Bess Levin/Vanity Fair:
REPORT: ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE, TED CRUZ MIGHT HAVE BROKEN THE LAW
It sure sounds like the senator funneled political donations into his own pocket.
Salon’s Roger Sollenberger reports that in 2020, a leadership PAC attached to Cruz called Jobs, Freedom, and Security paid $1.2 million, or almost 80% of its entire operating budget, to a company called Reagan Investments LLC for “sponsorship advertising.” Per Sollenberger, “the only other committee to register any disbursements to that company was Trump Make America Great Again, for a fundraising promotion for Cruz’s books in December…However, the Trump group clearly marked the payment for ‘collateral: books.’” In other words, it’s possible Cruz may have bought his own books through this mystery company and then paid himself royalties, which would be illegal.
Ted’s not having a good month.
Will Bunch/Philly.com:
Why Biden needs a prime-time, Oval Office speech to declare war on voter suppression
But the ultimate goal of a national address by Biden must be to pressure centrist lawmakers to do what is morally right, and end the filibuster — a vestige of of the same white-supremacy politics that gave us Selma in 1965 — and pass a federal guarantee of voting rights for all Americans.
Dave A. Hopkins/Honest Graft:
Of Course Biden Is Running for Re-Election
The Post report mentions, almost as an aside, that while Biden will wait until after the midterms to build a formal re-election campaign and publicly declare his candidacy, his advisors are "working under the assumption that he will once again top the Democratic ticket in 2024." This might be shocking news to some; I have encountered multiple politically aware people since Biden first entered the 2020 race who presume that he would only seek to serve a single term. But it shouldn't be a surprise at all.
The idea of the self-declared single-term president has had a romantic appeal to editorial-page writers (and few others) since well before Biden became the oldest person in history elected to the job. Like many other ideas with romantic appeal, it is disconnected from political reality. Declaring oneself a lame duck from the early days of an administration is not an effective strategy for a president to build or maintain influence, both inside and outside the party. The perception that you might be there awhile is a much better way to attract talented subordinates, pursue ambitious goals, and pressure members of Congress for support, and the inability to seek re-election is one reason why modern presidents' second terms tend to be less focused and successful than their first.
Christopher Hooks/Texas Monthly:
Who’s Responsible for the Texas Blackouts?
Our governor and lawmakers want to blame everyone but themselves for the February blackouts, the latest crisis of their own making.
That’s the way our state government works, more often than not. Elected leaders do their best to ignore real problems that only they can solve, giving them more time to micromanage the affairs of city governments and argue over who should use which restrooms. When someone forces them to acknowledge what isn’t working—as was done in the case of CPS by a crusading federal judge, journalists, and advocates—many state officials profess to be shocked by the shoddiness of the systems they oversee. And then, more often than not, they make token changes and move on.
From the standpoint of self-preservation, this approach works wonderfully. State leaders rarely have to pay the piper because many Texans don’t need or expect much from state government from day to day beyond, say, highway maintenance. If the state is congenitally inept, many Texans can say that’s a problem that’s happening to somebody else.
But what if something were to happen that exposed Texans from all over the state and all walks of life to that ineptitude? On the night of Sunday, February 14, as Texas plunged into darkness and cold, as the lights and water went out, state government’s incompetence stopped being somebody else’s problem.
Charles P Pierce/Esquire:
The Cynical Republican Tack on the COVID Relief Bill Could Work. It Wouldn't Be the First Time.
Still, it all feels a lot different than 2009.
Let us be honest. The COVID relief package that the Republicans are sure will backfire on the administration is one of the most universally popular pieces of big legislation of the past three decades. One CBS poll had a second COVID relief package polling at north of 80 percent. Another round of FREE MONEY! is supported by seven out of 10 Americans. All the old conservative bugaboos—most notably, The Deficit—have been rendered toothless. People want something done and, given the gravity of the situation, they seem to be gravitating toward the people who are most committed to doing something. This should not be complicated, but it seems to be beyond the congressional minorities in both houses of Congress.
