Officials from six nations spent more than $750,000 at former President Donald J. Trump’s hotel in Washington when they were seeking to influence his administration, renting rooms for more than $10,000 per night, according to documents that his former accounting firm turned over to Congress.
The governments of Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China spent more money than previously known at the Trump International Hotel at crucial times in 2017 and 2018 for those countries’ relations with the United States, according to the documents, which were obtained by the House Oversight Committee and released on Monday.
The officials spent freely at the hotel, the records show. The Malaysian prime minister, for instance, hired a $1,500 personal trainer during his stay at the Trump hotel in 2017. The Saudi Ministry of Defense rented several suites, costing $10,500 each, with rooms reserved under the name “His Excellency.” Qatari officials spent more than $300,000 there in the weeks leading up to a meeting with Mr. Trump in 2018.
The documents build on the public record of how Mr. Trump’s hotel brought in millions during his presidency from foreign governments. The Oversight Committee has previously estimated that the hotel received more than $3.75 million from foreign governments from 2017 to 2020, raising concerns about possible violations of the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause.
Remember that the Clinton Foundation collected foreign money for their international charity and that was considered by everyone to be such a horrible conflict of interest that they had to shut it down completely. There was never any allegation that the Clintons kept the money for themselves.
In April 2017, Press Secretary Sean Spicer took the podium in the White House briefing room and announced that the president was donating his first-quarter salary to the National Park Service. With a serious look on his face, Spicer pulled out an oversize check with an oversize signature. It was the first of several checks that Donald Trump signed while in office, handing over his $400,000 salary in exchange for good publicity.
That was pocket change for Trump. His real money came from the business he refused to divest, not from his government salary. An analysis of documents, some of which only became public in recent weeks, shows just how much Trump’s businesses raked in while he was in office. Dig through everything—including property records, ethics disclosures, debt documents and securities filings—and you’ll find about $2.4 billion of revenue from January 2017 to December 2020.
Not bad. All that money flowing directly into his pockets and no conflicts of interest at all, isn’t that nice?
The Post says it looks like Trump wasn’t attempting to sell the classified documents. Okay ….
Federal agents and prosecutors have come to believe former president Donald Trump’s motive for allegedly taking and keeping classified documents was largely his ego and a desire to hold on to the materialsas trophies or mementos, according to people familiar with the matter.
As part of the investigation, federal authorities reviewed the classified documents that were recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club, looking to see if the types of information contained in them pointed to any kind of pattern or similarities, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
That review has not found any apparent business advantage to the types of classified information in Trump’s possession, these people said. FBI interviews with witnesses so far, they said, also do not point to any nefarious effort by Trump to leverage, sell, or use the government secrets. Instead, the former president seemed motivated by a more basic desire not to give up what he believed was his property, these people said.
Several Trump advisers said that each time he was asked to give documents or materials back, his stance hardened, and that he gravitated toward lawyers and advisers who indulged his more pugilistic desires. Trump repeatedly said the materials were his, not the government’s — often in profane terms, two of these people said.
The people familiar with the matter cautioned that the investigation is ongoing, no final determinations have been made, and it’s possible additional information could emerge that changes investigators’ understanding of Trump’s motivations. But they said the evidence collected over a period of months indicates the primary explanation for potentially criminal conduct was Trump’s ego and intransigence.
A Justice Department spokesman and an FBI spokeswoman declined to comment. A Trump spokesman did not return a request for comment Monday.
The analysis of Trump’s likely motive in allegedly keeping the documents is not, strictly speaking, an element of determining whether he or anyone around him committed a crime, or should be charged with one. Justice Department policy dictates that prosecutors file criminal charges in cases in which they believe a crime was committed and the evidence is strong enough to lead to a conviction that will hold up on appeal. But as a practical matter, motive is an important part of how prosecutors assess cases and decide whether to file criminal charges.
Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor, said keeping hundreds of classified documents, many marked top secret, at a private home “is such a perplexing thing to do” that it makes sense for prosecutors to search for a motive.
“It makes perfect sense as to why prosecutors would be spending time scouring through the various records and documents to look for some kind of pattern or theme to explain why certain records were kept and why others were not,” Mintz said. “In presenting a case to a jury, prosecutors typically want to explain the motive for committing a crime. It’s not necessary to prove a crime, but it helps tell the story of exactly how a crime unfolded, according to the government.”
