The story is not "partisan gridlock" but Republican negation. The GOP unanimously voted against Covid Relief, as they did against the Obama Stimulus, as they did against Obamacare. And McConnell says 100% of his focus is on stopping Dem legislation. nytimes.com/2021/05/23/us/…
Why is it that this obvious context and framing is missing from so much of the analysis of these negotiations? Why is the McConnell quote not prominently mentioned, along with the GOP track record? /2
Is the essence of the story really that the two parties are "sparring over the size of the infrastructure bill"? It can only be framed that way by disregarding recent history and the explicit statements of the GOP Senate leader. wsj.com/articles/mccon…
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Fair reporting should not be understood as "let's all pretend that the GOP is a party of 'fiscal conservatism' that is negotiating in good faith," notwithstanding the clear record of the last decade and assurances of their leader that they will reject all Biden initiatives./4
These “can Biden win over skeptical, cost-conscious Republicans and keep his bipartisan promises” are coming fast and furious. Me, trying to respond:
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This article claims that Trump "has begun crafting a policy agenda outlining a MAGA doctrine for the party," but, remarkably, beyond the vaguest generalities, it says next-to-nothing about what that policy agenda will contain. /1 politi.co/34vmiBD
In 1952, Dwight Eisenhower said, "our form of government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith, and I don't care what it is." And that's pretty much the degree of policy specificity contained herein./2
With considerable understatement, it says that "detailed policy planks have never been the most notable feature of Trump’s political appeal" but nonetheless tells us that "its construction has been teased and talked about for weeks." Ok, then, what do we have so far? /3
This piece consistently overemphasizes Trump's break from GOP "traditions." There are some significant ruptures, to be sure, but also a lot of continuity./1 washingtonpost.com/politics/repub…
The Trump era GOP’s signature accomplishment was a tax cut for the rich. They nearly succeeded in taking health care from millions. Trump deregulated like mad. He denied global warming and appointed right-wing judges. Where, in these things, is a “push” from GOP traditions? /2
How can @michaelscherer and @jdawsey1 describe “infrastructure” as a “Trumpian priority”? Trump famously did nothing on this front. Equally implausible, in light of recent history, is their description of “limited government” and “lower debt” as “conservative traditions.” /3
It is irresponsible for journalists not to lede with recent GOP history & McConnell’s explicit claim that his caucus will seek to derail any major Biden proposal. There is no reason to highlight their supposed “skepticism,” which suggests good faith. /1 washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021…
Treating the GOP as if their recent history of full-throttled rejectionism wasn’t their guiding principle. /2
Live action shot of the coverage of the Republican Party skeptically "balking" at Biden's infrastructure proposal. /3
The idea that time is running out--that it was always, as I showed in my book, FREE ENTERPRISE: AN AMERICAN HISTORY, "five minutes to midnight"--is central to the existential framing of all backlashes. /2 yalebooks.yale.edu/book/978030023…
So too was the idea that the rule of law was provisional, that certain people were not bound by its strictures. As one critic of the "recent revolutionary acts of Congress" said in 1868, they would "provoke on the part of those immediately affected by them violent resistance."/3
This piece only hints at what might have been Moynihan's most lasting legacy: his pronouncement that the Reagan-era GOP had become the "party of ideas."/1 nytimes.com/2021/05/15/boo…
Personally, I don't find Moynihan's positing "the seeming incapacity of government to get anything right” to be a "great insight." Instead, I consider it part of the damaging denigration of government that mainstream politicians have only recently beginning to challenge./3
So much of the reporting not only assumes good faith on the part of Republicans, it ignores McConnell’s explicit policy of rejecting any major Biden initiative (as the GOP did with Obama), no matter how necessary or popular. The faux naiveté is maddening. /1
Here’s a good example: a passage taking as fact “the fiscal austerity….emerging within her own [Capito’s] party.” As Joe Biden might say, “Come on, Man!” /2
And then there is this passage, in which Capito’s complete inversion of recent history is quoted at length, with no context whatsoever—say about how Obama wasted six months for Republican moderates to sign onto the ACA which they, predictably, rejected as a bloc. /3