Political scribe: GOP’s Losing Shutdown Blame Game

Republicans “are losing the messaging war surrounding this longest government shutdown ever — and losing it badly,” as President Trump “hunkers down deeper” into his demand for $5 billion in border-wall funding, contends CNN’s Chris Cillizza. And the vast majority of Capitol Hill GOPers “are powerless to do anything about it.” Voters tend to blame one party for these shutdowns, and polls say this one is being blamed on the president and his party. That has left Republicans feeling “somewhere between utter frustration and total futility.” Because they know that telling Trump this “makes him more likely to hunker down even further.” So, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has remained on the sidelines “by his own choosing,” they have taken to simply throwing up their hands.

From the right: John Kasich Exists Stage Left

John Kasich took office as governor of Ohio as a Tea Party hero, unafraid of the union bosses and welfare lobbyists who would fight his efforts to shrink bloated government. But as Jason Hart notes at The Washington ­Examiner, he left office this month “as an honorary union member who was inducted to a hospital-lobbying group’s Hall of Fame.” After eight years in office with Republican supermajorities in the legislature, government spending is higher than ever and Medicaid enrollment “has ­exploded.” What happened? Kasich saw “a path to the White House” for a governor who took on left-wing special interests — only to discover Wisconsin’s Scott Walker in front of him. So he moved left; yet he now wants to offer himself as a conservative alternative to President Trump in 2020.

Culture critic: How Should We Punish Racism?

Iowa Rep. Steve King, who has a history of troubling statements about race, has been stripped of his committee assignments after being quoted as asking why “white supremacist” has become offensive. Meanwhile, a Rochester TV weatherman, Jeremy Kappell, was fired for using what he insists was an accidentally uttered racist phrase on air. (Linguist John McWhorter ­believes he’s telling the truth.) The Federalist’s ­David Marcus finds it “remarkable” that Kappell has suffered the harsher punishment. But while he doesn’t appear to have acted intentionally, “the progressive understanding of racism has been evolving away from the idea that racism requires intent.” Moreover, “as a ­society we have no working set of standards in ­regard to what constitutes racism and how it should be punished.” The result, he says, is “a mishmash of punishments that don’t look very much like justice.”

Marketing prof: Gillette’s New Ad Campaign Is Toxic

Gillette has just launched a new ad campaign with a two-minute online video decrying “toxic masculinity.” What’s behind it? Charles Taylor at Forbes points out that the company’s market share has fallen to 50 percent from 70 percent, forcing it to sharply drop prices. And research suggests “millennials give more credit to brands using corporate social-responsibility appeals.” But reaction to the video “has been overwhelmingly negative,” with comments on Gillette’s YouTube channel running 10-1 against, calling it “insulting to men and full of stereotypes.” Many even are threatening to “never buy the product again.” With its “sweeping generalizations,” Gillette managed to “unnecessarily alienate” its customers. This campaign may end up as “an all-time marketing blunder.”

Conservative: US-China Lunar Power Collision Looming

China this month became the first country ever to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon. But that, says Sean Kelly at The Bulwark, was “not a purely scientific achievement. It was also a strategic one.” Its “clear goal” is to pave the way for manned Chinese lunar missions. And that will bring China into “direct competition with many of NASA’s lunar projects.” This will necessitate a US strategy “that puts pressure on China while engaging America’s private sector and international partners” before they turn ­instead to Beijing. Says Kelly: “Having the two most powerful countries competing for territorial, resource and scientific dominance” on the moon “will increase the chances of conflict — especially because this jousting will take place in a relatively lawless environment.”

— Compiled by Eric Fettmann