The killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers has over the last two days triggered a wholesale shift across the U.S. political spectrum. But most particularly and significantly it’s triggered a shift from the White House. Today President Biden called for an “immediate ceasefire” along with comments from other administration officials that elaborate on a broader policy shift. In response now there are cries of betrayal from Netanyahu dead-enders as well as misgivings even from some of Netanyahu’s fiercest critics that the upshot of these events is that Hamas will live to fight another day with its brigades still holding out in Rafah.
But coming to this crossroads, which to me is a very positive development, is really all on the current government in Israel and the man who orchestrates every one of its strategies, Benjamin Netanyahu. Joe Biden has gone to every possible length to support Israel in its quest to destroy Hamas’s military capability after the terrorist paramilitary group invaded Israel with multiple death squads on October 7th. He has done that even through vast destruction to the basic physical infrastructure of Gaza and vast loss of innocent human life. He has maintained this in the face of tremendous geopolitical fallout. He has continued to do this even in the face of real damage to his political standing at home and chances for reelection in November.
An Indiana appeals court Thursday upheld an injunction for plaintiffs arguing that their religious beliefs entitle them to an exemption from the state’s near-total abortion ban.
The judge in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago records case on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss from the former President that had little chance of succeeding, but set the case up for further delay.
We need your help for the final stretch of our Annual TPM Membership Drive. We’ve now signed up 858 new members out of our goal of 1,000. One of the benefits of these round numbers is that even I can easily compute the percentage in my head. We’re about 85% of the way there and we are going to pull out all the stops to hit our goal by the end of this week. If you have been thinking of joining during our drive, now is quite literally the time. Remember that in addition to all the direct benefits and supporting our work, we are running a 40% discount for the duration of the drive. So it’s also a good time for that. If you’ve never joined or perhaps let your membership lapse, please take a moment right now to click this link and join us. We all appreciate it.
Late Update: Now 893! We can definitely get past 900 this evening.
One of the abiding themes of election coverage this year is that if there’s a second Trump presidency it will be more extreme, more organized and ideologically coherent and more prepared. There’s some level of psyching out the opposition going on here. But it’s still mostly correct. The major guideposts in the storyline are first that the various forces that went into Trumpism came into 2016 and 2017 not really realizing Trump was the guy. And that’s not surprising. He was Donald Trump after all, something our whole political system has difficulty remembering. Trump also staffed most of his administration with what for him were the equivalent of Hollywood leading men: ex-generals, legitimate multinational corporation CEOs, Wall Street sharks. They weren’t people Democrats like but they weren’t ideologues or even very in line with the goals Trump was pursuing by the end of his term.
The part of the story that is still too little articulated is how Trump’s personal and legal challenges galvanized and really created the whole thing. Trump’s desire for dictatorial power, to control the government in depth, to have the entire state mirror and obey his will grew from his frustration and fear of the various legal probes that stalked him. He thought when he became President that he had managed a hostile takeover of a rival company. The state and the country was his. So he could do whatever he wanted. But it didn’t turn out to be that way. And that’s how the drive to vanquish the “Deep State” was born. In other words, the kernel of Trump’s dictatorial, strongman ambitions were there from the start. But it was only the shock and ego injury of being faced with the difference between owning and governing that set him on the track, for entirely personal and self-protective reasons, of transforming the state to make it serve him in the way he wanted.
A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Kate and Josh discuss abortion ballot initiatives in Florida and elsewhere, and how they may affect the 2024 election.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.
Republicans in the Nebraska legislature failed last night to pass a bill that would have awarded the state’s electoral votes on a winner-takes-all basis – a change that would likely cost Joe Biden one vote in what could be a close 2024 election.
The Trump-backed move to change the rules of the game in Nebraska had been dormant for some time before it suddenly ramped up this week at the urging of right-wing gadfly Charlie Kirk.
The legislative session doesn’t end until April 18, so the measure could be brought back up for a vote again. But the procedural mechanics and the way it failed last night suggest this may be the end of the road for it. The legislator who facilitated bringing it to a vote tweeted last night that she thinks it’s over:
It won’t come up for a vote again. I know that’s what was promised, but there are no vehicles on which it could attach. Winner Takes All isn’t moving in 2024.
Both constitutional amendments passed this week by voters in Wisconsin grew of out bats*** election conspiracy theories. But it’s the second of the two referenda, which allows only designated election officials to administer elections, that is particularly worrying, experts tell TPM’s Khaya Himmelman.
Trump On Track To Stand Trial
The hush-money trial remains on track to start April 15 after the trial judge rejected Trump’s latest immunity argument.
Trump has filed new motions to recuse the judge and to delay the trial die to pretrial publicity, but neither is likely to go anywhere or derail the planned start of the trial.
Everyone is still digesting the filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago case which failed to disguise prosecutors’ incredulousness at U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon:
Aaron Blake: Jack Smith puts Judge Aileen Cannon on notice
Harry Litman:
Profiles From Inside Trump World
NYT: Trump Defense Lawyer Todd Blanche Gambled a Gilded Manhattan Career to Represent Him
WaPo: How Steve Bannon guided the MAGA movement’s rebound from Jan. 6
NYT: Trump’s Bond Benefactor Don Hankey Earned Billions From Subprime Car Loans
An Iowa woman who tried to boost her husband’s unsuccessful 2020 congressional bid through a voter fraud scheme was sentenced by a federal judge to four months in prison.
The Shvartsman brothers plead guilty in Trump Media insider-trading scheme.
Ya Don’t Say?
One of the brothers just referenced above, Michael Shvartsman, makes a cameo in this new piece from The Guardian: “Donald Trump’s social media company Trump Media managed to go public last week only after it had been kept afloat in 2022 by emergency loans provided in part by a Russian-American businessman under scrutiny in a federal insider-trading and money-laundering investigation.”
