Looking at our numbers now I think there’s a good chance we can get to 700 new members by tomorrow. We’re currently at 587. If we get to 700 that will be almost 3/4 of the way toward our goal. Which is amazing. We know you come here for the news and commentary and insights and exclusives, not our drives. So I want to see if we can make a dash toward the home stretch. If you’ve been thinking about joining us I want to ask if you can make today the day … like right now, take two minutes out of your daily routine and click here and become part of the TPM team. Just like right this moment, click the link and let’s do it. You’ll be really glad you did and it’ll be a shot in the arm of the whole staff. Just click right here.
Supreme Court Drags Feet So Long That South Carolina Will Hold 2024 Elections Under Gerrymandered Map
The Supreme Court’s over five months of inaction on a South Carolina redistricting case has forced a lower court to order that the state’s 2024 elections be conducted with a map that includes a district it found to be racially gerrymandered.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Drags Feet So Long That South Carolina Will Hold 2024 Elections Under Gerrymandered Map”RNC Gets Win In Effort To Toss (Disproportionately Democratic) Mailed Ballots In Pennsylvania
A 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled Wednesday that Pennsylvania can disregard mailed ballots that were received in time for the election but that lack a date or list an incorrect date on the outer envelope — despite all parties agreeing that election offices don’t actually use that handwritten date.
Continue reading “RNC Gets Win In Effort To Toss (Disproportionately Democratic) Mailed Ballots In Pennsylvania”Listen To This: Alito Alone
A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Kate and Josh discuss Supreme Court arguments on mifepristone, updates in Donald Trump’s many trials and the likely next senator of New Jersey.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.
Jan. 6 Architect John Eastman Roasted By Judge In Disbarment Case
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
The Closest We Get To A Jan. 6 Verdict Before November?
With the Jan. 6 case against Donald Trump ground to a halt and the no real prospect of the Georgia RICO case against him reaching a verdict before November, yesterday’s ruling against Trump co-defendant John Eastman in California may be the closest we get to a taste of a Jan. 6 verdict before Election Day.
In recommending that Eastman be disbarred for his role in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, a state judge issued a blistering ruling that treated the autocoup with the historic seriousness it deserves. It came after a full evidentiary record was developed over months and extensive legal argument, like a full-blown trial. Eastman plans to appeal, and ultimately the state Supreme Court will decide whether he’ll be disbarred, but in the meantime he is suspended from practicing law.
Some highlights from the 128-page ruling by state Judge Yvette Roland:
“Most of his misconduct occurred squarely within the course and scope of Eastman’s representation of President Trump and culminated with a shared plan to obstruct the lawful function of the government.”
“The evidence clearly and convincingly proves that Eastman and President Trump entered into an agreement to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress by unlawfully having Vice President Pence reject or delay the counting of electoral votes on January 6, 2021.”
In sum, Eastman exhibited gross negligence by making false statements about the 2020 election without conducting any meaningful investigation or verification of the information he was relying upon.
A bonus reference to Watergate figure Donald Segretti, whose own disbarment case in California was cited:
The scale and egregiousness of Eastman’s unethical actions far surpasses the misconduct at issue in Segretti. Unlike Segretti whose offenses occurred outside his role as an attorney, Eastman’s wrongdoing was committed directly in the course and scope of his representation of President Trump and the Trump Campaign. This is an important factor, as it constitutes a fundamental breach of an attorney’s core ethical duties. Additionally, while the Segretti court found compelling mitigation based on his expressed remorse and recognition of his wrongdoing, no such mitigating factor is present with Eastman.
A couple of years ago, as the bar proceedings against various Trump world figures were getting underway, I confess I grew impatient when my reporting team kept getting excited about this or that procedural development. Disbarment is weak tea for what we’re dealing with here, I would insist. And yet here we are with only the bar proceedings having provided anything like a modicum of accountability in a timely fashion.
Jeff Clark Takes The 5th In Disbarment Hearing
Chris Hayes and the gang had a bit of fun with Trump DOJ official Jeff Clark repeatedly taking the 5th while on the stand yesterday in his DC disbarment hearing:
Trump Goes After Trial Judge’s Daughter
The new gag order against Donald Trump in the New York hush money case doesn’t bar attacks on the trial judge or his family, so Trump spent the day going after him and his daughter, with posts like this:
Nice daughter you have there, would be a shame if something happened pic.twitter.com/1GzBO6iLQb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 27, 2024
Trump focused much of his ire on recent tweets from a Twitter account that the court administrator says no longer belongs to the judge’s daughter and hasn’t for more than a year.
What We’re Up Against
In the aftermath of the Ronna McDaniel fiasco at NBC News, my former colleague Brian Beutler writes:
If the past seven years have taught us anything it’s that these kinds of organizations—mainstream news outlets, think tanks, elite universities, civil-society organizations—aren’t well calibrated to make moral choices when their mandates come into tension. Abstract values will more often than not yield to other considerations: mass appeal, revenue, brand management, and, given the bent of the modern right, insurance against organized retaliation.
I’m not sure if or how the rest of us can change this calculus. The durability of the dynamic may simply underscore two things: First, how important it is for the Trump opposition to embrace politics that convey MAGA’s incompatibility with democratic life; second, our collective obligation to defeat it so soundly that it shrivels on its own, before the corrosive effect it has on these mediating institutions destroys them.
Matt Schlapp Vindicated? Not At All!
Yesterday’s Morning Memo mused that the settlement of the sexual assault and defamation lawsuit against American Conservative Union head Matt Schlapp was unusual enough to call the underlying allegations into question.
It turns out that the settlement wasn’t unusual at all! What was unusual was the deceptive way it was portrayed by the parties.
Former GOP campaign staffer Carlton Huffman said neither Schlapp nor the ACU paid him to drop the lawsuit that claimed he was groped by Schlapp. Huffman called his underlying allegation a “complete misunderstanding.”
That was too clever by half. It turns out Huffman was paid as part of the settlement: $480,000 under an insurance policy, perhaps Schlapp’s homeowner’s policy. That’s according to a new report by CNN.
“I am only legally allowed to say five words, and that is ‘We have resolved our differences.’ Those are the only five words that I’m legally allowed to say,” Huffman told CNN in response.
Yes, Please
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is asking Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify details from a Senate Intel report about the connections Paul Manafort had to Russian operatives back in the 2016 election, former TPMer Matt Shuham reports.
LOLOL
John Ganz catches us up on a new round of self-immolation on the far right:
Then, The Babylon Bee, the right’s consistently sweaty answer to The Onion and Elon Musk favorite, published the story in the tweet pictured above, with the headline “‘The White Race Must Maintain Our Genetic Purity,’ Says Inbred Man.” The Bee’s readership, who usually relishes a little ethnic humor, went into full meltdown at this “anti-white” provocation by the magazine. Predictably, this included accusation that the Bee had come under the sway of the Jews. This outburst caused a few right wingers, not usually the most reflective bunch, to get a little queasy about the sheer number of full-blown Nazis in their midst.
Kari Lake Makes Big Concession In Libel Case
Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake has partially capitulated in a defamation suit against her by a state election official over Lake’s Big Lie provocations in 2020. Lake has asked a judge to enter a default judgment against her on liability and proceed to the damages phase of the case brought personally by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer (R). She still disputes damages.
Passages
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) is dead at 82.
Bible Salesman-in-Chief
Many of you have probably at least seen reference to Donald Trump now hawking Bibles – a Lee Greenwood “God Bless The USA”-branded version that includes the U.S. founding documents because of course they’re infallible, too. All for the low, low price of $59.99. But if you haven’t actually seen his three-minute spiel, it’s worth a watch. So much on display here: the essential Trump grifting, the transactional embrace of Christian nationalism by the most irreligious of presidents, and his physical deterioration:
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
Trump Supporters’ Election Delegitimization Cycle Is Playing Out In Real Time
In the aftermath of 2020, election departments across the country experienced a massive wave of resignations from workers who had experienced threats and violence stirred up by baseless conspiracy theories.
Continue reading “Trump Supporters’ Election Delegitimization Cycle Is Playing Out In Real Time “RNC Makes It Official: Election Denialism Is Part Of Republicans’ 2024 Strategy
Just hours after Donald Trump made it clear on Truth Social that he intends to continue delegitimizing democracy in 2024 if he doesn’t win, The Washington Post published a story on the Republican National Committee’s alarming criterion for new hires.
Continue reading “RNC Makes It Official: Election Denialism Is Part Of Republicans’ 2024 Strategy”Big Normie Energy
We seem to have moved on, for the moment at least, from the Replace Biden!/Thunderdome Convention discourse. But a new poll out today reminds us of a key issue about Biden. Earlier this year a lot of people were operating on the assumption that the Democratic policy agenda is more popular with Americans and that President Biden is unpopular and old, both literally and metaphorically. So basically any other Democrat under 60 who’s got a little electoral success under their belt would be on course to defeating Trump, or at least doing substantially better than Biden.
Continue reading “Big Normie Energy”Trump Re-ups ‘Stop The Steal’ Disinfo Slogan To Delegitimize 2024
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
The Only Legit Elections Are The Ones Trump Wins
Mark yesterday as the day Donald Trump imported the notorious “Stop the Steal” slogan into the 2024 campaign.
The distillation of the Big Lie into a simple, easy to understand slogan that became the rallying cry for 2020 election deniers was a disinformation bonanza. It was also, for those who may have forgotten, the name of the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse on the National Mall where Trump spoke and dispatched the mob to the Capitol.
Trump invoked “Stop the Steal” in a Truth Social post in the context of his hush money criminal trial in New York, inveighing against President Biden, the Manhattan DA, witness Michael Cohen, and others. But the broader context for its use now is Trump’s false and self-serving claims that the four criminal prosecutions of him are a giant “election interference” scheme designed to defeat him in the 2024 election.
“Stop the Steal” is malleable and flexible. It’s the Big Lie of the 2020. It’s the Big Lie of 2024, too, with Trump already seeking to delegitimize any election he doesn’t win. It can mean the bogus “election interference” he is now claiming.
In trotting it out again in 2024, Trump is showing his defiance in the same way he does when praising the Jan. 6 defendants as hostages, continuing to insist he won in 2020, and wearing the Jan. 6 attack as a badge of honor.
This is what we’re up against.
Hush Money Judge Slaps Gag Order On Trump
After another Trump rhetorical attack on key witness Michael Cohen, the trial judge in the Stormy Daniel’s hush money case issued a gag order barring Trump from targeting juror, witnesses, and prosecutors, except Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
Trump also attacked the judge’s daughter in a social media post, but the judge’s order doesn’t bar Trump from attacks on the judge or his family.
Arizona AG’s Fake Elector Probe Continues
The fake elector probe by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has subpoenaed GOP operative Mike Roman and interviewed former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, both of whom were originally indicted with Trump in the Georgia RICO case.
Jeff Clark Tries To Save DC Law License
The bar disciplinary proceeding against former Trump DOJ official Jeff Clark featured the testimony of former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and former deputy White House Counsel Pat Philbin.
A Giant Among Giants (A Rare Chance To See Me Fanboy)
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar demonstrated again yesterday in the mifepristone oral arguments why she is one of the best advocates ever to practice before the Supreme Court. I’ve come out of every argument I’ve heard her make just astounded by her skills and sheer mental capacity.
Yesterday was peak Prelogar. You should give her a listen. Unlike the arguments in most major cases, the mifepristone arguments were tight, relatively short, and easy to follow. You won’t find a better and more accessible performance from Prelogar. Bonus content: Prelogar brightly dismisses the usual sneering from Justice Sam Alito.
Some of the reviews:
- Neal Katyal: “The Solicitor General, Elizabeth Prelogar, is just unreal, she’s so good. She’s answering hostile questions with poise and pitch perfect answers.”
- Eric Columbus: “To state the obvious: the Solicitor General of the United States, Elizabeth Prelogar, is extremely good at her job.”
- Mark Joseph Stern: “Solicitor General Elizabeth Pregolar is an astonishingly talented advocate whose turns at the lectern shine with brilliance, flair, eloquence, and wit. It is always a pleasure and a gift to hear her masterful arguments at the Supreme Court. She is one of the all-time greats. (I am here to say what straight men cannot without sounding creepy 🙂 )”
- Elie Mystal: “I try not to tweet too much about Elizabeth Prelogar because my appreciation of her work is borderline embarrassing creepy stalker Stan levels… but she really is, like, very very good at her job.”
- Joyce Vance: “The solicitor general is stan-worthy. She’s all substance & was completely on target today in the Mifepristone argument. Her decision to focus on the standing argument was solid.”
- Howard Forman: “Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar is brilliant. Her command of the law, the science, and other facts regarding mifepristone use and FDA law is without peer. She is a hero.”
Supreme Court advocacy operates at the peak of the legal profession, and Prelogar has mastered it in a way that puts her on a different level than those around her. Think: Steph Curry beyond the arc. Just doing things everyone else wishes they could do, and doing them so seemingly effortlessly that everyone else seems like a pretender.
NBC News Dumps Ronna McDaniel
NBC News rid itself of immediate past RNC chair Ronna McDaniel Tuesday, less than a week after announcing her hire as a $300,000/year contributor to its political coverage, prompting a revolt at sister network MSNBC and public outcry from the on-air talent.
McDaniel’s agent apparently dropped her, too, the WSJ reports:
Creative Artists Agency represented McDaniel in her negotiations with NBC News and shopped her to other networks for contributor roles, including CNN and ABC News, according to people familiar with the matter. NBC News made a three-year deal with her valued at nearly $1 million in total, a large figure for a contributor, another person said. The agency has since cut ties with McDaniel, a person familiar with the matter said.
Any hope that the McDaniel fiasco might finally bring down the two-headed monster of partisan talking head political coverage on TV quickly faded, with NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde telling staff in a memo: “We continue to be committed to the principle that we must have diverse viewpoints on our programs, and to that end, we will redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.”
But it’s not just TV news. The NYT found it necessary to hand-wring over the nonissue of how to give conservatives a voice: “The episode underscored the deeply partisan sphere in which news organizations are trying to operate — and the challenge of fairly representing conservative and pro-Trump viewpoints in their coverage, if major Republican Party figures like Ms. McDaniel are deemed unacceptable by viewers or colleagues.”
Bear with me here because this gets complicated: You can still … wait for it … interview conservatives and pro-Trump Republicans.
Journalism doesn’t require paying a deeply compromised pro-Trump-but-ousted-by-Trump figure six figures annually to spout talking points from inside your TV studio. That’s a coverage choice, not an insolvable journalistic dilemma.
Oh …
WaPo: Qatari royal invested about $50 million in pro-Trump network Newsmax
Matt Schlapp Vindicated?
This is not your usual lawsuit settlement.
The campaign staffer for Herschel Walker’s 2022 Senate campaign who sued American Conservative Union head Matt Schlapp for alleged sexual assault has dropped the lawsuit, saying his claims were a “complete misunderstanding.”
“I regret that the lawsuit caused pain to the Schlapp family,” Carlton Huffman said.
Huffman said neither Schlapp nor the ACU paid him to drop the lawsuit that claimed he was groped by Schlapp.
No financial settlement, no apology let alone admission from Schlapp, and a complete dropping of the case is an unusual resolution to the dispute and makes the initial allegations seem pretty fishy.
2024 Ephemera
- NYT: Obama, Fearing Biden Loss to Trump, Is on the Phone to Strategize
- NBC News’ Sahil Kapur: ‘Obamacare’ wars heat up in 2024 race as Biden and Trump clash over subsidies
Tragedy Brings Out The Far-Right Loons
With six people missing and presumed dead after a container ship toppled an interstate bridge and shut down Baltimore harbor, far-right grifters and opportunists seized on the accident to advance various racist, xenophobic, and conspiratorial agendas, as TPM’s Nicole Lafond notes.
The Wire creator David Simon was having none of it and came to the defense of Baltimore and basic decency:
Corrections
Two boneheaded errors in yesterday’s Morning Memo. I misidentified:
- Timothy Snyder’s academic posting: He is at Yale, not Princeton.
- The interstate highway on which Baltimore’s toppled Francis Scott Key Bridge sits: It is I-695, not I-895.
My apologies for the errors.
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Usual Cast Of Far-Right Characters Declare ‘WW3,’ ‘Black Swan Event’ Over Bridge Collapse
With searches still ongoing for the six people who are missing in the wake of the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) joined other far-right conspiracy theorists in questioning whether the disaster was “intentional” on Tuesday afternoon.
Continue reading “Usual Cast Of Far-Right Characters Declare ‘WW3,’ ‘Black Swan Event’ Over Bridge Collapse”