While the Democratic Mayor of Dallas says the city has thrived, Eric Johnson writes in a very frank WSJ op-ed that, elsewhere, Democratic policies have exacerbated crime and homelessness.

"The future of America’s great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism.

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Our cities desperately need the genuine commitment to these principles (as opposed to the inconsistent, poll-driven commitment of many Democrats) that has long been a defining characteristic of the GOP."

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As we have written in detail previously, cities governed by Democrat mayors have seen the largest increases in homicide rates over the past year as well as registered the highest homicide rate per capita in Q1 out of 45 cities, according to a new report.

Polls Show More Than Half of Americans Want COVID Vaccine​

Two new polls show the U.S. is still divided, with more Democrats than Republicans interested in getting the vaccine.

Decca Muldowney​

https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/decca-muldowney
Updated Sep. 15, 2023 5:12PM EDT / Published Sep. 15, 2023 3:29PM EDT

The majority of Americans say they want to get the new COVID vaccine, despite a resurgence of fearmongering over the safety of the jab, according to two new polls released Friday.

At least 57 percent of registered U.S. voters are planning to get the newly authorized shot sometime this year, according to a poll from Politico and Morning Consult, with 37 percent saying they “definitely” plan to receive it. A second poll from Reuters/Ipsos found similar results, with 53 percent of those surveyed expressing interest in receiving the new vaccine.

However, both polls found sharp ideological divides among those surveyed, with interest in the vaccine broadly split along party lines. Of the 53 percent of people interested in receiving the new vaccine, 77 percent identified as Democrats, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found, while only 34 percent were Republicans.

Chris Jackson, head of public affairs at Ipsos, told The Daily Beast that political affiliation is still the “biggest driver these days of vaccine reluctance.”

“It’s almost divorced from any scientific or health-related conversations,” Jackson said, describing the public debate over COVID-19 as a “culture war issue.”

Despite overall enthusiasm for the new vaccine, a sizable minority—about 18 percent of those surveyed—believe the shots are dangerous, Jackson told The Daily Beast.

The Food and Drug Administration approved new COVID vaccines from both Pfizer and Moderna on Monday, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending every American over the age of six months receive the shot.

The approval comes as an uptick in COVID cases across the country has led to a steady increase in hospitalizations over the last two months, CDC data shows. Several new variants of the virus, including the highly mutated BA.2.86, are continuing to circulate.

Just are surely as COVID cases have increased, so too has political rhetoric around the “dangers” of the new vaccine, as well as the potential for new mask mandates or restrictions.

In Florida, presidential hopeful Gov. Ron DeSantis stoked unfounded fears around vaccine safety, saying in a statement on Wednesday that he would not let the federal government, “use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots that have not been proven to be safe or effective.”

In direct opposition to the CDC’s advice, Florida’s surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo also advised under-65s in the state not to get the new vaccine.

A number of Republican lawmakers and governors have also publicly vowed in recent weeks to fight any new COVID restrictions, as have presidential hopefuls DeSantis and Nikki Haley.

Both former President Donald Trump and DeSantis have made COVID part of their campaigns for the Republican nomination. DeSantis has used Trump’s pandemic legacy as a wedge issue, attempting to peel off a base of vaccine-skeptical voters still angry over lockdowns and mandates.

Trump, meanwhile, has boosted conspiracy theories that the Democrats will use the new COVID surge to reinstate restrictions and steal the next election and lashed out at criticisms of his own record on the virus.

This week, the former pandemic allies publicly criticized each other’s handling of the virus, with Trump claiming DeSantis had “shut down Florida” and obeyed the instructions of Dr. Anthony Fauci during the pandemic. DeSantis hit back, calling Trump’s comments “pathetic” and “false.”

Meanwhile, longtime anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination has given him a platform to share his bizarre theories. In July, Kennedy was criticized by the White House after he suggested COVID was engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

“It is vile, and they put our fellow Americans in danger,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of his comments.

Clarence Thomas secretly participated in swanky Koch network donor events

The radical right-wing justice willingly put himself in the extraordinary — and extraordinarily unethical — position of serving as a fundraising draw for a deep-pocketed, ultraconservative network that regularly brings cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term.

Thomas belongs nowhere near the nation's high court, a point he's proven time and time and time again. Enough already. Democrats should initiate impeachment proceedings the moment they retake the gavel in the House.

