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My lovely bride, Buttercup, and I often complain about how there’s nothing worth going to the movies to watch. For a movie fan like me, it’s pretty depressing.
GOP already has a massive Millennial problem. When the GOP nominee for governor in purple-state Virginia loses voters under 45 (not 25… 45!) by 20+ points, that’s a major problem. These aren’t “have no heart/have no head” kids in transition from their youth. That’s a massive rejection of the GOP brand.
Roy Moore makes that Millennial problem even worse — whether he’s a teen-targeting perv or not. Last night on CBSN they carried some of his rally live. It sounded like one of the many church revival services I attended at South Congaree Assemblies of God in rural South Carolina. It sounded very unlike what most Americans expect to hear from would-be elected officials. Doesn’t mean Moore is a good or bad person, and I’m certainly not arguing that being a person of faith hurts candidates. But a Bible-thumping “them gays are gonna dee-stroy Uh-mer-ica!” guy is not likely to resonate with voters outside a narrow spectrum. And the younger you are, the weirder/more off-putting he sounds.
Moore makes the Trump Party “Moore” Trumpier. If Moore is in the US Senate, the Democrats are going to run against the Trump/Moore ticket in 2018. Every Republican outside a deep-red district is going to get pounded. Trump provides the ordnance for Democrats to carpet-bomb moderate districts. Roy Moore is a tactical nuke.
If the Democrat wins, the seat’s back up again — and Republican once more — next November. He’s basically Scott Brown — no chance of winning a regularly-scheduled general election. Meanwhile, Roy Moore is not on the floor of the Senate waving his pistol and preachin’ the Gospel.
My oldest son, wrestling with a 4-year-old’s happy struggles, is trying to clarify how many people can be his best friend. “My best friends are you and Mama and my brother and …” But even a child’s joy is not immune to this ominous political period…
It is impossible to convey the mixture of heartbreak and fear I feel for him. Donald Trump’s election has made it clear that I will teach my boys the lesson generations old, one that I for the most part nearly escaped. I will teach them to be cautious, I will teach them suspicion, and I will teach them distrust. Much sooner than I thought I would, I will have to discuss with my boys whether they can truly be friends with white people.
In today’s podcast I talk about my experience watching the 2016 election returns roll into the newsroom of the Washington Examiner. The Examiner’s crew was a good mix of conservative Republican views, from angry anti-Trump libertarians to happy pro-Trump populists. And none of us could get our minds around what was happening.
Throughout the evening, smart reporters kept making comments about “we haven’t heard from…” or “wait until the numbers come in from…” The exit polls had set everyone up for a solid Clinton win, and when the real numbers hit, the cognitive dissonance was almost audible. Or rather, inaudible. Newsrooms aren’t normally quiet places. This one was.
Even the die-hard Trump fans were reluctant to believe what they were seeing. There was a lot of shrugging and looking around at each other with a “what the heck?!” message. The moment I remember most:
Terrific conversation in the podcast today with Cam Edwards of NRATV. Along with Charles C. W. Cooke (of Mad Dogs and Englishmen), two of the best people to talk to about gun issues and the Second Amendment, in part because he acknowledges the legitimacy of some of the concerns gun control advocates have.
One key area where I disagree with these two (and remember–they are much smarter than me) is on the question of Second Amendment politics. They both reject the idea that, as Cooke put it recently, “it’s up to gun rights supporters to come up with gun control laws. The burden is not on us. It’s on those who support gun control.”
Well, yes…if you want gun laws written by people who hate gun rights. I don’t. I want people who respect the Second Amendment to take the lead on reasonable gun ownership restrictions, for the same reason that I want pro-law-and-order conservatives to lead on criminal justice reform and dealing with bad cops: The other side will use “reform” as an excuse for “damage beyond repair.”
Two major studies showed that mankind has more empathy for pooches in dire circumstances than suffering people, according to a report in the Times of London.
Prager University, a nonprofit that produces short, educational videos from conservative perspectives, is suing YouTube and its parent company, Google, claiming the tech giant is illegally censoring some of its content as part of a wider effort to silence conservative voices.
A lawsuit filed Monday evening in federal court in San Francisco says YouTube’s more than 30 million visitors a day make the site so elemental to free speech in the digital age that it should be treated as a public forum. The suit argues the site must use the “laws governing free speech,” not its own discretion, to make decisions about what to censor.
Are Republicans doomed when it comes to Millennial voters? If so, then the GOP is doomed…period.
Millennials are the largest group of voting-aged Americans, and that numerical superiority will only increase as the Baby Boomers die out. Listen to the Talk-Right and you’ll hear a lot of talk about simply writing these voters off: “Kids don’t vote, anyway!”
