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A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest against racial inequality at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., June 6, 2020.(Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

On a House caucus call today, Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger, reportedly in an agitated state, warned that Democrats lost races we shouldnt have lost. She further claimed that defund police almost cost me my race because of an attack ad. Dont say socialism ever again. Need to get back to basics. . . . If we run this race again we will get f***ng torn apart again in 2022.

Elsewhere, former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill had this to say: Whether you are talking guns or . . . abortion . . . or gay marriage and rights for transsexuals and other people who we as a party look after and make sure they are treated fairly. As we circled the issues we left voters behind and Republicans dove in.

I see other Democrats grousing today that their candidates in Florida and elsewhere were falsely labeled socialist. Im sorry, if thats not the message you want to send, perhaps Nancy Pelosi shouldnt pose with a gaggle of Marxists on the cover of Rolling Stone. Perhaps Democrats should treat Bernie Sanders as a fringe crank rather than a comrade whos just moving a tad too quickly. Maybe arguing democratic socialism is the good kind doesnt quite do it for the folks in Des Moines.

What are voters in Texas supposed to make of every major presidential Democrat presidential candidate, including Joe Biden, giving their blessing to the authoritarian Green New Deal? Boy, fact-checkers had to work overtime to help Biden walk back those endorsements of fracking bans, of defunding the police, and of confiscating guns.

We may well have a president in a few months who says there are at least three genders. Which probably seems sane on Twitter, but less so in Jacksonville, Fla. McCaskill has already apologized for her use of the word transsexuals. Unlike progressive urban dwellers, one suspects the vast majority of suburban Americans have zero clue what McCaskill is sorry about. They may even believe that letting genetic boys compete with their daughters in track and field is ridiculous. They probably wouldnt be crazy about being accused of being transphobic for taking this rational position.

Now, of course, most Americans arent obsessing about transgender issues when voting if they even think about them at all. But hundreds of these woke inanities tend to add up.

The same thing goes for the identitarianism thats now overwhelmed left-wing politics. The constant obsession with race isnt working. We just went through an alleged racial reckoning and four years solid of liberal pundits accusing every political opponent of being a crypto-Nazi, and yet Democrats lost ground among black and Latino voters. For any useful purpose, that well is nearly dry.

There are, no doubt, some populist redistributive economic ideas that might well be popular. Minimum-wage hikes seem pretty innocuous, I imagine. Raising taxes on the wealthy is always a winner. At some point, though, a white working-class dad in suburban Pittsburgh or the Latina daughter of a Venezuelan immigrant in Miami is going to hear the tragically ludicrous ravings of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and learn what modern progressivism is really about.

One day, maybe soon, Democrats will be rid of Donald Trump. But the hardcore progressives they welcomed into their party during the Resistance arent going anywhere.

These people, as Yarom Hazony has noted, believe in a Marxist ideology in which class is swapped out for wokeism but economic pseudoscience is still intact. Many mainstream reporters, some of whom spent four years championing the Squad, probably struggle to comprehend why anyone sees its views as extreme. Exit polls tell us that many other Americans do not.

But now that races are increasingly nationalized in part, because Democrats made everything about Donald Trump the culture war matters again. As a political matter, that war may have been a drag on Republicans in the past. Its one they should be fighting today.

See the original post:
Progressivism, or Why the Culture War Is Turning in the Republicans Favor - National Review

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to On The Money. Im Sylvan Lane, and heres your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

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Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@thehill.com, njagoda@thehill.com and nelis@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @NJagoda and @NivElis.

THE BIG DEALBiden wins America's economic engines: President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenBrewery launches new Biden beer described as 'inoffensive and not too bitter' Deb Haaland says 'of course' she would serve as Interior secretary under Biden State Department won't give Biden messages from foreign leaders: report MOREs victory last week came on the strength of his performance in the strongest parts of Americas economy, the latest sign of a growing economic and cultural divide thats increasingly shaping the nations political debate.

That chasm will make reconciliation between bitter partisans all the more difficult in the years ahead. The Hills Reid Wilson tells us why here.

The growing divide: The partisan gap between the nations economic powerhouses and its laggards has widened dramatically over the last two decades.

Why its happening: The growing Democratic advantage is a reflection of the evolution of an economy that was once based on agriculture and manufacturing but is now dominated by services and information.