This is going to get a lot of unwanted national attention.

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The LBs are at full strength for the first time all season, the WR rotation is going to remain deep, ASU's offense is a mess, the Solomon Byrd story keeps gaining momentum and Tyrone Taleni could make his season debut.

All the key takeaways from the week in another long Five Takeaways column ...

Why Milley’s story about Trump and an injured vet is so easy to believe​

Retiring Gen. Mark Milley has a brutal perspective on Donald Trump. The outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s claims are very easy to believe.


Sept. 22, 2023, 8:23 AM CDT
By Steve Benen

There’s an enormous amount to unpack in Jeffrey Goldberg’s new report in The Atlantic on retiring Gen. Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but one anecdote in particular struck me as provocative — and very easy to believe.

Goldberg described an event that was held soon after Milley became chairman of the Joint Chiefs, when he gained an insight into Donald Trump’s perspective.

Milley had chosen a severely wounded Army captain, Luis Avila, to sing “God Bless America.” Avila, who had completed five combat tours, had lost a leg in an IED attack in Afghanistan, and had suffered two heart attacks, two strokes, and brain damage as a result of his injuries. To Milley, and to four-star generals across the Army, Avila and his wife, Claudia, represented the heroism, sacrifice, and dignity of wounded soldiers.

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As the report in The Atlantic, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, went on to explain, it had rained that day, softening the ground. As a result, Avila’s wheelchair nearly toppled, at which point Milley’s wife and then-Vice President Mike Pence rushed to his aid.

Soon after, Trump said to Milley, within earshot of several witnesses, “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.” The then-president reportedly told the general that he didn’t want Avila to appear in public again.

Goldberg went on to write, “These sorts of moments, which would grow in intensity and velocity, were disturbing to Milley. ... Milley’s family venerated the military, and Trump’s attitude toward the uniformed services seemed superficial, callous, and, at the deepest human level, repugnant.”

If recent history is any guide, the former president will deny the accuracy of this story and come up with new juvenile taunts for the retiring Army general. But Milley’s version of events is nevertheless easy to believe because of everything else we know about Trump.

Indeed, as ugly as the story is, nothing about it is surprising. I’m reminded of this Washington Post report published three years ago this month:

A former senior administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, confirmed to The Washington Post that the president frequently made disparaging comments about veterans and soldiers missing in action, referring to them at times as “losers.” In one account, the president told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

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The same week, The Atlantic reported that Trump asked his staff in 2018 not to include wounded veterans in military parades, “on grounds that spectators would feel uncomfortable in the presence of amputees.” (The Republican reportedly said, “Nobody wants to see that.”)

The public has also heard Trump disparage American servicemen and women who are captured during combat, while launching an ugly feud with a Gold Star family.

We’ve also seen the president insult Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s service — putting his military rank in scare quotes, as if Vindman hadn’t earned it — blame military leaders for failed missions he approved, and deride the former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command for the speed with which the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden was carried out.

Trump has also reportedly lashed out at generals as “a bunch of dopes and babies,” while publicly going on the offensive against his own former defense secretary, retired Gen. James Mattis — whom he accused of acting like a “Democrat” for questioning the White House’s less-defensible national security moves.

In 2020, Trump even downplayed the importance of troops with traumatic brain injuries, which prompted a request for an apology from the Veterans of Foreign Wars — an appeal he ignored.
Keep these details in mind when the former president pushes back against the latest reporting.

Republicans confront new questions about whether they can govern​

Taking stock of several GOP fiascos this week, one observer put it this way: “At this moment, House Republicans can’t govern. This isn’t just an opinion.”


Sept. 22, 2023, 11:55 AM CDT / Updated Sept. 22, 2023, 3:21 PM CDT
By Steve Benen

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was feeling optimistic. His party was likely to take control of the chamber, and the California Republican expected to serve as speaker.

NBC News asked McCarthy whether was concerned about Republican divisions and infighting. “No,” the GOP leader replied. “We’re going to be quite fine.”

That was in December 2021. Congressional Republicans are many things now, but “quite fine” they are not. In the aftermath of the latest embarrassing failure for the House GOP leadership team, Punchbowl News summarized the landscape nicely:

At this moment, House Republicans can’t govern. This isn’t just an opinion, at this point. It’s a fact that’s been borne out in the Capitol all week. ... The House Republican Conference, as currently constructed, doesn’t have the ability to move legislation.

