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565 lines
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<title>15 November, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Democrats Hold the Senate, and Republicans Face a Bitter Reckoning</strong> - The midterms saw Democrats outperform expectations, and highlighted the fissure between the establishment and MAGA wings of the Republican Party. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/democrats-hold-the-senate-and-republicans-face-a-bitter-reckoning">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The 2022 Midterm Elections: Live Results Map</strong> - The latest vote counts, news, and updates from the U.S. House, Senate, and gubernatorial races. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/midterm-election-2022/live-results-map-senate-house-governors-races">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Counting Through Conspiracy Theories in Arizona’s Midterms</strong> - On Tuesday, equipment malfunctioned at scores of polling places in Maricopa County, already a hotbed of election denialism. Would local officials be able to reassure the public? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/counting-through-conspiracy-theories-in-arizonas-midterms">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Fort Wayne Daisies’ Star Pitcher</strong> - Apart from the charm-school classes, Maxine Kline relished her time in the girls’ professional baseball league. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/afterword/the-fort-wayne-daisies-star-pitcher">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Math Became an Object of the Culture Wars</strong> - As was true in the nineties, today’s fights about math are not entirely about what kids actually learn in their classrooms. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-math-became-an-object-of-the-culture-wars">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The not-so-lame duck session</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rm4oAJ_wTlbGznUthfofS3kTc60=/757x0:6845x4566/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71630031/1241179775.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer during the Moms Demand Action Gun Violence Rally on June 8, 2022, in Washington, DC. | Nathan Howard/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Democrats are eyeing votes on same-sex marriage protections and electoral reforms.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FIYJk2">
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Though several races remain uncalled, it <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/10/23451445/house-election-results-democrats-majority">appears Republicans will likely gain control of the House</a>. And that means the next two months — also known as the lame-duck session — could well be Democrats’ last chance to use their unified control of Congress.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kuuJsU">
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Beyond must-pass bills like funding the government and authorizing defense spending, Democratic lawmakers are eyeing two big bills: legislation to enshrine protections for same-sex marriage into federal law, and a measure to reform the way Congress certifies election results.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EpXSGJ">
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In the last two decades, when congressional power changed hands, lame-duck sessions have been frenetic in large part because they’re the final opportunity for a party to accomplish some of their key priorities. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/21/nothing-lame-about-this-lame-duck-116th-congress-had-busiest-post-election-session-in-recent-history/">According to Pew</a>, these sessions have accounted for more than a quarter of Congress’s legislative output in recent terms.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XARhTF">
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Below is a rundown of a few of the bills Congress has on tap for its lame-duck session this year.
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</p>
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<h3 id="JpnEAj">
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Same-sex marriage protections
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mgOIKk">
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The Senate is expected to vote on same-sex marriage protections this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/14/schumer-gay-marriage-bill-senate/">announced on Monday</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vqq4Zb">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/15/23355400/senate-same-sex-marriage-vote-baldwin">Democrats postponed a vote on this bill</a> until after the midterms because they believed they’d be able to get more Republican votes once those lawmakers were less worried about alienating conservative Christian voters. Republicans said, in turn, that they would be more open to considering the legislation if it didn’t feel like it was being used for political messaging during the midterms.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OAA0t5">
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The bill would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, approved during President Bill Clinton’s administration, which defined marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman, and would guarantee recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages under federal law. The latest version of <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8404/text">the Respect for Marriage Act</a> also includes language intended to address Republican concerns about religious liberties.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="blXC24">
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The new legislation is both historic and central to guaranteeing same-sex marriage protections. It became a Democratic priority following an opinion from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in which he floated potentially revisiting <em>Obergefell v. Hodges, </em>the judicial decision that established such rights in 2015. The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em> has raised the possibility that the panel could do the same with other precedents.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OlLojX">
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“We’re very confident the bill will pass, but we will need a little more time,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) told reporters in September. Prior to leaving for recess, three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, and Rob Portman — had publicly signed on to the legislation, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski likely to do so, putting the bill shy of the 60-vote threshold it would need to clear a filibuster. <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/11/06/2022/senate-to-codify-marriage-equality">A person close to the negotiations, however, told Semafor</a> that they expect the bill to have enough votes to pass when it’s brought up.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xm8Xvh">
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A handful of Republicans including Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) had also previously said they would vote against the bill because they didn’t think these rights were being threatened.
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</p>
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<h3 id="Kotizj">
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Electoral Count Act reforms
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DZaAPe">
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There’s been a bipartisan push to reform <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/13/23344990/electoral-count-reform-act">the Electoral Count Act</a>,<strong> </strong>which lays out Congress’s role in counting electoral votes following a presidential election, though it’s still waiting on a vote in the Senate.<strong> </strong>This bill would update the ECA in a bid to prevent elected officials from using the process to overturn the election results, like former President Donald Trump attempted to do in 2021. Key reforms include clarifying the vice president’s role in the counting process as purely ceremonial and increasing the threshold of lawmakers it takes to challenge the results of an election. Currently, it takes just one Senate and one House member to object to a state’s outcome in order for Congress to consider and vote on the objection.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jxQjIx">
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In September, the House passed its version of these reforms and the Senate is likely to do the same in the coming weeks. At this point, more than 10 Republicans have expressed their support for the bill, a strong sign that it will pass. <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/13/23344990/electoral-count-reform-act">As Vox’s Ben Jacobs has explained</a>, these policies aren’t enough to guarantee that another January 6 won’t happen, though they can eliminate some legal loopholes bad actors may try to exploit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ukcun4">
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The Senate’s version of the bill differs from the House’s, however, so the lower chamber will probably have to consider the legislation again. One difference includes the threshold for challenging a state’s results: The House’s bill would require one-third of lawmakers in both chambers to sign on, while the Senate’s would require one-fifth of lawmakers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CxC1dC">
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The House could approve the Senate version after it’s passed, though the process could take longer if the two chambers seek to reconcile some of the differences in the bills.
