memeorandum: Popularism and the Child Tax Credit (Matt Bruenig Dot Com)

2:20 PM ET, October 10, 2021

Top Items:

Navy nuclear engineer and his wife charged with trying to share submarine secrets with a foreign country — A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife have been charged with repeatedly trying to pass secrets about U.S. nuclear submarines to a foreign country, in an alleged espionage plot discovered by the FBI, according to court documents.

Meridith McGraw / Politico:

Trump holds fast to his election lies as the GOP establishment hugs him tighter — DES MOINES, Iowa — Nine months ago, Republicans were questioning Donald Trump's place as the lead fixture of their party. Saturday night provided the clearest evidence yet that they want him right there.

Discussion: Associated Press, Iowa Starting Line, Raw Story, National Review, Trending Politics, Fox News, Des Moines Register, Morning Shots and Crooks and Liars

Tara Palmeri / Politico:

GOP hands Trump the party — DRIVING THE DAY — “Nine months ago, Republicans were questioning DONALD TRUMP's place as the lead fixture of their party. Saturday night provided the clearest evidence yet that they want him right there.” — This morning's must-read piece comes from Meridith McGraw …

Discussion: RedState

Des Moines Register:
Donald Trump tells thousands at a rally in Iowa, 'We're going to take America back'

Discussion: Missouri Independent, New York Magazine, Iowa Capital Dispatch, New York Post, Trending Politics, Mock Paper Scissors, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Insider and Raw Story

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Trump rallies in Iowa as he eyes 2022 and 2024

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Times, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Rolling Stone, Washington Examiner and The Guardian

Norm Ornstein / New York Daily News:

Fix the Senate, save America — It is a measure of the shattered state of the American political system that a deal proposed by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell simply to postpone by two months a dangerous confrontation over the debt ceiling — one that could result in a default …

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Post, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, NPR, Newsbusters, Conservative Brief and In Saner Thought

Bill Hutchinson / ABC News:

Treasury Secretary Yellen warns debt ceiling battle could spell ‘catastrophe’ — “Absolutely imperative we raise the debt ceiling,” Yellen said. — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on ABC's “This Week” that Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans are playing with …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico and The Hill

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Most Senate Republicans don't want to see Trump run again

Discussion: CNN, The Gateway Pundit and Los Angeles Times

Marc Fisher / Washington Post:

In scramble for votes in Virginia, emotions flare over Trump, covid and race — Bruce Carlson considers himself mainly a Democrat. He voted for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama for president and for Terry McAuliffe for governor back in 2013. But he won't be voting to make McAuliffe Virginia's governor for a second time.

Discussion: Politico, Fox News, National Review and Breitbart

Grant Stern / The Dworkin Report:

Reporter reveals Facebook paid Eastern European troll farms and the sinister secrets behind its algorithm — Scott speaks with Karen Hao the senior Artificial Intelligence editor for MIT Technology Review whose groundbreaking work looking into Facebook just got validated in a massive …

Discussion: Deseret News

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Georgia election official takes the fight to Trump — Donald Trump never wastes an opportunity to attack Georgia's top statewide Republican officeholders for failing to help him overturn the 2020 election results in the key swing state. — Brad Raffensperger is the only one who refuses to shut up and take it.

American Greatness:

Garland Just Tipped Over the Dominos — Parents across the country have suddenly woken up to the wokeness haunting their schools and poisoning the minds of their children. — Destruction of the family has always been at the center of the collectivist project.

Matt Schudel / Washington Post:

Raymond T. Odierno, Army general who helped devise Iraq War strategy, dies at 67 — Raymond T. Odierno, a four-star Army general who was a key architect of the “surge” in U.S. forces during the Iraq War that was credited with reducing violence and increasing stability in the country …

Discussion: Politico, Military.com, Associated Press and New York Post

J. David Goodman / New York Times:

A Year After ‘Defund,’ Police Departments Get Their Money Back — The abrupt reversals have come in response to rising levels of crime, the exodus of officers and political pressures. — DALLAS — The demonstrators came at night, chanting and blowing whistles outside the home of Mayor Eric Johnson …

Matt Bruenig Dot Com:

Popularism and the Child Tax Credit — Ezra Klein did a piece last week about David Shor and so-called “popularism,” which was ultimately defined this way: … I thought Ezra did a good job with the piece and I left the piece mostly unshaken in my views about what messaging wins elections, which are ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Breitbart and Honest Graft

Tim Weiner / New York Times:

Abdul Qadeer Khan, Father of Pakistan's Nuclear Program, Dies at 85 — Starting from scratch in 1976, he acquired the technology and knowledge that allowed Pakistan to detonate its first nuclear device in 1998. — Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgist who became known to Western intelligence services …

Discussion: BBC, The Indian Express, One America News Network and Al Jazeera

CBS News:

What's in Democrats' Build Back Better plan? A lot of Americans don't know - CBS News poll — While congressional Democrats negotiate within their ranks over the “Build Back Better” plan, the public is more likely to have heard about what it would cost than about the specific policies that would be in it.

Discussion: Mediaite

Alex Horton / Washington Post:

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops have not yet complied with vaccine mandate as deadlines near — Hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members remain unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Pentagon's first compliance deadlines near …

Ian Austen / New York Times:

Canadian Admits Fabricating Terrorism Tale Detailed in New York Times Podcast — In exchange for the admission of the man, Shehroze Chaudhry, Canada dropped criminal charges against him. — OTTAWA — A Canadian man admitted in court on Friday that he made up tales about serving as an Islamic State fighter and executioner in Syria.

Discussion: The Indian Express