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As the guy who wrote a book about Republicans abandoning their role as a governing party, it’s heartening to see so many GOP officials go out of their way to validate the thesis.

McCarthy’s inability to advance a defense spending bill that’s doomed in the Senate helped capture a low point for the party, but it was part of a larger mosaic. This was, after all, a week in which congressional Republicans:

• announced plans for a hearing related to an impeachment inquiry that doesn’t make any sense;
• held a mind-numbing Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Merrick Garland in which GOP members kept saying “everyone knows” because they couldn’t produce actual evidence of wrongdoing;
• admonished Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin because he urged Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to end a blockade that’s undermining his own country’s military;
• blocked a vote on federal prosecutors as part of a pointless partisan stunt;
• moved the United States closer to another Republican-imposed government shutdown; and
• snubbed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

I can think of ways to describe such a weeklong fiasco, but “quite fine” isn’t the phrase that comes to mind.

CORRECTION (Sept. 21, 2023, 4:21 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had said House Republicans were “going to be quite fine.” He said it in December 2021, not December 2022.

The news would be that Mason Cobb is not limited at all and they're trying to sort out the linebacker rotation, and Tyrone Taleni should be back this week.


What went into deciding to accept the early kickoff for Colorado?

"Yeah, we thought about it, we definitely had a little bit of conversation back and forth. In an ideal world, it probably wouldn’t have hit right after the late away game. That was honestly, to me, really the only potential drawback of it. So we were able to put out kind of a mock schedule and have a minute to scratch through it on our end of what that would look like. Obviously when you play that early, it moves some things up in the week. I think one of the big things for us was coming off a bye week, didn’t feel like it was going to be that much of a big deal, our guys are going to be pretty rested, I think we might have felt maybe a little different if we were maybe in the middle of a six or seven game stretch. You play that one a little bit earlier, but there’s a little bit more – you can get home at a pretty good time and you can get a chance for the guys to rest and recover with the stretch obviously coming up ahead of that game and so in the end, I know that’s a good window from a TV standpoint and so yeah, in the end, we really didn’t have anything to complain about with it and we’re good to go."

What is Mason Cobb's availability Saturday and what's the ideal rotation at linebacker?

"Yeah, Mason’s definitely taken advantage of the bye week, he’s going to be available to play, don’t think we’re going to have any restrictions or limitations there, which that’s a really positive thing. It’ll be great to get him back. Yeah, in the meantime, guys like Raesjon and Eric and Tackett, those guys, Shane of course, all of those guys have taken advantage of some of that time on the practice field and in games and done some really good things. So we’ll – I would imagine we’ll play a few different guys there, a few different lineups, and then of course if we settle in and guys are performing well, we may ride the hot hand a little bit but I would expect to see some or all of those guys. And again, certainly the linebackers have got to play in sync. There’s playing your job and doing well yourself, but then there’s obviously a lot of communication that goes on with those guys and really working well together, so I think we’re excited to find alright, is there that ideal combination of guys that really perform at a high level together? And that group has probably been more disjointed than most just because Eric and Mason both missing time. Shane missing basically all of fall camp. Tackett being new, Raesjon had an injury during fall camp, so that group has been a little bit disjointed so we’re hoping to find some continuity and I think we’re able to start building that some a little bit during the bye week and certainly during this week during practice."

What have you seen from Caleb Williams' improvement on the intermediate and deep passing game?

"Yeah, I think he’s bought in a lot that every deep throw doesn’t have to be a perfect shot. I mean, at some point, this thing becomes a little bit – a little bit of science to math to this. The further you gotta throw something, you’re going to miss more, right? Throwing a slant or throwing a shorter route perfect is not really that difficult, throwing something 20, 30, 40, 50 yards down the field and throwing it perfect, it’s obviously, those are much tougher throws and I think there’s just been a realization that he doesn’t always have to be perfect because sometimes when you are, you might have that guy wide open down the field or in the intermediate part of the field and you miss him by a foot. And we had a lot of those last year – I say a lot, we had more of those than we wanted to have, so I think we’ve made some adjustments and he’s made some adjustments in terms of just kind of mindset on those throws which has been good to see. He’s given our guys consistently and I think right now, through three games, our receivers have done a nice job of coming down with those. So I think it’s some of the trust that’s been built in, how we want to attack people down the field and in the intermediate part and the guys really buying into it and taking it from meeting room to practice field to game field and I think that’s shown up so far. So yeah, we definitely wanted to be more efficient in those areas and I think we’re off to a good start."

