I’m making my way through your emails, which I thank you for — both for their content and the thoughtfulness you have taken in writing them. This one from TPM Reader AH is idiosyncratic but one thing AH said really resonated with me: “If the goal of journalism is to make the reader less confused, then TPM’s mode of existence contributes to that mission as much as the reporting in the articles.” There are many goals of journalism but it’s difficult for me to think of many that are more important. Indeed, a number of you have told us that what keeps you coming back to TPM is finding that the new big story or crises don’t come as big surprises to you because our journalism and analysis have anticipated them.
The domestic U.S. political moment is bound up around the fact that there is near universal support for Ukraine and opposition and antipathy for Russia. And yet, the leader of the Republican Party has been a consistent and obsequious supporter of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin for the last seven years and even up until this month. Indeed, so much that he actually worked with Putin to blackmail the current Ukrainian President who is now the recipient of worldwide and fairly deserved plaudits. I mean, he literally got impeached over it!
Even Trump himself is now rushing to reposition himself from what he was saying only a couple weeks ago when he praised Putin’s genius for annexing Ukrainian territory. In a new interview in The Washington Examiner he says that this new Putin is definitely different from the old Putin who — maybe as recently as two weeks ago? — was so awesome. “I think he’s changed. I think he’s changed. It’s a very sad thing for the world. He’s very much changed.”
From the Examiner …
“I’m surprised — I’m surprised. I thought he was negotiating when he sent his troops to the border. I thought he was negotiating,” Trump told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday evening during a wide-ranging telephone interview from Mar-a-Lago, his private social club and political headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida. “I thought it was a tough way to negotiate but a smart way to negotiate.”
“I figured he was going to make a good deal like everybody else does with the United States and the other people they tend to deal with — you know, like every trade deal. We’ve never made a good trade deal until I came along,” Trump added.“And then he went in — and I think he’s changed. I think he’s changed. It’s a very sad thing for the world. He’s very much changed.”
Former President Trump hasn’t confirmed whether he’s going to run again in 2024, but if he does, don’t expect to see his former VP Mike Pence on the ticket.
Thank you to everyone who has joined us so far in this year’s annual membership drive. We just added our hundredth new member for the drive this morning. So we’re off to a solid start for day one. If you’re a new or returning member, thank you! If you’re considering membership, please consider making today the day. Just click right here. It’s very important for our organization. We try to keep reminders and pushing as limited as possible. But don’t let that make you think it’s not really important, critical, to our operation. You can read my broader pitch here in yesterday’s kick off post.
Investment banker Mike Gibbons, a top Republican contender in the race for outgoing Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) seat, made racist remarks about people of Asian descent during one of his podcasts in 2013, citing debunked conspiracy theories in a pseudoscientific book, the New York Times found.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov says Ukraine and Russia are now discussing “concrete formulations, that are close to agreement.” He says that potential agreement is on the basis of a Ukrainian proposal of neutrality on the model on Sweden or Austria, in which Ukraine forswears NATO membership but has its own military and independent foreign policy and is free to seek EU membership and whatever other ties with other countries it wants. This seems in line with what I mentioned yesterday that President Zelensky appears to have been telegraphing. He’s made a series of statements in recent days saying he’s soured on NATO, that NATO’s never going to accept Ukraine, etc. That may be true as a prognostication and I’m sure he’s not happy about it. But the logic of saying it seems aimed at softening the ground for including non-membership as part of a peace settlement. Take it off the table yourself, accept it through your own agency rather than as a diktat. This part about Zelensky is my interpretation. But I’m pretty confident this is correct. I also suspect these negotiations may be much closer to fruition than people are thinking.
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Get Rekt, Darwin
It turns out that Herschel Walker, former NFL player-turned-Trump-endorsed candidate for Georgia Senate, has some doubts about evolution: During a church event on Saturday, Walker pointed out a gaping hole in the theory that “man came from apes.”
“If that is true, why are there still apes?” the candidate asked. “Think about it.”
Fact check: That’s not what the theory of evolution is, and apes don’t transform into human beings.
Walker also claimed that science “can’t do” a “conception of a baby,”
Fact check: …Yes? Yes it can?
Zelensky To Address Congress Today
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who’s been seeking out support from the international community amid Russia’s attack on his country, will give a speech to Congress today via Zoom at 9 a.m. ET. We’ll be liveblogging it this morning.