We don’t yet know if there was any material that could be destructive to his enemies. It’s hard to know if prosecutors are looking at that since it’s not strictly criminal (beyond the theft itself) But even if it was just him taking whatever he wanted for no particular reason and stuffing it in boxes because he has a disorganized, chaotic mind who doesn’t know what’ valuable and what isn’t there is no excuse for him doubling down once it was pointed out that he had a bunch of classified documents. All he had to do was say that they were gathered by mistake and give them back. I am positive that would have been the end of it.
But he’s a psycho so of course he didn’t do that. And he wants to be president again. How twisted is that?
Unfortunately for the GOP, their voters are innumerate so it doesn’t matter:
1. As I share the following data, please keep in mind the question: "Tell me how, exactly, Donald Trump saved a failing Republican Party?"
2. After the 2015 election, Republicans had majority control of 68 state legislative chambers nationwide, our of 99. Results from Tuesday are not in, but going into the 2022 elections, they controlled 62 out of 99 (a decline of 6).
3. After the 2015 election, Republicans held 31 out of 50 state governorships. After this election, it looks like they will hold just 26 out of 50 (a decline of 5).
4. After the 2014 election, Republicans held a majority of 247 out of 435 seats in the U.S. House. After this election, projections are that they may have reclaimed a slim majority of 219 out of 435 (a decline of 28).
5. After the 2014 election, Republicans held a majority of 54 out of 100 seats in the U.S. Senate. After this election, it looks like they will hold a maximum of 50 out of 100, and perhaps less (a decline of at least 4).
6. Keep in mind that, except for the state legislative numbers I cited, these totals come after a midterm election where Republicans were expected to recoup many of their previous losses.
7. With all that said, please tell me how Donald Trump saved a Republican Party that was always losing before he showed up.
8. A more plausible interpretation is that Republicans got so frustrated at losing to Obama twice that they cut off their nose to spite their face.
9. My point here is not a moral one. Within the GOP, it's become gospel that, morals aside, Trump turned around a party that had been desperately failing and taught it to win. The numbers, before and after, strongly refute this.
He is the greatest sore loser in world history. I mean that literally. Who can be compared to him for sheer audacity? It’s one thing to seek revenge for a loss. Wars have been waged over that. It’s quite another to completely deny the reality of it.
The problem for Republicans is that a large portion of their voters are eager to be lied to so a good portion of them will continue to believe whatever Trump tells them.
This article in the Wall St. Journal about Lauren Boebert’s very close race is fascinating. In retrospect, it’s too bad the party didn’t invest more in the race. I think this describes the mood of many in her electorate:
While Mr. Frisch was calculating an election strategy, there were also shifts from the ground up happening inside the district.
On a Colorado golf course last year, two friends, a Republican and a Democrat, vented to each other about what they saw as the increasing extremism of American politics.
Duncan Rowley, the owner of a Grand Junction office furniture store and lifelong GOP supporter who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016, told Tim Sarmo, a Democratic former public administrator, that he was deeply concerned about the Jan. 6 attack. Moreover, Mr. Rowley wanted Ms. Boebert out of office.
Democrat Tim Sarmo, wearing cap, with Republican Duncan Rowley.
The 2021 talk was one of a series of similar conversations Mr. Sarmo had been having with his Republican friends on Colorado’s staunchly conservative Western Slope. Wondering if there was a way to harness that frustration toward a more civil and moderate political climate, Mr. Sarmo and five others held an initial meeting to gauge interest. Some 500 people showed up, he said.
All of her primary opponents endorsed the Democrat. I don’t think you can underestimate the impact of voters who are just simply sick of the circus. Yes, a vast number of Republicans do seem to be suffering from a case of arrested development. Not every adult in the country has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old.
Boebert’s race is still too close to call. She’s ahead by 1100 votes but they have until Wednesday to cure ballots (reportedly more than 900 of them outstanding) and tally military ballots. And there will be a run-off.
Boebert, true to form, says that the problem for her was terrible GOP candidates at the top of the ticket. So she’s not changing.
I’ve seen some circular firing squads in my time observing politics, but never anything like what is going on in the Republican Party right now. Usually it’s the Democrats ripping each other apart over an election loss, running around in circles casting blame, rushing to avoid responsibility and otherwise making everything worse. But they look like rank amateurs compared to the GOP, which is in the throes of the angriest political tantrum I’ve ever seen. I must confess to a full-blown case of schadenfreude over it.
