This is One of Three …

…columns, and if you landed here on your smartphone, you might think this is the center of The Hustings editorially. Not true -- that would be the center column. You might be able to see all three columns: left (liberal commentary), right (conservative commentary) and center (news/news aggregate and analysis) if you hold your smartphone horizontally.

Best way to read us is on a computer screen or a notebook, though we will work in earnest these next few months leading up to the November 5 elections to correct our smartphone problem.

Meanwhile, why not take some time to let us know what you think of the news in the center column? We’d love to hear what you think of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) suggestion the National Guard be called in to control college student protests over the war in Gaza, as well as the International Criminal Court’s apparently imminent arrest warrant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Also please take a look at Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s right-column piece, “The Biden Shuffle”, which is sure to trigger your reactions, positive or negative.

There’s plenty more controversy in recent days’ center column. Scroll down with the far-right trackbar to read those, and then further down the center column with the trackbar to its immediate right to catch up.

Then email your opinions to editors@thehustings.news and please let us know whether you lean left, or right, so we can post your comments in the appropriate column.

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…meanwhile…

The U.S. economy added a moderate 175,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported Friday. This slowing compares with 303,000 jobs added in March and has sparked a rally on Wall Street. The unemployment rate inched up to 3.9%, from a 3.8% level in March. This might be good news for the economy overall as the Federal Reserve remains concerned about inflation sticking above 3%, and will not likely cut interest rates before autumn, at best. Job gains were reported for health care, social assistance, transportation and warehousing. (Chart: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

FRIDAY 5/3/24

Biden: Stop the Chaos – President Biden took a sort of middle ground in a brief, unscheduled White House address on pro-Palestinian campus protests that have resulted in more than 2,000 arrests to date, according to NBC News.

“There’s a right to protest, but not a right to chaos,” Biden said. “People have the right to get an education, the right to get a degree, the right to walk across the campus safely without fear of being arrested.”

As the protests threaten to spill over to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August, Biden rejected deploying the National Guard as some Republicans have suggested, The New York Times reports. This as Republicans hope to work the pro-Palestinian protests to their advantage in November as Democrats are working the abortion issue.

--TL

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THURSDAY 5/2/24

Campus Protests – New York City Mayor Eric Adams told NPR’s Morning Edition that 40% of Columbia University campus protesters of Israel’s war on Gaza are “outside agitators,” based on the arrests from when the city’s police removed students from an occupation of the school’s Hamilton Hall. Thousands of campus protesters have been arrested at campuses from the University of California Los Angeles – where police evacuated encampments Wednesday evening -- to Stony Brook on Long Island and Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire.

The question of when police will intervene in campus demonstrations varies by municipality and state, NPR reports. New York’s police department goes in only when a school calls for help, while at the University of Texas, state troopers have the support for intervention from Gov. Greg Abbott (R).

Meanwhile… The House Wednesday passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, 320-91, Morning Edition reports. Introduced by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the bill defines antisemitism as “A certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” Opposition to the bill consisted of 70 Democrats and 21 Republicans.

•••

1864 Arizona Ban Lifted – Arizona’s 1864 abortion ban was repealed by the state senate Wednesday, 16-14, with two Republicans joining all 14 Democrats in the vote (per The New York Times). Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) was expected to sign the repeal Thursday, which will replace the 1864 law with a 2022 ban on abortions after 15 weeks, but with no exceptions for rape or incest.

•••

Greene Motion – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced Wednesday she will introduce a motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) next week (per CQ Roll Call), despite support from House Democrats to vote it down. Or rather, according to MTG, because of it – she wants Democrats who support Johnson to go on-record with their districts’ voters. MTG so far has but two co-sponsors for her motion to vacate next week, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ).

--TL

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MAY DAY 2024

Brown Deals With Protesters – The Brown Divest Coalition peacefully ended its week-long “Encampment for Gaza” at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, after university President Christina Paxson agreed to raise a divestment resolution at a corporation meeting in October, The Boston Globe reports. Paxson did not agree to demands to drop charges against 41 student protesters in an administration building last December, NPR reports, but the compromise contrasts with demonstrations at Columbia University in New York and the University of California Los Angeles where college administrators called in police to break up the protests Tuesday.

•••

Florida Ban – Florida’s strict six-week abortion ban replacing the state’s 15-week ban takes effect Wednesday, ahead of a November ballot measure to overturn the new rule. Clinic operators say the six-week ban, which makes exceptions only in rare instances, will affect at least 40,000 women per year, Politico reports. More than 6,000 women from Alabama and Georgia, two nearby states that already have very strict abortion bans, had travelled to Florida for abortions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

•••

Culture Wars Polled – In a clear sign of the culture wars that threaten to deepen the chasm between the two major parties for a long time to come, an NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist poll released Wednesday finds that 47% of Democrats say the “rise of fascism and extremism” is their most important issue in the upcoming election, while 36% of Republicans say it is “lack of values.” Those issues for either party are by far the number-one concerns, Morning Edition reports. Republicans’ number-one concern is further described as the need to instill “children with faith in God, teaching them that hard work and discipline pay off..."

--TL

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TUESDAY 4/30/24

Stormy Weather – The Access Hollywood video in which Donald J. Trump describes his “grab-them-by” method of assaulting women raised interest in squelching Stormy Daniels’ story of an affair with the 2016 Republican presidential nominee, Keith Davidson, attorney for the adult film star testified Tuesday in the ex-president’s criminal trial in which he is charged with falsified business records. (Trump continues to deny the affair.) Daniels said that after the video’s release, he had “sometimes frantic” conversations with longtime fixer Michael Cohen as the November election approached, The New York Times reports.