Zelensky is likely to repeat his calls for the U.S. to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, something the Biden administration has repeatedly rejected given how the move would suck the U.S. directly into the conflict and likely lead to a larger war against Russia.
Biden will make public remarkson the U.S.’ assistance to Ukraine later at 11:45 a.m. ET, when he’ll announce an extra $800 million in aid, according to CNN. He’ll be joined by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks.
Wisconsin Elections Commission Won’t Penalize Fake Trump Electors, Which Includes Commissioner
The six-member Wisconsin Elections Commission decided unanimously on Tuesday that the 10 Republicans who were ready to cosplay as presidential electors for Trump in the 2020 election didn’t break any election laws.
Wisconsin law “does not prohibit an alternative set of electors from meeting,” the commission wrote in its memo on Tuesday.
What’s especially cool about the commissioners finding no wrongdoing by the fake electors is that one of the commissioners, Bob Spindell, was also one of those fake electors. Spindell didn’t recuse himself from this case.
RNC Sues Its Own Vendor In Last-Ditch Effort To Block Jan. 6 Panel’s Subpoena
The Republican National Committee, frantically working to shut down the House Jan. 6 Committee’s subpoena to one of the organization’s top fundraising vendors, filed for an emergency injunction on Tuesday evening to keep the vendor from handing over data on the email campaigns it conducted for the RNC between the election and Jan 6 last year.
The vendor in question, Salesforce, had told the RNC that it was planning on turning over the records today, the RNC’s court filing revealed yesterday. The deadline for Salesforce to hand in the records is today at 10 a.m. ET.
The RNC sued the House Jan. 6 panel last week over the subpoena, claiming it was overly broad and would expose sensitive information about the RNC’s donors.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) is going on trial today in L.A. after having been charged with lying to the FBI about foreign donations to his 2016 campaign.
The Republican faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on all three charges.
Fortenberry has pleaded not guilty, and he’s running for reelection (which heannounced while sitting in the same pickup truck he used as a backdrop when he was announcing his impending indictment last year).
Embattled Sarah Raskin Bows Out
Sarah Bloom Raskin withdrew her nomination as vice chair for supervision of the Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday after Senate Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) vowed to block her confirmation over her stance on climate change.
Permanent Daylight Savings Might Actually Become A Thing?
The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) bill to cement the U.S. on Daylight Savings Time, and it’s hard to be mad at the possibility that it won’t get dark before 4:30 p.m. anymore.
The forecast in the House isn’t quite so clear, however. Whitehouse told Politico that he hasn’t gotten an assurance from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) about it.
? Morning Memo Radio ?
Cawthorn Gets Dragged By Local NC Paper
The Winston-Salem Journal roasted Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), aka “North Carolina’s gift to Crazytown,” in a scathing editorial on Tuesday over his unhinged attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported the amount of Ukraine aid Biden will announce on Wednesday. The amount is $800 million.
Leaders of three European nations arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday, nearly three weeks into a war that’s both claimed the lives of thousands and also seen Russia fail to take the capital.
In this case, it’s Poland, Czechia, and Slovenia that sent their Prime Ministers, who arrived by train and are meeting with top Ukrainian officials. It’s a strong signal of support and defiance from three countries that, thirty years ago, were behind the iron curtain.
In Kyiv, things look grim. A Russian strike appears to have hit a central metro station and market, with residential buildings on the city’s outskirts being hit. Five journalists have been killed in fighting around the capital, including a Ukrainian fixer and an Irish cameraman on assignment with Fox News. Refugees are telling stories of summary executions in towns taken over by Russian forces, while the U.N. now estimates that three million people have fled Ukraine because of the invasion.
It’s a tragedy of unimaginable scale.
And it’s one that comes as Russia continues to make what may be more than feints at a diplomatic solution. While President Zelensky has repeated that he’s no longer interested in NATO accession for Ukraine, Russia is keeping up the military pressure, closing in on the southern stronghold city of Mariupol. Talks are ongoing, but it remains as clear as it was one, two, or three weeks ago where they may lead.
Let me share a few observations on the situation in Ukraine. I’ll put most of this under the fold since I really want you to read the posts below about our membership drive. Please sign up!
