Headlines for Wednesday, May 10, 2023
🗽There is no greater power than a community discovering the truth and working together to make sure an injustice is not repeated
🗽A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson
🗽There is no greater power than a community discovering the truth and working together to make sure an injustice is not repeated
NEWS HEADLINES FOR MAY 9, 2023
Washington Post: Rep. George Santos charged with 13 counts of fraud, financial crimes: Rep. George Santos, the freshman Republican congressman whose myriad falsehoods became both a scandal and a national punchline, was charged with a host of financial crimes in court papers unsealed Wednesday, including defrauding his donors and wrongly claiming unemployment benefits. Santos, 34, surrendered to federal authorities in the morning and is expected to appear Wednesday afternoon in a federal courthouse in Central Islip, on Long Island. The freshman congressman, who announced his reelection bid last month, did not respond to a text message seeking comment. His lawyer declined to comment. Santos stands accused of deceiving donors to his campaign and misusing their money for his personal gain, as well as theft of public money. He is also alleged to have made false statements to the House Committee on Ethics about his income and other financial assets.
New York Times: After Defamation Finding, Trump Again Says Carroll Lied: A federal jury in Manhattan on Tuesday found former President Donald J. Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll, who had accused him of rape. In the hours that followed, Mr. Trump continued to criticize Ms. Carroll and the case. “I have no idea who this woman, who made a false and totally fabricated accusation, is,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. “Hopefully justice will be served on appeal!” Mr. Trump also criticized Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court, who presided over the case, calling him a “terrible person” who was “completely biased, and should have recused himself.” It was unclear what, if any, repercussions Mr. Trump’s after-action comments might incur.
New York Times: Trump Camp Sees CNN Town Hall as Calculated Risk: No questions will be off-limits on Wednesday night at the CNN town hall with Donald J. Trump. He can put 15 people of his choice in the audience but none are allowed to ask questions. And his team has not had a hand in guiding how the event will go, according to two people briefed on the discussions. All of this adds up to no small amount of risk for the former president during the prime-time event, his advisers say — a risk they see as worth taking. They expect tough questions from the CNN anchor and moderator, Kaitlan Collins — and have been anticipating questions about abortion, investigations into Mr. Trump and a civil jury’s finding him liable for defamation and sexual abuse in the lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll in Manhattan, a verdict handed down a day before the town hall.
Washington Post: Florida rejects social studies topics about communism, social justice: Florida initially rejected 81 percent of new K-12 social studies instructional materials publishers submitted to be included on the state’s adoption list for K-12 teachers to use in their classrooms, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced Tuesday. Officials worked with some publishers to make changes and wound up rejecting only 35 percent. Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. released the approved list of materials that are aligned to state social studies curriculum standards for every grade. A statement from the Education Department said that 66 of the 101 submitted materials have been approved to date but that initially only 19 made the cut. The department said it had spent the past month working with publishers to change what it called “inaccurate material, errors and other information that was not aligned with Florida law.”
The Guardian: Liz Cheney releases Trump January 6 attack ad aimed at CNN town hall: The former House January 6 committee member Liz Cheney released an attack ad against Donald Trump in New Hampshire on the eve of his appearance there in a controversial CNN town hall. “There has never been a greater dereliction of duty by any president,” Cheney warns in the ad, which focuses on Trump’s incitement of the deadly Capitol attack on 6 January 2021. “Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.” Trump incited the attack by his supporters in an attempt to block certification of Joe Biden’s election win. Nine deaths have been linked to it. Thousands of arrests have been made and hundreds of convictions secured – some for seditious conspiracy.
Wall Street Journal: Trump Loss in Sexual-Abuse Case Casts Another Legal Cloud Over 2024 Bid: A federal jury verdict holding Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation has injected new uncertainty into the 2024 presidential race, testing whether voters and Republican allies will stick with him through another controversy. Tuesday’s decision on the allegations by columnist E. Jean Carroll marked the second time this year Mr. Trump has faced a significant legal setback, following an April indictment on charges in New York related to hush-money payments to a porn star. Ms. Carroll’s allegations—and those of other women who have accused Mr. Trump of misconduct over the years—could be on the agenda Wednesday night, when he is scheduled to participate in a CNN town hall in New Hampshire. Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all of those instances and decried Tuesday’s verdict as “a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!” Joe Tacopina, the lead lawyer for Mr. Trump, said he planned to appeal.
