My First #GetReadyWithMe Video!
The time has come.
Good evening:
I know what you’re wondering. You’re wondering, “Ben, when did you learn so much about makeup?”
People, we gotta keep smiling. It’s important.
Here’s the YouTube version:
And here’s the Instagram version:
Today on #DogShirtTV, I welcomed a profusion of co-hosts, including the estimable Eve Gaumond, the estimable Anastasiia Lapatina, and the estimable Alicia Wanless. We made fun of Bob Woodward and talked about Ukraine, and then we chatted about truth, authoritarianism, long-range missiles, and other light topics:
Today on Lawfare
In my “The Situation” column today, I reflect on Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from consideration as President-elect Trump’s nominee for attorney general. I argue that the withdrawal represents a win for the Justice Department, for the Senate’s advice and consent process, for the notion that sexual misconduct still matters, and for the idea that Trump—despite rhetoric of resistance and his own rhetoric to the contrary—is not wielding dictatorial powers unconstrained by the Constitution. While the magnitude of the win on each of these fronts remains to be determined, the simple fact is that Trump did not get to do as he pleased:
Do not believe for a minute that the Gaetz nomination was a kind of feint, an effort to distract the public so that some other person will glide into the office. Trump wanted Gaetz to be his attorney general. And he didn’t get him. And he didn’t get him because at least four Republicans said no. It’s not much, but it’s a start. And right now, we should take wins where we can.
Why Some Ukrainians Are Betting on Trump
Anastasiia Lapatina explores the divisions in Ukraine between those optimistic about Trump’s return to the White House—largely out of frustration with President Biden—and those pessimistic that Trump will be easily talked out of his long-running bromance with Vladimir Putin and his apparent distaste for Ukraine:
The result of the United States’s presidential election has plunged Ukraine into another cycle of dread: Now that Donald Trump is coming back to the White House, what will he do to Ukraine?
No one knows the answer, but everyone is guessing, falling into one of two camps—one of which may surprise those who see Trump as an unqualified disaster for Kyiv. Yes, there are pessimists among the Ukrainians, but there are also a surprising number of optimists.
End-to-End Encryption Is a Critical National Security Tool
Susan Landau explores the shift in consensus among the national security and law enforcement apparatus over the proliferation of end-to-end encryption technology. Landau argued that end-to-end encryption must be embraced as quickly and widely as possible by government agencies and law enforcement:
Though the wiretap targets of interest changed over the years, the argument about the threat of encryption to wiretaps did not. And for decades, cryptographers, computer scientists, privacy experts, journalists, and human rights workers responded by pointing out the importance of ubiquitous E2EE for public safety, business security, and personal and national security. By the 2010s, members of the defense establishment were publicly voicing this argument as well.
Meanwhile, Tyler McBrien shares the International Criminal Court’s press releases announcing the arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Deif, the commander of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades.
On the Lawfare Daily podcast, Anna Hickey talked to Robert Fatton about the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, rising gang violence in the country, the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the possible response of the incoming Trump administration, and more:
And on the week’s Rational Security, Scott R. Anderson, sat down with Alan Z. Rozenshtein, Molly Reynolds, and Chris Mirasola to discuss the week’s big national security news, including Trump’s potential use of recess appointments to fill positions in his forthcoming administration, the imminent ban of TikTok in the United States, Trump’s intention to deploy the military at the southern border by declaring a national emergency, and more:
Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is an inspiration to us all in these difficult times. These salmon can swim across the road, and you can persevere too:
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