The 24 Seven: Same old, same old
The intensity has increased, but the power dynamics the same as U.S. stares down a possible government shutdown
Some programming notes, as I work on my year-end closeout. (What a year, what a year.) In case you missed Wednesday’s wild UAP/UFO/NJ drone hobbyist livestream with
of you can find the replay here ($$ bonus content for paying subscribers.)And in case you missed the latest episode of The Ground Game pod, it’s a wild one, with
of The Lincoln Project. Listen/watch here. (Parents, earmuffs.) There’s one characterization of The Department of Government Efficiency and body parts getting trapped in government procurement machinery which is as astounding an analogy as I’ve heard all year.It’s been a wild week not just in Congress (more on that in a second) but also here at 24sight, we had a great rollout of
new column, “The Booboisie” — etymology here — adding to the growing offerings from 24sight. Ian joins author of “The Level”, a sound, even-handed look at politics and polling with some clear guidance on how we all could improve our understanding of this raucous environment. Keep it here as I keep expanding.(Find all 24sight News columns and more at the top of the homepage under the “Newsletters” tab. You can also adjust your settings clicking the “account settings” link on the Newsletters page.)
Posting will be light next week for the holidays, we could all use a break. 2024, especially for those of us living in the world of news and politics, has been one hell of a marathon.
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1. Whose House?
“President”, “co-president”, “Speaker of the House”, are all terms which have been applied to the world’s richest man, who owns a global satellite network, a massive online media outlet, a spaceship company, an electric car company and has been flexing his political muscle as a top adviser to the next president of the United States.
The points about Elon Musk’s expansive and extensive power, are well taken, even if presented with standard political jabs and pokes. And it remains to be seen what happens in the relationship between Musk and President-elect Donald Trump, who has a history of pushing out subordinates who draw too much attention away from him.
What’s interesting, though, is how much the ideological battle lines and the rhythm and flow of government shutdown battles of recent years — the hard right demanding a “clean” bill without extras, blasting spending, taking battles right down to the wire during Christmastime.
What’s changed is the intensity, clearly. With the ability to point a Death Star of a conservative media laser at House Republicans, while texting directly with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Musk has all the trappings of his own Fox News megolith and multi-million dollar D.C. lobbying shop — and none of the restrictions.
As I noted in my recent appearance on The Sean Spicer Show, this looks like a preview of what’s to come in a closely divided Congress, with little margin for divergence by the majority party and every reason for the Democrats, who hold a sizable minority in the House, to maintain lockstep.
Some big legislative items await the new Congress when it takes power in January. The legislative tensions remain the same, the big question will be how much one executive/White House adviser applies pressure.
2. Mangione Influencer Economy
Former CNN star turned NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo’s interview with a self-described communist who is fundraising for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is driving a substrata news cycle on YouTube.
Yes, I watched this. (Feel free *not* to click this link, since you’ve got me here to walk you through it.)
The anchor, David Doel, is a former Canadian Green Party candidate with a whopping 611K subscribers on his YouTube channel. I don’t know Doel, the commentary is *meh* (which, feel free to assert the same for any given nightly cable panel that falls short of “don’t touch me, bro.”)
But, a *lot* of YouTube “news” appears to be online influencers ripping cable news shows and layering in commentary. (If you’ve seen the Sunday shows cut up on cable, with clips of clips layered on each other three times deep, that should give you a sense of what this looks like.)
This is a lucrative business. And also part of the new dominant “mainstream media” revealed by the 2024 election results, which is both highly partisan and highly reliant on legacy media for its content.
3. Follow-ups
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the Pentagon? The president-elect’s daughter-in-law for the expected vacant Senate seat in Florida? One Florida outlet reports that neither seems likely to happen, this after a mini-news cycle punctuated by the potential Florida chess moves.
In all politics, floats and nominations are very different things. I’m thinking of this having covered the first Trump administration and preparing for the second, floats, trial balloons, media tests and more will likely continue to be standard fare for this next White House in a way they haven’t been for the past four years.
Fore.
An Indianapolis couple is suing Indiana University business school professor, five of his graduate students and a high-end development over plans for a golf course in Puerto Rico they allege was worth up to $2 billion, the Indianapolis Business Journal reports.
Tim and Doris Anne Sadler, who have worked in Indiana Republican politics over the years, say in the lawsuit they had a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course lined up and a contract with the local redevelopment authority, when they partnered with an IU professor and his graduate students on an MBA case study of the project three years ago.
The lawsuit alleges two of the students with ties to the high-end Discovery Land Company, leaked details of the planned golf course to the competing company — which has ties to the one-time George Clooney tequila company Casamigos — which then promptly stole the deal.
5. Homage to a chair
My friend
has this excellent obit for a chair, a legend of a throne, over at his newsletter. The fabled Poäng chair from Ikea has been laid to rest.
6. Writing Music
“Meanwhile, uptown, the DJ played”
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Cheers,
Tom LoBianco
Editor and co-founder, 24sight News