Economics Corner with Paul Krugman and Winston’s Mom

by | Feb 20, 2024 | Economy, Executive Branch, Federal Power, Markets, Rant | 152 comments

I’m a busy gal.  You know that, so when I post its because you schlubs aren’t creating enough quality content.  So they call me in.

…but sometimes he says something I just have to take a few minutes from footplay and nipple twisting to respond.

The story is linked here, from the good guys at Archive!  Because why pay for horseshit?

Until a few days ago, I was feeling fairly sanguine about America’s prospects. Economically, we’ve had a year of strong growth and plunging inflation — and aside from committed Republicans, who see no good, hear no good and speak no good when a Democrat is president, Americans appear to be recognizing this progress. It has seemed increasingly likely that the nation’s good sense would prevail and democracy would survive.

Well, maybe if Team Cunt stopped being cunts, Team Cuck wouldn’t be cucks.

But watching the frenzy over President Biden’s age, I am, for the first time, profoundly concerned about the nation’s future. It now seems entirely possible that within the next year, American democracy could be irretrievably altered.

What?

And the final blow won’t be the rise of political extremism — that rise certainly created the preconditions for disaster, but it has been part of the landscape for some time now. No, what may turn this menace into catastrophe is the way the hand-wringing over Biden’s age has overshadowed the real stakes in the 2024 election. It reminds me, as it reminds everyone I know, of the 2016 furor over Hillary Clinton’s email server, which was a minor issue that may well have wound up swinging the election to Donald Trump.

Um…no she should be in prison.  Goose and gander getting the sauce and all.

As most people know by now, Robert Hur, a special counsel appointed to look into allegations of wrongdoing on Biden’s part, concluded that the president shouldn’t be charged. But his report included an uncalled-for and completely unprofessional swipe at Biden’s mental acuity, apparently based on the president’s difficulty in remembering specific dates — difficulty that, as I wrote on Friday, everyone confronts at whatever age. Hur’s gratuitous treatment of Biden echoed James Comey’s gratuitous treatment of Clinton — Hur and Comey both seemed to want to take political stands when that was not their duty.

It’s a case of bureaucrats overstepping their bounds in a way that’s at best careless and at worst malicious.

Yes, it’s true that Biden is old, and will be even older if he wins re-election and serves out a second term. I wish that Democrats had been able to settle on a consensus successor a year or two ago and that Biden had been able to step aside in that successor’s favor without setting off an intraparty free-for-all. But speculating about whether that could have happened is beside the point now. It didn’t happen, and Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee.

It’s also true that many voters think the president’s age is an issue. But there’s perception and there’s reality: As anyone who has recently spent time with Biden (and I have) can tell you, he is in full possession of his faculties — completely lucid and with excellent grasp of detail. Of course, most voters don’t get to see him up close, and it’s on Biden’s team to address that. And yes, he speaks quietly and a bit slowly, although this is in part because of his lifetime struggle with stuttering. He also, by the way, has a sense of humor, which I think is important.

Yes, Biden has a delightful sense of humor.  I can’t deny that one, he’s fucking hilarious.

Most important is that Biden has been a remarkably effective president. Trump spent four years claiming that a major infrastructure initiative was just around the corner, to the point that “It’s infrastructure week!” became a running joke; Biden actually got legislation passed. Trump promised to revive American manufacturing, but didn’t. Biden’s technology and climate policies — the latter passed against heavy odds — have produced a surge in manufacturing investment. His enhancementof Obamacare has brought health insurance coverage to millions.

If you ask me, these achievements say a lot more about Biden’s capacity than his occasional verbal slips.

I can’t imagine trying to suck Biden’s dick, quite like Krugman does.  Its gotta like chewing on latex surgical tubing.

And what about his opponent, who is only four years younger? Maybe some people are impressed by the fact that Trump talks loud and mean. But what about what he’s actually saying in his speeches? They’re frequently rambling word salads, full of bizarre claims like his assertion on Friday that if he loses in November, “they’re going to change the name of Pennsylvania.”

Of course!  Everyone in the know, knows Pennsylvania will eventually split into Sylvania, and the Republic of Penn.

Not to mention confusing Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi and mistaking E. Jean Carroll for one of his ex-wives.

