Maine Declares Trump Ineligible Under Disqualification Clause

Posted on by David Kurtz

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

Colorado And Now Maine

Maine’s Democratic secretary of state has declared Donald Trump ineligible for the presidency under the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment for having engaged in insurrection against the United States.

Shenna Bellows immediately stayed the effect of her decision while the issue is appealed, meaning Trump isn’t off the GOP primary ballot just yet.

You can read her ruling here.

Trump Won’t Be Cut From California Ballot

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D) declined to declare Trump ineligible for the 2024 ballot.

Remember: Each state has its own election laws, and they vary considerably in what they authorize election officials to do and the procedures they must follow.

Winners In CO DQ Case Want SCOTUS To Decide Quickly

The six voters who won the Colorado Disqualification Clause case against Trump are not opposed to the Supreme Court taking the case but they want the high court to consider it on an even faster timetable than the Colorado Republican Party was seeking.

CNN Has New Deets On The Fake Electors Scheme

Most of the new details from CNN come via former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who helped orchestrate the fake electors scheme. Chesebro pleaded guilty in the Georgia RICO case and is cooperating with investigators in multiple other jurisdictions.

USA Today Nails Trump Admin Staffer As Jan. 6 Rioter

A nice bit of work by USA Today confirming what appears to be the first known instance of a Trump administration employee illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6. The man was Oliver Krvaric, a GOP student leader and scion of a powerful GOP family from San Diego who was then working for the Office of Personnel Management:

Asked whether he was at the Jan. 6 riot, Krvaric initially told USA TODAY he was not. Pressed about the photos that online researchers say show him that day, Krvaric acknowledged he attended former President Donald Trump’s speech, but said he didn’t go inside the Capitol. Asked about images that appear to show him inside the Capitol, he then said he didn’t remember whether he went inside. Sent copies and links to the footage, he stopped responding. 

Trump Loses Bid To Delay E. Jean Carroll Trial

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals declined to delay the defamation trial of Donald Trump set to begin Jan. 16. Trump was trying to use claims of presidential immunity to push off the second trial of E. Jean Carroll’s claims that Trump defamed her.

Bob Menendez Can’t Delay Either

A federal judge rejected the bid by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to delay the start of his trial by two months.

LOL At Nikki Haley’s Backtracking

Former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) was forced into damage control mode Thursday, and it was not pretty.

  • First, she rushed out to say that of course the Civil War was about slavery:
  • Second, she still managed to muddy the issue with a “but…”: “But it was also more than that. It was about the freedoms of every individual. It was about the role of government.” Whatever that means.  
  • Third, she blamed the original questioner: “It was definitely a Democrat plant.”

U.S. Murders Fell Dramatically In 2023

The pandemic surge in murders has ebbed with record or near record drops in murders expected nationwide this year.

One Man’s Dark Legacy

Austrian billionaire Gaston Glock, inventor of the eponymous handgun, has died at age 94. The story of the Glock is as much a marketing phenomenon of the 1980s as it is a firearms innovation.

Georgia’s GOP-Friendly Redistricting Maps Upheld

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones of Atlanta, who previously struck down Georgia’s congressional district map as violating the Voting Rights Act by diluting black votes, has ruled that the new map drawn by Republicans is legit.

The decision denies Democrats a much-needed pickup opportunity, and sends Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) scrambling to run in a different district than the one she represents now.

DOJ Threatens To Sue Texas Over Immigration Law

The Justice Department gave Texas a Jan. 3 deadline to provide assurance that it will not enforce its new law empowering state and local law enforcement to arrest, jail and prosecute undocumented migrants; otherwise, DOJ will file suit.

Happy New Year!

For anyone looking for a fresh start by getting their personal finances in order as the new year dawns, let me suggest that you first get a password manager. If you don’t have one already, it will change your life. Everything about your personal finances will fall into place more easily and simply if you have a good password manager. I use Dashlane. I love it. I’ve used it for years. I can’t imagine not having it. But there are other good options. You won’t regret it.

I’ll see you back here on Tuesday.

Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!

Dem Rep Switches Districts After Georgia Legislature Demolishes Hers

Posted on by John Light

A federal judge has ruled in a closely watched redistricting case out of Georgia, preserving a Republican gerrymander that dismantled the district represented by Rep. Lucy McBath (D).

McBath said shortly after the decision that she would run in a new district. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the maps would likely remain in place through at least Election Day 2024.

