Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, December 8, 2025
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52 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on
Twitter and/or
BlueSky.
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Good grief, I need a life. Sent three letters in three days to my Senate and House elected officials. I think what has most disturbed me is the National Security Strategy. I suspect, at least, that Senator’s Cornyn and Cruz actually may agree with me but are too cowardly and obsequious to say anything.
And I got this song and lyrics going around in my head
From the Moody Blues The Story in Your Eyes:
Happy Christmas!
Britain is staggering, damaged by Brexit but incapable of admitting it, with young talent fleeing in droves.
France is so upside-down on its worker to pensioner ratio that their right wing may be hard to keep out of power, which will only exacerbate their loss of tax base.
Germany, the Energizer Bunny of Europe seems to be losing charge, unable to power up their economy and drag the rest of a weary Europe along.
Ukraine is running out of soldiers with its people looking at a hard, unheated winter, betrayed by Trump who is selling them out so he and his fellow vultures can pick the country’s bones for mineral wealth and profit from tossing Russia a lifeline.
A lifeline that may profit Trump and Kushner, but won’t undo the damage to Russia’s heavy-launch platform, which will likely doom the ISS and tempt Putin to start taking down American satellites by blowing up his own and sending shrapnel spinning through orbit. The oil business, their only real source of foreign exchange is being dismantled by the Ukrainians and bankrupted by sanctions. Russia may begin to fragment and god knows what a desperate Putin may try.
Israel is still in Gaza, seemingly trying the impossible: ethnic cleansing with nowhere for the cleansed to go.
Sudan is suffering a genuine genocide.
The eternal conflict between India and Pakistan – the one Trump ‘solved’ – could turn hot at any moment.
Thailand and Cambodia are at it again.
Iran is battered but not dead just yet and is almost certainly developing nukes, even as their people are desperate for drinking water.
Japan and China are busily re-opening some very deep old wounds, while Xi remains fixated on launching a war for a prize he will destroy in the taking.
South Korea is being helped by the US to develop nuclear submarines which they will almost certainly arm with nuclear missiles, likely followed by Japan.
The fight against climate change is lost and there is no one capable of launching the kinds of huge engineering projects needed to mitigate the damage.
Nihilist tech oligarchs are working feverishly to replace the human race – a race already busy exterminating itself with birthrates falling precipitously, leaving welfare states overburdened with octogenarians and no one left to wipe their asses.
American science is being hamstrung, once-conquered diseases are coming back, feeding on ignorance.
And the US now stands alone, friendless, in the grip of a corrupt, morally depraved and incompetent administration ruled by a mad king who stays up all night spewing hate and falling asleep in cabinet meetings while his toadies lick his loafers.
The post-war Pax Americana is over. Supply lines are breaking. Alliances are shattered, trust is gone. We are on the edge of a cliff and one pandemic or depression or flight of nukes away from the collapse of modern civilization.
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and despite the fact that it is increasingly likely I’ll get a TV series, I don’t feel fine.
How are all of you?
@Michael Reynolds: Thanks, Michael, I needed that lift.
I think I learned something yesterday that surprised me somewhat,
It would appear that there were multiple classified briefings given by Admiral in command of missile strikes in the Caribbean. Cotton and Himes were briefed separately. why?
@Michael Reynolds:In that cheery vein, some quick headlines:
Drones fly over French strategic nuclear submarine base, media report
Philippines says China fired flares toward its patrol plane in the disputed South China Sea
Japan and Australia urge calm after Chinese radar locks on Japanese jets
Cost/Benefit of the Venezuela adventure:
Sinking speedboats with a supercarrier: the lopsided cost of Operation Southern Spear
Conclusion:
My, my. What a shocker!
Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal
Latest on Ukraine for Institute for the Study of War.
• The Kremlin positively reacted to the recently released US National Security Strategy (NSS).
• Russian forces are conducting a battlefield air interdiction (BAI) campaign against Ukrainian ground lines of communications (GLOCs) in northern Kharkiv Oblast, likely to disrupt Ukrainian logistics to eventually facilitate battlefield gains.
• Balloons from Belarusian airspace continue incursions into NATO airspace in Lithuania.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area. Russian forces recently advanced near Hulyaipole.
@Michael Reynolds:
Busy. It’s week three of Hell Week.
I seriously need one weekend when I don’t have to go to the office. this one looked likely, then the most massive market price study hit.
Headline from AP: Trump is proposing a $12B aid package for farmers hit hard by his trade war with China.
Whaddya know – it’s finally dawned on Trump that (ILLEGALLY) imposing tariffs and gutting food aid programs, like USAID, hurts American farmers and consumers. So Trump screws the farmers and we the taxpayers have to bail them out – again…just like it happened in Trump 1.0.
