When an appellate court on Tuesday got its hearing of the major emergency room abortion case the Supreme Court sent back down last term, the liberals painted a grim picture of women’s suffering under an anti-abortion regime that the conservatives quickly sought to sanitize.
Continue reading “Trump Judge Questions If Airlifts Under Idaho Abortion Ban Are Really About Mother Who ‘Wants To Kill The Baby’”DeSantis’ Approach To Trump II: Getting Humiliated
The Wall Street Journal has new reporting out this week confirming that Donald Trump has, in fact, spoken to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis about his desire for his daughter-in-law to become the next senator from Florida.
Continue reading “DeSantis’ Approach To Trump II: Getting Humiliated”The DOGE Asterisk
As I’ve argued in a few different posts, “DOGE” — the grandiosely and absurdly titled “Department of Government Efficiency” — is merely an advisory panel which is probably best understood as a kind of memelord performance art. But there’s one part of this spectacle worth adding to — one separate conversation that is worth having off to the side of this effort while we’re in the midst of rightly trashing it.
Here goes.
Things take far too long to do. Things take too long to build. I saw a statistic recently that New York City used to open multiple new subway stops every year. We’ve opened like two in this century. This wasn’t new to me. It’s something I’ve been wondering about for years. And there are countless examples in your part of the country as well. Some of this is tied to the fact that today we’re more concerned with workers not getting killed on the job or dumping oceans of harmful chemicals into the ground. But it’s not all that. Not even most. There are people who have this as their hobbyhorse and they at least have broad theories of the problem — not so much over-regulation, though there’s that too, but regulatory regimes that give opponents too much power to slow things down, industry regulatory capture, etc. This is adjacent to the broader topic of housing shortages and YIMBY politics. Not the same but related.
Continue reading “The DOGE Asterisk”About Those Alt-Media Ecosystems
I want to share with you this note from TPM Reader PP. But context is important. I received it on November 7th — two days after the election. So you need to understand it in that moment. But it’s been rattling around my head ever since. I’d actually intended to publish it at the time. I just didn’t find the right moment. What he says doesn’t mean the conversations about new ecosystems are wrong. They’re not at all. That’s not my takeaway. But if you’re serious about building up alternative media that isn’t dominated by right-wing voices and politics-adjacent channels dominated by right-wing ideas, I don’t think you can succeed or even have a plan to succeed without starting with the premises PP is articulating.
Continue reading “About Those Alt-Media Ecosystems”I have read TPM for just more than half my life, and the entirety of a 20-year career in political campaigns and consulting that I decided to wind down earlier this year to pursue a very different and unrelated career.
I’m writing now somewhat in response to the broader conversation about Democrats/men/algorithms/media and somewhat in direct response to TPM’s recent article about Democrats adapting to the “new media landscape.”
At Risk Of Being Primaried, Joni Ernst Throws Pete Hegseth A Line
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Divide And Conquer
The steady drumbeat of headlines last week – including at Morning Memo – portended a quick and merciless end to Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of defense. But Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) seems to have singlehandedly breathed new life into Hegseth’s all-but-dead confirmation prospects.
After meeting with Hegseth Monday on the Hill, Ernst signaled she would not oppose his confirmation, a shift from her position last week after their first meeting. Ernst, a veteran and sexual assault survivor, has been considered a key bellwether for Hegseth, who settled a sexual assault allegation against him and whose own mother has deplored his treatment of women.
Ernst has come under intense pressure from MAGA world to back Hegseth or face a primary challenge in 2026, as the NYT reported:
Ms. Ernst stopped short of promising to support Mr. Hegseth, but in sending a strong signal that she was favorably inclined, she appeared to clear away a major potential hurdle to his confirmation. At the same time, her shift suggested that Mr. Trump’s MAGA base was ready, willing and able to bully Republicans into submitting to his desires.
While Hegseth’s confirmation remains imperiled, the bulk of the public reporting from the Hill has noted a sea change since late last week, as exemplified by Punchbowl: “Buoyed by continued support from President-elect Donald Trump, the crisis atmosphere enveloping Hegseth’s nomination has cooled somewhat, although the former Army National Guard officer and Fox News host is still far from a sure thing for confirmation.”
One dynamic here could be that as as long as GOP senators cluster together in an anonymous, undifferentiated herd, they can slow roll or block Trump when its in their interest to do so. But if a senator gets separated from the herd, like Ernst did, they can be picked off by MAGA world’s bullying, threatening, and retribution. Stay tuned.
Trump II Clown Show
- MAGA culture warrior Harmeet Dhillon is Trump’s pick to oversee the Justice Department Civil Rights Division.
- Trump is considering Kari Lake for ambassador to Mexico.
- Clarence Thomas confidante Mark Paoletta is returning to OMB as general counsel. Sharped-eyed readers will recall Paoletta as depicted in this painting that hangs at billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks:
Nepotism Alert
Lara Trump has stepped down as co-chair of the RNC, and her father-in-law is talking to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) about appointing her to fill the seat Sen. Marco Rubio (R) will vacate if he’s confirmed as secretary of state. If appointed, she wouldn’t face voters until a 2026 special election.