The Atlantic: An Ominous Warning to the E. Jean Carroll Jury: After many trials, the judge will dismiss the jurors by thanking them for their time and public service. These words of gratitude are usually a formality, a polite nod to a key feature of our democratic process: defendants’ right, under the Seventh Amendment, to judgment by their peers in “Suits at common law.” Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan also offered a piece of practical advice to the Manhattan civil jury that had just found former President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store’s dressing room in 1996: Kaplan told the jurors that they might not want to publicly identify themselves—“not now and not for a long time.” Those words were jarring and yet seemed wise in light of Trump’s habit of directing violence, threats, and general mayhem against the peaceful functioning of our democratic norms.
NPR: N.Y. Rep. George Santos surrenders on federal fraud charges: Republican Rep. George Santos surrendered to federal authorities at a courthouse in suburban Long Island on Wednesday facing 13 counts of criminal wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors say he allegedly "devised and executed a scheme" aimed at defrauding donors to his 2022 political campaign. "This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. "Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself." According to the criminal indictments, Santos claimed the money would fuel his bid for office, but instead spent the cash on luxury designer clothes and to make a car payment and pay personal credit card bills.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 2020 election lunacy deposits Georgia GOP chief in a legal stew: In his heart, Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer pretty much knew President Donald Trump was toast. It was mid-December 2020, more than a month after it was clear Trump had become what he hated most — a loser. One election shocker was that Joe Biden won Georgia, seemingly a red state, by nearly 12,000 votes. Atlanta automotive executive Mark Hennessy, a fellow GOP Electoral College voter asked Shafer if he was still voting on Dec. 14, 2020. Shafer replied by email saying he was: “The Trump campaign is asking us to preserve his rights by meeting Monday and casting our votes. I am going to go. Crazy times. But in the unlikely event he wins the contest, we will be screwed if we did not meet and vote.”
Politico: The Trendlines DeSantis Doesn’t Want to See: Former President Donald Trump is regaining favor with once skeptical Republican grassroots leaders — largely at the expense of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — according to my latest survey. Two months ago, my polling of GOP county chairs across the country had some ominous signs for Trump. Despite his vaunted grip on the party, he was basically tied with DeSantis among those who had committed to backing a presidential candidate. DeSantis also seemed to have far more room to grow his support. But a lot has happened since then. Trump sharpened his attacks against DeSantis, who has largely declined to respond before formally jumping into the race. Perhaps most important, the former president was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over his hush money payment to a porn star. The response to the indictment from rank-and-file GOP voters, according to recent polls, was a substantial improvement in Trump’s standing, with many Republicans rallying around Trump after the indictment.
Politico: Santos turns himself in after being charged with financial crimes: Rep. George Santos surrendered to federal authorities Wednesday morning after being charged with wire fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds. In a 13-count indictment, federal prosecutors accused Santos, a first-term Republican congressman from New York, of fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits, using campaign contributions to pay down personal debts and purchase designer clothing and lying to the House of Representatives about his financial condition. “This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.
USA Today: Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 counts including fraud, lying to Congress: Rep. George Santos pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 13 federal charges including fraud and lying to Congress. Santos faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of lying to the House of Representatives, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. He was released from custody on a $500,000 bond following his arraignment at a Long Island federal courthouse. If convicted, Santos could face up to 20 years in prison. The charges mark a significant escalation in the many legal and ethical probes the fabulist Republican lawmaker has faced since taking office. Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement that the charges against Santos aim to hold the freshman lawmaker accountable for numerous alleged "fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations."
New York Times: Speaker McCarthy is not calling on Santos to resign.: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has made no move to penalize or marginalize Representative George Santos even in the face of mounting allegations of misconduct and lies by the first-term New York Republican, has signaled that Mr. Santos will be allowed to continue to serve in Congress even after being indicted on federal charges. “I’ll look at the charges,” Mr. McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday, before an indictment charging Mr. Santos with wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and lying to Congress was unsealed. “If a person is indicted, they’re not on committees. They have the right to vote, but they have to go to trial.” Mr. McCarthy said his calculation could change if Mr. Santos were found guilty, in line with other top Republicans in the House who said Wednesday that they were focused instead on rooting out unemployment fraud during the pandemic.
