THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
•The Taliban has agreed to allow 200 people, including Americans, to fly out of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, CNN reports Thursday. The refugees had been held for several days after the U.S. military’s August 30 withdrawal.
•September 20 will be the first day of a full session in the House of Representatives, leaving one week, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s malleable deadline, for a vote on President Biden’s $1.2-trillion infrastructure bill.
• The Hustings would like to post this Saturday your thoughts and reflections on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., alongside comments from our regular columnists. Please email editors@thehustings.news with your respectful comments of up to 100 words. Though this is not a partisan political debate, please tell us if you have a preference for posting your thoughts in the left or right column. Comments will be edited for length and clarity.
White House Defends Removal of Trump Allies from Military Boards – White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Thursday explained the rationale for President Biden’s removal of 11 Trump administration appointees to various military advisory boards: Then-President Trump’s incitement of the January 6 insurrection was sufficient reason for the removal. That from Politico.
On Wednesday, Trump administration official Russ Vought shared on social media a White House letter requesting he resign from a military advisory board, or face termination by 6 p.m. Eastern time, The Washington Post reports. He said he would not step down.
CNN reported that among the 11 Trump allies who received the termination letter were former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.
Note: Implicit in Psaki’s justification for the removals is that the January 6 insurrection is connected with earlier reports suggesting the Trump White House was plotting an “inside coup” by attempts to use the military against Joe Biden’s November election victory. That a former contestant on Dancing With the Stars had any official standing is disturbing in itself.
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Clyburn: Room for Negotiation on $3.5-trillion Budget Resolution – There is room to negotiate down from $3.5 trillion on the Senate’s reconciliation bill, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-SC, told Jim Acosta on CNN’s The Situation RoomWednesday (per The Hill). “I think that there is a lot of room for people to sit down and negotiate,” Clyburn said. “It may be, when sitting around the table, you may not need $3.5 trillion to do what the president wants done and what the current country needs done.”
Note: Clyburn’s comments do not take into account the so-called Squad and progressive House Democrats who believe $3.5 trillion is not enough – that $6 trillion to $10 trillion is more like it. Is Clyburn confident that a sufficient number of moderate Republicans will cross the aisle and support a discounted, bi-partisan reconciliation bill?
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Trump Praises a Fallen Statue – In response to the removal and dismantling a 21-foot-high bronze statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump put out a message lauding the “genius” of the Confederate general, a traitor to the United States of America.
On his Save America fund-raising website, Trump said: “Just watched as a massive crane took down the magnificent and very famous statue of ‘Robert E. Lee On His Horse’ in Richmond, Virginia. It has long been recognized as a beautiful piece of bronze sculpture. To add insult to injury, those who support this ‘taking’ now plan to cut it into three pieces, and throw it into storage prior to its complete desecration. …
“Our culture is being destroyed and our history and heritage, good and bad, are being extinguished by the Radical Left, and we can’t let that happen!” … Trump goes on to say that if Lee had been able to command U.S. troops in Afghanistan, “that disaster would have ended in complete and total victory many years ago.”
Note: The embarrassment we are suffering is predicated on a former president who has, evidently, zero understanding of (1) history or (2) the Constitution. As it says in Article III, Section 3, “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”
Lee’s statue became a centerpiece of Richmond’s row of statues about 130 years ago, some 25 years after the Confederacy lost the Civil War. After its removal Wednesday the only statue remaining is that of tennis legend Arthur Ashe, who in 1996 became the first Black man represented on Monument Avenue.
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On the Other Hand – Democrat leadership hopes Trump’s status as the de facto leader of the GOP will prompt a big turnout for the party in the midterms, Nathan L. Gonzales writes in a Roll Call analysis Thursday. The expectation by both Republican and Democratic analysts is that next November’s elections will overturn Democrats’ five-member majority in the House of Representatives and its 51-50 vice presidential tiebreaker in the Senate in favor of the GOP. But this theory posits that if Trump announces a 2024 presidential bid before the November 2022 midterms, Democratic turnout will be greater than usual, as it was last November in Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, and enough to retain the party’s majorities.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2021
•The Taliban have announced its all-male government for Afghanistan, consisting mostly of old-guard members, including interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list, the Associated Press reports.
