Russell Brands lefty enablers, one bright spot for the GOP and other commentary

Guardian columnist Owen Jones just issued “a masterclass in unwitting self-damnation” on Russell Brand’s rape conviction, snarks Spiked’s Brendan O’Neill.“ ‘I’ve met Russell Brand twice (I think)’, Jones writes.

Yes, and one of those times was to sing his praises at a huge middle-class Brand love-in.Jones neglects to mention that he also wrote columns lauding Brand as a leftish messiah.” Then Jones admits “he was aware of Brand’s history of misogyny.

‘I saw him as a crude means to reach disillusioned younger people with left-wing politics’, he writes,” so “ ‘I was willing to overlook, or just not look into, his history of problematic behaviour / statements, including sexism.’ Willing to overlook.Is it possible Jones doesn’t understand the magnitude of what he is saying here” — in effect, “that women’s dignity is a small thing to throw on the bonfire of brocialist opportunism?”For disheartened Republicans, The Hill’s Nicole Russell sees “a lighthouse flickering edge of the tsunami”: Even as they elected Democrats, many states passed “conservative-leaning ballot measures” like “voter ID, protecting female spaces and taxes.” That shows “how badly Trump” tainted the GOP.

Indeed, an AP poll found “4 in 10 voters cast their ballots ‘to express opposition’ to Trump”; candidate quality “mattered too.” Above all, voters seem to “want the best of both worlds: politicians who aren’t aligned with Trump, but ideas rooted in conservatism.” It’s a “powerful lesson” for 2028: The “blue wave hides a red undertow,” and if Dems move left “on voter ID, female sports or taxes, it could drag them under.”“The midterm elections may have been primarily a rejection of corruption and ineptitude among GOP officials,” but “it’s not clear that voters booting one party from office are eager to embrace what the other major party has to offer,” warns Reason’s J.D.Tuccille.

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