Politicus Pod

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The nation watched as Republicans again cruelly used the full resources of the U.S. House to destroy the President's struggling son in order to excuse the career crimes of Donald Trump.

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It used to be taken for granted that political warfare should be focused on the elected person, while the family would be left alone. This is the shield, for example, behind which Ginni Thomas has hidden, even as she is actively interfering in U.S. politics, trying to overturn an election and has interests in cases that come before her husband, Clarence Thomas.On December 6, 1950, President Truman wrote a scathing letter to a Washington Post music critic (Mr. Hume) who had, perhaps, too accurately reported on his daughter Margaret Truman's singing performance at Constitution Hall. His letter promised, “Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!”While Truman’s threats against a member of the press are rather uncouth and off-putting, it’s also notable that those were the days, apparently, when a President could defend their child from mere criticism. Not so much anymore.“I hope and pray that my parents love me half as much as he loves his child”There was a moment during Thursday’s hearing when the cruelty of an entire political party using the resources of the U.S. House to go after the troubled son of the President was made crystal clear. It should be a moment of reckoning for the political pundits who have so far been way too enabling of the abuse of this family.

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Unless you live off the grid, you’ve heard conservatives screaming that President Joe Biden isn’t doing enough for Maui, because while they don’t even believe in government and are currently refusing to fund FEMA as it runs out of money, there’s not a single opportunity they will miss to grift —while making up wild conspiracies, including convincing their supporters that evil elites from around the world made these tragic and horrific wildfires because Biden something, something. It’s all a psy-op, you see. But one that Joe Biden had better do something about or else.

If you are enjoying The Daily, please consider supporting us by becoming a subscriber.Speaker Kevin McCarthy took repeated victory laps over his alleged debt ceiling victory and the press obliged. He was hailed as underrated, brilliant, masterful and more, even though the debt ceiling “deal” was only accomplished with the help of Democrats, yet again. bad takesDemocrats rescued McCarthy from his own hostage taking, but he got press like:“Underestimated McCarthy emerges from debt deal empowered as speaker” “McCarthy Earns the Speakership”“ has strengthened his grip on power during the debt ceiling fight” “Speaker Kevin McCarthy has shown 'abilities' no one thought he had: Karl Rove” “This principle was brilliantly implemented by Speaker McCarthy’s debt ceiling strategy” “Kevin McCarthy earned his stripes as Republican speaker” McCarthy inhaled all of that hot air and announced giddily that his next agenda was to “Root out wokeness in government, NO new $4 billion FBI building, Secure the border”. Wokeness, you’ve been put on notice, along with law enforcement!record scratch… But then in less than a Scaramucci, it all went away again…. over an attempt to bring to the floor the “Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act”. You’re probably thinking: But the freedom of gas stoves has been on everyone’s mind, even though we know their freedom wasn’t at risk — ever — because we operate in a fact based universe, how could this super unimportant, non-issue of prohibiting the use of federal funds to ban gas stoves have been opposed?!? The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts/podcasts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.What would cause McCarthy’s own caucus to slap him publicly as he was bragging about “turning the ship”?Because the House Majority is so small, if Rep. Matt Gaetz and three of his friends decided to do so, they could block every bill from coming to the House floor for a vote. McCarthy would need Democrats to help him launch Republicans’ frequently kind of bonkers bills. How did Kevin McCarthy go from being an alleged brilliant strategist to having his own caucus refuse to allow a vote on a bill to stop something that isn’t real? reactionary nihilists watch and learnIt was Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FLA) who brought his “concern” to the table along with 10 other House nihilistic reactionaries who identify as the “Freedom Caucus,” although no one has ever confirmed that they are indeed pro-freedom for anyone who isn’t a white, male, straight conservative. Gaetz crossed the aisle to join Democrats to block two gas stove bills, priorities for Republicans, because they are mad over that deal for which McCarthy is taking victory laps. Apparently, they can read, yet McCarthy didn’t anticipate