In contempt: The judge in State of New York v. Donald John Trump, Juan Merchan, early Tuesday held the ex-president in contempt for violating a gag order by attacking witnesses in the case, including Daniels and Cohen. Fine for the nine counts is $9,000, and Merchan has issued a warning that Trump could go to jail if he continues such attacks.

Merchan gave Trump until 2:15 p.m. to remove five comments from Truth Social and two from his campaign website, which he did, NPR’s All Things Considered reports.

•••

Timely Interview – The Atlantic devoted an entire issue written by several contributors and staff journalists with “If Trump Wins” earlier this year. Further warning of an authoritarian second term is on the latest cover of Time magazine, with Eric Cortellessa’s two interviews with Donald J. Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, “How Far Trump Would Go.”

Trump confirmed to Cortellessa he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military in deporting undocumented aliens from the United States, Cortellessa writes. He “might” fire U.S. attorneys who refuse his orders to prosecute someone; “It would depend on the situation.”

There’s much more, which every U.S. voter, Republican, Democratic, independent and third party, should read here. We’ll leave you with this quote from a sidebar to the cover story …

“If you look at the Biden administration, they’re sort of against anybody depending on certain views. They’re against Catholics. They’re against a lot of different people … I think there is a definite anti-white feeling in this country, and that can’t be allowed either.”

--TL

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MONDAY 4/29/24

Arrest ‘Both Sides’? – As House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has suggested sending the National Guard to college campuses to control pro-Palestinian student protests, the International Criminal Court is preparing an arrest warrant on charges related to the war on Hamas in Gaza for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

“If this is not contained quickly and these threats and intimidation are not stopped, the National Guard should be called in,” Johnson said, of the protests late last week.

The Israeli government’s war on Gaza is becoming to President Biden’s re-election prospects what the majority conservative Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health is to Republicans in November’s elections.

But Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who was mentioned in Sunday’s New York Times as possibly the leading candidate to become Donald J. Trump’s running mate, told Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream, “I don’t know if you need to call in the National Guard, maybe you just call in the police.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told anchor Kristen Welker on Meet the Press, “I think calling in the National Guard to college campuses for so many people would recall what was done during the Vietnam War, and it did not end well.”

Meanwhile … the Biden White House continues in earnest to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting early in the week with top Arab diplomats, according to The New York Times. Blinken has been urging Hamas leadership to accept Israel’s “extraordinarily generous” cease-fire offer.

That offer… Includes releasing “thousands” of Palestinians held in Israel, and a 40-day ceasefire, according to the BBC.

WCK returns to Gaza … Chef Jośe Anďres’ World Central Kitchen has resumed food delivery to Gaza, The Washington Postreports, less than a month after seven of its workers trying to deliver food to Palestinians were killed in a drone attack by the Israeli military.

•••

About that Pennsylvania Primary – Pundits in Pennsylvania are still talking about former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s showing in last Tuesday’s primary election, in which she got 16.6% of the vote against ex-President Trump despite having ended her candidacy – or should we say suspending her candidacy? -- March 6. A bit more startingly, Haley got 20% of the vote in heavily Republican Lancaster County, LNP/Lancaster Online reports.

Incumbent President Biden did not have an easy time of it in the swing state himself, however, where Rep. Dean Philips (D-MN), who also dropped out of the race March 6, got 5.4% of Lancaster County’s Democratic votes. Both county breakouts to LNP were courtesy Berwood Yost, director of Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy.

•••

Read the Right Column – In “The Biden Shuffle,” Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay discusses the president’s low step height and his low approval rating. >>>>>>>>>>>>

•••

Up on the Hill – Both the House and Senate are in-session Monday through Thursday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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The Biden Shuffle

By Stephen Macaulay

According to the National Institute on Aging, “Many older adults experience problems with balance and dizziness. Problems can be caused by certain medications, balance disorders, or other medical conditions. Balance problems are one reason older people fall.”

Which goes to point out as to why, rather than having a high foot lift and knee bend, there is simply a shuffle in the walking gait of older people. By keeping the feet closer to terra firma, the potential of taking a tumble is reduced.

Joe Biden is an 81-year-old man, certainly by definition an “older adult.” And when he walks, there is often an appearance of an awkward shuffle.

When walking across the White House lawn to Marine One, Axios reports, Biden is no longer going solo where his gait can be seen, but he is now surrounded by a gaggle of others, thereby adding some cover for the shuffle.

While the gerontological truth on the ground isn’t changed, it is at least disguised, thereby providing less attention to Biden’s balance.

But what ought to put Biden off balance — even if he is sitting down — is this from Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones: “President Joe Biden averaged 38.7% job approval during his recently completed 13^th quarter in office, which began on Jan. 20 and ended April 19. None of the other nine presidents elected to their first term since Dwight Eisenhower had a lower 13^th-quarter average than Biden.”

To put that into context: the Eisenhower measure is from 68 years ago, solidly in the AARP category.

What’s more, there’s this about that 38.7% performance: “The latest quarterly average for Biden is technically the lowest of his presidency to date, though not meaningfully different from the previous quarter’s 39%.”

In other words, just as Biden’s ability to stroll is probably decreasing, it appears that his approval is, too.

As we all know, “past performance is not indicative of future results.” But if you are a betting person there is something to be seriously considered, then and now. Jones points out: “Three of the four prior presidents who had 13^th-quarter approval averages below 50% lost their reelection bids. . .” wait for it. . . “with Obama the exception.” If there is ever a case where Biden would mutter “Thanks, Obama,” this is it.

There are just a couple of quarters until the results polling that will matter the most to Biden will be revealed.