The maps, approved by the Georgia legislature and signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp (R) earlier this month, maintain Republicans’ 9-5 advantage in the state’s congressional representation. They protect Republican members of Congress who may have faced a challenging reelection, and show the impact of years of efforts by the Supreme Court to carve away chunks of the Voting Rights Act.

U.S. District Judge Steven Jones, who issued today’s ruling, had ordered the legislature to draw new maps earlier this year after finding that its 2021 redistricting diluted the strength of Black voters.

In response to his order, Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature created an obvious partisan gerrymander, Jones wrote. But it was not a racial gerrymander, he found, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that such aggressive partisan gerrymanders are allowed.

“[T]he committee and floor debate transcripts make clear that the General Assembly
created the 2023 Remedial Congressional Plan in a manner that politically
protected the majority party (i.e., the Republican Party) as much as possible,” wrote Jones, an Obama appointee. “However, redistricting decisions by a legislative body with an eye toward securing partisan advantage does not alone violate Section 2,” he wrote, citing Rucho v. Common Cause, a recent Supreme Court ruling on Section 2.

“[T]he Supreme Court has expressly stated that federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, given the lack of constitutional authority and the absence of legal standards to direct such decisions,” Jones wrote.

The decision was largely silent on a key issue that both friends and foes of the VRA have been watching closely: whether a district in which white voters are a minority, but in which no group is a majority, constitutes a protected, majority-minority district under the law. One such district was McBath’s, which was controlled by a minority coalition of Black, Latino and Asian voters.

Jones sidestepped that question, saying it was not a part of the dispute at hand.

“From its onset, however, this case has been about Black voters,” Jones’ wrote, adding in a footnote that question of how coalitions of multiple minority groups should be handled would be “better suited for a separate case.”

Civil rights groups may appeal Jones’ ruling.

Meanwhile, a separate case out of Galveston County, Texas is winding its way through federal court, seeking an answer to a similar set of questions about coalition districts. Kate Riga wrote about that suit in her roundup of attacks on the VRA yesterday.

The Best Of TPM Today

Fellow Republicans Criticize Lauren Boebert For ‘Desperate Stunt’ After District Switch

Nikki Haley Dodges Slavery As The Cause Of The Civil War

Yesterday’s Most-Read Story

Jack Smith Drops Holiday Filing In Jan. 6 Case Asking That Trump Be Barred From ‘Injecting Politics’ Into Trial 

What We Are Reading

2024 may be the hottest year in recorded history — Axios

The Year Millennials Aged Out of the Internet — New York Times

The Factors That Made Evangelicals Ready for Trump — New York Times

New Rivals Criticize Lauren Boebert For ‘Desperate Stunt’ After District Switch

Posted on by Hunter Walker

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) announcement that she would be switching districts for 2024’s election was a surprise — and unwelcome news for some of the other Republicans already running in a crowded primary in Boebert’s new home. 

In a text message to TPM, former state senator Ted Harvey, one of Boebert’s new rivals, described her switch from the Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District to the 4th as a “desperate stunt” driven by her political problems. 

“Boebert has failed the conservatives in CD3 to such a degree that they will no longer vote for her. Now, in what can only be seen as a vain effort to cling to power, she seeks to represent the the voters of CD 4 — a vastly different constituency,” Harvey wrote. “This desperate stunt by Boebert may not only jeopardize the Republican Party’s ability to retain CD3 but, if she were to win the primary, could place CD4 at risk as well.”

Harvey went on to tout his own conservative credentials. 

“My record is unwavering, and proves my commitment to fighting for limited government, secure borders, the life of the unborn, the second amendment, and for citizens who want a representative to stand against the establishment,” he said. 

Boebert announced via Facebook video Thursday evening that she will be moving to run in Colorado’s 4th District instead of the 3rd District, which she has represented since 2021. The move to a more favorable district for a Republican came after a series of issues for the MAGA stalwart, including feuding with allies on Capitol Hill, a near election loss, and the recent, headline-grabbing “Beetlejuice” vaping and groping scandal. 

Another 4th District rival, Logan County commissioner and former state senator Jerry Sonnenberg, subtly mocked both Boebert’s change of address and her chance of winning in a message to TPM.

“I look forward to welcoming Lauren to the fourth district and representing her in Congress,” Sonnenberg wrote.

