R&R: The week Trump cemented his GOP takeover
My favorite pieces of journalism from the week that was.
Welcome to R&R, your weekly recap and recommendations email from Wake Up To Politics. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, especially my own.
Going forward, this will be a private email for paid subscribers, hitting their inboxes every Sunday morning. My hope is to give you recommendations for a few great reads to spend time with on Sunday and to look back at the previous week before a new one begins. Everyone — free and paid subscribers — is receiving this first edition. Click below to keep getting it each week:
Let’s jump in!
THE WEEK THAT WAS
One of the reasons I wanted to do this recap email is that sometimes, I feel like the weeks fly by so quick — and are so packed with news — that it’s easy to miss things amid the blizzard. Oftentimes, I find it’s helpful to take a beat and reflect on what went down before we move on to a new week of news. For example, I barely remembered that it was just Tuesday that Hunter Biden was convicted: it already feels like several weeks ago. (Donald Trump’s conviction, similarly, feels like it has long since floated out of the news, even though it was less than 20 days ago.)
Monday: The UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling on Israel and Hamas to accept the ceasefire proposal outlined by President Biden. Former President Trump had his pre-sentencing probation interview over video call. The judge in his classified documents case struck a paragraph from the indictment but refused to dismiss the case.
Tuesday: Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony counts of lying about his drug use on a federal gun form, becoming the first child of a U.S. president to be criminally convicted. Hamas responded to the Israeli ceasefire proposal, proposing amendments to the deal. Republicans won a special House election in Ohio by a much closer margin than expected, while Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) defeated a Kevin McCarthy-backed primary challenge.
Wednesday: The House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to hand over audio of President Biden’s interview with a special counsel. (Unsurprisingly, the Justice department — which Garland runs — declined to prosecute him. House Speaker Mike Johnson says they will take the matter to court.) The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged.
Thursday: Donald Trump returned to Washington, meeting privately with House and Senate Republicans. This was a big moment in Trump’s continuing takeover of the GOP, as even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who broke sharply with Trump after the 2020 election — capitulated and shook Trump’s hand. It was their first time speaking in almost four years. During the meetings, Trump sounded off on Taylor Swift and the city of Milwaukee. The Supreme Court unanimously preserved access to the abortion bill mifepristone, while Senate Republicans blocked legislation guaranteeing access to IVF. President Biden signed a 10-year security pact with Ukraine.
Friday: In a 6-3 decision, along ideological lines, the Supreme Court struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic rifles to fire much faster. The House passed an annual defense policy bill with several culture war amendments included. Rep. Garrett Graves (R-LA) announced his retirement, the latest Kevin McCarthy ally to step down in a changing of the guard that’s included McCarthy himself.
Here at Wake Up To Politics, I wrote about a nagging Trump paradox, happiness and the incumbency disadvantage, a Biden family split on gun rights, and the Senate’s bipartisan court reform bill this week. Oh, and I also shared my post-grad plans here on Substack.
OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY
Here’s something from outside of D.C. you might have missed this week: North Dakota became the first state to set an age limit for members of Congress.
More than 60% of the state’s voters supported a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would prohibit any House or Senate member being elected from North Dakota if they would reach their 81st birthday before the end of their term.
Now, let’s be clear: the ballot measure will have some serious issues in the courts. The Supreme Court ruled in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995) that states cannot impose qualifications for members of Congress beyond what’s in the Constitution. Still, this measure theoretically could give the justices an opportunity to revisit that precedent; more broadly, I find it a notable sign of rising bipartisan frustration with gerontocracy across the country.
UNDER THE RADAR
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule this week that would ban medical debt from being taken into account on credit reports. Two in five Americans have medical debt, which means the move will make it easier for millions of people to buy homes and cars. The regulation is poised to go into effect early next year. Read more via ABC News.
The Makah tribe in Washington is the only Native American tribe whose treaty with the U.S. government specifically invokes a right to hunt whales. But years of legal battles between the tribe and animal rights activists have prevented such whale hunts from taking place. This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration granted the Makah their long-sought waiver to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which prohibits harming marine mammals. With the waiver, the Makah will be able to hunt up to 25 whales over the next 10 years. Read more via the Associated Press.
MY TOP THREE READS
1. “These Three Politicians Once Looked Like the Future of the GOP. 72 Hours Later the Dream Was Dead.” — Michael Kruse, Politico Magazine
Speaking of Trump’s takeover of the GOP, one hinge moment that I’ve thought back to a lot in the past few years was in February 2016, during the run-up to the South Carolina primaries. I can close my eyes and remember the lauded trio of Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, and Tim Scott campaigning together for Rubio, as commentators held them up as the diverse, dynamic future for the party. Then, it all came crashing down. This week, Politico’s Michael Kruse — for my money, one of the best journalists working today — revisited that moment, which he calls an “unexplored portal to a different party — to a different country.” Now, of course, Rubio and Scott are jockeying to be Trump’s VP; Haley, his former UN ambassador, has endorsed him as well.
2. “The Quiet Voice in R.F.K. Jr.’s Ear: A Former Aide to the Clintons” — Rebecca Davis O’Brien, New York Times (gift link)
Politics is full of people who spend years methodically climbing the ladder — and then suddenly swerve in a completely different direction. Jay Carson is one of them. He started out interning for George Stephanopoulos, then worked for Chuck Schumer and Bill Bradley; eventually, he rose to become press secretary for then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and for Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns. So, what is this mainstream Democratic operative doing working for “my old friend Bobby,” aka RFK Jr.? Rebecca Davis O’Brien digs into Carson’s evolution.