Well, they’re not “kids” anymore, and they’re getting older every day. How is “write them off” a winning strategy?
To say that I’m not a big fan of Sen. John McCain (R-NYTimes Editorial Board) would be an under-statement.
I’m a huge fan of his military service, but as a senator he has only two speeds: Irrelevant and Obnoxious. When he’s not voting like a pretty traditional Republican and going along with the party, he’s out declaring how much better he is than the party he regularly carries water for.
You think Steve Bannon likes beating the crap out of the GOP? He’s a piker compared to John McCain who, since 2000, has made a fetish of it. During the 2008 presidential primaries, I created the website “MyDearJohnLetter.com” where conservatives could post their break-up messages with the Republican candidate who clearly had such a low opinion of GOP voters.
I’ve made a commitment on the podcast to having truly pro-Trump voices in the conversation. Not the usual “I know Trump is awful, but here are some good things” case, but a straight up, no-qualifiers case.
Last night I attended dress rehearsal for Boston Lyric Opera’s Tosca. The soprano, Elena Stikhina, was terrific–which is pretty much all you need for a quality version of Tosca– but the character that caught everyone’s eye was baritone Daniel Sutin as Scarpia.
Or as the crowd noted in hushed whispers, “Harvey Weinstein.” That topic was all the buzz during the intermezzo. (And part of my podcast today.)
But instead of talking about his travel-ban win in the Supreme Court or the NFL caving on anthem protests or the fact that whackjob lefties are still trying to kill the jobs created by the Keystone XL pipeline, Trump had to say this:
I invited Cam Edwards of NRA TV to the podcast today to talk about the current debate over gun rights and the relative strength of the NRA. Several commentators have suggested that the NRA’s political standing has been weakened by the reaction to the Las Vegas shooting, though it’s too early to get any reliable data.
But when it comes to the goals of the Left on gun control “gun safety,” the data is clear: They want to kill the Second Amendment.
What I found most interesting was Sen. Lee’s absolute, uncompromising position on guns: No compromise. He didn’t even tip his hat to the idea that, in the wake of recent mass shootings, pro-Second-Amendment politicians might need to take some action.
In today’s “Michael in the Morning” podcast (which I’m sure you’ve already listened to), the Weekly Standard’s Steve Hayes lays out the four legs of the new GOP stool. Gone are the days of the Fiscal/Social/Anti-Communist coalition of the Reagan era. According to Hayes it’s:
The GOP Establishment (McConnell, K Street, etc.)
The Traditional Conservatives (Senators Mike Lee and Ben Sasse)
The “America Firsters” (Jeff Sessions, free-trade skeptics, etc)
The “Ever Trumpers.” (Sean Hannity, die-hard Trump activists, etc)
My social media timeline is filled with “smart” people attacking Trump over his current fight with athletes protesting the American flag and the national anthem. Much of the criticism includes eye-rolling over notion that showing disrespect to the flag is a big deal. It’s clear many people in the mainstream media think the notion that the flag should be respected is silly.
In a recent podcast I asked the brilliant Charles Murray what political issues could provide Trumpkins/Never Trumpers (oops, just saw the memo) Trump friends and foes in the GOP an “open door to walk toward each other and unite.” Murray’s answer was to suggest abandoning the Right’s coalition and create a new coalition among non-Trump-GOP and non-crazy American Left. (The latter regularly meets at a single booth in an Ohio Denny’s.)
I’m not sure his math works, but Murray’s description of how Trump’s base views the President (“He’s our murder weapon”) was brilliant. I thought of my question again while watching President Trump’s UN speech. Why couldn’t this speech be one of those “open doors?”
On the one hand, Trump played to his base with the language and tone he used. “Rocket Man?” “We could destroy North Korea.” His great quip mocking Venezuelan socialism? You could hear the cheers from the Talk-Right. It’s awfully close to the speech I wanted to hear.
My name is Michael Graham, and I’m an alcohol…wait — wrong intro.
I’m actually a recovering radio talk host, and I pretty much own the “stand-up-comedian-turned-GOP-political-consultant” niche of the conservative market. (Trust me: GOP consulting was much funnier.)
Like you, I’m a fan of what radio programmers call “the spoken-word format.” Or as my dad down in Columbia, SC puts it, “Michael won’t shut up.”
…is Judge Roy Moore winning.
Are Republicans doomed when it comes to Millennial voters? If so, then the GOP is doomed…period.
To say that I’m not a big fan of Sen. John McCain (R-NYTimes Editorial Board) would be an under-statement.
My name is Michael Graham, and I’m an alcohol…wait — wrong intro.