Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.
Aaron Rupar/”Public Notice” on Substack:
Charlie Sykes on the GOP's Trump cult
"In the minds of MAGA world, he has never lost. There have been no defeats."
A lot of pixels have been spilled, including in this newsletter, about what will happen if Trump wins later this year. But less attention has been paid to what comes next for the GOP if he loses.
Would another presidential loss and fourth straight disappointing election cycle for Republicans persuade them to finally move past MAGA? Hah! That ain’t happening. In fact, as Charlie Sykes told us, it’s not at all beyond the realm of possibility that Trump winds up being the GOP’s presidential nominee again in 2028.
“In many ways, Republicans are being held hostage by their own voters,” Sykes said. “The party is afraid of its own supporters. That Republican base wants the kind of Trumpist anger that he continues to stoke.”
Max Burns/X via Threadreader:
Bill Scher/Washington Monthly:
I’ve Defended Biden for Years. Now, I’m Asking Him to Withdraw
After waiting too long to reassure the public of his mental fitness, the president is sinking in the polls with little hope for recovery. But he can resign with grace and make history.
I’ve also been making the case against ageism for just as long, defending Nancy Pelosi in 2017 from critics who thought a fresh face was needed for Democrats to win back the House and in 2018 from those who thought she shouldn’t reclaim the Speaker’s gavel once they did. More recently, I’ve argued that throughout American history, ageist attacks on elderly presidential candidates have fallen flat.
So, I wasn’t inclined to say that Biden couldn’t win because of his advanced age. Last year, I argued the opposite—as with every other incumbent in the past 100 years, Biden was likely to be re-elected as long as the economy kept improving, which it has.
But the CNN debate and Biden’s feeble attempts at damage control after the debate have irrevocably altered the political landscape. The risk of continuing the campaign is too great. Biden should withdraw.
Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo:
Couple Thoughts on What’s Next
In one of the DC newsletters this morning, Mike Allen largely streamed the Trump campaign’s inner monologue about the “brutal attack” they plan to unleash on Kamala Harris if and when she becomes the nominee (and I really think it’s very likely when, not if)...
Trump’s campaign has spent three years thinking it was running against Joe Biden. Well — if this set of events transpires — he’s not. He’s running against someone young and vital. His entire plan of battle goes out the window. It’s hard to overestimate how important that is. But that’s not the case for Democrats. They’re still running against a deeply unpopular candidate, who outlawed Roe v Wade, who staged a coup against the state, who’s a convicted felon, who most Americans don’t want to see as President again. The whole two-very-old-very-unpopular-candidates model, well, that’s out the window. Harris at the top of the ticket pushes abortion even higher into salience. Republicans will try to shift things back to questions about Joe Biden. Why this? Why that? Harris has a perfect, taunting rejoinder every time: “Focus, Donald. You’re not running against Joe Biden anymore. You’re running against me, Kamala Harris.”
There’s a ton for Democrats to lean into here. And I hope they will.
Lyle Denniston/Law News:
The Court and Trump: The guardrails fail
In the epic constitutional drama pitting the Supreme Court and Donald Trump on the national stage, there were two missing factors and their absence strongly influenced the outcome.
First was the Court’s insensitivity to the corrosive cynicism that produced this historic drama in the first place.
Second was the Court’s refusal to acknowledge the complete lack of good faith on Trump’s part throughout this constitutional saga.
What is abundantly clear, as the nation absorbs what it means that Presidents – past, present and future – are now constitutionally immune to almost any real legal accountability, is that the system of law sometimes is just too self-absorbed and two structurally rigid to take into account serious failings in human character.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstates absentee ballot drop boxes
Wisconsin’s liberal-controlled Supreme Court on Friday restored the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the swing state ahead of the upcoming elections — a reversal of a past decision from the court that could impact voter participation.
The 4-3 decision was a win for Democrats who argued the longstanding practice of allowing voters to file ballots into the locked, unmanned boxes made voting more accessible. That process, however, was highly criticized in 2020 by former President Donald Trump and Republicans who claimed without evidence that the boxes and absentee voting were rife with fraud.
Chaminda Jayanetti/X via Threadreader:
Cliff Schecter on Mayor Pete taking it to MAGA:
