First, Kill The News Highlight

It seems, in fact, like the latest manifestation of the mind-warping trend of cartoonish scandals that would have upended national politics, in the world that existed a decade or two ago, and which now just sort of… fizzle. They happen. They are revealed. And then nothing substantive happens in response. The bad stuff carries on. The reaction among voters seems strangely muted. The politicians involved do not change their behavior. The people who strategized and funded the current state of affairs somehow avoid permanent disgrace, and carry on as usual. It helps that, as one (anonymous) Republican strategist told a Wired reporter, “most voters don’t have a fucking clue who Peter Thiel is.”