@Charley in Cleveland:
Good chance for some Dem opposition. It doesn’t need to be all of them as there will be some R opposition as well.
newsflash: consuming copious amounts of vitamin C or taking supplements, will not ward off cold or flu, nor shorten its duration.
Consuming sufficient amounts of vitamin C will, however, keep you from developing scurvy, help you absorb iron, and do lots of other things. But since it can’t prevent the common cold, as per the wingnut wing of the wingnut party, you should avoid taking it, and pay exorbitant amounts of money to remove any you might have gotten by some other means, like eating fresh fruits and vegetables.
@JamesJoyner
There is only one team in the CFP that has 3 losses
There is only one team in the CFP that has a loss to a 5-7 team
There is only one team in the CFP that has been trending down, losing 2 of its last 4 games
There is only one team in the CFP that lost their last game by 21
There is only one team in the CFP that struggled to beat a sub .500 team in their only FBS win in November
That team is Alabama.
The more I look at the metrics, the more convinced that the CFP corrupted itself to please it’s SEC fanbase. Because on legitimate metrics, Alambama should not be in.
That you can ignore the actual analytics says alot about your inability to see past your bias.
And like DK, I DESPISE the Irish.
@Kathy: copious amounts of vitamin C can induce a C Flush. Chew some acerola tablets until bowels move. I can attest to the efficacy of this method personally.
In the same vein, warm buttered prune juice can effect near immedidiate relief. Never have tried it because yuck, but I have very reliable sources who swear by it.
@Kathy: also, important in cellular regeneration, which could reduce the need for so much plastic surgery (yes I said plastic) and inhibit the growth of the Maralago Face industry.
I’m thinking of titling my memoirs Out on a Limb.
Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.
I’m thinking of titling my memoirs Out on a Limb.
Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.
@CSK: what a loop you got thrown. The realignment of your life must be so challenging. I think of you often.
@Charley in Cleveland:
Just finished reading this AP story.
MAGA’s endorsement of socialism is conditional it seems.
@becca:
Thank you so much. I realized today that I’ve been in rehab or hospitalized since July 11. Luckily I’m back at my favorite rehab place. I’m temporarily lodged in the nursing home wing till a place opens up in the rehab wing. Soon, I hope. The nursing home is rather depressing.
@Michael Reynolds:
But … we’ll always have Paris, Jerusalem, and ‘Wisdom of The People.’
And … Doing okay, thanks for asking.
Currently I’m reading The Case Against the Supreme Court by Erwin Chemerinsky.
The claim is that court has often failed to enforce the constitution, secure individual rights, and has given to much power and leeway to both business and government. He goes about proving this by citing relevant cases through the years, and explaining the consequences these have for people.
I’d been thinking along similar lines since several dubious, and harmful, decisions this century, starting with Bush v Gore, and infamously Citizens United and Shelby County, among others. also since reading a Great Courses series on the history of the court.
What’s more depressing is the book was written in 2014. Save a few landmark decisions, like Obergefell, things have gotten worse.
I’ve yet to read what Chemerinsky recommends in the form of remedies. Given what’s wrong with the court, what’s wrong with Congress (ie too few seats in the House, disproportional representation in the Senate), and a few other things, I’m increasingly of the opinion that the US constitution was a good first attempt, but it falls short in many ways, it omits several important aspects of government and society (not least political parties), and it assumes only mostly decent people would enter government service at the higher levels, all past the ability to be amended.
In the abstract I’d favor striking it down and replacing it with a new, more responsive document that fixes many of the issues and problems in the main text.
In the abstract.
In the real world, we’re likely to wind up with something much worse, given the current popularity of fascism in America.
@Michael Reynolds:
Yeah, but we’ve been hearing this about Ukraine for 3.5 years. At this point, it’s tantamount to the economists who spent 3.5 years of the Biden presidency insisting a recession was just around the corner, or the anti-Trumpers who figured his legal comeuppance was imminent. I’ve stopped underestimating Ukrainian will.
@becca:
Do you ever wonder what will happen when plastic surgeons begin to deal with Mar a Lardo face regrets?
I hold some hope for the world, but it’s conditional. Let me tell a story.
Last night a friend was over and he was talking about his fear: Dems take over Congress, try to fix a few things, and Trump declares martial law, effectively enacting a coup (or autogolpe if you must).
I don’t think this will happen. That is because it would require not just the compliance of the SecDef and a top general or two, but of the rank and file. If they refuse to shoot people, it’s done.
And Trump is at 36 percent approval and 50 percent disapproval.
HOWEVER, to beat this we have to be willing to put ourselves at risk. We have to get out there. We have to find our courage. This is hard in this day and age. However, every single terrible thing they do makes it easier.
