WED 2/8/22
•Russia has sailed warships to the Black Sea in what President Vladimir Putin is calling a “military exercise” in Belarus, which happens to flank the northern border of Ukraine (WaPo). Russia already has more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders, and U.S. intelligence has warned of an invasion any day now, although some analysts believe Putin has boxed himself into a corner.
McConnell Claws Back His Party – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), often the most powerful man on Capitol Hill, shot back at the Republican National Committee for its voice-vote censure of Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger at its winter meeting in Salt Lake City last weekend.
Cheney and Kinzinger are the sole Republicans on the House of Representatives Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
“The issue is whether or not the RNC should be sort of singling out members of our party who may have different views than the majority,” McConnell said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. “That’s not the job of the RNC.”
Note: McConnell, who said he still has confidence in RNC chairperson Ronna McDaniel, isn’t exactly escalating his cold war with ex-President Donald J. Trump, but he is keeping a lane open for “traditional” Republicans as this year’s midterm primaries, and the November final elections, play out.
We’ll drink to that … Speaking of the ever-widening rift between McConnell and Trump, the minority leader laughed off the ex-pres’ derogatory nickname for him, “Old Crow,” in an interview with the Washington Examiner, according to The Hill. “Old Crow? That’s my favorite bourbon.”
It’s worth a reminder here that Trump does not drink.
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And Then There’s Nikki – Erstwhile Republican “moderate” and president wannabee Nikki Haley is siding with ex-President Trump again, following ex-Vice President Mike Pence’s defense of his actions in certifying the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden on January 6, 2021, as MAGA-hatted insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, in a speech last weekend before the Federalist Society in Florida [https://thehustings.substack.com/p/will-pence-really-strike-back].
“I think he did what he thought was right,” Haley, Trump’s UN ambassador and Republican governor of South Carolina before that, said about Pence's speech in a Fox News interview, according to Yahoo!News. “But I will always say … I’m not a fan of Republicans going against Republicans because the only ones who win when that happens are Democrats and the media.”
Note: This recalls, of course, President Reagan’s 11th Commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” While Haley might think this applies to Pence, and perhaps McConnell for that matter, we can’t recall any direct application of this amendment – by Haley or any of her wing of the GOP at least – to Trump, up to and including rhetoric leading to January 6 insurrectionists’ calls to “hang Mike Pence .” Yes, the media are making a big thing of that.
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Three Cheers for the Conservatives (Brits, that is) -- Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, who has recently had to apologize for parties held at Downing Street in violation of his own government’s protocols, now has another matter to deal with. This lead paragraph from The Washington Post story by Adela Suliman simply must be quoted in full:
“LONDON — British lawmakers from Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party are demanding that he apologize and withdraw false claims about the leader of the opposition Labour Party, which appeared to stir up protesters who mobbed his political rival Monday night.”
Let’s break this down:
- Members of the party he is part of
- Demanding that he do something
- That something is to apologize for saying in Parliament last week that Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, didn’t prosecute a British TV personality, Jimmy Savile, who has been revealed as a child abuser—and Starmer was not involved in the decision not to prosecute
- That something also includes withdrawing the “false claims”
Note: Make no mistake that British politicians at all levels are, in some cases, as bizarre as their American cousins.
But full marks to those in the Conservative Party who have the guts to stand up to their leader, who has done something wrong, and to call him out on it rather than either pretending it didn’t happen or try to spin it as something that it isn’t.
If only their American cousins understood there are things like honesty and reality.
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Bomb Threat Disrupts Emhoff Visit – Secret Service agents quickly moved Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff from commemoration of Black History Month at a Washington, D.C., high school after a bomb threat was called in, The Guardianreports. Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, was in the high school’s museum about five minutes when the Secret Service rushed him out. While reports say there is no confirmation that the bomb threat was related to Black History Month, several Historically Black Colleges and Universities have reported at least 17 such threats since the beginning of the month.
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods
TUE 2/8/22
•Trial begins today for Louisville police officer Brett Hankinson, accused of endangering Breonna Taylor’s neighbors’ lives in a shooting over a no-knock warrant during which Taylor was killed.
Macron Meets Putin — Emmanuel Macron, president of France, met with Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, for five hours of talks yesterday regarding the situation on the border of the Ukraine. According to Politico, while Putin held forth on his fanciful claims and demands (which helps explain, in part, perhaps, while Donald Trump was so cozy with Putin), the Politicoreporting has it: “To all of this, Macron mustered virtually no response other than to insist that it was important to keep on talking.”
Macron traveled to Kyiv today to meet with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ah, yes.