that they would. Gaetz et al took their fury to the press, having learned the real lesson from the decade plus of Republican debt ceiling hostage taking: IF YOU WANT SOMETHING YOU CAN’T GET AND SHOULDN’T HAVE BECAUSE THE PEOPLE DENIED YOU THE NUMBERS, JUST TAKE A HOSTAGE.they found outThe Angry Right found out the truth about the deal and they’re not happy.After McCarthy managed to sell conservatives on pretending they got a good deal, McCarthy was hailed as brilliant and many, many bad takes were served about how he had proven himself someone to contend with over this “deal”. The same “deal” in which they prioritized rolling back IRS enforcement funding, which, if implemented according to their hopes, would actually increase the debt by billions. To add insult to injury, the great victory of Republicans was to force more people off of SNAP through work requirements (they call this “freedom”). But… that too will increase federal spending by $2.1 billion over 10 years because the added benefits pushed by Democrats will add “almost 80,000 people to the rolls in an average month.”they don’t even trust McCarthy - demand deal in writing“Unfortunately, two weeks a deal was made and it broke away what we had made,” Rep. Chip Roy told reporters.Gaetz said: “We took down the rule because we're frustrated at the way the place is operating. We're concerned that the fundamental commitments that allowed McCarthy to assume the speakership have been violated.”They demand that Speaker Kevin McCarthy put in writing that he will go back to their January agreement. OR ELSE.undeniable humiliationIt was a historic humiliation. It's been more than two decades since the House voted against a rule. But it happened on Tuesday to Kevin McCarthy. As we wrote on PoliticusUSA, McCarthy might have saved face with the debt ceiling “deal,” but he “already gave his critics everything to get the gavel, so the only thing left that his opponents could possibly want is for Kevin McCarthy not to be the Speaker of the House any longer.”Things were so humiliating that beltway types like Jake Sherman wrote, “An incredible embarrassment for the House Republican leadership. The morning McCarthy tries to turn the page, conservatives slap him and his leadership team in the face.”there might be hope for McCarthyThe “Freedom Caucus” gang were spotted going in to the Speaker’s office Tuesday afternoon close to 5 PM Eastern time, including Scott Perry, Dan Bishop, Byron Donalds, Chip Roy and Michael Cloud. humiliation is McCarthy’s secret powerIf Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a secret power, it’s enduring humiliation. McCarthy is Greg from Succession, riding Tom’s coattails, changing directions as the wind blows. He didn’t have an easy time getting voted to be Speaker — and he lacks the consensus making power of a Nancy Pelosi type Speaker. But after 15 rounds of voting — the most since the Civil War, he found himself holding the gavel, however tenuously. Then came the debt ceiling showdown initiated by representatives who identify as “conservatives” even though their actions are most often reactionary rather than conservative. Kevin McCarthy was bailed out again by Democrats and by President Biden, who allowed McCarthy to set the narrative that he had won hours before the President gave his version of events, which when finally given were praising bipartisanship. The deal, however, is a lot of moving around of funds: A shell game to hide the truth from the Freedom Caucus.Kevin McCarthy has shown one enduring strength as a politician: Humiliation rolls off of his back like water off of a duck’s back. Perhaps he expects humiliation. Most people have some core sense of self that wouldn’t allow this level of rather consistent humiliation, but not Kevin McCarthy. In the end, if he has the power, he seems happy.But how long will he be able to stave off the hungry beast of ever more histrionic Right wing demands?Thank you for reading The Daily. This post is public so feel free to share it.Top Stories From PoliticusUSA:CHRIS CHRISTIE TRASHES TRUMP IN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENTChris Christie came out of the gate and talked about Trump in the sort of blunt terms that other Republican presidential candidates have feared.CHRIS CHRISTIE’S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT TRIGGERS MARCO RUBIOChris Christie's announcement that he is running for the 2024 Republican nomination set Sen. Marco Rubio off on a tangent about his own 2016 campaign.TRUMP MAY HAVE A HUGE MARK MEADOWS PROBLEMTrump's lawyers were unaware that Mark Meadows was testifying, as the former chief of staff has been out of contact with Donald Trump.POWERFUL SENATE DEMOCRAT MAY SUBPOENA CLARENCE THOMAS SUGAR DADDY HARLAN CROWSenate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said he is talking to his colleagues about