“I’ve lived, worked, and raised my family here and I’m blessed to have always called Eastern Colorado home,” he continued. “The fourth district is my home, and I’m going to continue to work hard to represent the principled conservative values of everyone who lives here just as I have always done.”

State Rep. Richard Holtorf was far more blunt in a statement released shortly after Boebert’s announcement that criticized what his campaign described as “carpetbagging.”

“The voters of Colorado’s 4th Congressional District want steady conservative leadership from their communities. Seat shopping isn’t something the voters look kindly upon,” Holtorf said. “If you can’t win in your home, you can’t win here.”

A handful of other Republicans are running for the 4th District seat, which opened up after Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) revealed he would not seek re-election last month. Buck indicated his decision was based on the GOP’s increasing embrace of MAGA politics, including 2020 election denialism. Despite some of the internal tensions in the party, the district is a safe one for Republicans. Buck won by more than 20 points last year.

Boebert’s standing in her original home district was far less solid. She was re-elected in the 3rd District by a margin of just 546 votes last November. Her challenger in that race, Democrat Adam Frisch, is running again and has, thus far, outraised Boebert by over $5 million. That cash gap came as Boebert dealt with the fallout from her divorce and the subsequent, Golden Dukes-nominated “Beetlejuice” incident. While the 3rd District is far more competitive than the 4th, there is speculation Frisch could have more trouble taking on a Republican that doesn’t have Boebert’s, shall we say, unique issues. 

In a statement released by his campaign on Thursday, Frisch referenced Boebert’s recent drama. 

“Boebert is running scared from CD-3 because she knows she can’t match our campaign’s ability to connect with voters and the hard work we have put in to provide them with a common sense voice in Congress,” Frisch said, later adding, “Even before the Beetlejuice debacle that embarrassed her constituents, our campaign was polling ahead of Boebert because voters saw that we were showing up in their communities and appreciated the hard work, authenticity, sincerity, and independence that this campaign embodies.”

Boebert and her campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the criticism from other Republicans in her new district. In her video announcement, which appeared to be filmed in some type of suburban kitchen, Boebert framed her move as a smart one for herself and for anyone else who wants to “stop the socialists and communists from taking over our country.” Boebert also seemed to admit she was struggling in polls of voters in her current home district. She claimed she had been targeted by “Hollywood elites” and “dark money,” and suggested her move to the 4th District would prevent those forces from scoring a win. 

“It’s the right move for me personally and it’s the right decision for those who support our conservative movement,” Boebert said. 

As she defended her district switch, Boebert also referenced her personal struggles. 

“This announcement is a fresh start following a pretty difficult year for me and my family,” Boebert said. “I have never been in politics before and I have never been through a divorce. … I’ve made my own personal mistakes and have owned up and apologized for them.”

Do We Long for the Old School Terrible?

Posted on by Josh Marshall

I noted on Tuesday that, for whatever reason, I’m feeling a relative optimism about the 2024 election. That leads me to speculate: what happens after Trump? I don’t think I’m getting ahead of myself. The question is important and illuminating even if Trump isn’t done with us. Because it goes to the heart of what exactly the Republican Party is today.

It is a commonplace and an accurate one to say that the Republican Party is Donald Trump. When we referenced this yesterday while recording our podcast, Kate Riga reminded us of the party’s 2020 decision to scrap its entire party platform and replace it with, simply, whatever Donald Trump wants. It made sense: the party is Donald Trump. The rest is just fine print, which Trump can make up or change whenever he wants.

Continue reading “Do We Long for the Old School Terrible?” →

Nikki Haley Dodges Slavery As The Cause Of The Civil War

Posted on by David Kurtz

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

We’re Still Doing This In 2023?

Nikki Haley — a former governor of South Carolina, the first state to secede in 1860, who removed the Confederate flag from the state Capitol — couldn’t bring herself to mention slavery when asked at a campaign event about the cause of the Civil War.

The remarks Wednesday evening while campaigning in New Hampshire, which did not secede from the union, were a tacit acknowledgment that the party of Lincoln has settled comfortably into its status as a revanchist minority-white rump Trumpist party.

When the audience member asked the question, Haley raised her eyebrows, spun around and retreated upstage before turning back around and facing the audience with a smile: “Well don’t come with an easy question. I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?”

After a bit of back and forth, Haley engaged in some additional nonsensical meandering that was non-responsive to the question.

When the questioner expressed surprise that she had not mentioned slavery, Haley asked: “What do you want me to say about slavery?” 

