FAST TAKES
Urban wonk: De Blasio Boasts of His Impotence
Even as New York’s subway system is melting down, says Seth Barron at City Journal, Mayor de Blasio “has assumed and embraced the role of a hapless bystander, shrugging his shoulders at what he insists is not his problem.” He’s not entirely wrong — “but he isn’t totally right, either.” The MTA “by design requires cooperation among its board members and the elected officials who name them,” including the mayor. But “unless some individual bears final responsibility for making the trains run on time, then everyone can hide behind shared authority.” Yet “even if he does not have direct control of the subway system, there are things de Blasio could do to alleviate the crisis, or at least keep it from getting worse.” Besides, “what kind of mayor makes a virtue of his own incapacity?”
Security desk: Trump’s ‘Axis of Adults’ Is Breaking Up
Washington’s conventional wisdom has long been that an “axis of adults” — National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis — would serve as a “counterweight to the populists such as senior strategist Steve Bannon,” notes Eli Lake at Bloomberg. “But like most conventional wisdom in the Trump era, it’s not exactly right” — McMaster “has become estranged from Mattis and Tillerson,” which means “he has seen much of his influence over the policy-making process diminished and has become isolated inside the government.” For an NSA, “this is deadly” — the job “is next to impossible if the adviser isn’t seen as speaking for the president.” All of which helps explain “why foreign policy so far has been chaotic for the Trump administration.”
Historian: The Tragedy of John McCain
John McCain “never reached the White House” because, says Jeff Greenfield at Politico, he was “fated to miss the presidency because, in two different campaigns, he was out of sync with his party, and then the broader citizenry.” In 2000, against George W. Bush, he ran “as an apostate” on tax cuts as well as “matters of war and peace.” Eight years later, he won the nomination with “a unique, complex set of beliefs” but committed “one of the worst mistakes of his career”: tapping Sarah Palin for vice president over his first choice, Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman. Then the financial crisis doomed his campaign. But in an “age of waxfigure animatronic politicians,” McCain remains “a man in full.”
Foreign desk: Trump Team Repeating O’s Syria Errors
Trump administration officials “consistently point back to the Obama administration’s failed Syria policy to justify their approach,” notes Josh Rogin at The Washington Post. But while they “inherited a terrible hand,” they’re repeating “the same fundamental mistakes made by President Barack Obama” with likely “the same negative results.” He and Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly “said Russia’s willingness to be a constructive partner in Syria must be tested. Over and over, Russia proudly failed that test.” Yet the Trump team seems to be following the same formula — and “ought not to repeat Kerry’s chief mistake, which was to negotiate with Russia without leverage.” Says Rogin: “Rather than simply blaming Obama and Kerry for the mess, this administration should learn the lessons of that failure.”
Conservative: Stop Enjoying Life, Say Greenies
The “Merchants of Misery — ak a climate scientists — are working overtime to shame you about all the pleasures you’re enjoying this summer and how your selfish indulgences will cause the planet’s demise,” warns Julie Kelly at National Review. Two new studies list “many of the sacrifices you should make to reduce your carbon footprint,” including having one fewer child. Other suggestions “include eating a plant-based diet, living car-free and avoiding air travel,” and even “keeping backyard chickens, letting your lawn grow longer, and hanging your clothes outside to dry.” So your life “should look something like this: stuck at home without a car, washing laundry in cold water and then clipping it on a clothesline while chasing down chickens and preparing locally grown vegetables for dinner.”