That’s totally reasonable! Do you have any fucking idea how many different names men have called me over the years? My personal favorite is Mommy.

As I also wrote last week, Trump’s speeches make me remember my father’s awful last year, when he suffered from sundowning — bouts of incoherence and belligerence after dark. And we’re supposed to be worried about Biden’s mental state?

Over the past few days, while the national discussion has been dominated by talk about Biden’s age, Trump declared that he wouldn’t intervene to help “delinquent” NATO members if Russia were to attack them, even suggesting that he might encourage such an attack. He seems to regard NATO as nothing more than a protection racket and after all this time still has no idea how the alliance works. By the way, Lithuania, the NATO member that Trump singled out, has spent a larger percentage of its G.D.P. on aid to Ukraine than any other nation.

Oh man.  Dirty talk like that makes me go for a cigarette.  But Trump let me down once, so I might need a drink while I am at it.

Again, I wish this election weren’t a contest between two elderly men and worry in general about American gerontocracy. But like it or not, this is going to be a race between Biden and Trump — and somehow the lucid, well-informed candidate is getting more heat over his age than his ranting, factually challenged opponent.

As I said, until just the other day I was feeling somewhat optimistic. But now I’m deeply troubled about our nation’s future.

My favorite Krugman, is blackpilled Krugman.  This is simply delicious.

About The Author

Winston's Mom

Winston's Mom

Biological mother of Winston.

152 Comments

    • Winston's Mom

      Get this Mad Magazine shit out of here!

  1. Yusef drives a Kia

    I’m working on an article now,
    Krug, Nuts

  2. UnCivilServant

    I have a half dozen articles queued up waiting for scheduling. They keep getting pushed back at the whim of the site schedulers. Don’t blame me.

  3. DEG

    I might need a drink while I am at it.

    Have a drink anyways.

    • Winston's Mom

      I didn’t ask your permission

      • DEG

        I don’t care.

      • Winston's Mom

        Oh? Keep it up, and I’ll make you give two shits.

      • DEG

        Did someone say something?

      • Winston's Mom

        You son of a bitch.

        you son of a bitch

  4. WTF

    I wonder what color the sky is in the universe Krugman lives in?

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Magenta I think

    • Not Adahn

      That’s easy — whatever color his editor at the NYT says.

  5. Sean

    the lucid, well-informed candidate

    GTFO

    • Certified Public Asshat

      They are mad at Jon Stewart for asking “are any of his impressive moments captured on video?”

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Again, I wish this election weren’t a contest between two elderly men

    Where is our handsome young hero, our American Justin Trudeau? Where is the fine young socialist orator capable of fulfilling our innermost idolatrous fantasies?

    • Sean

      BETO!
      BETO!
      BETO!

    • Nephilium

      /looks toward California

    • Suthenboy

      I think the Bolivians shot him.

  7. Not Adahn

    plunging inflation

    You mean like a toilet? Or Abner Louima’s bunghole?

    • The Other Kevin

      Sure your head is under a foot of water, but good news! The water pouring in has slowed to a trickle!

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Don’t say you need a drink; just say you want a drink.

    • Tres Cool

      “You never ask a navy man if he’ll have another drink. Because its nobodys goddamn business how much hes had already.”

      • UnCivilServant

        Translation – he’s had too much already and you should pour him into a taxi.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    It now seems entirely possible that within the next year, American democracy could be irretrievably altered.

    That ship left the barn quite some time ago.

    • The Other Kevin

      As I said yesterday, the definition of democracy has changed from “following the will of the people” to “doing whatever it takes to protect democratic institutions like the intel agencies and the MSM.”

  10. Suthenboy

    “…strong growth and plunging inflation —”
    Winston’s Mom…whose nom de guerre is this? You owe me a damned keyboard.
    *continues trying to get the paper towel between the keys*

  11. Drake

    “NATO as nothing more than a protection racket?”

    Come on, man! It’s also a money-laundering scheme.

    • Sensei

      It’s a floor wax AND a dessert topping!

  12. Suthenboy

    *relaxes, takes another sip of coffee*

    “…Hillary Clinton’s email server, which was a minor issue…”

    Fuck! Again…goddammit!