Unless he can turn things around in a meaningful way, he won’t be kicking up his heels on November 5. Assuming that’s physically possible.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

This Might Not Be the Column…

…you’re looking for. This is the left column meant for left/liberal/progressive commentary that, unfortunately, comes up first if you find The Hustings on your smartphone. We will be working on a fix for this in the coming months.

If you’ve found us on your computer screen, the home page consists of a center column, which posts political news/news analysis that sets up commentary in the left column and in the right – conservative/right-wing – column. We want everybody who comes to this site to read the three columns no matter what their political leanings (unlike at echo chambers such as, say, X-Twitter, in which you read only the news & commentary you follow).

We encourage you to contribute to the left or right columns by emailing your comments to editors@thehustings.news and please tell us in the subject line whether you are liberal or conservative, so we can post your comments in the appropriate column.

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…meanwhile…

Real Gross Domestic Product rose a dismal 1.6% in the first quarter of this year, compared with Q4 2023’s strong 3.4% rise, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. The report says consumer spending and housing investments continued to push up GDP.

FRIDAY 4/29/24

Hocus SCOTUS — Savvy Supreme Court observers warn that Thursday’s oral arguments over a lower court ruling rejecting ex-President Trump’s claim of post-presidential presidential immunity in United States v. Donald J. Trump do not automatically equate to the ultimate ruling. But even the savviest observers anticipate a partial loss for special counsel Jack Smith in his election obstruction case related to Trump’s alleged plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

SCOTUS “appears skeptical” of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s ruling on the immunity issue, SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe writes, while NPR’s Nina Totenberg said five of the nine justices appear ready to send the issue back to the lower court, assuring a trial would not happen by November 5.

On NPR’s Morning Edition Nina Totenberg posited it’s likely “court observers didn’t properly account for the personal experience of the conservative justices,” who spent much of their early careers outside the Beltway and saw Republican presidents become “targets of harassment” by Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress.

For those five conservative justices it comes down to the question of Trump’s official actions versus personal actions. This court majority appeared to be considering sending the issue back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to have her cut out the parts of Smith’s indictment that charge Trump for “official” actions.

The sixth conservative, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, appeared more skeptical of the arguments of Trump’s attorney, John Sauer. (Michael Dreeban, an attorney from Smith’s office, represented the U.S. in the oral arguments).

•••

Right Heads Fed? — Assuming Donald J. Trump’s courtroom maneuvers work for him (as they have, generally, for decades) and he manages to win a second term (far from being a long-shot at this point) all the ex-president’s men (and women?) will try to hand him some level of control over the Federal Reserve. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s allies are “quietly drafting proposals” that would suck power out of the Fed if their leader gets a second term in the White House. However, the report says, a divide is “deepening” between factions that would draft an incremental policy and those that would give the president a role in setting interest rates.

You may remember that during his term Trump was jawboning the Fed to keep rates low while the Fed’s board was considering a hike in order to jump-start ultra-low inflation levels and help boost the economy.

--TL

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Trump's Big Day -- THURSDAY 4/25/24

Trump’s Immunity Claim – The Supreme Court was to begin hearing arguments 10 a.m. Eastern time Thursday on ex-President Trump’s circular claim that he could not be prosecuted for crimes committed while president, including his attempts to remain president despite Joe Biden’s election victory (per NPR’s Morning Edition). SCOTUS’ decision will determine whether special counsel Jack Smith can go forward with his January 6^th/election obstruction case, which is to be tried in federal court in the District of Columbia.

Listen to oral arguments on NPR here.

Trump’s lawyers in the case, led by attorney John Lauro, claim the steps Trump took to block certification of Biden’s electors were part of his official duties and therefore he cannot be prosecuted, according to NPR’s Nina Totenberg.

Meanwhile… Ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker’s testimony in Trump’s hush money payments case continues in Manhattan. The case before SCOTUS will have no effect on this case, State of New York v. Donald John Trump because it is not a federal case.

•••

Arizona Indicts Trump Allies – Donald J. Trump has been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a 58-page grand jury indictment charging 18 of his allies with efforts to subvert the 2020 election in the state. The only names in the indictment are of 11 Republicans who allegedly posed as Arizona’s electors, but Politico among other outlets has identified former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn. Attorney Ken Chesebro is “unindicted co-conspirator number four,” according to Politico.

Other names redacted but made obvious by the indictment’s descriptions include attorneys John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Christina Bobb, as well as Trump 2020 campaign operative Mike Roman. Michigan prosecutors on Wednesday revealed that Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in its own election subversion investigation.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Pecker Meets Hamilton

By Stephen Macaulay

While some people are getting all excited about how things are going in the Trump hush-money trial in Manhattan, figuring that soon the former president will be wearing an outfit that matches his hair, this is perhaps one of those cases of mass sociogenic illness, where a group of people have the same collective delusion.

Consider the testimony given by David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, the tabloid that has done more for alien and Elvis sightings than any dozen other outlets.

Pecker stated, “I said I would run positive stories about Trump, and I would publish negative stories about his opponent.”

Aren’t we in Casablanca territory here, with Captain Renault’s “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here”?

Many of the people who visualize Trump being transported to Riker’s Island have now-fading Hamilton posters on their walls. They see the so-called “catch-and-kill” approach—buy a story and then not use it—as being somehow in itself completely unnatural. While this is not to say that it wasn’t used by Team Trump for reasons that may be proven to be felonious, there is nothing intrinsically nefarious about the practice. It is a means by which one can get an edge over one’s competitors by preventing them from having access to whatever the story may be.