The Hill: George Santos and life in deceptive times: Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is in federal custody after the Justice Department unsealed federal charges against the Republican for fraud, misuse of public funds, money laundering and making false statements to the House of Representatives. Santos’s life calls to mind Sir Walter Scott’s quote “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” In other words, lies are like spider webs — they fan out beyond the initial lie into more serious and complex patterns of deception, especially in a digital world.
Washington Post: Criminal charges against Rep. Santos divide House Republicans: The federal criminal charges against Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) divided House Republicans on Wednesday, with party leaders signaling no additional immediate action would be taken against him and many of his GOP colleagues from New York re-upping their animated calls for his resignation. Speaking at a news conference, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) noted that Santos previously stepped down from his committee assignments amid the months-long outcry over fabrications in his biography. Scalise did not respond directly to a reporter’s question about whether the freshman lawmaker should now resign. “First of all, in regard to George Santos, he was already removed from all of his committees,” Scalise inaccurately told reporters as Santos took that step, not Republican leadership. “In America, there’s a presumption of innocence, but they’re serious charges. He’s going to have to go through the legal process. … [T]hat court process is going to play itself out.”
Vox: A new Supreme Court case seeks to legalize assault weapons in all 50 states: The Supreme Court could hand down a decision any day now in National Association for Gun Rights v. City of Naperville, a case that could legalize assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in all 50 states. The case challenges a Naperville, Illinois, ordinance and a similar Illinois state law, both of which ban assault weapons, which the state law defines to include certain semiautomatic rifles such as AR-15s and AK-47s. Additionally, the state law prohibits the sale of a “large capacity ammunition feeding device,” which the statute defines as long gun magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, or handgun magazines that hold more than 15 bullets. The plaintiffs, which include a gun shop owner and a gun rights group, claim the two statutes violate the Second Amendment. Should the Supreme Court accept that argument and overturn these laws, it would have sweeping implications for the entire country. That decision would need to be followed throughout the entire nation — which would most likely mean that neither any state nor the US Congress could ban assault rifles or high-capacity magazines.
Ohio Capital Journal: House leaders tee up supermajority amendment measure for floor vote: The stage is set for a long-awaited House vote on SJR 2. The resolution would ask voters whether the threshold for amending the constitution should be 60% rather than a simple majority. But lawmakers pushing the plan may not be celebrating yet. A parallel effort to send the question to voters before they consider an abortion rights amendment seems to have fallen short. Supermajority amendment backers are now left to decide whether to accept half a loaf, or to try some last-minute maneuver to set up an August special election. Speaking after the vote to place SJR 2 on the House calendar, the House speaker and the minority leader said they expected the latter. But it’s not clear what that gambit might look like, or if it would succeed.
Vanity Fair: Tucker Carlson Is Daring Fox to Stop Him From Doing a Show on Twitter. Will the Network Bite? Tucker Carlson began his comeback tour on Tuesday with a tweet proclaiming, “We’re back,” accompanied by a video, and a restyled website that showed him standing in the woods clutching a shotgun. The rollout achieved exactly what he wanted: lots of media buzz about his forthcoming Twitter show—The Wall Street Journal put the news on Wednesday’s front page—and loads of sign-ups for his mailing list. But Carlson’s most interesting move on Tuesday was made out of public view, within an hour of his Twitter post, and delivered by his attorney Bryan Freedman. In a letter to Fox executives, Freedman accused the network of violating its contract with Carlson and signaled that Carlson may sue. Excerpts from the letter suggest it was designed to make Fox Corp. CEO and former Carlson pal Lachlan Murdoch wince.
Vanity Fair: Kevin McCarthy Really Didn’t Want to Talk About Donald Trump’s Sexual Abuse Verdict: Can I ask who you all are waiting for?” Congressman Jamaal Bowman posed to the scrum of reporters and photographers staked out in front of the US Capitol building Tuesday afternoon. The answer was Kevin McCarthy, whose day—which was supposed to be dominated by a meeting with President Joe Biden over the debt—wasn’t exactly going to plan. That afternoon, a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump civilly liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, to the tune of $5 million. If that wasn’t enough, CNN broke the news that House Republican George Santos had been charged by federal prosecutors in New York. The House Speaker largely avoided the Trump news Tuesday evening—even as other Republicans rushed to the former president’s defense. Given a choice between chatting about Trump or Santos, McCarthy opted for the latter. During a press conference after the meeting at the White House, a reporter asked McCarthy if he was going to stand by both Santos and Trump. McCarthy only went into detail on Santos, dodging the Carroll verdict. When it came to Santos, the Speaker said he would follow the model set when other lawmakers had faced indictments—notably, Senator Bob Menendez and former representative Jeff Fortenberry.