Note: There are more than 100,000 Russian troops — and tanks and cannons and all manner of other military gear — on borders with the Ukraine, both in Russia and Belarus. They aren’t there for the sightseeing. Politico quotes Putin as saying during a news conference, “I want to underscore once again even though I have already mentioned it — I’d really love if you really hear me and bring this point to your audience, that if Ukraine is in NATO and if they decided to take back Crimea using military means, European countries will automatically be in a military conflict with Russia.” Has NATO announced anything like it is going to be taking back Crimea by military means?
While the whole situation may seem far away to many in the U.S., this, by Dr. Taras Kuzio, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London, published by Atlantic Council, is worth keeping in mind:
“At the heart of this crisis is one man’s refusal to accept the verdict of the Cold War and his burning resentment at modern Russia’s diminished standing on the global stage. Throughout his political career, Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his desire to revive Russia’s international prestige and address the perceived geopolitical injustices of the recent past. These imperial ambitions have found expression in Putin’s increasingly public obsession with Ukraine, a country whose very existence has come to embody the Russian ruler’s darkest fears and his many historical grievances.”
This is serious.
•••
More White Districts in Alabama – The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 from its “shadow docket” to reinstate Alabama’s redistricting plan, based on the 2020 U.S. Census, that cuts its majority-Black congressional districts from two down to one, just in time for this year’s midterms, SCOTUSblog reports. Alabama has seven seats in the House, and approximately 25% of its population is Black.
A three-judge district court panel, two of whom were appointed by then-President Trump, ruled in January that the redistricting plan probably violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, banning racial discrimination in voting policies. The 5-4 SCOTUS vote essentially gives Alabama time to address the redistricting plan until after the state’s next election – its midterm primary is May 24, with a runoff June 21.
Note: The SCOTUS “shadow docket” ruling has implications for similar redistricting challenges in other states. In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan argued the case should have been heard with a full briefing and oral arguments. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the minority in voting to uphold the Alabama district court’s ruling that would have required the state to redraw the map within two weeks, or hand it over to an expert. The case and its implications for other states turned on Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s appointment to the court in fall of 2020, SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe told NPR’s Morning Edition.
--Edited by Gary S. Vasilash, Todd Lassa and Charles Dervarics
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MON 2/7/22
•French President Emmanuel Macron meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today; meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets with President Biden in Washington, D.C., in efforts to renew talks to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine (NPR).
•Speaking of which: Russia is close to completing preparations for a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to U.S. military and intelligence assessments that estimate the aggression could leave up to 50,000 civilians killed or wounded, decapitate the Kyiv government in two days and create a humanitarian crisis with 5 million fleeing refugees. (WaPo). National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday an invasion could take place “as soon as tomorrow.” (The Guardian).
•••
Rip-Rip-Rip – While in office, President Donald J. Trump had a penchant for ripping up documents. (He presumably had it before he was elected; he probably has it now.) The problem with this handling of documents, The Washington Post reports, is a little something known as the Presidential Records Act. That act requires that all written communication relevant to a president’s official duties be preserved and turned over to the National Archives.
The Post reports: “Trump’s shredding of paper was far more widespread and indiscriminate than previously known and — despite multiple admonishments — extended throughout his presidency.” Apparently, the admonishments didn’t come from some librarian from the Archives but from people including then-White House counsel Donald McGahn, and chiefs of staff Reince Priebus and John F. Kelly.
Aides ended up having to collect the shreds and try to tape them back together.
Note: This is further evidence that Donald Trump never understood the fact that he was working for the people not working for the Trump Organization. When he was running his own firm, he could do pretty much whatever he wanted with his documents: rip-rip-rip. But the presidency is something apart from the person who has that office and as such there are rules and procedures that are attached to that office. Even after the admonishments you can imagine Trump smirking, shaking his head and rip-rip-rip.
Wonder how the Republican National Committee thinks about this blatant disregard of norms that are part of the heritage of the nation?
But wait, there’s more. . .
Florida Man’s Circular Argument – The National Archives and Records Administration retrieved Donald J. Trump’s presidential papers – apparently those he didn’t rip into little pieces -- and other records in January from his Mar-a-Lago home, that should have been turned over to the federal agency when he left office, The Washington Post reports. Of course, Trump has been long claiming he won the election anyway so perhaps he figured the records were his to keep, including those indicating what role he and his closest aides may have played in the January 6, 2020 attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Of course, he doesn’t “own” any of the official documents, despite what he probably imagines.
--Edited by Gary S. Vasilash and Todd Lassa