People do not like it when things are taken away from them. The fascists are doing their best not to do that, but their program consists of taking things away from people. They are trying to split us into tribes and say “we’re only taking things from THEM”. This is a lie. It is the biggest lie.
@EddieInCA:
A system corrupt by design cannot be newly corrupted. Going back to the BCS and the bowl system before it, post-season college football selection always existed to maintain the power (and profits) of the SEC first, Big 10 second, and Big 12 third, with the Pac-10/12 or ACC sneaking up a tier depending on how unignorable USC, Miami, FSU, or Clemson looked in any given year.
Nothing has changed significantly, except Notre Dame is shocked to discover the super special golden child status they’ve grown accustomed to means nothing in a backroom poker game versus the SEC. Which is funny af for the rest of us. How could the Irish not know that compared to Alabama, they’re just a red-headed stepkid?
A standard 16 team playoff bracket with no byes should’ve been implemented decades ago, and would’ve but not for the greed of the Power 5 conferences. That’s what NCAA football fans should be upset about.
Alina Habba steps down as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor
@DK:
I agree with you about the 16 teams, but I actually think that the bigger the playoff gets the worse the complaints will be. It’s one thing to tell Notre Dame that they don’t deserve one of 4 spots, something else again to say they don’t deserve one of 12 spots. Imagine the uproar from SEC country when their 8th (or 9th) best team doesn’t get recognized as one of the top 16 teams in the country.
Today’s news is annoying. I don’t want to see our farmers struggle and/or fail, but boy howdy it’s irritating to see a massive bailout being handed to people who were harmed by Trump’s tariffs after voting for Trump, and who now need taxpayer help.
And don’t get me started on this “Supreme” court readying to hand Trump the power to remove independent commissioners. What. A. Mess.
Le Sigh.
@Scott:
Really great opening riff in that tune. A fave. And nice poetry.
@Kathy:
I’ve heard of Mar-a-Lago face. Not sure what it is. Like Melania’s?
@Michael Reynolds:
Yeah, the holidays have that effect on some people.
@DK:
And ingenuity.
@Jen:
Yep, and these are people who might have “defected” but for the scraps now tossed from the master’s table.
@CSK:
I can’t describe facial features to save my life, but here’s the Wikipedia entry on it
TL;DR: “…described as excessive or uniform plastic surgery interventions such as lip augmentation, Botox, and jaw contouring, coupled with heavy makeup, spray tans, fake eyelashes, and dark smoky eyes.”
Coincidentally, I brought up the Twilight Zone episode Number 12 Looks Just Like You in the weekly AG thread. The ep is about extreme conformity.
@Michael Reynolds:
Yes, but why worry, eh?
Democrat Colin Allred drops out of Senate race, announces run for 33rd Congressional District
This had to happen. Colin Allred is a good leader and needs a spot somewhere in Congress, but the 10 point differential to gain a Senate seat in Texas is a tall lift for anyone, let alone someone who missed the cut once. No need to expend funds on a primary for that race. But now Allred wants back into the House, facing his successor, Julie Johnson, who has done a good job and should continue her own path of contribution.
Meanwhile, Allred is leaving the field for the Senate spot to Jasmine Crockett, James Talarico, and a passel of relatively unknowns. Both Crockett and Talarico have been effective legislators in their current roles and it would be a shame if they were to dash their careers on the perpetual 10 point deficit for a statewide candidacy in Texas.
Colin Allred, Jasmine Crockett, James Talarico, and Julie Johnson are all high quality public servants/leaders and would be assets to sane governance. It’s a shame that they could get sidelined competing with each other. Such is the shame and strategy of gerrymandering.
As a point of interest to this unfolding drama, one of the independent candidates for the very same Senate post, provides a counterbalance of amusement — of sorts:
My name is Hans Truelson. I love you and I care about YOU! I’m running for office because YOU MATTER!
Who knew Ben Franklin was a cretin? Hans may be lacking in political education himself.
The promise of democracy is that anyone can run for President, but only a very few can afford in real terms, to acquire it.
@Michael Reynolds:
You missed the happy tidings that Rwanda and Congo have, under the auspices of King Trump, reached a peace deal! Let the bells ring out!
Wait, what?
Oh well, back to the drawing board.
@Jen: l just read that Article III of the Constitution allows for tossing out Supremes for “bad behavior”. Have them explain to America how come they have a 97% rate of overturning lower courts that ruled against Trump. Unprecedented and impossible to defend.
@Rob1:
Franklin understood electricity well enough to 1) stay out of the rain, and 2) use an insulator to hold the kite’s rope (a length of silk cord). He also used a Leiden jar to test for a charge. And let’s not forget this resulted in teh development of the lightning rod.