The Daily is 100% reader supported. To get full access to all of our newsletter, podcasts, and archives, please consider becoming a subscriber.Biden’s Art of the DealIt burned Democrats to see the Biden White House standing back to let Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy set a false narrative as the “winner” of the debt ceiling deal. Once again, McCarthy and his Republican House caucus tried to hold the country hostage, something that again they only do under a Democratic president, thereby revealing the real motives to be political and not fiscal.But when dealing with a party that sells itself as "Alpha males" that tells its base that bike-riding Joe Biden is senile so they should really support golf cart-rider Donald Trump, the only option for a very smart negotiator is to let them take the public win. And that is what President Biden has done. Biden knows better than to bragPresident Biden was asked before his Marine One departure on Memorial Day about the deal and he responded, "One of the things that I hear some of you guys saying is, 'Why doesn’t Biden say what a good deal it is?' Why would Biden say what a good deal it is before the vote? You think that’s going to help me get it passed? No. That's why you guys don’t bargain very well."Biden was asked who got the better deal, which he refused to answer saying instead, "(D)o you think it’s going to help me get it passed? Come on."Biden separated debt ceiling from budget negotiatons (sort of)We learned on background from White House officials how Biden approached this and what he got. As Jason Easley https://politicususa.substack.com/p/joe-biden-wins-as-kevin-mccarthy Biden separated the raising the debt ceiling part from a negotiation on the budget with Republican leadership. So he did have this negotiation on the budget, which the White House officials pointed out is like they do as part of the appropriations process every year, and it's also what happened in 2015, 2018, and the 2019 budget deals that also carried a debt limit increase.However, there’s still this conflation with the debt ceiling being raised in the public’s mind, which is not great for the country and only allows Republicans to keep doing this hostage taking.I was wrongFrankly, this deal looked like nonsense at first, and I was one of the people criticizing it. But it turned out, when the legislative text was unveiled and after White House officials broke down the process on background, that the White House was mostly correct.default taken off the table, so sorry RepublicansBiden managed to wrangle a two-year appropriations agreement via what appears to be a process of moving money around to protect "the historic economic gains we've made, really allowing one of the strongest recoveries on record to continue by taking the threat of default off the table into 2025,” that continues to support scientific research, Meals on Wheels, to education and more. So, key Democratic priorities are mostly protected.It includes a suspension through January 1st, 2025, at which time the Secretary of the Treasury can employ extraordinary measures if needed.The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts/podcasts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.no more election year gamesWhite House officials said they think taking the threat of default off the table into 2025 is “significant upside for the economy” and a “significant accomplishment.” It is definitely a significant accomplishment both for the country and for Democrats heading in to an election year. SIGNIFICANT.hold on, Biden got what?And here’s something COMPLETELY bonkers that Biden got in terms of the administrative PAYGO part of the deal, which provides very broad waiver authority for the Office of Management and Budget director and protections against judicial review (hello, corrupt SCOTUS) that SUNSETS in two years. You know, when there might be a new president.no shutdown even if Republicans don’t do their jobsThey incentivized the passage of appropriation bills with a Continuing Resolution funding enforcement mechanism to prevent a government shutdown, so if at the end of the year, the 12 bills are not passed, then the non-defense and defense levels go to just slightly below the 2023 level. The incentive there is the bipartisan protection of defense spending (even when it’s wasteful) to get bills passed. The government can’t shut down even if they don’t manage to do their jobs of passing the appropriation bills.detailsOddly enough, officials say the agreed-upon levels reflect what the administration had already successfully negotiated at the end of last calendar year, with two years already of bipartisan appropriations increases that have taken non-defense spending up over this two-year period by about 16 percent.The 16% is an on paper increase, not to be confused with real new money of around 4-5% appropriated increase from Congress over the last two years. OK, so it’s flat from there. This is a part that Democrats have criticized, because it means only 1% increase in 2025. It keeps non-defense spending roughly flat with the 2023 levels in 2024, when you factor in agreed-upon appropriations adjustments.  