President Joe Biden previewed a plan to extend the solvency of Medicare “at least into the 2050s” without cutting benefits Tuesday, an opening salvo as he prepares to release his full budget proposal later this week.
Continue reading “Biden Proposes Tax Hikes On Rich To Extend Life Of Medicare”How The ‘Holman Rule’ Allows The House To Fast-Track Proposals To Gut Government Programs Without Debate Or Much Thought At All
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
The slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives has just voted to give itself a streamlined way to fire civil servants and shut down federal programs it doesn’t like — outside the standard process of review and debate.
Continue reading “How The ‘Holman Rule’ Allows The House To Fast-Track Proposals To Gut Government Programs Without Debate Or Much Thought At All”Kevin McCarthy’s Dirty Deal With Tucker Carlson Plays Out Exactly As Planned
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
We All Saw This Coming
The challenge this morning is how to alert you to a big dump of new misinformation without amplifying and validating it. The good news: This is an easier task when Kevin McCarthy and Tucker Carlson are involved because it is so transparent.
The speaker of the House gives special exclusive access to the security footage of the Jan. 6 attack on Congress to the leading propagandist minimizing, dismissing, and counter-programming the failed coup. What did you think was going to happen?
Monday night, Carlson began using the footage (much of which was already turned over to defense attorneys for the Jan. 6 rioters) to reinforce and continue to promulgate his made-up narrative that the attack consisted of peaceful “sightseers” touring the Capitol under escort:
More than 44,000 hours of surveillance footage from in and around the Capitol have been withheld from the public, and once you see the video, you’ll understand why. Taken as a whole, the video does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim.
Reporters who have covered the Jan. 6 attack and the criminal justice aftermath spent Monday evening debunking the Carlson segment in various ways: the footage isn’t actually new or unseen, it was selectively presented by Carlson, things he claimed were new or unknown were old and known, etc.
But of course the game plan here isn’t for McCarthy to simply provide Carlson with new fodder for predictable if outrageous segments on his show. In a pattern we all know too well, the Carlson segment takes the raw material and transmogrifies into even better, more useful fodder for all manner of elected Republicans, Jan. 6 deniers, other right-wing news outlets, and MAGA world.
Like clockwork, Republican House members seized on the Carlson segment:
My favorite response though was this tweet from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene:
The punchline, in case you missed it: Jacob Chansley, the easily recognized QAnon Shaman, didn’t go to trial; he pleaded guilty.
The easily mocked Carlson segment was, well, easily mocked:
Pence Resists Grand Jury Subpoena
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday filed a motion to quash a federal grand jury subpoena of him in the Jan. 6 investigation on the grounds that it violates the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, CNN reported.
As previously reported, former President Trump’s legal team on the same day raised executive privilege arguments to block Pence’s testimony.
The filings are sealed and the arguments will play out in secret because this remains in the confines of a grand jury proceeding.
Trump Tries To Get Toothpaste Back In The Tube
This is a weird one. Apparently Trump is now asserting executive and attorney-client privileges to try to block Special Counsel Jack Smith from using the grand jury testimony of former White House lawyers Pat Cipollone, Patrick Philbin and Eric Herschmann, ABC reported.
The ABC report is a little hard to parse, but it suggests that Smith has taken this argument to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to resolve and oral arguments may happen in secret this week.
Passantino Faces The Music
Stefan Passantino, the one-time lawyer for former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson, is facing a bar complaint for his alleged misconduct in representing her.
Hope Hicks On The Spot In Hush Money Case
Former Trump aide Hope Hicks was at the Manhattan district attorney’s office yesterday as part of its investigation into the Stormy Daniels hush money scheme. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Hicks met with prosecutors or testified to the grand jury or both.
Fox Loses Its Top Lobbyist
As the fallout from the Dominion defamation suits continues, Fox Corp. is losing its top lobbyist. Danny O’Brien, who hails from Democratic circles and used to work for Joe Biden, is stepping down as EVP and head of government relations.
Why The SCOTUS Leak Investigation Failed
Former DOJ and DoD Inspector General Glenn Fine on why the Supreme Court’s investigation of the Dobbs draft leak was doomed from the start.
Biden Pushes Hard On Medicare
Biden is putting the social safety net at the center of his re-election campaign. With a NYT op-ed and a planned rollout today of a new plan for Medicare, Biden is drawing on the same tensions for the Republicans – they want to eliminate programs that are deeply popular among their aging political base – that he poked on Social Security in his State of the Union address.
Biden Considering Resuming Detaining Families At The Border
NYT:
The Biden administration is considering reviving the practice of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally — the same policy the president shut down over the past two years because he wanted a more humane immigration system, officials familiar with the discussions said Monday.
