Washington Commanders’ owner Dan Snyder’s sale of the team was greeted enthusiastically by Washingtonians and by sports journalists and commentators. In cheering Snyder’s departure, most of the journalists cited what ESPN called “a culture in Washington that was toxic and predatory” — in plain language, the way that Snyder treated his female employees. Many of those who followed the Commanders, alias Redskins, had been fed up with Snyder for years before the revelations in The Washington Post that led to his being forced to sell. For me, as a journalist, the last straw was what happened in 2010.

Here’s a new article from the Post on Jack Teixeira which contains a series of assumptions I can only call disturbing. The headline reads, “He’s from a patriotic family — and allegedly leaked U.S. secrets.” In the vein of that headline, the article presents Teixeira as a bundle of contradictions. He didn’t want to hurt America. He was a patriotic guy from a patriotic, military family, etc.

The Republican Party still has no idea how to position itself nationally on abortion after its Dobbs success. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that, electorally, it will continue to be a winning issue in driving independent voters toward Democrats.