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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022

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Jeb was pretty uniquely bad, and had gobbled the institutional support, which made the rest of the field weird. In the end the other problem was Ted Cruz was the Trump challenger the people wanted, but none of the institutions wanted to try that until way too late.

John, My Father was a Postman, Kasich basically ego'd Trump to a smooth victory instead of what could have been an interesting match.

In the end the other problem was Ted Cruz was the Trump challenger the people wanted, but none of the institutions wanted to try that until way too late.

Highly on brand for Cruz to be disliked by those who actually work with him:

Ted shocked people when during the first week, he announced that he was creating a study group and only people with high GPAs from the Big Three Ivies could apply for admission. He didn't want people from "minor ivies" like Penn or Brown. In short, Ted managed to come off as a pompous asshole *at Harvard Law.*”

HRC didn't face those fights, because she dealt with them in advance behind closed doors. Through carrots or sticks, off camera, she prevented the pompous assholes with (D) next to their name in the senate from showing up to derail her candidacy. That's what made her unopposed coronation as the D nominee such a signal victory and mark of political talent, she lined up all that support behind her in advance without a fight. Where Barack or Kerry or Mittens had to fight tooth and nail to get the nomination from a dozen other equally ambitious candidates.

I mean, you make some good points, but I'm still confused who cleared the deck for her and why she was somehow so much better at it 8 years after failing said task to lose to a Jr. Senator from IL, who she was trouncing going into primary season. Klobuchar is one, meaningless name. She couldn't even compete with Sanders and Biden in 2020.