A few weeks ago, economist Tyler Cowen wrote on his cult-favourite blog Marginal Revolution about “changes in vibes.” By this he meant that right-wing policy and politicians were on the ascendancy in advance of the upcoming American presidential election. His arguments were compelling and, unsurprisingly for an almost painfully analytical thinker, about a lot more than just vibes.

But as prescient as his post seemed at the time, it also seemed to stale-date quickly. Almost overnight, the momentum the Republicans had following President Biden’s atrocious debate performance and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump shifted, with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over-performing expectations and her selection for vice president, Tim Walz, striking effective blows against Donald Trump and Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance.

Only a few weeks after he published his first blog, Cowen posted again, asking whether the vibes had in fact shifted back. And he’s right to argue that the conditions he’d previously enumerated for the ascendency of the American Right remain compelling. But he’s wrong about the vibes. Trump and the Republicans have lost their mojo, and until they understand why, they won’t be getting it back.

So much has been written now about the moment in a television interview when, before he was chosen to be Harris’ running mate, a loose, laid-back Walz described the Republicans as weird. But while it was a high-impact campaign moment, it seems to have been mostly misunderstood. Overwrought analysis and clumsy attempts to copy Walz’s move either mistake it for ideological vindication (“my policies are good, and other people’s policies are weird!”), or assume it’s a pivot to centrism (Walz is a folksy midwestern moderate!).

But the magic of the Walz “weird” moment, and the approach he and other Democrats have successfully applied to his Republican adversaries in the days following, isn’t working because the family policy espoused by his opponents is unpopular (in fact, the opposite is true), or because he and Harris have moderated themselves (they haven’t), it’s working because it achieves what the best kind of political framing must: it presents a clearly defined worldview and convincingly (and cheerily) asserts it to be utterly mainstream and normal.

In The Weekly Wrap Sean Speer, our editor-at-large, analyses for Hub subscribers the big stories shaping politics, policy, and the economy in the week that was. 

The CBC’s days are numbered—and it has no one to blame but itself

As the CBC faces growing scrutiny, including for a new round of executive bonuses in spite of major layoffs, its proponents continue to hang onto the argument that the public broadcaster is still needed to fill the gaps caused by the decline of local news across the country.

Although arguments about market failure in the news media industry tend to be overstated, the case that there’s a real breakdown in local communities—particularly outside of major cities—is more persuasive. The recent failure of SaltWire in Nova Scotia and the declining value of Corus local radio and television stations reinforce that it’s highly challenging to generate a sustainable return by producing news for local markets.

But even if one accepts that this is a case of genuine market failure, the CBC doesn’t really provide the type of news that most people ostensibly have in mind when they make such an argument. Public interest local journalism would in theory cover basic civic news like city hall, local sports, or community activities. The CBC’s provincial and local coverage is decidedly not focused on these topics.

A case in point is an article published this week on the CBC Newfoundland webpage about a local trans man who unexpectedly gave birth to a baby. Whatever one thinks about the story it’s hard to argue that it reflects broad public interest journalism. The article itself indicates that the individual’s chance of conceiving a child was 1.8 percent. The nature of their experience—particularly in St. John’s—is even more atypical. It’s highly niche content that is neither representative of the broad-based local experience nor informative of major national or international developments for a local audience.

It didn’t have to be this way.