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</p>
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<h3 id="LTwxSB">
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Funding the government
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iJGOYT">
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The deadline to keep the government open is now December 16, when a short-term spending bill passed earlier this year is due to expire.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="loRIkY">
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Lawmakers have the option of passing another short-term bill, also known as a continuing resolution, or the full-year appropriations bills that would fund different government agencies and programs. If they fail to do either, the government would shut down, furloughing employees and significantly curtailing certain services.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2gyYxJ">
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Key appropriations requests include more aid to Ukraine as well as pandemic aid to further the distribution of vaccines and medication. Both could see some Republican opposition, with the GOP split on additional support for Ukraine, and most of the party balking at additional money to address the pandemic.
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</p>
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<h3 id="hxWAHK">
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Authorizing defense spending
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="heNcqw">
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Another must-pass bill that Congress has to consider is the National Defense Authorization Act, which establishes funding allocations for the defense department.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S0silk">
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One issue that could come up related to the NDAA is the possible attachment of Sen. Joe Manchin’s permitting reform bill, which previously <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/13/23351561/joe-manchin-permitting-reforms-progressives-inflation-reduction-act">garnered opposition</a> from Republicans and progressive Democrats.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9VuEcv">
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This bill would streamline the approval process for fossil fuel and clean energy projects, and guarantee permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a natural gas project in West Virginia, Manchin’s home state. Progressives had pushed back on the legislation because of the inclusion of the pipeline and the concern that the approval process Manchin envisions would dilute communities’ opportunities to weigh in on these projects. Republicans, meanwhile, felt the reforms wouldn’t expedite projects enough, and also weren’t interested in giving Manchin a win following his support for the Inflation Reduction Act.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fpaGB1">
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It’s not yet clear whether Manchin will tweak his bill to address some of these concerns, or if it will have to be dropped yet again <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/27/23375059/joe-manchin-permitting-reform-progressives-republicans">after it wasn’t able to pick up sufficient votes in September</a>. But if he does want to put it forward again, trying to attach it to the NDAA may be his best shot to do so.
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</p>
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<h3 id="yOdwvc">
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(Maybe) raising the debt ceiling
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kZG6Aj">
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Democrats also have the chance to raise the debt ceiling and stave off a potentially calamitous stand-off that could happen next year if Republicans take the House.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FbKMzu">
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Increasing or suspending the debt ceiling (basically, the amount the US is able to borrow) is a routine action Congress has to take because if it doesn’t, the US could default on its bills and destabilize the country’s economy. Despite that, it’s a moment Republicans have indicated that they will use for leverage to secure cuts to funding for social programs and clean energy initiatives.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2UetbS">
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Democrats could prevent this from happening by approving a massive increase while they still control both the House and the Senate this year, though the US is not projected to hit the debt ceiling until sometime in 2023.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5wEPyv">
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Because of that timing, as well as Congress’s packed schedule, it’s not clear if they will get to that priority before next year.
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</p>
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<h3 id="g3U2Fp">
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Recent lame ducks have been pretty productive
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tSdf2O">
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Lame-duck sessions were once pretty sporadic affairs, though they’ve become much more common, and productive, in recent years.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PmrTQc">
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Since 2000, especially, a decent chunk of Congress’s output has actually taken place during lame-duck sessions, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/21/nothing-lame-about-this-lame-duck-116th-congress-had-busiest-post-election-session-in-recent-history/">per Pew</a>. During the last Congress, nearly 44 percent of what it passed — including a major coronavirus relief package — was approved during this session.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1kEMdi">
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Other active lame-duck sessions include 2010, when Democrats lost control of the House, and passed several major bills before they handed it over to Republicans. They repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and passed a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia and an extension of tax cuts established during the Bush administration, according to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/12/the-most-productive-lame-duck-since-wwii-and-maybe-ever/68442/">the Atlantic</a>. Prior to the shift in congressional power in 2019, Republicans also used the lame-duck session to approve the First Step Act, a groundbreaking criminal justice reform bill, as well as a reauthorization of the farm bill, which authorizes spending for Agriculture Department programs.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oMfDrr">
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This year is poised to be another busy lame-duck session, particularly as Democrats consider the looming change in House control that could be on the horizon.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Kevin McCarthy is so close to being speaker — and yet, so far</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Kevin McCarthy, in a black suit and red tie, looks to the left with a scowl on his face, against a dark orange background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lpCapqAEeXWcJGxpLRSJo7wI4F4=/0x0:3577x2683/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71629987/1326482809.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at a news conference in 2021 in Washington, DC. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker of the House, briefly explained.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QtYBCE">
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<a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/10/2022-midterms-kevin-mccarthy-is-the-man-in-the-maga-middle.html">Kevin McCarthy</a> has long wanted to be speaker of the House, and will likely be one step closer to that goal following Tuesday’s House GOP leadership elections. But the strategy he’s employed to realize his dream may turn it into a living nightmare.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HhjLgz">
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He spent the better part of the past two years crisscrossing the country in order to ensure that Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives in <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23448316/midterm-elections-2022-results-winners-losers">the 2022 midterms</a>. As the House Republican leader, he’s gone to rubber chicken dinners and fundraisers with buffet tables stacked high with shrimp cocktail across the country. He’s spent countless hours on the phone recruiting candidates and soliciting donations. As a result, he and his allies entered the midterms with about <a href="https://punchbowl.news/archive/11722-punchbowl-news-am/#:~:text=The%20McCarthy%20Machine%E2%80%99s%202022%20total%3A%20%24500%20million">half a billion dollars to spend</a> and a <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23329428/latina-republican-candidates-2022-red-wave">slate of candidates Republicans</a> were excited about.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WrZUij">
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He’s also had to walk a tightrope, trying to keep all factions of his party happy, balancing the needs of swing-district moderates with the desires of far-right Trump devotees. McCarthy excoriated former President Donald Trump on the floor of the House <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/13/mccarthy-trump-responsibility-capitol-riot-458975">a week after</a> the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Only weeks later, he went to Mar-a-Lago to mend fences and pose for a photograph with Trump.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bAmZj2">
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In the most literal sense, McCarthy succeeded. Republicans are almost certain to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/10/23451445/house-election-results-democrats-majority">hold an absolute majority</a> of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives in 2023.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yegA2g">
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But, he may still end up falling short of his ultimate goal of becoming speaker. Republicans are likely to have one of the smallest House majorities in recent history, made up of members with diverse ideologies and varying personal allegiances to McCarthy. The challenge for the California Republican is whether he can successfully tame the most recalcitrant members of his conference and get the 218 votes necessary on the floor of the House in order to achieve his long-cherished goal.