Is Tyrone Taleni progressing toward a return?

"He is, yeah, good news: we expect to have him available this week. The bye week was another one that came at a good time for him. He probably wouldn’t have been ready had we had a game last week, but was able to start to build in the practice and he’s doing much better. He had kind of a plantar fascia injury, which is just kind of a – it’s a unique deal, it’s kind of a pain for a couple of weeks and it starts to come back pretty fast. Really at the end of the bye week, he started to like, really accelerate and get better fast and this week, he’s been able to go with no limitations, has handled the entire workload. So we’ll be excited to have him back, another big body in there and another guy I think kind of along the lines with Stanley and Benton, a few of those guys we really feel like from what we’ve seen behind the scenes that have really improved. And talking about some of those interior defensive linemen that played some snaps for us last year that we feel like have taken some steps, they’re better players right now so excited to have him back."

Hunter Biden case assured to hang over Joe Biden's 2024 campaign with special counsel​

Joey Garrison and Miles J. Herszenhorn, USA TODAY
Updated Sun, August 13, 2023 at 11:58 AM PDT·6 min read

WASHINGTON − For President Joe Biden, the legal troubles of his son appeared to be going away last month when Hunter Biden's attorneys reached terms with prosecutors to resolve tax evasion and gun charges.

Then the deal fell apart.

Now, with Attorney General Merrick Garland appointing a special counsel Friday to investigate the criminal case, the legal drama over Hunter Biden is sure to hang over the entirety of Joe Biden's 2024 reelection bid.

Not only does the special counsel designation of David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware who has overseen the case for five years, signal a wider inquiry, the Justice Department also said in a motion Friday that it expects a trial over the charges already filed against Hunter Biden. The motion all but ensures a circus of television cameras outside a federal courthouse following the president's son just as the 2024 campaign will be in full swing.

"This is not good for the president," said Richard Painter, a law professor at University of Minnesota who was chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush. He said Republicans will stay fixated on Hunter Biden's legal problems even more so if former President Donald Trump, the GOP primary front-runner, becomes their nominee.

"Obviously, this is going to be made into a big issue in the campaign," Painter said. "Given the fact that Trump has been indicted three times and may be indicted a fourth time, the Republicans are going to grab for whatever they can."

A federal judge in Delaware refused last month to accept a plea deal between Hunter Biden and prosecutors after the judge raised concerns about the terms of the agreement, including assurances Hunter Biden's legal team sought for immunity from any future criminal charges.

Had the judge accepted the plea agreement, it wasn't going to quiet Republicans who called the arrangement a "sweetheart deal" and accused Garland of politicizing the Justice Department. But it would have at least put Hunter Biden's legal ramifications to rest as Joe Biden, 80, seeks a second term while already facing questions about his age and lingering anxieties about the economy.

"It's not something any candidate would wish to have happen," said Todd Belt, professor and political management program director at George Washington University.

Still, Belt said, voters typically "disentangle" misbehavior of family from the candidate. And he said the appointment of a special counsel − in a possible matchup with Trump − may burnish Joe Biden's image as the candidate who adheres to the law even when his son is the target.

"In a weird way, it is actually beneficial in terms of how he would wage his campaign against Trump − the return to the Trump chaos versus normal function of government under Biden," Belt said.

Even before the special counsel elevation, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee had accelerated its investigation into Hunter Biden as they seek to tie actions from then-Vice President Joe Biden to his son's business activities as chairman of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.

Republicans have seized on testimony from Devon Archer, a business associate of Hunter Biden's, who said the president's son put his father on the speakerphone 20 times with his business partners present. But Archer said business was never discussed, and Republicans have yet to present evidence supporting their claims that Joe Biden accepted bribery payments.

Nevertheless, House Republicans have increasingly started talking about an impeachment inquiry.

"It clearly means that it's going to hang over the entire remainder of the election cycle," veteran Democratic campaign strategist Joe Trippi said. "But I think that was clearly going to happen in any case."

Biden allies point to polling that suggests most Americans are far less concerned with Hunter Biden than House Republicans. A majority of Americans, 58%, including 63% of independent voters, said Hunter Biden's legal problems won't influence their decision whether to vote for Joe Biden in 2024, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in June.

