WSJ Gets Huffy Over Backlash After Publishing Trump Op-Ed Boosting Big Lie

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.

Well Excuuuuse Me!

The Wall Street Journal editorial board yesterday put out a prickly defense of its decision to publish Trump’s rambling letter to the editor in which he regurgitated his usual lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election — a screed identical to any of the hundreds of emails from his Save America PAC, except it was published in a reputable news outlet wholesale, without a single factcheck.

• “The progressive parsons of the press are aflutter” over the letter, the editorial board sneers in their column. They write further down that “the media clerics” and “their attempts to censor” Trump “have done nothing to diminish his popularity.”
• The board goes on to fact-check Trump’s lies in the letter that they didn’t fact-check beforehand because “it’s difficult to respond to everything.”
• They also argue that since Trump lies all the time anyway, “we hardly did him a special favor by letting him respond to our editorial.”
• Trump’s op-ed had gone after a WSJ editorial about an open seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court. It included such high-minded prose as: “Well actually, the election was rigged, which you, unfortunately, still haven’t figured out.”

Lt. Guv Staffer Arrested For Impersonating Him In Her Divorce Proceedings

A (now-former) staffer for Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) turned herself in to law enforcement earlier this week for allegedly using her state-issued computer to send seven emails from Duncan’s address to her attorney to get information on her own divorce.

• The ex-staffer, who worked for Duncan from January 2019 until July, is charged with impersonating a public officer, computer trespass and computer invasion of privacy.
• So far it’s unclear why she did, uh, any of this.

Where We’re Left On Build Back Better

It was a bit of a whirlwind on the Hill yesterday: Biden released a framework for a scaled-down $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill after weeks of trying to hash out a deal with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). Then Democratic leadership went on to push for a House vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill (BIF), leading progressives to threaten to tank BIF if there was a vote before text for the new reconciliation legislation was released and if Sinemanchin didn’t commit to voting for it.

• Ultimately, the day ended without a vote, and negotiations will continue next week. TPM’s Kate Riga lays out yesterday’s events and what lies ahead here.

Biden Across The Pond

The President, a devout Catholic, is meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican today to discuss climate change before the G20 summit in Rome on Saturday and Sunday.

• Then Biden and many of the other global leaders at the summit will head to COP26, a critical climate change conference hosted by the United Nations in Glasgow.
• Biden’s trip comes amid negotiations with fellow Democrats over his Build Back Better plan in the reconciliation bill that would’ve delivered the President true evidence to the international community that the U.S. is taking new strides to address the climate.

Conservatives Already Trotting Out Election Fraud Narrative For Virginia

Fox host Mark Levin told his listeners on his radio program yesterday — with no evidence whatsoever — that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe “is preparing to try and steal the election” in Virginia on Tuesday. 

• That’s just the new normal now: preemptively declaring that any Democratic win is illegitimate.

Meadows Faces Potential Criminal Contempt Charges From Jan. 6 Panel

The House Jan. 6 select committee is losing patience with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as talks with the former Trump official over the panel’s subpoena drag on, according to CNN.

• Meadows’ deadline to provide documents and testimony earlier this month was temporarily postponed, and committee leaders have said that he’s been “engaging” with the panel.
• But now the frustrated committee is reportedly mulling several options to ramp up the pressure on Meadows. One option that’s being considered is setting a new deadline for the ex-White House official under threat of criminal contempt charges if he doesn’t comply, à la Steve Bannon.

Katie Porter Busts Out Visuals To Bust Oil Barons

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) dragged the oil and gas executives during their hearing in front of the House Oversight Committee yesterday — using M&Ms and bags of rice:

Later @RepKatiePorter (D-CA) uses jars of M&Ms to ask how much of Shell’s budget is used for renewable energy, despite public assurances (it’s not a large fraction). pic.twitter.com/iU1oeCmS6R

— Ryan Koronowski (@koronet) October 28, 2021

Latino Rights Org Sues Iowa Over English-Only Law

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in Iowa is suing Iowa secretary of state Paul Pate, the Iowa Voter Registration Commission and auditors in four counties.

• Election officials have failed to provide Spanish language materials to voters who speak little English, according to LULAC. Spanish speakers and others with limited English proficiency “face unnecessary barriers to voting” due to an “erroneous interpretation and implementation” of the state’s “English-only” law, the lawsuit states.
• The organization is requesting that a judge order an exemption to the law for voting materials.

Trump Sort Of Walks Back GOP Voter Turnout Threat But Not Really

A couple of weeks after declaring that “Republicans will not be voting” in the 2022 or 2024 elections if the GOP doesn’t “solve” the 2020 election, Trump’s brainworms apparently realized that discouraging his supporters from voting would fully backfire on him.

• He released a statement yesterday insisting that his previous threat “was in no way meant to imply that I would tell them not to vote,” but rather that they “may not have the incentive to vote if the election process is not fully remedied, and quickly.”

?Voter Fraud Alert?

Ummm I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for non-humans to run election administration!

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