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</p>
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<h3 id="yHbktP">
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Who is Kevin McCarthy?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7opYks">
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McCarthy has been the leader of the House Republicans since 2019, after then-Speaker Paul Ryan decided not to run for reelection to Congress after two tumultuous years under President Trump. A Republican from Bakersfield, California, McCarthy was first elected to Congress in 2006, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2006/03/09/ways-and-means-and-a-price/81ae8cdc-11ff-4a77-8abf-bd45e8f61ad0/">succeeding longtime incumbent Bill Thomas</a>. McCarthy had been a staffer for Thomas before becoming a member of the California State Assembly, where he became minority leader in his first term.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mfdmh6">
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In Congress, McCarthy rose to power as a “Young Gun.” Along with Eric Cantor, who was then-Majority Leader John Boehner’s second in command, and Paul Ryan, McCarthy was seen as a rising GOP star. In 2014, after Cantor’s shocking primary loss, McCarthy became House majority leader, and in 2015, when Boehner resigned as speaker after a half-decade of frustration trying to manage the fractious Republican conference in the Tea Party era, McCarthy was poised to replace him.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tJBZni">
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But McCarthy faced a rebellion on the right, amplified by a gaffe he made on Fox News, where he boasted about the damage that the select committee on Benghazi was doing to Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers. McCarthy withdrew from the contest and remained majority leader while Ryan eventually became speaker as a consensus candidate.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x9zDKw">
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Now, if he can hold his conference together, he’s poised to finally become speaker himself.
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</p>
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<h3 id="sdKDcv">
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What does McCarthy need to do to become speaker?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ewRbR">
|
||
The simple answer is: get 218 votes on the floor of the House in January. Speaker of the House is one of a handful of offices explicitly named in the Constitution, and it is elected by the entire chamber.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x93nJ2">
|
||
But it may not actually be that simple. While there will almost certainly be at least 218 Republicans in the House next year, as of now, there may not be 218 Republicans willing to vote for McCarthy on the floor.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l93y98">
|
||
McCarthy is expected to handily win a vote within the Republican conference to be their party’s choice for speaker on Tuesday. The question is how many members back Rep. Andy Biggs, the Congress member from Arizona just elected to a fourth term, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/midterm-elections-congress-house-results/card/conservative-andy-biggs-to-challenge-kevin-mccarthy-for-house-speaker-8YmJ9ptlkPVl5rlNdvbP">who is expected to run</a> as a stalking horse for members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cEwpcJ">
|
||
Tuesday’s initial vote will allow both McCarthy and his critics to put their cards on the table — and allow for nearly two months of wheeling and dealing.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DBmL5I">
|
||
The narrow Republican majority gives McCarthy’s critics a lot of leverage; he needs their votes to become speaker and it gives them the power to make demands of him.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5QurM3">
|
||
Most of those opposed to McCarthy are in the Freedom Caucus, which will have roughly three dozen members in the next Congress. Their demands largely involve a variety of changes to House procedure that would weaken the speaker and empower rank-and-file members.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UMQhvJ">
|
||
Going back to John Boehner’s tenure, rank-and-file right-wingers have griped that establishment Republicans in leadership have ignored them to reach bipartisan deals that have been insufficiently conservative. The dissidents in the Freedom Caucus want to change the rules to prevent this from happening in the future.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4QM68F">
|
||
The most freighted proposal offered by conservatives is changing the House rules on who can offer a motion to vacate the chair — essentially, who can trigger a vote to remove the speaker and hold elections for a new one.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zjmYST">
|
||
Until recently, House rules allowed <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/When_was_the_%22motion_to_vacate_the_chair%22_rule_last_used_in_Congress">any member to offer the motion</a>. It was through this parliamentary procedure that Rep. Mark Meadows, who went on to become Trump’s chief of staff, forced Boehner out in 2015.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DaRW9v">
|
||
After Democrats took over the House in 2017, they changed the rules so that only members of either party’s leadership could offer the motion. McCarthy’s opponents want to change that, which would give them significant leverage — particularly in such a closely divided House.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T43vJw">
|
||
Other changes they want would give rank-and-file members more influence over who becomes a committee chair and how members get assigned to committees.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="uPmqkY">
|
||
Will McCarthy actually become speaker?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YnTt6N">
|
||
At this point, there is still a broad range of possibilities for what happens when Congress votes on the next speaker on January 3.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ssc98A">
|
||
After all, we still don’t know just how slim the Republican majority will be, or who will be in it. Further, for all the attention paid to the Freedom Caucus, there is an equally numerous bloc of moderates within the House Republican Conference who are <a href="https://twitter.com/Olivia_Beavers/status/1592213874027253766">already looking askance</a> at the efforts to change the rules.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8o6Ij0">
|
||
All that said, it’s <a href="https://history.house.gov/People/Office/Speakers-Multiple-Ballots/">been 100 years</a> since an election to choose the speaker has required multiple ballots, and while McCarthy may have issues getting 218 votes from House Republicans, it’s unclear if there is anyone who would do any better. Other members of leadership, like current House Minority Whip <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3727731-scalise-announces-bid-for-house-majority-leader/">Steve Scalise</a>, would face the same resistance from the hard right, whereas a Freedom Caucus ally like <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/19/jim-jordan-gop-majority-00062411">Rep. Jim Jordan</a> might cause a backlash from moderates.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IAI8oW">
|
||
And Republicans, no matter how they feel about McCarthy, do have an incentive to fall in line. There is always the looming alternative that a handful of Republicans could unite with Democrats voting as a bloc to pick someone far more distasteful to the right than McCarthy. As Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene <a href="https://twitter.com/CatieEdmondson/status/1592178067086413824">worried in an interview</a> on Monday, “Do we want to see that challenge open the door to Pelosi handing the gavel to [someone like] Liz Cheney?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LKBM9K">
