Clickbait Canapes: Johnstown, Deals and the Great Skedaddle

Donald Trump was right about people getting sick of winning — look at how many Republicans are fleeing Congress. Yahoo asked a bunch of them for their reasons, and while they don’t name the Orange Menace, many echoed Pennsylvania’s Charlie Dent, who said, “You’ve got this administration that’s taken the fun out of dysfunction.”

Trump’s boardwalk barker instincts were on display in China, where he announced “deals” worth a gazabajillion dollars. This is his idea of conducting trade policy — lots of sizzle, very little steak, and that of dubious quality.

That Politico story revisiting Trump voters in Johnstown, Pa., got wide circulation, along with an appeal from Martin Longman (Booman Tribune) to not abandon the folks who think NFL doesn’t stand for National Football League. Longman notes that the area was represented for decades by a Democrat, John Murtha, who was nobody’s idea of a progressive but did more for his constituents than GOP policies ever will.

Chris Thile now hosts the Prairie Home Companion, but Garrison Keillor is still writing. He has a teenage daughter, and taking her to a ’50s sock hop dance at school put him in a nostalgic mood. I read him almost every week, and this is one of his best in a while. (When he says he’s a conservative, he means it in a sense nobody uses anymore.)