A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Who He Really Is
If you came of age in the crime wave of the ’80s and ’90s, you were witness to the national debate over whether former federal prosecutor turned New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was a racist targeting people of color or a no-nonsense crimefighter applying a tough hand to a difficult situation. Those aren’t mutually exclusive, by the way. Both can be true.
We can settle the racist part of the debate now (was any doubt left?) — and throw in misogynist as a special bonus — after Giuliani’s sexualized rant Friday directed at Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis.
In video of his appearance at former Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn’s far-right Reawaken America conference posted by Mother Jones’ Stephanie Mencimer, Giuliani played to the crowd in the most base and craven way:
Recall how we got to this point: It was Giuliani who famously smeared Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, both Black women. That seems to have been a catalyzing reason that Willis undertook to bring the sprawling RICO case against Giuliani, Trump and more than a dozen other co-defendants. Freeman and Moss subsequently won a nearly $150 million defamation judgment forcing Giuliani into bankruptcy. But he still didn’t stop, continuing to defame them regularly even after losing that lawsuit, until he finally agreed in recent days to cease and desist as part of the bankruptcy settlement.
With Freeman and Moss no longer viable targets, Giuliani has turned his ire to another Black woman. Contrast that with the situation in Arizona, where Giuliani is also facing criminal charges brought by Attorney General Kris Mayes for his effort to subvert the 2020 election. No “ho” comments from Rudy for Mayes, who is a white woman.
Perhaps we’ll eventually get to see whether the criminal justice system will come down as hard on a white man for calling his Black prosecutor a “ho” as we might expect if it were a Black man in the dock.
What Trump’s Revenge Really Means
In the media, this story tends to be framed as follows: Will Trump seek “revenge” for his legal travails, or won’t he? But that framing unwittingly lets Trump set the terms of this debate. It implies that he is vowing to do to Democrats what was done to him.
But that’s not what Trump is actually threatening. Whereas Trump is being prosecuted on the basis of evidence that law enforcement gathered before asking grand juries to indict him, he is expressly declaring that he will prosecute President Biden and Democrats solely because this is what he endured, meaning explicitly that evidence will not be the initiating impulse.
Trump Sits For Probation Office Interview Today
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled today sit for a virtual pre-sentencing interview with a probation officer in the New York hush money case.
Keep An Eye On This …
The judge in the hush-money case alerted Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors Friday to a commenter who posted on the court system’s Facebook page claiming to be a cousin of a juror and possess inside knowledge of the jury’s deliberations before it rendered a verdict. Initial indication are that it’s probably a troll and not a real compromise of jury proceedings.
Clarence Thomas Fesses Up … Sorta
The freebies given to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow that were first unearthed by ProPublica have now been officially reported by Thomas in an amended 2019 financial disclosure report. Thomas claims the gifts were “inadvertently omitted.”
More On Russ Vought And Trump II
The WaPo has its own version of the story on the shadow cabinet being assembled by pro-Trumpers in anticipation of a Trump II encore. This version also fronts Russ Vought, the OMB director in Trump I, as a central figure and touts him as a possible Trump II White House chief of staff. For the moment, Vought is the policy director for the 2024 platform committee of the RNC.
Failing Upward
Ed Martin, a former chairman of the Missouri Republican Party who was big supporter of Trump’s “Stop the Steal” effort in 2020, has been hired by the RNC to help shape the party’s 2024 platform, Sahil Kapur and Ryan J. Reilly report for NBC News.
Hard To Figure What’s Going On Here
Cause …
- WaPo: Republicans pitch tax cuts for corporations, the wealthy in 2025
- WSJ: At End of Trump Tax Cuts, Progressives See Leverage to Target the Rich
Effect…
- Politico: Wall Street titans shake off qualms and embrace Trump
I Can’t Get Enough Of These Stories
Politico: How vulnerable GOP lawmakers are taking credit for an infrastructure law they opposed
The Jury Could Get The Hunter Biden Case Today
Expected today in the trial of the president’s son on federal gun charges in Delaware: A spare defense case by Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell, closing arguments, and then the jury gets the case.
Biden Admin. Sets New MPG Standards
The new fuel efficiency standards for the U.S. auto and light truck fleet are weaker than initially proposed but still raise the targets for passenger cars from 48.7 mpg to 65 mpg and for light trucks (including SUVs) from 35.1 mpg to 45 mpg by 2031.
Carbon Dioxide Levels Surge Faster Than Ever
NOAA, last week: “Carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever — accelerating on a steep rise to levels far above any experienced during human existence …”
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Were it possible Rudy would debase himself.
I am happy for the 4 Israeli hostages who were rescued. However, the operation was in no way a real hostage rescue mission. 20 years ago (so my information may be somewhat dated) I did extensive research on hostage rescue and special forces missions for a project I was working on. Hostage rescue missions are extremely high-risk operations conducted by elite teams. They are meticulously planned, surgical operations that often incur high casualties among both the hostage rescue teams (HRT) and the subject hostages.
From that perspective, look at the IDF operation. If Hamas can be believed, 3 hostages were killed in the operation, which would mean a loss of 40% of the hostages, which sadly, is probably not particularly unusual. What is remarkable is the number of civilians killed. If the 274 figure is accurate, that would mean 68.5 civilians killed for each hostage rescued. This suggests that the IDF simply does not care how many civilians are killed in its operations.
But for me, the real tell is that only 1 IDF soldier was killed in the operation (Please correct me if I am wrong). This suggests that ‘force protection’, minimizing IDF casualties, is a far higher priority for the IDF than actually rescuing hostages. One of the rescued hostages explained in an interview that ‘A missile struck a nearby building and I thought I was going to die’. What HRT fires missiles in proximity to their rescue targets? I don’t think the military of any advanced country would consider the latest IDF mission to be a real HRT operation.
It is impossible to predict the lowest lengths to which these criminals will descend.
https://archive.is/A2g7d
Video of the ad at the Daily Beast site.