|
||
Then again, McCarthy has fallen short of being speaker once before.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>What Trump vs. DeSantis says about the future of the American right</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="On the left, former President Donald Trump, looking down, and on the right, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, looking to the left. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2ZsTCkKvCkVnhAvDZdx2Yh0vwFA=/236x0:3436x2400/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71629913/headshots_1668459114879.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis illustrate a divide in the Republican Party. | Jeff Swensen/Getty Images; Joe Raedle/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
DeSantis’s governing style isn’t a break with Trumpism, but its evolution.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6E1rko">
|
||
This evening, former President Donald Trump will announce his candidacy for the presidency in 2024 — the Fort Sumter moment in the Republican Party’s looming civil war. On the one side, Trump and his hardcore supporters; on the other, a Republican establishment that’s doing its damnedest to prop up Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a viable alternative in 2024.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1FVbuK">
|
||
That’s the narrative that’s <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/11/republican-elite-moves-against-trump-behind-ron-desantis.html">sprung up in the political press</a> since the midterms, at any rate, and for good reason. It really does appear that the Republican establishment is tired of Trump and are using the midterms as a pretext to try to topple him from the party throne.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IrhU61">
|
||
Yet this framing also skates over something important: that a DeSantis victory in 2024 would not, in any sense, represent a return to Republican pre-Trump normalcy or the triumph of the “<a href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1591814031844986880">traditional GOP</a>,” as some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/14/desantis-normal-republican/">observers</a> see it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rXbBco">
|
||
The Florida governor, who won a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/13/23454213/desantis-trump-2024-president-republican">blowout victory</a> in his reelection bid last week, is not a Republican cut from the Bush-Cheney-Romney cloth. He represents <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/4/28/23037788/ron-desantis-florida-viktor-orban-hungary-right-authoritarian">an evolution of Trumpism</a>, a new way of channeling the illiberal populist forces unleashed by the former president’s rise to power in 2016.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zRaR7J">
|
||
His ascendancy as Trump’s principal challenger represents not the return of the GOP establishment, but its adaptation to the insurgency that defeated it six years ago. His model is less John McCain or Mitt Romney, the last two GOP nominees before Trump, than <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/4/28/23037788/ron-desantis-florida-viktor-orban-hungary-right-authoritarian">Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban</a> — a leader who, after being elected in 2010, proceeded to use his right-wing populist ideology <a href="https://www.vox.com/22547228/hungary-orban-lgbt-law-pedophilia-authoritarian">as a cover for authoritarian power grabs</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WA5yzT">
|
||
This is not to say that Trump and DeSantis are identical. In fact, they represent two related but distinct versions of American right-wing populism: Trump its wild id, DeSantis its more calculating and intellectualized ego. If one looks closely at which prominent conservatives and media voices are backing which candidate, these subtle distinctions become clearer — pointing to the different ways that these two figures threaten liberal-democratic norms.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s6siLF">
|
||
These distinctions are real, important, and, as an intellectual matter, quite interesting. But they should not obscure what this matchup really represents.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nZpuKK">
|
||
DeSantis versus Trump is not normalcy versus radicalism. It’s American Orbánism versus the berserk.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="DAk3I0">
|
||
DeSantis became Trump’s chief rival because of their similarities, not differences
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KwwMye">
|
||
Tuesday’s election results, where DeSantis and fellow Florida Republicans won handily while Trump-backed candidates floundered across the country, created the conditions for a clash between the two men. Somewhat ironically, DeSantis owes his current prominence to a Trump endorsement in the last midterm elections.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R5WMN7">
|
||
Back then, Ron DeSantis was a Congress member with little national profile, fresh off the heels of an abortive primary challenge to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-florida-senate/florida-congressman-ron-desantis-running-for-u-s-senate-idUKKBN0NR1S420150506">in the 2016 cycle</a>. Running for governor in 2018, DeSantis positioned himself as the Trumpy choice in the race — an insurgent challenger aiming to unseat the GOP establishment’s choice, then-Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. He sought, and received, loud public backing from the president.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vSJLAHEkjn-czwzp_sRJpcANu-0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24196518/GettyImages_1055820228.jpg"/> <cite>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Then-President Donald Trump greets erstwhile Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis during a campaign rally in Estero, Florida, in 2018.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c9nROG">
|
||
“Congressman Ron DeSantis is a brilliant young leader … He loves our Country and is a true FIGHTER!,” Trump tweeted in December 2017. At campaign rallies, DeSantis would <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/06/22/trump-tweets-full-endorsement-of-desantis/">read Trump’s tweet verbatim on stage</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AXnMyR">
|
||
When DeSantis triumphed, despite being <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/08/28/as-adam-putnams-rising-star-fades-his-supporters-blame-one-person-trump/">considerably outspent by Putnam</a>, national media covered it as one of several examples of the Trumpian wave sweeping the Republican Party. “Trump strengthens grip on the GOP as Ron DeSantis triumphs in Florida governor primary,” went <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/29/florida-primary-results-ron-desantis-win-shows-trump-grip-on-gop.html">a representative headline published by NBC News</a>. It was obvious to most that DeSantis was Trump’s disciple: one of many mini-Trumps around the country, attempting to ride the populist energy that had propelled Trump to the GOP’s commanding heights.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8c1VNv">
|
||
DeSantis’s facility for playing the Trumpist game — his seemingly unique ability to be almost more Trumpy than Trump himself — is a key part of why he’s emerged as the former president’s chief rival today.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ts3AuG">
|
||
