It’s customary for me to jot down a bit this month titled “Beware the Ides of August.” It’s a tackle Shakespeare, the place Julius Caesar is warned “Beware the Ides of March.” The center of March is what spells doom for Caesar. And through the years, I’ve discovered that the month of August – usually the halfway level – to be probably the most dramatic, historic and infrequently risky interval in politics and authorities.
Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in August 1974. The U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Martin Luther King Jr., gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in August 1963. There was the riot in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. There was even an earthquake in Washington, DC in August 2011. And never the political sort.
Will August 2024 measure up?
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July of 2024 is like, “August, maintain my beer.”
We’ve acquired numerous August to go. However July earned a particular spot within the pantheon of extraordinary political months. The capturing of former President Trump adopted by the choice by President Biden to bow out of the 2024 marketing campaign have been extraordinary information occasions. After which there was the political hailstorm which pelted the information cycle for practically three consecutive weeks after President Biden’s horrific debate efficiency in late June. We haven’t even talked about the Republican conference in Milwaukee and Mr. Trump’s choice of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio as his working mate. These tectonic shifts have been vital sufficient. However didn’t rival the sheer depth of the assassination try of the previous President coupled with Mr. Biden dropping out.
An astonishing case examine into the depth of the July information cycle got here on July 24. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was slated to ship a controversial speech to a Joint Assembly of Congress. Bipartisan Congressional leaders – however primarily Republicans – invited Netanyahu to talk to Congress for a document fourth time. However Netanyahu’s deal with would quickly take a backseat to a number of the different occasions.
Take into account how the story shifted all through the day on July 24.
Netanyahu would have constituted the information lede early that morning throughout another interval. However the testimony of FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Home Judiciary Committee that morning eclipsed Netanyahu for a time. Wray was already scheduled to seem earlier than the panel previous to the Trump capturing. However the failed assassination of the previous president now commanded many of the nation’s information oxygen. Particularly with Wray showing earlier than a Home committee to debate the FBI’s inquiry into the capturing.
Netanyahu wasn’t attributable to communicate to the Joint Assembly of Congress till the afternoon. However Netanyahu’s deal with infuriated the left and plenty of pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel demonstrators. They flooded the streets of Washington and clashed with police. They burned American flags and hoisted Palestinian flags in entrance of Union Station, simply blocks from the Capitol. The dramatic video and audacity of the demonstrations captured the information cycle for a bit earlier than Netanyahu’s speech.
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Then got here Netanyahu’s presentation to Congress. The information right here was simply not what the Israeli Prime Minister mentioned. However a number of sub-angles highlighted the controversy of Netanyahu’s speech. Many Democrats boycotted the Joint Assembly. There was the truth that Vice President Harris – who serves as President of the Senate – didn’t preside as a result of she was talking to a Black sorority in Indiana. Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., – the best rating Jewish member in Congressional historical past – refused to shake palms with Netanyahu on the Home flooring. Netanyahu railed towards the demonstrators close to the Capitol, calling them “helpful idiots” for Iran. Democrats who did attend the speech lamented that Netanyahu failed to supply a plan to get hostages again or name for a ceasefire.
However by dusk, Netanyahu was previous information.
President Biden was now wholesome sufficient after a bout with COVID. He deliberate to talk to the nation about his monumental choice towards searching for a second time period. Sure. The president formally informed the nation by way of X on Sunday he was standing down. However a nationwide deal with to the nation is one other stage.
By no means thoughts that buried in all of this was the truth that Harris rapidly wrapped up what seemed to be assist from Democratic delegates and Democratic lawmakers to stand-in for Mr. Biden. The nation was exploring who Harris was and figuring out how she measured as much as former President Trump. There was additionally a deep dive amid this into Vance, his coverage positions and explorations of his 2016 e-book, Hillbilly Elegy.
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There was loads occurring.
So August, beware. You may have loads to stay as much as.
Not that these of us concerned in politics or media are asking for one more hellish information cycle.
Certain. There would be the Democratic Nationwide Conference on the finish of August in Chicago. Harris simply chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her working mate. There’s a lot to chew on. However these occasions don’t appear as dynamic as what we wrestled with in July.
That’s to not say that different main issues gained’t bubble up this month. The Center East is white sizzling. There are grave considerations a couple of conflagration which might engulf the complete area. One might all the time fret concerning the probabilities of hostilities between China and Taiwan. One other main political narrative might emerge about former President Trump, Harris, Vance or Walz. Mr. Biden continues to be President and questions abound about his last months in workplace. After which there may be the unknown. August has a means of peculiar individuals with historic occasions and episodes which spring out of nowhere, shifting the course of historical past.
Iraq invaded Kuwait in early August, 1990, setting off the primary Gulf Battle just a few months later. The Soviets shot down a Korean jetliner in late August, 1983, killing an American congressman and a whole bunch of others. Walz was main political information. However the choice by 2008 Republican presidential nominee and late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to pick former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his working mate was a shock. Tapping Walz paled compared to the Palin decide. By no means thoughts {that a} hurricane reduce quick the GOP’s conference that yr. That’s as a result of in 2006, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, perpetually altering the trajectory of former President George W. Bush.
So, beware the ides of August – simply because it’s August.
However final month, it was “Beware the Ides of July.”