The unexpected run of Democratic victories — they’ve already held the Senate, will come within a whisker of holding the House and have won a bunch of state-level races too — has shaken the foundations of both MAGA World and what used to be known as the Republican “establishment,” although the difference between the two is not readily discernible these days. It’s only in times of Trump scandal or electoral catastrophe that we can still glimpse some daylight between them. There’s generally a round of hand-wringing and public disavowal from some of their important thought leaders and elected officials until they get word from the base that Donald Trump is still their daddy and they fall back into line.
I’m sure you remember the last time this happened, after the Jan. 6 insurrection when Trump incited his rabid followers to storm the Capitol, with the apparent goal of literally hanging the vice president. Why, for a few days many Republicans were very upset! Even a loyal Trump lackey like South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham said, “Count me out, enough is enough,” and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy declared that “the president bears responsibility” for what happened. There were resignations from the Cabinet and angry denunciations by dozens of Republicans who had happily gone along with Trump’s Big Lie up to that point.
Then they got yelled at in airports by their MAGA constituents and suddenly a violent assault on their own workplace didn’t seem like such a big deal after all:
McCarthy went down to Mar-a-Lago to mend fences and kiss the ring. (No word on whether he brought some of those red Starburst candies Trump loves so much.) Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell resigned himself to Trump once again — even though he had just lost the Senate majority, thanks to those Georgia runoffs a day before Jan. 6 — and everything fell back into place. Trump was the undisputed head of the Republican Party, having cemented his leadership by attempting to stage a coup and getting away with it.
The assumption going into these midterm election was that the party holding the White House would get routed, for all the reasons everyone has already discussed ad nauseam. But it didn’t turn out that way. As I and many others have pointed out along the way, Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving — to Democrats.
If Trump had kept his mouth shut and stayed out of the Republican primaries, as Senate Republicans wanted him to, it’s entirely likely they would have done better. But then again, their own cowardice and opportunism are as much to blame as he is. They had the chance to make sure that Trump would never run again by convicting him in the second impeachment trial and they whiffed. They’re still stuck with him, and the results are as bad as they have been in every major election since 2016.
Recriminations are coming in fast and furious from the right-wing media establishment, starting with the Murdoch empire. The Fox News celebrities haven’t all abandoned Trump quite yet — they’re no doubt waiting for the smoke to clear before they decide their next moves. But there’s a shiny new candidate on the scene who also says he was called by God to lead the nation. Many in the GOP have turned their lonely eyes to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, hoping he can save the day. That of course has finally uncorked Trump’s resentment against the man he sees as his creation, which has reportedly been boiling up for years now. Trump even claimed in a post on his Truth Social platform that he had ordered the FBI and Department of Justice to intervene in DeSantis’ very close 2018 election to ensure his win. (Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly, has said that’s not true.)
Trump is righteously angry that he’s being blamed for all the nutcases he encouraged and endorsed going down to defeat, but even more upset that DeSantis is being held up, in contrast, as the party’s only big 2022 success. Let’s just say that the gauntlet has been thrown down and the battle between Trump and DeSantis is on. It’s not going to be pretty. Trump is already going dirty, apparently spreading rumors about DeSantis’ personal life.
Whether or not this will actually spell the end of Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican Party remains to be seen. But it’s highly unlikely that this loss will result in Trump losing control of the 40% or so of the party faithful who worship him, and that makes him as formidable as ever. All they have to do is start chasing leading Republicans through airports again and he’s back in business.
Meanwhile, back in Washington all hell is breaking loose in the Republican caucuses in both houses. Trump is blaming Mitch McConnell for losing the Senate, but somehow Kevin McCarthy (who is said to be on the horn with Trump several times a day) escapes his wrath for failing to produce the eagerly-awaited red wave in the House. Nobody knows whether McCarthy will have the votes for speaker, assuming Republicans finally manage to eke out a majority — probably by just a couple of seats — and the newly empowered Marjorie Taylor Greene Caucus is already flexing its muscles, planning to create chaos at every turn. Even if McCarthy finally gets the gavel, odds are good that he lasts less than half the time of his last GOP predecessor, Paul Ryan.