Clearly the National Enquirer was pretty good at this: Can you think of the name of one of its competitors?

Going back to those who are generally humming the lyrics “I am not throwing away my shot/Hey you I’m just like my country/I’m young scrappy and hungry” as they go for a champagne brunch at the local bistro: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay wrote what has become known as “The Federalist Papers,” which were published in three New York newspapers — The Independent Journal, the New York Packet, and The Daily Advertiser — on behalf of the yet-to-be-ratified Constitution.

In other words, they worked to run positive stories about the Constitution while running negative stories about the Articles of Confederation.

That’s just how it is — and how it long has been. It is dangerously naïve to think otherwise.

The case is far from being a fait accompli. While it may seem likely that Trump was personally involved in signing off on the falsifying of business records for purposes of covering up some untoward behavior — after all, he is famously known for micromanaging the activities of The Trump Organization, the inverse of how he operated within the federal government — “likely” isn’t “certainly.”

Making uninformed conclusions about thing like Pecker’s testimony is nothing more than clutching at straws—which may end up being fulsome folly.

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Not the Right Column

If you have found The Hustings on a smartphone, you probably came to this column first. You might think we are a left-leaning publication.

This isn’t what we had intended. All first-time readers should land on a three-column page with political news and analysis in the center column, conservative commentary in the right column and liberal commentary on the left. We are for open, civil discourse, not echo chambers.

Unfortunately, we are not there yet. We are getting by with a political news site that is best read on a computer screen, even if most people do not read their news in this manner. So, we’re asking for your help.Please send us a note telling us about how you found The Hustings. This will help us decide which fixes, changes and updates get priority. Send your comments and suggestions to editors@thehustings.news

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…meanwhile…

The Senate Tuesday voted 80-19 Tuesday (per The Hill) to limit debate on the foreign aid supplemental that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) ushered through the House last weekend. "It's not too late," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY, above) said. "We don't have to give up on Ukraine. And we are not going to."

PASSOVER 2024

UPDATE: Judge Juan Merchan did not immediately rule on prosecution's request to hold the ex-president in contempt for violating the gag order in the criminal case alleging falsification of business records to cover up a hush money payment, but the judge did have a "heated" discussion with lead defense attorney Todd Blanche over the issue, according to The New York Times. District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a complaint that Trump made 10 public statements on Truth Social and his presidential campaign website that attacked two likely witnesses, former fixer Michael Cohen, and adult film star Stormy Daniels.

"You've presented nothing," Merchan told Blanche. "You're losing all credibility with the court."

More Pecker ... Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified about the publication's relationship with Trump a decade ago, according to The Guardian: "They asked me what can I do -- and what could my magazines could do -- to help the [2016 election] campaign. ... I said what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr. Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponents, and I said that I would also be the eyes and ears because I know that the Trump Organization had a very small staff."

But wait, there's more ... Pecker also testified that the National Enquirer made up the story connecting Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) father to JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, NBC News reports. Cruz, who long ago joined the gaggle of Capitol Hill MAGA acolytes, told NBC he's "not interested in revisiting ancient history."

Contemptability -- Prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's criminal case against Donald J. Trump have asked Judge Juan Merchan to hold the ex-president in contempt for violating a gag order barring attacks on witnesses, prosecutors, jurors, court staff and their families (per The New York Times). The judge is expected to rule on the request by Tuesday. Trump, who is on trial in a 34-count indictment for falsifying business records to cover up sex scandals, has attacked upcoming prosecution witnesses Michael Cohen, his former attorney-fixer, and the adult film star known as Stormy Daniels among others, on his Truth Social "media" outlet.

The ex-prez has not attacked, so far, the prosecution's first witness, David Pecker, who a decade ago as publisher of the National Enquirer allegedly applied the tabloid's "catch and kill" method to kill negative press for Trump prior to the 2016 election.

--TL

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MONDAY 4/22/24

Speaker Needs Democrats – Finally, the House has passed $60.8 billion in new aid to Ukraine for its defense against Russia’s invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), President Biden and the American people, and told NBC News’ Meet the Press in an exclusive, via interpreter, that the aid will “strengthen Ukraine and send a powerful message it will not be the second Afghanistan.”

The House vote on the Ukraine aid package was 311-112, all of the opposition consisting of Republicans. Johnson will need at least 112 Democrats to vote to keep him as speaker if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) goes forth with a motion to vacate.

“America last,” MTG said after the vote. “That’s all this is every single day, America last,” CQ Roll Call reports.

As House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) warned recently in an interview with Puck News, Russian propaganda has “infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

Also passed in the supplemental is a $26.4 billion package for Israel, at 366-58, with 37 Democrats and 21 Republicans voting “no.” Some of that money goes to Gaza as humanitarian aid.

An $8.1 billion package for Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific countries passed 384-34, and a “sidecar” of related issues including unfreezing of $5 billion Russian assets for Ukraine and tougher sanctions on Russia, Iran and China.

These will be bundled into one supplemental for the Senate, which is to begin procedurals on it at 1 p.m. Tuesday according to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). For Zelenskyy, it cannot come soon enough.

Addendum: We'd be remiss to ignore this cover headline from the Sunday, April 21 edition of the New York Post, the erstwhile pro-Trump tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp: "Nyet, Moscow Marjorie." The subhead, next to a head-shot of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) photoshopped wearing one of those furry Russian winter caps, says "GOP rebels defeated as House passes $61B in Ukraine aide."

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Romney on Trump’s Hush Money

[Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)]

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who is retiring from the Senate after the November elections, has weighed in on the hush money Donald J. Trump paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The payment is at center of criminal case alleging Trump sought to influence the 2016 presidential election. The ex-president denies he had an affair with Daniels, but Romney said this (per The Independent): "I think everyone has made their own assessment of President Trump's character. And as far as I know you don't pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you."

