Because of the Holiday, no podcast this week. We’ll be back next week.
Herschel Walker’s Team Bet That Paid Abortion Story Wouldn’t Come Out. Oops.
Ex-NFL star and Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker’s allies reportedly were really, really hoping this day wouldn’t come.
Continue reading “Herschel Walker’s Team Bet That Paid Abortion Story Wouldn’t Come Out. Oops.”Oklahoma GOP Holds COVID Funds Hostage To Block Gender-Affirming Care
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Trans Kids In The Crosshairs Yet Again
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) on Tuesday signed off on the Republican-controlled state legislature’s restriction on giving federal pandemic relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to hospitals that offer gender-affirming care.
- Under the provision, the state’s OU Health system won’t receive the funds if its Oklahoma Children’s Hospital continues to provide young transgender patients with gender-affirming treatment.
- It’s an unprecedented line of attack in conservatives’ manufactured (and science-free) moral panic over transgender care to feed the MAGA base ahead of the midterms.
Arizona GOP Chair Repeatedly Invoked 5th Amendment In Front Of Jan. 6 Panel
Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward, a leader in Trump’s fake elector scheme in her state who was a fake elector herself, pleaded the Fifth and refused to answer “every substantive question” she was asked during her deposition with the House Jan. 6 Committee, an attorney for the committee said during a court hearing on Tuesday.
- The hearing was part of the committee’s court battle with Ward over her phone records from Nov. 3, 2020 to Jan. 20, 2021.
- Ward has also been subpoenaed in the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 probe, as have the rest of her fellow sham electors in Arizona.
GOP Machine Flocks Behind Walker
With barely a month left before the midterms, Republicans seemingly have little choice but to stick by GOP Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker as their man even after an ex-girlfriend came forward with literal receipts and a “get well soon” card revealing that the self-proclaimed anti-abortion candidate had paid for her to get an abortion (Walker has denied her claims).
- National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Rick Scott (R-FL) declared on Tuesday that the Senate campaign arm stands with Walker, and he accused Democrats of targeting the ex-NFL star with a “smear machine.”
- GOP chair Ronna McDaniel claimed it was all just “character assassination.”
- Trump also (unsurprisingly) came to Walker’s defense on Tuesday.
- And of course, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich:
- Meanwhile, Walker’s 23-year-old son, Christian Walker, continued to drag his father on social media on Tuesday:
- Walker’s campaign and power brokers in Georgia had known about the abortion for months, Politico reports. They were reportedly just hoping it would never come out.
Putin Formalizes Illegal Annexations In Ukraine
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has signed laws that purportedly cement his illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine after Russia’s legislature rubber-stamped fake “treaties” to absorb those areas.
- But the Kremlin’s attempted land grab is looking even more bogus by the hour as Ukrainian troops successfully force the Russian military into retreat in the regions Putin now claims to own.
Key Analysis
“Annexations show the depth of Putin’s imperial delusion” – The Washington Post
Trump Turns To SCOTUS To Save His Hide
Trump is taking his fight over the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid to the Supreme Court, asking it to vacate the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that lifted Judge Aileen Cannon’s block on the documents.
SCOTUS Takes Aim At VRA
With a conservative majority eager to further slash the already-tattered Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Merrill v. Milligan redistricting case on Tuesday (check out our liveblog here).
- “Jackson Turns Originalism Against Conservatives To Argue For Minority Voting Protections” – Kate Riga
- “Kagan Laments Her Conservative Peers’ Ongoing Evisceration Of The Voting Rights Act” – Kate Riga
Elon Musk Offers To Buy Twitter At Agreed-Upon Price
In a massive U-turn, Tesla CEO Elon Musk proposed to buy Twitter on Monday at the price of $54.20 per share, the amount he’d originally agreed to months ago before abruptly trying to worm his way out of the $44 billion deal. Musk was scheduled to go to trial this month in Twitter’s lawsuit against him in response to the billionaire, who had claimed the social media giant had misled him about spam bots, trying to backtrack on the deal.
Anyway:
How To Do An Epic Me Me
Take notes, kids, this is how you Internet!
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Where Things Stand: Trump’s Bad Candidates Ask God For Help
There’s nothing quite as humbling as begging for divine intervention.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Trump’s Bad Candidates Ask God For Help”Walker Gets Clean Bill of Campaign Health from GOP Powerbrokers
Axios reports that after 18 hours to think over a highly credible report that the abortion restriction absolutist paid a girlfriend to get an abortion, they decided he’s good to go. After the same time to evaluate his son’s claims that he abandoned his family and repeatedly threatened to kill his him and his mother, Walker’s then-estranged and now-ex-wife, Republican powerbrokers similarly decided Herschel Walker is the man to make America great after all. So it’s full speed ahead. Prominent abortion groups have also reaffirmed their support for Walker. Ronna McDaniel, Rick Scott along with family men, Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump are all vouching for Walker’s character and say it’s on to victory.
Trump Asks SCOTUS To Help Fend Off DOJ In MAL Docs Case
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to more precisely reflect the narrow request Trump is making to the Supreme Court.
Former President Trump asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to throw out an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that blocked a special master from accessing classified records it seized from Mar-a-Lago.
Continue reading “Trump Asks SCOTUS To Help Fend Off DOJ In MAL Docs Case”RonJohn Jokes Jan. 6 Mob Taught Us One Thing: How To ‘Use Flagpoles’ As Weapons
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) might be flip–flopping all over the place as he courts mainstream and far-right Republican voters in his desperate bid for reelection, but there’s at least one position that’s remained consistent for the Wisconsin senator: The Jan. 6 Capitol attack was NBD because the insurrectionists weren’t armed when they stormed the building.
Continue reading “RonJohn Jokes Jan. 6 Mob Taught Us One Thing: How To ‘Use Flagpoles’ As Weapons”Gov’t Approach To Trump Docs Probe Revealed, Doc By Doc
Throughout the saga of the Mar-a-Lago records search, Trump has hurled claims about what the DOJ took.
The records were stolen, Trump has said. The FBI planted them, he’s claimed.
Continue reading “Gov’t Approach To Trump Docs Probe Revealed, Doc By Doc”Better Late Than Never?
I’ve heard directly and indirectly over the last couple days from various campaigns , strategists, pols that abortion rights is the issue Democrats need to close on, how they’re shifting this or shifting that. Is it too late? I’m not sure. Of course, it’s not like abortion hasn’t figured prominently in this election cycle. But it certainly hasn’t been placed at the center of the campaign as it could have been, and perhaps still could.
Kagan Laments Her Conservative Peers’ Ongoing Evisceration Of The Voting Rights Act
During in-person oral arguments Tuesday, shoulder-to-shoulder with her conservative colleagues, Justice Elena Kagan lamented the demise of the Voting Rights Act that they helped effectuate.
Continue reading “Kagan Laments Her Conservative Peers’ Ongoing Evisceration Of The Voting Rights Act”