    *reaches for paper towels*

    • Winston's Mom

      Calm down, will ya?

  13. Suthenboy

    “…completely lucid and with excellent grasp of detail.”
    Well, if you can’t take Paul Krugnuts word for it….

    • Drake

      Details aren’t what Joe usually tries to grasp.

  14. Toxteth O'Grady

    Quite the rock Mrs. Robinson is sporting.

  15. Drake

    “…his lifetime struggle with stuttering.”

    Check out how bad it used to be, poor guy.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Let’s just assume the stuttering claim is real.

      Is it unreasonable to ask for a President who doesn’t stutter?

  16. The Late P Brooks

    It’s a case of bureaucrats overstepping their bounds in a way that’s at best careless and at worst malicious.

    Krugabe is notorious for his devotion to limited government and clearly defined administrative boundaries.

  17. R.J.

    Swiss and others: The Thursday post is done now. Sorry for hitting “Submit” prematurely.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    …and to hear the lamentations of their bureaucrats

    On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a little-covered case that has the power to wipe away safeguards for any and all regulations that govern Americans’ daily lives.

    Plaintiffs in the case, which is ostensibly about a convenience store’s challenge to debit card fee limits, are backed by big business and groups tied to the conservative Koch network, and they’re asking the court to overturn a longstanding statute of limitations that currently protects federal rules from certain legal challenges once they’ve been finalized for six years. If they win, it could unleash an onslaught of attacks on all federal regulations, most of which Americans likely don’t even know protect them.

    “Health, safety, the economy, food and drug safety, the environment — basically everything that we take for granted has been protected by [federal] agencies,” said Devon Ombres, the senior director of courts and legal reform at the public policy advocacy group Center for American Progress, who co-authored a report last week that warned the case “could open a pandora’s box” for federal deregulation.

    Oh

    my

    GOD!

    • The Other Kevin

      This is going to be way more damaging to the economy than across the board 20% price increases.

    • UnCivilServant

      “We’ve always done it that way” is no reason to bar cout challenges to bad rules.

    • Suthenboy

      Endless spewing about how indispensable big government is yet my money is on no one noticing if 75% were eliminated overnight.

      We are in danger of getting our constitutional carry here in Louisiana (I will believe it when I see it …yeah, I am looking at you R’s).
      The pulled the old fake ‘passed when they know it won’t be signed by the executive then when it can they just somehow cant seem to get the votes’ routine.
      No excuses now….Oh, and where is my Obamacare repeal?

      • Nephilium

        I’m having a lot more fun watching the RINO governor have his vetoes get overridden. The local press coverage of it gets insanely fun. As an example, the local headline:

        “Ohio legislature sided with tobacco over kids (and Mike DeWine). Will they protect kids from THC?”

        The legislatures action? Overriding a veto by DeWine for a state wide law saying that municipalities can’t ban flavored tobacco (such as disposable vapes and the like). The “protecting kids” from THC? More regulations on delta 8 and other hemp extracted THC variants that would be pushing them to the dispensaries instead of nearly everywhere (most stores self limit sales to 18 or 21+).

    • Ownbestenemy

      that govern Americans’ daily lives

      That should read “that stifle Americans’ daily lives and make moot the Declaration of Independence.

    • juris imprudent

      that govern Americans’ daily lives.

      Whether we asked for it or not.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Insufferably burdensome

    Corner Post, backed by various conservative and corporate interest groups including billionaire Charles Koch’s network and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, contends that businesses should have wide latitude to challenge regulations they consider unlawful and burdensome. The company argues that the six-year time limit should not start running until a business is adversely affected – which for Corner Post would be March 2018 when it accepted its first debit-card payment.

    President Joe Biden’s administration, representing the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, has argued that adopting Corner Post’s legal position “would substantially expand the class of potential challengers” to government regulations and threatens to “increase the burdens on agencies and courts.”

    A group of small business associations filed a court brief urging the justices to maintain a strict statute of limitations that begins tolling at the time a regulation is finalized. They said that allowing lawsuits beyond this deadline “would create chaos, uncertainty and inconsistent regulatory regimes for the nation’s regulated industries and the American people the regulations seek to serve.”

    We wouldn’t want the government to have to defend itself from the people.

