Trauma, bleeding, trickery and abandonment Unintended consequences ain’t necessarily unforseen consequences. Just yesterday, a friend mentioned fallout from a GOP effort in North Carolina to change how school board members are elected. The change would in theory make it easier to elect Republicans either by making the elections partisan or (in my county) by redrawing school district lines. Try explaining the latter to kids who suddenly find themselves assigned to different schools. Partisan-inspired chaos ensues. Fallout from the Dobbs decision was not unforseen either. GOP-led states are rushing to ban abortion. Women’s lives are put at risk. In Texas, for example (The New Republic): Women who suffered medical complications after being denied abortions in Texas are now having to relive the trauma of their injuries and dead babies as they plead their case against the state. Welcome to the Republican Party’s America. On Wednesday, women who are part of a 15-person (both patients and doctors) lawsuit against the state of Texas, returned back to court to challenge the state’s extreme abortion ban.
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MI fake electors face criminal charges Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Tuesday filed eight felony charges against each of the 16 fake Trump “electors” who participated in the 2020 scheme to overturn the presidential election results in the state. Prosecutors in Arizona and Georgia are also investigating possible crimes involving the GOP electors scheme, and civil lawsuits are underway in in Michigan and Wisconsin. Somebody had to be first with criminal charges. Nessel wins the prize. Axios reports, “Among those charged include Kathy Berden, the national committeewoman of the Republican Party of Michigan, and Meshawn Maddock, former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.” Washington Post: In Michigan, each Trump elector was charged with eight criminal counts, including forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery and election law forgery. Some of the counts carry sentences of up to 14 years in prison. In an online video announcing the charges, Nessel noted the 16 Republicans had submitted paperwork to the Senate, National Archives and elsewhere claiming to be the state’s official electors.
Reporters typically don’t write headlines, but… Is Trump fit to serve? Is Trump fit to serve? Okay, the question is posed up front in this Politico article: Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that he expects to soon be a thrice-indicted candidate is forcing GOP candidates to fully contend with the fundamental question of the 2024 presidential primary. Is the former president fit to reoccupy the office? Who the hell with a handful of functioning brain cells thinks Trump’s fitness is an open question? The rest is pointless horse-race coverage about how good GOP contenders are at tiptoeing around referencing Trump’s legal problems on the campaign trail. How do they even mention them without ginning up the Trump base, as one consultant put it. “This is the kabuki dance they’re going to be doing for months — it ain’t going to be the first time and it ain’t going to be the last time,” said Mike Madrid, the Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.
A reckoning for the failed coup Former president Donald Trump’s Truth Social feed was active with ragging of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and re-posts of his fandom’s superhero memes on Monday which seemed to be just another day in the Trump 2024 presidential campaign. You would never have known that the night before he had been presented with a target letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith until Tuesday when he posted a rambling, incoherent official two page “statement” announcing it to the world. “Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter … stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and an Indictment” the statement began after which it immediately devolved into whining and crying over his alleged persecution at the hands of well… everyone. He lamented, “it is a very sad and dark period for our nation.” It is a sad and dark period for our nation that an accused criminal ex-president is the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination.
I confess that I hadn’t thought of it this way but I think it’s absolutely right:
Good news about the electorate Pollsters Celinda Lake and Mac Heller discuss the changing age demographics of American voters: It’s easy to envision the 2024 presidential election becoming the third straight contest in which a veteran Democrat goes up against Donald Trump. Once again, the Democrat wins the popular vote but swing states are tighter. Could go either way — and has, right? But things are very different this time, and here’s why: The candidates might not be changing — but the electorate has. Every year, about 4 million Americans turn 18 and gain the right to vote. In the eight years between the 2016 and 2024 elections, that’s 32 million new eligible voters. Also every year, 2½ million older Americans die. So in the same eight years, that’s as many as 20 million fewer older voters. Which means that between Trump’s election in 2016 and the 2024 election, the number of Gen Z (born in the late 1990s and early 2010s) voters will have advanced by a net 52 million against older people. That’s about 20 percent of the total 2020 eligible electorate of 258 million Americans.
This is a perfect example of how the little cogs in his mind creak to life to cover for the fact that he knows fuck-all about what she’s talking about. Think about all the times he’s said exactly that, “we’re working on that”, “we have a plan” “It’s so ridiculous”, “It’ll be easy.” He’s said that about everything from health care to nuclear weapons to COVID 19. He’s very stupid but his ego demands that he pretend he knows everything. We’ve all met people like this in our lives. What continues to astonish me is that at least some of his followers must be able to see that he’s completely clueless but they cheer anyway. I guess they just admire liars. Used car salesmen must see them coming a mile away…
He’s not good at this Jonathan Chait points out that he just refuses answer questions and he does it so obviously that even gullible GOP voters can see it: Florida governor Ron DeSantis abandoned his policy of only speaking to Republican Party–aligned media by giving an interview to CNN’s Jake Tapper. Unfortunately, taking questions is just one part of doing an interview. The other part is answering them. DeSantis conspicuously refused to answer any of the most newsworthy questions posed to him. Tapper asked DeSantis if he would sign a national six-week abortion ban like the one he signed in Florida: “Yes or no, will you support that?” DeSantis did not say yes or no: Tapper asked if he would stop arming Ukraine or stop giving it financial support. DeSantis did not answer that, either. Instead, he framed the question as being about sending American troops there. “A vital national interest means we would send troops to Ukraine.” He eventually said, “I am not gonna diminish our stocks, and not send to Taiwan, and not gonna make us less capable to exigencies.
Today, July 18 2023, is the 20,000th day I’ve been on Earth. It feels like a big occasion. That big counter only turns over about once every 27 years or so. This 10K chunk — what the ancient Greeks called a myriad — is about as big a segment of life that I can conceive … Continue reading 20,000 Days