A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Welp, Guess This Is Happening
The former 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate has made good on her threat to suggestion that she’ll run for late Rep. Don Young’s (R-AK) seat in Alaska’s special election, and announced a bid on Friday.
- Trump endorsed Palin, one of his earliest high-profile backers in 2016, on Sunday while making sure to take a shot at her late running mate and his nemesis, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). According to Trump, Palin “lifted the McCain presidential campaign out of the dumps” and “had to endure some very evil, stupid, and jealous people within the campaign itself.”
- Palin decided to run after Trump privately encouraged her to do so, according to Fox News.
- Republicans in Alaska weren’t, uh, expecting this lil development, and they aren’t super confident about the ex-Alaska governor’s odds of winning this thing.
Jackson On Track For Historic Confirmation This Week
It begins today: The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet this morning to vote on Supreme Court pick Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation as the high court’s first-ever Black woman justice. The vote will almost certainly end in a deadlock, given the committee’s even split.
- That’ll mean Senate Democrats will have to vote to “discharge” her confirmation to the floor for a full chamber vote. They’re hoping hold that full vote as soon as this Thursday, but we’ll see what Republicans might do to drag out this whole process.
GOP Sen. Bemoans SCOTUS Politicization His Party Started
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) is Quite Concerned that we might be entering an era “where the only way to confirm a Supreme Court nominee is the party of the president has to be in control of the Senate,” he told the Wall Street Journal.
- “And I’m pretty certain that the founders didn’t have that in mind,” he added. Maybe there’s a Senate party leader Cramer can talk to about that!
Multiple Suspects Opened Fire In Sacramento Shooting, Police Say
The authorities are on a manhunt for “multiple shooters” who were allegedly involved in a deadly shooting in Sacramento, California on Sunday, the Sacramento Police Department reported. Six people were killed and another 12 injured in the shooting, according to the police.
Biden Privately Called Rupert Murdoch World’s ‘Most Dangerous Man,’ According To New Book
The President hasn’t said much about Fox Corporation chair Rupert Murdoch in public, but Biden’s raked the right-wing media mogul, plus Fox News, behind closed doors, according to an upcoming book about Biden’s presidency by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns titled “This Will Not Pass.”
- Murdoch is “the most dangerous man in the world,” Biden reportedly told an associate last year, and Fox News is “one of the most destructive forces in the United States.”
Hungarian PM Orbán Declares Zelensky His Opponent
Far-right Hungarian Prime Minister (and hero to American conservatives, most notably Fox News host Tucker Carlson) Viktor Orbán won his reelection bid on Sunday. In his victory speech, Orbán pointed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who’s been trying to fend off Russia’s invasion of his country for over a month now, as one of the “opponents” the Hungarian strongman had to overcome in the election.
- Hungary’s been one of the more reluctant European Union nations to help Ukraine amid Russia’s attack: Hungary has refused to send weapons to Ukraine during Russia’s attack, and opposes a ban on Russian energy imports, upon which Hungary relies on heavily.
- Zelensky has slammed Orbán as “virtually the only one in Europe to openly support” Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Last month, the Ukrainian president compared Orbán’s hesitation to respond to the crisis to WWII-era inaction against the mass killing of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Obama’s Coming Back (For A Bit)
Former President Barack Obama’s making a return to the White House on Tuesday to tout the Affordable Care Act with Biden, NBC News reports. It’ll be the first time since Biden’s inauguration that the ex-president and his former vice president appear together in D.C.
Must Reads On Amazon Union Push
“Amazon Warehouse Workers Just Redefined What’s Possible for U.S. Labor” – Bloomberg
“How Two Best Friends Beat Amazon” – The New York Times
GOP Governor Roasts ‘Fucking Crazy’ Trump
With less to lose after deciding against a Senate bid, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) ripped into Trump during a D.C. dinner with politicians and journalists on Saturday.
- Trump’s “fucking crazy,” Sununu declared, and if the ex-president were to be institutionalized, “he ain’t getting out!”
- House Jan. 6 Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who also spoke at the event, described the Republican governor’s remarks as “the kind of insurrection the GOP needs today.”
- Raskin also fired this lil zinger at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL): “Look, it’s really tough to find a rental tuxedo this time of year: It’s high school prom season, and Matt Gaetz keeps getting the tuxedos that I want.”
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Raskin’s comment about gaetz was hilarious, as was his comment about roy blunt. Jamie’s a funny guy and his humor is a welcome relief from the typical political story from Washington these days.
Pfft. More chaos from Lord of Misrule. I used to love it when they talked about his “political instincts”; he had to have that, the pundits assumed, since he’d been successful and there was no apparent work or thought put into anything he did in that or any other realm. That’s obvious here. He. Has. One. Criterion. and I won’t insult you by saying what it is. I’m pretty sure Alaskans remember when Sarah just up and quit. She was destined for far greater things, or so she assumed, and the mere governorship of some oddball non-contiguous state was far too lowly a position for one such as she. She’ll get back to D.C. where the action is, baby, so look out, world! Sarah’s back!
“…evil, stupid and jealous” – donnie
So, he does look in a mirror.
I’m sitting here in northern NH and yes, I can see Maine from here. There is a lasting legacy of Palinisms that will never die.
She’ll always be the innovator who introduced complete buffoonery into national-level politics.