In a long essay on the rise of socialism as a political force, Jonathan Chait grapples with the fears of center-left liberals who think socialism’s goals are too scary to most Americans. He also spends a lot of time attacking those goals, but ultimately decides socialism could be good — for liberalism, which he sees as working only when mediating between competing interests:
In a two-party system, the optimal number of ideologically extreme parties is zero. But given that pushing that number below one is not an option in the short term, there is a case to be made that two is better than zero. The Republican Party of the modern era has waged class war that has metastasized into a war on academia, media, and governing norms. The Democrats have built a trans-class identity, out of which they have labored to hold together the besieged consensus. But it is ultimately hard to mediate a class war that is being waged from one side.
Well worth the read for anyone interested in the direction the Democratic Party will take from here forward.
While Democrats stroke their chins, Republicans wage the intellectual equivalent of poison-gas warfare. Chauncey DeVega dissects the Trump op-ed (which USA Today is, rightfully, still taking major shit for running) focusing on the empty but menacing phrase “open-borders socialism” that Democrats allegedly stand for.
Sen. Chuck Schumer cut another deal on judges so red-state senators could go home to campaign. Progressives gnash their teeth in response.
The apparent murder of a journalist by Saudi Arabia is percolating into the news cycle, with hints that the administration might have known about this ahead of time. Turkey says it has audio and video evidence that Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul. Given the business ties between Jared Kushner and the new crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, not to mention the importance of arms sales to the kingdom that would be halted if sanctions were imposed, this story will keep growing.