John Cassidy's Blog, page 25

A Dystopian Night at the G.O.P. Convention

In the lobby of the hotel where the New Yorker contingent is staying in Cleveland, there is a framed photograph of a smiling Ronald Reagan, which is part of a charity auction. On returning late on Monday night after witnessing the first night of the Republican National Convention, I couldn’t help wondering about what Reagan would have thought of it all.

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Related:
Trump, Inspired by Nixon?
Republicans Accused of Plagiarizing Entire Convention Scenario from Book of Revelation
On the Floor at the Quicken Loans Arena

What Trump Needs to Achieve in Cleveland

The Republican Party’s 2016 Convention has just begun here in Cleveland, and the historical allusions are coming thick and fast. With the Party split and an insurgent candidate about to be nominated against a backdrop of violent incidents and rising public concern, some analysts see parallels to the tumultuous 1968 Democratic Convention, in Chicago. Others mention the 1964 Republican Convention, in Daly City, near San Francisco, where Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, a conservative ideologue, was nominated to the consternation of the party élite.* Or, perhaps, as David Frum suggested, in the Wall Street Journal, the correct analogy is to 1896, when William Jennings Bryan, the great prairie populist, electrified the crowd at the Democratic Convention, in Chicago, with his famous “Cross of Gold” speech.

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Related:
A Delegate’s Dissent at a Boring Convention
Mike Pence’s Free-Market Ideology: An Awkward Fit for Trump
Republican Delegates’ First Night in Cleveland

Seven Reasons It Made Sense for Donald Trump to Pick Mike Pence

Over the past couple of months, Donald Trump hasn’t done much right, but in picking Mike Pence, the staunchly conservative governor of Indiana, as his running mate, he probably made a wise choice. History suggests that Vice-Presidential candidates don’t make much, if any, difference to the outcome of Presidential elections, but here are some reasons why, from Trump’s perspective, Pence was the best bet:

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Related:
Trumpian Tactics After Nice
Furious Christie Refuses to Pick Up Trump’s Dry Cleaning
Being Honest About Trump

Hillary Clinton and the Opinion Polls: Is It Time to Panic?

In an age saturated by data and opinion polls, most people know, surely, not to take the results of any one survey too seriously. There are rogue polls that use unreliable methods, statistical outliers that reflect random-sampling errors, and polls that provide accurate snapshots but reflect temporary shifts in sentiment.

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Related:
Being Honest About Trump
Mike Pence and the Trump Veep Sweeps
Will the Iran Nuclear Deal Survive?

The Huge Challenge Facing Theresa May

Compared to the laborious process of replacing an American President, the British system of transferring power is very rapid. On Wednesday afternoon, David Cameron, the Prime Minister for the past six years, was driven from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace, where he submitted his resignation to the Queen, a formality that goes back centuries. About an hour later, the metal gates that separate Downing Street from Whitehall were opened again, this time to admit the new Prime Minister, Theresa May, who had also been to the Palace, where she had formally accepted the job that, as the new leader of the ruling Conservative Party, she was constitutionally entitled to take up.

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Related:
Hillary Clinton’s Scandal Mistake
The Rise of Theresa May and the Decline of British Politics
How the N.B.A.’s Salary Cap Favors Talent-Rich Teams

Bernie Sanders’s Fulsome Endorsement of Hillary Clinton

As one of the hosts and warmup acts at Portsmouth High School, in New Hampshire, on Tuesday morning, Senator Jeanne Shaheen seemed a bit unsure what to say, at least initially. “Go, Bernie, and go, Hillary, right?” she asked the crowd. Then she recovered, saying, “I am so thrilled to have Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders come together in New Hampshire so we can defeat Donald Trump.”

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Related:
Hillary Clinton’s Scandal Mistake
Bernie Sanders’s Philosophical Victory
Daily Cartoon: Friday, July 8th

Bernie Sanders’s Philosophical Victory

The news that Bernie Sanders will appear alongside Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday shouldn’t surprise anyone, except perhaps the most deluded “Bernie or bust” types. For months now, the Vermont senator has been declaring that he will do everything he can to defeat Donald Trump in November’s election, which is clearly a coded way of saying that he will endorse the Democratic candidate when he feels that the time is right.

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Related:
Daily Cartoon: Friday, July 8th
Airbnb-Tenant Reviews of the Candidates
Is Donald Trump Losing It?

“Our Country Is Better Than That”: Two Responses to Tragedy

“We are hurting,” David Brown, the chief of the Dallas Police Department, said at the beginning of a press conference on Friday morning. “Our profession is hurting. The Dallas officers are hurting. We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. All I know is that this must stop—this divisiveness between our police and our citizens.”

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Related:
The Silence and Violence of the N.R.A.
The Horrific, Predictable Result of a Widely Armed Citizenry
Three Terrible Days of Violence

Is Donald Trump Losing It?

Here are two news ledes that were written on Wednesday night about a speech that Donald Trump gave at a rally in Cincinnati. One of them appeared in a major newspaper; the other I made up.

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Related:
Southern Trouble for Donald Trump?
Henry Kissinger’s Tactical-Nuclear Shadow
A Damning Reprieve For Hillary Clinton

A Damning Reprieve For Hillary Clinton

Shortly after eleven on Tuesday morning, James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that his agency wouldn’t recommend criminal charges be brought against Hillary Clinton or any of her staff for mishandling classified information when she was Secretary of State.

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Related:
Henry Kissinger’s Tactical-Nuclear Shadow
Congressional Republicans Vote to Abolish F.B.I.
Things Donald Trump Has Said About Hillary Clinton That Could Double As My Tinder Bio