Flynn Flam Man

Michael Flynn has called for a Myanmar like military coup.   I have been to Myanmar.  America, thank god, is no Myanmar.  Myanmar is the military industrial complex, without the industrial.  The military owns all, or part of everything.  Greed and graft stifle the economy.  

The country has tourist sites that rival those of Thailand, but without the infrastructure to capitalize on its good fortune.  Accommodations are more expensive, and less appealing, than any other country in the region.  The uneducated, and untrained workforce, cannot generate the wealth of the Vietnamese workers.

Myanmar is run like the Mafia, with Dons conferring wealth on a favored few, while stealing from the rest.  Flynn wants his Don to do the same.   This would be of no moment if Flynn was a fringe figure.  But he served as National Security Advisor, and was granted a presidential pardon.

There was a time when Republican leaders would rise up with heart felt rage, and defend Democracy.  Today is not that day.  Happy Memorial Day.

Fantastic Four

Four months of relentless competence prove elections matter.  The pandemic has been  wrestled to ever lower infection and death rates.  Fans are in the stands, students in schools and patrons in restaurants.  Who is that masked man?  At least outdoors, it is no longer me.

The economy is surging while claims for unemployment drop.  With a governing majority thinner than a gnat's wing, Biden passed a relief package  that will cut child poverty in half.

With governance replacing bluster, Biden hurdled over his first foreign policy crisis.  Netanyahu must show strength to retain the opportunity to form the next Israeli government.  Provoking him publicly with a demand for a cease fire, however satisfying, would have prolonged the conflict.  Biden may have thundered in private, but was tranquil in public.  A path guided by experience, saved lives.

2028

Two numbers are important, 61, Liz Cheney's age, in 7 years, and 2028, the year she intends to be the Republican nominee for president.   As all the other presidential aspirants cruise down to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring, they have left the diamond lane wide open for Cheney.  Nikki Haley was the last candidate in the southern caravan.

Right now Trumpism looks like the favorite.  But handicapping is about searching for value, a risk reward scenario.  Cheney's truth telling is sincere, but is also the right political play.  The Trump lane is so full that Liz would be blocked off if she took that path.

Trump could topple.  Behind a popular president, Democrats could rally in 2022.  Trump, or his designee, could lose badly in 2024.  Trump could transition from his blue suit to an orange jump suit.  If Trump is discredited, Cheney could move forward toward the 2028 nomination while the other aspirants back track.

The Cheney gambit: sacrifice a house seat for the oval office.

Post Policy Party

 No matter how big the tent, each party has traditionally had an inner sanctum of revered principles.  For Republicans, these were limited government, reducing the national debt, strong defense,  and strident opposition to China and Russia as communist states.  But, after birthing an abomination, the GOP has postpartum regression.

A party toppling Liz Cheney from leadership has no core.  Cheney rests securely on the bedrock of conservatism, with high grades from the American Conservative Union, and the Heritage Action Group.

Cheney voted with Trump 92% of the time, her likely successor, Elise Stefanik, sided with him on only 77% of her votes.  But Elise is unctuous in her praise of the former president, Cheney, not so much.

The lack of policy is echoed by the GOP Senate Leader.  Mitch McConnell told reporters that, "one hundred per cent of my focus is on stopping this new administration."  Blind, unyielding opposition is not a system of beliefs.  Republicans offer no competing vision.  

America deserves better.