As Lloyd Bridges says in Airplane, “I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.” After taking last week off, I now have the whole Mar-a-Lago FBI search controversy to cover, together with the capstone of President Biden’s legislative agenda, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Those two stories make interesting bookends, because they show what each party has become. Democrats are focused on passing laws that improve people’s lives and safeguard their future. Republicans’ top priority is protecting Donald Trump against any form of accountability, no matter what he has done or how absurd his defenses are. I’ll make that case in “Governing Party vs. Personality Cult”, which should be out by 10 or so EDT.
That leaves a lot for the weekly summary to cover: Republicans candidates are doubling down on unpopular positions, and voters are starting to notice. The pandemic might be letting up again. The beginning of the school year highlights right-wing meddling with public education. The one-year anniversary of Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is coming up. Women appear to be raising their dating standards. And a few other things have been happening. The summary should appear between noon and 1.
The Weekly Sift 