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Politico
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Doug Wilson's holy war
The gospels according to Pastor Doug Wilson offer a choice: Christ or chaos. America, he believes, has too long chosen the latter. For the past 50 years, the self-described Christian theocrat has been trying to convince the country that it should choose the former — by which he means a 'reformation' that would reshape America into a Christian republic where women are subservient to men, same-sex marriage is outlawed, non-Christians are barred from elected office and the very concept of secularism is jettisoned from society. For much of Wilson's career, the conservative mainstream has shunned him over his extremist views on gender and theocratic rule, as well as his reactionary views on race. (He once co-authored as pamphlet offering a Biblical defense of slavery.) 'But in recent years, Wilson has been making inroads into the Republican establishment, aided by a growing audience for his work among allies of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement,' writes Ian Ward in this week's Friday Read. In just the last year, Wilson has appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast, spoken at an event hosted by Charlie Kirk and delivered a speech on Capitol Hill hosted by American Moment, a MAGA-aligned group. He gained even more prominence in January, when Pete Hegseth — a member of the intercontinental network of churches Wilson founded in the late 1990s — was confirmed as secretary of Defense. Ward traveled to Moscow, Idaho, where Wilson has built 'a sprawling evangelical empire around his theological principles,' to find out what makes MAGA's spiritual leader tick — and what he wants to accomplish in Washington. 'In recent years, a growing number of Republican elites clustered around the 'New Right' of the GOP have been looking to Wilson's work as a kind of how-to manual for injecting a hardline conservative form of Protestant Christianity into public life,' he writes, 'a project that ranges from outlawing abortion at the federal level to amending the Constitution to acknowledging the truth of the Bible.' Read the story. 'I think the puppy killer is not that smart …' Can you guess who said this about DHS Secretary Kristi Noem? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.** Is DC Still Safe for Diplomats? … For years, foreign diplomats breathed a sigh of relief when they scored a posting in Washington. It was about as safe as such a job could be. And when violence did target diplomats in D.C., it was usually because trouble followed them here from back home, not Made-in-America terror. The killing of two Israeli embassy staffers at the Jewish Museum might change that, writes Capital City columnist Michael Schaffer. The shootings have 'alerted our home-grown population of angry gunmen to the fact that there are representatives of foreign governments strolling around town at any minute.' Hearing the words 'big' and 'beautiful' a little more than usual? That might have something to do with a certain bill that passed the House while you weren't paying attention — but your politically obsessed friends don't need to know that. Just use these talking points over the holiday weekend, and you'll sound like you spent the week watching C-SPAN. (From Associate Editor Dylon Jones) — Talking to a Republican crowd? They're not likely to care about all the liberals criticizing the bill as an upward transfer of wealth — but they might listen to MAGA's top economist. Tell folks that 'Oren Cass even compared it to a 'death march through a series of choices that nobody really wanted to be making' in POLITICO Magazine.' — Make sure to mention Trump's blowup at conservative holdouts who had withheld their support of the bill, yet another sign of his power over the GOP: 'The president had Rep. Andy Harris and other conservatives in the Cabinet Room, and he just flat-out told them: 'Enough is enough. Get it done.' Then he walked out of the room. Lo and behold, the bill passed the House.' — Trump isn't the only one who gets credit. Remind your friends that 'House Speaker Mike Johnson had been putting out fires for months. The morning of the vote, he was talking to Rep. Michael Cloud — who previously said the bill 'fell short' — at 3 a.m. Later that morning he was sitting with Rep. Andrew Clyde, who got a concession on the taxation of gun silencers. And not long before the bill passed at 7 a.m., he was shaking hands with Rep. Max Miller, who had been irritated with the process. It was like a victory lap. You've got to imagine Johnson is celebrating this weekend.' — Trump told hardliners not to 'fuck around with Medicaid,' but the bill does include cuts to Medicaid spending — opening up an attack line for Democrats looking to pull the rug out from under the