McConnell is also under fire from some senators who want to use him as the scapegoat — largely to avoid having to blame Trump. A bunch of prominent right-wing senators, including Josh Hawley of Missouri, Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Senate campaign chair Rick Scott of Florida and the aforementioned Lindsey Graham, have weighed in to say that the vote for Minority Leader should wait until after the Dec. 6 runoff election in Georgia between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. It’s hard to know which of these ambitious vultures are trying to whip votes for themselves (although Scott almost certainly is) and why they think the Georgia race should be decisive, since Democrats have already won the majority. But it’s backstabbing season, and McConnell has a target right between his shoulder blades. On the other hand, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas just came out in support of McConnell, a few days after Cotton announced that he won’t run for president in 2024. The games run deep.
As you can see, the Republican Party is in serious disarray. As if that weren’t enough, Donald Trump himself says he will make a “major announcement” on Tuesday night to pour more gasoline on the fire. Word is that he will make a “very professional, very buttoned-up” speech, rather than his usual unhinged rally rant, which I have to admit is a savvy move. Trump understands that being unpredictable gets him attention and I can just see all the TV pundits declaring that he is a changed man, more sober and serious after the election debacle.
Who will be the first to declare, “Donald Trump re-established himself as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination tonight”? And who will be the first Republican official to rush to the microphone to endorse him? (Not counting Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who didn’t even wait for his official announcement.) I think there’s every chance that the circular firing squad will miss him, as it always does. I’m not so sure that McCarthy and McConnell can survive all this, however. Somebody has to pay for this disastrous showing and I see no reason to believe that the GOP establishment has enough self-preservation instinct remaining to save itself. In a certain sense, you love to see it.
A powerful rightwing pressure group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), is pushing states to adopt a new law shielding all US businesses from “political boycotts”.
Although primarily aimed at protecting controversial industries such as fossil fuel companies, big agriculture and gun manufacturers, the proposed legislation is written to prevent boycotts by investors, banks and other companies of any US business.
It comes amid rising consumer pressure on firms over whom they do business with, and follows the decision by major retail stores to stop selling MyPillow products after its chief executive allied himself with Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Alec, which is funded by major corporations, intends to press state legislators to adopt the readymade law, the eliminate political boycotts act, at its closed-door States and Nation Policy Summit in Washington DC at the end of this month.
So much for the free market and free speech. And to think these people once called themselves libertarian.
But we knew what they really were all along, didn’t we? They were right wing, money grubbing authoritarians who always wanted to harness the government for their own ends. They say whatever is convenient to that end.
Some Republican-led states have passed hundreds of pieces of Alec’s model legislation almost word for word, including laws pushing the conservative agenda on immigration, voting suppression, the environment, guns and energy policy.
The new model legislation requires every “governmental entity”, which covers a wide array of bodies from state government to local police departments and public universities, to include a clause in contracts requiring businesses to pledge they “will not engage in economic boycotts”.
According to the text of the proposed law, which is written by Alec’s lawyers so that all a legislature has to do is fill in the name of its state, it is a response to banks, investment funds and corporations refusing to invest in or do business with industries that damage the environment or are aligned with oppressive laws.
“Corporations are boycotting and sanctioning essential industries, such as fossil fuel and agriculture producers, by refusing to provide them with products or services or imposing undue burdens on them,” the proposed law says.
“Banks are increasingly denying financing to creditworthy companies solely for the purpose of marketing their environmental or social justice credentials, to the detriment of their clients and shareholders.”
The huge investment company BlackRock is among nearly 400 financial firms to have sold off shares in big oil companies over their failure to pursue sufficiently climate-friendly policies.
Some corporations are increasingly concerned that consumer pressure will cause other companies to boycott them over their funding of rightwing politicians and causes, or social positions.
The model legislation follows an Alec meeting in Atlanta in the summer at which participants launched a push against “woke capitalism”, claiming that boycotts may break financial laws.
“The collusion of corporations, and institutions to boycott, divest from, or sanction any industry may violate existing antitrust and fiduciary laws and harms consumers, shareholders, and states,” the model legislation states.
The readymade law gives state attorneys general the power to “examine under oath any person” in connection with a boycott, and to require them to file a report about their activities. The attorney general would also be able to “examine any record, book, document, account or paper as he may deem necessary” and to impound them.
The eliminate political boycotts act has its roots in legislation already on the books in more than 30 states to block boycotts of Israel over its oppression of the Palestinians.
That figures.
For that reason the proposed new law does not extend to individuals after several states were forced to amend legislation when courts ruled that requiring individuals to sign pledges not to boycott Israel intruded on free speech rights.
How reassuring.
Kansas revised its law in 2018 after a Wichita teacher brought a federal lawsuit in response to being told to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel in order to keep her job. Similarly, Texas narrowed its law after a speech pathologist lost her contract with a school district.
