Month: May 2023

Will Charles III Resist The Urge To Be Political?

That’s the question asked by this article in NRO.  The answer is probably no.  Unlike his mother, Charles III has always been more outspoken on certain issues than the usual royal.  It’s always been pretty much an open secret that Charles III not only leans to the left but he leans to the flakier side of the left.  He’s the type who give strident speeches on protecting the environment but who definitely is always going to be more likely to say that other should be the ones to give up everyday conveniences while he carries on as usual.

Charles III’s political inclinations are so well-known that the original House of Cards did an entire series about a king who was obviously meant to be Charles III trying to force Francis Urquhart our of power.  (The King did not succeed and the joy with which the show detailed the King’s humiliation provides an interesting insight into how many viewed the prospect of Charles becoming king.)  As well, one of the rumors about why Elizabeth declined to abdicate was that she never felt that Charles III had the emotional or intellectual maturity to take her place.  Whether that’s true or not, no one knows.  But there’s been little about Charles III’s life that suggests he’s going to be the type of monarch that his mother was.  Expect to see Charles III get political but don’t expect to see anyone pay that much attention to him.

The New York Protests

I saw some of last night’s protests in New York.  Claiming that they were protesting the death of Jordan Neely and the lack of charges (so far) for the man who put him into a chokehold, a large group of activists decided to stand on the tracks and bring the New York subway system to a halt.

It was dumb.  First off, there was no guarantee that the trains were going to be able to stop before rolling over the protestors.  One idiot was actually filmed jumping up and down on the electrified third rail.  If the rail’s cover had slipped in the slightest, both he and his Che Guevara shirt would have been fried.  Secondly, standing on the tracks isn’t doing anything to inconvenience the powerful.  Kathy Hochul was not on the subway.  Leticia James was not on the subway.  Eric Adams was not on the subway.  Alvin Bragg was not on the subway.  The people who write the laws of the city and the state were not on the subway.  The whole reason most people pursue positions of power is exactly so they’ll never have to ride the subway again.  Instead, the people on the subway were largely working class people who were either returning from or going to their job.  Inconveniencing them accomplished nothing, beyond making the protestors look bad.

But when protests are more about getting social media engagement than actually brining about change, these are the things that are going to happen.

What Were They Thinking?

I haven’t watched any of the cable news stations in a while but I’m not surprised to hear that Fox News’s ratings have apparently been in free fall since they took Tucker Carlson off the air.  The whole Carlson thing was handled terribly and the subsequent attempts to make him look bad by leaking clips to Media Matters was so foolish that you have to wonder who came up with it.  Fox’s audience dislikes Media Matters almost as much as they dislike Brian Stelter.  Working with Media Matters reveals what many have always suspected, which is that Fox’s Board of Directors doesn’t really understand the people who watch their network.

Fox is in trouble because they’ve revealed themselves to be a part of the establishment.  Fox’s audience hates the establishment.  Fox’s audience feels that they have been repeatedly betrayed by the establishment.  Carlson, meanwhile, is going to be fine and is actually coming out of this stronger than he was before.  Fox may never recover.

Again, what were they thinking? 

Both Hogan and Ripken Are Out In Maryland

Both Larry Hogan and Cal Ripken, Jr. have announced that they will not be running for the Senate.  That’s pretty much the Republican bench in Maryland.

I’m disappointed in Hogan’s decision.  Hogan will tell anyone who listens that he wants to be a part of creating a new post-Trump GOP.  How is Larry going to do that by only appearing on MSNBC?  Hogan had a chance to at least make the senate race competitive and he could have used the race to make his case.  Instead, the Maryland Republicans are now probably going to get stuck with the equivalent of Dan Cox 2.0.  It’s easy to preach at people but sometimes, actions speak louder than words.

My Congressman Is Running For The Senate

Colin Allred is going to be running for the Democrat nomination to take on Ted Cruz in 2024.  It sounds like the party’s leaders are already lining up behind him, despite the fact that State Senator Roland Gutierrez is also planning on getting in the race.

Personally, I think Gutierrez would be a far stronger candidate than Allred but I’m biased because Allred is my own publicity-hungry, do-nothing Congressman.  I guess if Allred wins the primary, this will be my fourth chance to vote against him in a general election.

Ben Cardin Is Retiring

Ben Cardin announced today that he won’t be running for reelection to the U.S. Senate.

Ben Cardin has been in office longer than I’ve been alive.  He went from being one of the youngest members of the House of Delegates to being the youngest Speaker in Maryland’s history to being a member of the U.S. House to being a member of the U.S. Senate and he never once came close to losing an election.  Having grown up Maryland, this feels like the end of an era to me.

I have no idea who is going to succeed him, though I’m 95% sure that it will be a Democrat.  I know that a lot of people who live outside of Maryland and who spend most of their time on twitter are hoping that Jamie Raskin runs for the seat but Raskin loves attention and, even in the minority, he’s going to get more of that staying in the House than running for the Senate.  To be honest, I’m not even sure Raskin could win the Democratic primary.  I still remember when Deray McKesson tried to run for mayor of Baltimore and discovered that having a hundred thousand twitter followers doesn’t always translate into receiving a hundred thousand votes.

If I had to guess the three most likely successors, I’d go with Angela Alsobrooks, John Sarbanes, and Johnny Olszewski.  When Cardin first ran for the seat, he defeated Kweisi Mfume in the primary.  Mfume is back in the House but he’s also 74, which is a late age to try to move up to a new position.  But anything’s possible.  Does Wes Moore get publicly involved in the primary or does he stay out of it?  That Moore sees himself as a future president is the worst kept secret in Annapolis so it’ll be interesting to see where his political instincts lead him on this.

I think Larry Hogan is probably the only Republican who could make this seat competitive but I don’t see Hogan giving up his lucrative cable news career to do it and, even if he did run, it would be an uphill battle that could tarnish his legacy.  So, the Republicans will probably get stuck with someone like Kim Klacik or Gordana Schifanelli.  I would love to see Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio in the U.S. Senate but I know it’s not going to happen.