•••

What’s your take on the House passing supplemental spending on Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan? Should House Democrats support Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), or should he lose out to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) threat to issue a motion to vacate?

What’s your opinion of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) warning that Russian propaganda has “infected a good chunk” of the GOP base?

Email your comments on these and other newsy issues to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you lean right or left in the comments section, so we make sure to post your thoughts in the appropriate column.

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Poll: Biden Catches Trump

President Biden and ex-President Trump are in a statistical dead-heat for the November 5 election, according to the latest poll by The New York Times and Siena College, reported Sunday.

Trump leads Biden 46% to 45% in this latest poll, a statistical tie. In the NYT/Siena College poll from February, Trump held a 48% to 43% lead. Biden now has the support of 89% of traditional Democratic voters, up from 83% in February, while Trump’s share of his traditional GOP supporters is at 94%, down from 97% in February.

Will Trump’s hush money trial in New York cut into that support further? Our pundit-at-large, Stephen Macaulay, does not think so (see The Gray Area), though we certainly will be flooded with poll updates from various organizations when the verdict comes down, probably this summer.

For Democrats; Have you changed your mind about supporting Biden? For Republicans; Will the outcome of Alvin Bragg's case against Trump change your mind about supporting the ex-president November 5? Please give Macaulay's column on Trump, Biden and the polls and leave your Comments in the column appropriate to your political leanings. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you are liberal or conservative in the subject line.

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…meanwhile…

UPDATE: Seven men and five women have been chosen for the jury in Donald J. Trump's criminal trial over allegedly fraudulent business records in the payment of hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

FRIDAY 4/19/24

Israel Hits Iran – Israeli defense forces struck Iran with missiles early Friday, possibly near its nuclear research center in Isfahan, multiple news sources report. An Iranian brigadier general reported “loud booms” east of Isfahan, according to Iran’s news agency, says NPR. So far, no signs of casualties or damage.

U.S. officials received a “last minute” warning on the strike but wasn’t involved, the Italian foreign minister reported from Capri, Italy, where Secretary of State Antony Blinken is attending the G7 summit, The Times of Israel reports. At the G7, Blinken only confirmed reports of the attack and reaffirmed U.S. commitment to Israel’s security.

Regional war? … The Biden administration has preached restraint to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Iran’s apparently unsuccessful drone attack on Israel last weekend, which injured a seven-year-old girl and resulted in no fatalities. But a minority of analysts have said that Iran’s attacks on Israel were actually quite successful in penetrating Israeli airspace and that Israel’s apparent retaliation was exactly what it wants – to escalate the war in Gaza to a regional conflict.

--TL

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THURSDAY 4/18/24

Countdown to Saturday – With Democrats having his back, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will bring three bills to the House floor Saturday, featuring $60.8 billion in long-awaited aid for Ukraine’s war effort, plus a separate border security bill.

Ukraine supporter Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) last month announced he would resign from the House with his last day to be Friday, but now says he will stay on to Saturday to support the supplemental, CQ Roll Call reports, citing Gallagher’s aides.

The Senate has recess scheduled for next week, but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has suggested it will be cancelled so the upper chamber can quickly pass the supplemental on to President Biden.

“The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow,” Biden said.

Democrats will help with the necessary procedural votes to assure the supplemental package passes. They also are expected to provide enough votes to defeat a motion to dismiss threatened by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY).

In addition to the Ukraine package, Johnson’s supplemental, which totals $95.3 billion, includes:

•$26.4 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

•$8.16 billion for Indo-Pacific region security, including $4 billion to Taiwan and other regional allies, and $3.3 billion for a domestic submarine industrial base.

•A fourth bill would set up a support fund for Ukraine directed by the president and partner countries to allow use of frozen Russian assets to help rebuild the country.

The Ukraine aid bill also includes $9.5 billion in economic aid to be handled as a loan.

A separate bill on border security contains most of HR 2, which passed the House in 2023 with strong Democratic opposition. Except that the new bill does not include the provision mandating use of the E-Verify system for employers to confirm workers’ immigration status and eligibility to work in the United States.

Johnson will move the bills separately through House procedures, then “stitch” them together as one for the handoff to the Senate, according to Roll Call.

•••

Three-Hour Impeachment Trial – Holding to his promise/warning that the Senate impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas would not take very long, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced two procedural points of order and – voila – it was done, three hours after impeachment jurors were sworn in (per CQ Roll Call). The votes went Schumer’s way, 51-48-1 and 51-49. Republicans’ procedural motions to try and put a stop to Schumer’s stop-action were rejected by the Democratic majority.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 4/17/24

Mayorkas On Trial – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faces a Senate impeachment trial beginning Wednesday for allegedly mishandling the U.S.-Mexican “border crisis.” The Senate’s Democratic majority will attempt to quickly dismiss the impeachment case, though some Republicans, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney want to have a “debate” about the border issue, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

•••

Ukraine Aid Rising? – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) appears ready to introduce a long-needed aid package to Ukraine, The Hill reports, despite the anti-Ukraine minority in the House having grown to two. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has joined pro-Putin Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in threatening Johnson with a motion to vacate over the aid, though Johnson can pretty much rely on many of the House Democrats’ 214 votes to overcome House Freedom Forum votes that would back a motion by MTG.

This all comes after a Russian missile attack overnight Wednesday on Chernihiv killed at least 15 and injured more than 60, according to The Kyiv Independent.

