In other Super Tuesday news…. “The lieutenant governor of North Carolina and the first Black person to hold the office, [Mark] Robinson is heavily favored to clinch the GOP nomination for governor in next Tuesday’s primary and, at a Saturday rally with Trump, got the former president’s formal endorsement,” The Washington Post reported Saturday. Should he win today’s primary, Robinson is expected in the fall to face Josh Stein, the state’s sitting Democratic attorney general. Robinson is something to behold. “Mark Robinson is not running to be governor to be a bully over anybody,” Robinson told the MAGA rally crowd. Why did he feel the need? Left unmentioned: the deluge of offensive comments that made such a declaration necessary. There was the time he called school shooting survivors “media prosti-tots” for advocating for gun-control policies.
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For all you political junkies out there, here’s Bolts Magazine’s fantastic Super Tuesday breakdown of important races: 2024 is starting off fast: Tuesday, March 5 is one of the busiest election days on the calendar this entire year. It’s just the first with non-presidential primaries on the ballot, but it’ll take care of roughly 25 percent of all House districts, in one fell swoop! That’s because California and Texas, the two most populous states, are holding all their primaries, as are Alabama, Arkansas and North Carolina. Across these five states, millions of voters will decide critical state and local offices, referendums and bond measures. Plus, Vermont municipalities are holding their town hall days. (And that’s not all: Ten other states hold their presidential primaries, but voters will have to head back to the polls later this year for down ballot offices.) So buckle up for a crowded election day. To help you, Bolts has identified more than 50 items to watch on Super Tuesday, and why they matter, including key races for supreme courts, governors, DAs, mayors, and lawmakers, plus referendums. On the menu?
And if you think it’s just men who think this sort of thing: That’s MAGA for you.
Their corporate benefactors made out like bandits. Everyone else? Not so much. Gird yourself. Shocking News. The GOP tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves: The corporate tax cuts that President Donald J. Trump signed into law in 2017 have boosted investment in the U.S. economy and delivered a modest pay bump for workers, according to the most rigorous and detailed study yet of the law’s effects. Those benefits are less than Republicans promised, though, and they have come at a high cost to the federal budget. The corporate tax cuts came nowhere close to paying for themselves, as conservatives insisted they would. Instead, they are adding more than $100 billion a year to America’s $34 trillion-and-growing national debt, according to the quartet of researchers from Princeton University, the University of Chicago, Harvard University and the Treasury Department. The researchers found the cuts delivered wage gains that were “an order of magnitude below” what Trump officials predicted: about $750 per worker per year on average over the long run, compared to promises of $4,000 to $9,000 per worker.
In case you were wondering who that is…
Freedom for vs. freedom from It’s Super Tuesday. Do you know where your polling place is? MSNBC last night pointed to a New York Times story I’d missed, perhaps because it’s old news to me. The voter fraud fraudsters are — say it with me — doubling down: A network of right-wing activists and allies of Donald J. Trump is quietly challenging thousands of voter registrations in critical presidential battleground states, an all-but-unnoticed effort that could have an impact in a close or contentious election. Calling themselves election investigators, the activists have pressed local officials in Michigan, Nevada and Georgia to drop voters from the rolls en masse. They have at times targeted Democratic areas, relying on new data programs and novel legal theories to justify their push. What began with True the Vote in Texas has spread into a nationwide network of voter fraud sleuths in places such as Michigan. The Michigan activists are part of an expansive web of grass-roots groups that formed after Mr. Trump’s attempt to overturn his defeat in 2020.
Don’t hold your breath One day ahead of Super Tuesday, the speculation is that shortly after this posts we may see the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Donald “91 Counts” Trump’s Colorado ballot access case. Anyone who listened to the oral arguments knows not to hold their breath for the court to agree with the Colorado supremes (and others) that he’s committed crimes (Washington Post): The high court took the unusual step Sunday of scheduling an opinion announcement for a day when it is not in session. The justices typically issue rulings from the bench, with the author of the majority opinion presenting a summary of the court’s decision. Instead, the court said opinions could be posted on its website Monday at 10 a.m. Colorado’s top court ordered Trump, the Republican front-runner, off the ballot in December after finding that he engaged in insurrection around the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. The state court put its ruling on hold while litigation continued, and the former president’s name will appear on the state’s primary ballot.
No Labels is going to go after Biden hard, using Trump talking points Lieberman will never stop trying to destroy the Democratic party out of pique that they rejected him that one time. Here’s the latest on No Labels’ attempt to help Donald Trump win the election: With days to go before its previously announced mid-March deadline of finalizing plans for a third party presidential ticket, No Labels still doesn’t have a candidate or a clear plan — even as it looks to take swings at President Joe Biden that its own officials acknowledge are more potent than accurate. And major potential recruits are still holding out: a person familiar with the conversations told CNN that No Labels officials have talked with advisers to Chris Christie, but that the former New Jersey governor has declined to meet with them himself.
After the Supremes released their decision overturning the Colorado Ballot Case ruling, Trump gave a speech and the cable nets were beside themselves in anticipation. If you have a spare 15 minutes to watch it all, I urge you to do it. I wish everyone would see it because they need to be reminded of what he is. This wasn’t a rally where you can possibly chalk up his lunacy to the fever of the crowd. This was him speaking extemporaneously before a camera, just riffing on what he cares about. If you don’t have time (or can’t bring yourself to watch him) here are just a few of the highlights. He says this will bring out country together. Because the country will only come together if Trump wins everything, That’s how this works. Aaaaand…. I think that gives you the gist. And I would hope it will be on the evening news and in prime time so that people who are working can see it too.
The New Yorker interviews Biden “Saturday Night Live” made mad fun over the weekend of comments that President Joe Biden is sharp as a tack “behind closed doors.” The New Yorker this morning offers a peek behind those closed doors. John Harwood tweets that the interview, like his own last fall, “shows talk of his alleged mental decline as utter bullshit.” Evan Osnos writes: If you spend time with Biden these days, the biggest surprise is that he betrays no doubts. The world is riven by the question of whether he is up to a second term, but he projects a defiant belief in himself and his ability to persuade Americans to join him. For as long as Biden has been in politics, he has thrived on a mercurial mix of confidence and insecurity. Now, having reached the apex of power, he gives off a conviction that borders on serenity—a bit too much serenity for Democrats who wonder if he can still beat the man with whom his legacy will be forever entwined. Given the doubts, I asked, wasn’t it a risk to say, “I’m the one to do it”? He shook his head and said, “No. I’m the only one who has ever beat him.