Follow-up Tabs
Links related to various recent posts.
- Dan Drezner: Five Ways of Looking at Trump’s Economic Coercion of Colombia.
- Anne Appelbaum in The Atlantic: Europe’s Elon Musk Problem.
- Via Reuters: Coffee prices surge to record highs above $3.60 per lb.
- From Brian Taylor at A Public Witness: John Danforth, Former GOP Senator & Episcopal Priest, Calls Bishop Budde ‘Prophetic’.
- Via Vox: The Logoff: The truth about “mass deportations”.
- Via Newsweek: Priest Mimics Elon Musk’s Salute at Anti-Abortion Rally. Protip: if you do something that requires to say, “I am not a Nazi” then maybe you shouldn’t have done the thing.
BTW, I agree with JVL’s assessment of this:
No reasonable person could doubt Robinson’s intention. He was doing a Hitler salute, but cloaked under the veil of irony, as a way of signaling to the audience that people who object to Hitler salutes are bad.
Or, to put it another way: He’s trying to use mainstream objections about Hitler salutes to launder the Hitler salute and make it an acceptable in-group identity marker.
Jack Danforth is the last Republican I voted for, but I’ve never really forgiven him for helping to foist Clarence Thomas and Josh Hawley on us. A modest defense of Bishop Budde is way too little, way too late to make me regain the respect I used to have for him.
John Danforth appears to be a species of a dying breed: A politician who understands that differences of opinion don’t make someone an enemy of America.
Steven, in cas you missed it, there was a “find out” aspect to this fuck around story:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/30/michigan-priest-salute
On that note:
I was assured that she chose an inappropriate venue that diminished her.
@Roger: Maybe I’m inventing this, but I thought I heard that he had at least expressed regret about Hawley? If so, then he gets partial credit for seeing the error of his ways. It’s difficult to see actions from another era through the lens of today, too. (I only say this because it’s so sadly rare for anyone to show even a bit of regret, remorse, etc.)
@reid: You’re right, after January 6 Danforth walked back a little on Hawley. If I had a more generous spirit I might give him some credit for that, but Hawley so clearly was despicable at the time Danforth endorsed him that I have trouble giving him credit for anything.
@Roger: Ah, I didn’t realize you were a Missouri person! Jack Danforth seems like the last of his kind from MO. Sigh.
@Jen: born and bred. Back in the day I was proud to claim the state and many of its politicians. It’s tough to say that now. And, not that anybody cares, after I posted this I realized that my actual last Republican vote was for Bob Dole in ‘96 based on concerns I had about Clinton’s character. How quaint that seems now.
About that ACC priest who channeled Elon Musk:
Except his Wiki profiles suggests he has a lot in common.
To the delight of the crowd. Not appalled, not outraged, they were thrilled.
But rainbow flags and D.E.I. policy, that’s what really sets them off.
How soon before the locusts set their sights on the ADA and its access regulation?
@Jen: SLPR headline:
To which the GoP suggested that Danforth could pry them away from Trump when his short-fingered, pathetically tiny and dead hands lost their grip. Still in all, he can have props from me for making the suggestion (but Roger doesn’t have to agree if he doesn’t want to).
@Rob1: Mark this day. This may be the only day during the next four years that a splinter denomination or evangelical group finds that there is a line that it won’t cross for earthly/worldly power.
I John 2:15-17. (Anyone interested may look it up for themselves and draw their own conclusions. Cracker respects everyone’s free will.)
@Rob1:
I cannot fully express how hard I will laugh when they do that. Omg that would be glorious. Trump and co would never know what hit them. The disability rights activists DO NOT FUCK AROUND. They have not forgotten and they are not going back.
Omg that’s such a beautiful vision.
@Beth: I have to believe the ADA is in their sights. The conservatives I know absolutely detest ADA requirements, because it requires spending public money on things they view as “low use.” We had a public building in town that needed to replace its accessibility elevator. A conservative on the budget committee kept asking how much use it got. Finally, our building inspector had to interject that it didn’t MATTER how frequently it was used, it is a requirement to have a working one.
@Roger: I lived and worked there for about a decade (in Jeff City and STL). I still have friends there, but cannot believe how sideways the politics have gone.