Armas Weekend Reader

16-17 July 2022

“La fusion de dos culturas,” Jorge Gonzalez Camarena, 1963.

This week: tectonic changes in American political coalitions, the superiority of the red states, the liberty-versus-libertine conflict in conservatism, the Army’s recruiting crisis, the West’s vulnerabilities, Sonoran tortillas, and more. Let’s go — 

1) So you’ve been nuked: a PSA from your friends in NYC municipal government.

 2) “A majority of American voters across nearly all demographics and ideologies believe their system of government does not work, with 58 percent of those interviewed for a New York Times/Siena College poll saying that the world’s oldest independent constitutional democracy needs major reforms or a complete overhaul.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/13/us/politics/government-trust-voting-poll.html

3) “One cannot help but notice the major change in tone of the media coverage of President Joe Biden. It started as anonymous grumblings from Democratic Party operatives talking to the New York Times about the president's job performance. But now, we're seeing louder, on-the-record screams about Biden's competency.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/the-media-bail-on-biden

4) “The pandemic has changed the geography of the American economy. By many measures, red states—those that lean Republican—have recovered faster economically than Democratic-leaning blue ones, with workers and employers moving from the coasts to the middle of the country and Florida.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/red-states-winning-post-pandemic-economy-migration-11657030536 

5) “Americans' confidence in newspapers and television news has plummeted to an all-time low, according to the latest annual Gallup survey of trust in U.S. institutions.”

https://www.axios.com/2022/07/08/news-republicans-democrats-trust-partisanship

6) “President Biden is facing an alarming level of doubt from inside his own party, with 64 percent of Democratic voters saying they would prefer a new standard-bearer in the 2024 presidential campaign, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll, as voters nationwide have soured on his leadership, giving him a meager 33 percent job-approval rating.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/us/politics/biden-approval-polling-2024.html