Republicans So Badly Want To Run Against The Black Guy

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

If You Can’t Beat Biden, Run Against Obama Instead?

A lot has been made of Donald Trump’s string of gaffes in which he either confuses Barack Obama for Joe Biden, asserts Obama is still president, or claims he beat Obama (they never ran against each other). The gaffes are so frequent that Trump issued a lame “explanation” for it last fall, claiming that in fact it was on purpose.

A sign of cognitive decline? Perhaps.

But it’s hard not to get the sense that there is a certain kind of truth in the gaffes. Whatever Biden’s weaknesses as a candidate, he has all the privileges and immunities of being an old white guy. He can’t be vilified by Republicans in quite the same way as Obama or Hillary Clinton. It’s got to hurt to have your ready-made racist and misogynistic attacks sitting unused in your rhetorical armory.

I’m not saying that Republicans are going to spend the next seven months pretending that Barack Obama is president so that they can stoke the darkest MAGA impulses and unleash their full fury at Democrats. Nope, not saying that at all:

Flanked by American flag home decor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) covered a lot of weird ground in that interview with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon – but Biden as Obama’s puppet is a marvelous bit of misdirection. It’s almost as if having given away immigration as their centerpiece issue by killing the immigration bill they actually liked, MAGA Republicans are casting about for a new organizing theme for their vitriol. Blame the Black guy must feel so comfortable and familiar.

Now, both can be true: Trump is slipping, getting easily confused about who is president and Trump and his minions are operating in a mental space where it’s easy to slip into attacking the Black guy because it fits with all their priors.

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Trump Goes After Trial Judge’s Daughter By Name

Donald Trump ramped up his attacks on the daughter of the trial judge in his hush-money case, calling her out by name in a post on his Truth Social platform. The gag order state Judge Juan Merchan imposed this week does not include restrictions on attacking him or his family, and Trump is taking full advantage of the carveout.

This is, of course, only the latest in a months’ long series of Trump attacks on judges, court workers, prosecutors, witnesses, and others, with full awareness of the risk of inciting further threats and potential violence.

It led to an extraordinary move last night by senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who sits in DC and has heard some of the Jan. 6 rioter cases to go on CNN and decry Trump’s attacks. I can’t remember anything like this ever happening before. It is beyond unusual:

The Last Bastion Of Institutionalism?

Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes discuss the unexpected role that state bar authorities are playing in providing some measure of accountability for the 2020 coup attempt, even as other elements of the legal profession struggle to come to grips with the scale and scope of the threat to democracy:

The Great Voter Fraud Bamboozlement

Once again the party that invented the myth of widespread voter fraud seems to have the hardest time not engaging in voter fraud. This time around it’s the vice chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, who illegally voted nine times while serving probation for felony check forgery.

2024 Ephemera

• Biden raises $25 million at NYC campaign event with Presidents Obama and Clinton.
• NYT: How Trump Paid $100 Million in Legal Fees
• RFK Jr’s veep pick has long denounced IVF as “one of the biggest lies that’s being told about women’s health today.”

Senate Dems Not Covering Themselves In Glory

With Biden nominee Adeel Mangi under sustained Islamophobic attack from Republicans because he would be the first Muslim American appeals court judge, Senate Democrats are not uniting around him en masse but rather letting him twist in the wind.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) this week became the third Democratic senator to abandon Mangi, joining Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).

SBF Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison

The 32-year-old crypto-king’s 25-year federal prison sentence was less than the 40-50 years sought by prosecutors.

Have A Great Weekend!

Baseball is back. It’s my favorite weekend of the men’s NCAA tourney. Caitlin Clark’s Iowa team plays again Saturday in the women’s tourney. What’s not to love as a sport fan?

And if sports is not your thing, the days are longer and warmer and you know what to do.

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