The Hill: DeSantis won the first round against Disney: He should have walked away: When Elsa, the Disney princess from “Frozen,” sang her 2013 smash hit, “Let It Go,” she didn’t know that she was offering excellent advice to the future governor of Florida. For a while, the Disney vs. DeSantis feud appeared to be over. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) had made his point. He taught Disney a lesson about the cost of wading too deep into the culture wars. It was inevitable, of course, that Disney would push back, as it did last month with a maneuver to regain control of a key development board. But this should have been little more than a 24-hour news story. If DeSantis had let it go, he would have walked away a winner. Instead, the governor turned his battle against Disney into a war — one that will cost him, and the state, in untold ways. To understand the extent of DeSantis’s miscalculation, let’s look at the historical context.
Washington Post: Sexual abuse verdict renews Republican doubts about Trump’s electability: A New York jury’s finding on Tuesday that Donald Trump was liable for sexually abusing the writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her is rekindling debate within the Republican Party about the former president’s electability as he consolidates an early polling lead for the 2024 nomination. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who hasn’t endorsed anyone in the GOP primary, said Tuesday that “a verdict like this doesn’t put a checkbox in the positive category” and suggested it would “for sure” be a liability in a general election. “His first go-around, there were a lot of swing-type voters who were open to the opportunity and I think a lot of those voters abandoned him in the second go-around and this reminds them of why,” Cramer said. In contrast to the almost uniform support for Trump in response to his indictment in a hush-money scheme, which was unsealed last month (Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts), several of Trump’s current and prospective GOP rivals were quiet on the verdict on Tuesday. Among those who did respond, the reaction was mixed.
The Hill: Trump knocks judge, jury after being found liable for sexual battery, defamation: Former President Trump on Wednesday lashed out at the New York judge and jury that found him liable for sexual battery and defamation against writer E. Jean Carroll in the civil trial that wrapped up Tuesday. “The partisan Judge & Jury on the just concluded Witch Hunt Trial should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for allowing such a travesty of Justice to take place,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. A jury found Trump sexually abused Carroll in the 1990s, and that he later defamed her when he denied her claims. They found he did not commit rape, but he was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.
Politico: Trump world booked CNN hoping for a big audience. Now, they’re in the thick of it.: Former President Donald Trump’s appearance on CNN tonight was already going to be a blockbuster — a primetime TV appearance in front of a live audience on a network he regularly lambasts. But with a Manhattan federal jury finding him liable in the sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll, the stakes for the GOP frontrunner were instantly raised, virtually ensuring he will be pressed on issue by a network that has historically had an adversarial relationship with the former president. Trump’s camp anticipates that Tuesday’s verdict, which found him liable for sexually abusing Carroll, for which she was awarded $5 million in damages, will come up. But they also see the CNN town hall as an opportunity to reach a major national audience, according to a person familiar with their thinking. And they also see political opportunity ahead. The Trump campaign is expected to fundraise off the Carroll decision, that person said.
Washington Post: What Trump’s Many Legal Troubles Mean for His 2024 Campaign: Former President Donald Trump embarked on another White House run while facing a slew of legal troubles, which thus far have produced a felony indictment and, most recently, a jury’s verdict that he is civilly liable for sexual assaulting a woman. The cases could bring further distractions and produce more unflattering revelations — not to mention adverse verdicts — that no presidential candidate would welcome. Trump is no normal politician, though, and the legal scrutiny could feed his preferred narrative that he is being unfairly targeted by the current Democratic administration and a “deep state” bureaucracy.
The Guardian: Donald Trump could face questions on sexual abuse verdict in CNN town hall: Donald Trump could face questions about being found to have sexually abused E. Jean Carroll when he participates in a CNN town hall on Wednesday night. The town hall comes just one day after a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation, underscoring the former president’s mounting legal threats amid his effort to recapture the White House next year. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins will moderate the town hall at 8pm ET at St Anselm College in New Hampshire, where Trump will take questions from Republican voters in the early voting state. Town hall attendees will likely press Trump on how he intends to run for president as he faces legal threats in multiple states. On Tuesday, a New York jury concluded that Trump had sexually abused advice columnist E Jean Carroll 27 years earlier, ordering the former president to pay her $5m in damages for her battery and defamation claims.