“No, you’ve answered my question, thank you,” the questioner responded.

After the 2015 massacre of nine black churchgoers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, in whose harbor the first shots of the Civil War were fired, then- Gov. Haley responded to growing public pressure by reversing course and signing a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol in Columbia, bringing an end to a long-running controversy over the placement of the flag.

Amusing … Or No?

News accounts of Nikki Haley’s remarks awkwardly shoehorned in the basic fact-check that, yes, the Civil War was fought over slavery:

  • Politico: “While there were a number of contributions to the outbreak of the Civil War, the conflict, which was the deadliest in U.S. history, was fought predominantly over the South’s desire to see the preservation of slavery.”
  • WaPo: “Haley’s answer did not include any mention of slavery, which scholars agree was the main driver of the conflict.”
  • ABC News: “While several political and economic factors ultimately contributed to the start of the American Civil War, slavery was at the center of the nation’s tension.”

The NYT provided admirable context for the remarks in its writeup, but perhaps inadvertently telegraphed how bedeviled by racism we remain, calling the question “simple yet loaded.”

Almost 160 years after the end of the Civil War, asking a presidential candidate to affirm its root cause remains a “loaded” question.

Biden Gets The Last Word

Lauren Boebert Flees Her Own District

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), facing long odds of reelection in her home district, announced Wednesday evening via Facebook video that she will instead run for the open seat being vacated by Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO).

Colorado GOP Brings Trump DQ Case To SCOTUS

The Colorado Republican Party was first out of the gate in bringing the Trump Disqualification Clause case to the Supreme Court. Trump, too, is expected to ask the Supreme Court soon to consider taking the case and overruling the Colorado Supreme Court decision declaring him ineligible for the presidency.

An important early indicator will be how the Supreme Court frames the issues if it accepts the case. Here’s how the Colorado GOP wants the court to frame it:

  1. Whether the President falls within the list of officials subject to the disqualification provision of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment?
  2. Whether Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment is self-executing to the extent of allowing states to remove candidates from the ballot in the absence of any Congressional action authorizing such process?
  3. Whether the denial to a political party of its ability to choose the candidate of its choice in a presidential primary and general election violates that party’s First Amendment Right of Association?

Jack Smith Is Probs Overdoing It Here

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations and prosecutions of Donald Trump have been mostly sober and stunt-free, except for this one little game he’s playing in the Jan. 6 case in DC: continuing to file motions and act as if the case is still active even though it’s been stayed while Trump appeals his outlandish claims of presidential immunity. It does sound a discordant note even if the the signal he’s trying to send about being ready for a March trial and the importance of keeping the case on track is itself legit.

Joyce Vance unpacks the latest motion from Smith.

Working The Refs Ahead Of The 2024 Election

TPM’s Kate Riga on Republicans’ current two-pronged attack on the Voting Rights Act.

House Ethics Committee Opens New Probe

Not many details available but the House Ethics Committee has opened a probe into whether Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) has violated campaign finance laws.

Important Case

In what may end up being a landmark case on artificial intelligence and copyright laws, the New York Times has sued Microsoft and OpenAI in federal court in Manhattan claiming they are unlawfully using NYT stories to train chatbots.

Herb Kohl, 1935-2023

The former Democratic senator from Wisconsin who founded the eponymous department store chain and was the majority owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, has died at age 88.

RIP Tom Smothers

Tom, of Smothers Brothers fame, has died at age 86:

Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!

Boebert Hoping for Soft Landing in Nextdoor District!

Posted on by Josh Marshall

I love this story. Lauren Boebert has apparently seen the writing on the wall and now realizes she can’t be elected in her congressional district, Colorado’s 3rd. Too much interrupting Joe Biden’s State of the Unions, too many Beetlejuice handies, too many bonkers TV appearances. So she’s decided to run not in her own district but in the neighboring 4th district, which unlike the 3rd is solidly Republican. That district is available because incumbent Ken Buck is retiring.

She just announced the move in a Facebook video post this evening.

Continue reading “Boebert Hoping for Soft Landing in Nextdoor District!” →

Wisconsin Republicans Hope The Supreme Court Will Step In To Save Them Again

Posted on by John Light

When the Wisconsin Supreme Court handed down its momentous decision requiring new state legislative maps last week, there were a lot of statements from Republicans along the lines of “you haven’t heard the last of us!”

