Given that Republican opposition to dropping the filibuster constitutes an iron wall as long as Democrats are in power, and given that there appears to be at least one and quite possibly two Democrats who are absolutely opposed to abolishing the filibuster, it’s pretty easy to get pessimistic about the prospects of any more legislation for the next two years after the COVID relief bill passes. The one discordant fact is that the people who’ve worked this issue the longest – the diehard filibuster reformers who’ve made it a cause – are not that pessimistic. And these aren’t the kind of activists who keep their juices flowing by always imagining that victory is around the corner. And we should note that they talk about ‘reforming’ the filibuster rather than abolishing it.

A small update on the pattern that Matt Shuham highlighted yesterday involving the COVID-19 vaccine, GOP donors and Florida’s Republican governor: The state’s highest ranking elected Democrat is calling on the FBI to investigate the matter.

I’m really not sure whether I agree with this or not. I need to think it over. But TPM Reader JG is a sharp guy. And he makes some interesting and compelling points …

a couple thoughts about Jan 6: What was striking about yesterday’s Senate Comm Hearing was the non-presence of former senior Defense Dept officials who could answer the obvious questions about the delay in authorizing Nat’l Guard support despite urgent requests and the withdrawal of prior independent tasking authority for DC Guard authorities. Are they being investigated for criminal acts (sedition, eg) and thus their testimony would raise 5th A problems? The replacement of Esper et al with more Trumpist actings for the final few weeks certainly raise questions about anticipation and coordination of the Jan 6 events and call for investigation of communication with the WH on Jan 5 and 6.

More generally: pushing for a 1/6 Commission is a bad idea.

Meet Meet Mary Anne Clarkson and John Merlino, the two Senate employees who have to read out the entire 628 page text of the COVID relief bill because Sen. Ron Johnson and his colleagues thought it would be a cute delaying tactic. They’re two hours in and about 100 pages through.

New Republic staff writer Alex Pareene joined us on the podcast this week to talk all things Andrew Cuomo, the Capitol insurrection and the future of the filibuster. You can watch the Zoom recording of our conversation below:

Follow us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is one of the most concerning installments yet in the much-too-early-but-inevitable political musings about 2024.

During an appearance on Fox News’ Sean Hannity last night, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a pretty firm “maybe” to the prospects of running for president in 2024 — a prospect that his former boss has already called dibs on in the strongest possible terms.

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One of the issues we’re focused on in the post-Trump presidency era is the series of developments which have made the threat of political violence a constituent part of American politics in a way it hasn’t been in many decades or perhaps as far back as the 19th century. This is largely due to ex-President Trump. But it involves trends which predated him and ones he began but now have a life of their own. This will be one of the organizing focuses of our coverage for the foreseeable future.

We have a pretty stark example of it actually today.

Steve Bannon was, of course, among the 100-plus people Trump pardoned during his last months and days and minutes in office. But there’s been speculation since the pardon was issued about how much weight it would actually hold — Bannon had only been charged, but not convicted, of allegedly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a border wall crowd-funding campaign for personal use.

Here’s a really fascinating interview New York Magazine’s Eric Levitz did with David Shor, a left-wing Democrat public opinion data guy whose analyses of public opinion and voting often confound Democratic orthodoxies, often supporting arguments advanced by more right-leaning factions within the Democratic party. It’s worth your time to read.

Long gone are the excuses of yesteryear that a Fox News personality’s seemingly partisan appearance was merely a journalist performing his or her journalistic duties.