More like Grifting Often Party.

Seth Masket reminds us that timing is hard.

Interesting that the proposed changes from Nancy Pelosi seem focused on pulling younger members of the party into the leadership ranks – maybe to groom them for full-fledged leadership roles as opposed to explicitly shifting the the ideological composition of the Democratic leadership in the House.

John Bresnahan and Heather Caygle for Politico:

While she remains atop the Democratic Caucus, Pelosi is aware there remains serious dissension within her ranks, much of it based on the fact that the caucus is top-heavy with veteran lawmakers. That shuts out more junior members from having a role in policy and messaging.

It’s not obviously a nod to the recent challenge from Tim Ryan and his more moderate voting record or the somewhat mythical midwestern voters some in the media suggested he might appeal.

A year ago, there were frequent complaints that the Democrats bench seemed thin compared to the bubbling 17-way primary contest the Republicans were about to host. That premise never really rang true. But certainly Post-Clinton, there’s no obvious slate of younger candidates waiting for the national stage. Perhaps this is a move towards solving that problem. Here’s hoping that the DNC and others don’t just rely on top down solutions for “growing the bench” and instead actually set about developing farm teams out in the states.

Seems like Dave Pell might be on to the truth:

I have a feeling that many of us on the left are obsessing over fake news to convince ourselves that millions of Americans were somehow tricked into voting for Trump — that they’ve been unwittingly indoctrinated into some kind of cult, and if we just deprogram them with a little real news and a touch of sanity, they’ll come around and see the error of their ways.

But truth could be a lot more troubling than that. Maybe millions of Americans saw exactly who and what Trump was, and voted for him because of it.

Paul Krugman:

So how bad will the effects of Trump-era corruption be? The best guess is, worse than you can possibly imagine.

Josh Marshall is right:

There is no conflict. Everything is working as planned. He’s leveraging the office like one might leverage a business. When you have your hotel pitch foreign diplomatic delegations on bringing their business to your hotel, that’s not a conflict. That’s a revenue stream tied to owning the presidency. Same with expanding your business in countries where the US has critical diplomatic, economic and military relationships.

Brent Simmons on rumors that Apple will stop selling wireless routers and displays:

Maybe — I say “maybe” because I don’t know — maybe shopping elsewhere leads to more shopping elsewhere.

This almost has to be true, at least to a limited extent

It sure seems like Jared Kushner has spent a lot of his energy not so much advising his father-in-law Donald Trump on politics but instead on punishing Chris Christie for sending his father to jail. But what was Charles Kushner being prosecuted for anyways?

Let’s ask the New York Times:

Mr. Kushner also became embroiled in a bitter family feud over the business and how proceeds were distributed. That dispute, plus his growing prominence as a political financier, helped lead to his downfall. The intrafamily acrimony was such that Mr. Kushner retaliated against his brother-in-law, who was cooperating with federal authorities, by hiring a prostitute to seduce him. He then arranged to have a secretly recorded videotape of the encounter sent to his sister, the man’s wife.

Whoa, that’s really some next level evil revenge shite. Great to know his offspring will have the ear of the president.

Link via Daniel Golden’s Story Behind Jared Kushner’s Curious Acceptance into Harvard

Jim Newell is on to something over on Slate:

[Paul Ryan] speaks of what the new “government” will do as though we’re in a parliamentary system. That would make Donald Trump the figurehead monarch, and Paul Ryan the prime minister. Let Trump be head of state, if that flatters him. Ryan will gladly assume head of government.

The head of government has done his homework and knows what he wants to achieve, while the head of state is still in the period of processing that he’s the head of state.

Ryan has the legislative strategy, the legislative numbers, and the legislation itself ready to go.

Meanwhile:

The contrast in preparedness with Trump’s team is striking. First: What is Trump’s team right now, beyond the few communications and strategy folks he’ll carry over from the campaign? Even the team that’s supposed to pick the team, as of Tuesday morning, was in chaos…. The Trump team does not know what it’s doing. The head of state is not familiar with the demands of the job, and so the demands of the job will flow elsewhere.

It might not be the Conditional Party Government you wanted, but there’s a good chance it’s the Conditional Party Government we have right now. Who knew that a bigoted, bloviating, indolent slug of a man was the final condition?