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Here we go As Donald Trump’s criminal trial continues in Manhattan, it appears we will hear today from the adult-film actress at the heart of the hush-money payments allegedly covered up by Trump and his convicted “fixer’ Michael Cohen: Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) . What made the payments criminal, prosecutors allege, was disguising repayments to Cohen as legal fees. The scheme was intended to influence the 2016 presidential election. Forget the sex. Check out those titillating invoices at the Trump hush money trial, Politico reported. The Associated Press noted on Monday that the prosecution presented the jury with documents from the Trump Organization and testimony from former controller, Jeffrey McConney, who heard about payments to Cohen from Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg. But he was unaware of what they were for: A bank statement displayed in court showed Cohen paying $130,000 to Davidson, Daniels’ lawyer, on Oct. 27, 2016, out of an account for an entity Cohen created for the purpose. Weisselberg’s handwritten notes about reimbursing Cohen were stapled to the bank statement in the company’s files, McConney said.

As you hear all about Trump’s encounter with Stormy Daniels, get a load of this: Former Trump aide John McEntee promised a ban on pornography was coming in the United States in a recent interview with Daily Wire host Michael Knowles. McEntee had a senior position in the Trump White House and is a key contributor to the infamous Project 2025, a collection of policy proposals to transition the United States to Christian nationalist authoritarianism in the first 180 days of Trump’s second term.  “You bring up the elephant in the room,” McEntee told Knowles, “which is a stain on not only society but the entire dating culture as well, which is pornography. Whenever America bans that, which will be happening at some point, everyone will be much better off.” The Project 2025 plan specifically lists a ban on pornography stating, “[Pornography] is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.” “The minute that goes away, this country will flourish,” McEntee told Knowles.

Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoffrey Duncan endorsed Joe Biden in an op-ed yesterday. An excerpt follows: It’s disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind former president Donald Trump. This includes some of his fiercest detractors, such as U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who raised eyebrows during a recent interview by vowing to support the “Republican ticket.” This mentality is dead wrong. Yes, elections are a binary choice. Yes, serious questions linger about President Biden’s ability to serve until the age of 86. His progressive policies aren’t to conservatives’ liking. But the GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden.

Trump cares nothing for the party, only himself: You may have heard about this:  Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and his wife were indicted last week on conspiracy and bribery charges. The Justice Department alleged that Cuellar took nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani government-controlled oil company and a Mexican bank. In return, prosecutors allege that Cuellar agreed to “influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan” and advance the bank’s interests in the U.S., per the indictment. You would think that would make Trump very happy and he’d be calling for Cuellar to resign immediately in order to help the GOP congress maintain their at least a two vote margin. (They only have one at the moment.) But no. Axios reports: Trump’s rare defense of a vulnerable Democratic lawmaker runs counter to Republicans’ desire to pressure Democrats to call for Cuellar’s removal. The National Republican Congressional Committee plans to accuse Democrats of a double standard if they stay mum on Cuellar following their pressure on ex-Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) to resign, Politico reports.

The degenerating saga of the GOP’s mind virus The best minds of the MAGA generation were not destroyed by madness. They’re empowered by it, revel in it, slather themselves in it. The T-partiers were pikers by comparison. They pretended that their beef with Barack Obama was taxation and his birth certificate. Alt-right street fighters tacked “based” to the front of their monikers to signify their antipathy towards their fellow Americans. The Party of Trump is an orgy of debasement. The talent competition at Donald Trump’s VP pageant over the weekend involved limbo. How low could they go? Lick his shoes? Lick the bottom of his shoes? Digby profiled some of the contestants on Monday. Then we come to the dog-executing, based governor of South Dakota, Krispi Gnome, and her latest memoir. And its anecdotes and edits. And her “Face The Nation” interview.

I wonder if that actually penetrates the minds of the average Fox viewers. And then there’s this: Apparently, she is demanding that Mike Johnson commit to her personally that he won’t ever fund Ukraine again, that he defunds the DOJ and never again passes a bill without majority GOP support. I’m sure he agreed since none of that’s relevant until after the election at which point they’ll vote for leadership again anyway. But sure, let’s put them in charge of the House again.

Yes, we know to take polling with a grain of salt right now. But the media went nuts over that outlier CNN poll showing Trump ahead six points. Crickets for these two legit polls in the past week. ABC/Ipsos today: Old vs young, rural vs urban, college vs non-college, Democrat vs Republican the usual (although the inverted old vs young is a little weird but I’d guess it’s Gaza.) However, there are some interesting observations. RFK pulls more from Trump which is the second poll that shows that. Self-identified moderates are for Biden, which is good, and the battleground is definitely still in the suburbs. About those swing states? It’s a tie: And it’s a 46-45% race in the seven expected swing states, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Some other issues: Support for abortion rights remains widespread: Americans by 66-32% oppose the U.S. Supreme Court decision that did away with the constitutional right to abortion and by essentially the same margin say their own state should allow access to abortion in all or most cases.

Legal beagle Ryan Goodman points out that the actual trial transcript shows Hope Hicks’ final testimony is actually worse than was reported. He wrote on twitter: Trump not only communicates “it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election.” Trump also links it to Cohen hush money: “had Michael not made that payment.” I think you can see why she burst into tears a minute later. This revelation is damaging to Trump’s defense and she knew it. Hicks admits that Trump was worried about the election and backs up Cohen’s contention that Trump knew what the money was for before he reimbursed him. What’s the significance of that? Trump’s defense lawyer’s opening statement featured this: Apparently he didn’t know about this civil case (Daniels was trying to get released from her non-disclosure agreement) in which Trump and Cohen both admitted that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the hush money. I guess they might try to blame the lawyer in that case but he’s not the kind of guy you want to mess with.* Andrew Weissman writes on twitter: Why Hicks is such a devastating witness against Trump: 1.

(Note the time he posted that. ) Trump did say it, of course: Do you think states should monitor women’s pregnancies so they can know if they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban? Trump: I think they might do that. Again, you’ll have to speak to the individual states. Look, Roe v. Wade was all about bringing it back to the states. And that was a legal, as well as possibly in the hearts of some, in the minds of some, a moral decision. But it was largely a legal decision. Every legal scholar, Democrat, Republican, and other wanted that issue back at the states. You know, Roe v. Wade was always considered very bad law. Very bad. It was a very bad issue from a legal standpoint. People were amazed it lasted as long as it did. And what I was able to do is through the choice of some very good people who frankly were very courageous, the justices it turned out to be you know, the Republican— States will decide if they’re comfortable or not—  Trump: Yeah the states—  Prosecuting women for getting abortions after the ban. But are you comfortable with it?  Trump: The states are going to say.