At the height of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, the Florida governor capitalized on Republican rage against masking, school closures, and restrictions on gathering — keeping Florida as open as he could, positioning the state as what he would later describe as “<a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/ron-desantis-gives-victory-speech-after-re-election-as-florida-governor-transcript">a refuge of sanity when the world went mad</a>.” The wisdom of these policies is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/the-curious-case-of-floridas-pandemic-response/618360/">tricky to suss out</a>, even in hindsight: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-05-07/california-versus-florida-a-covid-reckoning?leadSource=uverify%20wall&sref=qYiz2hd0">the available data suggests</a> Florida’s approach may indeed have produced a swifter economic recovery, but at the cost of more Covid-19 deaths (particularly among young people). The data on whether the decision to reopen schools earlier helped keep <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/10/24/pandemic-learning-loss-naep-tests/">learning loss</a> down appears mixed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uH8b6i">
|
||
DeSantis’s stance on vaccination is both more radical and less substantively defensible. After the rollout, he evolved into the highest-profile Republican official <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/06/ron-desantis-florida-children-under-5-covid-vaccine-only-governor-ladapo.html">to court support from anti-vaxxers</a> — <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-benefits-of-vaccinating-kids-against-covid-far-outweigh-the-risks-of-myocarditis1/">falsely</a> saying that “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/16/politics/desantis-covid-vaccines-children-under-5/index.html">risks outweigh the benefits</a>” when it comes to vaccinating kids under 5, and appointing <a href="https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/11/04/florida-surgeon-general-joseph-ladapo-podcast-vaccine-falsehoods/8259063001/">a surgeon general who has discouraged</a> men under 40 from getting MRNA vaccines. In this, he outflanked even Trump, who has long <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-operation-warp-speed-vaccine-summit/">attempted to claim credit</a> for vaccine development via Operation Warp Speed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1jDbMQ">
|
||
That DeSantis’s Covid approach prompted howls of outrage from liberals and public health officials was a feature, not a bug. The Florida governor, like no other politician, understood a key element of Trump’s success: that Republican voters wanted someone who would “own the libs” as hard and as publicly as possible. The more angry they got, the more Republicans would come to adore him.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MQlg5u">
|
||
And his lib-owning was accomplished through <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/11/the-desantis-difference/">concrete policies</a>, ones <a href="https://newsadvance.com/opinion/columnists/goldberg_jonah/jonah-goldberg-future-of-the-gop-may-hinge-on-florida/article_647dd1ee-a1e2-11eb-be43-e307261d3f3c.html">even some Trump-skeptical Republicans admired,</a> as opposed to Trump’s diatribes and angry tweets. In April 2021, one anonymous DeSantis ally described the governor’s approach as “competent Trumpism” in an interview with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/10/us/politics/ron-desantis-republican-trump.html">the New York Times</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5UViLh">
|
||
DeSantis’s Trumpism, like the original flavor, contained a healthy dose of hostility to basic liberal-democratic norms. After Florida voters passed a ballot initiative in 2018 that would end felon disenfranchisement, DeSantis signed a bill that would <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/when-will-desantis-listen-to-his-own-voters-on-ex-felons-voting-rights">require felons to pay outstanding fines</a> in order to vote — a poll tax, in effect, linked to debts <a href="https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/a-government-official-helped-10-florida-men-with-felony-convictions-register-to-vote-32157665">so opaque and/or punitive</a> that many could not feasibly pay them. In 2020, the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/amendment-4-is-still-on-the-line-heres-whats-new">ACLU argued</a> that his law would functionally disenfranchise “hundreds of thousands” Floridians.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d6BFa6">
|
||
While not explicitly declaring the 2020 election stolen, DeSantis will not condemn “stop the steal” conspiracy theories <a href="https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/gov-desantis-refuses-to-answer-whether-he-thinks-2020-election-was-rigged/">when asked by reporters</a>. He <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/17/desantis-wont-say-if-2020-was-rigged-but-hes-campaigning-for-republicans-who-do-00052266">campaigned for hardcore deniers like Pennsylvania’s Doug Mastriano</a> and, on the anniversary of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, downplayed its severity and <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/01/06/on-jan-6-anniversary-desantis-disputes-that-capitol-attack-was-an-insurrection/">mocked the media for continuing to focus on the day’s events</a>. In advance of the 2022 elections, he allocated over a million dollars in state funds to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/08/us/politics/florida-election-police-budget.html">new police unit</a> dedicated to investigating “voter fraud,” including violations of his pay-to-vote bill. The squad found <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/floridas-election-police-come-empty">virtually no actual crime</a> but may have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-voting-rights-florida-crime-arrests-31f2ed111f69f11950f745da9183f0cf">worked to deter lawful voters</a> from showing up at the polls.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ycgNvt">
|
||
When Florida’s state legislature drew fairer election maps for the House in 2022, DeSantis vetoed them — demanding more Republican-tilted maps. He got <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/ron-desantis-florida-redistricting-map-scheme">what he wanted</a>, delivering a multi-seat rightward swing that could yet make the difference in <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/10/23451445/house-election-results-democrats-majority">the exceptionally tight battle for the speaker’s gavel</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qsq8Lnxui97Cza7bZ0ZFBd35WHo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24196722/GettyImages_1439068257a.jpg"/> <cite>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rallies the crowd during a “Don’t Tread on Florida Tour” campaign event in Coconut Creek, Florida, on November 4.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qxPx1Q">
|
||
But nowhere is the Trumpian cast of DeSantis’s politics clearer than in his war on “wokeness,” which has replaced Covid skepticism as his political raison d’etre.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0OSpnP">
|
||
In early 2022, the governor and his allies pushed through <a href="https://pen.org/these-4-florida-bills-censor-classroom-subjects-and-ideas/">a vague and broadly worded bill</a> that empowers both the state and private citizens to go after schools that teach about LGBTQ identity. This “Don’t Say Gay” law prompted criticism from many sectors of the country, including a high-profile objection from Disney — prompting DeSantis to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/22/florida-gov-desantis-signs-bill-revoking-disneys-special-district-status.html">retaliate against the Florida-based corporation</a>. He signed a bill to strip the corporation of its special tax status in a 40-square-mile area around Disney World, <a href="https://www.vox.com/23036427/ron-desantis-disney-first-amendment-constitution-supreme-court">an explicit act of punishment</a> against the company exercising its speech rights.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pQA98J">
|
||
