A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
A Little Housekeeping
I promised to circle back on some of the notable news last week that was drowned out by the major stories of the day. This is an effort to sweep up some of those loose ends.
Judge Puts Trump On Full Blast
With all the other news last week, you may have missed the withering treatment Donald Trump received from the federal judge in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Trump’s motion for a new trial and upheld the $83 million damages award in Carroll’s favor. In doing so, the judge raked Trump over the coals for his ongoing defamation of Carroll, his repeated instances of defamation, and his demeanor during the trial.
The full opinion is here.
The judge rejected Trump’s use of comparable cases to argue that the compensatory damages awarded Carroll were excessive: “None of these prior examples involved publication of defamations as widespread and destructive as Mr. Trump’s defamation of Ms. Carroll, and none involved a publisher of defamation who was a president of the United States or anyone nearly as high-profile.”
But it was Trump’ conduct in court that drew the most ire from the judge. In finding that the punitive damages awarded Carroll were appropriate, the judge wrote:
But beyond his out-of-court statements disparaging Ms. Carroll during trial — many of which were introduced in evidence — the jury could have found that Mr. Trump’s demeanor and conduct in the courtroom itself put his hatred and disdain on full display. Mr. Trump could be heard repeatedly complaining to his counsel about the proceedings, so much so that plaintiff’s counsel twice requested that the Court instruct him to stop. In particular, during Ms. Carroll’s testimony, the jury could have found, Mr. Trump could be heard making audible comments that Ms. Carroll’s testimony was false, that the proceedings were a “witch hunt” and a “con job,” and most notably, that his earlier statements disparaging Ms. Carroll were “true.” And, most dramatically, mere minutes after plaintiff’s counsel began her closing argument, Mr. Trump conspicuously stood and walked out of the courtroom for no apparent reason save to evidence his disapproval, though he was present again when Court resumed later that morning and remained for his own counsel’s entire summation.
This case will be wending its way through appeals for a while, so don’t expect Carroll to begin collecting on her judgment any time soon.
No Trump Trial Today
The hush-money trial resumes Tuesday.
Meanwhile, TPM’s Josh Kovensky assesses the two days of cross examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker by Trump lawyer Emil Bove.
Arizona Fake Elector Elected To RNC
CNN: “Arizona state Sen. Jake Hoffman, one of the so-called fake electors charged in the Arizona 2020 election subversion case, announced Saturday that he’s been elected as a Republican National Committee national committeeman for the state.”
Trump II Takes Aim At The Fed, Too
WSJ: “Donald Trump’s allies are quietly drafting proposals that would attempt to erode the Federal Reserve’s independence if the former president wins a second term, in the midst of a deepening divide among his advisers over how aggressively to challenge the central bank’s authority.”
What Being A Target Of Trump Looks Like
Lisa Page, the former FBI attorney whose affair with Peter Strzok became endless fodder for Donald Trump delegitimization of the Mueller investigation, was in court last week trying to convince a judge to do more to protect her from a stalker about whom the FBI had allegedly failed to warn her:
In mid-December, Mr. Perez showed up at least four times at Ms. Page’s house in Washington, making a bizarre claim that she had been witness to his childhood sexual abuse, even though the two had never met, according to a warrant from the Metropolitan Police Department. During one visit, he interacted with Ms. Page’s 11-year-old son.
The man pleaded guilty to misdemeanor stalking and was barred from the DC area for six months and ordered to attend six therapy sessions.
ICYMI …
Mother Jones: “In a little-noticed court filing earlier this month, federal prosecutors described Steve Bannon as a “co-conspirator” in a massive criminal fraud and racketeering case against a flamboyant, far-right Chinese fugitive, compounding the legal headaches of the former Donald Trump adviser.”
‘Turning The Oval Office Into The Seat Of Criminal Activity’
Still reeling over that insane Supreme Court argument on presidential immunity Thursday. Two moments standout as especially jarring, for totally opposite reasons.