That shift has concentrated economic power in big cities and among younger, more diverse and better-educated workers all groups that favor Democrats over Republicans.

LEADING THE DAY

Progressives praise Biden's picks for economic transition team: President-elect Joe Biden is earning praise from progressives for tapping a wide range of government veterans and academics to help form an economic team that will be tasked with trying to advance Democratic policies in a deeply divided Washington.

While Biden has not announced any Cabinet nominees, the scholars and economists he picked to lead agency review teams included familiar names in progressive circles. I explain why here.

The transition team:

Biden has also enlisted leading experts on racial economic disparities and discrimination within the financial system, such as University of California Irvine law professor Mehrsa Baradaran and Michigan State University economics professor Lisa Cook.

I think some of this reflects that this administration, for the next two years, will likely rely heavily on administrative reform to help redirect the priorities of the nation and push more fairness and more economic reach for working families and families of color, said Michael Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending.

Restaurants go seasonal with winter shutdowns during pandemic: Congressional inaction on COVID-19 relief combined with rising coronavirus cases is prompting more restaurants to close up shop for the winter and go into hibernation until warmer weather returns.

Shutting down a restaurant temporarily is never going to be a perfect or elegant solution. There is still going to be workers or suppliers that rely on that restaurants operations that are going to be left short, said Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs at the National Restaurant Association.

The Hills Alex Gangitano has more here.

GOOD TO KNOW

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On The Money: Biden wins America's economic engines | Progressives praise Biden's picks for economic transition team | Restaurants go seasonal with...

Editor: A graceful, triumphant delivery made Joseph Bidens victory speech a success in providing some finality on the elections vexing four-day, vote-counting conclusion. Instead of giving a victory speech on immediate actions to be anticipated from a Biden administration, Biden chose to deliver a unity-minded speech, which primarily served to celebrate the moment.

Bidens speech spoke mostly to the division and tension in America growing and amplified during the coronavirus and the 2020 election.

Instead of using time to bolster the message of a young and evolving coalition, Biden spent his time paying fan service to conservatives, who actively supported an administration disgracing America on the international level. Bidens speech included many remarks specifically tailored to embraced to conservatism, rather than shut the door on it.

Biden promised several actions on climate change, yet his speech did not include special attention to the issue of the climate crisis and solutions. Biden, whose support of the movement remains dubious, has signaled his support for fracking jobs.

Medicare-for-all, which is overwhelmingly popular among progressives and Americans in general, received utterly no attention. This is something Biden and ranking Democratic Party members are loath to move forward, despite its popularity.

Another takeaway of Bidens speech was its failure to address uncertainty about a commitment to combatting income inequality. Biden recycled lines about the importance of a rebuilding a strong middle class and the dignity of work, yet refused to use progressive rhetoric. Sen. Elizabeth Warren had no problem during her own presidential campaign in calling out reckless investments and criminal behavior by leaders in the financial sector; therefore, a newly minted President-elect, deriving his power from the people, should have the veracity to call out the behavior of the 1% in his victory speech.

Aidan Finnerty

Wilkes-Barre

The rest is here:
Biden ignored progressive ideas in his victory speech - Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice

For progressives, it is the stuff that dreams are made of: Donald Trump could soon trade his orange tan for a prison-issued orange jumpsuit.

But first, Americans have to render their verdict on November 3 before a district attorney or two ask another kind of jury to render another kind of verdict on the defendant, not president, Trump.

Fuelling hopes that dream will, one day, come true, are durable public opinion polls that show Democrat Joe Biden remains comfortably ahead nationally and in a slew of mercurial swing states.

The promise of evicting Trump and his equally loathsome accomplices from the White House is deliciously close. And, yet, the disquiet among progressives is palpable. The trauma of 2016 lingers. Trumps political resilience is as baffling as it is infuriating.

That Trump may duplicate his astonishing victory of approaching four years ago however slim the possibility is testament to how many millions of Americans undeniably share their presidents stupidity, profanity, obscenity, and fidelity to lunatic conspiracy theories.

Anticipation meets apprehension.

Still, progressives peering expectantly over the November horizon confident that Trump will be thrashed via mail-in ballots are also convinced that his decisive defeat will mark the first of a cascading series of events that will ultimately lead to a courtroom dock.

Dream on, indeed.

