How kind of him to give democrats such a great campaign Ad https://t.co/1Iw0pBIdHE — Olivia Julianna 🗳 (@0liviajulianna) October 18, 2023 And they see it as a selling point. Tom Cole, by the way, is frequently mentioned as a possible speaker candidate.
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He made their political motives clear Trump’s lawyer Kenneth Chesebro wrote some things down that he probably shouldn’t written: On Dec. 24, 2020, Kenneth Chesebro and other lawyers fighting to reverse President Donald J. Trump’s election defeat were debating whether to file litigation contesting Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in Wisconsin, a key swing state. Mr. Chesebro argued there was little doubt that the litigation would fail in court — he put the odds of winning at “1 percent” — as Mr. Trump continued to push his baseless claims of widespread fraud, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times. But the “relevant analysis,” Mr. Chesebro argued, “is political.” The emails have new significance because Mr. Chesebro is scheduled to be one of the first two of Mr. Trump’s 18 co-defendants to go on trial this month on charges brought by the district attorney’s office in Fulton County, Ga. The indictment accused Mr. Chesebro of conspiring to create slates of so-called fake electors pledged to Mr. Trump in several states that Mr. Biden had won. Mr.
Act like a bunch of clowns The Republican circus is not playing well in those swing districts. How could it? These people are a joke: In California’s 45th Congressional District, along Western Avenue in Buena Park, a giant billboard is set to display a photograph of Representative Michelle Steel next to former President Donald J. Trump and Representative Jim Jordan, the Republican hard-liner from Ohio she voted for twice this week for speaker. “Rep. Steel Supports Extremism,” the billboard reads. “Stop the extremism.” The advertising campaign, paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, is part of a broad effort by Democrats to target Republicans like Ms. Steel, who represent congressional districts that President Biden won in 2020. A dozen of those vulnerable G.O.P. lawmakers have stood on the House floor this week and cast their votes to put Mr. Jordan second in line to the presidency. Another group, the Congressional Integrity Project, began a digital ad campaign this week in those same districts, focusing on Mr. Jordan and his attempts to overthrow the 2020 election.
“an absurd and dangerous choice” The Washington Post is posting live updates of Jacketless Jim Jordan’s quest to be Speaker of the House and second in line for the presidency. Really. The House begins business today at noon, “two weeks to the day since former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted.” “The next speaker should not be someone we already know is willing to manufacture disputes and support groundless claims to overturn an election to install the president he wants,” Jill Lawrrence writes at The Bulwark. She offers a detailed list of why the Ohio congressman is “an absurd and dangerous choice for that reason and too many others to count.” Among them is former House Speaker John Boehner’s assessment of his fellow Ohioan: “Jordan was a terrorist as a legislator going back to his days in the Ohio House and Senate. . . . A terrorist. A legislative terrorist.” Not to mention being an election denier and Trump co-conspirator, Jeffrey K. Tulis and William Kristol remind Bulwark readers. Jordan has Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Broadcast radicalization You’ll recall the hissy fit conservatives threw at the FBI’s suggestion post-Jan. 6 that domestic terrorism by “white supremacists, militias and other extremists” was a growing threat in this country. Some years earlier, the Department of Justice was focused on foreign terrorists’ efforts at “online radicalization.” As in “Online Radicalization to Violent Extremism” (2014): Using a combination of traditional websites, mainstream social media platforms, YouTube, and other online services, extremists broadcast their views, provoke negative sentiment toward enemies, incite people to violence, glorify martyrs, create virtual communities with like-minded individuals, provide religious or legal justifications for violent actions, and communicate individually with new recruits to groom them for violent activities I’m wondering today (again) when the DOJ will turn its attention to the threat of broadcast radicalization.
They’re not sending their best to the MAGA rallies During a New Hampshire event, Klepper stumped some of the supporters sporting the ex-president’s mugshot t-shirt that read “Never surrender.” “Never surrender to the tyranny,” said a blond young man, pronouncing the word tie-ranny. “What is Trump doing here on this shirt?” asked Klepper. “This is his mugshot,” the man said. “Gotcha. So that was taken when he surrendered to authorities to have his picture taken?” Klepper asked. There was an awkward silence as the man considered the word “Surrender.” “Huh?” is all the man could muster. This is the MAGA cult and while I’m sure there are many who aren’t quite this thick, Donald Trump is equally absurd dozens of times a day and they are willing to make him president of the United States.
Let’s say Israel succeeds in taking out Hamas. Then what? President Biden will be in Israel tomorrow and his trip has likely been planned with an eye toward holding back the Israeli government from the impulsive, grief-driven decision making that can lead to massive errors in judgement. From what we understand, the US and allies have been pushing Israel to take a breath, consider the humanitarian consequences and think about the day after. If anyone knows the folly of acting out of emotion and/or opportunism after a catastrophic terrorist attack it’s the United States. And the stakes are even higher for Israel. One big demand on the part of the US is apparently that Israel have a plan for a post-Hamas Gaza. It’s unclear that they have one. This piece in the NY Times today by a post-war planner about what needs to be done seems highly relevant: I headed postwar Iraq planning for the U.S. State Department in 2002 and 2003. Once the White House decided in 2002 to remove Saddam Hussein by force, I cautioned my superiors that there needed to be serious planning for what would follow.
Nobody does it like MyKev Kevin McCarthy claims Democrats “created this mess,” prompting even a Fox News reporter to push back pic.twitter.com/mh3hdeUeKr — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 17, 2023 As I write this, Jordan just lost the Speaker vote by 20 Republican votes and he’s planning to go for another one. McCarthy’s insistence that this is all Democrats fault for refusing to vote for a fascist insurrectionist Republican for Speaker when he couldn’t even corral all the Republicans is pathetic. I’m sure he’s convinced millions of MAGA cult members that this is the problem because they have no idea how anything actually works. But please. There has to be at least a few Republicans left out there who realize that this is the stupidest thing he’s ever said. Right?
Paul Krugman thinks we dodged that bullet but nobody’s noticed Krugman ‘s newsletter today lays out the data: Until quite recently there was a near consensus among forecasters that the U.S. economy was headed for a recession. In fact, it’s been exactly one year since Bloomberg declared that, according to its models, the probability of a recession by October 2023 — that is, now — was 100 percent. Oops. OK, it’s possible — barely — that a recession has begun but isn’t in the data yet. Economists of a certain age remember that for much of 2008 some commentators denied that there was a recession underway, but the official business cycle chronology now says that the worst slump since the 1930s began in December 2007. That said, warning indicators like the Sahm rule, which looks at the unemployment rate compared with its previous low, were flashing red by the summer of 2008, in a way they aren’t now: And forecasters, most of whom were very gloomy at the beginning of this year, have been backing off, with slightly fewer than half in a recent survey still predicting recession.
Will Mike Pence or Tim Scott drop out first? Scott’s Super-Pac pulls ads: The super PAC supporting Tim Scott’s presidential bid is canceling most of its remaining TV spending, reversing course after reserving $40 million in ads for him ahead of the Iowa caucuses. The retreat from TV is the latest sign of how dire the primary has become for a candidate who once anticipated outside help from big donors — but who is now polling in low single digits and hasn’t yet qualified for the third debate. Pence reports a dismal fund-raising haul: Former Vice President Mike Pence is reportedly facing an “existential cash squeeze” that could bring an end to his 2024 run for the White House. Pence’s campaign told NBC News that filings due at the Federal Election Commission by the end of Sunday will reflect some $620,000 in debt, and that Pence has resorted to putting $150,000 in personal funds to the low-polling effort.