The Disney incident, one of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/4/28/23037788/ron-desantis-florida-viktor-orban-hungary-right-authoritarian">many examples</a> of DeSantis’s culture warfare veering <a href="https://theconversation.com/ron-desantis-dropping-migrants-off-on-marthas-vineyard-may-be-illegal-an-immigration-lawyer-explains-why-190899">into illiberal territory</a>, echoed some of Trump’s actions as president. The most notable is Trump’s <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house">reported attempt</a> to block AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner because he hated CNN’s coverage of his campaign and administration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yBD6n1">
|
||
But Trump failed to follow through on such corporate punishment, whereas DeSantis actually made good on his threats (<a href="https://news.bloombergtax.com/tax-insights-and-commentary/the-contractual-impossibility-of-unwinding-disneys-reedy-creek?context=search&index=1">at least until the courts intervene</a>). This is the essence of what DeSantis boosters mean when they talk about “competent Trumpism”: that the governor is equally committed to owning the libs as the former president, but better at actually using power to hurt them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="imrZlL">
|
||
DeSantis, in short, does not represent a sharp break with Trumpian illiberalism. If anything, his rise proves that the GOP has fully internalized its basic premises.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="yTV8XU">
|
||
Orbánism versus the berserk
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U5la9o">
|
||
But while DeSantis’s ideology may be an offshoot of the Trump phenomenon, that does not make the two equivalent. In fact, the two men represent different species of right-wing illiberalism.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zQtenT">
|
||
Trump’s political career has been characterized by what Philip Roth memorably termed “the indigenous American berserk.” Trumpism was less an ideology, replete with doctrines and policy positions, than a political messiah complex: a belief that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/07/15/1015877795/how-it-went-down-authors-go-deep-into-doomed-2020-trump-white-house">Trump alone can fix America</a> once given sufficient power to destroy his many enemies. On the basis of this appeal, the former president built up a fanatical group of supporters — including <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/9/21504910/qanon-conspiracy-theory-facebook-ban-trump">a very literal cult of personality</a> — that the Republican establishment has proven unable to pry from his hands. He had the juice to convince thousands to charge the barricades on January 6, a level of violent devotion without compare in the modern history of American politics.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vWNQFu">
|
||
Trumpism’s berserk nature rendered it ineffectual as a governing doctrine, a reflection of its namesake’s well-known disinterest in policy details and implementation. But it also made Trumpism unpredictable, capable of threatening the norms of American politics in ways few thought possible. The January 6 insurrection is of course the most vivid example, as is the entire election-denying project that underpinned it: both were frontal assaults on the way of doing things in American politics.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zczoFzVWGii4ToQqWv3aSlvz3fg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24196784/AP21073756382816.jpg"/> <cite>John Minchillo/AP</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Rioters supporting former President Donald Trump storm the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5KbN49">
|
||
Trump’s value proposition in 2024 is that only he can harness the energy of the berserk for the Republican Party. He promises not only a continued fixation on the 2020 election, but a continued war on the legitimacy of any important election won by a Democrat. Trump’s behavior in the past week — where he has <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109342885938600238">repeatedly</a> claimed that Democrats <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109328939122099122">are stealing</a> elections in Nevada and Arizona — shows that past is prologue. A Trump candidacy in 2024 means more chaos: a crisis of election legitimacy if he loses, a <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/23/donald-trump-news-schedule-f-executive-order">wholesale attack on the foundations of the federal government</a> if he wins.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vCiPor">
|
||
While DeSantis has shown no interest in confronting Trump’s most chaotic outbursts, he doesn’t really seem to mimic them either. His style is less warfare than lawfare: destroying his enemies not through violence and public humiliation but by wielding policy as a weapon in culture wars.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tjTVRF">
|
||
In this, DeSantis resembles no one more than <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/13/17823488/hungary-democracy-authoritarianism-trump">Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán</a>. Orbán, a lawyer by training, has developed a model of authoritarianism as subtle as it is effective. He has managed to politicize virtually every element of governance to tighten his hold on power, creating a political environment where the opposition is on such an uneven playing field that he has no need to abolish elections or even stuff ballot boxes. Orbán’s power grabs are often justified in culture-war terms: necessary steps to control the cultural and financial hegemony of the international left. This cultural appeal helps him to retain genuine popularity among a significant segment of the Hungarian electorate, something that DeSantis can also claim of the Florida voting public.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5M2rcp">
|
||
The Florida governor has also demonstrated a strikingly similar interest in using culture-war policy fights to assail the sources of his opponents’ political strength, on issues ranging from LGBTQ rights to higher education to social media policy. In fact, there’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/4/28/23037788/ron-desantis-florida-viktor-orban-hungary-right-authoritarian">some evidence</a> that DeSantis’s notorious “Don’t Say Gay” bill was modeled, at least in part, on a Hungarian policy limiting LGBTQ free expression rights.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="26RkYz">
|
||
In <a href="https://forgeorganizing.org/article/organizing-against-autocracy-us-erica-chenoweth-and-zoe-marks">a recent interview,</a> Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth warned that DeSantis’s governing record in Florida resembles some steps that “electoral authoritarians” like Orbán use to consolidate power. Chenoweth is most concerned by the efforts to disenfranchise felons and crack down on “voter fraud,” but notes a number of other troubling examples:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ybhemI">
|
||
DeSantis also signed a law that aggressively restricts the ability of people to submit others’ absentee ballots, which upended long-standing community organizations’ efforts to make it easier for working people and people with disabilities to vote. Along with partisan redistricting that dramatically reduces competition and representation, limits on expression in public schools, harsh penalties for various forms of protest, and trafficking immigrants as a political stunt with impunity, for example, we can see the hallmarks of electoral authoritarianism.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NNgkGd">
|
||
The comparison to Hungary is not mere liberal slander. Rod Dreher, a prominent conservative pundit and one of Orbán’s biggest stateside fans, has <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/ron-desantis-viktor-orban/">suggested that</a> “maybe Florida is becoming our American Hungary.” Not coincidentally, Dreher <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-red-wave-that-wasnt/">concluded after the midterms</a> that “DeSantis’s smashing Florida victory last night makes him the head of the conservative movement.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="332dhY">