Los Angeles Times: Really, CNN? A town hall for Trump now?: Here we go again? Count me as conflicted, skeptical and even a tad outraged that CNN is giving Donald Trump an hour of prime time Wednesday, for a so-called town hall in New Hampshire, the first state scheduled to hold a Republican presidential primary next year. This ratings grab by the ratings-challenged network comes as CNN’s new management is seeking to rebrand the cable mainstay as a down-the-middle news source that (laudably) is more welcoming to Republicans. That backstory, together with the general O.J.-like hyper-coverage of Trump’s recent travel from Mar-a-Lago to Manhattan to be criminally arraigned in a hush money case, suggests little reason to believe that CNN or the media in general have learned from their excesses covering Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign — mistakes that CNN’s former president subsequently conceded.
The Atlantic: What GOP Voters Have Told Me Since Trump’s Indictment: Donald Trump is the clear GOP front-runner for 2024. This isn’t news—he has dominated most polling since the day Joe Biden was sworn in. Despite leading the GOP to a historically bad midterm, being saddled with a dismal 25 percent approval rating, and becoming the first former president to be indicted, his prospects for winning the Republican nomination are only growing stronger. Since the indictment, Republicans—including those running against him—have rallied to Trump’s defense. His fundraising has surged. And he’s racked up endorsements. Meanwhile, his Republican opposition is floundering. Nikki Haley is apparently double-counting her fundraising. Mike Pence is getting booed by party hard-liners. Asa Hutchinson, Tim Scott, and Vivek Ramaswamy toil in also-ran obscurity. Ron DeSantis is the only candidate within hailing distance of Trump, but his campaign is sputtering.
The Guardian: Michael Cohen accuses Trump of using $500m lawsuit for witness intimidation:
Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a $500m lawsuit filed by the former president just weeks after Trump was indicted in New York over hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, contending that it was an unlawful effort to engage in witness intimidation. The motion argued the fact that Trump’s lawsuit only came when he was charged last month by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, instead of when Cohen first made the claims years before, suggested that Trump had sued him out of retribution. Cohen is expected to serve as the star witness for the prosecution at trial.
Vanity Fair: Georgia Republican Says He Was Just Following His Lawyers’ Advice When He Schemed to Overturn the 2020 Election for Donald Trump: No one knows if Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis’s 2020 election investigation will ultimately end in indictments for Donald Trump and/or the allies who helped him attempt to stay in power after losing to Joe Biden. One thing that is clear, though, is that the people Willis is investigating seem to be extremely worried they’ll be on the receiving end of criminal charges, and we know this because at least one of them has written a desperate letter blaming everything he did on attorneys representing him and Trump. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that in a letter sent to Willis’s office, lawyers for David Shafer, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, swore their client was simply following legal advice when he organized a slate of fake electors—and served as one himself—in effort to steal a second term for Trump.
Politico: Trump’s defeat in Carroll case presages more legal peril: Now is the season of former President Donald Trump’s discontent. A federal jury’s finding that Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in the mid 1990s is a historic rebuke of a former president and frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination. But it’s also a prologue. Legal threats in Washington, Manhattan and Atlanta — both criminal and civil — are crystallizing in ways Trump has skirted for his entire political life. And the story of his bid to regain the presidency is likely to be defined by his attempts to stave off criminal liability for things he did the last time he occupied the White House. With one jury verdict in the books — complete with a $5 million award to Carroll — here’s a look at what’s coming next in Trump’s legal travails.
Fortune: Lachlan Murdoch promises ‘no change’ to Fox News after huge Dominion settlement—but in nod to Tucker Carlson’s exit, concedes some ‘lineup’ tweaks: Fox News paid $787 million to settle a recent lawsuit on its reporting after the 2020 election to avoid a divisive trial and lengthy appeals process, its parent company’s chief executive said on Tuesday. Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp., also noted that a Delaware judge “severely limited” Fox’s defenses against Dominion Voting Systems, which said the network defamed it by airing bogus charges of election fraud that it knew was untrue. Fox Corp. announced Tuesday that it had lost $50 million over the previous three months, which it attributed to the lawsuit settlement. Murdoch, who answered questions from financial analysts, was speaking in public for the first time since the case ended and Fox fired its most popular anchor, Tucker Carlson.
