Gingrich Clutches Pearls Over Fetterman’s Tattoo Because Gangs And Heroin And Hide Your Kids!

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Morality Authority Speaks

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) is desperately sticking to the GOP’s extremely weird new line of attack claiming that Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman has gang ties, though Gingrich has an added a special twist: Heroin.

• Gingrich zeroed in on Fetterman’s “I Will Make You Hurt” tattoo on Fox last night, which the Republican claimed was “either a reference to a song in favor of heroin use” or “was a tribute to the Crips, which was a Los Angeles-based, very violent gang.”
• “These people verge on being sick,” said Gingrich, who divorced his first wife as she was being treated for cancer.

Reality alert: Fetterman’s tattoo is a reference to “Hurt,” a well-known song by Nine Inch Nails that has literally nothing to do with the Crips.

Hurricane Barrels Toward South Carolina After Slamming Florida

Biden has declared a state of emergency as Hurricane Ian makes its way to South Carolina, leaving a devastating trail of destruction in Florida.

Senate Dodges Shutdown With Spending Bill

The Senate on Thursday approved must-pass legislation in a bipartisan vote to keep the government funded until ​​Dec. 16.

• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was forced to cut his proposed permitting reform from the bill after Republicans abruptly dropped their support for it out of spite over his deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on climate and drug pricing legislation.
• Insider reports a troubling moment with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) right before the vote in which the 89-year-old Democrat (who’s been increasingly struggling with her cognitive health) got frustrated with her aides as they tried to prepare her for the vote. At one point, Feinstein reportedly snapped, “I don’t even know what that is” when they asked if she had questions about the measure.
• The House is expected to take up the spending bill today before government funding expires at midnight.

Ginni Thomas Regurgitated Big Lie During Jan. 6 Panel Testimony, Chair Says

Hardline MAGA activist Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, had her voluntary interview with the House Jan. 6 Committee yesterday. It turns out that if you’re as dedicated to the Big Lie cause as she is, then you’ll keep insisting the 2020 election was stolen even while under oath.

Cannon Rescues Trump From Having To Back Up His Bullshit

Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday threw out special master Judge Raymond Dearie’s order that would’ve required Trump to actually substantiate his accusations that the FBI planted evidence in its Mar-a-Lago raid. Cannon also gave Trump another boost by extending the deadline for Dearie to wrap up his review to Dec. 16. 

Putin Set To Officially Annex Ukrainian Regions

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is holding a ceremony today to sign what the Kremlin calls “accession treaties” that would illegally annex the four regions in Ukraine (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia) where Russia held fake referendums.

• Russia fired a missile at a civilian convoy in Zaporizhzhia that killed at least 25 people on Friday morning, according to Ukrainian officials.
• The U.S. and the E.U. are expected to slap new sanctions on Russia in response to the annexation.

SCOTUS’ Crumbling Legitimacy By The Numbers

Americans’ trust in the Supreme Court is plummeting to historic lows, according to a new Gallup poll, which notes that people’s opinions of the high court overall in terms of trust, job approval and confidence are “the worst they have been in 50 years of polling.”

• 47 percent say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in SCOTUS, the lowest number recorded. It’s a staggering 20-point drop from 2020.
• SCOTUS’ job approval figures are astonishingly terrible too: Disapproval is at 58 percent, an all-time high.
• People are seeing the right-wing partisan hackery that’s infected the high court: A record high number of Americans say SCOTUS is “too conservative.”
• But don’t you dare suggest the high court is losing its legitimacy, or else Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito will wag his finger at you for crossing what he calls “an important line.”

Key Analysis

“What the urban-rural split in the 118th Congress will look like” – The Washington Post

Wake Up, Sheeple

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Correction: John Fetterman is the Democratic nominee for Senate not governor. We regret the error.