And, to its eternal credit, the administration has made it plain that it will go it alone if needs be, and it is waving off half-measures like the silly alternative proposal on the minimum wage proposed by Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton.
Glen Kessler/WaPo:
Dissecting the House GOP spin against Biden’s $1.9 trillion covid relief bill
House Republicans are objecting to the $1.9 trillion measure being pushed by President Biden and Democrats in Congress to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. As part of the attack, the GOP staff on the House Budget Committee has distributed a pie chart that asserts only a small portion of the bill actually deals with combating the virus.
In his remarks, [Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-Mo.), top Republican on the House Budget Committee] listed a series of objections to the bill. Let’s take a tour through them and offer an assessment. Some of the claims have to do with arcane budget issues, while others reflect a more philosophical dispute. As this is a reader guide, we’re not going to issue a Pinocchio rating, but readers should be aware that several of these points are off-base or stretched.
Jonathan Chait/New York Magazine:
The Future of Conservatism Is Flight 93 Elections Forever
And so, as a result, there was a wee incident at the Capitol on January 6 that has been blown out of proportion by the corporate media. “As in any large crowd—especially one fueled by unrealistic hopes—a few showed up looking for trouble,” he writes. Long story short, dozens of police officers were hospitalized, some right-wing extremists prowled the halls of Congress looking to execute some elected officials, yadda yadda yadda.
What’s most interesting about [Michael] Anton’s essay is its failure to revisit the question he originally raised four years before. If electing Trump was a gamble to save the country, did it work? Did the plane land, or did it crash?
Rather than answer the question, Anton simply advances the timetable for the apocalyptic confrontation. The forces of progressivism are renewing their totalitarian program. Trump’s “sensible program” will be branded as “indistinguishable from fascism.” (By whom? He doesn’t tell us.) Also, as a side note, “The government is gearing up to get into the act, with new legislation proposed by Senator Dick Durbin, and seemingly endorsed by President Biden in his Inaugural Address, that criminalizes speech by linking regime opposition to ‘white supremacy’ and ‘terror.’” How is a law criminalizing opposition to the government going to gain the support of at least ten Republican senators? And then, why would five Supreme Court justices ignore the obvious First Amendment challenge of such a law? Anton is too hysterical to tell us.
Cameron Joseph/VICE News:
Why CPAC’s Last Chairman Is Staying Far Away From This Year’s Big Trump-Fest
With the event’s Trump-heavy lineup, emphasis on voter fraud, and lack of ideological diversity, former chair Al Cardenas wants no part of
Al Cardenas, the former chair of the American Conservative Union (CPAC’s parent organization), told VICE News he expects Trump to issue “a laundry list of demands for loyalists” and use his Sunday speech—the first public one since he left office—to air “a number of grievances.” He warned that anyone who promoted Trump’s voter-fraud lie would further damage democracy. And he lamented the lack of ideological and racial diversity in this year’s CPAC lineup.
Christian Vanderbrouk/Bulwark:
MAGA’s Moment of Weakness
Trump and his allies have been defeated, humiliated, and betrayed. It’s time to sweep the leg.Share on TwitteShare via emaiPrint
Whatever the future might bring, at this moment, the twice-impeached one-term president and his movement positively reek with the stench of defeat.
They seethe behind their brave faces, plotting revenge against high-ranking defectors. Not since the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland has Trump’s position within his own party been so precarious, so exposed.
The lack of reciprocity for a wave of recent betrayals is instructive.
Liz Cheney held onto her perch in House leadership after voting to impeach and accusing Trump of having blood on his hands.
Despite his vote to acquit, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared Trump “practically and morally responsible” for the events of January 6th.
The number two Senate Republican, John Thune, stressed that his not-guilty vote “should not be read as exoneration,” calling the former president’s anti-democratic behavior “inexcusable.”
Will McConnell or Thune pay a price for their disloyalty in the immediate future? Unlikely.
