Politics

I am fond of the word “apocalypse,” which in common usage means “the end of the world,” but etymologically means “an unmasking.” For the Republican Party, Donald Trump is an apocalypse in both senses of the term.

Earlier this week, Damon Linker diagnosed an odd phenomenon. No matter how much influence or popularity they enjoy, grandees of the conservative movement including the editor of National Review and Rush Limbaugh deny being part of the “establishment”. Linker questions their grasp of reality rather than their judgment:

The consumer comfort of Democrats soared this week relative to Republicans - pushing their relative confidence to 4-month highs. However the last week saw an almost unprecented surge in Democrat confidence. This is the biggest surge in Democrat confidence since President Obama was elected in November 2008 - in a week when it looks like Hillary will be indicted and Bernie takes the lead in New Hampshire and Iowa...

Ross Douthat asks why Rubio isn’t winning:

Nobody’s sure why. Rubio has various weaknesses, but he’s well liked by Republican voters, he polls very well against Hillary Clinton, and nothing scandalous has emerged to derail him. Yet here we are just days from Iowa, and prominent Republicans are variously frustrated and confused, resigning themselves to Trump-versus-Cruz or attempting complicated bank shots to take one or both of them out … instead of doing what many people expected and simply rallying to Rubio.

Exclusive: Few Americans understand the ugly history behind the Nazi-affiliated movements that have gained substantial power in today’s U.S.-backed Ukrainian regime. Western propaganda has made these right-wing extremists the “good guys” versus the Russian “bad guys,” as Jonathan Marshall explains. By Jonathan Marshall The latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine, one of the leading journals in…