House Republicans have ruled that only comments condemning Trump’s criminal trials are allowed to be spoken in the congress. They just struck Rep. Jim McGovern’s words from the record: Nothing he said was untrue. It’s all factual. But the Republicans are so deep into the cult of Donald Trump that they now panic at the mere idea of someone saying them on the record. Are there any limits to what they’ll do for him now?
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“He only cares about holding on to power. I care about you.” If you haven’t seen Trump’s “Reich” video, that’s it. He didn’t make it but he did share it. Nazis just love the guy. Republicans say it’s no biggie: Here’s Biden’s response: Dan Pfeiffer looks at the strategy behind the Biden campaign’s approach in his newsletter: What’s interesting to me is how and why the Biden Campaign is waging the fight this time and what it says about their strategy. Keep Trump on the Defensive and in the News Since officially kicking off the campaign earlier this year, the Biden Campaign has aggressively pursued every Trump misstatement and misdeed. Their BidenHQ account tweets day and night to lift up everything Trump does — from falling asleep in court to suggesting he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It is in their strategic interest to focus the electorate on Trump and remind them who he is and what kind of President he was. This is also why Biden is so eager to debate Trump.
No more rainbow colors, damn it! Red, white and blue ONLY for Freedom Summer. By the way, Florida Freedom extends to your dietary choices as well. So far this year, lawmakers in Florida and Alabama have made it a criminal act to manufacture and sell lab-grown meat in their states. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) went first, signing a bill earlier this month and warning cellular agriculture companies: “Take your fake lab-grown meat elsewhere … we’re not doing that in the state of Florida.” It isn’t actually available but damn it, red states are banning it anyway. Apparently, the mere idea of saving the planet and making it possible to not have to actually kill animals for animal protein is oppressive. I feel so free, don’t you?
There is no longer any doubt I guess someone at the beach must have called Mrs Alito the c-word too. The NY Times reports: Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs. This time, it was the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google street view image from late August also shows the flag.
Trump’s foreign policy henchmen are going around the world sabotaging America I’m pretty sure that this “visit” with Netanyahu was to simply reassure him that if he can just hold out until January 20, 2025 Trump will take care of him: Three former U.S. foreign policy officials in Donald Trump’s administration met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other public figures in Israel on Monday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The delegation was comprised of Robert O’Brien, who served as Trump’s fourth and final national security adviser, as well as former Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates John Rakolta and former Ambassador to Switzerland Ed McMullen, said the person, who requested anonymity as the trip’s itinerary was not public. In addition to Netanyahu, the delegation met Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and several other Israeli officials, the person said. Among the main goals of the trip was to obtain a better understanding of Israel’s complex domestic political situation, said the person familiar with the visit.
I wondered why there were no anti-Trump protesters appearing at these red-tie costumed clown shows. I guess they finally showed up today: I only recognized a couple of the people who showed up today so they’re really scarping the bottom of the D-list now. No Tim Scott yet. No DeSantis. No Marge. Ex-felon Bernie Kerik was there and the former head of the NY Hells Angels were there, though. And they were all dressed the same, came into the room late again, lined up right behind Trump and made a scene. Is it some sort of weird intimidation tactic to scare the jury??? It is fucking weird. Downright creepy.
Hookay. We’ve finally gotten to the full-on ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Füh·rer portion of our program. The AP reports: A video posted to Donald Trump’s account on his social media network Monday included references to a “unified Reich” among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the election in November. The headline appears among messages flashing across the screen such as “Trump wins!!” and “Economy booms!” Other headlines appear to be references to World War I. The word “Reich” is often largely associated with Nazi Germany’s Third Reich, though the references in the video Trump shared appear to be a reference to the formation of the modern pan-German nation, unifying smaller states into a single Reich, or empire, in 1871. The 30-second video appeared on Trump’s account at a time when the presumptive Republican nominee for president, while seeking to portray President Joe Biden as soft on antisemitism, has himself repeatedly faced criticism for using language and rhetoric associated with Nazi Germany.
Texas woman disavows her distrust of public schools The subhead perfectly summarizes the ProPublica report from Texas: Courtney Gore, a Granbury ISD school board member, has disavowed the far-right platform she campaigned on after finding no evidence that students were being indoctrinated by the district’s curriculum. Her defiance has brought her backlash. The co-host of a local far-right talk show had guzzled gallons of Kool-Aid. She was positive that public schools were cesspools of anti-whatever indoctination that promoted a “twisted worldview.” Then she got herself elected to prove it and to shut it all down. Weeks after winning a school board seat in her deeply red Texas county, Courtney Gore immersed herself in the district’s curriculum, spending her nights and weekends poring over hundreds of pages of lesson plans that she had fanned out on the coffee table in her living room and even across her bed. She was searching for evidence of the sweeping national movement she had warned on the campaign trail was indoctrinating schoolchildren.
“If you’re not pissing ’em off, you’re not doing it right” Joe Biden’s strongest performances pissed off Republicans big time. One was his September 1, 2022 speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. “On the Continued Battle for the Soul of the Nation” called out “MAGA Republicans” for their anti-American beliefs and behaviors. Did it turn the November 2022 red wave into a red ripple? Maybe. A second performance was Biden’s State of the Union speech on March 7. It was “Fiery Biden” (Washington Post). And “In-Your-Face Biden” (New York Times). Republicans were pissed. Viewers approved. Digby (March 8): Biden came out swinging and knocked the Republicans so far back on their heels that they had to completely abandon the image of him they’ve been building since 2020 — that he’s so old and feeble that he can’t even feed himself — and instead whimper like a bunch of little old ladies that he offensively aggressive. More than not looking feeble, Biden looked like a leader in command. Biden needs more of that.
Haha. He’s constantly batting back memes these days. “I don’t use a teleprompter!” “I don’t sleep during the trial!” Calling Giuliani’s lawyer Robert Costello to the stand would be legal malpractice if it weren’t for the fact that it was probably because Trump demanded it. The cross examination today was just brutal. Basically the prosecutors just read all of Costello’s emails to Cohen in which he was clearly trying to keep him from turning on Trump when he very briefly became the “back channel” between Rudy Giuliani (Trump) and Cohen. The whole thing sounbds like nothing short of an episode of the Sopranos. He first met Cohen in person and told him how close he was with Giuliani, which Cohen denied on the stand. The prosecutor Susan Hoffinger made him look at the email he sent two days later: “I told you my relationship with Rudy which could be very very useful to you.”“Doesn’t that mean you mentioned that to him at the first meeting?” Hoffinger asked. “No,” Costello absurdly answered.