administration in the midterms. Tell your friends that 'the Democrats are ready to pounce: They're about to roll out attack ads over Medicaid cuts in 25 battleground districts.' Your Roommate Is a Recession Indicator … Fears of a recession have abounded since Trump kicked off his volatile trade wars. But how will we really know when a recession is upon us? Catherine Kim asked five economists for the recession indicators we should look for, especially the ones that are easy to overlook — and their answers might surprise you. MAGA Economist: The Big Beautiful Bill Is a Bust … Conservative populists have looked with mounting hope to the Trump administration to move away from Republican economic orthodoxy — but they won't find much to celebrate in the 'big, beautiful bill' that just passed the House, says Oren Cass, the MAGA movement's top economic mind. '[It's] not something that has an especially coherent logic to it or much prospect of actually accomplishing the things that I think people want,' he tells Ian Ward. This Pro-Trump Rapper Is Getting Deported … In 2023, Cuban rapper El Funky won praise from conservatives like then-Sen. Marco Rubio when he released the Grammy-winning protest anthem 'Patria y Vida,' or 'Homeland and Life,' rebuking Fidel Castro's regime. But now, El Funky's residency application has been denied, and he faces deportation and likely imprisonment as a dissenter in Cuba. Nonetheless, he still considers himself a Trump supporter, he tells Achy Obejas. 'I understand trying to get rid of those who shouldn't be here. But Trump should look at each individual case,' he says. 'Like mine.' MAGA's Menswear Mastermind … Those of you in politics know Michael Anton as a conservative official in the Trump administration. But Derek Guy — or the Twitter menswear guy, as he's affectionately known online — knows him as Manton, the imperious and respected menswear critic on StyleForum, where aficionados and connoisseurs debate the finer points of men's fashion. He was known for the concept of 'Conservative Business Dress' — a standard of dressing that his coworkers in the White House routinely fail to meet. ('trump=bad' he once posted on StyleForum.) Guy takes us on a comprehensive tour of Anton's alter-ego as the fashion police. An Intimate Look at the New York Mayor's Race … The New York mayor's race is heating up, with the controversial former Gov. of New York, Andrew Cuomo, facing off against a pack of Democratic challengers led by young socialist Zohran Mamdani. With the June 24 Democratic primary fast approaching, photographer Mark Ostow hit the trail to capture the top contenders in his signature, stark style. Get ready to see the mayor's race like you've never seen it before. From the drafting table of editorial cartoonist Matt Wuerker. Who Dissed? answer: It was Sunny Hostin, one of the hosts of The View, talking about Noem's inability to correctly define 'habeas corpus' during a Senate hearing. Hostin was also referencing Noem's memoir, in which she wrote about shooting and killing her dog. politicoweekend@
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The 2028 Republican Primary Will Be Over Economic Nationalism
The most dramatic of tariffs are paused for now, but a different trade war is already underway — the battle to use the tariff debate as a springboard to the GOP presidential nomination in 2028. Consider Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. 'I worry, there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever,' Cruz said recently on his podcast. He said the goal of President Donald Trump's shock maneuvers should be to 'dramatically lower tariffs abroad and result in dramatically lowering tariffs here.' With his comments, Cruz implicitly contrasted himself with trade hardliners in the new administration, such as Trumpist trade point man Peter Navarro and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. But the ambitious Texan also broke ranks with some key, would-be 2028 contenders: J.D. Vance and Steve Bannon, thetop two vote-getters in the recent Conservative Political Action Committee straw poll, for one. Bannon, the former Trump adviser, has long assumed the role of vanguard 'economic nationalist.' But the new vice president has also staked out his own distinctive turf, becoming the favorite of the 'new right' that rejects Reagan and Bush era economic dogma, and is anchored around institutions such as the protectionist-minded American Compass, Zoomer-filled American Moment, and the BuchananiteThe American Conservative magazine (which I edit). Both Vance and Bannon are likely to run in the next presidential cycle, all bluster about a third Trump term aside. With the trade nationalist market seemingly cornered, other aspirants have been buying real estate in the dilapidated ruins of free-market, movement conservatism. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, has been doing this for years. In a February 2024 op-ed, Donald Trump's then-opponent ripped his tariff plan as a joke: 'Imagine if a presidential candidate promised to raise taxes on every American. Imagine if he promised to make life even harder for the middle class and the least fortunate. That candidate … should be laughed off the stage and defeated at the ballot box.' Well, Donald Trump was not defeated at the ballot box. But that hasn't stopped Haley from being an eminence grise among that bastion of populism skeptics, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, possessed by the Trump frenemy Rupert Murdoch (who is also pushing war with Iran behind the scenes, one prominent Trump interlocutor told me recently). 'This is no time to go wobbly on capitalism,' Haley wrote in Murdoch's vertical as far back as February 2020. This contingent is no doubt licking its chops to capitalize if economic nationalism is discredited amidst a massive recession. It's a delicate balance, however: The free marketeers don't want GOP chances in 2028 to be sabotaged outright. The WSJ board this month is prattling on about the invincible relevance of the hundred-year-old Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act disappointment, and attacking its own, including Senate GOP leadership fixtures such as the ur-establishmentarian John Barrasso. The Wyomingian's crime? 'Barrasso … similarly pretends tariffs are a swell idea. Back in the day, he was one of many Hill Republicans to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership,' writes the Journal. 'Barrasso wore his free-trade credentials more lightly during Mr. Trump's first term, but he wore them. In his 2018 re-election campaign he distanced himself from Mr. Trump's tariffs — no easy thing in a state as red as Wyoming.' Barrasso may not be in the presidential mix, but every other Republican who is understands the message the WSJ board is sending with its broadside against him: The bastions of traditional conservatism are looking for a showdown in the next GOP primary. Without Trump's gravitational pull (presumably) on the stage in 2028, future contenders are desperate for the Journal and the old guard's favor, especially with Vance and Bannon monopolizing the new wing. And there is, of course, a new kid on the block more sympathetic to the golden age of global 'free' trade: Elon Musk, who recently assailed the White House's Navarro as an 'idiot.' Musk's unreconstructed libertarian economics — and his penchant to spend like a real capitalist — is the 'free' traders' potential ace-in-the-hole. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was, of course, Musk's first choice for president in 2024 before flaming out. DeSantis has mostly kept his powder dry on the tariff furor, but if anything, that he hasn't leaped to the White House's defense is telling enough. With no love lost with Trump, the doyen of Tallahassee is happy to see where the tide is going in 2028. That his political operation traditionally shared significant overlap with Cruz's — including the retention of political consultant Jeff Roe, who was the main consultant on arguably the three major "Trump alternative" projects of the last 10 years — should be evidence enough of where DeSantis' sympathies truly lie. The Florida governor is a 'normie' Republican on trade. Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin occupies similar space — not as hardline as Vance and Bannon, but not as throwback as Haley and Cruz. Given the chance to back the administration to the hilt, the most important man in Richmond (and ex-financier) told the New York Times this week that 'no one should be surprised' and 'there is a necessary rebalancing of our trade negotiations or trade relationships that needs to happen,' but declined to weigh in further — including on if the administration is taking the 'right' approach. Former Vice President Mike Pence is out of the mix with the new Trump administration, but that's unlikely to deter him from disparaging it — and keeping his options open for 2028. Pence has a new think tank, and sees himself as not only a critic of Trump on social conservatism and militarist foreign policy, but as keeper of the flame on Friedmanite economic policy. 'The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year,' Pence posted on X. In response, Trump's enforcer — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — replied: 'Mike Pence is just bitter. These tariffs are the definition of America First, which is a concept he doesn't understand.' Tariffs aren't the only area where the early cracks in the 2028 field are beginning to show. Retro Republicans like Haley and Pence also break sharply with the new wing's desire to achieve detente with Russia and Iran. The battle to define America First, after Trump, has probably just begun.
