Last night I wrote this bit of tough love for those of us who are perhaps understanding that Joe Biden definitely positively will be the Democratic nominee in 2024 and yet still want to agonize over his age and perseverate over the potential electoral consequences. Now I’d like to shift gear and discuss why it is exactly that there has been such a freak out about this now. After all Biden has been as old as he is … well, forever. Literally, forever. Think about it. Not long ago social media was filled with Dark Brandon memes. His campaign was actually making big money selling Dark Brandon merch. So what happened exactly? Why now rather than in the Spring or last winter?
Continue reading “Official PhD-Grade Smart Person Explanation of the Biden Age Freak Out”Riiight: Trump Says It’s ‘Very Unlikely’ He Would Pardon Himself If Elected President
Former President Donald Trump made the highly believable claim Thursday that it’s “very unlikely” he would pardon himself if he wins a second term in the White House.
Continue reading “Riiight: Trump Says It’s ‘Very Unlikely’ He Would Pardon Himself If Elected President”A Consequential Day In The Georgia RICO Case
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
No Georgia Trial For Trump Next Month
The state judge handling the big RICO case made official yesterday what he had signaled the week before: Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell and any other defendant who invokes their right to a speedy trial will go to trial next month, and the remaining defendants will be tried separately down the road. That means Trump avoids an October trial in Atlanta.
Perhaps we’ll look back on this later as some kind of setback, but I don’t thinks it’s obvious now. In fact, as the judge noted, trying to force all the defendants into a speedy trial would inevitability provide a basis to appeal on due process grounds. A Trump conviction delayed is much better than a Trump conviction overturned.
In the order, state Judge Scott McAfee raised the possibility of eventually severing some of the other defendants as well. So we could be looking at more than two different RICO trials in Georgia. That does create challenges for prosecutors: multiple trials give later defendants a chance to see prosecutors put on their evidence multiple times, a distinct advantage; witnesses may not be 100% each time they testify, giving defense counsel openings to challenge the credibility; and prosecutors now have to win over multiple jury panels over many months, rather than giving it their best shot one time.
Mark Meadows Is Off The Hook For Now
McAfee’s order severing Chesebro and Powell also removed the urgency from Mark Meadows’ attempt to get his case removed to federal court.
The 11th Circuit was scheduled to hear oral arguments this morning on Meadows’ request to stay the lower court decision denying removal from state court. But after McAfee ruled, Meadows quickly alerted the appeals court to the changed circumstances and asked to withdraw his motion for an emergency stay. The appeals court granted the request and cancelled today’s oral argument.
Meadows’ appeal will still proceed on an expedited basis, but without the threat of an October trial date, it won’t proceed on an emergency basis.
The Atlanta Judge Is A Keeper
State Judge Scott McAfee is a good one. You see it in his earnest but not self-serious demeanor, his confident but humble style, and the briskness with which he dispenses with nonsense:
Just Keep On Talking, Bub
I cannot imagine trying to represent Donald Trump in a criminal case as he runs around making admission after admission that go to the core of the prosecution:
Trump’s Recusal Motion Gave Prosecutors An Opening
Donald Trump’s motion to recuse U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan from his Jan. 6 case is highly unlikely to go anywhere, but Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team didn’t let a good opportunity go by. They used their formal response opposing the motion to show how central Trump was to the Jan. 6 attack, in the words of so many of the Jan. 6 defendants.
NY AG’s Civil Trial Against Trump Hits A Road Bump
I confess I’m not sure yet of the implications here and I don’t think we’ll know until later, but stick a pin in this: An appeals court intervened in the civil lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James against the Trump Org, Trump, and his two adult sons in a way that could delay the start of next month’s trial.
McCarthy Dares Detractors to Dump Him
In a closed door meeting of the House GOP, Speaker of the Hot Seat Kevin McCarthy dared his in-house critics to “file the fucking motion” to remove him from the top spot.
The Hunter Biden Indictment
The indictment of a sitting president’s child is unusual.
The indictment of a sitting president’s son after an investigation launched under the supervision of his predecessor, who was then and is now along with his own political party publicly agitating for criminal charges is even more unusual.
The fact that it’s all part of a larger scheme, ongoing for more than four years, that led to Trump’s first impeachment continues to be lost on the public because it’s lost on so many reporters. But here we are.
Give Them An Emmy
Yesterday’s Morning Memo included a montage of surveillance video of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) making a spectacle of herself at a performance of the Beetlejuice musical in Denver – but you really need to watch it with this voiceover:
UAW Goes On Strike Against The Big 3
The United Auto Workers struck last night after contract talks broke down. The initial work stoppage involves about 12,700 workers at three plants.
