On the 2024 presidential race; beautiful, barbarous Singapore; a Down-syndrome Barbie doll; the life of Richard Riordan; and more
Just possibly, the 2024 presidential race will be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — just as the 2020 race was. Do we deserve this? Do Americans deserve it? Many years ago, Ramesh Ponnuru (who is now the editor of National Review) said, “If people wanted better schools, they would have them.” Well, if we — we collectively — wanted better politics, I think we would have them.
Can you envision a presidential race between, say, Doug Ducey and Gina Raimondo, two competent, sharp, and public-spirited ex-governors? I can envision it — but only in a dreamy way.
A couple of weeks ago, I podcasted with John Engler (here), who was governor of Michigan during the ’90s. It was like talking with someone from a different world — someone versed, for example, in the ins and outs of welfare reform.
• There is a line developing on the right — one we have heard for some time, actually. It goes something like this: The Democrats are making us renominate Donald Trump. The media are making us do it. No. Republicans have agency. They have volition. They are not putty in Democrats’ hands. They have nominated Trump for president twice. They did it because they wanted to. And, if they nominate him a third time, it will be because they want to.
Nobody makes them do it. Should that be necessary to say? A lot of things that should not be necessary to say, need saying.
• I have heard a phrase in recent days — hell, for many years, but I have heard it repeatedly in recent days: “protecting Social Security,” “protecting entitlements.” Another way to put this is: “refusing to countenance reform.” Could it be that the would-be reformers are the real protectors? The trustees of Social Security and Medicare say that those funds face insolvency, imminently. I’m not sure that the stand-patters are protectors, at all.
• The two frontrunners for the GOP nomination — Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis — are hurling the same accusation at each other: You want to reform entitlements. Each politician denies the accusation, of course. What a sorry, shabby state of affairs.
It is certainly true that DeSantis once recognized the need for entitlement reform. He used to recognize the need for a lot of things — including a firm stance against the Kremlin over Ukraine. His slogan is “Never back down.” His persona is that of “tough guy.” But it seems to me that he has backed down over and over, in the face of pressure from the nationalist-populist Right.
Then again, who hasn’t? It’s one thing for politicians to do it. They have their finger in the wind, most of them. But for people who work in the media to do it . . .
• For a taste of how DeSantis once sounded on Ukraine, watch the clip below:
Here is a short clip of then Congressman Ron DeSantis speaking clearly about Putin and arming Ukraine.
This interview was conducted at my alma mater @EmbryRiddle on 4/17/2017.
Any of this sound familiar @HypocriLib?
H/T @RLHeinrichs
Please share. pic.twitter.com/pOcHNS0tIS
— MrJ 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@MrJohnson860) February 24, 2023
• In October 1975, the New York Daily News ran a headline, which became famous: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” The headline was grossly unfair, but, in tabloid journalism, fair or unfair has nothing to do with it.
Last week, Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, said, “The national government has turned its back on New York City. Every service in this city is going to be impacted by the asylum-seeker crisis.” He also said, “The city is being destroyed by the migrant crisis.”
In a way, Adams is passing the buck. The city could be better governed, the migrant crisis quite aside. But he also has a good and important point: An orderly immigration system, control of our borders — those are federal responsibilities. There is only so much that state and local governments can do.
“Adams to Biden: Get It Together”? Why not?
• A Bret Stephens column, I highly recommend. Of course, I could say those words virtually every time he writes. But I am talking about this column in particular. It’s headed “Undeterred Criminals Plus Demoralized Cops Equals More Crime.” Sometimes a headline really does encapsulate a column — even a book. But the column, or the book, is worthwhile anyway.
• On the subject of crime and punishment:
A federal court Tuesday handed down guilty verdicts for the Nashville man best known as “zip-tie guy” and his mother for the pair’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
For that article, go here. Too often, people think there should be no consequences for their actions. And often, there are not. But consequences — without them, society would be more chaotic and nasty than it is.
• In foreign policy — in the realm of deterrence — this is an important step:
Presidents Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday will sign an agreement that includes plans to have U.S. nuclear-armed submarines dock in South Korea for the first time in more than 40 years, a conspicuous show of support to Seoul amid growing concern about nuclear threats by North Korea . . .
(Article here.)
• As regular readers know, I despise drugs, and have drug-war inclinations. I am a “hawk,” when it comes to drugs. But I hope I am not a barbarian. And I believe this is barbarous behavior — uncivilized, shocking, and damnable:
Singapore on Wednesday executed a man accused of coordinating a cannabis delivery, despite pleas for clemency from his family and protests from activists that he was convicted on weak evidence.
Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was sentenced to death in 2018 for abetting the trafficking of 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cannabis. . . .
Tangaraju was hanged Wednesday morning . . .
(Article here.)
• At the top of a recent column, George F. Will quoted Donald Trump, in 2016: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and wouldn’t lose any voters.” GFW proceeded to write,
Fox News could plop one of its prime-time anchors at a desk in the middle of Sixth Avenue, in front of Fox’s headquarters, and the anchor could report that John Wilkes Booth killed Marilyn Monroe on the grassy knoll in Dallas’s Dealey Plaza. And Fox News would not lose its core viewers.
Sounds right.
• Another article:
Toy company Mattel revealed its first Barbie doll representing a person with Down syndrome on Tuesday.
Mattel collaborated with the National Down Syndrome Society to create the Barbie and “ensure the doll accurately represents a person with Down syndrome,” the company said.
This is the sort of thing that is easily mocked, by some. But I can’t see why this is a bad or mockable idea. (I realize you can’t have a Barbie for everything under the sun.) Remember, too, that Down-syndrome babies are being killed left and right, in the womb. Every child with Down syndrome who exists is a kind of escapee.
• Richard Riordan was an interesting fellow, who had an interesting career — even a brilliant one. He was mayor of Los Angeles from 1993 to 2001. He was a New Yorker, though — born in Flushing, Queens, in 1930. He went to Princeton (philosophy). And then Michigan (law). He became an investor, and an exceptionally good one: He made a fortune. He also gave away a lot.
One article said that he liked to give away money “almost as if it burns his hands.”
At the ripe age of 62, he turned to politics — running for mayor as a Republican. In that job, he applied certain business principles. He liked the free market. He liked charter schools. He understood the importance of law and order. He also understood the importance of listening to diverse communities within a big city.
When it came to philanthropy — meaning his own — he had a special interest in childhood literacy.
Dick Riordan has died at 92. For the New York Times, Katie Hafner wrote an excellent obituary, ending as follows:
Mr. Riordan also owned restaurants around Los Angeles, including the Original Pantry Café, a popular diner. Mr. Riordan said he first fell in love with the Pantry when a waiter decided he was taking too long to eat his meal.
“I had a book I was reading,” he told The Los Angeles Times in 2008. “I was very relaxed, and the waiter came over and said, ‘If you want to read, the library’s at Fifth and Hope.’” Instead, he bought the restaurant.
He could sit in that thing as long as he damn pleased. Thank you for joining me, everybody. Catch you soon.
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