Try, Try Again

Plus: Trump’s abortion principles, celebrating Larry David, a bizarre Chechnyan music crackdown, and more…

LIZ WOLFE

That doesn’t make it good policy. The new plan, which would affect roughly 30 million, uses a different mechanism than last time—it expands programs that already exist, and targets those who have high loan balances due to interest—but it would still be to our collective detriment.

“First, the plan takes aim at borrowers who have seen their balances climb due to unpaid interest, seeking to cancel up to $20,000 of accrued interest for all borrowers,” reports Reason‘s Emma Camp. “For borrowers enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan (IDR) making up to $120,000 a year, or $240,000 a year for couples, the Education Department plans to forgive all accrued interest.”

It’s clear that Biden either doesn’t understand how incentives work or doesn’t care: Colleges and universities have no reason to lower their prices if this becomes the law of the land. So tuition will become more bloated, and the vicious cycle will repeat all over again—only with taxpayers on the hook to a greater degree than before.

Trump’s abortion quagmire: “On abortion, Trump chose politics over principles,” reads a New York Times headline from today, referring to the presidential contender’s comments yesterday saying that he’s in favor of states setting their own abortion policies, but that he broadly supports exceptions being made when the mother’s life is endangered or in cases of rape or incest. He also expressed support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. “You must follow your heart, or in many cases, your religion or your faith,” said Trump. “Do what’s right for your family and do what’s right for yourself.”

But it’s a little funny that much of the mainstream media—which tends to be awfully supportive of legal abortion, with newsrooms comprised mostly of Democratic voters—is still managing to find a way to ding Trump over this. His comments probably represent the majority of voters, who are uneasy with abortion but believe, broadly, that it ought to be permitted during the first trimester and made illegal during the second. The vast majority of voters are in favor of life/health/rape/incest exceptions. And, contra the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision, the vast majority of voters (even the highly religious) are in favor of keeping IVF legal.

So, though The New York Times is trotting out Trump’s 1999 proclamation that he’s pro-choice, and comparing it with what he said when running for president in 2016, it’s worth noting that Trump has pretty much never been a devoutly Christian, principled pro-lifer. That’s former Vice President Mike Pence they’re thinking of. Trump has always managed to pay enough lip service to evangelical beliefs to (somehow) get elected, but these comments shouldn’t come as much of a shock to anyone, nor are they egregious to the majority of Americans.

Scenes from New York:

God bless Larry David, that wonderful “idiot from Brooklyn.”

QUICK HITS

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. head Jamie Dimon “said US delays of liquefied natural gas projects were done for ‘political reasons’ to pacify those who believe oil and gas projects should be stopped—a position he calls ‘wrong’ and ‘enormously naïve,'” per Bloomberg.
• Dave Smith critiques Coleman Hughes’ Israel-Palestine arguments Hughes made on Joe Rogan’s show.
• “Chuck Searcy has spent decades of his life redressing a deadly legacy of America’s war in Vietnam: unexploded ordnance,” reports The New York Times. 
• Surely this will work and have no unintended consequences whatsoever:

• Authorities in Chechnya have banned music they deem too fast, as well as music they deem too slow.
• Insanity:

• Assuming she’ll get rounded up by the Scottish authorities for spouting common sense in 3…2…1…

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