•The trial of 20 men accused in the Islamic State group’s Paris terrorist attacks has begun (AP). The November 13, 2015, attacks left 130 dead at the Bataclan concert halls, national soccer stadium, and local restaurants.
•A 130-year-old-plus statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee came down Wednesday morning in Richmond, Virginia (AP). It will be placed in storage for the time being. The statue’s graffiti-covered base remains in place.
Capitol Police Prepare for September 18 Protests, Potential Violence – Capitol Police are preparing for potential violence as a group led by a Trump campaign employee has requested a permit for up to 500 protesters in Washington, D.C., for Saturday, September 18, Roll Call reports. Members of Congress have been invited to attend the protests organized by Matt Brayard of Look Ahead America, noon in Union Square.
The group will protest the treatment of more than 570 people arrested so far in the January 6 pro-Trump Capitol insurrection and the shooting of one of the rioters, Ashli Babbitt.
Note: While Brayard has reportedly instructed participants in the “#JusticeForJ6” rally to remain peaceful, a Capitol Police intelligence report warns of potential violence. They do not want to be caught off-guard a second time.
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Biden Warns of ‘Code-Red’ on Climate Change – Surveying Hurricane Ida damage in New York and New Jersey Tuesday, President Biden warned we are in a “code red” moment for climate change, The Washington Post reports. The Biden administration is about to ask Congress for additional billions of dollars in emergency funding for such national disasters as Ida, which hit New Orleans hard before wreaking havoc on the East Coast, and for wildfires in the West, including California’s largest fire on record, now near Lake Tahoe.
Biden used the visit to lobby for his infrastructure plan, scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives by September 27, and for his “Build Back Better” $3.5 trillion “social infrastructure” plan, which Congress will write this month.
Note: Roll Call suggests emergency funds for the Hurricane Ida aftermath may lead to a deal between Congressional Democrats and Republicans over the debt-ceiling deadline.
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Senate-House Democrats Clash Over Social Infrastructure – Senate Democrats, led by Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and backed by Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, are clashing with progressive House Democrats over health care components in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill, Punchbowl News reports. According to the Capitol Hill news website, Sanders and the Senate Democrats want to add dental, vision and hearing coverage to Medicare – a very expensive prospect – while House Democrats want to expand Medicaid and permanently fund the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”
Note: Progressive House Democrats’ assert that the budget reconciliation package currently being written is too small; that it should be on the order of $6 trillion to $10 trillion – a complete obliteration, not a mere overhaul, of the supply-side economic philosophy that has dominated Capitol Hill since the Reagan administration. Progressives believe they have the votes for a huge social package so long as Democrats have wafer-thin majorities in both chambers.
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Trump Chooses Candidate to Primary Cheney: Report – Ex-President Trump will announce in the coming days he will back Wyoming attorney Harriet Hageman to run against Rep. Liz Cheney, R-WY, in next year’s primary, according to a Politico scoop. Cheney is most prominent of the 10 House Republicans who voted for Trump’s second impeachment last January and is one of two Republicans on the select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection by Trump supporters.
Cheney’s supporters, including never-Trump Republicans, hope that a crowded 2022 Wyoming primary will give her the advantage with a plurality in the vote as her opponents knock each other out. Trump’s team has met with at least three other Wyoming Republicans looking to unseat Cheney, according to the Politico report.
Note: Two gubernatorial elections loom “canaries in the coalmine” tests of whether Trump’s GOP appeal endures beyond his post-presidency fundraising capabilities: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D, faces a recall election next Tuesday, in which he needs 50%-plus-one vote to finish his term into next year. If he falls below 50%, the likely governor is conservative talk radio host Larry Elder, who has vowed to replace 88-year-old Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-CA, whom reports suggest may step down before her term is up next year.
