A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Manufacturing Anti-Immigrant Hysteria
President-elect Donald Trump falsely blamed illegal immigration and claimed personal vindication in the violent attack that killed 15 New Year’s revelers in New Orleans.
In a Truth Social post the morning of the attack, Trump manufactured hysteria over “criminals coming in” to the country. Trump continued to falsely blame “Biden ‘Open Border’s Policy’” Thursday morning, long after incorrect reports – that the rented truck in the New Orleans attack was driven across the border from Mexico – had been debunked.
The alleged attacker was a native born U.S. citizen and Army veteran from Texas.
In both posts, Trump crowed that the attack proved him correct.
Death Toll In New Orleans Attack Stands At 15
- A Texas man killed 15 people and injured more than 30 others when he drove a rented pickup truck flying an Islamic State flag down Bourbon Street early New Year’s Day.
- Bourbon Street was closed to vehicular traffic, but the culprit managed to plow through temporary barricades in place while a permanent system of bollards were being replaced with a newer system.
- Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the alleged culprit in the attack, was killed in a shootout with police.
Meanwhile, In Las Vegas …
Investigators are exploring whether there’s any link between the New Orleans attack and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. The driver of the vehicle was killed in the incident:
WATCH: The moment a Tesla Cybertruck exploded this morning in front of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas
— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) January 1, 2025 at 2:33 PM
[image or embed]
The Cybertruck was reportedly rented in Colorado through the Turo app, the same method used to obtain the truck in the New Orleans attack. The FBI and ATF are “conducting operations and searches in Colorado Springs” as part of the investigation, ABC News reported.
Mike Johnson’s Narrow Path To The Speakership
With Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) lined up as a firm no against re-electing Rep. Mike Johnson as House speaker, all eyes turn to Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). The loss of two GOP votes should be enough to deny Johnson election as speaker, meaning that he has a narrow path to victory and avoiding another prolonged stretch of chaos in which the House GOP majority is unable to elect anyone as speaker. The first vote on speaker is expected Friday.
Quote Of The Day
“If they thought I had no Fs to give before, I definitely have no Fs to give now.”–Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who is opposed to Rep. Mike Johnson’s reelection as speaker of the House
House GOP To Make It Harder To Remove Speaker
Under a new rules package unveiled this week, House Republicans would raise the bar for removing the speaker by increasing the number of members required to trigger a motion to vacate from one to nine.
Proof Of Citizenship To Vote Is A Top GOP Priority
Among the first dozen bills the House GOP majority is aiming to pass in the new Congress is one to require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
Taking On Big Tax Prep
TPM’s Hunter Walker: Ron Wyden’s Fight For Free Tax Filing Is A Blueprint For Future Democratic Battles Against Trump
Biden To Honor Liz Cheney
In a White House ceremony today, President Biden will bestow the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest honor for American civilians, on 20 recipients, including Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who served as chair and vice chair, respectively, of the House Jan. 6 committee.
Assessing Biden’s Impact On The Federal Courts
The WSJ’s Jan Wolfe:
Many of Biden’s appointees … succeeded other like-minded judges, meaning that the overall ideological dynamics didn’t change much.
Where Biden made a lasting impact, however, was in appointing judges that represent a broader swath of America. …
Another Biden priority was selecting nominees with a broader array of professional experience, including by appointing former federal public defenders to a judiciary that has been disproportionately represented by former prosecutors.
Scathing Reviews Of Chief Justice’s Annual Report
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a spicier-than-usual annual report on the judiciary,
- “The chief justice said nothing about the Supreme Court’s own actions that might have contributed to a diminished public standing, including a string of conservative decisions that independents and Democrats consider partisan rather than principled and a refusal to adopt an enforceable code of conduct despite ethical clouds surrounding some justices’ behavior.”–WSJ
- “[T]he nine pages from Roberts come across as more of a lashing out than a reasoned report. … The end result is a chilling, if vague, condemnation by Roberts of the widespread opposition to the extremism exhibited by the high court in its decisions and the ethical failings of justices responsible for those decisions.”–Chris Geidner
- “[T]he Chief Justice’s report not only fails to even acknowledge the public discourse; it takes a position that is either wholly indifferent or remarkably oblivious to it—offering a remarkably un-nuanced view of when criticism crosses the line into ‘illegitimate activity.’ In the process, the report also neglects to acknowledge what is, in my view, an even greater threat to judicial independence today: the continuing erosion of public faith in the courts that’s reflected in (but not caused by) much of the good-faith criticism that is out there. In those respects, at least, it’s a remarkably tone-deaf missive from someone who ought to know better.”–Steve Vladeck
Trans Attacks Watch
- Among the first dozen bills the House GOP majority has teed up for the new Congress is one to amend Title IX to provide that in athletics “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues NCAA over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
- More battles over transgender rights await Supreme Court.
A Triple Threat To Humanity
In a short new essay, Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Hotez identify climate change, pandemics, and anti-science disinformation as the gravest perils to human civilization.
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F!!R$$T!
Happy 2025 everyone.
Steve Vladeck’s last sentence is the Roberts Court and Roberts in a nutshell -remarkably tone deaf. He wrote the decision giving Trump absolute immunity and thus crowned him king, dictator, tyrant, and authoritarian. That along with the Dobbs decision are but two examples of tone deafness and naked power that this court has bestowed on themselves and the President-elect.
That photo of
TSFis repulsive.MM:
I look forward to all those folks in Texas with Hispanic last names – you know, the ones who’ve been there for four or five generations – being asked for their papers.