Democrats are bullish on abortion access as a major driver for their base as well as suburban independent voters after last year's Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Voters in Ohio, which voted Republican in the past two presidential elections, overwhelmingly rejected a measure Tuesday that would have made it more difficult for voters to protect abortion rights via referendum.

Democrats also reject any conflation between the legal problems for Trump, the frontrunner to win the Republican nomination who faces three indictments, and those of the president's son.

"The reality is, Trump is a former president who is running for president. Hunter Biden isn't on the ballot," said Trippi, a senior adviser for The Lincoln Project, a political group formed before the 2020 election to help defeat Trump. "And thus far, there's been no evidence tying (his business dealings) to Joe Biden."

Where Hunter Biden's case goes from here​

House Republicans indicated the special counsel designation will not affect their congressional investigations into the overseas business dealings of Biden family members.

"This action by Biden’s DOJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement. "House Republicans will continue to pursue the facts for the American people."

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, slammed Garland's appointment of Weiss as special counsel, saying it is "part of the Justice Department’s efforts to attempt a Biden family cover-up" after his committee's "mounting evidence" he says has implicated Joe Biden.

"The Biden Justice Department is trying to stonewall congressional oversight as we have presented evidence to the American people about the Biden family’s corruption," Comer said.

Garland, as he announced Weiss' appointment from the Justice Department headquarters, made clear the Hunter Biden investigation remains open.

After the terms of his plea agreement unraveled in court, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty last month to failing to pay more than $100,000 in taxes on $1.5 million in taxable income he made in 2017 and 2018. He faces a separate charge for possessing a firearm in 2018 as a drug user.

Prosecutors filed a motion Friday saying that the two sides are at an "impasse" and that the government expects the Hunter Biden case to go to trial. The Justice Department is seeking to move the case to either a federal court in Washington or California, which prosecutors argue would be the appropriate venues for the charges.

As special counsel, Weiss will have the authority to bring charges in any federal court he chooses.

For his part, Joe Biden has made no effort to distance himself from his son. “I’m very proud of my son,” he told reporters in June after Hunter Biden initially struck the plea agreement on the tax evasion charges.

Hunter Biden traveled with his father to Ireland in the spring. He has attended state dinners and sometimes joins his father and other family members for weekends at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.

But it seems a good bet Hunter Biden, who made several appearances on the 2020 campaign trail for his father, will be less visible in 2024.

Painter said that he does not expect to see the president's son making campaign stops during his father's reelection bid. "I doubt it," Painter said. "I very much doubt it."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunter Biden controversy set to hang over Joe Biden's 2024 campaign

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The Humiliation Is the Point​

NEW POLL: LOTS OF REPUBLICANS CAN BEAT JOE BIDEN. These days, each poll seems to bring discouraging news for President Joe Biden. Voters think he's too old. They don't approve of his job performance. They prefer someone else be the Democratic nominee for president. They think he was involved in his son Hunter Biden's shady international influence-peddling business. And they would choose a Republican over Biden in a head-to-head 2024 matchup.

All of that bad news and more is contained in a poll from CNN. First, just 39% of those surveyed say they approve of the job he is doing as president, versus 61% who disapprove. It's been two years since a majority of Americans approved of Biden's job performance. During that time, his job approval bounced around in the 40s. Now, it has dipped into the high 30s. To make matters worse, a solid majority — 58% — say Biden's policies have worsened economic conditions in the United States. That's a bad place to be if you are a president seeking reelection.

Then pollsters asked, "What is your biggest concern, if any, about Joe Biden as a candidate for president in 2024?" A huge majority of Democrats, not the electorate as a whole, but Biden's own party, named issues related to Biden's age. Forty-nine percent answered "his age/too old/need someone younger." Seven percent answered "his mental competence/sharpness/senility." Another 7% answered "his health." And another 7% said "ability to handle the job/effectiveness." Added together, that is 70% of Democrats who have serious concerns about whether Biden, who would start a second term at age 82, is up to the job of president of the U.S.