However, an Arkansas newspaper publisher has asked the supreme court to intervene after a federal appeals court upheld a 2017 state law that cost the publication advertising by the state university after it refused to sign the commitment not to boycott Israel.
Seriously, these people are evil:
The latest model legislation expands on another law written by Alec, the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act, introduced since the beginning of the year and passed by several states to shield big oil from share selloffs and other measures to protest the fossil fuel industry’s role in the climate crisis.
Legislation written by Alec has been introduced thousands of times in state legislatures across the country, and passed into law in hundreds of instances. Model laws are written by Alec “taskforces”, usually jointly chaired by a state legislator and a representative of an interested industry.
Alec was behind the proliferation of “stand your ground” laws in conservative states, permitting the use of deadly force by any person who feels threatened, which George Zimmerman used as a successful defense for shooting Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012.
Who says “the Republican establishment” is dead. These guys are old guard right wing corporate gangsters in suits. They’ve been at this for a very long time. Keep your eye on what the Supremes will do when they get some of these cases. It’s right up their alley. Very Orban.
Conservative backlash over Republicans’ abysmal showing in last week’s elections is not limited to the twice-impeached, under-DOJ-investigation, “biggest loser” Donald Trump.
The knives are out, for Trump, of course (New York Times):
Recriminations have erupted among leading Republicans after the party failed to gain control of the Senate, despite highly favorable conditions, and election deniers have continued their losing streak.
It appears we have a succession fight ahead. Prominent conservatives want to delay House and Senate leadership elections. Senators Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) have called for delaying a leadership election in their chamber.
Per source: collection of prominent conservative movement figures — incl Heritage President Kevin Roberts — will be releasing a letter calling for delay to House and Senate leadership elections. pic.twitter.com/ON8c1dvIyl
If you believe the delay is about respect for Herschel Walker having a say (he won’t), I’ve got some crypto stocks to sell you. The delay will give the rowdies time to find replacements more to the MAGA cult’s liking.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been calling his colleagues over the last several days to shore up his support as his team plans to plow forward with leadership elections on Wednesday despite grumbling by a faction of dissenters who are trying to slam the brakes after their midterm debacle. They are planning to have a GOP air-clearing session on Tuesday.
[House Minority Leader Kevin] McCarthy has also spent the past five days working the phones to solidify support for his speakership bid, and he has spoken to former President Donald Trump multiple times since last Tuesday, according to GOP sources. The former president endorsed McCarthy for speaker the day before the midterm elections – something his allies hope sway his conference’s staunchest Trump supporters.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy may never be Speaker. The rabid Freedom Caucus hates his guts and will at the very least demand concessions from him for their support. His nomination is easy. Winning? Winning is hard. Trump’s endorsement is of less help to McCarthy now.
Rep. Chip Roy of Texas told reporters that “no one currently has 218” votes for speaker, which is the magic number McCarthy would need to secure the speaker’s gavel on the House floor in January, and said he wants McCarthy to list in greater detail his plans for a wide array of investigations into the Biden administration. And Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona complained that McCarthy seemed to backpedal on whether he’d be willing to launch impeachment proceedings into President Joe Biden or members of his Cabinet.
“I’ve heard from multiple of my constituents who question the wisdom of proceeding forward with that leadership,” Biggs said, adding that there needs to be a “frank conversation” about who they elect for the top job.
Who better than Biggs to broaden the appeal of the Republican Party to moderate voters? pic.twitter.com/fiagBSy6q8
Trump supporters plan to make McCarthy’s path rocky. If he won’t agree to a delay, insurgents “they plan to nominate Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) as an internal pick for speaker to demonstrate that the Californian doesn’t have the 218 GOP votes he needs,” Politico reports:
Depending on how that first step plays out, more conservatives would then embrace an alternative pick to put forward as a consensus candidate, added this Republican — who said some signs are pointing to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as the Freedom Caucus’ consensus choice. CNN first reported the prospect that Biggs would be a symbolic alternative in step one of the plan.
If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything
Americans last week valued the country’s health came over conservative histrionics about crime and inflation. With few exceptions, the fringiest of fringe-right, election-denying candidates supported by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans went down to defeat.
Voters said, “We can fix policy later. We’re going to fix crazy right now,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) told CNN.
