A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
What Winning Looks Like
Like the infrastructure week of lore, Trump’s promise to finally take a position on what a post-Dobbs world should look like had all the makings of a kick the can down the road epic. That turned out to be both true and selling Trump a bit short. In a video released this morning, Trump seems to have made “kick the can” his official position.
He didn’t come out in favor of a 15-week ban. He didn’t come out for or against anything in particular, other than “winning.” His default position, he claimed, will be to leave it to the states. Some states may enact more liberal abortion laws and some may enact more conservative ones, and that’s okay with him, Trump said.
Trump telegraphed his “winning” equation in a weekend post:
This line from this morning’s video is for ages, an attempt at bombast followed by an immediate collapse into fecklessness: “Whatever they decide must be the LAW OF THE LAND, in this case the law of the state.”
But let’s not leave the misimpression that Trump spoke in coherent sentences or a logical structure. He threw out a few conceptual frameworks, like “life” and “babies” and “winning.” But he stopped short of endorsing a nationwide ban. To try to make up for it, he smeared Democrats with the false claim that they favor executing babies after birth. He literally said that.
The “let the states decide” position is in many ways the long-standing position of anti-Roe Republicans. At least ostensibly. It was in reality a thin veil of pseudo-federalism and a poor disguise for the true goal of outlawing abortions. Trump has now embraced that as a fallback position, but it placates no one and is strongly held only insofar as it serves his electoral ambitions.
Remember: Trump must win to avoid prison. He’s not going to let abortion politics foil his strategy to save himself.
All In a Day’s Work
Shot: Trump claims that violating the gag order in the hush-money case will make him a “modern day Nelson Mandela.”
Chaser: Trump tells donors he wants immigration from “nice countries,” like Denmark, Switzerland, and Norway.
Trump Pressured Nebraska Pol On Electoral Vote Change
From the Nebraska Examiner:
Former President Donald Trump picked up a phone to pressure a Nebraska state senator to revive a winner-take-all system of awarding its Electoral College votes for president, sources told the Nebraska Examiner on Friday.
Trump, the sources said, called State Sen. Tom Brewer, who chairs the State Legislature’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, and urged him to take action to get a winner-take-all bill up for debate in the waning days of the 2024 session. …
Brewer, the sources said, responded that it doesn’t work that way. … Trump then reportedly told Brewer, who is term-limited this year, that his political career was over.
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2024 Ephemera
- MT-Sen: Former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, the leading GOP contender against Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), claims he was shot while deployed in Afghanistan but covered it up for years, including lying to a Glacier National Park ranger that he had accidentally shot himself. Does this make zero sense to you? You are not alone!
- TPM’s Kate Riga: This Election Will Prove If Florida Is Still Winnable For Democrats
Ukraine Is So Screwed If Trump Is Elected
Nothing about a Trump II foreign policy will be grounded in U.S. national interest, a coherent vision, or a particular school of thought. It will be transactional, self-serving, and highly steered by Russia, whether directly or indirectly, as a trio of weekend stories in the WaPo made clear:
- Inside Donald Trump’s secret, long-shot plan to end the war in Ukraine
- Russian trolls target U.S. support for Ukraine, Kremlin documents show
- Top Republican warns pro-Russia messages are echoed ‘on the House floor’
Where No Man Dare Tread
The intrepid Hunter Walker ventures into the new 336-page Jesse Watters book.
Only The Best People
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is a delightful presence wherever she goes:
At the December soiree, which was the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala, multiple witnesses saw a server tell Boebert they would not bring her any more alcohol, with one witness telling CNN the server told the congresswoman they believed she had been overserved. Throughout the night, Boebert also kept attempting to snap selfies with Trump, who was sitting at the same table as her. Eventually, Trump’s security detail stepped in and asked Boebert to stop, according to the witnesses, who attended the event and saw the interaction take place.
A Prophet In Our Own Time
In case you missed the obvious signs of earth-shaking and sun-blotting, God sent Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to help fill in the blanks for you. He indeed works in mysterious ways:
The Cutest
No one deserved to experience the surreality of an earthquake like the great John McPhee, whose 60-year nonfiction portfolio is anchored in geology writing. But for all his time in the field, the 93-year-old McPhee’s first quake came Friday in his native New Jersey, of all places:
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