In 2025, it increases the non-defense spending levels and the defense spending levels by 1 percent.  Some of the adjustments include repurposing obligated emergency COVID relief and some of the mandatory IRS funding, as well as other adjustments.IRS effective cuts, but no change to intention to chase down tax cheatsThat IRS money the Republicans so wanted taken out? A full $20 billion of the $80 billion over ten years Republicans wanted to cut is ultimately being spent in other non-defense areas; $20 billion over two years is being moved to other priorities.That money was meant to fund the IRS for ten years, and officials say they don’t think it will impact the direction they wanted of going after wealthier tax cheats.The IRS also has the ability shift spending over that ten year period. Maybe kicking the can down the road while still doing President Biden’s wishes now is a decent summation of this IRS battle. McCarthy’s promise to repeal non-existent 87,000 agents But remember, Kevin McCarthy promised to repeal “87,000 IRS agents” on their first day. Of course, there weren’t going to be 87,000 IRS agents,  so it was always a promise built on a lie, which is hard to deliver on.About that – the 87,000 new agents claim came from a Treasury Department compliance report, but tax experts have broken it down to say that only a portion of those would be new auditors and indeed many would be replacement workers to maintain its current agent staffing levels, a which are down by 10% compared to ten years ago. https://democrats-budget.house.gov/publications/report/funding-irsadded this point: “According to a recent report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, due to a lack of resources, the IRS failed to audit more than 897,000 wealthy individuals who skipped out on filing tax returns over a three‑year period – and these individuals owed nearly $46 billion in taxes.”Veterans and SNAP It fully funds veterans’ medical care, including the mandatory funding from the PACT Act’s Toxic Exposure Fund at the levels that were in President Biden’s 2024 budget and includes funding at Biden’s budget level for the Defense Department.While they did agree to some Republican changes to SNAP with a phase in of SNAP work requirements to people up to age 54, when it’s parsed out it seems like it’s actually not impactful. It’s also temporary and sunsets in 2030 at President Biden’s insistence.They expect that the number of people subject to SNAP work requirements will stay roughly the same under this agreement, even when the age change is fully phased in.say what?The White House official explained that Biden insisted on changes that they say will actually reduce the number of people subject to SNAP work requirements, with exemptions for people who are homeless and veterans, as well as foster youth. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge pointed out that the definition of homeless in the existing SNAP statute includes housing instability, not just people who are unhoused. If this is true, hats off to President Biden. That’s some good negotiating.protects Biden’s legislative victories It protects Biden's historic legislative victories, from the infrastructure law to the CHIPS and Science Act, the key climate and prescription drug components of the Inflation Reduction Act, and it fought off parts of what they called the extreme demands in the Republicans’ “Limit, Save, and Grow Act.” Try not to laugh at the party that did a lot to create this deficit trying to present itself as fiscally responsible by hostage taking.House Republicans, for example, wanted to roll back Biden’s climate law, by cutting tens of billions of dollars for clean energy in disadvantaged communities, cleanup efforts related to oil and gas pollutants – and none of that is in this agreement. President Biden saved what they called the “substantive environmental safeguards” of laws like the Clean Water Act and more. still shouldn’t have happenedSo yes, this deal never should have happened and it’s not perfect. Democrats are right to be angry about it in those senses. But it’s also full of surprisingly solid protections for the country in terms of protecting it from the politicizing impulses of the Mad Hatter House Republicans, who have shown once again on Tuesday that the entire point of this venture was to crash the economy to help Trump win his election. Republicans wonder how they can win elections if they can’t hold the economy hostageRep. Dan Bishop (R-NC)

