What Happens When the Dog Catches the Car?
The dog finally caught the car. Now What? Trust matters. Trey Radel this Sunday on Monticello Live. On the Bottom Shelf this week is Wild Turkey 101.
Monticello Live is Back with Trey Radel
Trey Radel is a podcaster, radio host, author (you can find his books here, here and here) and a former Member of Congress with a fascinating story to tell. He’s absolutely a blast to speak with and I’m excited that he’s joining me this Sunday evening at 8pm Eastern for Monticello Live. Catch it on Periscope, YouTube and Facebook.
What Happens When the Dog Catches the Car?
The curious thing about single-issue movements is what happens when they have accomplished the objective? As has long been feared the time when the Never Trump movement (such as it is) accomplished what it set out to do has become an experience equivalent to wandering in the desert without a destination in sight.
A few weeks ago I was invited to participate in a Zoom discussion with a number of prominent people (whose names I won’t mention beyond what has already been publicly reported to discuss this very thing. What is the future of the Never Trump movement? Third party? A grassroots organization within the GOP? Endless meetings and email chains to discuss future meetings and email chains?
The talk on Friday, which Reuters reported included former elected Republicans and officials from the past four GOP administrations, touched on whether to launch a new center-right party, said Evan McMullin, the former chief policy director for the House Republican Conference, who co-hosted the call.
“Some people at the summit strongly favor starting a new party,” McMullin, who ran as an independent presidential candidate in 2016, told The Washington Post on Wednesday. “They think the GOP is irredeemable. They understand how difficult it is to form a new party, but they understand that there is no other choice.”
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Trump’s lasting influence in the party helped spark the meeting last week, McMullin said. Roughly 120 former officials called in, McMullin said. Reuters reported it confirmed those figures with three others who participated in the call, and said the group included John Mitnick, Trump’s general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security; former Pennsylvania congressman Charlie Dent; Elizabeth Neumann, deputy chief of staff at DHS under Trump, and Miles Taylor, who also worked at DHS under Trump.
While the call included discussion of forming a new party, only about 40 percent of those on the call appeared to support that course of action, McMullin said. The rest argued they could have more impact by nurturing the anti-Trump faction within the GOP.
He said the former officials were split between those who wanted to keep operating strictly under the GOP, and those wanting to back independent Republicans “willing to support Democrats [and Independents] when facing extremist Republicans in general elections.”
Speaking purely for myself the idea of a third party is laughable. The Libertarian Party has officially been in existence for roughly 50 years and here is the list of officials they have elected to office:
Steve Vaillancourt (2000), New Hampshire House of Representatives (subsequently re-elected as a Republican.
Marshall Burt (2020), Wyoming House of Representatives.
The reality is voters today are conditioned to a system of having two parties on the ballot and that, combined with the prohibitively strict ballot access laws drafted and enforced by the two major parties makes it practically impossible for a third party to gain traction.
So, what’s next?
To me the obvious parallel is 2004, when the dreaded Koch Brothers created and funded an organization originally named “Citizens for a Sound Economy” that later split into two groups, “Americans for Prosperity” and another named “FreedomWorks.” These two groups set the standard for grassroots organization and the ability to recruit, train and support both grassroots field staff and candidates all across the nation. These groups paves the way for the emergence of the Tea Party and they fought together on the frontlines to usher in Trumpism.
The battle to return the GOP to being the sane party starts at the grassroots level. It isn’t won by sharing clever videos on Twitter, having podcasts or buying billboards, but instead by drafting and training an army of Americans who don’t fall for propagandized science and who believed politics is about the war on ideas and not about political celebrities.
The dog has finally caught the car. Now what?
Nothing Works Without Trust
Had this conversation with my teenage son recently while we were discussing the need to be honest and possess personal integrity. The larger reason is that everything in life is based on a foundation of trust. As usual, Mark Manson says it better:
Without trust, interpersonal relationships fail. If I don’t trust what my brother says to me, or that my friends care about me, or that my wife is going where she said she was going, then my relationships become weapons held against me. Distrust reduces everything to a zero-sum game where if you’re not a winner, you’re a loser. And in a zero-sum world, nothing is worse than being the loser.
