I doubt it After the exposure of the big confidential informant who claimed Biden had taken 5 million dollars in bribes from the Ukrainian government this wee, there is some hope that the Biden impeachment probe may collapse. It’s possible. It’s also quite likely that it won’t for all the reasons Susan Glasser lays out in the New Yorker: “Smirnov’s allegations were the foundation of the entire impeachment drive,” Raskin told me. Without them, “the impeachment investigation has ended in substance if not actually in form . . . the whole project lies in ruins.” But I am not fully convinced. In today’s Congress, the fight, somehow, must always go on. For years, Trump and his backers have fed elaborate conspiracy theories about the President and his son to their base. This particular trope about Biden and Ukraine and the bribe that wasn’t is unlikely to die off swiftly.
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No one is pulling a president out of their hat “Evil Geniuses” author Kurt Andersen reaches a conclusion. It should have been obvious to all the people who circulated a certain podcast from last week. Until the end of his long monologue, Lawrence O’Donnell Thursday night avoided mentioning it in refuting its premise. Why give more exposure to a notion he finds ridiculous? Andersen posted at Threads: OK, @lawrence_odonnell convinced me to stop even entertaining the Biden-decides-not-to-run notion, even as a thought experiment. Powerful multi-faceted refutation. Andersen’s post was the first thing I saw this morning. Jon Stewart in his “The Daily Show” return last week addressed the age of both expected 2024 presidential candidates and public discontent over it.
Trump addressed a conservative evangelical gathering yesterday and it was really something. He says he’s very religious which is true. He worships himself. The extreme self-delusion among these people in thinking that this depraved, corrupt monster is a Bible believing Christian is truly stunning. Watch a few of these if you get the chance. Then ponder why Biden’s alleged gaffes are on the front page and Trump is being presented as an unbeatable juggernaut.
Baby elephants! Hilvarenbeek, February 20, 2024 – African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park @Beekse-Bergen in four months. Never before have three African elephants been born in a European zoo in such a short time. The young elephant is a girl and has been named Tendai. Head zookeeper Yvonne Vogels says: “Everything is falling into place! Mosi means firstborn: the first of the three calves. Ajabu stands for ‘radiant’. It’s wonderful to see how the premature baby, because she was born two months prematurely, is now strengthened and how we see this reflected in her character. And now there is Tendai, which means grateful. Thankful for all the healthy happiness in the herd. We are completely over the moon!” The zookeepers of the African elephants were alert for the arrival of the calf for several days. Vogels: “On Wednesday we saw a change in the blood values and in principle the calf would be born within 48 hours.” The zookeepers monitored the webcam for five nights, taking turns and every hour.
But Turning Point USA has MAGA’s heart One of the most frustrating refrains one hears these days is that the Republican Party has “suddenly” gone crazy as if it was a spontaneous explosion of lunacy that came out of nowhere. The fact is that there has been a strain of crazy on the right for a very long time and the allegedly normal Republicans who are now shocked at what’s happened to their party were willfully blind and refused to see how toxic that strain was. All they had to do was attend any Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) of the past 20 years and open their eyes to what their party was becoming. I’m not talking specifically about ideology here, although there was plenty of odious far right philosophy at this confab going all the way back to its first meeting in 1974. I refer to the smart-ass, frat house attitude that came out of right wing radio, led by the contemptible Rush Limbaugh and all the spawn that followed him.
I’ve written before about Christopher Rufo, the young force behind the ant-woke crusade that’s got the GOP all excited. That’s his latest, in response to the news that the Heritage Foundation is laying the groundwork for a massive government intrusion into the American family life, especially the bedroom. Rufo is all for it, claiming later on Xitter that his comments are all empirical facts. If only the bitches would just put their biscuits in the oven and their buns in the bed we’d all be so much better off, amirite? Even little girls under 13 need to understand what they were put on this earth to do. No matter what. I urge you to read the latest on Rufo over at Wonkette by Doctor Zoom: Rufo’s list of illustrious employers and publishers include the Manhattan Institute and its nutty City Journal, the intelligence-design-friendly Discovery Institute, and scientific racism-spouting doorstop Aporia, just to name a few.
Emo Trump revisited “Nah.” This clip evoked a memory from Donald “91 Counts” Trump’s tenure. Post by @fightforprogress View on Threads USA Today (2/13) op-ed: Donald Trump on Friday acknowledged his cowardice when it comes to America’s epidemic of gun violence and the resulting slaughter of this country’s children. Being Trump, he tried to make that sound like a virtue. Speaking at a National Rifle Association gun show in Pennsylvania’s capital city Friday, Trump bragged about his record of inaction. “During my four years nothing happened,” Trump said. “And there was great pressure on me, having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn’t yield.” That’s Trump telling the truth for a change. “We did nothing,” Trump brags. It’s a Republican thing. You wouldn’t understand. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV planning guide at ForTheWin.us.
This is a moderate? Aaaand: “I think what’s really important is to know that the majority of Americans dislike Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” she said. “So we think that there needs to be an alternative.” While critical of both men — who she called “too old” to be president — she said “Biden is more dangerous” due to his management of immigration and the economy. Haley hinted that, if Biden and Trump were to face a rematch, she would back Trump if he wins the Republican presidential nomination. The former South Carolina governor also spoke against what she called “hate, division and chaos” fomented by Trump. She compared the ex-president to a “bully,” and stressed that he failed to obtain significant portions of the electorate in Iowa and New Hampshire. “People don’t like when he goes off the teleprompter and says crazy things like he’d rather take Putin’s side over our allies,” Haley said. “People don’t like it when he mocks the military.
Not on your life From Foreign Policy: Two weeks ago, Brazil’s federal police launched a high-profile raid against former President Jair Bolsonaro and more than 10 of his allies, including Brazil’s former navy chief, national security advisor, and ministers of defense and justice. Authorities accused the group of plotting a potential coup after Bolsonaro’s failed 2022 reelection bid. Court documents related to the raid suggest that Bolsonaro personally edited a decree that would have overturned election results and imprisoned a Supreme Court justice; a general loyal to the president confirmed he would provide the troops needed to carry out the coup. Bolsonaro also allegedly pressured his cabinet to more forcefully share disinformation about supposed weaknesses in Brazil’s electoral system. The former president was asked to hand over his passport to authorities and may face decades in jail. The recent revelations suggest that Brazilian coup-mongers’ plans were more advanced than initially believed.
He’s a straight up racist misogynist Get a load of this: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told backers of his unsuccessful presidential bid Wednesday that former President Donald Trump should not play “identity politics” when picking a 2024 running mate. “Now we have a diverse Republican Party. I want everybody in the fold, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t want people representing 10, 15% of the party being in the driver’s seat,” DeSantis said on a call with supporters, including those who had committed to serving as delegates for him at this year’s Republican National Convention, according to audio obtained by NBC News. “So I would want somebody that, if something happened, the people that voted us in would have been pleased to know that they’re going to continue the mission,” DeSantis added. “I’m not sure that those are going to necessarily be the criteria that Donald Trump uses. … I have heard that they’re looking more in identity politics. I think that’s a mistake.