Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: 'Losing all credibility'

Greg Dworkin for Community Contributors Team

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Wednesday April 24, 2024 · 3:59 AM PDT

2024/04/24 · 03:59

no image description available — Donald Trump is a passive listener, not an active participant.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Adam Klasfeld/X via Threadreader gives us a running story of what happened Tuesday during the gag order-contempt hearing:

Good morning from New York. Before jurors hear a word of witness testimony this morning, the court has an unfinished order of business: Trump's contempt hearing over the gag order…

Blanche says that "reposting an article from a news site" or "a news program" doesn't violate the gag order. Justice Merchan asks him where the case law supports that. "I don't have any case law," Blanche says, calling the proposition "common sense."

The judge scoffs at the notion that it's "common sense" that Trump is "washing his hands" of the posts through reposts.

Throughout these arguments, Blanche studiously uses "Truth" as a verb for posting on Trump's social media platform.

Blanche: "President Trump is being very careful to comply" with the gag order. Merchan, sharply: "Mr. Blanche, you are losing all credibility."

Merchan says he's going to "reserve decision on this," after brutal arguments for the defense.

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

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Monday April 22, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/22 · 04:00

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) before President Biden delivers the annual State of the Union address, in the House Chamber, on Capitol Hill, on March 7, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images) — Mike Johnson wins, Marjorie Taylor Greene not only loses but is humiliated by threatening a toothless motion to vacate that everyone knows will fail. All hat, no cattle. All kabuki. All kayfabe. Pick your analogy.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Jennifer Rubin/The Washington Post:

A rotten week for MAGA Republicans’ feeble stunts

In dismissing the articles of impeachment with a party-line vote, Senate Democrats ignored crocodile tears from the likes of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who voted against the most meritorious impeachment in history following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — that dismissing an impeachment before trial would create a bad precedent (unlike letting an insurrectionist off the hook?). Schumer deserves credit for nipping in the bud the GOP-controlled House’s abuse of power.

When Republicans blatantly lie, disregard their oaths and — to borrow a phrase — weaponize government, Democrats have an obligation to call them out. That entails refusing to take Republican antics seriously. When hearings and investigations obviously lack good faith, the Democrats can uphold the stature of Congress by simply walking away and refusing to play these games.

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

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Saturday April 20, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/20 · 04:00

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 19: U.S. President Joe Biden departs the White House on March 19, 2024 in Washington, DC. Biden is scheduled to travel to Nevada today. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) — "I got this," Joe Biden thinks. And he may be right.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Alexander Ward/POLITICO:

‘No one wants to escalate things’

If the chest-beating ends, so too might the latest Middle Eastern crisis.

If the dam of silence holds, it’s possible tensions won’t flood over into more regional fighting.

“This was far from being the ‘devastating’ retaliation promised by so many in the Israeli War Cabinet,” said Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “Iran’s swift denial of any attack could well be designed to shut this door, too, but time will tell whether Iran’s proxies are folded into that equation.”

A senior unnamed Iranian official told Reuters there were no plans to retaliate, a signal that the back-and-forth strikes could end here.

When you manage a crisis into a non-story, you’ve done a hell of a job. Of course, it’s the Middle East, so it’s never over.

Greg Dworkin for Community Contributors Team

Community

Friday April 19, 2024 · 3:59 AM PDT

2024/04/19 · 03:59

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

The Washington Post:

The U.S. just changed how it manages a tenth of its land

The Interior Department rule puts conservation and clean energy development on par with drilling, mining and resource extraction on federal lands for the first time

The final rule released Thursday represents a seismic shift in the management of roughly 245 million acres of public property — about one-tenth of the nation’s land mass. It is expected to draw praise from conservationists and legal challenges from fossil fuel industry groups and Republican officials, some of whom have lambasted the move as a “land grab.”

Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, known as the nation’s largest landlord, has long offered leases to oil and gas companies, mining firms and ranchers. Now, for the first time, the nearly 80-year-old agency will auction off “restoration leases” and “mitigation leases” to entities with plans to restore or conserve public lands.

