Category: News & Comment

What Happens After the SOTU?

Buck Banks
The chamber of the House of Representatives is seen at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, where President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union speech Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress and the nation. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)


Dan Pfeiffer has what seems like a pretty savvy take on the upcoming State of the Union address:

“Biden will give an excellent speech that is well-received by the public and the pundits. The post-speech flash polls will be overwhelmingly favorable. There will be a renewed sense of momentum. Some reporters will even write stories about the President’s ‘comeback.’ And then, a week or so later, a new poll will not show a dramatic gain in the President’s approval. The same pundits touting the comeback will immediately pivot and declare the speech a failure.”

“Those folks will simply be revealing themselves to be ignorant of how modern politics works.”

“Presidential approval is a lagging indicator. The political goal of the speech is to strengthen a number of attributes and character traits that will serve as the foundation for winning back the voters Biden has lost in the last year. I will be watching to see if the speech improves public perception of Biden as a ‘strong leader’ and someone who ‘fights for people like me.’ Biden won in 2020 because the public overwhelmingly believed he had the experience and strength to handle the crisis Trump fumbled and, as the son of Scranton, would be an advocate for middle and working-class people. Those impressions have eroded amidst the neverending run of crises and the rise in inflation. This speech is an opportunity to begin the path back.”

Mitt Romney Called Trump’s Praise for Putin ‘Almost Treasonous’ – He Was Almost Right, It Definitely Is Treasonous

Pensito Editors

Daily Beast: “Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Sunday took aim at conservatives who have heaped praise upon Russian President Vladimir Putin as Russia launched a full-scale and deadly invasion of Ukraine—and he seemed to include former President Donald Trump in his harsh criticism…

“Stating that ‘a lot of those people are changing their stripes’ due to shifting political and international responses, the longtime Russia critic said it was ‘unthinkable’ and ‘almost treasonous’ that ‘anybody in this country’ could side with the murderous Russian dictator. Considering that Trump has recently lauded Putin as ‘very savvy’ for his ‘genius’ invasion of Ukraine, [CNN host Dana] Bash said ‘treasonous is a big word’ while wondering if Romney was referencing the twice-impeached ex-president. ‘Well, I said it’s nearly treasonous,’ the former GOP presidential nominee replied. ‘Standing up for freedom is the right thing to do in America. Anything less than that, in my opinion, is unworthy of American support.’”

Here’s a list via Reddit of 20 instances of Trump lavishing praise on Vladimir:

[…]

The Future of Republicanism Is … Rick Scott??

Pensito Editors

US Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, speaks to the media. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Rick Scott, the first-term senator from Florida who is best known on Capitol Hill for filing dumb bills that waste the august body’s time and energy, has, in the absence of an agenda for the GOP, provided one.

And, of course, it’s a doozy:

Senate Republican leaders have no plans to release an alternative agenda as they try to win back the majority this fall. So Rick Scott is pursuing his own plan.

The Florida Republican senator is devising a conservative blueprint for Republicans to enact should they win Senate and House majorities this fall. Among Scott’s priorities: completing the border wall and naming it after former President Donald Trump, declaring “there are two genders,” ending any reference to ethnicity on government forms and limiting most federal government workers — including members of Congress — to 12 years of service.

Hey, I don’t mind naming the wall after Trump — he deserves it — but everything else is unadulterated hooey.

Read the rest at Politico.

Trumpster Navarro Sputters When Asked if VP Harris Can Throw out Results of 2024 Election

Pensito Editors

Peter Navarro
Peter Navarro

HuffPost: “Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro apparently thinks it would have been OK for then-Vice President Mike Pence to challenge the 2020 election results, but not for current Vice President Kamala Harris to do the same in 2024. After claiming that Pence has the ability to throw votes that might be ‘suspicious’ back to the states, Navarro got into a bit of a tizzy when MSNBC’s Ari Melber asked him on Thursday: ‘It would follow, from your contention, that Vice President Harris should ultimately have the call over who should be president, regardless of the results in the next election?’…

‘It’s not for the vice president to determine who wins. The only thing Pence had the authority to do was go back to the states and let the states look at the votes,’ he said. Of course, Navarro ignored the most basic point of his plan: The votes can’t go back to the states unless a vice president like Pence or Harris goes along with the scam.”