New York Times: Trump Is Mainstream, Whether We Like It or Not: Hunker down, America. Here we go again. The presidential election is still a year and a half away. But on Wednesday evening, Donald Trump will elbow his way back into the campaign mainstream. At a town hall event in New Hampshire hosted by CNN, the former president will field questions from audience members and the network anchor Kaitlan Collins. The whole spectacle sounds downright chilling. The event will be live, leaving Mr. Trump more or less free to inject his lies straight into viewers’ veins. He will be coming off the E. Jean Carroll verdict, upping his odds of saying something awful about women or witch hunts and how everyone is always out to get him. And even if he dials down the crazy, his re-emergence on a major prime-time platform raises vexing questions. After everything this antidemocratic, violence-encouraging carnival barker has put America through, are we really going to treat him like a normal candidate this time? How can CNN and other media outlets justify giving him a megaphone from which to dominate and degrade the political landscape? Have we learned nothing from the past eight years?
Axios: Trump's weird weapon: Bad news: Call it the Trump Law of Inverse Reactions: Everything that would seem to hurt the former president only makes him stronger. Why it matters: Trump's grip over Republicans seems stronger than ever — and chances of beating President Biden are as high as ever. For the first time in a long time, top Republicans and Democrats are telling us the same thing, in the same words — Trump looks impossible to beat for the Republican nomination.
Washington Post: In some GOP-dominated statehouses, Black and trans lawmakers punished: In more than a dozen deep-red states in recent months, Republican lawmakers passed bills to ban transgender health care and restrict access to abortions while ignoring calls for gun control measures. The fierce but futile opposition has often been led by a new generation of liberal lawmakers, some of them Black or transgender, who have represented their constituents by pushing the debate into places that have angered Republicans. GOP lawmakers have said Democrats are welcome to dissent but have to follow long-established rules of decorum, including acting civilly and not interrupting floor sessions. In some states, Republicans have voted to punish those lawmakers. In Montana, Republicans banished a transgender Democratic lawmaker from the house floor for championing a protest in the gallery over a bill to ban gender-affirming care for children. In Oklahoma, Republicans stripped a Black, nonbinary Democratic lawmaker of committee assignments when a protester took refuge in the lawmaker’s office for several hours after a scuffle with a state trooper. And in Tennessee, Republicans expelled two Black legislators for disrupting a floor session by participating in a protest for gun control.
Washington Post: 4 takeaways from the E. Jean Carroll verdict against Trump: Late in the 2016 presidential campaign, video surfaced of Donald Trump speaking cavalierly about sexually abusing women. The GOP initially blanched at the disclosure, with many calling for Trump to drop out. But it soon warmed to his “locker room talk” explanation, stood by him, and he won. A major verdict against Trump on Tuesday took this issue decidedly out of “locker room talk” realm. For the first time, when it comes to a series of claims of sexual misconduct against Trump, the legal system has issued a judgment against him. The civil jury in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit found Trump liable both for sexually abusing Carroll and for defaming her as he defended himself against her allegations. The jury did not find Trump liable for rape, which was what Carroll called his attack, but he will have to pay $5 million in combined damages for injuring her and calling her a liar.
Washington Post: Musk shares baseless election claim with millions of Twitter users: Donald Trump’s insistence that he won the 2020 presidential election despite his having lost the 2020 presidential election put a lot of his allies in a bind. Republican elected officials had to choose: Would they risk irritating an active, voluble set of Republican voters, or would they affirm the obvious election results? They at least had the option to stay quiet, an option of which many availed themselves. Media outlets such as Fox News couldn’t, having to pick between coddling Trump supporters by echoing Trump’s false claims about fraud or recognizing the reality of the election outcome. Eventually a third option emerged. Trump allies and those otherwise interested in appealing to a right-wing audience decided that the election had been stolen not through unproven and unprovable voter fraud but instead through devious left-wing machinations. It was the media’s fault, for its coverage, for example. Arguments like that had the benefit of being vague and hard to measure, the rhetorical equivalent of attributing things to vibes.
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