If you are enjoying our newsletter and podcast, please consider becoming a subscriber.Legacy media has a headline they repeat no matter what’s going on: Democrats in disarray. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them lead with that the morning after Ron DeSantis failure to launch his campaign and Don Trump responded by screaming about his big “red button.”Yes, it’s true, all of the worst people you know are fighting: It’s Republicans in disarrayrapid unscheduled disassemblyOn Wednesday night, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis attempted to launch his official campaign on the world’s second richest man’s platform, Elon Musk, best known recently for his affinity for replying to amplify Nazis and what he called “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of a Space X rocket as it exploded. It would be correct, then, to say the DeSantis’ launch experienced “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”That’s Elon for failure.The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts/podcasts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The chosen venue was audio only, which was an odd choice for a presidential campaign but not odd if you have seen Ron DeSantis on video. I stand by my determination that DeSantis wisely calculated that he would be humanized next to Elon Musk in comparison. And that might have worked had the entire Twitter space not turned into the Elon show and complaints about Twitter.It began with at least 20 plus minutes of screeching feedback and glitches so bad that the entire Twitter space had to be shut down and a new one opened, causing a drop from 600,000 accounts to 192,000 at one point (the second space never got near the first one). no, it wasn’t hugeThe tech problems were at one point blamed on server loads (Elon got rid of a bunch of servers thinking he didn’t need them). Co-host David Sacks claimed it had been “probably the biggest room that has ever been assembled online," to which the Verge editor (tech expert) Alex Heath retorted, “I have been in bigger Clubhouse rooms” and New York Times start up and venture capitalist writer Erin Griffith added, “the 12 million people attended a virtual travis scott concert in Fortnite.” After the claim to fame took on Elon proportions of exaggeration, she wrote, “more people watched 2 BuzzFeed employees explode a watermelon on Facebook in 2016.”elites whiningEventually, Ron DeSantis got to make his big announcement and his speech, which quickly devolved into the three white men running the show – the other co-host was venture capitalist David Sachs - complaining about “the elites” and the “media” on a huge social media platform owned by Elon, who is, again, the second richest man in the world and Governor Ron DeSantis, who has taken it upon himself to make law about what people can say and has allowed the banning of books that offend him, is no powerless punk, even if Donald Duck has bested him recently.book bansDeSantis denied that he has banned any books, but PEN is here with some facts:DeSantis claimed “Books are being removed from Florida classrooms and libraries because they are “pornographic, violent or inappropriate.”Fact:Books that have been banned in Florida include:* Biographies of Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente that Duval County admitted to removing from shelves for nearly a year, along with 177 other books from a collection of diverse books.* And Tango Makes Three, a picture book about two male penguins raising a chick.* Stella Brings the Family, a picture book about a girl with two dads.* When Wilma Rudolph Played Basketball, pulled from open shelves temporarily after one person complained about it.* Forever, by Judy Blume* Booker Prize winner The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy* Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye* All Boys Aren’t Blue, by George M. Johnson* The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood* Dozens of books that include LGBTQ+ themes, protagonists of color, or that touch on race or racism.Ultimately, in the 2021-22 school year PEN America documented 565 books banned in Florida schools. Some were banned permanently, others temporarily pending investigations. The result is the same: Students can’t access books.boring The biggest problem with Ron DeSantis’s Twitter Spaces campaign launch, though, was as Jason Easley wrote on our Substack, that “it was boring, really, really boring. It is impossible to see how this dull as watching paint dry culture warrior can possibly defeat Donald Trump… Ron DeSantis sounds small time, looks small time, and he lacks the presence and charisma to effectively engage voters.”DeSantis attacked the NAACP, while claiming he was great for Black people and Musk brought up Nazis while the three men laughed at media outlets allegedly suggesting the only people listening would be Nazis, which as someone who was listening made me want to leave immediately and I can’t imagine that was a good sell to any swing voters. But the boys found being called Nazis so funny. I guess you had to be there, but aren’t you glad you weren’t?But I promised you a fight and a fight you will have. don’s big red buttonWhile Elon and Ron were fiddling around in the dark on an audio-only space, Don was over on HIS social media company mocking “Rob” – his new name for DeSantis?