Although no final decision has been made, the move would be a stark reversal for President Biden, who came into office promising to adopt a more compassionate approach to the border after the harsh policies of his predecessor, former President Donald J. Trump.
Moody’s Warns Of Crippling Effect Of Debt Limit Default
Moody’s Analytics chief economist of Mark Zandi is set to warn a Senate Banking subcommittee today that a debt limit default would crater the U.S. economy.
Elon Musk’s Latest Embarrassment
Platformer: How a single engineer brought down Twitter on Monday
America’s Great Home Heating Divide
What A Day That Was
Michelle Obama describes sobbing uncontrollably for 30 minutes aboard Air Force One after Trump’s inauguration.
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Where Things Stand: Pence Officially Moves To Block Jack Smith Subpoena
Vice President Mike Pence officially moved to block a federal grand jury subpoena for his testimony on events surrounding Jan. 6 on Friday, arguing, as he was expected to, that he is shielded by the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause from being compelled to testify about some of the topics that appear to be at the heart of special counsel Jack Smith’s probe.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Pence Officially Moves To Block Jack Smith Subpoena”Coalition Of Lawyers Push To Disbar MAGA Attorney Who Pressured Hutchinson To Stay Loyal To Trump
Thirty-plus prominent legal figures filed an ethics complaint with D.C.’s Board on Professional Responsibility on Monday to revoke Trump-world attorney Stefan Passantino’s license to practice law, claiming that he tried to influence his former client Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the House Jan. 6 select committee.
Continue reading “Coalition Of Lawyers Push To Disbar MAGA Attorney Who Pressured Hutchinson To Stay Loyal To Trump”Deep Archeology and the Powell Memo
One of the most apt critiques I read of my post on the deep archeology of Fox News focused on what we might call the counter-revolution of capital, and whether I’d ignored it in telling this thumbnail history of the Movement Conservative counter-establishment. I didn’t ignore it. It’s closely related to, but distinct from, the history I described. They’re like two separate rivers which flow together in the 1970s to create the rightward turn of American politics usually identified with the Reagan revolution. Many of you also referenced a now almost legendary document called the Powell Memo, a genteel call to arms which many now point to as the founding document of the business counter-revolution which began in the 1970s, a kind of Rosetta Stone for unlocking the origins of the modern American right.
Continue reading “Deep Archeology and the Powell Memo”The Staffers We’ve Been Waiting For …
I really want to echo David’s point from Friday about this Democratic staff report into Jim Jordan’s “weaponization” hearings. If you’ve been waiting a very long time for no nonsense Democrats to jump in front of Republicans, grab a whole buttload of facts and just pound them over the head with them … well, your moment may have arrived.
The document is more than three hundred pages long and the details are simply amazing. You probably didn’t figure that Jordan was going to unearth a lot of legitimate scandals or secret antifa cells at the FBI or other arms of federal law enforcement. But even if your bar was low, the levels of incompetence and pro-insurrectionist content is still pretty wild.
Continue reading “The Staffers We’ve Been Waiting For …”Jeffries Says He Has ‘No Indication’ Cap Police Reviewed Jan. 6 Footage Tucker Carlson Plans To Air
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said he has “no indication” that Capitol Police screened the Jan. 6 footage that Fox News host Tucker Carlson says he is planning to air, casting doubt on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) statement that all footage will be vetted before being released.
Continue reading “Jeffries Says He Has ‘No Indication’ Cap Police Reviewed Jan. 6 Footage Tucker Carlson Plans To Air”Trump Tees Up A Cycle Of Revenge With ‘I Am Your Retribution’ Speech
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Trump Preens At CPAC
What more warning do we need? He’s the only president twice impeached, to attempt a coup, and to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Despite the blizzard of lies, half-truths, and deceptions, he usually conveys exactly what he means to do. Like an aging rock star hitting the road for one last hurrah, Trump’s 2024 campaign is the “Retribution” tour.
“For those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution” — Trump pic.twitter.com/V8VuLk6uy4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 4, 2023
Yes, the crowd was relatively small, his electric connection with the audience not quite as crackling, and his aura a bit diminished. But the threat he poses to the democratic experiment no less ominous, especially in the absence of any Republican who can clearly take the GOP nomination from him.
So here we are, 20 months from the next election, with Trump promising a MAGA restoration that will unleash a cycle of revenge, payback, retribution, and punishment toward his enemies, real and perceived.
