FAST TAKES
Conservative take: Senate Has ‘Supreme’ Power
There’s been a lot of handwringing over “the Biden Rule” and “the McConnell Rule” — Dem and GOP versions of justification for not filling a Supreme Court seat during an election year — but it’s all just noise, writes Charles Cooke at National Review: “The Senate gets to decide what to do with judicial nominations; everything else is just shouting. In 2016, the Senate was controlled by Republicans. A Democratic president sent that Senate a nomination it didn’t like, and that Senate decided not to act on it.” Cooke was of the opinion the judge, Merrick Garland, deserved a hearing. But that’s immaterial: “The Senate gets to decide who sits on the Supreme Court. In this area, it has an absolute right to say ‘no,’ and it can do so according to whatever rules and procedures it sets for itself.”
From the left: Dems Gearing Up for a Brawl
Elections matter, “but they should matter more,” exhorts Democratic strategist Paul Begala at CNN. And the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy will convince Democratic voters of it, he insists: “Even before the Kennedy announcement, Democrats were flexing their muscles at the state level . . . Adding abortion rights, marriage equality, voting rights, environmental protection and so much more of the court’s agenda to state races will only turbocharge Democratic enthusiasm.” And while Dems may not have as much leverage as they’d like against the president, he says, they’ll make sure the high-court battle shapes their own party: “Progressives will mount the most energized campaign we have ever seen. Any Democratic senator who supports the Trump Supreme Court nominee will likely see his or her fundraising and grassroots support collapse, and primary opposition spring up.”
Foreign desk: Erdogan Isn’t All-Powerful — Yet
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been accruing power at an alarming rate. Yet those who worry he’s invincible are jumping the gun, advises Ian Bremmer at Time: “Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) did not win a parliamentary majority. To form a government, the AKP has had to partner with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).” That means, “For five years, Erdogan will need backing from hardcore nationalist Devlet Bahceli, leader of the MHP, to pass his budgets, move legislation and avoid a parliamentary veto of his decrees. Bahceli understands the strength of his position.” He’ll push Erdogan further to extremes at a time when the economy is faltering. Concludes Bremmer: “It won’t be easy to build an authoritarian system atop such a bitterly divided society.”
Psychology prof: A Society of Screen Zombies
San Diego State professor Jeanne Twenge writes in The Washington Post that screen-time overload isn’t just about the user. The ill effects of increased screen time are society-wide: “You don’t have to overuse screens yourself to be impacted by their ubiquity. Young people who want to talk to their friends at lunch can’t, because their friends are staring at their phones. Family dinners and vacations are constantly interrupted by texts and notifications.” So habits need to change: “Talk to your friends and family face-to-face, where you can see the expressions on their faces, hear the tone of their voices, feel the warmth of their hugs. Watch a sunset. Go for a run or a swim. Get some sleep.”
From the right: A Lesson for Dems on Ocasio-Cortez
When GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who was in line to be speaker of the House, lost his primary race in 2014, it sent shock waves through the Republican Party. Last week, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez knocked off one of the Democrats’ top House members, New York’s Joe Crowley, there were parallels to Cantor’s upset — and lessons, according to one of Cantor’s top staffers at the time, Rory Cooper: “There is a growing disconnect happening between Democratic leadership and its base right now that mirrors what Republicans have been confronting since 2011,” he writes in The Daily Beast. Chief among the challenges is managing expectations — grassroots Republicans were angry because they thought more could be done to stop Barack Obama’s agenda. “Republican voters acted on it by electing Donald Trump, the ultimate middle finger candidate.”