The Bulwark’s JV Last distilled what we all know about the GOP and their voters into a nice concise analysis: Roughly speaking, there are six things an elected Republican could say about an indictment of Donald Trump: 1.Trump’s alleged actions are deeply concerning.2.Let the legal process play out; I have faith in our justice system.3.No comment.4.Yes, Trump’s alleged actions are concerning; but because of various externalities, the wiser course of action would have been to not indict.5.Democrats and this Soros-backed prosecutor are out of control. We will fight this to the bitter end.6.Donald Trump is innocent of all charges; this is a miscarriage of justice. This is not science, but my sense is that the distribution of these positions among elite Republicans will look basically like this:¹ The two unlabeled slivers are “These allegations are troubling” and “wiser not to indict.” I peg them at 1% positions. Maybe I’m off at the margins But this is close enough for the purposes of our discussion. So let’s move on.
Uncategorized
It looks like the Manhattan DA prosecutes a lot of people for the crimes Trump is suspected of committing: According to the Times, it’s still a tricky case with the need to attach it to the federal election crime in order to make it a felony, but nobody can say that they don’t ever try people for crimes like this.
Has he met any teenagers? These people are living in a dream world. Do they think that teens and young adults are docile cows they can herd at will? Ridiculous: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ′ administration is moving to forbid classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the controversial law critics call “Don’t Say Gay” as the Republican governor continues a focus on cultural issues ahead of his expected presidential run. The proposal, which would not require legislative approval, is scheduled for a vote next month before the state Board of Education and has been put forth by state Education Department, both of which are led by appointees of the governor. The rule change would ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4 to 12, unless required by existing state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that students can choose not to take. The initial law that DeSantis championed last spring bans those lessons in kindergarten through the third grade. The change was first reported by the Orlando Sentinel. Hey keep it up guys.
Actually, it’s today’s GOP Not to mention that this longstanding argument has always been ridiculous. They truly believe that if only Hitler hadn’t tightened some gun laws for Jews and “undesirables,” there would have been no holocaust. Really? Jews were less than 1% of the population. And in case they haven’t noticed, Hitler conquered most of Europe. I don’t really think the German Jews could have held him off with some pistols. It’s so ludicrous it makes you want to scream. But the gun nuts have been saying this for years and now the party itself using actual holocaust images to make their sick, absurd point.
Jim Jordan doing his MAGA thing From Pro Publica: House Republicans have sent letters to at least three universities and a think tank requesting a broad range of documents related to what it says are the institutions’ contributions to the Biden administration’s “censorship regime.” The letters are the latest effort by a House subcommittee set up in January to investigate how the federal government, working with social media companies, has allegedly been “weaponized” to silence conservative and right-wing voices. So far, the committee’s investigations have amplified a variety of dubious, outright false and highly misleading Republican grievances with law enforcement, many of them espoused by former President Donald Trump. Committee members have cited supposed abuses that include the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, its investigations of Jan. 6 rioters and the Biden administration’s purported use of executive powers to shut down conservative viewpoints on social media.
It’s a reflex Running for U.S. Senate is a pricey proposition. Candidates spent on average over $10 million a decade ago and nearly double that by 2016. The Citizens United decision means outside groups now pour in even more than candidates. With Democrats outraising Republicans in the Trump era, the GOP more than ever is looking to oligarchs for candidates who can self-fund (Politico): Both parties have relied on self-funders before. But this approach has taken on increasing importance for Republicans because they failed to counter Democrats’ massive grassroots fundraising in Senate races during the past two cycles. In 2022 alone, Democratic nominees outraised Republicans by $288 million in the six closest Senate races. The strategy is also an acknowledgment that the party’s reliance on super PACs funded by its richest supporters has been insufficient. In the last two elections, Republicans were unsuccessful in stopping Democrats from nabbing a narrow majority in the upper chamber.
“Serious creativity” lacking from the left There isn’t a lot of outside-the-box thinking among Democrats. For all the Left’s attraction to novelty and appreciation for creativity, stepping outside their safe spaces is not something many established Democratic operatives do. They color inside the lines Republicans ignore. Greg Sargent warns that should Donald Trump be indicted by the Manhattan district attorney’s office over his concealing hush-money payments to a porn star, Democrats seem unprepared to meet both the moment and the expected Republican backlash: Democrats will have to marshal some serious creativity in response. The extraordinary move by House Republicans to insert themselves into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation of Trump provides Democrats with an opening to do just that. This week, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and other top Republicans sent a letter to Bragg demanding documents and testimony related to expectations that Bragg might charge Trump over a hush-money payment to a porn actress in 2016.
I’ve been wondering about this too. From what I can tell, MSNBC is maintaining its anti-Trump stance but CNN is going to do a modified Crossfire strategy with a Trump liar on one side, a DeSantis toady on another and a reporter in the middle. Think about how that goes. Puck’s Tara Palmieri and Dylan Byers discussed the possibilities today: Tara: … Beyond Fox, how do you think the rest of the networks will cover Trump and other candidates on the campaign trail? I’m not seeing a lot of Trump, while Glenn Youngkin and Mike Pence both got “town hall” events at CNN. How do they rate? And will we see more of them? Dylan: Well, we know what MSNBC’s posture will likely be: “a pox on all their houses.” The open question—and it will be fascinating to watch—is CNN. In its new iteration under Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN has positioned itself as a nonpartisan, news-first outlet catering to Republicans and Democrats alike.
Trump’s rally can’t be a coincidence. Even he isn’t that clueless. I don’t know if Trump will mention this at his rally on the 30th, but you can bet that the violent, anti-government extremists in this country — and there are many — will see this as a signal. Former President Donald Trump – launching his bid to return to the White House even as he rallies supporters to protest against an arrest he claims is impending – chose an auspicious location for one of his earliest rallies for the 2024 election: the city of Waco, Texas. The rally, planned for Saturday, will fall during the 30th anniversary of the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. Federal agents, aiming to arrest cult leader David Koresh, surrounded his walled compound in an armed standoff that lasted more than a month. It ended in a botched raid that left 76 people, including 25 children, dead. This is very bad.
But can Dear Leader ever really trust him again? This is just … pathetic: BO SNERDLEY (HOST): Tucker, listen, I’ve had a number of people saying they read all these things in the paper — “You hate Trump blah, blah, blah.” But this it — does Tucker like Trump’s policies, any policies of his? What’s the deal with you and Donald Trump? TUCKER CARLSON (GUEST): Oh, let’s see. I spent four years defending his policies and I — I’m going to defend them again tonight. And actually, and I’m pretty straight forward, I’m — I love Trump. Like, as a person, I think Trump is funny and insightful. And and I said this to Trump when he called me, you know, all wounded about those texts. That was a moment in time where I was absolutely infuriated. And I think this is in the text — and those were all grabbed completely illegitimately, in my opinion, in this court case, which I guess I’m not allowed to talk about, but I’m enraged that my private texts were pulled.