Like Israel … President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Ukrainian television to say he was “pleased” Israel got help from allies in last weekend’s Iranian attack by drone and urged his country’s allies to show Ukraine the same sort of support (per NPR’s Morning Edition).

Russian losses… A report by the BBC estimates Russia has lost more than 50,000 soldiers in its invasion of Ukraine.

•••

SCOTUS Appears Split – The Supreme Court appears split over former Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-area police officer Joseph Fischer’s argument he should not have been charged with obstructing an official proceeding when he joined a mob attacking the U.S. Capitol in the January 6^th riot, according to SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe, in an assessment backed by other news outlets.

In Fischer v. United States the ex-cop’s attorneys argue that Sec. 1512 (c) (2) applies only to evidence tampering of a congressional inquiry or investigation.

But U.S. Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar argued “a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the peaceful transition of power. Many of the rioters obstructed Congress’ work in that official proceeding.”

If the conservative SCOTUS majority, including three Trump appointees, prevails, five other counts against Fischer would remain, though he would need to be re-sentenced or possibly have those five counts dropped.

--TL

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TUESDAY 4/16/24

UPDATE: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Tuesday morning filed a motion seeking to hold Donald J. Trump in contempt for allegedly violating Judge Juan Merchan's partial gag order, Axios reports. Bragg pointed to posts by the former president on his Truth Social account in which he attacks likely witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

•••

Notes from Court – The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported Monday that Donald J. Trump snoozed for a bit in the Lower Manhattan courtroom where prosecutors, defense attorneys and Justice Juan Merchan vetted potential jurors in the former president’s “hush money” criminal case. Haberman told Kaitlan Collins on CNN’s The Source that Trump later gave her a hard stare, which she figures was a reaction to her nap report.

Meanwhile: “Dozens” of potential jurors said they could not be impartial about Trump and were dismissed Monday, according to The Washington Post.

•••

SCOTUS Hears Jan 6^th Case Tuesday – The Supreme Court Tuesday hears a case that will affect defendants charged with obstructing or attempting to obstruct Congress’ January 6^,, 2021 counting of Electoral College ballots for Joe Biden’s election victory. The case involves Joseph W. Fischer, police officer for a township near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, whose case is “in limbo” after a federal judge ruled the obstruction statute at center of the case against 353 of the January 6^th defendants was meant to apply to the destruction of documents and records and not riots held to prevent the counting of ballots, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

A federal appeals court reversed the judge’s decision, which led Fischer to appeal to the Supreme Court, NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports. The case will have implications for special counsel Jack Smith’s election obstruction case against ex-President Trump.

•••

Pick a Bill – With Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to vacate dangling over his head, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has split into three a single $95.3-million supplemental package the Senate passed last year, CQ Roll Call reports.

Yep, aid for Ukraine, the part of the bill unabashedly pro-Putin MTG wants to die, is split from aid to Israel which is split from aid to Taiwan in Johnson’s proposal. There’s also a fourth presumably bi-partisan bill that would include banning TikTok from the U.S. unless its Chinese owners sell, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

About those bi-partisans: Johnson knows, however, he would get enough votes from Democrats and Republicans to defeat MTG’s motion to vacate.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 4/15/24

The Trial of the Year begins Monday with jury selection in New York State Supreme Court where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged ex-President Trump with 34 felony charges connected with falsifying records to cover up $130,000 paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. (Trump denies he had an affair with Daniels.)

Two of Bragg’s top prosecutors quit the case two years ago last month, criticizing the DA because they thought he was going to fumble the hard work of his predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., who began his investigation before the end of Trump’s term. Vance’s investigations effectively was split between New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James’ civil case against the Trumps and their organization and Bragg’s case. James is still waiting for Trump to come up with the $454 million judgment against the family’s organization.

The strongest criminal case against Trump, the one over the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, has effectively been gummed up by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon and will not likely come to trial before November 5. Same with special prosecutor Jack Smith’s January 6^th/election obstruction case and Georgia’s election racketeering case, which would still be considered perhaps the strongest, with “I just want 11,780 votes” on a phone recording, if not for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ alleged indiscretions with one of the prosecutors her office hired.

As our pundit-at-large, Stephen Macaulay, argues in “Trump’s Edge” (see The Gray Area) the ex-president will strengthen his political base even if he is found guilty in the hush money case. But he will be in court six- to eight-weeks, four days a week until the trial ends, reports NPR’s Morning Edition. That gives him weekends to shuttle between Mar-a-Lago and various campaign rallies.

He will face testimony by his former fixer-turned-informant Michael Cohen, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and Daniels herself. And last Friday he revealed he will testify himself and tell “the truth. … and the truth is, they have no case,” he told the press. “They have no case.”

If you are looking for a potential end to Donald J. Trump’s political career, this appears to be the only case you have.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

News Outlets Call for Debates

Eleven broadcast news outlets plus the newspaper USA Today have issued a joint statement urging “the presumptive presidential nominees to publicly commit to participating in general election debates before November’s election.”

You can read the full statement here.

In addition to USA Today, the undersigned are ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News Media, NBC Universal News Group, NewsNation, Noticias Univision (Univision Network News), NPR and PBS News Hour.

Though not asked, we are all for it. In fact, The Hustings launched in late-September 2020 with these posts covering the first Biden-Trump debates, with commentary from our contributing pundits on the right and left.

•••

This column welcomes your comments on Donald J. Trump's "Hush Money" case in New York beginning with jury selection Monday. Whether you're a MAGA-head or a Never-Trumper, if you lean right, this is your column. Leave a Comment in the accompanying section in this column or email editors@thehustings.news and be sure to indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Also be sure to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay's latest column, "The Trump Edge" in The Gray Area.