    Also- wouldn’t the idea of chaotic uncertainty be at least equally applicable to a regime of ever more complex and restrictive regulations?

    • The Other Kevin

      I haven’t seen Connor McTulpa in a while.

    • kinnath

      Who hasn’t tried something on before buying it?

    • Sensei

      I believe that was discussed this AM.

      • ron73440

        But instead of drugs falling out his ass, it’s various items.

      • Ownbestenemy

        *stands tall* Called it

        Ownbestenemy on February 20, 2024 at 7:39 am
        And then antiques fell out of his ass.

        >

  20. Certified Public Asshat

    It’s our fault he is so old. It’s not his job to convince us that he is capable of being the President.

    • Drake

      We would have been blessed with his leadership in 1989 if we hadn’t gotten all touchy about a little (constant) plagiarism.

  21. creech

    “Democrats had been able to settle on a consensus successor a year or two ago ”

    That’s probably what would have happened if the “Red Wave” expected in 2022 had happened. But it didn’t, thanks to abortion and Trump hatred (plus missteps in endorsing flawed candidates).

  22. Not Adahn

    Liveglibbing the mystery guest politico!

    -we’ve apparently significantly upgraded our ceremonial setup. Raised dais, footlighting, pretty damn good quality video wall backing it.

    President Joe Biden’s
    CHIPs and Science Act

    -first flipping off the screen.

    -we make chips for puppy training? Qua?

    • Not Adahn

      -They got rid of the everyday flags, and replaced them with the gold-fringed ones. Which I’ve been told means the cafeteria is now under the jurisdiction of the Nay.

    • Not Adahn

      -Two minute warning given out. That’s a first.

    • Not Adahn

      -Seriously, more suits than when Algore came by to take credit for this place.

    • Not Adahn

      No folding chairs here! Nice comfy armchairs for the first… three rows of people. I assume they’re reserved.

      • Not Adahn

        “welcome esteemed guests..” “we have an extraordinary lineup of speakers…” Lineup of speakers?

    • Not Adahn

      Always moobs, never Senator Sorority Girl.

    • Not Adahn

      “I’m also proud of being awarded 1.5 billion dollars!”

      *flips off screen*

    • Not Adahn

      Ow! I sprained my middle finger.

      • Sean

        Workman’s comp!

    • Not Adahn

      Moobs keeps referring to “My science law.”

    • Not Adahn

      Secretary Raimondo gets a bird too.

    • Not Adahn

      Sitting next to Raimondo is Hochul. She gets ALL the birds.

      • Not Adahn

        Hate… rising…

      • ron73440

        Not even there and that lineup is making me nauseous.

    • Not Adahn

      Apparently Hochul never doesn’t look smug.

      • ron73440

        That is her default setting.

    • Not Adahn

      I’ve never noticed how Mooby speaks differently when he’s reading off the podium and extemporizing. Has he always done that or is it a dementia sign?

    • Not Adahn

      “Saratoga used to be known for making the potato chip those jokes and those chips have gotten stale. Now we’re making a new chip that has a wonderful amazing future!

    • Not Adahn

      Mooby threw bags of potato chips into the audience.

    • Not Adahn

      Moobs is done, Sec. Raimondo is up next.

    • Not Adahn

      Ray-ray is gushing about Moobs. “now you know how the act got across the finish line. It’s because he didn’t sleep until it did.”

    • Not Adahn

      Ray-ray says that Tom is the most authentic CEO ever. Says he brags to her about his eons employees.

    • Not Adahn

      “The only person that cares more about manufacturing than your governor is my boss President Biden!”

    • Not Adahn

      “I am so proud to work for President Biden because he cares about America!”

    • Not Adahn

      Ray-ray decides to educate us.

      “Silicon Valley is called that because we invented the semiconductor.”

      And then she reads some of our own ad copy to tell us about how great and important 22FDX is.

      • cavalier973

        I hope you have a game of solitaire going on at the side

      • UnCivilServant

        Semiconductors were invented in Germany.

      • Not Adahn

        Pretty sure semiconductors were invented in a supernova a few billion years ago.

    • Not Adahn

      Director of the National Economic Council Brainard gets up to speak, mispronounces “Hochul.”

      • cavalier973

        “Whore-Chool”?