Keep Your Eye On Wisconsin
TPM: “Wisconsin Republicans voted to fire the state’s election chief Thursday, a lingering outgrowth of Donald Trump’s 2020 big lie campaign.”
SCOTUS Will Weigh In On Crazy Social Media Ruling
The high court issued a short, administrative stay to consider the government’s request for a longer stay while it appeals that batshit crazy federal court ruling that hamstrung the government from communicating with social media companies about misinformation on their platforms.
Let Me Send You Into The Weekend In Style
Morning Memo, as the name might suggest, doesn’t spend much time out on weeknights. But it made an exception this week when Sonny Landreth rolled through DC. In a performance at The Hamilton, he was fine-tuning a set to use at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Los Angeles later this month.
I’m practically a musical illiterate, so writing about music carries the high risk of looking like a fool. But Sonny Landreth is so accomplished, such a virtuoso, a craftsman at the top of game, that I feel safe in, however ineptly, drawing your attention to him.
You can dissect Landreth’s South Louisiana musical influences, particularly blues and zydeco, but since the 1980s he’s created his own distinct sonic world. Imagine someone creating an entire new color palette and spending a few decades creating his art in his new medium. When you hear him, you know it’s him, whether he’s backing John Hiatt, recording with Mark Knopfler, or performing here with Clapton. Enjoy your weekend:
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PSA
I was sitting here tonight thinking about things. And it occurs to me that I’ve written the ‘Biden ain’t stepping aside so just suck it up and move on’ post a few times. But I left something out.
You getting all angsty about Biden’s age and worrying about it and coming back to it – you’re the problem. You need to grow up. I mean this not in an intemperate or judgmental spirit but in one of kindness and compassion. But seriously, you need to grow up.
Continue reading “PSA”DeSantis Bets Backing Gov’t Shutdown Will Get His 2024 Bid Off Life Support
As a 2024 candidate who used the first half of his second term as governor of Florida to pass far-right messaging bills that would ultimately boost his 2024 bid, Ron DeSantis likes the chaos he’s seeing in Congress right now. And he wants to hijack the far-right House Republicans’ hijacking for his own purposes.
Continue reading “DeSantis Bets Backing Gov’t Shutdown Will Get His 2024 Bid Off Life Support”What’s the Deal With These Gun Charges and the Whole Hunter Biden Situation?
I want to follow up on David’s post below about Hunter Biden being hit with federal gun charges. Tax charges are presumably coming in another jurisdiction. But the gun charges are frankly weird. As David notes, it is very uncommon, perhaps as much as unheard of, for someone to be charged with lying about substance abuse when buying a gun unless it’s part of prosecution for some other felony. So maybe you buy a gun, use it to commit a felony and then prosecutors charge you for that felony and also hit you for lying about your drug use when you bought the gun. I haven’t spoken to anyone who can think of another example. Former DOJ Inspector General Michael Bromwich said simply today, “It doesn’t happen. DOJ will need to produce data in discovery, which will show this is the most selective of prosecutions.”
Continue reading “What’s the Deal With These Gun Charges and the Whole Hunter Biden Situation?”Wisconsin Republicans Vote To Oust State’s Top Election Official Amid Authoritarian Tear
Wisconsin Republicans voted to fire the state’s election chief Thursday, a lingering outgrowth of Donald Trump’s 2020 big lie campaign.
Continue reading “Wisconsin Republicans Vote To Oust State’s Top Election Official Amid Authoritarian Tear “Supreme Court Grants Brief Administrative Stay In Biden Social Media Case
House Dems And McCarthy Agree On One Thing: The Speaker Doesn’t Know What His Caucus Wants
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) acknowledged to reporters on Thursday that the growing list of demands from his far-right flank is getting to be a lot to keep track of, between impeachment, far-right appropriation bill riders and their opposition to a short term spending bill.
Continue reading “House Dems And McCarthy Agree On One Thing: The Speaker Doesn’t Know What His Caucus Wants”What A Fight This Is Going To Be
Hunter Biden has been indicted today in Delaware on federal gun charges that mirror the ones he previously had entered into a plea agreement to resolve. That plea agreement, as you know, fell apart in a dramatic way in open court.
Biden, through his legal team, continues to maintain that at least as to that part of the plea deal that addressed the gun charges, he had entered into a binding non-prosecution (or diversion) agreement and he’s going to hold the government to it.
I had half-expected Special Counsel David Weiss to sidestep that issue and charge the tax case instead. That was not to be. (Weiss doesn’t have jurisdiction in Delaware for the tax charges, so I would still anticipate those being filed in DC or California.)
Continue reading “What A Fight This Is Going To Be”