, X, that he was “not donating money to either candidate for US President.” There was little question that he was about to donate to President Biden, someone who on Tuesday he alleged had committed “treason” because … the president implemented a plan he announced in early 2023. And it’s very much in keeping with Musk’s uncomplicated persona that he would preemptively rule out aid to Trump.
Let’s say that all Musk had to offer was money. The worst way for Trump to secure it would be to sit Musk down and try to woo him, to bring him into the fold.
Musk, as has been robustly demonstrated very publicly over the past 16 months or so, insists upon convincing himself that he has discovered the answers on which he eventually lands. He is the archetype of the guy who “does his own research,” meaning he is the archetype of the guy who seizes on contrarian arguments that others have put forward. The 2024 Republican candidate who manifested this energy — an energy that is inseparable from hyperattentiveness to the online conversation — was Vivek Ramaswamy. And, true to form, Musk repeatedly expressed approval of Ramaswamy’s candidacy.
Musk doesn’t want Trump to be able to say that the Tesla CEO is on his team. Musk wants to be able to frame Trump as being on his. Just as he was able to get Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to announce his presidential candidacy on X or Twitter or whatever it was called in May. Just like Musk similarly played host to Ramaswamy in an online conversation (with not-terribly-helpful results). Musk wants to be in a position of power, and he seems dissatisfied with the power that comes from having lots of money.
Mike Cason of AL.com reports that the Alabama legislature has passed legal protections for clinics to perform IVF services and that Kay Ivey has signed that legislation.
Alabama lawmakers gave final passage Wednesday night to a bill intended to give legal protection to in vitro fertilization clinics after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling caused some to pause services.
Gov. Kay Ivey announced shortly after that she had signed the bill into law.
The House and Senate passed similar bills Tuesday. Proponents of the legislation worked to have both chambers agree on an identical bill Wednesday.
The House passed that bill, SB159 by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, by a vote of 81-12, with nine abstentions. The final step was for the Senate to concur and send to Ivey.
Shortly before 9 p.m., the Senate concurred by a vote of 29-1.
Laurie Roberts of The Arizona Republic summarizes what Sen. Kyrsten Sinema got wrong and right during her Senate tenure.
You’ve got to dance — at least on occasion — with the ones who brung ya, and too often, Sinema’s dance card was filled with Wall Street bigwigs and pharmaceutical giants.
I can’t remember the last time I saw her hobnobbing around Arizona with the hoi polloi.
“Kyrsten Sinema went from being a politician who listened to her constituents by having humans answer her phones, holding town meetings, having an email address where people could contact her to dropping a citizen proof firewall between her and her constituents,” one former Sinema supporter told me.
“Suddenly you couldn’t call and get a person or even send an email to her. Those of us who worked to get her elected felt shut out and used.”
That’s a sentiment you’ll hear a lot in the Grand Canyon State — along with the word “betrayed” from Democrats who were aghast when she held firm on the filibuster after Joe Biden’s election, refusing to allow progressive proposals to flow forth with a mere majority vote.
On Super Tuesday, national media eyes that looked toward California mostly focused on the U.S. Senate race. Gustavo Arrelano reports for The Los Angeles Times that disgraced Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León won a hard-fought bid for reelection Tuesday night … and then banned Arrelano (“that guy with the glasses”) from attending his campaign’s victory party.
No unions, elected officials or major community leaders publicly endorsed De León. It didn’t matter. Opponents had underestimated the grit and guile of someone who grew up poor, cut his teeth in the labor and immigrant rights movements and wasn’t about to leave the good life of politics just because a bunch of wokosos screamed at him. De León has spent the last year finally focusing on meat-and-potato issues — cleaning up streets, organizing food drives, finding shelter for the unhoused — instead of the blind ambition for higher office that had characterized so much of his career. He pounded the proverbial pavement and sent out so many city-funded, De León-branded mailers highlighting community resources and events — six times the amount of all the other council members combined, per the L.A. Public Press — that the U.S. Postal Service should give him a medal.
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For months, I had repeatedly asked [DeLeón’s communications director Pete] Brown and De León’s chief of staff, Jennifer Barraza, for an interview with De León to talk about the tape leak and my recent series on Latino political power in Los Angeles. They blew me off even though their boss freely speaks to my Times colleagues and other journalists. From what I hear, De León and his squad are angry at me because I have repeatedly said he should have resigned after the leaked tape and have also criticized his propensity to win a seat, then run for something more powerful.
It’s bad when a politician refuses to speak to the press, but it happens. It’s pathetic when one does so on election night, which is supposed to showcase our thriving democracy, with the free press as a cog in that engine.
If De León won’t allow the press to go inside his party, and sics a bunch of wannabe heavies on me just because I’ve written mean things about him, that shows he has learned nothing from the last year and a half except pettiness. Even former L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva — whom I savaged throughout 2022 as his career imploded — always took my questions and never banned me from any appearances, not even his primary night debacle that year. When a supposed progressive like De León makes Villanueva look good on anything, he should take a deep breath and wonder where it all went wrong.
Tom Phillips and Julian Borger of The Guardian report on Haiti gang boss Jimmy Chérizier and his demands of Haiti’s leadership—and the consequences if his demands are not met.
Wearing an olive green tactical vest and flanked by armed foot soldiers in balaclavas, the gang boss Jimmy Chérizier told reporters his country was staring into the abyss. “Either Haiti becomes a paradise or a hell for all of us,” declared Chérizier, a police officer turned gang leader whose nom de guerre is Barbecue.
“If Ariel Henry doesn’t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide,” added Chérizier.
Over the last six days gang fighters have released thousands of inmates from prisons and stormed and laid siege to strategic locations in the capital, Port-au-Prince, including two airports, police stations and a port. Nearly all flights in and out of the country’s main international airport have been cancelled, with gangs launching a renewed assault on the compound on Tuesday.
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Chérizier’s courting of the cameras stands in stark contrast to the almost total silence from Henry and members of his debilitated administration.
Finally today, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva writes for El País in English about how attacks on democratic nations can be prevented.
In recent decades, an exclusionary economic model has concentrated wealth among the very few and has widened disparities. Inequality has become fertile ground for extremism. When democracy fails to guarantee the well-being of citizens, figures who sell simplistic solutions to complex problems thrive, sowing distrust in the electoral process and political institutions.
We are facing a worrying rise in support for the extreme-right and its traditional tools to accelerate social disintegration: authoritarianism, violence, economic precariousness, climate denialism, hate speech, xenophobia, racism and misogyny. Fortunately, some of our societies have opted for governments that believe that the key to responding to attacks on democracy is to improve people’s lives.
This year, Brazil, once again, appears among the 10 largest economies in the world. The Brazilian economy grew by 2.9% over the past 12 months, while unemployment fell to 7.6%, the lowest rate since 2015. We expanded income transfer programs for the most vulnerable citizens and reestablished the minimum wage policy. We approved a tax reform that will finally correct the distortions that have been burdening those who have the lowest incomes with the highest taxes.
We were inspired by Spain to write a bill which guarantees workers’ rights: it was sent to the National Congress of Brazil this week. We reduced Amazon deforestation by 50% since my term began in January 2023, while supporting Spain’s efforts in the fight against desertification. At the national level, our governments are doing what needs to be done at the international level.
Making sure insurrectionists are appropriately prosecuted probably helps too.
Try to have the best possible day, everyone!