      • Not Adahn

        Huck’ll

    • Not Adahn

      DNEC’s speech is short. The Evil one is up next.

    • Not Adahn

      “This extraordinary achievement by the Biden Harris Administration”

      “Majority leader, your jokes will never be stale here in New York”

      “Listen to the President and execute his priorities!”

    • Not Adahn

      Holy shit her voice just makes me cringe. It’s like a Disney villainess but with less charisma. I’ve never had to listen to it for this long.

    • Not Adahn

      Says that this site was started with a “donation bigger than the economy of most states.” Gives credit to our CEO, who was NOT with the company then. Hell, we didn’t have an American CEO for the first three.

    • Not Adahn

      the Mayor of Albany is here too, ’cause why not?

    • Not Adahn

      “Sorry, I’m just one state.” (in reference to NY only shovelling 875 million at us.)

    • Not Adahn

      “Historians will look back and say “what was the turning point in rebuilding the American Economy?” They’ll say two words ‘Biden-Harris'”

    • Not Adahn

      Thank God she’s shutting up.

      Congresscritter Tonko up next.

      • UnCivilServant

        Dammit, stop reminding me Taxin Tonko exists.

    • Not Adahn

      “I’d like to thank President Biden. What I love most about him is he doesn’t reject SCIENCE!, He Embraces it! All of us living together here on Planet Earth need to embrace SCIENCE!”

    • Not Adahn

      “Thank you to the trades for all the work they do! Thank you for bringing those union jobs into our community!”

      • Ted S.

        Fuck non-union tradesmen like my electrician father.

    • Not Adahn

      Extended metaphor comparing us to the Eerie Canal, apparently we’re going to create “mill towns” which will be the “epicenters of invention.”

    • Not Adahn

      “Let us go forth and march from this victory!”

    • Not Adahn

      Guessing the Albany mayor isn’t going to speak, since Tom is back up onstage.

      • Ownbestenemy

        How are you keeping your brain from leaking out through your ears?

      • Sean

        Free tampons from the men’s room?

      • ron73440

        That was painful enough to read, sitting through it must have been a joy.

      • Not Adahn

        I have sore facial muscles up around the temples.

    • Not Adahn

      “Excelsior!”

    • Not Adahn

      It’s over.

      They’re kicking all of the employees out so the important people can do media interviews.

  23. Not Adahn

    -More suits than have ever been present in this space EVER.

    • Ted S.

      Their suits are going to contaminate the clean room.

  24. Brochettaward

    One small First for Firsters, when giant First for Firstkind.

  25. Certified Public Asshat

    Jon Stewart savages ‘d*ck’ Tucker Carlson’s ‘unquestioning propaganda’ for Russia and rips the ex-Fox host for cosying up to ‘brutal and ruthless’ Vladimir Putin

    But it was Carlson’s praise of tightly regimented Russian society that provoked Stewart’s fiercest mockery.

    Here’s the reality, you know all this, because you aren’t as dumb as your face would have us believe,’ he chided.

    ‘Perhaps if your handlers had allowed, you would have seen there was a hidden fee to your cheap groceries and orderly streets – ask Aleksei Navalny or any of his supporters.

    ‘The difference between our urinal-caked subways and your candelabra’d beautiful subways is the literal price of freedom,’ he claimed.

    Tucker’s point for those not retarded is it is a false choice between freedom or clean subways.

    • Drake

      Calls Tucker a liar. Never identifies a specific lie.

      That’s how lying propagandists operate.

      • R.J.

        Didn’t Michael Moore do a similar thing in Cuba?

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        John Stewart has always been a propagandist/POS. Nothing new here, and I would bet no one new here either.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Tuckers other point is hat the sanctions that are already in place haven’t done a damn thing, as seen by the abundance of food and clean inner cities.

      Here, we only get clean inner cities when Dictators from China come, and freedom, the NSA will let you know if that is miss-, dis-, or mal-information.

      • grrizzly

        The US will impose more sanctions later this week because of Navalny. That’ll show them!

      • DEG

        It’s sanction season.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Be vewwy. vewwy quiet, I’m hunting swanctions…

    • ron73440

      It’s better if they get blown up, then we can sell new ones to them using our money!

      collect under pants

      ?????

