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Abby McCloskey, a conservative, says the GOP has never been welcoming of millennial women. | "Because of how you look, no one's going to take you seriously in policy. You should get a job in communications instead." That's what an executive at a conservative Washington think-tank once told Abby McCloskey in a job interview. (Spoiler alert: She didn't get hired.) For years, she was ashamed about it. If only she'd been quieter, or worn her glasses, or glossed over her interest in studying economic opportunities for women, she thought. "But 15 years, two presidential campaigns, a move to Texas and three babies later, I've come to the realization that it was something bigger, something more endogenous to Republican politics than any particular institution or person," she writes. "The party — and its institutions — have never been welcoming for millennial women." Now that those women are becoming mothers, they're seeing even less to like from a party still largely dominated by men. And that's left Republican women like McCloskey feeling a sense of political homelessness. But the overturning of Roe , she argues, gives the GOP a chance to make the case to mothers that it really is a pro-family party. Support paid parental leave. Make sure low- and moderate-income families get child support through state block grants. And, yes, pursue gun reform as one way to help make schools more safe. "It would be logically consistent for the GOP, the anti-abortion party in the United States, to get serious about these issues, and to extend the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to outside the womb," McCloskey writes. If the GOP doesn't pay attention, it might find itself without the women that could save it. Read McCloskey's story.
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| "A cold-blooded, narrow-minded, prejudiced, obstinate, timid old psalm-singing Indianapolis politician." Can you guess who said this about President Benjamin Harrison? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.
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Illustration by Cristiana Couceiro with photos by Getty Images, iStock and courtesy Anastasiia Carrier | How I Turned Against Putin … Like many Russians, Anastasiia Carrier used to support Vladimir Putin. She thought the Russian leader — and, by extension, the country — was the victim of a global smear campaign, propagated by nations jealous of Russia's size and strength. Then she moved to America and became a journalist, learning to gather and vet information. "Everything I believed about Russia, the world and myself came crashing down," she writes in this deeply personal essay about the stranglehold of Russian disinformation — and the painful rift it has opened between her and her pro-Putin, pro-war family.
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| President Joe Biden is in the Middle East this week trying to reassure leaders in Israel and Saudi Arabia that he totally didn't forget about them. Here's what you need to know to get up to speed. From POLITICO's Ben Pauker: - Donald Trump was much loved in Israel: for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, killing the Iran nuclear deal, slashing funding to Palestine and … well, basically letting the Israelis do whatever they wanted without a peep. Biden's loved and respected in Israel too — but the policies Trump put in place are almost impossible to undo now. - Israel's missile defense system, Iron Dome, has saved the country from thousands of rocket attacks from Gaza militants. But now they have a 2.0 in the works — Iron Beam. And it shoots frickin' lasers. - It's all about the handshakes. The optics aren't great that Biden's going to meet with Mohammed bin Salman, who ordered the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden's staff desperately wanted to avoid a photo with MBS, and tried to say that Covid was going to prevent Biden from shaking hands with leaders in Israel. But, of course, as soon as Biden landed he started high-fiving and hugging. - Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be staying at a Ritz Carlton hotel in Saudi Arabia this weekend for meetings with Gulf leaders. Yes, it's a sweet chain of lux hotels, but it's also the favorite brand of MBS ... who imprisoned hundreds of his political rivals there when he made his grab for power a few years back.
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Lis Smith's upcoming memoir tracks her journey through Democratic politics. | Elijah Nouvelage/REUTERS | 'I Had Been Seen as a Little Radioactive' … Democratic consultant Lis Smith has worked for everyone from Claire McCaskill to Barack Obama, run races in red states and duked it out in the dirty world of New York City politics. Now, the famously aggressive operative who plotted Pete Buttigieg's surprise presidential run has written a political memoir, a look behind the curtain of modern political image-making — including her own. This week, Adam Wren sat down with Smith for a revealing conversation about the book. They talked about everything from Buttigieg's secret past (just kidding) to how she picks a political star to just how much narcissism it's OK for a politician to have.
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An official record of Virginia's ratification of the U.S. Constitution. | Courtesy of Sotheby's | Historian Ted Widmer has found another bit of history up for sale, and it's a gem, especially for originalists — those who claim to venerate the original context in which the Constitution was written. It may not quite be the Constitution, but it's close, as the official record of Virginia's ratification — along with a few seeds that would flower into the Bill of Rights. On June 25, 1788, Virginia's ratification convention approved the Constitution — barely. Even with James Madison there in the room, arguing for passage, it was a close call. But it passed, 89-79, thanks to the art of compromise (an aspect of originalism that seems to have been forgotten). Without Virginia's approval, it's difficult to imagine the Constitution, or the United States, would have succeeded. Two days later, the same convention wrote a "Declaration of Rights" it hoped Congress would adopt, including most of the core freedoms we associate with Amendments One through Ten. That too is part of the item for sale. Of course, an artifact like this does not come cheap. The minimum bid is $2.2 million, and it is expected to fetch $3-5 million. The auction goes through July 21. Put your bids in now!
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Scholar Ruy Teixeira says he is leaving the Center for American Progress because liberal think tanks are too focused on identity. | Matthew Busch | A Liberal Finds a Conservative Home … Ruy Teixeira is a self-described social democrat who has long worked for the left-leaning Center for American Progress. But now, alienated by the emphasis liberal think-tanks place on identity issues these days, he's jumping ship — and heading to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, a Bush-era powerhouse that is trying to brand itself as a level-headed bastion of heterodoxy. In his latest Capital City column, Michael Schaffer examines what it's like for a liberal to feel more out of place on the left than the right.
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaks during a news conference on the House Jan. 6 Committee, Thursday, June 9, 2022. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo | McCarthy's Jan. 6 Mistake … Kevin McCarthy's refusal to play ball with the January 6 committee was intended to make the whole thing look like a partisan charade. Big mistake, writes Jeff Greenfield . Without any Trump Republicans gumming up the works, the hearings are playing out like a presentation to a grand jury, where the prosecutor lays out a case with no rebuttal from a prospective defendant.
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Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library | On July 15, 1975 — 47 years ago today — President Gerald R. Ford and his wife, Betty, watched the launch of the Apollo spacecraft that would, two days later, dock with a Soviet Union Soyuz capsule in space. Apollo-Soyuz was the first international space mission and, for many historians, represents the end of the Space Race that began in 1957 with the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1. Upon successful docking, American and Russian astronauts shook hands. According to a UPI report, the president's knuckles whitened as the countdown reached zero. He asked moon astronaut Harrison Schmitt, "What's the crucial point?" to which Schmitt responded, "Every second is crucial." Betty flashed her husband a comforting smile, but his eyes were glued to the screen. Only once the television announcer said that "It's looking good" did Ford unclench his fingers, touch his wife's hand and smile at Schmitt. "It's thrilling," he said. "It's thrilling."
| | | **Who Dissed? answer: It was future president Teddy Roosevelt, a virtuoso of political invective whom Harrison himself appointed U.S. Civil Service Commissioner in 1889. | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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