This is the 2023 D.C. disaster no one is talking about but should be.

I’ve been reading various commentary in recent weeks about the rightward turn by big elements of the Silicon Valley tech community. It’s a complex story with various roots. But at a macro level a significant part of it comes down to something like political physics. Tech became extremely wealthy and extremely powerful, and when government started looking at Big Tech with a more critical eye a lot of the tech people … well, they didn’t like it. That’s not terribly surprising. When you’re used to being a master of the universe and then suddenly a bureaucrat who makes less than $200,000 a year comes asking questions or says you can’t do something, that can seem a little weird and annoying. And your political outlook, if you had one, can start to change. This reminded me of a decade-old episode in the history of American political economy which I watched unfold at the time and is relevant to this discussion.

Do you remember SOPA and the activism against it?

Our document for the day is this email released under the Freedom of Information Act. It is an email dated January 13th, 2021 in which the writer informs the then associate deputy director of the FBI, Paul Abbate, how a substantial portion of FBI personnel were in sympathy with the January 6th insurrectionists.

TPM Reader TK responds to the debate we’re carrying on below …

There are many striking parts to this short video. The one that sticks with me is the part where Pelosi says what amounts to, or I interpret as, “let’s pretend this was the White House or the Pentagon or some other building you gave a crap about.”

Here’s more extended video which is very worth watching in full.

The Sheriff in Bexar County (San Antonio) Texas has certified that the 50 migrants Ron DeSantis’ team hoodwinked into being sent to Martha’s Vineyard were the victims of a crime. “Based upon the claims of migrants being transported from Bexar County under false pretenses, we are investigating this case as possible Unlawful Restraint.”

I got this interesting email from TPM Reader CN. I disagree with it. And I think it illustrates a kind of self-reinforcing way people think about politics and particularly the Democratic Party. But I wanted to share it with you because I wanted you to be able to make your own judgment. CN’s note comes with the subject line: “You’re wrong and Bernie’s right, Josh.” This is a reference to my post yesterday disagreeing with Bernie Sanders’ argument that Democrats shouldn’t center the final weeks of the campaign on abortion but rather economics and economic justice. As I said in that post, my argument isn’t trying to settle the general direction or focus of the Democratic Party. That’s never going to be one thing. It’s about what makes sense over the next three weeks.

Here’s CN’s response …

Ken Klippenstein has a piece in The Intercept about the Saudi-driven OPEC production cut as the “October Surprise” of the 2022 election cycle — one not simply aimed at maximizing domestic profits and assisting Russia in its war on Ukraine but specifically aimed at bringing Trump and his MAGA-infused GOP back to power. I think he’s right. I do notice though that the experts he quotes making this argument are longtime critics of U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia. So they are people inclined to see events through a Saudi-hostile lens.

This is frequently a difficulty in making sense of current events. You want to see what the experts say but most experts have their own preconceptions and established narratives through which they are inclined to organize new events. I wanted to add this caution as a limitation or counter to my own view. But it remains my own view. This move is not only an example of the lopsided and outmoded relationship with Saudi Arabia but a specific effort to damage the party the Saudi leader, Mohamed bin Salman, opposes in U.S. domestic politics.

EPIC/MRA, a signature in-state poll for Michigan: Whitmer 49%, Dixon 38%.

The Marquette University Law School poll is the premium in-state Wisconsin poll. Its latest poll yesterday had sobering news for Democrats. Ron Johnson is now 6 points ahead of Mandela Barnes among likely voters. What caught my eye though is that it was tied among registered voters. I’m not trying to unskew this poll. That 6 point margin is, unfortunately, in line with other recent polls. But a 6 point difference between registered and likely voters is really large. That may show a very large GOP turnout and motivation advantage or maybe it’s missing something. Notably the same big divergence showed up in Marquette’s survey of the governor’s race. But here it was far more in the Democrats’ favor. Gov. Evers was up by 5 points among registered voters and by one among likelies.