I want to expand on what I mentioned in Morning Memo about some really good work from the Just Security guys on better understanding the delay in the deployment of the National Guard.

From the get-go, TPM’s coverage has been more circumspect about the decision to involve the military in the response to the attack.

Why?

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has effectively doomed President Biden’s hopes of passing his most meaningful legislative package this year. Things aren’t looking any better for Democratic efforts on voting rights (also largely Manchin’s fault). While the administration has made significant advances in getting the country vaccinated this year, Omicron has brought pandemic-ending progress to a standstill for now.

But the Biden administration, with the help of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), has quietly made some progress on one major pillar of Biden’s presidency: confirming judges.

I could read and write all day every day about those days in late September 2020 when Trump became the superspreader-in-chief. It almost feels like an obligation to do so, that we may inoculate ourselves against the potential claims of future historians that we were a blind, gullible, clueless people. Yes, we were, but not nearly as much as this episode suggests. We knew. We got it. The White House COVID outbreak with Trump at its center was very, very bad, and we understood that much in real time, not only in retrospect.

But now we have a new or more precisely an updated account of the shitshow, from someone who was neck deep in the shit at the time. Poor Chris Christie. He was done wrong so many times by Trump. He was the toadiest toady. There was the hostage video. There was this unforgettable headline: “Trump Uses Chris Christie As ‘Manservant’ To Fetch His McDonald’s.” There was Christie being unceremoniously dumped as the head of the transition. But in none of those episodes did Trump try to kill Christie.