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Given that, it's not a surprise that a majority of Democrats do not want Biden to be the party's 2024 candidate. The pollsters asked a simple question: "Who do you think the Democratic Party should nominate as the party's candidate for president in 2024?" The answers were Joe Biden, a different candidate, or no opinion. Sixty-seven percent said they want a different candidate, while just 33% said they want Biden. The only good news for Biden is that those 67% of Democrats do not have a specific alternative in mind. A few said Bernie Sanders (who is older than Biden), a few said Pete Buttigieg, or Gavin Newsom, or Gretchen Whitmer. But no alternative candidate received significant support, which means that Biden can probably become the nominee simply by not going anywhere.

There's more discouraging news for Biden on the Hunter Biden front. The pollsters asked: "Based on what you have heard or read, do you think Joe Biden did or did not have any involvement in his son Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine and China while serving as vice president?" Sixty-one percent said Joe Biden did have some involvement in Hunter Biden's business, while 38% said he did not. Joe Biden, has, of course, strongly denied any involvement, meaning most Americans don't believe him.

And then there is Joe Biden versus the GOP.The pollsters measured Biden against all of his major Republican would-be challengers and found that, while all the scenarios were close, the president could defeat only one of them — Vivek Ramaswamy — and then by just a single point.

First, of course, the pollsters asked about Biden versus former President Donald Trump. The result: Trump 47%, Biden 46%. Then, other Republicans, and more bad news for Biden: Mike Pence 46%, Biden 44%. Tim Scott 46%, Biden 44%. Chris Christie 44%, Biden 42%. The results show Biden struggling and losing against candidates who are sure to be also-rans in the Republican primary race.

The remaking of America by Leftists

4 minutes of logic

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Republican establishment admit this is America’s war. Ukrainians are American pawns.

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Tuberville faces new pressure from veterans over radical blockade​

Between pushback from veterans and other congressional Republicans, Sen. Tommy Tuberville is facing intensifying pressure over his radical blockade.


Sept. 20, 2023, 11:36 AM CDT
By Steve Benen

It’s difficult to say how much of the public is aware of Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s blockade on military nominees, but as Politico reported, a group of veterans have come up with a new way to help bring attention to the issue.

A group of Democrats are lining up behind the newest push to pressure Sen. Tommy Tuberville to relent on his hold of hundreds of senior military promotions. VoteVets PAC, a Democratic veterans group, organized a visual display on the lawn outside the Senate showing the pictures of nominees for the promotions delayed by Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) hold.

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There’s no reason to believe the Alabaman will care about the display or the message behind it, but the VoteVets visual presentation helps drive home the group’s message nicely.

The silent protest comes against the backdrop of several new developments related to the controversy surrounding Tuberville’s tactics. Politico reported late last week, for example, that the policy the GOP senator is desperate to destroy — travel reimbursements for U.S. troops seeking reproductive care in other states — is hardly being used by servicemembers.

It reinforces concerns that Tuberville is undermining his own country’s military to solve a problem that doesn’t exist in any meaningful way.

What’s more, while the coach-turned-politician has said he’s felt no real pressure from his GOP colleagues, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski publicly denounced Tuberville’s radical tactics late last week. “Holding military nominations hostage is not a winning tactic for anyone, especially in light of retention challenges and the very real threats we face in the Pacific and elsewhere,” the Alaskan wrote online. “These holds are starting to have cascading impacts that are degrading our national security.”

Murkowski added that Tuberville should immediately withdraw his holds “and find another way to express his concerns.”

Even some House Republicans — who also happen to be military veterans — are voicing concerns and urging the right-wing senator to wrap up his tantrum.

As for Tuberville himself, there’s no indication that he’ll abandon his unprecedented blockade anytime soon, but the Alabaman is apparently poised to take the unusual step of trying to force a vote on a new leader for the Marine Corps — effectively setting up an exception to his own policy. Politico explained in a separate report:

The Alabama senator gathered enough signatures from fellow Republicans Tuesday to force a vote on Gen. Eric Smith’s promotion to lead the Marine Corps, which has been without a Senate confirmed leader since July. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) had mulled such a move this summer, but Minority Leader Mitch McConnell talked him out of it, arguing the precedent of the minority party forcing such a vote could backfire when Republicans are in the majority. But Tuberville is unbowed and is set to file his own cloture petition, which would force a vote on Smith’s confirmation vote.

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The Senate could take a similar approach to confirming all of the nominees Tuberville is blocking, but that would take over 700 hours of floor time, which Senate leaders are not prepared to give the Alabama Republican.

