Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, June 10, 2025
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25 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor 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.
The headline of the day- Man chased on tarmac at Heathrow Airport near moving aircraft
My wife’s youngest brother did something similar at Manila Airport in 1988 or 1989. I always kid Leoncio ‘Look both ways before you cross the runway.’
@Bill Jempty:
I gonna be really bummed if I click that link and find out he wasn’t blasting “Yakety Sax” out a Bluetooth speaker while he was getting chased.
ETA: my disappointment is immeasurable.
Question for James Joyner: In your opinion is the deployment of Marines for use against protesters a legal order?
@Michael Reynolds:
I think Prof. JJ has answered your question in today;s post on autocracy.
@CSK:
Thanks.
@Bill Jempty:
But you only need to look opposite to where the wind is blowing from. Everyone takes off and lands against the wind.
Trump said today that he’s going to “wean” (his word) us from FEMA, on the grounds that governors should be able to take care of any disasters that befall their states. “That’s why they’re governors now. If they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be governor.”
So now our current DNI is making videos directly parroting Russia propaganda.
https://www.the-independent.com/tv/news/dni-director-tulsi-gabbard-nuclear-war-b2767407.html
@Kingdaddy:
I’m getting flashbacks to my childhood, when we had to crawl under school desks to practice hiding from a nuclear blast.
Trump says that anyone who shows up to protest his birthday parade will be met with “very heavy force.”
He’s really on a roll today with the threats.
@CSK:
How fortuitous all the No Kings Protests are scheduled for that day.
Here’s the really depressing thing: the only adult left in the room is Jerome Powell, as one can tell because he’s not rushing to implement El Taco’s whims.
This is deadly dangerous for Powell. Especially since El Taco figures lowering interest rates will drive up GDP to levels never ever seen before.
So either Powell will either:
1) lower rates a little, and then get blamed when this fails to help and perhaps worsens inflation a bit (which will be hard to tell amid the morass of everchanging tariffs).
2) lower rates a lot and cause high inflation perhaps combined with the developing trump recession, then get blamed for it.
3) refuse to lower rates at all. In such a case, he’ll still get the blame for the ongoing disaster, and he may get fired.
If he gets fired and the economy crashes in a manner that has the world pining for the Great Depression, he’ll still be blamed.
@Kathy:
There’s a fourth option for him: He could quit in a blaze of glory.
@CSK: I’m getting flashbacks to the bad old days when calls to control the spread of nuclear weapons were dismissed as Communist propaganda. What I see missing from Gabbard’s impassioned plea is 1) what can US citizens do to address this issue in a world where nations will take by force what they cannot obtain by other means and 2) why she works for a man whose position on nuclear weapons has been “what’s the point of having nukes if we can’t use them.”
@Kathy:
A majority of the FOMC members would have to be compelled to vote for a rate cut. Surely Powell has a lot of influence, but each of the committee members would still need to live with their decision.
In terms of really vital news, Kanye West, who previously changed his name to Ye, is now changing it to Ye Ye.
@just nutha:
You’d think it would occur to Trump that a nuclear weapon would wipe out a lot of his fans.
Remember, Greta and her friends claim to be environmentalists. As it was, they refused to watch what really happened on October 7 and were taken to the consuls of their native states where most signed off on voluntary deportation, even Greta got a quick flight to Sweden. The less than one truckload of “aid” on board was integrated with the tons of aid that Israel facilitates into Gaza.
Trump gave a speech at Ft. Bragg, NC, today in which he urged the troop to condemn the news media and cheer Robert E. Lee.
@CSK:
I’d bet against it.
No reason. just a hunch.
@Eusebio:
Yes, but we’re talking about El Taco. He expects Powell alone can lower interest rates. If he won’t, he’ll fire him and place a stooge in the position. I wonder which other Faux “news” hosts would like a government job.
@CSK: I think you’re making 2 key mistakes (possibly more): 1) Trump makes decisions on the basis of immediate results and downrange impact. I’m not sure he uses either basis; I think the decisions are mostly purely visceral.
2) Trump cares about what happens to people not named Donald John Trump, Sr. or Ivana Marie Trump-Kushner. And I’m not sure how much he cares about what happens to her given that he seems to acknowledge that sleeping with her would be wrong in some tangible way.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Oh, I don’t think he cares about his admirers. Not in the least. But he’d miss their adulation.
As for Ivanka, she’s 43. Too long in the tooth for his taste, at this point.
I’ve been talking to a lot of my conservative Wyoming friends. They do not get any “media” outside their bubble that indicates it’s anything more than criminals. They’re fully on board.
When I ask them how they feel about people who came here legally being deported, they said there aren’t any. “What about the kid with cancer?” Well, I don’t know about that.
We need media. Gavin Newsom is not going to do it. Greta Thunberg isn’t going to do it.
There has to be a new brand.
Gaza is never going to do it. How can we save Palestine when our own country has followed the lead of golden toilets?!
@JKB: ” The less than one truckload of “aid” on board was integrated with the tons of aid that Israel facilitates into Gaza.”
And then taken to a single distribution center, where IDF soldiers shot anyone who tried to get some.
Man, it’s pathetic to see how terrified you are of a tiny young girl.
@wr:
Hey! JKB is afraid of all women, of any size or age.