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What’s Left or Right

The Hustings welcomes your civil comments, whether left or right, liberal or conservative, progressive or pro-MAGA on our center column news/news aggregate and our commentary on the left and the right.

Latest issues – Should Congress pass a long-awaited $60 billion aid package to Ukraine as the White House considers withholding aid to Israel over its execution of the war in Gaza?

Is there – should there be -- anything to the brazenly political impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas?

Should Israel hold new elections that would likely see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lose power?

Are you for or against President Biden’s latest student debt relief plan?

Read details on these in the center column. Use the trackbar to the column’s right to move down the page.

Use the Comments section in this column or the one on the right, as appropriate to your leanings, to air your opinions. Or email editors@thehustings.news with your opinions and let us know in the subject line whether you are liberal or conservative (so we may post your comments in the appropriate column).

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…meanwhile…

Don't hold your breath for Federal Reserve interest rate relief. Inflation rose 0.4% in March for a higher-than-expected annual Consumer Price Index of 3.5% to push prices in the opposite direction from the 2% rate the Fed wants. Shelter and gas accounted for more than half the increase. Energy was up 1.1% and food was up 0.1%.

UPDATE: The House voted 273-147 Friday to pass Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for two years. Donald J. Trump had pushed MAGA House Republicans to stall the bill because he alleges it was used to spy on him during his 2016 presidential campaign, though FISA was enacted to collect intelligence on foreigners abroad. Nevertheless, 126 Democrats voted against the reauthorization, while 86 Republicans voted "nay," according to CQ Roll Call.

FISA Rising – The House appears ready to finally pass FISA reauthorization for two years in its fourth try expected Friday, Punchbowl News reports. Key to this is Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago Friday where he and GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump promise a “major announcement,” according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

•••

Russia Keeps Hitting Harder – Desperately in need of soldiers, Ukraine has lowered its age of inscription from 27 to 25 as Russia hikes up its offensive. On Thursday night, Russia destroyed Kyiv’s Oblast Trypillia thermal power plant, cutting 100% of the capital’s energy supply, The Kyiv Independent reports. Lithuania is now providing Ukraine with generators and anti-drone systems, the report says.

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a long-term security agreement with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics at a security conference in Riga.

•••

No Enforcement – Arizona Attorney Gen. Kris Meyers (D) says she will not enforce the state’s revived 1864 abortion ban, written when “women couldn’t vote and the civil war was still raging.” Arizona’s supreme court recently upheld the abortion law. A November ballot initiative calls on voters to “enshrine” abortion rights.

“The Republicans have no idea what is coming at them in November,” Meyers told NPR’s Morning Edition. “The people of Arizona, as they should, will make it clear that they don’t want to be subjected to an 1864 abortion ban.”

--TL

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THURSDAY 4/11/24

Biden and Kishida and Bongbong – Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. joins Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Thursday at the White House for a trilateral summit with President Biden. The three are to hash out what Semafor calls Beijing’s “alleged” expansionism in the South China Sea and will discuss better cooperation between the three countries’ coast guards.

The Philippines under Marcos II (son of despots Ferdinand Sr. and Imelda) is pushing back on China’s quest to rule the region, reports NPR’s Morning Edition.

•••

Johnson and Trump at Mar-a-Lago – There are 41 Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus, less than one-fifth of the party’s one-vote majority in the people’s chamber. One of those Freedom Caucus members is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has sent Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) packing to Mar-a-Lago Thursday, Kevin McCarthy-style to try and get former President Trump’s blessing (literally, we suspect) to bring a $60 billion standalone Ukraine aid bill to the House floor, per Punchbowl News.

Credit or blame MTG, who has been dangling over Johnson a threatened motion to vacate as speaker in order to let Ukraine continue to lose ground in its defense against Russia, which in turn would allow Donald J. Trump to come in and “broker a deal” that would turn land Russia already has captured in Ukraine over to Vladimir Putin.

There’s also this matter of the Freedom Caucus’ blocking renewal Wednesday of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702, which Trump claims without evidence was used against him in the 2016 presidential election, according to The Wall Street Journal.

•••

Bolton’s Write-In Revealed – Former national security advisor for the Trump administration John Bolton used to be a regular on Fox News. But in the years since he left the Trump White House in a huff, he could be more frequently be found on CNN. There, he has often said he wrote in a presidential candidate on his 2020 ballot, rather than vote for Donald J. Trump or Joe Biden, and will do so again in 2024, but he has never before revealed his choice for president. On CNN’s The Source Wednesday night, he finally revealed to host Kaitlan Collins his write-in for 2020 and 2024. The answer? Dick Cheney.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 4/10/24

UPDATE ON CPI -- Kai Ryssdal on APR's Marketplace begs to differ with news outlets that call Wednesday's Consumer Price Index of 3.5% "unexpected," referring to an interview he had last week with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who warned of a "bumpy road" to the 2% target CPI. When will the CPI come down to 2%? "We don't know," Powell told Ryssdal. "We will lower (interest) rates when inflation comes down to 2%."

•••

Whistling Past the Elections – Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets President Biden Wednesday evening for what Semafor calls a “pomp-filled” visit to announce stronger military cooperation and joint space exploration. While that latter would seem to have more of a future than the longstanding U.S.-Russia space deal, Wednesday’s friendly gathering falls in the shadow of our elections November 5 and Japan’s leadership contest in September.

There’s a fundraising scandal and economic slowdown for Kishida back home in Japan. And whatever sort of military hookup Biden and Kishida might cook up Wednesday would not have much of a future in an isolationist second Trump administration.

