Always Be Brexiting
After repeated scorchings in parliament, it appears to be dawning on Theresa May that maybe she should stop putting her hand on that hot stove – although she still seems tempted.
May’s Brexit approach so far has been to try to jam her plan through with only the support of her own conservative party. But hard-line Brexiteers in her camp have stood in the way, Therese Raphael wrote earlier today, leading May to a series of embarrassing losses. Therese suggested May abandon this approach and look outside the Tory party for a broader consensus. Lo and behold, May kinda-sorta took her advice; this afternoon, she announced she wants Labour to help find a way forward.
This is sort of a big deal, in the sense that it suddenly saddles Jeremy Corbyn with some responsibility for helping May out of her Brexit mess, Therese Raphael writes in a second column. But it is also not a big change, in that May still clings to control, and Corbyn probably has a very different agenda, which may or may not include a second referendum and certainly does include him taking May’s job. For now, the stalemate lingers on, with the Brexit deadline fast approaching.
Meanwhile, parliament will take more “indicative” votes on various Brexit alternatives, some of which have been more popular than May’s dud of a plan, but none of which have won a majority. Therese suggests Corbyn could play the hero here by suggesting a change of voting rules to help parliament land on a solution. Leonid Bershidsky suggests it could try a thing called “cumulative” voting, in which lawmakers assign points to various options. But then that may require more creative thinking and pain-avoidance instincts than British politicians have shown so far.
Always Be Repealing Obamacare
President Donald Trump may have sought to avoid political pain by abruptly dropping a pledge to replace Obamacare before the 2020 election. But he has actually created a bigger mess for himself and for health care, writes Max Nisen. Vowing not to pursue an Affordable Care Act replacement until 2021, while also pushing a lawsuit that could blow up the ACA well before then, is reckless endangerment, Max writes. What’s more, the replacement plan being kicked around would do away with Obamacare’s most popular features, meaning Trump’s capitulation doesn’t even buy him political relief.
Trump diving back into the health-care morass that sunk his party in 2018 is the latest example of how he loves to act unilaterally, blowing off advice from his administration and party, writes Jonathan Bernstein. Trump seems to think this makes him look strong, but these displays actually reveal his isolation and weakness, while also exposing him to more embarrassing losses, Jonathan writes.
Fox Suggests New Rules for Henhouse
Facebook Inc. has been caught in many of the most alarming tech developments in recent years, from data-privacy violations to election-hacking. It’s besieged by calls to regulate and even break it up. CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants you to know he takes criticism very seriously and recently proposed a set of new rules for Facebook and the rest of the Internet. You will probably not be shocked to learn that, as Bloomberg’s editorial board points out, all of these rules benefit Facebook while hurting users and small competitors.
Lethal Supreme Court Arguments
In February, the Supreme Court refused to stay the execution of a Muslim who wanted an imam with him at his death. Less than two months later, the court basically reversed that decision, staying the execution of a Buddhist prisoner in similar circumstances. Many accused the court of hypocrisy, but Stephen Carter suggests we should cheer it for quickly coming to its senses and scoring a victory for freedom of religion.
But maybe these are the wrong discussions for the Supreme Court to have. In another death-penalty case this week, the Supremes argued about whether one state’s method of death would amount to torture for a sick prisoner. Such arguments, Noah Feldman writes, both ignore and legitimize the underlying horror of the death penalty itself.
Telltale Charts
Saudi Aramco lacks the natural-gas reserves to meet its own future demand, and finding them will be costly, writes David Fickling.
Big corporate owners are squeezing the market, keeping people from living the dream of home ownership, writes Noah Smith.
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