I have a very serious question for the political scientists, journalists, and random Uber drivers who moonlight as MSNBC pundits: is Jamie Raskin on vacation?
I ask this with genuine concern, because in the last seven days, I haven’t seen him say anything stupid. Not a single zinger about Trump being the end of democracy. Not one meandering lecture comparing January 6 to Pearl Harbor and the Bubonic Plague rolled into one. Nothing. Radio silence. And for Jamie Raskin, silence is about as natural as my brother David not talking about American railroads or model railroading. In other words—impossible.
See, with David, you can set your watch by it. Five minutes after dinner is served, he’s giving you the backstory of the Baltimore & Ohio, complete with the gauge measurements of 19th-century track and why Lionel’s O gauge is superior to HO if you really care about realism. Similarly, you can usually set your watch by Raskin. By 9 a.m., he’s already on MSNBC giving a lecture that makes you want to check if your television has a “fast forward to sanity” button.
So naturally, I’m worried.
Did he lose his voice? Did he finally run out of analogies? Did someone tell him that just because you have tenure at American University doesn’t mean you need to give the country a three-hour law seminar every time you step in front of a microphone? Or maybe he’s just on an extended vacation in Takoma Park—though honestly, how would you tell? The entire place already looks like a vacation resort for congressional leftists: kombucha stands, yoga co-ops, and more “Coexist” bumper stickers per capita than anywhere else in the known universe.
Look, Raskin’s silence is unnerving. It’s like Nancy Pelosi not raising money, or Chuck Schumer not quoting a Brooklyn deli owner in every speech. It just doesn’t happen.
Maybe he’s been grounded. Not by Pelosi, but by the universe. Like some cosmic babysitter finally stepped in and said, “Okay Jamie, you’ve had your turn. You compared Republicans to fascists for the 800th time this month. Now it’s time to take a nap.”
Or maybe he’s busy writing a new speech. That would explain it. You can’t just wing a Raskin lecture. No, no—you need footnotes, obscure references to 18th-century philosophers, and at least three warnings about the “rise of authoritarianism” because, heaven forbid, someone in rural Maryland wants to keep more of their paycheck.
I have to say, though, it’s been kind of nice. The political air feels… cleaner. Like when your neighbor who always grills fish every weekend goes out of town and suddenly your backyard doesn’t smell like the inside of an aquarium. Without Raskin filling the airwaves, we’ve had room for other voices—still terrible, don’t get me wrong—but less draining.
The big question is: how long will this last? Is this a blip? Or are we entering some new era of quiet Raskinism, where instead of shouting at us, he just meditates silently while clutching a pocket Constitution?
Either way, I’m bracing myself. Because I know what’s coming. Sooner or later, he’ll be back. He’ll find a microphone, a camera, or maybe just a bewildered tourist in Union Station, and he’ll unload another 40-minute sermon about how Republicans are plotting to turn Montgomery County into a feudal kingdom.
Until then, I’ll enjoy the peace and quiet. It’s not every week you get a Raskin vacation.
And if I’m wrong—if he really has gone quiet for good—then I’ll start to worry about David. Because if Raskin can shut up, then maybe one day David will stop talking about trains. And friends, that would truly be the end of civilization as we know it.
Ian Schartz is a contributor for Direct Line News. He can be reached at Ian.Schwartz@mcgopclub.com
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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