Thrilled by the prospect that Trump will eventually meet his oh-so-enticing legal comeuppance, many paid-to-talk-on-TV progressives feigned, I suspect, sympathy for the ailing president when he contracted COVID-19 recently. (I did not share their soppy sensibilities.)

In a nauseating display of sentimentality, Rachel Maddow et al wished Trump well with a big caveat. We want you to recover, Mr President, they said, so we can watch you be perp-walked into court; and, if all goes to plan, escorted by armed guards into a minimum-security jail.

The wonderful precedents abound. At least eight of Trumps close associates some more closely associated with him than others have either been indicted or jailed, including his ex-campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his longtime consigliere-turned-progressive media darling, Michael Cohen.

Most of the charges Trumps pinstriped suit-wearing associates faced stem from former FBI Director Robert Muellers byzantine probe into whether all the presidents men colluded with the Russians to subvert the 2016 election.

The paid-to-talk-on-TV progressives insisted that the sober, silver-haired Mueller was tantamount to the white knight of justice riding to the rescue of an on-life-support rule of law. Turns out, the brave white knight was a more old, timid turtle who baulked at holding Trump to any meaningful measure of account.

The prized catch slithered off the hook and evaded obstruction of justice charges. All the tortuous semantics about what Trump did with the Russians and when he did it leading up to the presidential election, cannot undo the fact that he was not indicted and, as a result, could claim vindication.

So, so long Robert Mueller. Hello, Cyrus Vance, the progressives new, shining saviour. At the moment, the Manhattan district attorney is deep into a criminal investigation of the Trump Organizations cobweb-like financial dealings that could lead, court filings suggest, to a slew of indictments of various counts of fraud against Trump and his co-conspirators familial or otherwise.

Beyond his potential legal travails with Vance, Trump is facing a tsunami of civil lawsuits from several states attorneys general and his niece, Mary, for fraud, as well as for defamation by women who have accused the president of rape and sexual harassment.

If he loses, Trump will, legal pundits say, forfeit the deference the courts have traditionally afforded sitting presidents.

Sorry to disappoint progressives, but that deference will certainly extend to Trump when he leaves the White House voluntarily or involuntarily just as it has to every other former president.

Surely, the same impulse that prompted Gerald Ford to pardon Richard Nixon, a president who also happened to be the principal architect of a long, administration-wide criminal conspiracy hatched in the Oval Office, will prevail with Trump.

A central aspect of the myth of American exceptionalism is that the head of state is, de facto, the embodiment of the US constitution. As such, to charge and jail a president would mean, in effect, desecrating the constitution, rather than validating it. In the American experience, potent symbolism has always trumped potent facts.

Breaking news: There is not going to be a legal reckoning since Trump is unlikely to be indicted, let alone set foot inside a cell.

Here is the historical record to prove that inviolable point: number of US presidents 45; number of US presidents charged, convicted and jailed 0. This, despite ample and persuasive evidence that scores of occupants of the sacrosanct office of the presidency have skirted to put it diplomatically if not knowingly broken, both domestic and international law.

He probably does not know it, but Trump will not be required to pardon himself: historical precedent will do it for him.

Any starry-eyed progressive who has faith that a justice system that could not indict one of the smug galleries of crisp, white-collar Wall Street bankers responsible for orchestrating the Ponzi-scheme-like subprime mortgage racket that triggered a near depression will have a miraculous epiphany and finally charge a former president for alleged financial crimes may also believe that Trump ought to have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

As for the civil lawsuits, I anticipate that most will inevitably albeit reluctantly be settled out of court after more than a few hefty cheques are written to make all the tricky business go away.

One well-meaning but hallucinating congressman has even suggested a Presidential Crimes Commission that would empower independent prosecutors to examine those who enabled a corrupt president.

I doubt Mr Bipartisanship, Joe Biden, is keen on the idea.

Given the myriad of indignities that Trump has inflicted on sentient Americans, I share their belief that it would be right and just to watch this abominable excuse of a commander-in-chief suffer the indignity of being the first US president to be charged and subsequently imprisoned.

This president deserves to be reduced to inmate Trump. Sadly, it is not going to happen.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.

Read more:
Dream on progressives, Trump is not going to jail - Al Jazeera English

Progressive groups are blasting Democratic presidential nominee Joe BidenJoe BidenObama slams Trump in Miami: 'Florida Man wouldn't even do this stuff' Trump makes his case in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin Brad Pitt narrates Biden ad airing during World Series MOREs plan to form a commission to study judiciary reforms and whether justices should be added to the Supreme Court.