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

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Wednesday April 17, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/17 · 04:00

Former US President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court on April 4, 2023 in New York City. - Former US president Donald Trump arrived for a historic court appearance in New York on Tuesday, facing criminal charges that threaten to upend the 2024 White House race. (Photo by Seth WENIG / POOL / AFP) (Photo by SETH WENIG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) — April 2023: Donald Trump could still stay awake during a court proceeding.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Dan Pfeiffer/”The Message Box” on Substack:

Why Trump's Trial is a Big Political Problem

Others will write eloquently about this moment in the larger sweep of American history, but I want to focus on the political implications. Even though jury selection has just begun, defeatism is already infecting the coverage of Trump’s trial. No matter the verdict, Trump will suffer no meaningful political damage.

[...]

I could not disagree with this analysis more. The scale of his crimes (Donald Trump falsifying records to cover up an extramarital affair) seems like small potatoes when compared to his violent attempt to overthrow an election or stealing closely-held national secrets from the White House and then showing them to random people at his beach club. Trump is unlikely to be sentenced to prison if convicted. Still, a felony conviction months before a divisive election is nothing to scoff at.

This trial is a big deal with massive implications.

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

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Monday April 15, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/15 · 04:00

Former US President Donald Trump gestures after delivering remarks at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, New Jersey, on June 13, 2023. Trump appeared in court in Miami for an arraignment regarding 37 federal charges, including violations of the Espionage Act, making false statements, and conspiracy regarding his mishandling of classified material after leaving office. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images) — Donald Trump after his Miami arraignment in 2023 (in one of four criminal cases, the first of which starts today in New York.)

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

E.J. Dionne, Jr./The Washington Post:

Trump’s immunity claims tell voters all they need to know about him

Trump is saying something no other presidential candidate has ever said: That the only way to be an effective president is to be willing to break the law. “A denial of criminal immunity would incapacitate every future President with de facto blackmail and extortion while in office, and condemn him to years of post-office trauma at the hands of political opponents,” his lawyers wrote in their brief. “That would be the end of the Presidency as we know it and would irreparably damage our Republic.”

Greg Dworkin for Community Contributors Team

Community

Saturday April 13, 2024 · 3:59 AM PDT

2024/04/13 · 03:59

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

The Hill:

Trump says federal abortion ban is not needed ‘because we broke Roe v. Wade’

“Because we don’t need it any longer. Because we broke Roe v. Wade, and we did something that nobody thought was possible,” Trump said. “We gave it back to the states. And the states are very working very brilliantly, in some cases conservative, in some cases not conservative. But they’re working and it’s working the way it’s supposed to.”

“You’re having some very, very beautiful harmony to be honest with you,” Trump said.

When he’s incoherent, and a liar to boot, statements like this don’t take the issue off the table for Donald Trump, no matter how hard he pushes the idea that it does. This is not a story he can control, and that’s driving him nuts. But that doesn’t mean our political media is dealing with it thoughtfully.

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

Community

Friday April 12, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/12 · 04:00

Former US President Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4, 2023. - Donald Trump will make an unprecedented appearance before a New York judge on April 4, 2023 to answer criminal charges that threaten to throw the 2024 White House race into turmoil. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images) — Donald Trump's arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court back in 2023.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Laurie Roberts/AZ Central:

Abortion ruling is a full-on disaster for Arizona Republicans

Opinion: With the return of an 1864 abortion ban, Republicans now face a five-alarm fire that could consume their grip on Arizona. If you are Trump or Kari Lake, you are freaking out right now.

But how does a MAGA Legislature extract itself from the box it built?

If Republicans repeal the 1864 law now about to take effect, they make a mockery of their own belief that life begins at conception and all abortion is murder.

If they put a competing measure on the ballot, proposing that abortion be legal for up to 15 weeks, they risk alienating their voter base and send a message that the “ultimate sin” is negotiable.

And if they do nothing, disaster.

