Memorial Day Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864. Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln. A reminder of how Trump communicated with the widows of fallen soldiers when he was president: That’s the man who constantly claims he did more for Black people than Abraham Lincoln.
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… when they want to Trump only got 6 write-in votes at the convention. He put this out yesterday: The crowd “enthusiastically” booed him which anyone who saw the footage can see. But this is for the cult which won’t see it because they live in a hermetically sealed bubble. If they come across it they’ll say it’s all fake. He has fully indoctrinated his followers. But it’s still shocking that he doesn’t care that the rest of us can see the truth with our own eyes. Utterly shameless.
Ric Grenell: from internet troll to Trump’s twisted foreign policy guru If you have the time to read just one long piece today, read this one about Grenell, on tap to be Trump’s Secretary of State or something equally horrifying. He will serve as one of Trump’s top deputies in any case: Richard Grenell’s quest to be secretary of state in a second Trump administration began late on Election Day in 2020, when the defeated president dispatched loyalists to run shambolic “stop the steal” operations in battleground states. President Donald J. Trump tapped Mr. Grenell — his combative former ambassador to Germany, acting national intelligence chief and special envoy to the Balkans — to fly by private plane to Nevada, where Mr. Grenell ensconced himself, his dog Lola, lawyers and a crew of activists in a suite at the Venetian Resort, which served as the group’s war room in Las Vegas. In a days-long spectacle, the Trump team filed a lawsuit and aired false accusations of fraud, including one wrongly implicating hundreds of members of the military. It was all a sham. Mr. Grenell told the team in the war room, two G.O.P.
Not bloody likely This piece by Punchbowl is yet another “red tsunami” horse race piece designed to give Democrats heartburn. (Fun for MAGA and Villagers alike!) We’ve talked a lot during the past two years about the group of a dozen-plus vulnerable House Republicans who hold districts President Joe Biden won in 2020. But what if these Republicans aren’t as endangered as we thought? We’re in southern California all week talking to candidates running in competitive races that may decide control of the House. In conversation after conversation, we found rank-and-file Republicans increasingly ready to embrace former President Donald Trump in toss-up seats. Trump lost California by roughly 30 points in both 2016 and 2020, so this is a significant development. There are five Republican incumbents in the Golden State who represent seats that Biden won. Given the razor-thin GOP House majority, if Democrats flip all these seats they could win the chamber back this fall. But it’s not so simple. Much has changed since 2020 when Biden beat Trump in a popular vote and Electoral College landslide.
Is this all staged for some campaign film? I don’t know. But all the saluting is just plain weird. I think Nikki had it right the first time:
He is very stupid. But I suppose this whine will be persuasive to his cult followers.
Judgment’s coming There’s no telling what the Manhattan jury in the Donald Trump falsified records trial will do. Summations are due to start today. Right-wing media outlets claim there is no there there. Leftier services make it clear that the evidence against Trump is solid. Neither set of pundits gets a vote in the jury room. CNN‘s Stephen Collinson: The summations mark the climax of a trial that started more than a month ago. They are expected to last all day Tuesday and could stretch into the following day. After Judge Juan Merchan instructs jurors on the law, Trump and the rest of the country will be held in suspense to see whether he will become the first ex-president and presumptive GOP nominee to be convicted of a crime after allegedly falsifying financial records to hide a hush money payment to an adult film star in 2016. The verdict will reverberate far beyond the courtroom and Trump’s personal life since the case has become intertwined with his bid to reclaim the White House. The stakes are especially high since this is likely to be the only one of four pending criminal trials expected to go to a jury before November’s election.
Lots of reasons why it’s a good idea I’d like to reinforce Simon Rosenberg’s advice on The Importance of Voting on Day 1 of early voting. Digby referenced it on Sunday. You are going to vote anyway. Voting in person on Day 1 of early voting has several advantages. First, once you’ve voted you will quickly “stop getting canvassed and called!!!!” Second, once you are scratched off the list, campaigns will turn their dollars, attention and efforts to turning out voters needing more of a nudge than you. And they’ll have more lead time for reaching more of them. Rosenberg notes: Voting on Day 1 has other benefits. A heavy early turnout leads to stories about “hey everyone is voting” putting social pressure on people to go vote, which also increases turnout. Voting early in big numbers also becomes a very public affirmation that our democracy and election system is working as intended, which creates a greater incentive for people to vote and makes it far harder for the Republicans to cheat, disrupt or contest the election.
The NY Times headline writers are romanticizing Trump as an “outlaw” like Butch Cassidy (the Paul Newman version.) The article paints a different picture. And it’s just plain creepy: Over the past week, Donald J. Trump rallied alongside two rap artists accused of conspiracy to commit murder. He promised to commute the sentence of a notorious internet drug dealer. And he appeared backstage with another rap artist who has pleaded guilty to assault for punching a female fan. As Mr. Trump awaits the conclusion of his Manhattan trial — closing arguments are set for Tuesday and a verdict could arrive as soon as this week — he used a weeklong break from court to align himself with defendants and convicted criminals charged by the same system with which he is at war. The appearances fit neatly into Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign, during which he has said he is likely to pardon those prosecuted for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and lent his voice to a recording of the national anthem by a choir of Jan. 6 inmates.
So you think polling skepticism is a fool’s errand? Maybe. But it does pay to remember our most recent election in 2022. Here’s the opening of the NY Times recap of what happened (gift link): Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat, had consistently won re-election by healthy margins in her three decades representing Washington State. This year seemed no different: By midsummer, polls showed her cruising to victory over a Republican newcomer, Tiffany Smiley, by as much as 20 percentage points. So when a survey in late September by the Republican-leaning Trafalgar Group showed Ms. Murray clinging to a lead of just two points, it seemed like an aberration. But in October, two more Republican-leaning polls put Ms. Murray barely ahead, and a third said the race was a dead heat. As the red and blue trend lines of the closely watched RealClearPolitics average for the contest drew closer together, news organizations reported that Ms. Murray was suddenly in a fight for her political survival. Warning lights flashed in Democratic war rooms. If Ms. Murray was in trouble, no Democrat was safe. Ms.