Originally published on July 15, 2020
From the Washington Post:
Here’s How a Normal Administration Would Have Handled the Russian Bounty Intel
The raw intelligence would have gone quickly to the White House Situation Room to be distributed to policymakers, including the national security adviser. Once it became clear what the Russians might have been doing, every national security adviser with whom we worked would have informed the president. While that was happening, intelligence community analysts would have been assessing the information.
—Michael Morell and Mike Vickers
From The Wire:
In WTO’s Search for Its Net Director-General, a Tale of Proxy Wars and Regional Rivalries
Nevertheless, at $25 trillion in 2018, trade remains a salient feature of global politics and economy. The appointment of the next Director-General is consequential and symbolic of current conflicts in the global economy—or the shape of things to come.
—J.P. Singh
From the Hill:
There’s a Big Blue Wave Coming
There’s a wave coming. A blue wave like the one in 2018. Only bigger. Much bigger. Big enough to sweep away President Trump and the Republican majority in the Senate.
—Bill Schneider
From the New York Daily News:
What If They Tie? A Nightmare Election Scenario for November 2020
At some point, probably on Jan. 20, either Pence or Biden’s running mate would become the acting president, and as such under the 25th Amendment would be entitled to name an acting vice president, who would need to be confirmed by both Houses of Congress. The acting president and vice president would be in office until — and if — the House breaks its deadlock and decides the actual winner of the election.
—Mark J. Rozell and James W. Ceaser
From the Washington Post:
We’ve Briefed Many Presidents. Uncertainty Comes With the Job.
Consider, for example, the raid that brought justice to Osama bin Laden. Although many now speculate that this was an easy call by President Barack Obama, it was not. Obama was faced with uncertain and conflicting intelligence and was forced to decide based on imperfect — and sometimes competing — acts. Rather than eschewing a decision, the president embraced this uncertainty, stood up to his responsibility and decided, knowing the risks associated with doing so.
—Michael V. Hayden, Michael Leiter, and Robert Cardillo
From the Washington Post:
Four Ways for Joe Biden to Reset Our Polarized and Dysfunctional Politics
Happily for Biden, the dramatic events of the past three months have upended the political landscape. With the primary debates now a distant memory, he has a second chance to lay out a new-and-improved policy agenda that is as radical as it is centrist, one that can serve as a foundation not only for winning the election but also governing the country thereafter.
—Steven Pearlstein
From the Hill:
Nightmare Again for Vietnam War Generation
It is a generational debacle like no other in American history. First, the government took their youth. Now, the government is robbing them of the peaceful dignity earned for their autumn years.
—Mark J. Rozell and Paul Goldman
From the Washington Post:
Uber-Postmates Merger Will Deliver Only Bad Tidings for Restaurants, Consumers
There was a time when it was almost automatic that the government would step in to prevent a merger that would leave only three firms controlling 98 percent of a rapidly growing market. But beginning in the 1990s, judges and antitrust regulators embraced the notion that in sectors characterized by rapid change and uncertain futures, it was best to let markets decide which technologies and business models and investments to pursue.
—Steven Pearlstein
From the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star:
Polar Politics: Nominees Increasingly Reflect Parties’ Fringe Factions
Now, with Republicans fielding a fringe nominee and the party mending fences after a divisive family feud, Democratic primary winner Cameron Webb, a physician, gains traction in the GOP-leaning 5th District in a bid to become its first African American congressman.
—Mark J. Rozell