Your political party is weirder than mine

I’m Justin Fox, and this is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a moderately weird compilation of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here. “Tampon T [Bloomberg]( I’m Justin Fox, and this is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a moderately weird compilation of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up [here](. Today’s Agenda - “[Tampon Tim]( isn’t weird. - Arizona Rebublicans are [helping Harris](. - Don’t cut off our [green subsidies]( - [Airbnb wants]( to sell more experiences. - Tough times in [auto parts](. - [Bullying]( central bankers. No, Your Party Is the Weird One What’s weirder? Putting free tampons in boys’ school bathrooms or not putting them in school bathrooms at all? I expect a steady stream of what I will call weird-offs over the next three months, inspired by then-obscure Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s remark in July [about Republicans]( “These are weird people on the other side.” Now Walz is the Democratic vice presidential nominee, and Republicans have been trying to use the “access to menstrual products” provision of an [education bill]( he signed into law last year to portray him as a way-out-there progressive. “Tampon Tim” memes have been circulating on social media, and Donald Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt [told]( Fox News that “there is no greater threat to our health than leaders who support gender-transition surgeries for young minors, who support putting tampons in men’s bathrooms in public schools.” Gender-transition surgeries for minors are clearly not a “greater threat to our health” than, say, drug overdoses or gun violence or heart disease. But [even many Democrats]( find them weird. Providing free menstrual products in public schools, on the other hand, is pretty normal. Most US states do it to at least some extent, including a few pretty red ones. Legislation with inclusive language that means tampons can end up in boys’ as well as girls’ bathrooms — as in Minnesota — is more of a blue-state thing. But portraying this as a threat to public health is, well, super-weird, [argues]( Lisa Jarvis. “Policymakers should be thinking broadly about ways to make adolescence healthier and happier,” she writes. “That includes normalizing and easing the body transitions all kids experience.” Another thing that’s weird? Continuing to spread debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. Yet Republican primary voters in Arizona opted late last month for a bunch of candidates who have spent most of the past three-and-a-half years doing just that. That sounds pretty scary — some of these nuts might get elected to office — but Erika D. Smith [sees]( a bright side. Millions of Arizona voters are “utterly exhausted with the MAGA-brand of conspiracy theories and election denial,” she writes, and loopy down-ballot Republican candidates will make it easier for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to win the state. Finally, Liam Denning [offers]( a tale of some Republican elected officials moving away from weirdness and acting like pretty normal politicians. As Liam and several co-authors [documented]( in June, most of the more than $200 billion in clean technology manufacturing spending provided by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and other Democrat-backed legislation is flowing to congressional districts currently held by the GOP. Until recently, House Republicans had been uniformly opposed to this aid, but now 18 of them have sent a [letter]( to House Speaker Mike Johnson urging him to “prioritize business and market certainty as you consider efforts that repeal or reform the Inflation Reduction Act.” In other words, don’t kill our green subsidies. Airbnb Wants to Take You on a Tour After surviving a near-death experience early in the pandemic, Airbnb Inc. earned rapid growth and healthy profits from the boom in the nomadic lifestyle built around remote work. Now growth has slowed, and the company is looking for new ways to get customers to spend money. One possibility, which CEO Brian Chesky announced in 2016 but has never really taken off, is what Airbnb calls Experiences — classes, tours, tastings, etc. An Experiences relaunch is coming next year, and Dave Lee [thinks]( the idea has promise — despite having participated in a disappointing Airbnb cooking class and tequila tasting in a “dirty, dilapidated” Mexico City shack in 2020. Not surprisingly, he also thinks the key to success is better quality control. Telltale Charts With growing competition from China and tepid demand, these are tough times for automakers. They’re even tougher for the companies that supply those automakers with parts, [writes]( Chris Bryant. Business has been bad for years, but it’s gotten worse lately as the industry’s big investments in battery-electric technology have failed to pay off. Investors should beware, and car manufacturers “may need to cut parts makers some slack.” Central bankers are often portrayed as all-powerful bureaucrats holding the fate of financial markets in their hands. But when they start cutting interest rates, John Authers [points out]( it’s usually because they were forced to — bullied, one could say — by some sort of financial market crisis. Last year the Federal Reserve resisted cutting rates in reaction to the failure of several US regional banks, but this week a market tizzy forced the Bank of Japan to back off plans for continued rate hikes, while the Fed is almost certain to cut soon. Further reading Celebrities should [fly commercial](. — Lara Williams [Israel is sending]( a mixed message. — Hal Brands The S&P [looks good]( relative to Europe. — Chris Hughes Courts keep [eroding voting rights](. — Noah Feldman The BoE goes [way beyond Bagehot](. — Paul J. Davies [Ground-based missiles]( are duds. — Bloomberg’s editorial board Americans keep moving to [disaster zones](. — Mark Gongloff ICYMI Stocks [went up](. Mortgage rates [went down](. [Bowling Green,]( Kentucky, is Ozempictown, USA. Kickers The California Assembly [votes to end]( the “locked-door loophole.” The Taliban wants more [tourist dollars](. [Using RTO]( to get people to quit. Notes: Please send weird ideas and feedback to Justin Fox at justinfox@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads]( [TikTok]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Stay updated by saving our new email address Our email address is changing, which means you’ll be receiving this newsletter from noreply@news.bloomberg.com. 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