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

Community

Wednesday April 10, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/10 · 04:00

FILE - Kari Lake, former Republican candidate for Arizona governor, speaks during a lunch hosted by the Scott County Republican Women, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, in Bettendorf, Iowa. An Arizona appeals court on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, rejected Lake’s challenge of her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, denying her request to throw out election results in the state’s most populous county and hold the election again. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP, File) — There's nothing happening in Arizona that isn't helping Democrats in this purple state

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

The New York Times:

Abortion Jumps to the Center of Arizona’s Key 2024 Races

Democrats quickly aimed to capitalize on a ruling by the state’s highest court upholding an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions.

Democrats seized on a ruling on Tuesday by Arizona’s highest court upholding an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions, setting up a fierce political fight over the issue that is likely to dominate the presidential election and a pivotal Senate race in a crucial battleground state.

Even though the court put its ruling on hold for now, President Biden and his campaign moved quickly to blame former President Donald J. Trump for the loss of abortion rights, noting that he has taken credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned a constitutional right to abortion. Just a day earlier, Mr. Trump had sought to defang what has become a toxic issue for Republicans by saying that abortion restrictions should be decided by the states and their voters.

But remember, abortion is fading in saliency as an issue, say umpteen anonymous male Republican consultants.

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

Community

Monday April 08, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/08 · 04:00

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks, Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at a rally in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer) — There's a totally normal guy who speaks just like the rest of us, mostly, except for the bonkers parts that don't get broadcast.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Dan Pfeiffer/”The Message Box” on Substack:

Why is the Press Making Trump Seem More Normal?

Believe it or not, much of the political press has an inadvertent pro-Trump bias

HH: Mr. President, are you suggesting President Biden’s using cocaine?

DJT: I don’t know what he’s using, but that was not, hey, he was higher than a kite. And by the way, it was the worst, it was the worst address I’ve ever seen, the State of the Nation. I’ll tell you, State of the Union, that’s not State of the Union, because he doesn’t represent us properly. That, I can tell you. But he’s obviously, he’s being helped in some way, because most of the time, he looks like he’s falling asleep. And all of a sudden, he walked up there and did a poor job. But he was all jacked up.

This is pure insanity, but perhaps the funniest part of the whole thing is that Hewitt just changed the subject and moved on to a series of questions about Trump’s vice presidential selection process.

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

Community

Saturday April 06, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/06 · 04:00

President Joe Biden speaks Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, about the war between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, as Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) — October, 2023. Things continue to be in flux.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Alon Pinkas/Haaretz:

The World Central Kitchen Debacle Happened in a World Already Suffering From 'Israel Fatigue'

Even at a time like this, Biden understands that Israelis are scared too. But he just doesn't seem to fully get that Netanyahu is using them to deceive him, and that the administration can't possibly reconcile its harsh language with the business-as-usual arms sales to Israel

Any commission of inquiry that – as Israel has promised the United States – will "thoroughly investigate" the IDF's killing of seven aid workers in Gaza won't have to work too hard. The entire tragedy that befell World Central Kitchen can be summed up by the adage known as Hanlon's razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Greg Dworkin for Daily Kos

Community

Friday April 05, 2024 · 4:00 AM PDT

2024/04/05 · 04:00

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) walking during a hearing at the Magistrate's Court in Rishon Lezion on January 23, 2023. - The Netanyahus were invited to testify in court in a defamation lawsuit filed by his lawyer David Shimron against David Artzi, who claimed to have seen a written and signed contract between the Netanyahus which obliges Benjamin Netanyahu to give his wife Sara the authority to appoint sensitive positions in the Israeli security system and Israeli politics. (Photo by ABIR SULTAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ABIR SULTAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) — A picture from 2023. A lot has happened since then, little of it good.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

The New York Times:

Israel to Add Gaza Aid Routes as Biden Hinges Support on Civilian Protection

The president denounced the killing of seven aid workers in a tense call with Israel’s prime minister. Within hours, White House officials said Israel had agreed to more aid routes into Gaza.

During a tense 30-minute call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Mr. Biden for the first time leveraged U.S. aid to influence the conduct of the war against Hamas that has inflamed many Americans and others around the world. The announcement of additional aid routes hours later met some but not all of Mr. Biden’s demands.

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