Introducing Belaboring The Point

Posted on October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 by Kate Riga

Readers, listeners, TPM fans of all stripes —

I’m thrilled to announce that we’re debuting a new podcast under the TPM banner. Belaboring the Point, hosted by me, will encapsulate what I love most about working here: an obsession with ideas, our dedication to cover politics not like sports or a game, but to interrogate how our underlying systems manifest in our politics, and what narratives grow out of those. We like to tell you not just what’s happening, but why it’s happening.

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Judge To Trump: Explain Why You Think The Law Doesn’t Apply To You

Posted on October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 by Josh Kovensky

President Trump won several more weeks to file some motions in his D.C. election interference case, but the March 2024 trial date will remain the same, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

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Gaetz Calls The Biden Impeachment Inquiry What It Is: ‘Unserious’

Posted on October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 by Emine Yücel

Before thrusting the House into chaos this week, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) actually denounced House Republicans’ baseless efforts to impeach President Joe Biden as “unserious” during an invitation-only fundraiser held over Zoom last week, according to audio obtained by NBC News.

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Lawyers Try To Convince Resistant 5th Circuit That Louisiana Is Slow-Walking Map Process On Purpose

Posted on October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 by Kate Riga

Lawyers for the individual voters and organizations challenging Louisiana’s congressional map tried to impress upon a skeptical 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel Friday that the state’s actions all drive in one direction: delaying the process so long that it has to use the likely unconstitutional map in 2024.

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Is The MSM Suddenly Discovering Itself?

Posted on October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 by Josh Marshall

Something funny is happening. A bit out of the blue the country’s big media organizations have started noting something peculiar. Ex-President Trump’s rhetoric has grown increasingly violent over the course of 2023 with an escalating round of threats against his perceived political enemies. Those messages go out loud and clear to his supporters. But they’re either muted or ignored by much of the mainstream press which has focused on discussions about President Biden’s age, Kamala Harris’s experience and popularity and the like. This isn’t a new observation. We’ve noted this dynamic repeatedly, as recently as a couple weeks ago. But suddenly the bigs themselves are noting it.

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DCCC Officially Endorses Jim Jordan (Kidding! Not Kidding)

Posted on October 5, 2023October 6, 2023 by Josh Marshall

One thing that is becoming clear from the tip sheets is that at least some GOP conference members are waking up and smelling the coffee on Jim Jordan’s record from that college wrestler molestation scandal.

To refresh your memory: Before Jordan got into politics he was an assistant wrestling coach (1987-1995) at Ohio State. He claims he didn’t know the team doctor was sexually molesting team members. But apparently it was an open secret and a number of team members from the time claim Jordan knew. They go on TV and say it.

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We’ve Finally Solved The Mystery Of George Santos’ Mysterious Fortune

Posted on October 5, 2023October 5, 2023 by Josh Kovensky

The world knows a lot about Rep. George Santos (R-NY). His backstory is full of lies and his campaign finance reports were studded with extraordinary irregularities. However, amid a cascade of revelations about Santos’ extraordinary deceptions and unusual election operation over the last few months, one mystery remained.

According to his campaign’s filings with the Federal Election Commission, Santos helped power his House bid with personal loans of more than $500,000. Santos’ financial disclosures suggested the sum came as he enjoyed a massive surge in income with a seven-figure salary and more than one million in the bank. It was never quite clear how Santos went from making $55,000 to having a vast personal fortune in the span of a matter of months.

But on Thursday, as Nancy Marks, Santos’ campaign treasurer pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy charge related to her work on his team, we got an answer. Federal prosecutors said Santos’ fortune never existed at all.

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Trump: You Can’t Prosecute Me Because I Did It All While POTUS

Posted on October 5, 2023October 5, 2023 by Josh Kovensky

Donald Trump on Thursday asked for the first time that the D.C. election interference case against him be dismissed, saying that everything he was accused of was covered by his “absolute immunity” as President.

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Listen To This: Vacant

Posted on October 5, 2023October 5, 2023 by Jackie Wilhelm

A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate process the House Republican circus after Kevin McCarthy lost his gavel.

You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.

Murray Suddenly Finds Herself Second In Line To The Presidency

Posted on October 5, 2023October 5, 2023 by Emine Yücel

When the gavel came crashing down Tuesday afternoon, declaring the Office of the Speaker of the House vacant, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the Senate president pro tempore, found herself one step higher on the ladder of presidential succession.

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