Everyone is aflutter today over news that Donald Trump suddenly thinks Ron DeSantis’s six week abortion ban in Florida is “a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” Hapless reporters and commentators are running around asking whether Trump is now pro-choice, whether he’s going to steal Democrats’ big issue out from under them. At least some Democrats seem to be worried about this too.
Continue reading “Old Man Trump Forgets His Position on Abortion?”Is the Wisconsin GOP on the Run?
I couldn’t figure out why Wisconsin Republicans wouldn’t impeach newly elected Justice Janet Protasiewicz since their epic gerrymander basically makes them immune from whatever voters think. Then I saw state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos surprise every one with a purported proposal for “non-partisan” redistricting. It certainly seemed like a show of weakness. Like they weren’t so confident in their ability to impeach her after all. So I talked to the head of the state Democratic Party Ben Wikler to see what he thinks is going on.
Disdain For DeSantis May Force Trump To Actually Land Somewhere On Abortion
As TPM has been reporting since Roe’s overturning: The electoral backlash to the Dobbs ruling has Republicans — especially 2024 Republicans — queasy about staking out a position on abortion. And no one has been more vague about what abortion policy they’d support as president than Donald Trump.
Continue reading “Disdain For DeSantis May Force Trump To Actually Land Somewhere On Abortion”Wisconsin GOP Threat To Impeach Protasiewicz Is Unsupported By Law And Undermines Judicial Independence
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
Wisconsin’s April 2023 state Supreme Court election was historic. It was the nation’s most expensive judicial race ever, with over US$50 million in total spending, and it broke turnout records for an off-cycle spring election.
Continue reading “Wisconsin GOP Threat To Impeach Protasiewicz Is Unsupported By Law And Undermines Judicial Independence”The ‘Biden Aliases’: How The GOP’s Scandalmongering Inspired An Armed Protest
An armed protester who appeared outside President Biden’s Delaware home on Sunday appears to have been inspired by the efforts of congressional Republicans and other conservative groups to drum up scandal related to Hunter Biden.
The protester, who seemed to have a pistol holstered on his hip in the open carry state, held a sign that referred to various aspects of the right-wing investigations into the Biden family, including email aliases used when he was vice president which Republicans and conspiracists have tried to cite as proof of malfeasance in the absence of more concrete evidence.
“Joe has aliases?! Robert L. Peters, Robin Ware, JRN Ware,” the sign said.
Biden did indeed use email aliases while he was vice president during the administration of Barack Obama. The White House has confirmed he did this and described it as a security practice. One of the aliases was tied to a government domain, and the records were retained by the National Archives. Government officials including Obama have used obscure addresses to avoid hackers and spam.
However, unlike some of Trump’s allies who used email aliases while engaged in allegedly criminal schemes to overturn the 2020 election, after extensive investigations there is no evidence that Biden’s alternate emails were used in conjunction with illegality. Still, Republicans in Congress and conservative groups have repeatedly tried to point to the emails and dredge up more of them. Those efforts have helped the aliases attain totemic significance for some on the right including random Twitter users who have taken to replying to White House announcements and other political posts with the names as though they are making a coherent point.
The obsession with of Biden’s email aliases on the right has followed the larger Hunter Biden playbook, which involves trying to use the sordid personal and ethical issues of the president’s son to create scandal for the White House and some kind of false equivalency with Trump’s behavior. In the absence of real evidence of malfeasance by the president, elements of the Hunter Biden investigation including the simple existence of his hacked laptop have become standalone signifiers on the right. The other side of the protester’s sign pointed to the laptop and exaggerated interpretations of Hunter Biden’s emails that have become a staple of right-wing memes and partisan investigations.
“Bidens are criminals, 20 shell companies?! Where’s the laptop? 10% for the big guy,” the sign said.
While Republican efforts to paint Biden as operating a “crime family” may be lacking in substance, this incident makes clear they could have real-world and potentially dangerous consequences. The armed protester was observed and photographed by the Daily Mail’s Nikki Schwab, who was working in the White House press pool on Sunday. Schwab noted they were “walking down the road toward the Biden home” around noon and that a Secret Service vehicle was “following him down the road.” Approximately an hour later, Biden’s motorcade passed by the protester.
Delaware, where Biden has two homes, is an open carry state. In an initial statement on Sunday, the Secret Service alluded to the fact the protester did not seem to be violating any local laws.
“The individual expressing his constitutional rights had no impact on any of the Secret Service’s protectees’ movements,” the Secret Service said.
The White House referred questions Monday morning about the incident to the Secret Service. In response to an email from TPM asking if the protester was detained or questioned, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi indicated the protest did not trigger protective measures and suggested law enforcement is aware of the protester’s identity.
“The individual was not of protective interest as he was outside of our protective zone,” Guglielmi said. “He is a member of the community who demonstrates regularly. “
Let’s See A Show of Hands!; On-Going Annals of Feral Lauren Boebert …
Last we checked in on the Reality TV scandal of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R) of Colorado she was shown to have straight up lied when she denied vaping at a performance of Beetlejuice in Denver and refusing to stop after the pregnant woman behind her asked her to. Now it gets better, or worse, depending on your point of view. Over the weekend, a new snippet of video of Boebert at the performance started circulating which appears to show Boebert’s friend aggressively fondling her breasts. I’m not even sure what to call it. He doesn’t so much seem like he’s feeling her up as trying to see how big her boobs are. Weak game, if nothing else. Meanwhile, Boebert … well, lets say the video shows her rhythmically massaging the man’s crotch. And yes, I’m trying to keep this family friendly but look what I have to work with! Judge me on a curve.
