Middle March

If you don't want to get floored, you'll open up that ceiling, buddy

[Oliver] Libby [author of Strong Floor, No Ceiling] considers himself a lifelong Democrat, but he wrote the book as a rallying cry for centrists in both major parties. His first political donation went to the presidential campaign of former Republican New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, whose firm, Giuliani Partners, provided Libby his first full-time job after he graduated from Harvard University in 2003.

While at Harvard, he worked on a college program for the CIA that he wouldn’t elaborate on…

…Libby’s “no ceiling” concept is a direct contrast to far-left Democrats who have been attacking the billionaire technology CEOs who have largely fallen in line supporting Trump.

“There is nothing inherently wrong with having a billion dollars. In fact, most people who earned a billion dollars did so by creating something that a lot of people wanted to pay for — I don’t know a more American idea than that,” he said in the interview. — “As Democrats search for their ‘MAGA,’ author catches Jeffries’ attention,” Washington Post

[A conference room, more splendidly appointed than most — the seats are upholstered with leather, the conference table varnished walnut, the wall attractively paneled, the floors polished hardwood with Oriental rugs. There’s a little bar by the oaken door, manned by a young man in black slacks, white shirt, and burgundy half-jacket. There’s a chart on the wall showing a broad multi-colored rectangle with arrow heads on each side, with a thin arrow pointing to the middle of it, emanating from the word CENTER in the white space, and the Democratic National Committee logo in the corner.

Seated at the table are JENSEN TAYLIGHT, a slim white man with short white hair, about 40, wearing a navy Ralph Lauren Gregory wool serge suit with a white shirt and patterned tie and black cap-toe Oxfords, and the longish-haired, semi-bushy-bearded centrist think-tanker MART BASIN from “Less is MOR,” wearing this ridiculous burgundy Paul Smith Brierley wool suit with dark shirt and ostentatious tie, and rottin-apple Chuck Taylors. They both have bottles of Mountain Valley spring water and small plates of teeny tiny biscuits with yellow smears with green specks denoting cheese and vegetable elements. BASIN looks as if he’s just heard bad news.]

BASIN: I take exception, Jensen! The Kitchen Table Institute owns the center. We’re the go-to shop for all the top centrists from Josh Barro to Josh Shapiro! You know that! We don’t take outside counsel. We just don’t do it, it’s an —

TAYLIGHT: Mart, Mart, this isn’t a knock on your work. We’re still in contract. Relax. Look. We all know, everyone knows you’re the centrists of all centrists. The centrist-est. The ne plus centre, that’s what I was telling the minority leader just yesterday. No, this is just a visit, a cameo, a cup of coffee, a consultant — very smart, I have to say — with a few exciting new angles to share, that’s all, dropping in very casually, sharing his thoughts. In fact —

[TAYLIGHT taps his iPhone.]

— he thinks so highly of you that he asked me if he could meet you today. That’s how much respect —

BASIN: [Rising] Hey! Is this an ambush?

TAYLIGHT: Oh, come on, Mart! Look, you want to meet this guy, if only to get a sense of what’s on the cutting edge of the middle. To me? It’s like seeing Jeter and A-Rod together. C’mon, it’ll be fun.

[The door opens and OLIVER LIBBY, the author of the vaunted “Strong Floor, No Ceiling,” enters. He is flabbier than TAYLIGHT but dressed in the exact same ensemble — except with no tie and his collar open, and the suit is charcoal. He is carrying a bottle of Tahoe Water, from which he sips with a Yerba Mate straw. BASIN visibly stiffens.]

There he is! This is a great day! Oliver Libby, author of Strong Floor, No Ceiling, meet Mart Basin of Kitchen Table.

[LIBBY extends a hand while sipping water; BASIN eventually shakes it. They all sit.]

Oliver, I’m sure you’re aware of Mart’s work.

LIBBY: [Nods] Big fan. I was talking to Kyrsten Sinema about you the other day. She’s a big fan too.

BASIN: [Crestfallen; as if involuntarily] I haven’t heard from her in a while.

LIBBY: She’s a pistol. Great centrist. We’re doing a conference. She respects you, of course. Maybe a little off-register with your thinking, you know, different idea of the center.

BASIN: Oh? How so?

LIBBY: [Shrugs] Well, maybe has a little more room on her platform for MAGA people.

BASIN: There are no MAGA people, just disappointed centrists.

LIBBY: [Giggles David-Brooksily] Krysten said you’d say that. That’s a very non-profit way of thinking about it. But when you’re in venture capital, like Krysten and me, you meet people where they are. If someone says hey, I like Donald Trump, I say OK, I hear you, let’s make some money.

BASIN: Make some money?

LIBBY: Or policy. Same thing. See, we don’t want to scare off these people because they pay for everything. I mean we’re not talking about the hillbillies in the red hats. We’re talking about the people who like Trump because he makes them money, and we tell them, yes, but you’ll make even more money with the Democrats. [To TAYLIGHT] Isn’t that right, Jen?

TAYLIGHT: That’s the dream.

BASIN: Those hillbillies, as you put it, are voters, too.

LIBBY: Oh sure. So we give ‘em some tax credits and tough-on-crime.

BASIN: Oh, and that’s the “Strong Floor”?

LIBBY: [Shrugs] If you like. I mean the slogan’s not for them. Those people aren’t paying attention. When the money shifts to the Democrats — [To TAILIGHT] if it shifts; it’s still an open question — [To BASIN] they’ll see it move and they’ll move with it, like sheep. Or fish, if you don’t like how “sheep” sounds. Jen’s very picky about that.

TAYLIGHT: That’s why Mart’s here. Make sure we don’t embarrass ourselves.

LIBBY: No, “strong floor” is for the real people. They want to know that when they hire the redhats, they’ll still get SNAP and Medicaid so they don’t have to have to be paid as much. And when AI gets good enough that our people can afford to let them go — well, that’s where UBI comes in. Means-tested, of course.

BASIN: Isn’t that socialism?

LIBBY: Not the way our donors see it. Know what they think is socialism? When someone blows them up in their car. When they come over the wall, overpower the guards, and murder them in their sleep. They’ll part with twenty, thirty billion if they can still walk around without having hide in their bunkers.

VOICE: Oh, I don’t know.

[They all turn toward the door, then stand up. Without their noticing, JPMorgan Chase CEO JAMIE DIMON, wearing a suit of a kind so expensive there are no links to it, has entered the room.]

LIBBY: Great to see you, Jamie!

DIMON: Hi, Libby. Jen. [Points to BASIN] Mart Basin, big fan! [To LIBBY] People like him keep us grounded. Don’t forget that.

LIBBY: I’m here to learn.

TAYLIGHT: Liked what you said about the East Wing, Jamie. Appreciate it.

DIMON: Plenty more where that came from. Let’s just keep our eye on the ball. [To LIBBY] And let’s not be so generous with my money, Libby! Closer to ten billion. Those people can learn to live with less. [To BASIN] Basin, what’s wrong? You look a little pale.

BASIN: It’s — it’s just that I’ve never been the one in the room with principles before.

[All laugh raucously.]