- for having a small “red button” while making concerning references to Kim Jong Un soon being his new friend.Don wrote:“Rob,” My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!), yours does not! (per my conversation with Kim Jung Un, of North Korea, soon to become my friend!).As I wrote Wednesday evening, “We can only hope this was a phallic reference and not a nuclear reference. One can’t be sure with Donald Trump, which is how he continues to get away with saying outrageous things that don’t belong in normal public political discourse.”don is funny for a brief momentThis was followed by a video of Space X exploding as it fell to the ground, with “Ron 2024” written over it, which was probably the best moment of humor Don has ever managed not to spoil with his bitterness and anger. Yet the red button haunts.don goes low (and wins)Don also did something really weird that started off as mayyybe good satire, but devolved due to the natural proclivities of the party involved. It started off as a satire of the twitter space with The Devil, Hitler, Elon, Ron, George Soros, Klaus Schwab, the FBI, and Dick Cheney with the loud coughing over empty space just like the actual announcement, along with the lags and glitches.But Don foiled his own humor with “jokes” about everyone on the call being “gay” followed up by Trump entering the twitter space to tell everyone off, which called attention to the anti-Semitism and the general grossness of being around someone like Don Trump. These are not people that most of us would invite over for dinner.Don has, however, wiped the floor with Ron, and there’s nothing Elon can do about it, which seems like a big loss for those two horrible people… with one left. Republican expert on fail Newt Gingrich insults working AmericansIn response to the DeSantis launch, Newt Gingrich (rather an expert on bringing his entire party crashing down) went on Fox News to explain that DeSantis is really smart, but his problem is that he doesn’t communicate like Trump, who uses 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade levels to speak to the base, which is why the Republican Party is the party of “working Americans” now. If anyone was going to bring more fail to this situation, it would be Newt Gingrich, but it’s still a surprise that he said this outloud on Fox.I’m not sure telling the base that they need to be talked down to on their top network is the best way to move forward, but it’s also a weird way to excuse the lack of policy meat in Trump’s rhetoric. And frankly the dearth of policy that is good for those same “working Americans” in the entire Republican Party platform.won’t anyone think about Tucker’s white supremacy platformElon’s failure to launch twitter into the stratosphere of relevance

Support media that will never platform Donald Trump, and shares your values by becoming a subscriber to The Daily.Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”(Warning: Sexual abuse)About last night.For a brief moment on Tuesday, women basked in the long-delayed validation that came from a few of them finally being believed about Donald Trump, after a jury of his peers found him liable for sexual abuse, battery and defamation.E. Jean Carroll, Lisa Birnbach, Jessica Leeds, Natasha Stoynoff and more gave women and girls around this country the long-delayed, but important gift of validation. Lisa Birnbach told me on Twitter, “It has meant a lot to me that we were believed.”Part of the judgment against Trump in the Carroll case found “wanton disregard” and that Carroll had proven with clear evidence that Trump displayed “actual malice” in his defamation of her.Wanton disregard is a legal term expressing an individual's extreme lack of care for the well-being or rights of another individual.  “(W)illful and wanton disregard means the ‘deliberate and conscious indifference to the safety of others.’”That resonates for women around this country, who have known since Trump was elected that they were not believed or deemed worthy of being respected by too many in this country.But then, on Wednesday evening during the CNN town hall, despite a photo of them together, Trump repeatedly denied knowing Carroll. “I don’t know her. I never met her. I had no idea who she is,” he said. The CNN town hall audience showed the country just who Trump supporters really are as they laughed as he made fun of Carroll’s claim.Laughing at a sexual battery victim as she is being defamed, yet again. This is who this Trump movement is and CNN knew that going into the town hall. They chose to do it anyway and allow him to broadcast his humiliation of rape and assault victims around this country because the mocking of one is an echo of the mocking done in communities around the country when a victim speaks up. The CNN town hall harmed women around the country. Again.Trump also bragged about taking the rights away from women to decide our own destiny and control of our bodies, just like a sexual predator would want to do.