|
||
In this, Dreher is speaking for a broad swath of so-called “national conservative” or “New Right” intellectuals: the pundits and academics who have dedicated themselves to theorizing a new kind of American conservatism compatible with the populist sentiment unleashed by Trump. This corner of the right, where the culture war is paramount and Orbán is seen as a model, believes DeSantis better embodies the qualities they admired in Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z83Wil">
|
||
“DeSantis knows how to fight the culture war as media combat, but more importantly, he knows how to fight the culture war as public policy,” <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1590403102410436608">Christopher Rufo</a>, the New Right’s leading activist, wrote last Wednesday. “He lays out the agenda, passes the legislation, and governs the state. Substance is ultimately more important than style.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/umqaRWaBmy9ANQgNxsfimxjZUgc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24196762/GettyImages_1244571459a.jpg"/> <cite>Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Supporters of LGBTQ rights protest against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outside a campaign event in Fort Myers, Florida, on November 6. In 2022, DeSantis and his allies pushed through a bill that empowers the state and private citizens to go after schools that teach about LGBTQ identity.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fg57gJ">
|
||
Others took less subtle digs at the Donald after the election. “I would vastly prefer unity right now over in-fighting and sniping. But that’s up to Trump. If he continues his ego-driven meltdown, he’ll drag the whole movement into this shit and nobody comes out better for it,” <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1591121730017570817">tweeted right-wing pundit Matt Walsh</a>, referring to Trump’s tirade against DeSantis in the wake of his midterm victory.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CB1pUO">
|
||
The contrast with Trump’s post-midterm defenders is instructive. One of the most notable has been Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Congress member who became famous for controversial statements and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/politics/matt-gaetz-sex-trafficking-investigation.html">high-profile scandal</a>. Gaetz is a showman who revels in the Trumpian berserk; chaos is where he thrives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GWKE9N">
|
||
His case for Trump, laid out in a November 9 <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2022/11/09/opinion-america-needs-trump-back-in-the-white-house-gaetz/">op-ed for the Daily Caller</a>, implicitly argues that elevating his state’s governor over Trump would be a concession to the Washington elite:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hmHqV2">
|
||
Just look at who is lined up against Trump already in the 2024 primary. It’s folks like Paul Ryan or billionaire mega-donor Ken Griffin, who is planning to back a Trump challenge. Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/06/gop-megadonor-desantis-24-ken-griffin-00065274">reports</a> Griffin “wants to … blunt the vein of populism that has complicated the party’s relationship with the corporate world.” This is why a Trump 2024 run is so necessary. We know that he will continue to disrupt and serve the people against the Swamp. …
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="92eFgg">
|
||
We would be giving up by not having Trump as the Republican nominee in 2024. It would be a reward to the scumbags on the January 6 Committee and all of those who are aligned against our movement.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d58TAk">
|
||
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), an even more <a href="https://www.vox.com/22256258/marjorie-taylor-greene-jewish-space-laser-anti-semitism-conspiracy-theories">authentically berserk figure</a>, argued <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1591065338539831296">on Twitter</a> that “losing a strong Republican governor early [because] consultants who make a fortune from campaigns are urging them to run for president, hurts our country overall.” In her thread, she specifically name-checks Florida as <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1591065335654154240">a state where Republicans should focus on</a> “keeping [the governor] in place.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f4FJ76">
|
||
The substance of the arguments for Trump or DeSantis is in some ways less revealing than the identity of the advocates themselves. On the one hand, you have those on the right who dream of Budapest on the Potomac; on the other, congressional bomb-throwers who enjoy nothing more than battling the left under the ring lights. Each represents a different vision of how to challenge the American political status quo, to pull it in a more illiberal and less democratic direction.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uw1uOG">
|
||
Elements of this radicalism <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/6/23144343/end-of-conservatism-roe">have always been a part of the conservative movement</a>. Prior to Trump, there was a sense among many that the “responsible” elite could prevent things from going too far.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eG0WMW">
|
||
That they are now backing a figure as illiberal as DeSantis proves that this guardrail has completely fallen off — if it was ever in place to begin with.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Arjun and Praggnanandhaa suffer opening round losses</strong> - Sports Bureau</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2023 retention live updates | Pollard announces retirement; Williamson (SRH), Bravo (CSK), Agarwal (PBKS) among released players</strong> - 5 p.m. was the deadline for the teams to finalise their squads before going into the mini auction</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Zuccarelli excels</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Omega Man, Victoria Punch, Multifaceted, Ricardo, Cat Whiskers and Saigon please</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>At G-20 meet, FIFA boss urges ceasefire in Ukraine during World Cup</strong> - Speaking during a lunch with leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) major economies in Bali, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the month-long FIFA World Cup in Qatar offered a unique platform for peace.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>C.T. Ravi defends ‘saffron politics’</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kerala becomes the first State to release an antibiogram</strong> - The antibiogram for 2021 has been formed by collating antimicrobial resistance surveillance data from 18 sentinel sites across nine districts</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tiruvannamalai gears up for Maha Deepam festival</strong> - Police identify 23 sensitive spots in the town where 266 CCTV cameras, including 97 on girivalam path, have been installed to ensure safety of visitors; 57 watch towers are being set up at intersections, busy stretches</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>No MVD sittings on Wednesdays from November 16, except for licence cancellation</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Special campaign for dengue prevention in Thiruvananthapuram</strong> - The campaign was kicked off on November 14 and will continue till November 26. This year, the district has reported 681 dengue cases and six deaths.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine: Zelensky snubs Russia as he addresses ‘G19’ at G20</strong> - Ukraine’s president called on world leaders to end the war, and extend a crucial grain deal.