•••

Arizona’s Abortion Ban – The Arizona Supreme Court says an abortion ban from 1864 by the first territorial legislature is legal, giving Democrats an election-year bonanza in the swing state. The law imposed 46 years before Arizona became a state allows for no exceptions in the case of rape or incest, and abortion providers can be sentenced for two to five years in prison, though Planned Parenthood says it will perform abortions for the two weeks until the new-old law takes effect, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Organizers of a November initiative to make abortion a “fundamental right” in Arizona say they already have blown past the minimum needed to get the initiative on the ballot with more than half a million signatures so far, according to the NPR report.

Meanwhile … MAGA politician Kari Lake, who was adamantly anti-abortion in 2022 when she lost Arizona’s gubernatorial election to Democrat Katie Hobbs has moderated on the issue, like Donald J. Trump, in 2024 in her race against Ruben Gallego for independent Kyrsten Sinema’s U.S. Senate seat. The Arizona Freedom Caucus, which is as conservative as it sounds, has condemned Sinema for her flip-flop, Newsweek reports.

Florida ban: Meanwhile, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, other key conservatives and the Republican Party of Florida are asking voters to oppose a November ballot initiative that would repeal the state's strict abortion laws, Politico reports, calling the measure "extreme." States' rights indeed.

--TL

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TUESDAY 4/9/24

Have You Seen the Movie Trading Places? – Before a fundraiser at billionaire financier John Paulson’s Palm Beach, Florida mansion that his campaign and the Republican National Committee say raised “more than $50 million” Donald J. Trump spoke before “The most successful people in the whole country” and apparently recalled an “episode” in his presidential term in which he called Haiti and some African nations as “shithole countries,” The New York Times reports. No mention of MAGA faithful in red hats and t-shirts.

“And when I said, you know, ‘Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries, I’m trying to be nice. Nice countries, you know, like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?’” Here, NYT reported “chuckles” from the crowd.

Meanwhile, on abortion… Trump targeted one of his most loyal Senate allies, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over the senator’s questioning of the former president’s moderated, political stance on abortion that individual states should decide on abortion access (per The Hill).

--TL

__________________________________________

Welcome Back, Congress

ECLIPSE MONDAY 4/8/24

Blue Moon Over the Hill – The Senate is in session Monday and the House is in session Tuesday, though Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is already on Capitol Hill to work out a deal to potentially save Ukraine after it has slipped into defense-only mode as it runs out of weapons and ammunition. The White House has been “quietly backchanneling” with Johnson, Politico reported late last week in explaining why the Biden administration has not publicly criticized the House speaker over lack of more military aid to Ukraine. The White House and Johnson have “maintained contact” during Congress’ two-week spring recess just ended, Biden administration officials told Politico.

Of course, that means Democratic House members will support Johnson and fend off Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) threat of a motion to vacate if he works with the party on the other side of the aisle. While all House Democrats voted to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the speakership last year, most will likely back Johnson this year, which should be sufficient to defeat the MAGA wing of the House GOP caucus on MTG’s potential motion.

Mayorkas impeachment: Meanwhile, the House impeachment case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly failing to keep the southern border with Mexico safe and secure advances to the Senate this week, where it will die a sure death, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

•••

‘Some Troops’ Withdrawn from Gaza – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has withdrawn some Israeli troops from the southern Gaza, BBC reports, following last week’s phone discussion between Netanyahu and President Biden. On Sunday, The New York Times reported that some Israelis believe Netanyahu is refusing to reach a ceasefire in Gaza in order to extend his time in office.

Squeezed by both sides: But far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Guir reacted to reports of negotiations with Hamas warning that “if Netanyahu decides to end the war without an expansive assault on Rafah, he won’t have the mandate to serve as prime minister,” according to Haaretz. Rafah is the only remaining large city in Southern Gaza that has served as a refuge for Palestinians.

New development: Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid at the State Department at 11 a.m. Monday, Haaretz reports. It will not be open to the press.

•••

Trump Punts on Abortion -- Ex-President Trump has delivered the U.S. Supreme Court justices necessary to overturn Roe v. Wade, so it’s up for states to decide what to do on abortion, he said on his Truth Social media outlet Monday morning (according to various outlets). His statement has been long-awaited, with supporters generally interested in a national ban on abortion if he wins the November election, and Democrats having made political hay over the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.

“You must follow your heart, or in many cases, your religion or faith” on the abortion issue, he said.

•••

Biden’s Push for Student Debt Relief – President Biden travels to Madison, Wisconsin Monday where he will promote yet another new program to cancel college student loan debt. The new program, which could launch this fall just in time for the presidential election, would cancel student debt for financial hardship cases, for those who have carried the debt for 20 years or more, and for those who built the debt on “low-value” college programs, and have not yet applied for relief under his other programs, American Public Media’s Marketplace reports.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Election Poll Trilogy

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay has been thinking about recent polls showing, mostly, a dead-heat between President Biden and ex-President Trump for the November 5 election. If anyone has the edge in these polls, it’s Trump.

Scroll down this page with the far right trackbar to read “The Trump Edge” by Macaulay.

Click on The Gray Area above to read “Does Character Count?” and “Build Back [Biden] Better,” both by Macaulay.

Stephen Macaulay always has been a never-Trump conservative pundit. But The Hustings welcomes comments for this, the right column, from pro-MAGA, former-MAGA and never-MAGA conservatives. Please be sure to keep it civil, and not personal and be sure to adhere to the facts.

The Editorial We applies these standards to left and right alike.

If you lean right, please use the Comment section in this column. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please note your political leanings in the subject line.

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