The ugly lie at the heart of Trump’s position on abortion​

Facing a partisan backlash, Donald Trump wants voters to believe Democrats are the "true radicals" on abortion. It's a claim rooted in an indefensible lie.


Sept. 20, 2023, 9:25 AM CDT
By Steve Benen

Donald Trump spoke at a conservative event last week and shared some thoughts on the politics of abortion rights. As the former president put it, “explaining” the conservative position “properly” is “an extremely important thing.”

He added that he’s heard many Republicans talk about their positions, “and they don’t know what to say.”

There was a degree of irony to the comments — because if anyone is struggling to know what to say about abortion, it’s Trump.

This came into sharper focus over the weekend, when Trump appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and said all kinds of strange things about the issue. The Republican — after complaining that members of his own party “speak very inarticulately” about abortion — said he’d somehow figure out a way to make “both sides“ happy with a compromise solution he didn’t identify.

Just as notably, the former president went on to denounce plans to ban abortions “without the exceptions” and described Florida’s unpopular six-week ban as a “terrible thing.”

This, predictably, has created a new political mess — Trump’s rivals are telling the party’s socially conservative base that the former president isn’t a reliable enough ally on the issue — which the GOP frontrunner is clearly aware of. The Hill reported overnight:

Former President Trump on Tuesday sought to clarify his position on abortion after facing a backlash from some conservatives for calling Florida’s ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy a “terrible thing.”

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As part of a trio of missives published to his social media platform, Trump again took credit for eliminating the Roe v. Wade precedent, before arguing that Republicans have to recognize the political peril associated with the issue. But he concluded by pretending that Democrats are the “true Radicals” because they support, among other things, “the killing of babies ... even after birth.”

While I appreciate the appeal of the partisan controversy — it’s plausible that Trump’s clumsy rhetoric might even cost him some support ahead of the upcoming presidential primaries and caucuses — it’s this ugly lie that stands out as especially notable.

In fact, the former president has been pushing the lie with unnerving vigor lately, insisting to multiple audiences that Democrats are advocates of “after-birth” abortion.

There is no such thing. The claim is simply insane. As an NBC News fact-check report explained, “While some Democrats support broad access to abortion regardless of gestation age, infanticide is illegal, and no Democrats advocate for it.”

Too many Republicans “don’t know what to say” about abortion? Perhaps not, but to say this is indefensible.

Amidst chaos, GOP rep laments ‘running lunatics’ in congressional races​

Reflecting on his party's governing crisis, one House Republican told reporters, "If you keep running lunatics, you will be in this position."


Sept. 20, 2023, 10:19 AM CDT
By Steve Benen

Congressional Republicans are clearly struggling with the most basic tasks of governing right now. The result is an increasingly likely government shutdown, chatter about GOP members fighting it out in an intra-party “civil war,” and an uncertain future for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

But the current conditions are also leading some Republican lawmakers to take stock of what’s become of their conference. After one of yesterday’s failed votes, House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers told Politico the failure was “illustrative that we’ve got five clowns that don’t know what they want except attention.”

Rep. Mike Lawler of New York — one of 18 House Republicans who represent a district President Joe Biden won in 2020 — spoke to Capitol Hill reporters late yesterday and went a little further:

“I wouldn’t even call them my right flank. This is not conservative Republicanism. This is stupidity. The idea we are going to shut the government down when we don’t control the Senate, we don’t control the White House. ... These people can’t define a win. They don’t know how to take yes for an answer. It is a clown show.”

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As part of the same informal Q&A on the Capitol steps, Lawler added, “If you want to have a stronger hand, run better candidates, and win more elections. If you keep running lunatics, you will be in this position.”

On the surface, the congressman’s frustrations are understandable. Lawler is no doubt concerned about his future political prospects, and the challenges of running for re-election in a competitive district while being associated with a far-right political party that struggles to do the basics. He very likely wants to avoid a shutdown next week, and it's tough to blame him for feeling exasperated.

But I was struck by how the New York Republican characterized his concerns: Lawler didn’t just blame his radical GOP colleagues for their intransigence; he also suggested that the party and its voters ultimately share the blame.

Indeed, Lawler’s assessment rings true: If the Republican Party runs “better candidates,” there will be better outcomes. When the GOP runs what the New Yorker described as “lunatics,” we’re left with the chaos and crises that are gripping Congress right now.