      Profit?

      • Sensei

        We are going to build $40bn worth of cars in the US. They are going to made in the US with US workers and materials. So most of that money is going to stay in the US and create jobs.

        We are going to ship those cars to the Ukraine and give them to everybody there for free.

        Do you think if we presented it that way the American public would be OK with it?

  26. cavalier973

    By the way, Lithuania, the NATO member that Trump singled out, has spent a larger percentage of its G.D.P. on aid to Ukraine than any other nation.

    Ukraine isn’t part of NATO

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Also, still losing the war anyway.

      • cavalier973

        Lithuania spending money on Ukraine instead of paying its union dues to NATO kind of proves Trump’s point.

  27. Aloysious

    Nipple twisting?

    Been watching old Ten and Stimpy cartoons?

    • Aloysious

      Edit: Ren. Ren and Stimpy. *curses*

      • Winston's Mom

        Ahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

  28. The Late P Brooks

    “The only person that cares more about manufacturing than your governor is my boss President Biden!”

    He cares about manufacturing a compelling narrative. He’s an excellent President.

  29. Aloysious

    Reading Winsons Mom pull a Vince McMahon on Krugnutz is peak… I’d better stop there.

  30. Brochettaward

    I’ve come up with two new terms as far as I can tell in the gun debate.

    Meat and potato gun crime. The vast majority, the daily shit the left has no desire to talk about

    Versus

    Puddin’ cup gun crime. The white mass shooter cases that the left uses to demonize their political enemies and to try and use to pass sweeping gun control laws that will have no impact on either the pudding cup gun crime or the meat and potato gun crime, but which they believe will punish the white male gun owner with their nasty gun fetish.

    • Brochettaward

      The only real tactic is to constantly force them to address the former before they get to discuss the latter. Watch them squirm like children at the dinner table being forced to eat asparagus.

      • Nephilium

        A letter writer to our local paper helpfully said that “With the exception of hunters, there’s no need to keep firearms at home”.

        They hand wave away the defense aspect with the following:

        “The first is for defense. But statistics show that useful defense with home weapons is rare, with home accidents and deaths due to weapons much more common.”

      • Ownbestenemy

        So everyone becomes hunters….

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        What’s the bag limit on home intruders?

      • pistoffnick

        What home intruders?

        *looks approvingly at my well fed hogs*

      • Brochettaward

        It’s one of those things that is known on the left. Just known. You cite statistics on defensive gun uses and they look at you blankly or laugh and deny it.

        And then the CDC makes those numbers disappear even though they were conservative estimates at best and used by gun control advocates in the before times.

      • Nephilium

        Saying both that ACAB and you don’t need a firearm to defend yourself is a true sign of a deranged mine.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        They have placards! And cunt capspussy hats!

      • Brochettaward

        They just hate guns.

        Australia and Canada prove that they just don’t want to an armed populace. Crime doesn’t even need to be a serious issue for them to strip guns from responsible gun owners. There’s no principles but the will to power there.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Gun crime has gone up in England since the Dunblaine?incident, and yet they keep turning the screws.

      • UnCivilServant

        A few more laws and the criminals will fall in line.

  31. ron73440

    New Hardcore History: Superhumanly Inhuman

    https://www.dancarlin.com/addendum/

    Going through the Holocaust, I’m about an hour in so far and it is excellent and disturbing.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Biden wants people to know most of the money he’s seeking for Ukraine would be spent in the US

    We’re building windows here so we can break them over there.

    • creech

      Yes, we should have extended WW2 or Vietnam for a few more years to really pile up the economic gains!

    • cavalier973

      I really enjoy the discussion of camera shots, angles, motifs, etc. The placement of actors in the screen. As Mr. Plunkett would occasionally say, “You didn’t notice it, but your brain did.”

  33. Fatty Bolger

    It has seemed increasingly likely that the nation’s good sense would prevail and democracy would survive.

    Oh, good. I was worried.

    Biden had been able to step aside in that successor’s favor without setting off an intraparty free-for-all.

    For sure, an intraparty free-for-all sounds terrible. How can our democracy survive, if people are allowed to choose their own leader? Much better to be run by a shadowy cabal of unelected hangers-on. Four more years!