Good morning,
Starting this week, TNR is moving the daily newsletter, which you used to get in the late afternoon, to mid-morning, with a short introduction written by me or staff writer Tim Noah or someone else. Soâletâs go.
The New York Times leads with yesterdayâs Facebook meltdown; The Washington Post goes with President Biden warning that he couldnât guarantee that the United States wouldnât breach the debt limit this month. Punchbowl News (subscribers only) has a long take on debt ceiling politics. In sum: Itâs all looking pretty grim because Mitch McConnell seems perfectly willing to tank the economy as long as Biden pays the political price. Itâs a new low for a man whose middle name is New Lows.Â
The Punchbowl folks seem to hope that 10 Senate Republicansâthe number needed to clear a cloture voteâwill bow to reality: âFinancial services companies and big banks are going to start pressing them on this issue. Big employers in their home states will get anxious. Political donors, former college classmates and their neighbors are going to ask them whatâs happening. People at their country clubs.â That last category is probably key, although ⦠what kind of country club would have Ted Cruz? (Oh, this one.)
Op-ed column of the day: Michelle Goldberg on Kyrsten Sinema. No, itâs not really campaign cash that drives her obstructionist posture. It is more likely, Goldberg quotes one Arizona activist as saying, that âsheâs just really invested in that self-image, personally, as someone who stands up to her party.â Sounds right to me. But even if it means opposing policies that will help her stateâs people? Which leads me to â¦
Second op-ed of the day (paywalled, apparently): Todd Gitlin in the New York Daily News on whatâs in the damn bill. He breaks down whatâs actually in the $3.5 trillion package and argues that the media need to do more of this (actually, so do Democrats; they do it, but not effectively enough, so far, to shift the frame from âGeez, $3.5 trillion is a lot of moneyâ to âHey, free community college and 12 weeks of paid family leave are pretty cool thingsâ).
At NewRepublic.com today, we have Daniel Straussâs look at Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugenâs Hill testimony and more broadly at what the Biden administration is going to do with antitrust policy; Jason Linkins on how corporate-friendly Democrats may wreck the Biden administration; Natalie Shure on Big Pharmaâs choke hold on Congress; and Alex Pareene on the scam of climate-friendly investment.
Thanks for reading,
Michael Tomasky, editor
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