The best writeups:
The Guardian: ‘I am your retribution’: Trump rules supreme at CPAC as he relaunches bid for White House
HuffPost: The coup-attempting former president brought his usual grievances back to a diminished CPAC
We Know It’s Going To Be Bad
Michael Beschloss: “’I am your retribution’ was said today on anniversary of Lincoln’s second inaugural in which he said he had ‘malice toward none.’”
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R): “If you want to heal our land and unite our country together, you don’t do it by appealing to the angry mob. And that’s true whether you’re talking about an angry mob from the left or the right.”
David Roberts: “‘I am your retribution’ is the core promise of every aspiring fascist strongman.”
… Vintage Trump …
Charlie Kirk (emphasis his): “Epic speech from President Trump. A bold vision for the future, vintage America First, law and order, election integrity, and ending the endless wars. ‘I am your retribution.’ MAGA 2024″
‘Eradicated’
The pattern is familiar by now: say the most outrageous thing possible then collapse in a heap of victimization when called out for it.
At CPAC this weekend it was Michael Knowles of the Daily Wire playing the game, calling for transgenderism to be “eradicated” then threatening lawsuits against anyone claiming he was calling for the eradication of transgender people.
Trump Tries To Block Pence Testimony
In a secret court filing Friday, former President Trump asserted executive privilege to try to prevent Mike Pence from testifying pursuant to a subpoena from a DC grand jury investigating Jan. 6.
All Eyes On Jack Smith
WaPo: As 2024 race begins, special counsel advances with focus on Trump lawyers
Fox News Reels From Defamation Lawsuit
NYT: Inside the Panic at Fox News After the 2020 Election
Josh Marshall: The Deep Archeology of Fox News
Brian Stelter: In the weeks after the 2020 election, Maria Bartiromo’s Fox News talk show became an open mic for Trump’s self-serving conspiracy theories
George and Kellyanne Conway Are Divorcing
You never know what’s going on in someone else’s marriage.
Manafort Settles With Gov’t For $3.5M
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort settled his civil case with the federal government over his undeclared foreign bank accounts for $3.5 million.
How Conservative Jurisprudence Works
Adam Liptak on the sudden emergence of the “major questions doctrine“:
A timely new study traces the rapid and curious rise of the major questions doctrine, spurred by conservative scholars and commentators and driven by hostility to administrative agencies.
“The phrase was used just once by any federal judge before 2017, and in only five federal decisions — at any level of court — before 2020,” Allison Orr Larsen, a law professor at William & Mary, wrote in the new study, “Becoming a Doctrine.” …
“In 2016 — long before it was anointed a ‘doctrine’ by the Supreme Court — the ‘major questions doctrine’ was featured by name in the annual Federalist Society conference,” she wrote, referring to the conservative legal group.
The turning point came in 2017, when Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, then a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, used the term in a dissent. “That moment,” Professor Larsen wrote, “seems to have changed the game.”
Biden In Selma
The President commemorated Bloody Sunday with a speech on voting rights:
“Selma is a reckoning. The right to vote … to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty. With it anything’s possible,” Biden told a crowd of several thousand people seated on one side of the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge, named for a reputed Ku Klux Klan leader.
“This fundamental right remains under assault. The conservative Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act over the years. Since the 2020 election, a wave of states and dozens and dozens of anti-voting laws fueled by the ‘Big Lie’ and the election deniers now elected to office,” he said.
Rancid
Good Read
WaPo: The bewildering descent of Scott Adams and “Dilbert”
Split Verdict In Tina Peters Trial
Former Mesa County, Colorado clerk Tina Peters was convicted Friday of one count of obstructing government operations but acquitted of one count of obstructing a peace officer. Sentencing is scheduled for April 10.
Peters, who lost her 2022 bid for secretary of state and is now running to chair the Colorado Republican Party, is scheduled to stand trial again in August on the bigger case involving allegations of a security breach in the clerk’s office in 2021. She has pleaded not guilty.
BREAKING …
Politico: DHS has a domestic-intelligence program
2024 Ephemera
- Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) won’t run for president to avoid a “multicar pileup” in the GOP primary that could help Donald Trump win.
- Politico: Once an albatross around Trump’s neck, Jan. 6 is now taboo in the GOP primary
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) fanned the political fires over COVID in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- Vulnerable and even not-so-vulnerable Democratic senators are poised to vote to interfere in the District of Columbia’s self-rule.
What A Gem
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One GOP Guv. Expresses Confidence Trump Won’t Be 2024 Nominee
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said on Sunday that former President Donald Trump “is not going to be the nominee” for the Republican Party in 2024.
“He’s not going to be the nominee. That’s just not going to happen,” Sununu said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”
Continue reading “One GOP Guv. Expresses Confidence Trump Won’t Be 2024 Nominee”