Republicans’ “candidate quality” problem rests “almost entirely on Donald Trump’s shoulders,” observes Slate’s Jim Newell. And Republicans know it. Trump continues to melt down online over the blame heaped on him.
Election Day 2022 “was a good day, I think, for democracy,” President Joe Biden said.
Democrats held control of the U.S. Senate. They may lose the House once vote-counting is complete in several states, but not by much. It was a dramatic, rare hold by an incumbent president in his first midterm election.
There was a vote-counting protest in Maricopa County, Arizona, and isolated efforts to intimidate election workers and voters, but no violence. Election deniers who lost largely slunk away and conceded. Even Doug Mastriano, the Republicans’ Christian-right gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania. He conceded Sunday night.
Just one of 14 self-described “America First” secretary of state candidates, Indiana’s Diego Morales, won his race. The group of would-be chief election officials, which included candidates in swing states Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, was defined by Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Candidates who embraced such beliefs also lost races for governor in the Midwestern battlegrounds of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and in the Northeastern battleground of Pennsylvania.
Republicans who denied the legitimacy of the last election did prevail in Senate contests in North Carolina and Ohio. In Georgia, Republican Brian Kemp won reelection outright after fighting Trump’s conspiracy theories, but Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who has promoted lies about the last election, proceeded to a runoff election in December.
But is the crazy gone or just gone into temporary hibernation?
“Because voters in primaries are usually the most motivated, and strong supporters of Christian nationalism are very motivated, candidates who embrace Christian nationalism may continue to win nominations even if they sometimes lose general elections,” he said.
There should be nothing quite so sobering for Republican Party regulars than losing four straight Trump-flavored elections. But true believers will simply see them as evidence of the intractable evil of their political adversaries. In a party organized against facts and learning, writes David Frum, “conservatives have come to view everything that happens, however unwelcome, as proof simply that the most extreme people were the most correct.”
Like Cyberdyne Systems Model 101, they’ll be back in January should Republicans gain control of the House.
“The president’s critics remain unchastened,” writes Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Already lobbyists are urging more policies favoring investors whose wealth stands on the backs of Americans who do the producing:
If Republicans take the House, their majority will be stacked with election deniers who have embraced one overriding goal: the restoration of Donald Trump as president in 2024. They believe economic chaos weakens President Biden, so they are itching to use their leverage to hurt working families. This is the same strategy Republicans used after the 2010 midterms when they set off a debt-ceiling crisis, then demanded family-crushing austerity.
Democrats should fight back by making this lame-duck session of Congress the most productive in decades. We can start by lifting the debt ceiling now to block Republicans from taking our economy hostage next year. Democrats must then continue delivering for families. Where we can pursue legislative action, we should fight aggressively. When Republicans try to obstruct such action and the president can act by executive authority, he must. Most of all, the Democrats should be aggressive in putting Republicans on the defensive, pressing hard on why they are blocking much-needed initiatives to help Americans.
It would be political malpractice for Democrats not to “head ’em off at the pass” while they still can.
Reacting to Run For Something‘s Amanda Litman, Paul Rosenberg of Salon puts it bluntly: “This ahead of us may be the most crucial 2-year period in US history since the Civil War.”
100%. This ahead of us may be the most crucial 2-year period in US history since the Civil War. https://t.co/F3O06hTHg8
The Obama coalition went home after November 2008 buoyant in feeling they had fundamentally changed the country. Perhaps. But the backlash has yet to subside. The work is not done.
The Democratic Party’s stunning hold on Senate control will enable President Joe Biden and his allies in the chamber to do something that has been a low-key success: churning out federal judges without the threat of Republican obstruction.
The Senate majority, inked by a Democratic win in Nevada, gives Biden a clear runway to continue one of his most consequential pursuits: reshaping federal courts with a diverse array of lifetime-appointed liberal judges, including record numbers of women, minorities, former public defenders and civil rights lawyers.
The Senate has confirmed 84 Biden-nominated judges, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court and 25 appeals court judges, confirming judges at a faster rate than President Donald Trump before the 2022 election.
“Senate Democrats have been committed to restoring balance to the federal judiciary with professionally and personally diverse judges,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told NBC News on Saturday night. “With two more years of a Senate Democratic majority we will build on our historic pace of judicial confirmations and ensure the federal bench better reflects the diversity of America.”
Trump, in tandem with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, confirmed 234 judges in his four years — including three Supreme Court justices and scores of young conservatives poised to rule on cases for generations. Senate Republican leaders told NBC News before the election that if they took the majority, they would use their power over the floor to compel Biden to send more centrist judges that GOP senators could support.
