Thanks, Mitch!

No, really. Thanks to Mitch McConnell for confirming how he suckered most of the big DC publications with the faux drama over President Biden’s ‘veto threat’. The word from the bigs over the weekend was that yes, all knew that Democrats were proceeding with the two bills in tandem, that the two were linked. It was just that Biden made this too clear by saying he would not sign the bipartisan mini-bill if only that one came to his desk.

But now McConnell is helpfully clarifying that in fact he is objecting to what everyone knew in advance and that even he spoke about numerous times on the record.

Continue reading “Thanks, Mitch!”

McConnell Insists That Schumer, Pelosi Give Back His Ability To Let Infrastructure Reconciliation Bill Die

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) insisted Monday that Democratic leadership drop its so-far effective strategy to link the bipartisan and reconciliation infrastructure bills, to make it easier for him to extract a win on the former and watch the latter die. 

Continue reading “McConnell Insists That Schumer, Pelosi Give Back His Ability To Let Infrastructure Reconciliation Bill Die”

Threats to Election Officials Task Force

I had missed this important development in the rush of events on Friday. We’ve been discussing the rising tide of harassment (legal, extralegal and illegal), threats and sometimes actual violence against election officials around the country. Sometimes it’s relatively high level elected officials like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. But more often it’s little known election administrators at the local level – elected, appointed or simply hired to conduct the nuts and bolts of managing elections. Now the Garland DOJ has set up a special task force focused on these threats.

Morning Memo: Prosecutors Put The Squeeze On The Trump Organization

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

The Trump Organization Stares Down The Barrel Of Potential Criminal Charges

Manhattan prosecutors have told lawyers for the Trump Organization that they have until this afternoon to argue why ex-President Donald Trump’s company should not get slapped with criminal charges, according to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

  • The prosecutors with DA Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office met with the Trump Organization lawyers on Thursday.
  • Charges could be imminent. If the case were to move forward, charges could come as soon as next week.
  • It’s not clear whether Trump as an individual will face charges. He’s been calling the whole investigation a “witch hunt.”
  • Remember: Vance gathered a grand jury in his investigation into the company earlier this year.

Biden Tries To Dry Republicans’ Fake Tears

In wake of GOP senators disingenuously kicking up a fuss over Biden refusing to sign the bipartisan infrastructure bill without a reconciliation bill (something they knew well in advance was going to happen), the President made it clear on Saturday that he was still sticking to the bipartisan plan and would work to ensure its passage “with vigor.”

  • That seemed to mollify at least a few Republican senators involved in the bipartisan negotiations. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) indicated on Sunday that they were still on board with getting the legislation done after Biden made his announcement.
  • Cassidy claims Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) could be swayed on the bill, but uh, let’s take that one with a grain of salt given how the GOP leader vowed from the beginning to put “100 percent” of his energy toward “stopping” Biden’s agenda.

Pride In Action

A high school valedictorian had his mic and prepared remarks taken away during his graduation speech when he brought up his queer identity, so he recited the speech from memory.

Key Analysis

Some signs that gutting unemployment benefits in the theory that people would be forced to go back to work….doesn’t actually work and people still refuse to work for exploitative jobs anymore!

  • But at the same time, the Wall Street Journal reports that some of the states that have cut the benefits have also seen a drop in unemployment.

Biden Administration Continues The Forever Wars

The U.S. carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria this weekend on “facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups” to target Americans in Iraq, according to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.

The Climate Change Threat

The intense heat wave in the Pacific Northwest this weekend caused several cities to hit all-time record highs.

Seattle set an all-time high:

Portland reached a jaw-dropping 112 degrees yesterday. The previous all-time high record was 108 degrees the day before, the National Weather Service reports:

Canada recorded its all-time high in British Columbia:

Death Toll Rises In Miami Condo Tower Collapse

At least nine people have been confirmed dead in the devastating collapse of a beach condo near Miami Beach, Florida. More than 150 people remain missing, according to local authorities.

Trump Is Big Mad At Barr

The ex-president is furious with former Attorney General Bill Barr, who admitted to ABC News reporter Jon Karl that he knew Trump’s false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election were “just bullshit.”

  • In response, Trump thoroughly raked “RINO” (Republican In Name Only) Barr over the coals in a lengthy statement late last night. “He came in with a semi-bang and went out with a whimper,” the former president ranted, adding that Barr “was a disappointment in every sense of the word.”
  • Trump was also incensed by Barr disclosing that then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had urged the attorney general to publicly push back against Trump’s lies about election fraud. The ex-president called McConnell “another beauty” and a “spineless” RINO.

What did you think of Morning Memo? Let us know.

DC Bigs’ Bothsidesist Journalism Having a Moment

I’ve written over many years that despite the seesawing of control in Congress and executive branch, Washington remains wired for the GOP. We’re seeing another striking example of that in the way most establishment DC press outlets are are treating the brouhaha over President Biden’s alleged ‘veto threat’. We started with Biden stating openly what all the parties to the proposed bipartisan legislation know, which is that for Democrats it’s a package deal. Democrats know that. Republicans know that. The reporters know that. And yet the same folks have decided to take the feigned Republican freakout entirely at face value regardless. Politico of all places was closer to the mark on Friday when they noted that it took a day for Republicans to realize they were upset and what about.

And it’s actually accelerated over the weekend.

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Some GOPers Calmed Down After Biden Cleared Up Their Faux Infrastructure Brouhaha

A few Republican senators on Sunday put their constant whining about Democrats’ commitment to passing both the bipartisan infrastructure deal and President Biden’s more progressive infrastructure priorities together through a reconciliation package aside, following Biden’s statement that clarified that he is not issuing the veto threat that Republicans have fear-mongered about for days. Continue reading “Some GOPers Calmed Down After Biden Cleared Up Their Faux Infrastructure Brouhaha”

Manchin Pushes Back At Dems Who Accuse Him Of Unfairly Drawing ‘Red Lines’

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Sunday disputed criticism from fellow Democrats who accuse the centrist senator of drawing more “red lines” with his caucus compared to Republicans on legislative proposals. Continue reading “Manchin Pushes Back At Dems Who Accuse Him Of Unfairly Drawing ‘Red Lines’”

Barr Knew Election Fraud Claims Were ‘Bullshit’ But Wanted To Appease Trump

Former Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly knew former President Trump’s claims of election fraud were “bullshit,” but gave the green light for prosecutors to investigate the unsubstantiated claims because he wanted to appease the then-President who refused to concede the election. Continue reading “Barr Knew Election Fraud Claims Were ‘Bullshit’ But Wanted To Appease Trump”

Biden’s Snowflake Therapy

As you’ve likely seen, President Biden put out a statement yesterday to settle the waters over the mostly pretextual Republican freakout over his saying he’d only sign both the bipartisan mini-infrastructure deal and a larger reconciliation (i.e., 50 vote) package. A lot of people rushed forward to claim vindication that Biden had in fact turned the tables on Republicans or “upended” the deal by some last minute switcheroo. That’s not the case. It’s really better seen as a nicely crafted bit of snowflake therapy. In Biden’s new statement he restates what was clear a week ago, clear three days ago and remains clear today: for him it’s a package deal.

Continue reading “Biden’s Snowflake Therapy”