3. “Empty House: When speechmaking and legislating become performative, not much happens” — Ben Jacobs, Washington Examiner
Whenever I go to cover the Capitol, I always make a point to spend a few minutes in the press galleries overlooking the House and Senate. (My favorite detail is that the Senate press gallery has a copy of Robert Caro’s “Master of the Senate” sitting there at all times.) Even if the debate is over a mundane topic, I always find it fascinating to watch democracy in action — and it’s always jarring that, well, no one else is watching. For most of the day, as lawmakers blather on the floor, the press galleries are empty; so are the floor themselves, as other members shuffle in and out without listening to their colleagues.
So, I thought this piece by Ben Jacobs was just a brilliant story idea: He sat in the House press gallery for an entire week — all day, every day. What did he see? Not much. “At a time when few, if any, bills are able to be freely amended on the floor, much of the debate felt like archaic formalities carried out for tradition’s sake,” Jacobs writes. If more people were actually watching all day, like he did, would it cause Congress to do more, he was left wondering. Personally, I was left thinking about all the bipartisan bills I write about each week that are introduced or advanced in committee. Of course, I like to highlight when those bills do become law — but imagine how much more our lawmakers could accomplish if all the wasted floor time Jacobs witnessed would be used to vote on those.
Bonus: Speaking of improving Congress, the Washington Post’s Paul Kane asks: do lawmakers need a pay raise? “My crazy take: We get what we pay for & that's one reason Congress stinks,” Kane wrote on Twitter, noting that 1 in 10 congressional staffers make more than members of Congress.
ON THE ’STACK
I’ve written before that, even though affective polarization in America is very high, on many issues, true ideological polarization is not. In other words, people on opposite sides of the aisle feel intense emotional hatred towards the other, but they often aren’t that far apart when it comes to the actual issues.
of has a great piece up about a recent paper that makes this same point.“In all five studies, a majority of participants on both sides agreed with the moderate views associated with their side but disagreed with the extreme ones,” Stewart-Williams writes. However, people on both sides “vastly overestimated the prevalence of the extreme views” on the other side.
“For example, lefties guessed that most conservatives wholeheartedly agreed with racist views, when less than a quarter of them agreed even a little,” he continues. “Conservatives, for their part, guessed that most lefties wholeheartedly agreed with banning free speech, when only a third did even slightly.” This is a fascinating, important study and Stewart-Williams offers a great write-up on its implications:
FROM MY WEEK
I promise not everything I do is political, but this one was. I’ve been reading about the Congressional Baseball Game for years, so it was fun to attend in person with a few friends earlier this week. It was a great day at the ballpark — especially for the Republican team, who battered the Democrats in a 31-11 game, continuing their four-year winning streak. (Most importantly, $2.2 million was raised for local charities, a new record for the game.)
As an aside, if you’re curious what the secret was behind the Republican victory, I recommend this piece by NOTUS’ Ben T.N. Mause and Ryan Hernández that goes inside both dugouts. Spoiler alert: they actually practiced, unlike the Democrats.
WHAT I’M WATCHING
I just finished Season 3 of “Hacks” on HBO and I thought it was the best season yet (and ended with a perfect cliffhanger finale). Highly recommend the show.
WHAT I’M READING
“Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East” by Steven Simon
For obvious reasons, I was looking for a book that offered a broader overview of Middle East history, and I’ve really been enjoying Simon’s. He worked on and off at the State Department and NSC from the Reagan to Obama administrations, and he writes very openly about what he thinks the U.S. government — himself included — got wrong and right during that period. Not only does he make the history engaging, but he offers very piercing analysis of the intentions and ambitions of the key policymakers in the last four decades, many of whom he knew personally.
FATHER’S DAY PLUG
I’m actually not the only Fleisher with a Substack. My dad, Randy, is a rabbi by day — and the author of a Bruce Springsteen-themed blog by night. If you’re a Springsteen fan, I highly recommend you sign up. He writes about his experiences at different concerts, while also weaving in song lyrics and details from The Boss’ memoir and other writings.
Love you, Dad.
BEFORE I GO…
Here’s something awe-inspiring. Orville Duane Allen, a 98-year-old World War II pilot and Korean War veteran, became the oldest-ever organ donor in U.S. history upon his death last month. “After a long life of heroic service to his country and community, Mr. Orville Duane Allen and his family made one final act of service – choosing organ donation,” Mid-America Transplant said in a statement.
Allen, a lifelong resident of southeast Missouri, served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 27 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He also spent four decades teaching vocational agriculture at Neelyville High School, his alma mater.
His liver donation led to a successful transplant which saved a 72-year-old woman’s life in Missouri. Allen is survived by his three children, three grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren; his wife of 70 years previously passed away. May he rest in peace.
On the subject of each side attributing extreme views to the other, the press could stop this. Often lazy reporting contributes to this. Rather than be specific about who believes this or that, it is easier to say Republicans or Democrats. Reporters should be called out for this.
Thanks for the Steve Simon book recommendation, have added it to my Goodreads for a future read. Also thanks for the link to Imaginary Enemies, very insightful article about political polarization. Restacking the link to share with others. https://www.stevestewartwilliams.com/p/imaginary-enemies?
Peeked in on your dad's Substack, and like you, he's a skilled writer and his passion for Bruce Springsteen shines through, as well as his pride and love of you, his son, in his article about the concert you attended together in DC in March 2023. Hope he has a good Father's day. You will never regret any time that you can spend with him, because it's always sooner than you expect, that time runs out. I will always remember the last Father's Day I had with my dad, and a month later at age 67 he was unexpectedly gone from an aneurysm.
I always enjoy your "Before I go" closing article, and this one was very moving. Thanks for being here on Substack, at last; so glad you are here!