The other is Virginia’s gubernatorial election this November, in which previous Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe faces Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin, who has downplayed his Trump bona fides recently in the campaign. One of them will replace Gov. Ralph Northam, D, who is term-limited in the now-purple state.
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Obituary: Former Sen. Adlai Stevenson III – Former U.S. senator from Illinois Adlai Stevenson III, and member of a Democratic Party dynasty that included his great-grandfather, former Vice President Adlai Stevenson, and grandfather, two-time 1950s presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson II, has died. He was 90.
Adlai Stevenson III ran for Illinois governor twice, losing in 1982 by just 5,074 votes to Republican Gov. Jim Thompson, the closest margin for the governorship in modern state history, according to The Hill.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2021
•President Biden travels to New York and New Jersey today to survey flooding damage from Hurricane Ida, the AP reports, and make a case for his $1.2-trillion federal infrastructure program currently scheduled for passage in the House of Representatives by September 27. Ida has caused at least 27 deaths in New Jersey and 13 in New York City, mostly from people trapped in cars or in basement apartments. Biden traveled to survey hurricane flooding in Louisiana last Friday, where at least 13 deaths have been recorded.
•Several airplanes full of evacuees who say they are fearful of the Taliban’s rule remain grounded in Afghanistan, including American citizens and green card holders, NPR reports, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken monitors the situation from a U.S. base in Doha, Qatar. On Sunday, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-TX, told Fox News that the Taliban are holding people “hostage,” including six airplanes with American citizens.
•The House of Representatives has returned from August recess, while the Senate comes back next week, Punchbowl Newsnotes. House committees begin markups of the $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation “social infrastructure” package Thursday. Meanwhile, the federal government has to September 30 until it runs out of money, with a likely extension to either Thanksgiving or into December, according to Punchbowl News.
Justice Department Will ‘Protect’ Those Seeking Abortions in Texas – As the Supreme Court has refused by 5-4 vote to consider a controversial Texas ban on most abortions, the Justice Department has vowed to use the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to “protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services,” says Attorney General Merrick Garland (per Politico). Under the Texas law, most restrictive in the U.S., abortions are outlawed after cardiac activity can be detected, usually by six weeks – and often before a woman knows she is pregnant.
The law leaves it up to private citizens to enforce the abortion ban via lawsuits.
Note: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has pledged a Roe v. Wade bill in the House of Representatives to codify abortion rights for women, but this comes on top of pressure to pass the infrastructure bill and President Biden’s $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation package over the next few weeks.
Progressive Democrats want the infrastructure and reconciliation bills connected so moderates can’t water down or spike the $3.5-trillion reconciliation bill, known as “human infrastructure,” Roll Call reports. If the House of Representatives can pass both – a big if, considering significant moderate opposition – infrastructure would go directly to the White House for Biden’s signature, while there’s still much work to do on “human infrastructure” budget reconciliation details.
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Dems Look for the Union Label — Although Labor Day is just behind us, a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted July 8-18 found that 55% of Americans think trade unions have a positive effect on the way things are going in the country. This is the same number found in an August 2019 survey. However, in the previous survey 66% of those who identify as Democrat or leaning Democrat gave the thumbs-up to unions, a number that has grown to 74% in the new survey. As for Republicans or leaning Republican the number fell from 44% to 34%.
Note: While the Democrat/Republican divide is not particularly surprising, what is worthy of more attention are findings related to the demographics of those with a positive outlook on unions. For example, while union membership has been falling over the past several years and so have less public visibility than they once had, younger people — those ages 18-29 — are actually the biggest proponents of unions, at 69%, with only 44% of those 65+ thinking unions have a positive effect. What’s more, in terms of education, unions are above 50% in all categories, whether it is those who have done postgrad work (56% see positive effects) or who have high school diplomas or less (55%).
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods