As a podcast on iTunes, listenable/downloadable onscreen at Taki’s Magazine, or as a transcript here.

The Republican Party today is torn between its donors, who want one thing, and its voters, who want the opposite thing.

In the 2012 election cycle the donors won, with foreseeable results (we foresaw them).

They still control the commanding heights of the GOP, though.  Says Radio Derb:

We heard from two of [Crony Capitalism's] most powerful members recently, House Leader John Boehner [Clip: Johnnie Ray, “Cry”] and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan.

Boehner addressed a forum of agriculture businessmen in his Ohio district March 1st. He was apologetic about not having got anywhere much with flooding the country with Mexican high school dropouts so the AgBiz leaders could make more money, but he promised to keep trying …

… …

Paul Ryan was in his district in Wisconsin this week. He told the local newspaper tearfully that he doesn’t have enough votes to pass an amnesty bill right now.

How many votes does he have? The Congressional newspaper Roll Call polled all the House Republican offices. Answer: 18, including Ryan himself. How many Republican House members are there? Two hundred and thirty-four. So eighteen would be … hang on a minute … [calculator sound] … a bit less than eight percent.

Keep working on it there, guys.

One takeaway here is, don't give up on the Republican Party. They’re not all pushing crony capitalism. There is, for example, Senator Jeff Sessions, whom God preserve! Thursday this week President Sessions … sorry, I jumped the gun there: Senator Sessions published a piece at National Review Online that I urge you to read.

Please do read it.  Then cast an eye over the (moderated, edited) comment thread:  it is full of readers begging Jeff Sessions to run for President in 2016, as Laura Ingraham and others have already done.

Radio Derb adds its mighty voice to that chorus:

Run, Jeff, run!

The Senator isn’t that old.  He’s actually <gulp> a year and a half younger than me.  He’d be a mere seven weeks older on his first inauguration day than Ronald Reagan was on his.

He’s obviously a patriot, and patriots respond to the call of duty, whatever their personal inclinations.  Let’s get that chorus swelling.  Run, Jeff, run!

The full Radio Derb playbill:

• Crimea and punishment. (Shut up, Mr. President.)
• From Magic Negro to empty suit. (Barack Who?)
• Neoconfest. (They won’t lie down … or learn.)
• Wise Latina seeks foothold. (Madame Justice Bubblehead.)
• Sessions for President!  (See above.)
• School admission tests are racist. (Down with meritocracy!)
• Name that Kiwi.  (Janice Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele meets her match.)
• Down to the wire in Pyongyang.  (Kim Jong Un squeaks out an election win.)
• Camping it up in camp.  (Kiss me goodnight, Sergeant Major.)
• Bradley Manning, call your office.  (What a defense budget is for.)
• A license to annoy. (A new venue for the Academy Awards?)

It’s all there at Taki’s Magazine.