Smart point from Jonathan Chait: Take a note from Republicans Dems in Congress—being obstructionist works. Voters in our partisan age punish bipartisanship and reward obstructionism—they're mad, and they're not mad at the people refusing to do anything, but at whoever they perceive holds more power. Nowhere more…

Patriot Trumpcare.

I feel like the abstract description of this season is something I could really get behind; the execution is what's falling flat. You could retell this story with Murphy the unwilling test subject who breaks free of his clueless captors ("We just have to move him to one more spot, and then a cure") and founds a new…

It should be no surprise that he uses words in a way that don't mean what he thinks they mean.

I've lost track of the number of variations I've seen, pre- and post-election, on "I think Trump is unqualified, dangerous, and I am terrified of what he would do as president. On the other hand, I haven't been able to warm to Clinton."

A good thing about a narcissist is that they want to be loved.

I am torn between deeply agreeing with this, and that the reasoning seems to match the people out boldly protesting and taking a stand now, rather than a week ago. Now we'll take a stand and the base get riled up…

And the R legislature will happily pass the name change. "We fixed it! You just had to put us in charge!"

That is what scares me. ISIS specifically is thrilled that there is no one easier to goad into a land war in Asia as a show of manliness.

My one bit of schadenfraude here is "oh faithless D Washington electors, no one is looking at you now, right? No one cares about your bold stand on principle."

EC slates are different depending on whom your state votes for. And it will take a lot more than one pledged Trump elector flipping to flip the results.

I think opposition to the ACA is more concentrated amongst the "why should I pay for insurance if I'm not using it?!!" crowd. The only individually unpopular plank is the mandate, which is also the part that makes the rest function.

Obstructionism paid off. And also the horrible nasty campaign no one wants to relive in 2019-20—it kept Dem turnout low. So look for a repeat of that successful tactic in four years.

This was true with Romney, to an extent: supporters argued that he was a businessman used to telling an audience what they needed to hear to serve his purposes, and so when he said stuff the speaker didn't like, he was lying. When he said stuff the speaker liked, that was his true opinion.

President Pence is looking damn smart at tea leaf reading right now.

Turns out Trump CAN pivot.

An episode I really liked until the last bit:

Yeah, this season is not working nearly so well as last season for me.

Er, wait. Weren't you promising that a Trump presidency would sweep the far left to dizzying heights of power in 2 and 4 years?

I do have to point to a not-zero number of liberals who said "Clearly this result means the election was rigged" even though they would have heaped scorn on that claim had it gone the other way.