“Getting rid of Roe v. Wade was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with. For 50 years this has been going on… I was very honored to do it,” he said.Trump was happy to take credit for appointing these Supreme Court justices who then took our freedom from us as sexual predators desire to do, taking away our rights, our dignity, and our control of our destinies.His lies weren’t fact-checked effectively as he steamrolled CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, who appeared to have been sacrificed by her employer on the Trump altar, or perhaps she willingly let Trump amplify his lies about the 2020 election, January 6th, call a Black police officer a “thug” and more. The CNN town hall was gasoline on what had been a smoldering fire.It’s reignited now. The lies blasted to Trump’s supporters are cult Kool-Aid. People who were put off by him recently got a big dose of the Trump pipe and they won’t be putting it down any time soon. Dear Leader is back, taking up all of the oxygen, giving them the dopamine hits of being “winners” who ride roughshod over everyone else, without a moment of humanity to disrupt the sick pleasure taken in hurting others.Perhaps we are coming full circle and this is just the dirtiest part of the path, right before it gets cleaned up.But just one day before this excruciatingly mistaken venture by CNN, Donald Trump was found liable by a jury of nine people for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, a case she was able to bring in part through the new New York's Adult Survivors Act.It took a lot of bravery and fortitude for Carroll to bring her case forward, including the courage of the other witnesses who testified. The Access Hollywood tape was a key player in Carroll’s case, and that very tape is how we began this particular journey that led to women feeling so dehumanized, diminished, and demoralized.  Ever since the Access Hollywood tape didn’t matter following its October 2016 publication, a lot of women knew what Trump did routinely to women and even worse, that it didn’t matter to our fellow citizens.They had elected a man who bragged about sexual assault and treated the women who came forward to accuse him (26 at this count) of sexual misconduct of varying degrees as if they were trash not even worthy of basic dignity and decency. No other political candidate for president would have dared to show his inhumanity so brazenly, but as we heard again last night during the CNN town hall, Trump’s audience loves his cruelty. They find it funny. They see themselves and are relieved to not have to hide their worst traits.The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new podcasts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Everything that followed after the Access Hollywood tape was barely a blip in Trump’s journey to the White House proved women’s diminishment. It was clear to women that he had said it in his own words on tape, and yet the populace shrugged.Once he was elected, his White House claimed his election proved that the American people didn’t consider sexual misconduct allegations to be an issue worthy of discussion.  In 2017, after several women came forward on television to share their sexual abuse/assault/harassment experiences with Trump, then WH Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee used his election as proof that the allegations didn’t even warrant consideration. As if some people voting for Trump erased the possibility of his abuse and assault against women mattering at all. Not that it didn’t happen, but that it didn’t matter that it happened."The people of this country, at a decisive election, supported President Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process.”The allegations clearly weren’t answered through that process; they were ignored and overridden. Women who had come forward before his election spoke up again after it, as part of the Me Too wave, and pointed out that it hurt to have their fellow citizens just shrug in response to the their experiences.Miss USA pageant contestant Samantha Holvey said in 2017: "We're private citizens, and for us to put ourselves out there to try and show America who this man is and especially how he views women, and for them to say 'meh, we don't care' — it hurts. And so now it's just like, all right, let's try round two. The environment's different. Let's try again."Even now, after 6 men and 3 women found him culpable, Trump supporters - including Republicans in the U.S. House, are saying (paraphrasing here): ‘It didn’t happen. She’s a liar. She lost because she wasn’t able to meet the burden for the definition of rape.’ The latter is a ludicrous claim given his history and his own words.It’s also disturbing that the definition of rape clearly includes penetration by body parts and yet this jury thought rape hadn’t been established, “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” But then, in a civil trial the jury is required to reach a unanimous verdict and so it could have been one person who believed that Trump’s fingers didn’t qualify.Yet, women apparently have to argue that this actually happened and that it actually matters, because it didn’t matter enough to CNN to even bring it up at the beginning of their town hall, let alone cancel their amplification of Trump’s lies and attacks on democracy.Whatever went in to making this decision by CNN to amplify a known Gish gallop gaslighter propagandist, it’s done irreparable damage the tenuous agreement of facts upon which democracy rests and it has once again told women: YOU DO NOT MATTER.Networks will platform and give free ad space to a man found liable of sexual battery and defamation. DEFAMATION, which he repeated during this town hall as everyone knew he would.Never once in Trump or his camp’s response to sexual misconduct accusations did they ever acknowledge the humanity of the victim. Instead, they chose each and every time to belittle the victim, to make sure she knew she was held in contempt and was useless and worthless, that whatever pain drove her to speak up was a joke and would be weaponize against her.Even in his own defense, Trump never said he would not rape someone. Wouldn’t an honorable man say in his defense he’s not the type of man to rape a woman rather than she’s not the type of woman he would rape? But one of Trump’s go-to defenses is to claim that the woman isn’t attractive enough to rape, which suggests that rape is acceptable to him, but that he wouldn’t deem this woman worthy of rape.Naturally, that too is a lie. In his video taped deposition, Trump confused a photo of E. Jean Carroll from the time period of the assault as being his ex-wife Marla Maples.He never said he would not rape someone.In fact, in the deposition, when asked about the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump is heard bragging to Billy Bush, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything, grab them by the p-ssy. You can do anything,” Trump answered: “Well, historically, that’s true with stars. If you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.”Unfortunately or fortunately. Yes, he did say that.Sexual misconduct, sexual battery, sexual assault is allowed unfortunately or fortunately: So says

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Our newsletter and podcast episodes are 100% reader-supported. There are no ads, no corporations, and no one telling us what we can write or say. To support us, please consider becoming a subscriber. Paid subscribers get access to the full podcast transcript.A Hydra is “a many-headed serpent or monster in Greek mythology that was slain by Hercules and each head of which when cut off was replaced by two others” or, when not capitalized, “a multifarious evil not to be overcome by a single effort,” according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. The Hydra to which I refer is the noxious, dangerous Palin/Trump populism that has taken root. No matter how many times Republicans and the rest of the country cut off its head, more pop up.Photo by Colin Lloyd on UnsplashAnd that is how we get to the GOP primary line up via Morning Consult:Trump Continues to Lead DeSantis: An increase in Trump’s support following his indictment on criminal fraud charges in New York appears to be leveling out, but he’s still well ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Just over half of potential Republican primary voters (53%) support his candidacy, down from a high of 57% last week. Meanwhile, DeSantis’ backing has increased marginally from a low of 22% last week to 24%. Things are so bad for DeSantis that Republican political strategist  Mike Madrid of the Lincoln Project said the latest Wall Street Journal poll was a “red alarm” for DeSantis as he has “high positives but a low base,” and ultimately, “There’s no path.”And a new NBC News poll found that “68% of Republican voters still support  Trump after he has been charged with 34 felony counts in Manhattan.”These results seemed to surprise powerful Republican donors and establishment types, who were hoping to insert DeSantis as a withdrawal pacifier for Trump supporters. But I’ve been warning for almost a year that the Trump base is not enthusiastic about Ron DeSantis. They tell me DeSantis seems snobby, he’s elitist, and he’s just not capturing their attention. He’s not TRUMP.Republicans thought that since their base has been so primed to respond to often times manipulated culture wars instead of issues (given that the only issue they agreed up was abortion and now that they have it they’re fighting among themselves about just how much control they should be allowed to have over women, more on that later) that they could easily be fed another culture war hero with a cleaner image and a less drama-filled personal life.Republicans thought they could feed DeSantis to the base, because they know the issues don’t matter.

So all of that sounds very partisan and hyper, but an even bigger threat comes in when it’s targeted to people who don’t pay attention. People who might fall for a “No Labels” faux “Centrism” election spoiler because they are tired of the “partisanship.”

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