As Senate Republicans prepare to confirm President TrumpDonald John TrumpObama slams Trump in Miami: 'Florida Man wouldn't even do this stuff' Trump makes his case in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin Pence's chief of staff tests positive for COVID-19 MOREs third Supreme Court justice, progressives are calling on Democratic leaders to add justices to the Supreme Court if they win the White House and Senate.

For weeks, Biden has steadfastly refused to answer whether he supports court packing. Rather, the Democratic nominee said in an interview with 60 Minutes released Thursday that hed create a bipartisan panel to study it if hes elected.

Progressives at leading left-wing groups panned the idea.

We dont need to be promised a nice report about reform delivered to the White House, we need Vice President Biden to assure Americans that he will take bold action to ensure our courts dont remain dominated by a right-wing fringe installed by Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTrump expressed doubt to donors GOP can hold Senate: report Senators battle over Supreme Court nominee in rare Saturday session Sunday shows preview: Trump, Biden gear up for final sprint to Election Day MORE to attack abortion rights, destroy health care reform, and dismantle our democracy, said Yvette Simpson, the CEO of the progressive group Democracy for America.

Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said theres no way Republicans on the proposed panel will join progressives in the effort to restore balance to the courts.

"Joe Biden's nonpartisan court commission is a gambit, Green said. He basically says that if you put conservative legal thinkers in a room with progressive ones, they will agree that Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have politicized the courts in order to take away health care, worker rights, and voting rights and that America needs to unpack the courts and restore balance."

Demand Justice called the plan a "punt."

"We certainly do not need a commission to tell us that Republicans are on the verge of stealing their second Supreme Court seat in four years and that the Roberts Court routinely sides with voter suppression schemes that advantage the Republican party," said executive director Brian Fallon.

This proposed commission runs the risk of stalling momentum for serious reform. The window when Democrats may have the power to implement Court reform may be short, and the timeline for a commission would only constrict the window further. Chief Justice Roberts has proven adept at keeping the Courts public profile low whenever scrutiny mounts, and then resuming the Courts rightward march when attention recedes. A commission that would allow opponents of structural reform to run out the clock is not a solution; its a punt.

Still, some of the nations leading progressives have sided with Biden.

Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersTrump makes his case in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin Trump mocks Joe Biden's drive-in rallies at North Carolina event Sanders hits back at Trump's attack on 'socialized medicine' MORE (I-Vt.) has said he opposes adding justices because subsequent administrations will continue to add until it delegitimizes the court.

Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenWhat do Google, banks and chicken salad have in common? Final debate: War Admiral vs. Seabiscuit Biden defends his health plan from Trump attacks MORE (D-Mass.) told The Hill that Bidens idea is aiming in the right direction.

"There are lots of ways to get there and I think that the Vice President is aiming in the right direction and that is making sure that we have courts that we can trust. And understand, Warren said. The problems are not just at the Supreme Court level. Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans have been ramming through people who are openly racist, sexist, homophobic, opposed to voting, ramming those people through for lifetime appointments. We have a lot to think about in our court system.

For several weeks now, Biden has declined to say whether he supports adding justices to the Supreme Court, saying it would take attention away from GOP efforts to confirm a Supreme Court justice at this late date in the election cycle.

Its a thorny question for Biden, who risks angering the left if he comes out in opposition to court packing, and risks turning off swing voters if he says he supports it.

A New York Times-Siena College survey released this week found that 58 percent of all voters oppose adding justices to the Supreme Court if Judge Amy Coney BarrettAmy Coney BarrettTrump expressed doubt to donors GOP can hold Senate: report Senators battle over Supreme Court nominee in rare Saturday session Sunday shows preview: Trump, Biden gear up for final sprint to Election Day MORE is confirmed, compared to only 31 percent who support it. Fifty-seven percent of Democrats support court packing, but 65 percent of independents oppose it.

In the 60 Minutes interview, Biden said he'd ask a bipartisan commission of scholars, constitutional scholars, Democrats, Republicans, liberal [and] conservative for recommendations on how to reform the courts.

See original here:
Progressives blast Biden plan to form panel on Supreme Court reform | TheHill - The Hill