The questioning of Merrick Garland before the House Judiciary Committee is enough to make you give up on democracy if this is what we have as leaders BIGGS: Is it consistent with DOJ policy to give people a heads up so they can move boxes of information? GARLAND: You’re asking me to comment on a particular case BIGGS: Forget Delaware and what they did GARLAND: I’m sorry, I thought you were asking about Mar-a-Lago pic.twitter.com/WUmgxVQo6O — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 20, 2023 Jim Jordan’s latest galaxy-brain conspiracy theory is that Biden decided to let a Trump-appointed US attorney stay on as part of a plot to protect Hunter Biden pic.twitter.com/yco8QkqR9l — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 20, 2023 Huh? This makes no sense. Massie asked how many. How does indicting Epps give the answer to how many? My gawd this is so stupid. https://t.co/Dkt0Ao4nVa — Armando (@ArmandoNDK) September 20, 2023
Uncategorized
Speaker McCarthy: “It’s hard to pass anything in this place. We started out in a five-seat majority. I got one member who’s now resigned, we’ve got a couple of members who are out as well. Anything we do is pretty tough” pic.twitter.com/bYkJcjsjvc — Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotcnn) September 18, 2023 It seems like only yesterday that we were on the cusp of defaulting on the debt and many of us were predicting that the kamikaze Freedom Caucus was going to make it happen. They sure sounded serious. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy was unable to keep that extremist right flank under control and they were threatening to unseat him under the rule they insisted he adopt in order to get the votes he needed to attain office if he didn’t meet their demands. With a four vote margin he had almost no room to maneuver. After the interminable 15 rounds of voting and all the backroom deals he had to make to get the gavel back in January the prospects for a deal looked very slim.
Claire Potter talks about the Lauren Boebert “situation” in her newsletter today making the point that while it’s not nice to slut-shame women, it’s something that Boebert and her erstwhile buddy Marjorie Taylor Greene actually embrace as a big part of their MAGA image: … I do not feel inclined to lecture other people who slut-shame Lauren Boebert. I think it is misguided, and it isn’t because of the unproven allegations that she actually worked as an escort on a sugar-daddy website. It’s because she has spent a lot of time and energy polishing her reputation as a Gun Chick, a popular erotic figure on the right who we might tentatively define as “the slutty girl next door—with a gun.” It’s not an accident that Boebert looks and acts slutty; it’s calculated. It is something you are supposed to notice, and it is supposed to cause Republican dicks to lead the male voters they are attached to into the voting booth on election day.
All is not lost: The Republican Party’s increasing Trump-era tendency toward more extreme nominees and its struggles to account for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade have already cost it plenty. It’s quite possible that these things cost it control of the Senate in both the 2020 and 2022 elections. If unpopular GOP nominees in key states had merely matched the political fundamentals, Republicans might have held the Senate for the duration of Joe Biden’s presidency and had a much more significant House majority with which to work today. Now, these same things may have cost Republicans control of a state. New Hampshire on Tuesday became the latest state in which Democrats over-performed in a special election — a trend that has held very steady ever since Roe was overturned last summer. Democrat Hal Rafter won by 12 points in a state House district that went narrowly for Donald Trump in 2020.
More strange bedfellows MSNBC’s “Deadline White House” on Tuesday featured a long segment with members of Operation Saving Democracy. Led by Lt. Col. Amy McGrath (USMC, ret.), the group boasts “almost 600 retired Generals, Admirals, Ambassadors, cabinet and service secretaries, appointed leaders, elected officials, and Senior Executive Service leaders have come together at this time of significant threat to the essential tenets of our Democratic institutions and values.” Joining McGrath were Adm. Steve Abbot (USN, ret.) and Rear Adm. Michael Smith (USN, ret.) The group believes “The extreme far-right authoritarian ideology that has taken hold in the GOP is an attack on democracy itself.” They hope their credentials and numbers will make an impression on the Trump cult, or else help mobilize ordinary Americans against the domestic terror threat Trumpism poses. “Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy,” Abbot states into the camera. “Donald Trump” is a collective noun here, shorthand for a deeper problem.
Although supporters stood in the rain for hours to enter, Trump’s rally in Dubuque is not as well attended as past rallies have been. The venue can hold 3,000 people. From my vantage point in the back, accounting for the large press area, I would guess the room is about half full pic.twitter.com/bFWvG6ws8n — Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) September 20, 2023 Trump has been speaking for over an hour. His supporters are beginning to leave. — Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) September 20, 2023 CNN reports on what he’s selling in Iowa this year: Trump largely focused his Dubuque speech on immigration and the border. While he did at times call out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump largely focused on attacking President Joe Biden over what he referred to as the “nation-wrecking catastrophe” on the southern border, describing it as “an invasion.” The former president also lauded his immigration policies while in office, saying he replaced “catch-and-release” with “detain and deport.” He also argued that Mexico paid for the wall because they supplied the US with soldiers at the border for free.
MSNBC framing of today’s hearing: Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared before the House judiciary Committee for the first time since Donald Trump and Hunter Biden’s separate indictments and it went about how you would expect it to go. House Republicans accused AG Garland of politicizing the Department of Justice to protect President Biden. Democrats accused Republicans of politicizing Judicial Oversight to benefit Donald Trump and AG Garland, well, he just tried to defend himself. Oh those crazy Republicans and Democrats. They’re all full of shit, amirite? Just playing politics. Waddaya gonna do? This is the problem, folks. It’s not “both sides.” It’s Republicans. It’s not hard to make a judgment about this. It’s called reality.
PA institutes automatic voter registration Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) announced this morning that “eligible voters getting a new driver’s license or ID card in Pennsylvania will now be automatically registered to vote,” reports NBC News. Shapiro’s office issued a statement: “Pennsylvania is the birthplace of our democracy, and as Governor, I’m committed to ensuring free and fair elections that allow every eligible voter to make their voice heard,” said Governor Josh Shapiro. “Automatic voter registration is a commonsense step to ensure election security and save Pennsylvanians time and tax dollars. Residents of our Commonwealth already provide proof of identity, residency, age, and citizenship at the DMV – all the information required to register to vote — so it makes good sense to streamline that process with voter registration.
Biden gets a big round of applause as he wraps up his speech at the UN pic.twitter.com/hjDXBleeSk — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 19, 2023 https://x.com/atrupar/status/1704140636738244767?s=20 WOW! The UN audience laughs at Trump after he claims, “my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” pic.twitter.com/tXg50ejQqy — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2018 Update: Let’s not forget this winner…
James Comer continues to try to deceive the Capitol Hill press corps and country (LEFT)Comer insists “I haven’t said he should be impeached,” after McCarthy declared an inquiry open (RIGHT)Comer on Newsmax: “You know where I stand on that, I would vote to impeach right now.” pic.twitter.com/JSbL52x4Jt — Ian Sams (@IanSams46) September 19, 2023 By the way: New testimony from a number of FBI and Internal Revenue Service officials casts doubt on key claims from an IRS whistleblower who alleges there was political interference in the federal criminal investigation of Hunter Biden’s taxes. According to transcripts provided to CNN, several FBI and IRS officials brought in for closed-door testimony by House Republicans in recent days said they don’t remember US Attorney David Weiss saying that he lacked the authority to decide whether to bring charges against the president’s son, or that Weiss said he had been denied a request for special counsel status.