Tuesday roundup

Good piece by the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Rubin in The National Interest entitled "There's Nothing Progressive About a Multipolar World." Many have waxed rhapsodic about such a notion since the end of the Cold War. Madeleine Albright spoke of “a multipolar world of diversity and creativity among cultures, nations, and economies—is the world we believe we can build, one that will enrich our lives, and thrives on habits of peace and creative competition.” But if the United States doesn't continue to lead morally, economically, diplomatically and militarily, less scrupulous players will step up to the task.

. . . it is nonsensical to suggest that any alternate pole—Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, or Ankara—would make the world a more peaceful place or better respect the evolving international human-rights regime. The one thing revisionist states have in common is that they tolerate neither debate nor dissonance. That is a lesson Uighurs, Ukrainians, and Kurds have discovered, as have Meng Hongwei and Turkey’s imprisoned journalists. It is time American and European progressives recognize it as well, for the stakes are far greater than simply American power.

One way to exercise such leadership would be calling off any second North Korea summit, as suggested by Noah Rothman at Commentary.

CNN's Don Lemon is a real piece of work.

Give Cuomo credit for being an honest voice of reason. Cuomo would later call the border-wall standoff a “farce,” so he’s not exactly a fan of the idea, but the proposal isn’t “propaganda,” he says in rebuke to Lemon. A president has a “right” to make the argument, Cuomo points out, even if it’s a bad or easily debunked one:

LEMON: Do you think there should be — I don’t know, a delay of some sort? And then you can — because people believe, the president will say what he has to say, people will believe it whether the facts are true or not. I guess that’s the chance you take with any president —

CUOMO: Yeah!

LEMON: — but this one is different. And then, by the times the rebuttals come on, we’ve already promoted propaganda, possibly, unless he gets up there and tells the truth.

CUOMO: He has his right to make the argument to the American people. And by the way, wanting barriers along the border is not propaganda.

LEMON: No, no, no —

CUOMO: It’s not immoral, it’s not wrong.

Here’s a question that Lemon doesn’t offer. If the media should put a delay on Trump, shouldn’t they also put a delay on the official Democratic response too, to prevent having “promoted propaganda”? After all, Trump’s not the only one in Washington who has trouble with the truth. Would Lemon suggest tape delays if Hillary Clinton was in office, for instance? The magic 8-ball says “Don’t count on it.”

David French at NRO takes on the toxic-masculinity notion in a great piece entitled "Grown Men Are the Solution, Not the Problem."

On Twitter, Planned Parenthood president Leanna Wen tells us straight up that her organization's core mission is exterminating people who aren't born yet.