Bracing For Trump II
- WaPo: LGBTQ+ Americans stockpile meds and make plans to move after Trump’s win
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Tony Evers says “we’ll do whatever we can to avoid” mass deportations in Wisconsin
- WaPo: Colleges scramble to shield programs amid growing hostility from GOP
Mass Deportation Watch
- AP: Republican-led states are rolling out plans that could aid Trump’s mass deportation effort
- WLS TV: Incoming border czar Tom Homan promises mass deportation: ‘Going to start right here in Chicago’
- CNBC: Trump’s mass deportation plan could threaten workforces in industries from agriculture to health care
The Corruption Is Open And Obvious
NBC News’ Jane Timm: “When President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next year, he’ll do so with a more sprawling business empire and far fewer promises about how he’ll avoid conflicts of interest.”
Troll-in-Chief
Trump in a post-midnight post refers to Trudeau as “governor” and Canada as a state. pic.twitter.com/6vrFhE8gCj
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) December 10, 2024
Alito’s Double Standard
With conservative jurists ascendant, Justice Samuel Alito wants to lower the high bar he himself previously set for legal standing (i.e. who has a right to sue), as Chris Geidner points out in this great piece on a new Supreme Court order in which Alito also managed to infuse some anti-trans propaganda:
Noted
The home of a Jewish member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents was vandalized with pro-Palestine graffiti and broken windows Monday:
“We were woken this morning at about 2 a.m. by the sound of crashing glass,” [Jordan] Acker said. “We were really confused. And then the police rang the doorbell, maybe a minute to a minute and a half later, and we saw that our car had been spray painted (with) some messages of threats…They had thrown two mason jars through our front window.”
Acker’s law office was vandalized in June with pro-Palestinian graffiti.
Good Read
The WSJ has the best insta-profile of Luigi Mangione, the private school and Ivy League grad charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Succession In Real Life
Rupert Murdoch and his four oldest children are engaged in a Succession-inspired dispute over who will control his media empire after his death. The NYT has a fabulous writeup on the dispute and the stinging ruling Murdoch and his son Lachlan just received in the family’s ongoing legal battle.
Golden Dukes 2024!
We’re taking nominations for the 2024 Golden Dukes. You know the drill. (If you don’t, here’s how it works.) Get excited!
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
Republicans Want To ‘Throw Out’ Thousands Of Votes In North Carolina Supreme Court Race
As North Carolina Republicans attempt to maintain their party’s uber majority on the state’s Supreme Court, the Democratic incumbent and apparent winner of the state Supreme Court race, Allison Riggs, is calling out the latest Republican stunt as an attempt to “change the election rules after the votes have been cast and counted.”
Continue reading “Republicans Want To ‘Throw Out’ Thousands Of Votes In North Carolina Supreme Court Race”It’s Time!
Submit your Golden Duke nominees here.
Another House Republican Is Being Loud And Clear About Plans To Slash Medicare
Donald Trump has been publicly insistent for months about his supposed position on the social safety net programs Medicare and Social Security: he will not cut a dollar from their budgets.
Continue reading “Another House Republican Is Being Loud And Clear About Plans To Slash Medicare”It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year: Golden Dukes 2024
It is that time again.
As the year draws to a close, TPM takes a moment to reflect on those in political life who most excelled in behaving poorly, grifting boldly, and pushing the frontiers of misconduct out past where we previously understood them to be. For more than a decade, con-artistry and shameless, bizarre behavior have continued to move into the mainstream, and so we acknowledge those who are doing the most to advance the cause by awarding them the Golden Duke. The prize is named for the infamously corrupt member of Congress Randy Duke Cunningham, an early TPM fascination.
While once a questionable honor, receiving a Golden Duke now marks a political figure as a true thought-leader — and, apparently, a great candidate for a pardon and/or a Cabinet position, depending on the details.
This year we have six categories, some old, some new.
• Best Scandal – General Interest
• Best Scandal – Sex & Generalized Carnality
• Best Scandal – Local Venue
• Meritorious Achievement in the Crazy
• “I’m Going To Trump’s Cabinet And I’m Bringing …”
• Best Scandal — World-Wide Wingnutery
To make this work, we need your nominations. Fill out the form here to submit a political figure for TPM’s highest honor.
Waiting for Trump: Norms, Trash Talk and the Cold Hand of ‘Militant P#$%ydom’
As the clock winds down on the Biden presidency, Democrats and the Democrat-adjacent are hashing out, often awkwardly and painedly, what stance to take toward the second Trump presidency. I’ve already discussed this issue in the piece I wrote back on November 14th: “The Most Pernicious Anticipatory Obedience Hides in Plain Sight.” As I wrote in that post, there’s a species of Democrat who imagines there’s “some power or badassery or even a species of courage in” declaring constantly that Trump is all-powerful and everyone is powerless before him. Today this is playing out over Trump’s threat to jail the members of the Jan. 6th committee after pardoning the insurrectionists themselves.
For myself, I’m with former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, whose response to Trump was “bring it on.” This isn’t just about the personal and aesthetic importance of standing or going down fighting rather than cowering. (And yes, obviously it means much less coming from me than Kinzinger.) There’s also the deeper issue I discussed in that November post, which is how much fuel anyone should give Trump, how large a penumbra of fear and shock we should allow Trump to cast with boasts he probably lacks the courage to make good on and would probably struggle to make good on if he were up to trying. This isn’t the same as ignoring these crazed and degenerate threats. And it doesn’t mean these threats couldn’t come to pass. Managing that balance is at the heart of this period we are living through.
Continue reading “Waiting for Trump: Norms, Trash Talk and the Cold Hand of ‘Militant P#$%ydom’”