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Welcome back, loot system
Few things in American history have been as dysfunctional as the spoils system, introduced in the 19th century as a way for winning candidates to reward their allies with government jobs, so it seems only natural that former President Donald Trump would want to resurrect it.
Donald, bring back the silver standard! Reinstate the Alien Peacekeeping Act!
Karen Tumulty writes that Trump actually tried this model toward the end of his term, when he created a new status for inducted allies: “Schedule F” (short for “friend”? Short for “Failson”? Something we can't print in this newsletter?).
“In the eyes of Trump and his allies, the meritocratic alternative to the spoils system has become the loathed 'deep state,'” Cullen writes.
Unfortunately, many Americans distrust public officials, and only a small percentage of the public believes they are truly nonpartisan. Trump's cronies will be a disaster, but the current bureaucracy needs a boost in trust, too.
FairVote co-founder Rob Ritchie reports that there's still plenty of reason to be hopeful about American democracy, as he examines some very promising experiments taking place in states and cities across the country that are boosting public trust in the system as a whole.
From Montgomery County, Maryland, which has a program that gives public service credits to high school students who volunteer as poll workers, to Nashville, which allocates part of its budget to residents and lets them directly vote on how that money should be spent, ranked-choice voting has proven its merits in many places.
“There's a saying that if you feel like cursing the darkness, light a candle,” Ritchie reassures us, “and local innovators are doing just that.”
From abortion to contraception
The Supreme Court is due to rule within days on access to the abortion drug mifepristone, but it has emerged that some of the evidence used by opponents of the drug in their appeal has been retracted by the scientific journal in which it was published.
Epidemiologists Caitlin Jeterina and Heidi Mosesson provide a look behind the findings of both the original study used to claim mifepristone was dangerous, and the review that determined the original report contained “unwarranted or inaccurate factual assumptions,” “significant errors,” and “misleading presentations” of data that “invalidate the authors' conclusions in whole or in part.”
Would this matter to a court majority well versed in restricting abortion access by whatever strategy is applied?
Meanwhile, Jen Rubin writes that it's becoming increasingly clear that MAGA Republicans want not just access to abortion but also access to contraception: Senate Republicans voted down a federal bill to provide access to contraception after presumptive GOP nominee Trump let slip that he was “considering” restricting contraception.
Most Republicans who rejected the protections said the bill was unnecessary, but as Jenn points out, “federal contraception protection seems rather important if we want to protect contraception” when Republican-leaning states are already trying to restrict access.
Chaser: Megan McArdle says the Supreme Court can't be blamed for the university's surprising policy shift on diversity, equity and inclusion — the university took it into its own hands.
Ruth Marcus's column criticizes the United States for having all but forgotten these people “to whom we have a fundamental obligation to protect,” and for not offering condolences for the three Americans who died as hostages.
Ruth wrote about meeting with the families of three hostages last week: “The expressions of distress on the hostages' faces were particularly poignant – not knowing from day to day whether their loved ones were still alive or how long their hellish captivity would last.”
Ruth and her family hope the Israeli public will become aware of the ongoing suffering of their people, but they worry the hostages will continue to be forgotten because of an old and harmful stereotype that dual citizens are seen as more Israeli than American.
The Chaser: The editorial board congratulates the recent release of four Israeli hostages and again calls for a ceasefire to alleviate the plight of Gaza.
A new album is “released” right now. In 2016, the “Access Hollywood” tape was infamously “released.” And then there's the unforgettable self-promotional words of Angie Jordan from “30 Rock”: “Just so you know, my single, 'My Single Is Dropping,' is coming out.” (… “My single is called 'My Single Is Dropping,' and it's coming out.”)
When did this industry jargon start to drip, or rather, proliferate? To the writer and critic (who won't say it), Richard Zoglin, who dates “dropping” to at least the early 1990s, he lumps it in with other terms that have left the industry and now sound unpleasant when uttered by the rest of us:
In all things politics and entertainment, he rails against “cold opens,” “showrunners,” and “divisive issues.” It seems like every day more issues are tossed out, and Zoglin politely asks us to pick them up and put them back where we found them.
Josh Rogin reports on the “hellscape” of drones the US plans to deploy in the Taiwan Strait to fend off (or at least stall) Chinese forces. Writing from Stockholm, EJ Dionne says our European friends seem to understand the threats to American democracy better than the US does. Biden's new immigration policy is an admission of failure, writes Ramesh Ponnuru.
It's goodbye. It's a haiku. It's… “goodbye.”
Haiku, “Haiku is falling”
It's falling — catch it!
Have a newsy haiku of your own? Email me with any questions, comments or concerns you may have. See you tomorrow!