Politico
15-04-2025
- Business
- Politico
The 2028 Republican Primary Will Be Over Economic Nationalism
The most dramatic of tariffs are paused for now , but a different trade war is already underway — the battle to use the tariff debate as a springboard to the GOP presidential nomination in 2028. Consider Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. 'I worry, there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever,' Cruz said recently on his podcast . He said the goal of President Donald Trump's shock maneuvers should be to 'dramatically lower tariffs abroad and result in dramatically lowering tariffs here.' With his comments, Cruz implicitly contrasted himself with trade hardliners in the new administration, such as Trumpist trade point man Peter Navarro and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. But the ambitious Texan also broke ranks with some key, would-be 2028 contenders: J.D. Vance and Steve Bannon, the top two vote-getters in the recent Conservative Political Action Committee straw poll, for one. Bannon, the former Trump adviser, has long assumed the role of vanguard ' economic nationalist .' But the new vice president has also staked out his own distinctive turf, becoming the favorite of the 'new right' that rejects Reagan and Bush era economic dogma, and is anchored around institutions such as the protectionist-minded American Compass, Zoomer-filled American Moment , and the Buchananite The American Conservative magazine (which I edit). Both Vance and Bannon are likely to run in the next presidential cycle, all bluster about a third Trump term aside. With the trade nationalist market seemingly cornered, other aspirants have been buying real estate in the dilapidated ruins of free-market, movement conservatism. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, has been doing this for years. In a February 2024 op-ed, Donald Trump's then-opponent ripped his tariff plan as a joke: 'Imagine if a presidential candidate promised to raise taxes on every American. Imagine if he promised to make life even harder for the middle class and the least fortunate. That candidate … should be laughed off the stage and defeated at the ballot box.' Well, Donald Trump was not defeated at the ballot box. But that hasn't stopped Haley from being an eminence grise among that bastion of populism skeptics, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, possessed by the Trump frenemy Rupert Murdoch (who is also pushing war with Iran behind the scenes, one prominent Trump interlocutor told me recently). 'This is no time to go wobbly on capitalism,' Haley wrote in Murdoch's vertical as far back as February 2020. This contingent is no doubt licking its chops to capitalize if economic nationalism is discredited amidst a massive recession. It's a delicate balance, however: The free marketeers don't want GOP chances in 2028 to be sabotaged outright. The WSJ board this month is prattling on about the invincible relevance of the hundred-year-old Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act disappointment, and attacking its own, including Senate GOP leadership fixtures such as the ur-establishmentarian John Barrasso. The Wyomingian's crime? 'Barrasso … similarly pretends tariffs are a swell idea. Back in the day, he was one of many Hill Republicans to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership,' writes the Journal . 'Barrasso wore his free-trade credentials more lightly during Mr. Trump's first term, but he wore them. In his 2018 re-election campaign he distanced himself from Mr. Trump's tariffs — no easy thing in a state as red as Wyoming.' Barrasso may not be in the presidential mix, but every other Republican who is understands the message the WSJ board is sending with its broadside against him: The bastions of traditional conservatism are looking for a showdown in the next GOP primary. Without Trump's gravitational pull (presumably) on the stage in 2028, future contenders are desperate for the Journal and the old guard's favor, especially with Vance and Bannon monopolizing the new wing. And there is, of course, a new kid on the block more sympathetic to the golden age of global 'free' trade: Elon Musk, who recently assailed the White House's Navarro as an 'idiot.' Musk's unreconstructed libertarian economics — and his penchant to spend like a real capitalist — is the 'free' traders' potential ace-in-the-hole. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was, of course, Musk's first choice for president in 2024 before flaming out. DeSantis has mostly kept his powder dry on the tariff furor, but if anything, that he hasn't leaped to the White House's defense is telling enough. With no love lost with Trump, the doyen of Tallahassee is happy to see where the tide is going in 2028. That his political operation traditionally shared significant overlap with Cruz's — including the retention of political consultant Jeff Roe, who was the main consultant on arguably the three major 'Trump alternative' projects of the last 10 years — should be evidence enough of where DeSantis' sympathies truly lie. The Florida governor is a 'normie' Republican on trade . Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin occupies similar space — not as hardline as Vance and Bannon, but not as throwback as Haley and Cruz. Given the chance to back the administration to the hilt, the most important man in Richmond (and ex-financier) told the New York Times this week that 'no one should be surprised' and 'there is a necessary rebalancing of our trade negotiations or trade relationships that needs to happen,' but declined to weigh in further — including on if the administration is taking the 'right' approach. Former Vice President Mike Pence is out of the mix with the new Trump administration, but that's unlikely to deter him from disparaging it — and keeping his options open for 2028. Pence has a new think tank, and sees himself as not only a critic of Trump on social conservatism and militarist foreign policy, but as keeper of the flame on Friedmanite economic policy. 'The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year,' Pence posted on X . In response, Trump's enforcer — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — replied : 'Mike Pence is just bitter. These tariffs are the definition of America First, which is a concept he doesn't understand.' Tariffs aren't the only area where the early cracks in the 2028 field are beginning to show. Retro Republicans like Haley and Pence also break sharply with the new wing's desire to achieve detente with Russia and Iran. The battle to define America First, after Trump, has probably just begun.
Washington Post
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
What comes after the American-led world order
As the sun was setting on the 20th century, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright proudly declared the United States to be the 'indispensable nation,' essential to protecting world order. Just over a decade later, her successor Hillary Clinton doubled down, proclaiming a 'new American Moment' in which 'our global leadership is essential.'
