Weekend thoughts.

March 25, 2023

          This edition of the newsletter is intended to open the Comments section after a turbulent week. As always, please be respectful and promote worthy comments by “liking” them, which will move them to the top of the thread.

I want to address two administrative items, then close with “Concluding Thoughts.”

Renewal Season for paid subscribers.

          First, renewal season for many paid subscribers is upon us. I moved to Substack two years ago in April 2021, and many of you became paid subscribers at that time. Your support has made a significant difference in my ability to devote time to writing the newsletter and responding to reader comments and emails. I hope you will continue that support.

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          Please note: the name of this newsletter is “Today’s Edition”—a non-descript and unhelpful name that confuses people when they see it on their credit card statement. As you probably know, this newsletter started as a nightly email to my daughters in 2017. After two weeks of nightly emails, I put “Today’s Edition” in the subject line of the email. Six years later, it is still the name I use for the newsletter. I might change it someday, but for now, we are stuck with it!

The audio version of the newsletter.

          At the request of readers with visual impairments, I began providing an audio version of the newsletter. After a bumpy start, I have overcome technical difficulties and am able to produce a recording that is consistently good from an audio standpoint. I don’t know how many of you listen to the audio version or what you think of it. I have included a short survey below to help me understand how many of you listen to the audio version and whether I should consider making changes to the format.

If you listen to the audio version and would like to make suggestions for improvement, please email me at rbhubbell@gmail.com. I welcome constructive criticism, but please be kind! I am an amateur. So, begin all criticisms with “You get an “A” for effort but . . . .”

Concluding Thoughts.

          There were three disturbing developments on Friday that deserve comment.

          First, Trump posted a comment that predicted “potential death and destruction” if he is indicted in Manhattan. That comment is reminiscent of his “Be there! It will be wild!” comment that preceded the violence on January 6^th.  Given the history, the intent of Trump's comment today was transparent and reprehensible.

          Second, predictably, Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg received a death threat that arrived in an envelope containing a suspicious white powder (later determined to be harmless).

          Third, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene led a GOP delegation to a D.C. prison where six January 6^th defendants are in pre-trial detention because they are viewed as flight risks or dangers to the community. Greene and her colleagues described the defendants as “political prisoners” and treated them as heroes.

          If the Republican Party was not irretrievably broken, its leadership would have condemned Trump's statement—and the death threat to Alvin Bragg and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s visit to the January 6^th defendants. Instead, they have remained silent.

          When a reporter showed Jim Jordan a copy of Trump's post predicting “potential death and destruction,” Jordan responded that he “can’t read well without his glasses.” Jim Jordan is a craven, depraved coward whose career should have ended with a comprehensive investigation of allegations at Ohio State.

          But here we are. Trump can tease violence and Greene can glorify insurrectionists because there is no Republican Party infrastructure capable of enforcing decorum, decency, or discipline. Instead, grifters and demagogues have appropriated its decaying scaffolding to festoon their campaigns with an aura of respectability they neither have nor deserve. The miscreants who roam the abandoned halls of the house Lincoln built will say and do anything without fear of condemnation or consequence—at least from the Republican Party.

          But they do fear condemnation and consequences from the public. Jim Jordan’s pathetic claim that he “can’t read without his glasses” to avoid condemning Trump's prediction of violence speaks volumes. Even the shameless Jim Jordan couldn’t summon the mendacity to defend Trump.

They know—and they know we know. It is only a matter of time until their reckless support for Trump incites a second spasm of violence. There will be no coming back from that. They are on notice that Trump's coded call for violence can incite delusional members of his base—and they are therefore responsible for what follows.

          What does this mean for us? It means we should stop asking ourselves “What happened to the Republican Party?” or “How can the GOP tolerate this behavior?” The Republican Party no longer exists in any meaningful sense. It is an empty vessel hijacked by the lowest common denominator of demagogues with the cunning or connections to secure a place on the ballot.

          It is, therefore, simply and only up to us to convince Americans that there is a better way to govern a great nation and a free people. We must offer hope and optimism, dignity and decency, safety and security.

We must not rise to the bait of bad faith arguments in the culture war but should instead rise to the challenge of meeting people where they live—in their daily struggle for a better life for their families.

We can do that. We are doing that. We need only improve our messaging, outreach, and listening skills to reverse the tide and reclaim a democracy in which calls to violence and glorification of insurrectionists are immediately and universally condemned.

          I hope everyone can catch their breath and relax for a moment over the weekend. If you have a spare minute and want a pep talk, my comments to the Field Team 6 Register Democrats Summit are now available here: Keynote 3: Robert Hubbell: Today’s Edition Newsletter.

          Again, thanks to everyone who supports the work of this newsletter through paid subscriptions or by spreading the newsletter’s message of optimism and hope to others.

          Talk to you on Monday!