Moneybox

RSC Fires Derek Khanna

Derek Khanna wrote up a copyright reform memo that was too hot for the Republican Study Committe and it got quashed after publication. Now he’s been fired:

The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives, has told staffer Derek Khanna that he will be out of a job when Congress re-convenes in January. The incoming chairman of the RSC, Steve Scalise (R-LA) was approached by several Republican members of Congress who were upset about a memo Khanna wrote advocating reform of copyright law. They asked that Khanna not be retained, and Scalise agreed to their request.

C’est la vie. I’m sure Khanna will get a good job someplace else. But Garrett Jones notes that this is a good time for a flashback to David Brooks’ column on the conservative future:

Rising star Derek Khanna wrote a heralded paper on intellectual property rights for the House Republican Study Committee that was withdrawn by higher-ups in the party, presumably because it differed from the usual lobbyist-driven position. […] Since Nov. 6, the G.O.P. has experienced an epidemic of open-mindedness. The party may evolve quickly. If so, it’ll be powerfully influenced by people with names like Reihan, Ramesh, Yuval and Derek Khanna.

The open-mindedness epidemic seems to have been rather short-lived.

Reihan Salam, meanwhile, knows you catch more flies with honey and has a column out lauding Marco Rubio’s content-free effort to reposition the GOP as a party of middle class economic interests that ends with some helpful suggestions about how he might put some meat on the bones.