On Tuesday, state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) previewed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel what he has in mind.

“We will pursue all federal issues arising out of the redistricting litigation at the U.S. Supreme Court,” Vos said.

It’s a vague statement, and it’s very unclear on what grounds he would seek Supreme Court intervention.

But the High Court has delivered for Vos before, ruling in 2022 that the state Supreme Court had made a mistake when it endorsed maps proposed by Democratic Governor Tony Evers. The U.S. Supreme Court sent the issue back to the state Supreme Court, which then picked maps drawn by state legislative Republicans.

This month’s decision by Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ordering the maps to be redrawn came after a shift in the makeup of the state court, which, as of last spring, has a liberal majority.

In the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court opinion, the justices found that the Evers-proposed map went too far in creating Black-majority districts. Evers’ team’s map added a seventh majority-Black district, which it said would bring the state’s maps into compliance with the VRA. The state Supreme Court, in its decision picking Evers’ maps over other maps proposed by the legislature, wrote, “[W]e cannot say for certain on this record that seven majority-Black assembly districts are required by the VRA,” but concluded that there were “good reasons” to think that they were.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s majority didn’t like that at all.

The state Supreme Court, the justices said, “improperly relied on generalizations” and failed to consider whether a “race-neutral alternative” that didn’t add a seventh majority-Black district would have also been permitted under the VRA. The decision was unsigned, but included a fiery dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was joined by Elena Kagan.

Vos suggested to the Journal Sentinel on Tuesday that Republicans would seek to make similar arguments were they to return to the U.S. Supreme Court — though in order to game it out, he had to run through a series of hypotheticals. “Last time around, the Democrats’ maps racially gerrymandered voters to obtain a political goal. I expect they’ll do so again,” he said. “The Supreme Court wasn’t fooled by the overt racial gerrymandering before, and it’s my hope that the Court will refuse to allow that or any other violation of federal law this time around, too.”

The Wisconsin Election Commission is asking for new maps to be in place by March 15, so whatever happens will have to play out in a relatively short time frame — unless SCOTUS is open to a dramatic, last-minute intervention.

The Best Of TPM Today

Republicans Launch Two-Pronged Attack Against Voting Rights Act

Michigan Supreme Court Keeps Trump On 2024 Ballot

Yesterday’s Most-Read Story

Dictator On Day One: The Executive Orders That Trump Would Issue From The Start

What We Are Reading

Michael Flynn’s Rhode Island Hall of Fame Inclusion Prompts Resignations — New York Times

John Fetterman isn’t the politician you thought he’d be — and he doesn’t care — Politico

Jack Smith Drops Holiday Filing In Jan. 6 Case Asking That Trump Be Barred From ‘Injecting Politics’ Into Trial 

Posted on by Kate Riga

Special prosecutor Jack Smith has evidently been working through the holidays, dropping a surprise December 27 filing in the January 6 insurrection case against Donald Trump.

The new document comes on the heels of a disappointment for Smith, after the Supreme Court declined to take up his request for an expedited ruling on Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity. How dramatically the Supreme Court’s move will delay the case is yet to be seen; the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing the immunity claim on an expedited basis, starting January 9. Should Trump’s immunity arguments — which have already been rejected by a federal district judge — be upheld, the entire case could be tossed.

In the meantime, the bulk of the Jan. 6 case has been put on pause while the immunity question is litigated. But Smith on Wednesday chose to file through the stay, submitting a 20-page document detailing the “evidence” Trump should not be allowed to submit, calling it both irrelevant to the case and at risk of tainting the jury.

Continue reading “Jack Smith Drops Holiday Filing In Jan. 6 Case Asking That Trump Be Barred From ‘Injecting Politics’ Into Trial “ →

Readers Respond #3

Posted on by Josh Marshall

Responding to yesterday’s Backchannel …

I read your post and have to say, I share some of your optimism. Not because things are good or getting better—they’re not!—but because for the first time in what feels like forever, I see potential for the coming year to bring some extremely dark chapters in world history to a close.

First, the Trump-Biden rematch. Like you, I’m not discounting the possibility that Trump wins. But if he doesn’t, that’s the end of him as an active political figure. He’s too old to run again, too criminally liable, too spent. He’ll have a second political life after he dies, I’m sure, like Ronald Reagan had until Trump displaced him with a new cult of personality, but the man himself will be really and truly gone from our politics. Phew!

Continue reading “Readers Respond #3” →