This applies to society as well. If I don’t trust the bank to send me my money or my employer to cover my benefits or my government’s regulations to actually punish someone mishandling my retirement account, the same result occurs — everything becomes a threat, and the world becomes zero sum. Life becomes “screw over let ye get screwed over,” and the cycle begins.
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Trust creates an upward spiral. The more two people trust each other, the better the relationship becomes, the more they will trust each other further, the better the relationship becomes, etc. The more people within a society trust each other, the more safe and secure they feel, the better institutions function, the more they will continue to trust each other, etc.
Distrust creates a downward spiral. The more two people distrust each other, the more selfish and disingenuous they will behave with each other. The worse the relationship will get and the more they will distrust each other. The more people within a society distrust each other, the more they selfish their decisions, the worse the institutions and industry will perform, the more corruption it will create, which will lead to more distrust, etc.
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I believe trust is the unspoken major issue of our day. The internet has scaled distrust in a way no one expected. As a result, paranoia, corruption and conspiracy theories are proliferating. People are choosing to be isolated and alone. Loneliness has set in.
When you come to the conclusion that trust matters more than anything else, it calls upon you to do two things:
Trust others, even when you are entirely aware that you may be punished for it. Trust can only be built if people are willing to trust and be hurt as a result. Be that person.
Maintain the utmost integrity. Do not lie, cheat or steal from others. Do not take advantage of others. Do not manipulate others. Become the person who deserves other people’s trust.
This is the great struggle of our time. And nothing demonstrated the stakes more than the pandemic. High trust societies generally handled the crisis well. Low trust societies did not. High trust societies understood the threats and adjusted their behavior — making the proper sacrifices accordingly. Low trust societies had people who questioned basic scientific facts and behaved selfishly and petulantly, causing moral hazard for all.
Having spent decades working in an industry where spreading distrust and playing dirty are celebrated traits I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact that this can have. And whether it’s the implosion of the Republican Party or the dumpster fire that the Lincoln Project has become, the seeds were sown when trust was no longer a respected virtue.
What is Mike Pence’s Future?
Had a chance to discuss this recently with my buddy Tom Lobianco, the author of the book Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House. We also talked about Indiana politics and Tom even had a NSFW story to share about a prominent Indiana politico. Enjoy!
Oliver
I just wanted to share this picture of Oliver for no particular reason.
On The Bottom Shelf
Wild Turkey
Alright, alright, alright. we finally get around to discussing one of the world’s most popular bourbons. Wild Turkey, aka “The Kickin' Chicken” or “The Screaming Eagle” is probably a bourbon that you are familiar with, or at least think you are. But maybe it’s time for a second look at this eponymous whiskey.
For starters, who doesn’t want to drink a whiskey enjoyed by Matthew McConaughey? If that alone doesn’t make you want to try it perhaps its sheer approachability and incredible value?
Wild Turkey comes in two proofs: 81 and 101, just to be different. The 101 is my personal favorite and arguably the more popular choice for it’s deeper flavor. For starters, Wild Turkey is distilled at a lower proof, jut 109 instead of the more common 130+. This is intended to impart more barrel flavor into the whiskey and to allow it to taste much closer to what came right out of the barrel. Wild Turkey also uses a very heavy char on their barrels which helps create it’s signature flavor profile and deep color.
In the glass you’re going to smell a pretty heavy vanilla with some toffee and caramel notes, likely due to the heavier char inside of the barrel. On the palate I got a lot of cinnamon to go along with vanilla, spice and definitely some maple. It reminds me a great deal of one of my personal favorites, Four Roses Yellow Label. The slightly higher mash bill of this whiskey gives it more depth than your usual “approachable” whiskey. The finish is a little heavier and has some alcohol burn but it isn’t unpleasant. I got a lot more pepper and spice which again speaks to the higher rye content than you would find in other bourbons in this category like Jim Beam or Evan Williams.
Wild Turkey 101 is everything you want in a bourbon. Higher proof, excellent price, and the unique flavor qualities makes it a great sipping bourbon, which is fantastic in a budget bourbon. There isn’t anything here not to like.
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Monticello was created by and published by Jacob Perry. Our editor and contributor is Jessica Redding. On social media: