On one of the internet’s main QAnon forums, Speaker Mike Johnson’s November decision to unveil tens of thousands of hours of security footage from the Jan. 6 attack was greeted with great fanfare. Johnson committed to publicly release the security tapes, which have been something of a holy grail for Capitol attack conspiracy theorists, soon after he took office. At the time, the new speaker framed it as the fulfillment of a “promise to the American people.”
Continue reading “The Gradual Release Of Jan. 6 Footage Has The Far Right Raging At House Republicans And Speaker Mike Johnson”Trump Disqualification and Setting Your Expectations
We’re now waiting to see when — almost certainly when — the Supreme Court will take up ex-President Trump’s appeal of Colorado’s decision to strike his name from the presidential ballot. As we’ve noted, there are many unknowns about just how the Court might respond, though it seems almost inconceivable that the Court won’t make a decision which forces Trump’s name back on the ballot.
But let’s at least consider the possibility that it doesn’t, that the Court allows Colorado and presumably Maine to keep Trump off the ballot. What then? Does this really have practical significance for the 2024 election?
Continue reading “Trump Disqualification and Setting Your Expectations”Trump’s Latest Gambit In Jan. 6 Case Already Kinda Worked
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
C-O-N-T-E-M-P-T
I’ve mentioned before that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s move of continuing to make some filings in the Jan. 6 case even while it’s on hold is a little stunt-ish. But leave it to Donald Trump to out-stunt anyone.
The latest gambit from Trump asks U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to hold Smith and his team in contempt of court, arguing that the filings are an “outrageous” end-run around Chutkan’s order staying the case. It should be noted here that Smith has been open in previous filings to the court about what he planned to do, and Chutkan didn’t attempt to head it off.
Most legal observers think this motion is going nowhere, but that’s probably not the point of this exercise. As Ryan Reilly noted, the Trump motion “appears intended to get ‘Jack Smith’ and ‘contempt’ in a bunch of headlines.” It worked:
Headline Fail Of The Week
The worst headline of the week belongs to … [drum roll] … the Associated Press:
One attack, two interpretations: Biden and Trump both make the Jan. 6 riot a political rallying cry
Congratulations!
The Pounding Was Brutal
One attack, two interpretations: Bush and Bin Laden both make the Sept. 11 attacks a political rallying cry.https://t.co/QtiOTBBxw0
— Eric Columbus (also on Bluesky and 🧵) (@EricColumbus) January 4, 2024
Keep An Eye On SCOTUS Today
The Supreme Court could decided as early as today whether to take up the Colorado Disqualification Clause case. A good rundown from Roger Parloff on what to look for.
What Will SCOTUS Do With The DQ Case?
- TPM’s Josh Kovensky on how the Supreme Court is constrained in the Colorado Disqualification Clause case.
- Aaron Blake runs through the high court’s options.
More Disqualification Clause Cases In the Pipeline
Free Speech For People, one of the groups spearheading the movement to use the Disqualification Clause to keep Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot, has initiated proceedings in two new states:
Video Of Trump Co-Defendant’s Earlier Arrest
Before Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd was indicted in the Georgia RICO case, he had already been arrested in Maryland for allegedly assaulting two FBI agents who tried to served a subpoena on him as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith investigation. Politico has obtained the body cam footage of that arrest:
The Emoluments That Keep On Giving
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee put out a new report showing that Donald Trump’s businesses received nearly $8 million from foreign governments while he was in office. If you enjoy irony, this is for you.
Merit Is Code For Power
The always-essential Tressie McMillan Cottom, on Claudine Gay and the debacle at Harvard:
Academicians and practitioners know that you cannot operationalize merit. But historians know that there is powerful evidence about merit in the archives of our nation’s elite institutions. Whenever politicians, activists and investors agree that there is a merit crisis at Harvard, it signals that a battle rages, not over rigor, but over power.
What The Most Right-Wing Appeals Court Hath Wrought
TPM’s Kate Riga: The 5th Circuit Will Not Have The Last Word On Abortion In Emergency Rooms
Florida May Be Next Abortion Battleground
Florida advocates are on the verge of securing enough signatures to get a proposed constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights on the 2024 general election ballot.
‘We Should Not Ignore It’
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on a roll:
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Texas Thinks The Supreme Court Will Let It Have Its Own Immigration Regime
As of this week, the Biden administration has two blossoming legal disputes with Texas, both of which may end up before a hostile Supreme Court and both of which deal with issues core to federalism in the U.S.
Continue reading “Texas Thinks The Supreme Court Will Let It Have Its Own Immigration Regime”Trump’s SCOTUS Request Chose To Open A Pandora’s Box That Could Have Stayed Shut
It may be the highest court in the land, but how far can it go?
Continue reading “Trump’s SCOTUS Request Chose To Open A Pandora’s Box That Could Have Stayed Shut”New Poll Shows Haley and Trump Neck ‘n Neck in NH
I just saw that there’s a new ARG poll out this afternoon showing Donald Trump at 37% and Nikki Haley at 33% in New Hampshire. Christie is at 10% and Dead Bounce Ron is at 5%, if you’re a completist. This spurs me to share with you an editorial conversation we were just having about how we’re going to cover, how much of our editorial resources we’re going to put toward, the primaries in the next couple months. Can Haley beat Trump in New Hampshire? Do we care or does it matter if she does?
Continue reading “New Poll Shows Haley and Trump Neck ‘n Neck in NH”The 5th Circuit Will Not Have The Last Word On Abortion In Emergency Rooms
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to the Biden administration’s attempts to shore up emergency abortion care Tuesday.
The judges, exhibiting some of the legal contortions that have become standard issue for the notoriously right-wing court, ruled that a federal mandate that requires many hospitals to stabilize patients in crisis does not include abortions — even when an abortion is that stabilizing care the patient needs.
Continue reading “The 5th Circuit Will Not Have The Last Word On Abortion In Emergency Rooms”Your Local School Board Freak Show Follies
I’ve been making my way through your emails about school board activism in your various necks of the woods. And I have to say, keep them coming, if for no other reason than the immense entertainment value. But seriously, for many other reasons too. I’m digging into them and trying to figure out which ones to report out first. But there are a few points that stand out in advance of that.
One of those points is something I’m half being reminded of, half learning, which is that there was a pretty big backlash against “anti-woke” school boards in 2023. It’s not universal, certainly. But it’s not just the story out of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, I’ve been telling you about for the last few days. There are examples all over the country. (I’ll be coming back to Bucks. Holy Crap, there’s a lot.) This morning I’ve just been reading up on one in a very backwoods part of Idaho, the West Bonner County School District. A lot of the same stuff: a bunch of freaks get washed in in 2021. They do all the anti-woke stuff and other stuff that’s more about just being against public education generally. There’s a successful recall, but not before the board brings in a new superintendent who is a former state legislator whose career went south when it turned out he might not actually live in the state. (Really.) The bigger problem is that Branden Durst had no background in education and didn’t even have the minimal accreditation the state requires for superintendents. He hung on for like three months before he had to resign. That was back in September.
Continue reading “Your Local School Board Freak Show Follies”No Pod This Week
Just a quick note to let you know we’re off this week on the podcast. We’ll be back next week at the standard time.
Trump Continues To Test The Constitution’s Limits
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Trump Appeals Colorado DQ Case To SCOTUS
The 14th Amendment Disqualification Clause case is vying with presidential immunity from prosecution to be the first opportunity the Supreme Court takes to weigh in on holding Donald Trump accountable to the rule of law.
After a few days of biding his time, Trump asked the Supreme Court to accept for review the Colorado Supreme Court decision declaring him ineligible for the GOP primary ballot.
In his filing, Trump argues that:
- Only Congress — not state courts — can determine whether a candidate is ineligible under the Disqualification Clause.
- The Disqualification Clause doesn’t apply to the president.
- Jan. 6 was not an insurrection and Trump did not engage in insurrection.
- The Colorado court violated the Electors Clause.
- The Disqualification Clause can be used to bar people from office but not from the ballot.
The Colorado Republican Party has already asked the Supreme Court to take the case, and the winning plaintiffs have agreed that it should. So expect to hear from the Supreme Court at any time, though there’s no precise timeline by which it will decide.
SCOTUS May Get Second Trump Immunity Case
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has refused Donald Trump’s request for the entire appeals court to rehear his claim of presidential immunity from a civil suit in one of the E. Jean Carroll cases — which means Trump may soon ask the Supreme Court to take the case.
With All Deliberate Speed
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance: What the legal system owes America in the era of Donald Trump
Good Read
WaPo: A right-wing tale of Michigan election fraud had it all — except proof
Florida Man Strikes Again
NBC News: Florida man arrested and accused of threatening to kill Rep. Eric Swalwell and his kids
Georgia Election Official Swatted
Gabriel Sterling, the Georgia election official who famously warned after the 2020 election that Trump’s false claims of voter fraud were going to get someone killed, says he was swatted yesterday:
Three Years After Jan. 6
The anniversary is upon us, and PBS takes a closer look at the long-running citizen-led effort to identify the Jan. 6 rioters at the Capitol — featuring our former colleague Ryan Reilly:
Bomb Threats Against State Capitols
Bomb threats forced evacuations Wednesday in more than a dozen state capitols.
DeSantis’ Surgeon General Is A Piece Of Work
WaPo:
Florida’s top health official called for a halt to using mRNA coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, contending that the shots could contaminate patients’ DNA — aclaim that has been roundly debunked by public health experts, federal officials and the vaccine companies.
Oh, Texas …
The formerly independent state of Texas continues to push the envelope on immigration policy, and the Biden administration keeps fighting back. So far this week:
- The Biden administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift the stay that is preventing it from removing the razor wire illegally placed in the Rio Grande by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
- The Biden administration has sued to block the controversial new Texas immigration law that seeks to vest border enforcement authority with the state.
Blast From The Past
Remember Kim Davis?
She was the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision.
A federal judge has now ordered her to pay $260,000 in fees and expenses to attorneys for one of the couples that took her to court over her refusal to grant them a marriage license.
So Grateful
Two years ago today, my then-18-year-old son was walking across the street near our DC home when he was hit by a car and nearly killed.
I’ve had this date on my calendar because two years is an important milestone for recovery from a traumatic brain injury like the one he had. Each patient is different, and we know that recovery continues past two years. In Sam’s case, he showed phenomenal recovery after one year and his injuries are now undetectable. But we were advised to take extra care in the first two years to give the brain the maximum chance to heal.
Notwithstanding the sailing accident three months ago in which he and I broke our backs, today represents the day when I can take him out of the bubble wrap in which I’ve encased him, at least in my own mind.
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