Oh, please, oh please Should Donald Trump actually show up for the scheduled June 27 presidential debate, he may find the rules irritatingly confining. There will be no opening statements. Both Trump and Joe Biden wil have two minutes to answer questions before moderators cut their mics. Red lights will flash when they have five seconds left. Trump will have little time to ramble on about windmills, electric boats and baby sharks doo doo doo doo doo doo. Commercial breaks will give both men a breather, the New York Times reports, but they will be prohibited from huddling with advisers. Not that Trump would, although he proved (when under threat of a contempt charge in a New York court) that his attorneys could contain him, barely. But Judge Juan Merchan will not be moderating for CNN: The two men are readying themselves for the debate in ways almost as different as their approaches to the presidency itself. The Biden operation is blocking off much of the final week before the debate, after he returns from Europe and a California fund-raising swing, for structured preparations. Mr.
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You’re carefully taught It’s a common enough appeal. Common sense. So why is common sense so uncommon? Invoking common sense is often intended to quash inquiry, not stimulate it. Common sense. Game over. Earth is flat. It’s common sense. You have to produce an ID to get on an airplane. You should have to present one to vote. Remember when it was common, if not common sense, under Jim Crow to ask Black people to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar or recite the Preamble to the Constitution before they could vote? It’s always something (Bolts Magazine): In late May, the GOP-controlled New Hampshire legislature adopted a bill that would require people to present their birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers proving their U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote, with no exceptions. That would be a major departure from longstanding New Hampshire law that allows people to sign sworn affidavits as a substitute if they don’t have proof of citizenship when they register to vote. It’s already a crime to register if you are ineligible. It’s already a crime to vote if you are ineligible.
If you think wind prices are high now…. Andy Borowitz: Marjorie Taylor Greene Warns That Windmills Will Drive up Cost of Wind LAS VEGAS (The Borowitz Report)—Speaking at a campaign rally on Thursday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warned that plans to build more wind turbines in the US would “send wind prices through the roof.” “If you think you’re paying a lot for wind now, just wait until Biden starts building all the windmills he wants,” she said. “Joe Biden is coming for your wind!” Painting a dark picture of the havoc wind power will wreak on the American consumer, she said, “It’s simple economics.
Voters are just clueless about reality From Judd Legum: In a speech in Nevada on Sunday, Trump said that Venezuela “took all of their criminals, and they dumped them into a place called the United States of America.” Trump claimed that soon, America would be more dangerous than Venezuela “unless you make me President, in which case, we’ll be very safe.” A press release by Trump’s campaign on June 9 claimed that Biden had failed to reduce “high crime rates.” Trump’s claims are being repeated by other Republicans running for office. “Since Joe Biden took office, crime has skyrocketed across our country,” Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC) posted on X. In a Facebook ad, Rick Becker, a Republican Congressional candidate in North Dakota, claims that “[v]iolent crime rates are through the roof.” According to a recent poll by The Economist, 63% of American voters say crime is a very important issue. (Another 28% say it is a somewhat important issue.) Criticisms by Trump and other Republicans appear to be breaking through.
That’s what Trump told the Republican conference on Capitol Hill this morning. Luckily, he may be spared from having to attend the convention in that horrible city: Donald Trump is preparing for a scenario in which he will be unable to attend the Republican National Convention, a decision influenced in part by the possibility that he could be sentenced to home confinement after his historic conviction late last month. Preparations are being made at both Mar-a-Lago, his home in Florida, and in Milwaukee, the host city for the convention next month, should Trump either choose to make appearances from afar or be unable to attend, according to two sources familiar with the planning. […] In case of potential house arrest, the Republican National Committee is already setting up convention-themed staging at Mar-a-Lago, along with a massive screen at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where most convention activities will take place. “If you look at what has been released about the stage at our convention, it’s going to be the highest-tech stage ever,” a Republican operative who has toured the convention site said.