2024 Ephemera
NBC News: Several Trump supporters involved in Jan. 6 are running for office this year
Politico: Democratic tactics against RFK Jr. are rattling his campaign
NYT: Many Democrats Are Worried Trump Will Beat Biden. This One Isn’t.
AP: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) recovering from blood clot surgery.
White House Still Thinks Ukraine Aid Is Doable
Politico: “For all their frustration with the painstakingly slow pace in the House, administration officials are privately hopeful their approach could result in Congress starting to move on an aid package later this month.”
The Etta James Soundtrack Is Perfect
I tend to be wary of post-disaster videos flying around on social media, but this one seems well verified (here, for example):
I flew to Pittsburgh yesterday to surprise my son on his 21st birthday with a bottle of Scotch that I bought the day he was born.
Back then, I figured the hardest part would be keeping the bottle intact for 21 years, but it turned out to be lot easier than keeping him in one piece. After his last two years – broken pelvis, broken femur, broken spine, and broken brain across two different traumatic accidents – that whiskey tasted so, so good.
Thanks for indulging me a brief personal celebration.
On Wednesday morning, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan’s east coast during the morning rush hour. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing and have so far reported 9 people dead and about 900 injured. The quake caused landslides and damaged roads, bridges and tunnels. There is also substantial damage to both residential and business buildings. Taiwan experiences regular earthquakes, however the last one with comparable strength was a 7.7 magnitude in 1999.
Assessing damage to a community building
Taoyuan City Deputy Mayor Su Junbin inspects the Sanyuanjidi Community Building and Dazhi Citizen Activity Center in Bade District as at least four people were killed and hundreds of others injured during a magnitude 7.4 earthquake, which struck off Taiwan’s eastern coast on April 3, 2024. (Photo by Taoyuan City Government/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Damage to an elevated track for the New Taipei metro
An elevated track for the New Taipei Metro is damaged following an earthquake on April 3, 2024 in New Taipei, Taiwan. A major earthquake has hit the east coast of Taiwan with a magnitude of 7.3, the strongest on the island in 25 years. (Photo by Yang Chengchen/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
Large crack appears in the road
Roads cracks at Taipingshan Park due to the earthquake. Taipingshan Park will be closed for days due to cracks in the road. (Photo by Yilan Forestry & Nat. Cons. Agency/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Falling rocks from the hillside obstruct traffic
Rocks lay on the road and stop the traffic after falling off from a cliff. (Photo by Annabelle Chih/Getty Images)
Rocks from a landslide completely blocking a road
A view of rocks that fell and blocked a road. The Guguan Works Section sent out machines and tools to open the area, and called on people who wanted to enter the mountainous area to pay attention to the road conditions. (Photo by Taichung City Fire Department/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Falling rocks severly damage vehicles
A small passenger vehicle is seriously damaged after being hit by falling rocks on Zhonghengbian Road. (Photo by Guguan Public Works Section/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Uranus Building is severely tilted after a quake
The red building, called the Uranus Building, is partially collapsed. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Rescuers work at a partially collapsed building
Rescuers work at a partially collapsed building. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Rescue work at a partially collapsed building
Rescuers work at the partially collapsed building. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Rescue workers searching the collapsed Uranus Building
A frame grab from a video taken on April 3, 2024 shows rescue workers searching for survivors at the damaged Uranus Building in Hualien. (Photo by STR/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)
Another view of the Uranus Building
The Uranus Building at Xuanyuan Road is tilted severely, at an angle of more than 60 degrees, and one person is still missing. The police immediately went to the rescue after receiving the report. (Photo by Hualien County Fire Department/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fire department workers search a collapsed building
Kaohsiung Fire Department staff search inside a building. (Photo by Kaohsiung Fire Department/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fire department workers carrying out search and rescue operations
Fire fighters carry out search and rescue operations among the rubble. (Photo by Ministry of Interior / Handout /Anadolu via Getty Images)
Suspended train services cause large crowds in Shenzhen North Railway Station
Passengers wait at the waiting hall of Shenzhen North Railway Station on April 3, 2024 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China. (Photo by Chen Wen/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
Cracked wall of a residential building
Walls of residential buildings crack after a powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake rocked the entire island on April 3, 2024 in Hualien County, Taiwan. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
The Republican National Committee was quick to make it known that it invested resources in ensuring the Wisconsin primary election on Tuesday evening went smoothly — so that voters could end up passing a referendum that is all but certain to make administering elections in the battleground state even harder and more confusing than it has been in the past.
Thanks to so many of you for writing in in response to yesterday’s post about SCTV. It hadn’t occurred to me that lots of the sketches and maybe whole shows are on YouTube. But of course that makes perfect sense. One of the interesting things about those notes is that many of you mentioned something that I didn’t say explicitly in my post but was likely implicit, which is that being a fan of SCTV was a bit like joining a secret club. About half way through it’s run it got picked up by NBC and then it ran I think after Saturday Night Live. That’s a helluva time slot. But still, that’s network TV. Before that, though, you had to be a bit of a freak to even have found it. It would only be available as a syndicated show on one of the non-affiliate channels picked up from whatever rando station produced it in Toronto. (And yes, for you youngs, this was back when there were like 5 to 7 channels total, the three affiliate channels, PBS and then two or three low budget local channels that probably ran mostly repeats of like I Love Lucy and Brady Bunch.) So it really was a bit like being in a secret club. The few, the elect, the viewers of a show that was legit funnier than SNL.
Here’s a recollection from TPM Reader PK … (and God is he right about John Candy)
