Coming soon: In “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon,” author Michael Lewis takes readers inside the world of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Post subscribers can read an exclusive excerpt starting on Oct. 1. Sign up for the Opinions Headlines newsletter to get a link.
What happened at the Lesser GOP Candidates debate
No judgment if, on the occasion of the second Republican primary debate on Wednesday, you pulled a Donald and skipped it. The “boring and inconsequential” event, as former president Trump described it to fans, was a showcase for the squabbles of seven low-hopers trailing that GOP front-runner by more than 40 points.
Columnist and Deputy Opinion Editor Karen Tumulty basically agrees with Trump (rare!) that it was a pointless affair. But holding it at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library did underscore one thing — namely, how far we’ve come from Reagan’s legacy. “Today’s Republican Party would be all but unrecognizable to the 40th president, who among other things was a staunch advocate of immigration, was unafraid of the word ‘amnesty’ and signed a landmark law that legalized nearly 3 million,” Karen writes.
You can catch up on the highlights from our debate-watch blog by right-leaning commentators. Some points:
- Vivek Ramaswamy, the political-experience-free candidate with the most to gain from a seat at the kids’ table, continued to be a magnet for attention and vitriol. He forcefully attacked U.S. citizenship for children of the undocumented, trans people (he called being trans a mental health disorder) and anyone being rude to him. Contributing columnist Jim Geraghty said, “If you turn down the sound, I remain convinced that I’m watching a 1990s late-night infomercial for a 12-CD set that will help me unlock my personal power and learn the 10 steps to transformative growth.”
- Our critics noted former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley’s coherence and preparedness, calling her “really impressive” and “the steadiest performer.” She did also tell Ramaswamy that “every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber.”
- Mike Pence continued to have trouble explaining why he is a better alternative to the president with whom he shared a ticket and who ended up (maybe) joking that an insurrectionist mob was right to want to kill him. He managed one endearing moment, defending President Biden from charges that he sleeps with a member of the teachers union (impeach!!!) by admitting that he also sleeps with a teacher — his wife, Karen. Commentator Mary Katharine Ham noted one unique superpower of the former vice president: “A Pence burn lands hard because you are not expecting a Pence burn.”
- The columnists rejoiced in Sen. Tim Scott apparently having read this Marc Thiessen column on Ramaswamy’s ties to China and using these talking points in the debate. Get ’im, Tim!
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, well, seemed “less hungry and agitated than the others onstage. It might be working for him,” wrote Jason Willick, tepidly.
- North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum comported himself more like a traditional Republican adult than most contenders, but one critic wondered why, with his low polling average, he was onstage at all. And former New Jersey governor Chris Christie managed some solid moments and kept the rivalry focused on Trump, but as Henry Olsen succinctly put it, he’s “not going anywhere.”
Anyway, if all that’s too much for you, I can also recommend Alexandra Petri’s demented, and yet not much more demented than the real thing, summary of what went down.
Will the government shut down this weekend?
Officials have begun warning that there is no plan in sight to keep things going — which means fun times for many government employees in the DMV, as well as military service members, women and babies who depend on WIC, and people who need to go to the bathroom while at a national park. Hugh Hewitt has awarded the merry band of far-right House members torpedoing the negotiations a name: the Knucklehead Caucus.
“I’m tempted to call what’s happening a ‘Seinfeld shutdown’ because it’s a shutdown about nothing,” Hugh writes. “But that would be unfair. … This shutdown, unless averted at the last minute, really is about nothing other than some politicians’ wretched self-interest.”
Surveying the field, he finds an aspiring cable news commentator here, a would-be state attorney general there, not to mention a dude mad that he is being investigated for allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and corruption (Matt Gaetz, obviously). “They need eyeballs. Eyeballs and clicks,” Hugh writes.
You know what’s unhelpful to women who have settled for raising kids on their own when they can’t find suitable partners? Explaining to them patiently that, according to data, children with two married parents do better.
In a column this week, Christine Emba takes on the book that’s the latest darling of conservatives and the liberals who like to agree with them, economist Melissa Kearney’s “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind.”
As Christine points out, “Most women still want marriage, and the vast majority would prefer to marry before having a child. Single mothers do understand that a two-parent household would probably be better-resourced to raise a child. Their problem is that in real life, plausible marriage partners for heterosexual women are thin on the ground.”
For more on what’s ailing men, see Christine’s hugely popular essay on the topic from this summer. And for two perspectives from columnists more convinced by Kearney’s argument, see Alyssa Rosenberg’s and Megan McArdle’s takes from earlier this month.
David Von Drehle writes about a New York judge’s Tuesday ruling that Trump’s entire organization is built on fraud, with a business empire the former president overvalued by a total of $800 million to more than $2 billion — and which now he might have to start to dismantle. “He pressures election officials to ‘find’ extra votes the way he found an extra 20,000 square feet of penthouse inside his 10,000-square-foot home,” David writes.
Josh Rogin talks to Pakistan’s prime minister about the implications of his country’s position of neutrality in the Ukraine war.
Greg Sargent delves into some new data on tax avoidance by the ultrarich and describes how Republican resistance to IRS enforcement is letting these folks skate.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
Of course! But nice to meet you
Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/compliments/complaints. Drew is back tomorrow. We’ll see you then!
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