Pelosi’s four daughters all say this is a flat-out lie which, of course, it is. After all, this is the guy who also said this: He made quite a splash at today’s meeting up on Capitol Hill. It was just as nuts as his freak show the other day about boat batteries and sharks. The cult was in full-effect apparently, just loving every minute of Deal Leader’s appearance. God help us.
Would anyone put it past him? Last Sunday in Nevada, Donald Trump rather strangely did not endorse a Senate candidate in advance of the primary the following Tuesday. It was especially odd because one of them was his ambassador to Iceland and a super Trump loyalist by the name of Jeff Gunter. After Trump got on the plane back to Mar-a-lago he posted an endorsement of Gunter’s rival, Sam Brown, who went on to win two days later. The beltway consensus was that Trump waited to see who was likely to win before making his endorsement which is logical. He does that all the time. But according to Gunter, something else was in play. After Trump made the endorsement, Gunter took to twitter to accuse Trump of taking a “big check” from “the swamp” (presumably one of the Senate Super Pacs) to endorse Brown even after he’s been convinced to endorse Gunter by “awesome & fearless MAGA warriors.” He claimed “the snakes are within” either referring to Trump campaign insiders or GOP establishment players or both. He told the NY Times that he can prove this accusation about the endorsements. We’ll have to see.
A record-high 32% of U.S. voters say they would only vote for a candidate for major office who shares their views on abortion. The importance of a candidate’s abortion stance to one’s vote is markedly higher among pro-choice voters than it was during the 2020 presidential election cycle, while pro-life voters’ intensity about voting on the abortion issue has waned. Also, voters’ greater intensity on the issue today compared with 2020 is explained mainly by Democrats, while Republicans and independents have shown little change. U.S. adults who are pro-choice are also significantly more likely now than two decades ago to say it is important that any future Supreme Court nominees share their views on abortion. These results come two years after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization leaked draft decision foretold the court’s plan to abolish constitutional protection for abortion. At the same time, Gallup finds Americans’ support for abortion rights and identification as “pro-choice” holding at the historically high levels seen since the Dobbs decision was leaked.
🎼Look, look at the brain flying Ubu Don visited Washington, D.C. on Thursday to show off his debraining machine, only to find his fawning Republican nobles had already been debrained. Digby will be along presently with a more thorough account of yesterday’s Capitol Hill follies starring Republicans’ 34-felony-convicted former president and 2024 presumptive nominee. Suffice to say it’s udderly insane the tolerance MAGA Republican “leaders” have developed for self-humiliation. How these adults can live with themselves having sacrificed all self-respect on the altar of Trump is beyond comprehension. A major political party in the most powerful country on Earth has lost its collective mind. It’s gone from Andy Borowtiz satire to deeply unsettling. The U.S. Constitution may not be a suicide pact, but the Republican Party now is. Lickspittles and Toadies Sarah Longwell of Republican Voters Against Trump described how Republicans who once saw Trump as too corrupt, unfit, and uninformed (you fill in the rest) for the presidency have become Trump lickspittles and toadies.
Oreos, beer, snack food and sedition How gullible do Donald Trump’s footmen think his #MAGA base is? Pretty gullible, judging by their latest conspiracy theory regarding Hunter Biden’s three felony convictions. And conservatives claim it’s liberals looking down their noses at them. CNN: In the wake of Hunter Biden’s conviction on federal gun charges Tuesday, right-wing media personalities sought to downplay the jury’s decision, falsely claiming the case was a “fake trial” designed to “cover up” other supposed crimes committed by the president and his family. The reaction showcased how far to the fringes the right-wing and pro-Trump media ecosystem has drifted in recent years, with high-profile personalities defaulting to conspiracy theories and innuendo in response to inconvenient political news. Via Greg Sargent at The New Republic: “Hunter Biden guilty. Yawn,” tweeted MAGA thought leader Charlie Kirk. “The true crimes of the Biden Crime Family remain untouched.