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russian anger as UN calls for reparations over invasion of Ukraine</strong> - In a largely symbolic move, the UN found that Russia should be held accountable for its conduct.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mondrian painting sells for record $51m at auction</strong> - A 1930s painting by the Dutch artist has sold for $51m (£43m) in New York - a record for his work.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Magaluf: ‘I was almost killed by a bouncer while on holiday’</strong> - Josh Pesticcio, 24, says he was “brutally attacked” by club doorman on the Spanish island of Majorca.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Zambia demands answers for death of student Lemekhani Nyirenda</strong> - Lemekhani Nyirenda was serving a nine-year prison sentence when he went off to fight for Russia.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Project Volterra” review: Microsoft’s $600 Arm PC that almost doesn’t suck</strong> - There’s a reason it isn’t a Surface PC, but it’s good for its intended purpose. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1893810">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google settles “Location History” lawsuit with 40 states, will pay $392 million</strong> - Google also promises to change the Location History settings again. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1897732">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Report: Apple’s mixed reality headset is just a few months away</strong> - The device could be announced as soon as January. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1897608">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>As more brands pull out of Twitter, SpaceX buys big Twitter ad package</strong> - SpaceX has spent more than $160,000 on Twitter so far. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1897737">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How researchers used CRISPR gene editing to send immune cells after cancer</strong> - New trial has limited effect on cancer, but technology is likely to see further use. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1897734">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>These two cannibals are sitting by the campfire having dinner. One says " I can’t stand my mother in law".</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The other says " so , just eat the potatoes".
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/guidasantos3"> /u/guidasantos3 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yvkxz4/these_two_cannibals_are_sitting_by_the_campfire/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yvkxz4/these_two_cannibals_are_sitting_by_the_campfire/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Girl in a super market says to a guy.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Girl: Hi there:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Guy: Do I know you?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Girl: I think you’re the Father of one of my Kids:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Guy: are you the stripper that I made love to on the pool table while all my buddies were watching?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Girl: No I’m your Sons Kindergarten Teacher.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yv9ma3/girl_in_a_super_market_says_to_a_guy/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yv9ma3/girl_in_a_super_market_says_to_a_guy/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Four cannibals apply for a job in a big corporation…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
„Well“, says the boss, „if I hire you guys, you have to promise to not eat any of our staff.“
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The cannibals promise that they will not eat anyone and get hired.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Everything is going well for a while, and one day the boss calls them into his office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“You’re working well and all, but we’re missing an office cleaner. Do you have something to do with that?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The cannibals swear that they are innocent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The boss believes them and leaves the office and they all turn to their leader.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“You idiots!”, he screams. “Who ate the cleaner?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
One of the cannibals sheepishly raises his hand.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“You fool!”, shouts the leader. “For weeks we’ve been feasting on directors, team leaders, project managers and human resource staff, and then you go and eat someone they’ll actually miss!”
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</p>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/lillifusilli"> /u/lillifusilli </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yuwowc/four_cannibals_apply_for_a_job_in_a_big/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yuwowc/four_cannibals_apply_for_a_job_in_a_big/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>Steve’s Place.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Last week, we took some friends to a new restaurant called “Steve’s Place”, and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket; it seemed a little strange.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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When the busboy brought our water and utensils, I observed that he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I inquired, “Why the spoon?”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Well,” he explained, “the restaurant’s owner hired Accenture to revamp all of our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil, it represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he replaced it with his spare. “I’ll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen, instead of making an extra trip to get it right now.” I was impressed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter’s fly. Looking around, I saw that all of the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies. So, before he walked off, I asked the waiter, “Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Oh, certainly!” Then he lowered his voice, “Not everyone is so observant but that consulting firm I mentioned also learned that we can save time in the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of our you-know-what, we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 57%.”
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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I asked quietly, “After you get it out, how do you put it back?”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Well,” he whispered, “I don’t know about the others but I use the spoon”.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/harrygatto"> /u/harrygatto </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yvis8o/steves_place/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yvis8o/steves_place/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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<li><strong>My alcoholism is really screwing up my law career.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Every time I try to pass the bar…
|
||
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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I just go in.
|
||
</p>
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||
</div>
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||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ALincolnTime"> /u/ALincolnTime </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yvmigd/my_alcoholism_is_really_screwing_up_my_law_career/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yvmigd/my_alcoholism_is_really_screwing_up_my_law_career/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
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