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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 13, 2025

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Okay but we're putting the heavy drinker or the cat in the position of commander in chief of the United States military! That's bad. Like, if the surgeon operating on you is drinking a 'normal amount' at 2am the night before, you should be concerned about that whether or not he's a mormon.

Im saying it makes sense that people are less concerned when Trump does it, because the character implication is less. Im not saying what the right absolute level of concern is, because Im not sure how to think about that when the implication is gone.

Okay but we're putting the heavy drinker or the cat in the position of commander in chief of the United States military! That's bad.

Worked OK for Grant.

And Garfield.

Grant wasn’t an Ernest Hemingway-style persistent heavy drinker, glass of whisky always in hand. Grant was more of a “spend nine months teetotal and then go on a three day bender” kind of drinker. Also by the time he was President he had quit drinking for good. Now Lyndon Johnson on the other hand, was a persistent heavy drinker and say what you will about him it never diminished his effectiveness as President.

Grant was more of a spend nine months teetotal and then go on a three day bender kind of drinker.

In a nuclear world, this seems ... worse?