It’s a potentially historic day. The White House has confirmed that President Trump’s campaign threat to slap tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will become reality some time today. … Gov. Maura Healey is warning this morning, as the Herald reports, that the tariffs will lead to higher prices in Massachusetts. And they inevitably will lead to higher prices, if kept in place for a while. … But I wonder how long they’ll stay in place. I sense a declare-victory-and-get-out stunt coming, tied to very flimsy evidence of success. … And notice how the White House is tying the tariffs to “illegal fentanyl” flowing into the U.S., not other products. They’re applying a hard-to-disprove metric to all of this.
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Is Healey vulnerable in ’26?
Another Republican is mulling a run for governor in 2026, the latest being Sen. Peter Durant, and you have to wonder: Just how vulnerable is Gov. Maura Healey in ’26, assuming she runs for re-election? … My hunch: She’s a little vulnerable and getting more vulnerable by the day as controversies pile up. But she’s still a clear favorite. … Her advantages: she’s an incumbent in a blue state; her poll numbers remain relatively strong by some measures (though not all); her potential GOP challengers so far aren’t exactly heavy hitters; she’s been admirably pragmatic on governance on a number of issues; Donald Trump could end up being a major drag on Republicans in general next year. … But she does have vulnerabilities: her poll numbers have clearly softened a bit of late (including relatively low-approval numbers here – click on ‘full report’); voters are upset about housing costs and immigration/shelter issues; she definitely seems to be tacking to the center amid various tax-and-spend controversies on Dem-dominated Beacon Hill; the November elections results showed a clear rightward shift among state voters that Dems dismiss at their peril, etc. …
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Reforming the state’s Unemployment Insurance system: politically easier said than done
The Globe’s Jon Chesto has a good piece on why talk of reforming the state’s “forever-listing” unemployment insurance system may finally lead to substantive changes. … I have my doubts, based on years of observing Beacon Hill muddle through on UI funding issues. Politics have trumped actuaries every time. But it’s encouraging Gov. Healey is at least talking about reforms. So we’ll see.
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Wu’s love of glass towers
Or is it Kairos Shen’s love of glass towers? Either way, the Globe’s Rachelle Cohen rightly isn’t happy with the Wu administration’s proposal to allow giant glass towers in Downtown Crossing – and the controversial way the proposal came about. … More on the height-rule plans at BisNow-Boston. … I touched upon the same issue a few weeks ago (scroll down to ‘Not quite NIMBY-ism …’).
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Steve Bannon: The HBS grad, ex-Goldman Sachs banker and former Hollywood-producer talks populism – and gets some things right
My first takeaway from the NYT’s Ross Douthat fascinating talk with Steve Bannon: Bannon is absolutely convinced he’s not one of the elites even though he’s spent most of his adult life hovering at the tippy-top of the most elite of elite institutions. … The second takeaway: he loves to talk – much of it about himself and his role in shaping today’s politics. … The third takeaway: He’s an angry but intriguing man who makes sense on some of what ails America. I liked his description of the tech moguls now “crawling on their bellies” to Trump; George W. Bush’s weaknesses leading to the “worst presidency in the history of our nation, except for James Buchanan’s”; unfairly blaming Blacks and Hispanics for the 2008 financial crisis caused by the “entire establishment,” etc, etc. … Dems ignore some of what Bannon says at their peril. He’s not wrong all the time.
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Amateur hour: White House rescinds order on federal grant freeze
They’re know-it-alls who know so little about the government they run. … Remember: this is their second time around overseeing the federal government. Yet they didn’t have a clue what they were unleashing when they issued the initial freeze order. … Here’s the AP story on the administration’s freeze flip-flop.
Update – Wait! They’re now saying OMB’s rescission order doesn’t really rescind the spending freeze, causing more confusion on top of confusion. …
Update II – Another policy, more confusion, this one over buyouts.
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Caroline Kennedy’s RFK Jr. broadside: exposing the Bouvier-Kennedy divide
Of all people, I thought of my late mother while watching the extraordinary video of Caroline Kennedy’s harsh criticism of her cousin, RFK Jr., on the eve of his confirmation hearing as Health and Human Services secretary. The NYT gets it right: Her opposition to RFK’s cabinet appointment seems to go beyond professional and personal objections. It’s also about the “battle over who gets to claim the mantle of the Kennedys.” … But my late mother, who loved following all-things Kennedys and who had that incredible Irish knack of sensing class and cultural divides, would have taken the analysis further, pointing out, as she did to me on numerous occasions over the years, how Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, after the assassination of her husband, raised Caroline and John F. Kennedy Jr. slightly apart from the rest of the Kennedy family. It seemed as if Jacqueline was shielding her children from the excesses of the rest of the Kennedy clan, my mother used to say. …
Then came Caroline’s harsh words yesterday about RFK Jr.’s alleged animal cruelty (yes, the blender part) and how as a youth he “encouraged” siblings and cousins “down the path of substance abuse” and ultimately to “addiction, illness and death,” etc. … And the NYT does bring up JFK Jr.’s once biting remark about his cousins being “poster boys for bad behavior,” etc., etc. … The Bouvier-Kennedy divide. There it is.
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‘What is the honorable way to oppose while hoping for the best …’
Peggy Noonan at the WSJ asks all the right questions when it comes to how to react to all things Donald Trump:
“What is the honorable way to oppose while hoping for the best, to oppose while being as quick to recognize progress as to see failure, to oppose while appreciating any outcomes that are healthy for the United States of America? And without forgetting why you oppose? We’ll find out.”
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Is Massachusetts ready for its own DOGE-like efficiency agency?
The Mass Opportunity Alliance, a recently formed business group, is not-so-subtly floating the idea (scroll down past its UI blast) of a Massachusetts version of President Trump’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), saying its recent survey of state residents showed strong support for an “advisory commission that would recommend bureaucratic reforms and cost saving strategies for the state government.” … Next up: Maybe a statewide ballot push for such an agency? … You can definitely feel it in the political air: growing frustration with state and local government tax-and-spend policies in Massachusetts. Some evidence of this: Rob Gavin’s recent Globe Trendlines criticism of the state’s high cost of living — and government’s seeming obliviousness to its role in those high costs. … Then there’s Jon Keller, who sweet talks in circles till he gets to the point: Gov. Healey’s ‘candy tax’ idea is leaving a sour taste in the mouths of a lot of people. His ominous warning: “Budget implosion and its tax-hike antidote has been political poison here for years, and Healey seems unlikely to be immune.” …
So to answer the question in the above headline: Something’s definitely stirring out there, a local frustration with high taxes and costs in Massachusetts, and so, yes, I think voters are ready for a BOGE-like approach to problems. … Btw: the Mass Opportunity Alliance item is via Scott Van Voorhis’s excellent Contrarian Boston. And here’s more on the alliance’s September launch via the Globe.
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‘Mayor Wu kindly invited to Washington to be eviscerated in front of Fox News …’
Adam Gaffin’s Universal Hub strikes again. The lede on his post is also pretty damn funny. …
Hub Blog 