“This is a major bullet dodged, because it means Biden will have the opportunity to build on what will go down as a signature legacy item for him, which is a true makeover in the composition of the courts if he’s given a full four years of running room,” said Brian Fallon, who runs the courts-focused liberal group Demand Justice. “He won’t just be competitive with Trump over a four-year span with total nominees confirmed, he’ll also have left a lasting mark.”
Like other liberals, Fallon feared that Republicans would have slowed judicial confirmations to a crawl if they took control of the Senate. He said Democrats keeping control means that if a Supreme Court vacancy were to open up, Biden’s nominee would be assured a vote. But he said he doesn’t agree with some liberals who argue Justices SoniaSotomayor or Elena Kagan should retire so Democrats can hold their seat for longer by confirming younger justices.
That’s a bit much. The only one who’s young than them is Kavanaugh and he’s just 5 years younger than Kagan. Come on now. Let’s not start this. The best way to deal with this is to institute terms for Supreme Court Justices not dog the liberal women on the court to quit. (And yes, yes I know Ginsburg should have quit but she was in her 80s and had cancer, not her 60s.)
The right wingers are not happy:
“Biden promised unity and moderation but has consistently nominated radical judges to appease the liberal dark money groups who helped elect him. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats have simply rubber-stamped his picks and I expect that pattern to continue,” said Carrie Severino, the president of the Judicial Crisis Network, a well-funded advocacy group that fights for a more right-leaning judiciary and also does not disclose its donors.
“JCN will continue to use whatever means necessary to highlight Biden’s extremist judges who care more about delivering liberal policy results from the bench than following law,” she said.
Yeah, whatever.
While the current 50-member Democratic caucus has been unified behind Biden’s judicial nominees, a 51st seat for the party could further embolden it. Currently the 50-50 split means the Judiciary Committee is also evenly divided and Republicans can force Democrats to jump through an additional hoop and eat up hours of Senate floor time to secure a vote on a judge. If Democrats hold on to their seat Georgia, they could deny the GOP that option.
Currently there are 76 vacancies on district courts and 9 on appellate courts. That number is sure to grow as more judges retire and open up their seats in the next two years.
Some on the left have pushed Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to end a courtesy known as the “blue slip” that allows senators to block consideration of district court judges in their home state. As a practical matter, that means Democrats currently need Republican sign-off to confirm judges in red states. (GOP leaders eliminated the rule for circuit judges but kept it for district courts.)
Asked by NBC News in September if he would preserve the tradition, Durbin said it has worked for the Senate and he’s “sticking with” it if he remains Judiciary chairman for two more years.\
Bad idea. They should get rid of it. Once McConnell jammed through two illegitimate Supreme Court Justices all these “courtesies” should have been cleared out. There’s no point in it.
The Georgia election is very important because it will eliminate discharge petitions which gum up the works. Having a real majority makes a big difference in how the rules work.
{T]he former president called the GOP chair at midnight on a Sunday evening to complain about Joe Lombardo, the sheriff of Clark County, who was running for governor.
“Someone had sent the former president clips of that evening’s debate in the Nevada governor’s race. The Trump-endorsed Republican nominee, Joe Lombardo, the sheriff of Clark County, had declined to call Mr. Trump a ‘great’ president and had backed off Mr. Trump’s stolen-election lie,” the report states. “Mr. Trump fumed about withdrawing his endorsement, threatening to throw into chaos one of the nation’s most consequential swing states, a place with three competitive House races and a tossup Senate seat. Ms. McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, pleaded with the former president. She asked him for one hour to fix the situation.”
The report adds that Trump’s threat seemed to have worked.
“Mr. Lombardo soon issued a statement calling Mr. Trump a ‘great president,'” the report states before adding. “Thecrisis was averted. The next week, when Mr. Trump held a Nevada rally, Mr. Lombardo joined the chorus singing his praises onstage.”
At that rally, Lombardo went even further exhorting the crowd, “The greatest president, right?”
His record is …. mixed. The following shows some of his Senate and House endorsements organized by whether or not they were in GOP states and districts. As you can see, he did very well in Republican strongholds. But then my cat could have made those predictions.
His governor picks didn’t do much better. In fact, aside from Lombardo (and possibly Kari Lake) I’m not sure he won any that weren’t already shoo-ins. And he sure didn’t help in any of the close races.