Continue reading “Let’s See A Show of Hands!; On-Going Annals of Feral Lauren Boebert …”The Saudi-Russian (Trumpy) Alliance
Perhaps many of you simply assume this at this point. But it’s worth saying out loud before we get too much further into the election season. The government of Saudi Arabia is ecstatic about the possible return to power of Donald Trump. And there’s every reason to believe they will use their disproportionate power over oil prices to smooth his return to the White House. Indeed, it’s not just Saudi Arabia. It’s Russia too. The two countries are in a production alliance Bloomberg aptly calls a “crude, inflationary alliance.”
Continue reading “The Saudi-Russian (Trumpy) Alliance”Trump Says It Was His Decision To Describe The 2020 Elections As ‘Rigged’
Former President Donald Trump said during an interview that aired Sunday it was his decision to describe the 2020 presidential election as “rigged.”
Continue reading “Trump Says It Was His Decision To Describe The 2020 Elections As ‘Rigged’”Trump Celebrates Rosh Hashanah With Anti-Semitic Warning To ‘Liberal Jews’
Former President Donald Trump marked Rosh Hashanah — the start of the Jewish High Holy days and the celebration of the New Year — on Sunday by blaming “liberal Jews” for voting to “destroy America and Israel.”
Continue reading “Trump Celebrates Rosh Hashanah With Anti-Semitic Warning To ‘Liberal Jews’”Jack Smith Is Steadily Boxing Donald Trump In At Every Turn
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Jack Smith Is Going Hard After Trump, Part I
In a redacted motion unsealed Friday by order of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, Special Counsel Jack Smith is seeking to impose additional restrictions on Donald Trump’s out-of-court statements to prevent him from continuing to attack the legitimacy of the criminal proceedings against him and from tainting the jury pool in DC.
Of the various filings referred to in today’s Morning Memo, this is probably the one worth reading yourself. It’s a blistering takedown of Trump’s conduct since his indictment, comparing it to his efforts to spread anger and misinformation in the aftermath of the 2020 election (editor’s note: citations removed):
As set forth in the indictment, after election day in 2020, the defendant launched a disinformation campaign in which he publicly and widely broadcast knowingly false claims that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the presidential election, and that he had actually won. In service of his criminal conspiracies, through false public statements, the defendant sought to erode public faith in the administration of the election and intimidate individuals who refuted his lies. The defendant is now attempting to do the same thing in this criminal case—to undermine confidence in the criminal justice system and prejudice the jury pool through disparaging and inflammatory attacks on the citizens of this District, the Court, prosecutors, and prospective witnesses.
Stay tuned for rulings as early as this week from Judge Chutkan on this motion from Smith and on Trump’s motion for her to recuse herself.
Jack Smith Is Going Hard After Trump, Part II
A series of court documents were unsealed Friday in the effort by Elon Musk’s Twitter to alert Donald Trump that Special Counsel Jack Smith had a search warrant for his account. In pushing to keep Twitter from tipping off Trump, Smith argued that the disclosure “could precipitate violence as occurred following the public disclosure of the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago.” In that instance, a man tried to launch an attack on the FBI field office in Cincinnati before he was later shot and killed while fleeing law enforcement.
Stand Back And Stand By
Big Day Ahead For Jeff Clark
A federal judge in Atlanta will hold a hearing at 9:30 a.m. today on former Trump DOJ lackey Jeff Clark’s motion to remove his Georgia RICO prosecution from state court. Unfortunately, no electronic devices are allowed in court so we won’t have real-time coverage of the hearing.
It’s shaping up to be a doozy, for a couple of reasons:
- District Attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed Jody Hunt to testify at the hearing. Hunt, a longtime DOJ hand who became chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, served as head of the Civil Division before Clark held that position on an acting basis. The guess is Hunt will testify that Clark’s actions were outside the bounds of his role as Civil Division honcho. Fun twist: Hunt was the new lawyer retained by Cassidy Hutchinson right before her bombshell testimony to the Jan. 6 committee.
- Clark has obtained a sworn statement from that paragon of rectitude and civic virtue, the nonagenarian former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese, for use in the hearing. It’s unclear if the judge will consider it since it doesn’t appear Meese will be called to testify and subjected to cross examination. I’ve wanted to see Ed Meese cross examined since I was in high school. Alas …
Hate To See It
NYT: Mark Meadows’s Testimony in Georgia Case May Have Done Him No Favors
Hmmm …
Federalist Society co-founder Steven Calabresi does a quick flip-flop on whether the Disqualification Clause renders Trump ineligible for the presidency.
Delaware Is An Open Carry State
An armed protestor was spotted Sunday near President Biden’s Delaware home:
Paxton Acquitted In Impeachment Trial
Even though the case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was spearheaded by Republicans in the state House and prosecuted by Republicans in the Senate trial, the Senate vote fell along party lines, with only two GOP senators joining Democrats in voting to convict him. Paxton was acquitted on all counts. An unbelievable sanctioning of brazen corruption by his fellow Republicans, but also very representative of the modern GOP.
First, They Come For The Librarians
The venerable American Library Association (you know how librarians are: just a band of radicals) has become the target of a right-wing smear campaign.
Moss Grows Fat On A Rollin’ Stone
Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner, 77, has been booted from the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame after making a fool of himself in a NYT interview.
Hunter Biden’s New More Aggressive Pushback
- Hunter Biden sues the IRS, alleging it violated taxpayer privacy rights with its public disclosures about him.
- Former Trump White House staffer Garrett Ziegler, sued last week by Hunter Biden, is profiled by the WaPo as a “scorched-earth activist.”
Government Shutdown Still Looms
The House Freedom Caucus and the Main Street Caucus unveiled a continuing resolution Sunday that is a nonstarter with the Senate and White House. It also met immediate headwinds from some conservative House members, but it is expected to get a floor vote this week. It would extend government funding through the end of October but with draconian budget cuts that make it a dealbreaker.
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