The first is Justice Samuel Alito going to the unthinkable place that without immunity presidents may just never leave the Oval Office:
The second is Ketanji Brown Jackson fully appreciating the real impact of Alito’s ahistorical line of thinking:
Others also still sifting through the rubble of that oral argument:
- Steve Vladeck: “I’m worried because there appear to be five or more justices who think that they have an obligation to do more than is required in the instant case—apparently without regard for the very real institutional and political costs such a move could (and, I fear, would) incur.”
- Politico: Trump immunity fight turns Supreme Court textualists topsy-turvy
- Marty Lederman: A few preliminary reactions to the oral argument in Trump v. United States
An Especially Chilling Death Penalty Case
Chris Geidner reports on an unusual case where the Republican attorney general of Oklahoma can’t convince a state court to throw out a death row inmate’s conviction, despite admitted prosecutorial misconduct, so is now seeking relief from the Supreme Court.
2024 Ephemera
- WaPo: “Former president Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis met privately Sunday morning in Miami, according to people familiar with the matter, breaking a years-long chill between the presumptive Republican nominee and his onetime chief primary rival.
- MI-Sen: Former Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) has dropped out of the GOP primary for U.S. Senate.
- NYT: Donald Trump Has Never Sounded Like This
- Sign of the times:
Strange Times
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O/T but well worth reading
Why are cars in the US so big? The policies that ruined American cars, explained. - Vox
Dangerous, polluting SUVs and pickups took over America. Lawmakers are partly to blame.
The expanding size of automobiles — a phenomenon I call car bloat — has deepened a slew of national problems. Take road safety: Unlike peer nations, the US has endured a steep rise in traffic deaths, with fatalities among pedestrians and cyclists, who are at elevated risk in a crash with a huge car, recently hitting 40-year highs. Vehicle occupants face danger as well. A 2019 study concluded that compared to a smaller vehicle, an SUV or a pickup colliding with a smaller car was 28 percent and 159 percent, respectively, more likely to kill that car’s driver.
Car bloat also threatens the planet. Because heavier vehicles require more energy to move, they tend to gulp rather than sip the gasoline or electricity that powers them, increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Extra weight also accelerates the erosion of roadways and tires, straining highway maintenance budgets and releasing microplastics that damage ecosystems.
For half a century, a litany of federal policies has favored large SUVs and trucks, pushing automakers and American buyers toward larger models. Instead of counteracting car bloat through regulation, policymakers have subtly encouraged it. That has been a boon for car companies, but a disaster for everyone else.
Those concerns proved justified. The average vehicle footprint expanded 6 percent between 2008 and 2023, a “historic high,” according to an EPA report, which also found that some carmakers, such as General Motors, actually had lower average fuel economy and higher average carbon emissions in 2022 than in 2017. To its credit, the EPA recently announced revisions to its vehicle GHG rules that would narrow (but not close) the gaps between standards for large and small cars.
The Hummer Tax Loophole
In 1984, Congress stopped allowing small business owners to take a tax deduction for the purchase price of cars used for work. But the bill included a giant loophole: To protect those who need a heavy-duty vehicle (think farmers or construction workers), Congress made an exception, known as Section 179, for cars that weigh over 6,000 pounds when fully loaded with passengers and cargo. Today such behemoths are eligible for a tax deduction of up to $30,500, while business owners who opt for a smaller car can claim nothing at all.
“We don’t like Kristi very much, thank you!”
Dem Ruben Gallego leads Kari Lake 39% to 34% in an April 11th poll on 538
Something TPM has barely covered is potentially going to affect the election. The student protests over Gaza have pretty much dominated the MSM, pumped up by right-wing media influencers in the same way Matt Drudge got the MSM to obsess over Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky.
As the article below points out, for the media, Gaza is no longer about the death and misery there, it’s about kids misbehaving on US campuses. My own take is that campus protests have simply never worked. The 1960s antiwar protests on which all subsequent campus protests seem to be based didn’t shorten the war by a single day – on the contrary, by polarizing opinions over Vietnam, they hardened pro-war sentiment and helped kick off the culture wars for the next several decades. They helped get Reagan elected governor and Nixon elected twice.
The Right is looking for another BLM to fire up the base. The protesters really should ask themselves if the standard-model campus protest isn’t just ineffective, but counterproductive. My fear is that the protests won’t save a single life in the Middle East, but may contribute to electing Trump.