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Tis week, James is blue, Peter is unplugged, Rob meets his political doppelgänger, John Yoo meets his hero, and Kevin Faulconer (the current Republican Mayor of San Diego) gets his shot on The Big Show. Also, Ricochet member @skipsul gets another turn as the Lileks Post of The Week, and the podcasters pick Biden’s VP.
Want still more Yoo? Join us next Wednesday at 7PM ET for virtual book party with John, hosted by Troy Senik on the occasion of the publication of his new book Defender in Chief: Donald Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power. Ask questions, get gardening tips, and more. See here for details.
Music from this week’s show: Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
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I love me some John Yoo. While I am still definitely not a fan of Donald Trump’s, Yoo makes me feel better about (probably) casting my vote for Trump in the fall. He makes a good case.
I love hearing from John Yoo too. I bought his new book, and I will read it with an open mind.
He’s talking about the Democrats making Puerto Rico and Washington DC states. There are actually some anti-Trump Republicans that are for this. These people are idiots. There is no reason for it.
I think Rob explained pretty well my feeling about Never Trumper’s threat to primary everyone. Heath Mayo babbles like this every single week. There is no way in hell they are going to primary anyone without looking at the table first. Plus how fired up with the Republicans be about that type of candidate?
John, it’s a good thing you did not mention the McRib to the President. Trump would say he loves it, Democrats would boycott McDonald’s, execs would discontinue the McRib, your mojo would fade, and the President would be forced to appoint Epstein instead.
Or rename it.
Remember the McDLT?
Get ready for the McBLM!
It’s not some amazing achievement that Faulconer is a Republican mayor of San Diego. Upon very little investigation, it’ll become clear he’s not some rock-ribbed conservative.
It seems his appeal is balanced budgets, law and order, and homeless shelters. Those are not partisan issues. Getting the budget under control apparently did not mean refusing to increase spending with old and new programs either.
I suppose it’s a good sign that someone with the Republican moniker can get elected in California even if he can only govern like a moderate Democrat.
@johnyoo, hey john, l have not only been a fan of you since the bush years my respect has grown. Damn, you are even more handsome and your wit awesome!
I saw this on wikipedia…
…
Hmm, maybe that’s the way to run some of America’s rotten cities. They can’t do much worse.
Here in Japan one does not have to go far to find an operating barbershop. When I went to one at the end of last week, I was greeted at the reception desk by a pretty young lady of few words, who also cut my hair. She was wearing a mask, as was I. A sign in most polite and deferential Japanese in front of the mirror notes that a no-conversation policy has been instituted.
I recently was rebuked by a sibling for sending news links about the current insanity; he finds it all so depressing that he wants no reminders. And he is not even in Minneapolis…He argues that even if a massive Democratic victory does not spell the end of the republic, bitterness and dissension will bring only further chaos…Unlike Peter Robinson, I have not been able to shut out “politics” and compulsively go on following the (blatantly biased) American news. But, gentlemen, we need you, even if, honest and realistic as you are, you cannot provide much hope. John Yoo was again a delight. I wish Mayor Faulconer good luck, but is a “pro-choice”/pro-same-sex marriage Republican the only alternative to the dreadful Democrats? (I once lived in California but would never go back!)
In California yes. The right has effectively lost the same sex marriage debate. The abortion debate is not going away and it doesn’t look like it will.
Everyone would be better off if the GOP dropped all of the legal threats around abortion and just made the moral case. All they’ve done is drive power to Planned Parenthood and the Democrat party.
Planned Parenthood has abortion quotas because they have so much overhead to cover. K Street is expensive.
(paraphrase) Emphasis on the italicized words, ala Peter’s typical way of speaking:
@peterrobinson in this podcast: John Yoo, the President’s desk is clean. There’s no files. No lists of congresspeople to call. Who’s really running the country?
@peterrobinson in Spring of 2017: I can’t help but notice what a mess President Trump’s desk is. Where is the staff? Where is the organization? Where is his Chief of Staff? What’s really going on?
I’ve never heard of Falconer and barely listened to his segment, but this is exactly the impression I got.
You take what you can get in Bluemerica . . .
I wonder if Rob questioned Yoo’s sanity after what sounded like a pro-Trump ad from John . . .
Well I question Rob’s sanity. Even a conservative who didn’t vote for Trump should be grateful for Trump’s judges.
Notice the difference between people who think they have Trump pegged vs the impression he leaves on the people that actually meet him.
Something quite worthy to notice.
Berket, you know as well as anyone that if he was, he wouldn’t be mayor of San Diego and would have no shot at running for governor.
Baby steps, folks. Gotta rebuild the party from below ground in this state and that means compromising on social issues. Because the fiscal ones are winners for R’s, especially in times like these.
Truth must remain on offer if there is to be any hope of broad recognition.
No one ever built a winning team by quitting when they are down.
That name makes him sound like a batman villain.
The argument over the Crusades between Rob and Peter underlines a point I’ve made in the past.
Conservatives, especially the wishy-washy, milquetoast kind like Rob, are conservative only on certain issues, about which they are more fully informed and know the conservative arguments. About other issues, they default to the middlebrow liberal consensus, without even knowing that another narrative is possible.
Thus, Rob defaults to the liberal consensus on the Crusades, largely unaware that a different viewpoint exists. This liberal consensus, of course, asserts that history began in the Middle East circa 1000 A.D., and that the Middle East has always been Muslim.
As for the Muslim conquest of the Byzantine Empire that proceeded for five centuries after that date, well, who cares about Byzantine history anyway.
A quick way to blow up the liberal consensus on the Crusades is to imagine what would have happened, how the Muslim world would have reacted, if Christians had occupied Mecca.
While it took the Christian world centuries to organize a response to the Muslim occupation of Jerusalem, I suspect the Muslim world would have raised the call of jihad immediately.
Among the things that killed Giuliani’s ’08 presidential campaign, aside from really awful strategic planning, were his positions on guns and the fact he spent about half a year living with a gay couple while mayor, following his really messy separation from Donna Hanover. Turned off primary voters outside of NYC, which is why he went with a Florida (ex-New Yorker) strategy. But if he had the same political positions as a GOP candidate in Texas in 1993, he never gets elected mayor.
John is always a terrific guest! Not only is he knowledgeable, smart, and charming, but he has the best laugh! Keep laughing, John!
Reality wise, this may be correct. (Although, I doubt it. It doesn’t matter what a guy like Faulconer in CA says he believes, the R next to his name is an automatic disqualifier in any statewide election.) However, I think its worth asking what the point of moving forward is if getting an R elected means running a slightly less liberal democrat.
Also, I’m still waiting to see proof of the popularity of Repubican fiscal policy. At least at the national level, the lesson of 2016 appers to be that the socially liberal/fiscally conservative moderate voter is a unicorn. The actual moderate voter is more socially conservative and fiscally liberal (rust belt democrats basically.)
Well, at least socially conservative and fiscally liberal is not an oxymoron, unlike fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Social liberalism gets very expensive.
@jameslileks, will Kanye have to be in drag as Biden’s VP to fulfill the WOC requirement? @ejhill, how much fun is that thought for you?
The Falconer was actually from Marvel.