In other words, it’s easy to blame the so-called “clowns,” and there’s no doubt that they’ve earned the criticisms they’re now facing. But Lawler referenced a party-wide problem that needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

Steve Benen

ERIC CLAPTON PRIVATE GIG RAISES $2.2 MIL FOR RFK JR. Rebels & Skeptics Unite!!!​

9/19/2023 3:48 PM PT​

Eric Clapton and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. consider themselves rebels in their respective fields -- but those worlds collided in a big way this week in an effort to raise cash ... and a lot of it.

The rocker performed at a private show Monday night in L.A. -- where EC plugged in his amp and started strumming at a ritzy estate in Brentwood. No word on who exactly hosted -- but it sounds like the place was packed ... 'cause the show raised $2.2 million.

Mind you, this was definitely a political thing ... namely, raising money for RFK Jr.'s presidential campaign -- and Eric was the leading talent and, apparently, the big draw.

Tickets for this event were damn pricey -- starting on the low end at $3,300 just for entry and going as high as $6,600 for a little facetime with the candidate himself. Unclear how exactly the ticket sale tiers played out ... but clearly, enough people showed up to 7 figures.

We're told that of the money raised -- $1 million went straight to Kennedy's campaign, and the other $1.2 million went toward a PAC that's supporting him.

RFK Jr. was grateful for Eric's help in all this, saying ... "I am deeply grateful to Eric Clapton for bringing his musical artistry and rebellious spirit to my gathering."

He added ... "I sometimes think that in our divided society, it is music rather than any kind of intellectual agreement that has the most potential to bring us together again. Eric sings from the depths of the human condition. If he sees in me the possibility of bringing unity to our country, it is only possible because artists like him invoke a buried faith in the limitless power of human beings to overcome any obstacle."

Eric -- who, like RFK Jr., has openly questioned COVID vaccines, among other things -- was on board from the get-go ... teasing this performance in a YouTube video with some verve.

Another lawyer from Trump’s orbit slams her former client​

Jenna Ellis originally described Donald Trump as an “idiot.” Then she joined his legal team. Now, she has effectively come full circle — and she’s not alone.


Sept. 19, 2023, 11:59 AM CDT
By Steve Benen

It might seem like ancient history, but during Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Jenna Ellis was not a fan. As regular readers might recall, the Republican lawyer repeatedly described the then-candidate as an “idiot,” adding that she considered him an “unethical, corrupt, lying, criminal, dirtbag.” Ellis even took aim at Trump’s supporters, saying they didn’t care about “facts or logic.”

She later changed her mind. In fact, despite her rhetorical record, Ellis actually joined Trump’s legal team, becoming a rather enthusiastic proponent, not only of her client’s lies about his 2020 defeat, but also of radical tactics that would allow the then-president to remain in office despite the election results.

Evidently, she’s come full circle. The Daily Beast reported:

Jenna Ellis, Donald Trump’s former senior legal adviser and current co-defendant in Georgia, has made a dramatic break from the former president, saying she will not support his third bid for the White House based on his inability to ever admit to wrongdoing. “I simply can’t support him for elected office again,” Ellis said during an episode of her show American Family Radio. “Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he’s never done anything wrong.”

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Media Matters posted the full audio clip and transcript. It’s worth noting for context that her comments about Trump’s “malignant narcissistic” tendencies came after her guest complained that Trump “can’t admit, ‘I’m not God.’” Ellis responded that was “incredibly well said.”

In the abstract, the fact that a former president is facing criticisms from one of his former lawyers might not seem especially notable. After all, clients and attorneys have been known to clash from time to time.

But what’s striking about Ellis’ on-air comments is how much company she has.

Michael Cohen, for example, was a former Trump lawyer who eventually became a fierce Trump critic. Ty Cobb worked with Trump during the investigation into the Russia scandal, and he has also made comments the former president probably didn’t like, including describing the Republican as a “deeply wounded narcissist.”

There’s also, of course, former Attorney General Bill Barr, who has not only been deeply critical of Trump, but who also recently said in response to the indictment in the classified documents case: “If even half of it is true, then he’s toast.” (I know Barr wasn’t actually one of Trump’s lawyers, but given that he effectively served as Trump’s legal advocate while in office, it hardly seemed outlandish to add him to the mix.)

Between the former president’s Cabinet members and his former lawyers, the number of people who worked closely with Trump and who still hold him in high regard seems amazingly small.