I cover two topics this week. First of all, there is Mike Johnson finally deciding to bring to the House floor bills on providing aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. As things stand, the texts of the bills have been released, and votes are expected to happen as early as Saturday.
I’m fascinated by the role Trump has played in all this, and argue that it provides insight into what his second term foreign policy will look like. Ukraine gets $61 billion in aid. MAGA doesn’t like aid to Ukraine, so for Trump to bless it, they make $10 billion of that a loan. But the president gets to negotiate terms and can cancel the loan at any time. I argue that this represents what we saw in Trump’s first term. The man has two instincts: isolationism and wanting to look tough. The latter always wins out in policy debates, and we have no reason to think this would change if and when Trump returns to office. For some context, see Greg Sargent on Mike Johnson’s pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago.
In the second part of the monologue, I discuss the film Anyone But You (2023) starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be more Sydney Sweeney analysis. The movie is worth mentioning because I think it represents where the dead center of American popular culture is at this point. Conventional looking and attractive white people as leads, with magical blacks and gays sprinkled in. Romance, fun, and living a good life are allowed. Contrast with the delusional views of many right wingers, who believe every cultural product is promoting pedophilia and polyamory. The movie isn’t very good or necessarily worth watching, but I think it demonstrates why it is good to pay attention to popular films and shows to get a grip on where the culture is rather than thinking that what one sees on the internet is everything.