Podcast Saturday +
The week in headlines, and a moment of Zen.
It’s Saturday, which can only mean one thing, even during an expedition to Iceland: the Ricochet Podcast, and the Three Whisky Happy Hour, both of which I recorded from the highest altitude tiny town in Iceland that looks like the setting for a Viking version of High Plains Drifter:
Anyway, the Ricochet Podcast featured special guest Noah Rothman of National Review, with James Likeks and I discussing the fall of the New Puritans (one of Noah’s fine book titles) in the real world as they resist from their barracks on prestigious college campuses. Then we move on from culture war to shooting wars as we consider Putin’s recalcitrance and negotiations with Iran. Extra material: James and I kick around the Big, Beautiful Bill that’s worked its way out of the House, and Elon Musk’s DC departure. Listen here, or at the link above:
Then on to the Three Whisky Happy Hour, with John Yoo hosting an episode that features so much free trade in ideas that you'd need a 1,000% tariff to slow it down. Which the U.S. Court of International Trade attempted to do for about 18 hours this week, but that was more than enough time for the 3WHH to chew up the ruling and spits it out like a bad piece of Icelandic cod. The gang predicts this issue is likely to be another win for Trump when the dust settles.
But first the gang also ponders whether Trump is overdoing it with his attack on Harvard. Is it possible to overdo the attack on Harvard? You'll have to give a listen to this ad-free episode to find out.
So listen here, or over on Ricochet.
And now, for headlines. I thought this first story was a made-up satire by the Babylon Bee, but no, this story is for real, because Democrats truly are brain dead:
Colin Wright shrewdly observes:
My old mentor Stan Evans used to encourage debate among his National Journalism Center interns on the vital question of which Spice Girl was the most annoying. Looks like we have our definitive answer at last:
Yeah, and snowfall is just a thing of the past, the “top forecasters” told us 20 years ago.
Here’s your moment of Zen, from on the road in Iceland:
P.S. Thanks for the reader recommendation for the Dj Grill in Akureyri. It was indeed a worthy rival to the best American burger joints.
After a month of rambling about Liberation Day and Trump 2.0 tariff strategy, at least Lucretia has nailed it. This is and always has been about containing Chinese economic power which has led to their increasing military power and their ability to force Taiwan to accept reunification.
Had Team Trump just announced Chinese only tariffs without engaging all other important economic trading powers, then China would have pursued the same 'go around' strategy of offshoring a small amount of value add to Vietnam or Mexico so that the imported goods evaded the Chinese sanctions. This is what happened after the 2018 round of increased tariffs.
I offer this historical analogy for Lucretia to use: what ultimately made the outcome of WWII predestined? It was the vast manufacturing capacity and knowhow that was harnessed to produce immense volumes of B24s, Liberty cargo ships, and ultimately the first atomic weapon. This book details the amazing pivot to a war economy started after the fall of France, well before Pearl Harbor: https://www.amazon.com/Freedoms-Forge-American-Business-Produced/dp/1400069645
Economic power has always underpinned military power. What ultimately led to the outbreak of WWI were French and British concerns about Germany's rapid economic growth, Germany's concern that the Russians were on the verge of a similar industrial revolution, and the relative decline of Otoman and AustroHungarian empires that increased German worries of isolation facing a French-Russo alliance.
So what do we face today? China's manufacturing capacity is 50% larger than the US. They have pursued an industrial policy to dominate critical supply chains-of which 'rare earths' is just one example.
https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/20859.jpeg
Triggering economic chaos in China now is the only policy option available to buy the US and other allies time to fix supply chains. While Willow Run B24 plant took around 12 months to reach significant production volumes, it is not possible to replicate TSMC's Taiwan-based advanced chip making capacity in the US and other secure locations in a similar time frame.
What if Belgium held a 90% share in high-performance ball bearings in 1938? (Ball bearings are crucial components for tanks, airplanes, machine guns, and ship locomotion.) Yet multinational corporations, led by Apple, created a dependence on the most advanced chip making facilities - at 70-90% share - to be sourced from an undefended Taiwan. (Apple also single-handedly underwrote China's rise into component manufacturing and assembly of advanced electronics.)
Would it had been prudent for Trump to have announced on his first day all out economic warfare against China? I think not. As shambolic a process as Liberation Day appears to have been, Trump 2.0 now has the entree for secure high-level discussions with all economic powers to forge a China economic containment strategy.
Even Antony Blinken, Biden's less than stellar lead foreign policy advisor, acknowledged we need to take Xi's word of his intent to have a military ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Surely Profs Yoo and Hayward can walk away from their rigid Econ 1 view of tariffs to recognize Trump resorted to the best 2x4 in the arsenal to finally wake the world.
Would the typical GOPe Republican preferred a rousing Churchillian speech, rather than an endless series Truth Social tweets? Yes. But we go to war with the generals (and commander-in-chief) that we have, not with what we would like.
If I recognize that waterfall correctly, I'm pretty sure that as shown, the near side of the waterfall is the North American tectonic plate, and the far side is the European tectonic plate. Iceland is a legit contender for the title of Coolest Place on Earth.