US Senate Candidate in Louisiana Burns Confederate Flag in Campaign Ad

Pensito Editors

The Hill: “Gary Chambers, a U.S. Senate candidate in Louisiana who went viral last month for smoking a blunt in a campaign ad, burned a Confederate flag while decrying restrictive voting laws in his latest video released on Wednesday.

“In a one-minute video titled ‘Scars and Bars,’ Chambers is seen wearing a camo jacket as he pins a Confederate flag on a clothesline and ignites it with a lighter — right after he cites the famous Declaration of Independence line ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

As the flag burns, the Louisiana Democrat argues that inequality lingers and ‘remnants of the Confederacy remain’ in the South. The candidate mentions gerrymandered districts and restrictive voting laws as “byproducts” of the Confederacy.

“‘The attacks against Black people, our right to vote and participate in this democracy, are methodical,’ he said. ‘Our system isn’t broken. It’s designed to do exactly what it’s doing, which is producing measurable inequity.'”

Fascists Hold an Old Fashioned Book Burning in Tennessee

Pensito Editors
Book burning in Tennessee
Book burning in Tennessee

Nashville Scene: “Last week, McMinn County made news when the school board voted to ban beloved graphic novel Maus — a Holocaust story told with anthropomorphic mice and cats — due to instances of swear words and nudity. While the vote happened in early January, it went viral following a report from TN Holler.

“Last night, Mt. Juliet pastor and pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Greg Locke decided to turn it up a notch by organizing an old-fashioned book burning. The books included millennial staples like Harry Potter and Twilight — hits of the early Aughts that were targeted by Christian book burnings back in the day.

“In a sermon preceding the bonfire, Locke described beefing with ‘Free Mason devils’ and said ‘I ain’t gonna be ‘suiciding myself’ no time soon.’ Locke also said people aren’t mad that they were burning books, but mad because of the books they were burning — implying that his critics, even other pastors, were devil and witchcraft supporters.

“You can see the footage in Locke’s Facebook video of the event — the burning starts about an hour in.”

[…]

Report: Christian Nationalism Fueled Jan. 6 Insurrection

Buck Banks

The report, issued by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, details Christian nationalist rhetoric and symbols that were apparent at the Jan. 6 insurrection as well as at events that preceded the insurrection, such as the Million MAGA March and Jericho Marches that took place in Washington in December 2020 and January 2021.

Christian nationalist symbols and references were ubiquitous at those gatherings, as well as at the insurrection itself: flags with superimposed American flags over Christian symbols; “An Appeal to Heaven” banners; prayers recited by members of the extremist group Proud Boys shortly before the attack or by others as they stormed the Capitol.

Andrew Seidel, who wrote most of the 60-page report, said that if the Jan. 6 insurrectionists “decided to get a little more serious, next time we’re in more trouble.” Looking toward the 2022 midterm election and the 2024 presidential race, he said the potential for violence wrought by Christian nationalists haunts him.

“I really hope people wake up and recognize it for the threat that it is,” he said.

Why do Republicans Oppose Biden’s Promise to Pick a Black Woman for SCOTUS

Pensito Editors

View of United States Supreme Court Building, Washington, DC.
Five-Thirty-Eight examines the GOP resistance to President Biden’s promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. In a word, it’s racism.

As Stanford professor and FiveThirtyEight contributor, Hakeem Jefferson, tweeted, “Conservatives didn’t get upset when Trump promised to nominate a woman to the bench because the qualifier ‘white’ was simply implied.” He later added that it’s the misogynoir, or unique biases Black women experience, not the pledge, that is the problem.

Read the rest here.