@Jen:
Did you see he claimed the money for the bailout wouldn’t be available without the tariffs?
No. Really.
Q: Why did El Taco go shopping to the gym?
A: He was looking for a strong box.
@Kathy:
Thanks. Now I can visualize the face. UGH.
@Michael Reynolds:
Re: How y’all doing?
Still hanging in there, thank you very much.
@Charley in Cleveland: I’m not in favor of the Democrats working to impoverish rural America or make farms fail.
That said, if they need Democrats to vote for a bailout, it needs to come with pulling the tariff power back into Congress’s domain.
I’d prefer all the “emergency” declarations require a congressional approval, within N calendar days, with some protections against biweekly emergency declarations, but something.
@Rob1:
The new Texas Gerrymander, along with the 12 point Democratic Swing in special elections means that a lot more seats might be in play than Republicans expect, but not if we have idiots running for them.
Was there no lackluster ex-Blackwater mercenary with Nazi tattoos that are interested in the district? Anyone other than hippy-dippy shitheads?
Police in Seattle shot a black man. Yet another black man. They claimed he was waving a gun around near a school, etc. Two dozen shots fired, leave the body on the street for 12 hours, etc.
And people in Seattle do what people in Seattle do… candlelight vigil for the “victim,” protest, say we need mental heath interventions*… the whole song and dance.
So, the police release body cam footage showing a black man waving a gun around and getting gunned down when he refuses to put the gun down.
Well done, Seattle shitheads, you made it about the “victim” who was a lunatic with a gun threatening everyone. Anything about police using excessive force and double, triple and 24th-tapping the shooting will be lost in the noise.
Yes, All Cops Are Bastards(tm), but that doesn’t mean this gun toting lunatic threatening violence was not worse. What the fuck is wrong with people?
Gun rights come with gun responsibilities, dude had to be stopped if he wouldn’t stop. 24 shots is too many shots, and Seattle Shitheads made the cops the good guys in a story where there are no good guys.
Reminds me of the Queer Kids who will be talking about microaggressions and pronouns while being subject to genuine fucking aggressions. Except, they’re usually children so they get some degree of a pass. (They’re like kittens, pouncing and playing and hunting a sock… kind of adorable, but you want to point out the coyote watching them. Kittens don’t know better, but they’re learning… Seattle Shitheads are just doing some lefty fucking grift with “independent reporters” shilling for donations, etc)
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*: the time for mental health interventions is before they are an imminent threat.
And the number one priority of people having a mental leash crisis is to not endanger random passersby .
Ideally don’t endanger anyone, but if you have to, form a proper kill list, and if you put yourself at the top you’re lacking in imagination. Random passersby are almost never the right choice. Yes, it might be the next Hitler, but it’s probably just some guy.
Next time someone is poking at the site, could they get rid of the name and email fields for commenting? It always uses the profile information anyway.
Just hide them. Maybe fill them in with information from the login, if you’re feeling fancy and want to remind people of who they are.
(Also, thanks for maintaining this elderly website, it’s very nice… just showing its age at the edges, but in a charming way)
@becca:
Yep. The next Dem better have sime spine and stop with the concilitory nonsense until safe guards are put back in place. Topping the to-do list: fix the SCOTUS imbalance and lack of accountability, campaign finance reform, reinforce voters rights, and a host of embarassingly partisan SCOTUS decisions. The next Dem needs to take the unitary executive rulings and ram restoration down MAGA’s throats. But watch, if a Dem gets close to regaining the WH with a friendly Congress, SCOTUS will likely be encouraged to “reconsider” some of those unitary friendly rulings by MAGA lawyers.
@Scott: So, we don’t have enough detail for calculation, but with the Ford costing 330K$ an hour to operate we’re talking like 500K$/hr in operating costs for the fleet and it’s support. Misquoting Everett Dirksen, twelve million a day here, twelve million a day there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.
Seems like a good segue to a gift link to NYT’s editorial board column today, titled Overmatched, Why the U.S. Military Needs to Reinvent Itself. Long story short, if push comes to shove with China we’re screwed. And the Pentagon has known it for years.
I had enough of a role in the development of the USS Ford to second what they say about it.
@Rob1:
Tossing out a fixer from the court requires impeachment. Unless the Democrats score 67 Senate seats… And even then, there are bound to be some who’d be reluctant, like Fetterman.
Reforming the court is easier, but still requires legislation. Getting 60 seats is more feasible, but see the caveat above.
@gVOR10:
The Pentagon will have cheap, nimble, capable, $100 drones when the defense contractors can sell them for $1 million each after ten years of R&D.
Funny to think the Predator and other drones were revolutionary once upon a time.
Repost from wrong thread.
John Lennon
October 9, 1940-December 8, 1980
RIP