Four Years

That’s the age gap between President Biden and his likely challenger this November, ex-President Trump. A story on the front page of The New York Times Sunday notes different voter reaction when Biden makes a gaffe, such as confusing world leaders, versus Trump making similar gaffes. 

A New York Times/Siena College poll of six battleground states found that 70% said Biden, 81, is “too old to be president,” while “Fewer than half of voters have expressed similar misgivings about Mr. Trump.” The former president is 77.

What are your thoughts on special counsel Robert K. Hur’s report on Biden’s classified documents case that described the president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory”? (Hur concluded that no charges should be filed in the case.)

We also are especially interested in your comments on Trump’s isolationist position on the Ukraine-Russian war and the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection of Trump’s immunity claim in the federal case accusing him of plotting to overturn the 2020 election (see “History Lesson” by pundit-at-large Stephan Macaulay, in the right column).

The Hustings seeks to foster civil discussion between the left and right on these and other recent issues. Please email your comment to editors@thehustings.news and let us know in the subject line whether you lean left or right.

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Navalny is Dead

FRIDAY 2/16/24

From the Munich Security Conference -- Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's wife, told the conference, to standing applause: "I don't know whether I should believe this horrible news or not...We can't really believe Putin and his government. I am asking everyone who is here to unite and help punish the Russian regime."

Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski: "He was a victim of Russian fascism. He will probably be remembered as the best Russian president Russia never had." There are more dissidents in Russian prisons under Vladimir Putin than there were under Leonid Brezhnev's USSR, he said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron called Navalny "an incredibly brave fighter against corruption," adding there is "no doubt about the dreadful nature of Putin's regime in Russia after what has just happened."

On Thursday Poland's Sikorski told the conference, "This is our joint appeal (with the UK's Cameron) to the U.S. House of Representatives and personally to Speaker Mike Johnson to submit the Ukraine aid package to a vote."

(Per BBC, NPR and AP.)

A reminder of what Donald J. Trump told a campaign rally in South Carolina last Saturday: “'If we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?' No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

UPDATE: CONFIRMED by various news outlets ... Navalny Reported Dead -- Anti-corruption dissident and thorn in dictator Vladimir Putin's side, Alexei Navalny, has died after taking a fall in a prison yard, according to an unconfirmed report from Russia's federal prison system (per NPR's Morning Edition). Navalny has been held in one of Russia's deadliest prisons since December.

On X-Twitter: The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum: "Navalny threatened Putin because he revealed the extent of his theft and corruption. Putin killed Navalny because he couldn't let that truth be known."

Michael McFaul, U.S. ambassador to Russia, 2012-14: "Putin killed Navalny. Report it straight."

According to the BBC, reports say Navalny fell ill while taking a walk in the prison yard. Several posts on X show a healthy looking Navalny behind bars in a video reportedly taken the day before his death.

Meanwhile: Congress is off for President's Day week, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) having refused to bring the Senate's $95.1 billion bill containing aid to Ukraine to the House floor. The Senate returns February 28. The House returns March 5.

Last week, presidential candidate Donald J. Trump told an adoring crowd at a rally he would encourage Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to a NATO country that does not pay up (NATO does not collect dues) and ex-Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson interviewed Putin at the Kremlin.

•••

THURSDAY 2/15/24

UPDATE -- Jury selection will begin March 25 in Manhattan's hush-money case against former President Trump, The Washington Post reports, to begin the first-ever criminal trial against a former U.S. president.

It’s Two Trump-Trial Thursday – Donald J. Trump was expected at the defendants’ table in a Manhattan courtroom early Thursday where Justice Juan Merchan is expected to rule on whether to maintain a March 25 trial date for the former president’s alleged efforts during the 2016 presidential election to cover up an affair with a porn star (per Politico). If you’re trying to keep count, that’s the case in which he allegedly reimbursed his then-attorney Michael Cohen for hush money to Stormy Daniels. 

Meanwhile: Another team of Trump attorneys will be in Atlanta where Judge Scott McAfee gathers evidence about the relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, Politico reports. Trump’s attorneys want Willis and Wade tossed from the trial over the former president’s alleged scheme to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Willis and Wade deny allegations they benefitted financially from delays in the case.

Lordy, there are tapes: Legal analysts say the Trump legal team’s efforts to remove Willis and Wade will not likely put an end to the trial, considered the strongest of four against him – after all, there’s that recording of Trump begging for 11,780 more votes.  It will further delay the case with less than nine months left before the next presidential election.

•••

Nukes in Space – National security advisor Jake Sullivan speaks to the House Intelligence Committee Thursday, and though he won’t say why, he is expected to brief committee members on a nuclear-powered “capability” Russia is developing to target satellites, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. On Wednesday, Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) warned of a “national security threat” and called on President Biden to declassify intelligence on the Russian technology, according to USA Today. 

The Starlink satellites provided to Ukraine for communications in its defense against Russia come to mind as a likely target of the nuclear-powered “capability.” NPR notes that the Pentagon is working on a similar technology (with Lockheed Martin), the Joint Emergent Technology Supplying On-Orbit Nuclear (JETSON) High-Power program.

•••

Punkin’ Putin – In a Russian state television interview dictator Vladimir Putin said President Biden would be a better choice for his country this November than Donald J. Trump (per The Wall Street Journal). Putin also said he “didn’t get complete satisfaction” from his interview with right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson “because I honestly thought he would be aggressive and ask so-called sharp questions. And I wasn’t just ready for that, I wanted it, because it would have given me the opportunity to respond sharply in kind … But he chose a different tactic.” (Politico)

•••

The Fed is Cool – When the Consumer Price Index for January came in hotter than expected, at 3.4% Tuesday, the stock market took a dive over fears the Federal Reserve would hold off on interest rate cuts expected in a few months. The market bounced back Wednesday as Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsby told the Council of Foreign Relations in New York to, effectively, cool it, Marketwatch reports.

“Even if inflation comes in a bit higher for a few months, as many forecasts suggest, it would still be consistent with our path back to the target” of 2%. “There is nothing wrong” with some ups and downs, Goolsby said.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 2/14/24

First This Happened – The House of Representatives voted 214-213 to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the southern border. The Democrat-controlled Senate is highly unlikely to provide the 2/3 majority necessary to convict, particularly as the impeachment comes without evidence or even charges of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Two Republicans and two Democrats missed the vote, but Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) made it for the GOP’s win, this time.

Just as Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical of Colorado’s bid to remove Donald J. Trump from its primary ballot last week in Trump v. Anderson in part because it could open the floodgates for states to banish candidates in future elections, it seems the Mayorkas impeachment, coming nearly 150 years after the last impeachment of a cabinet member, could start a trend of cabinet official impeachments whether there is a Democrat or Republican in the White House.

President Biden’s statement: “History will not look kindly on House Republicans for the blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games. Instead of staging political stunts like this, Republicans with genuine concerns about the border should want Congress to deliver more border resources and stronger border security.” 

Then This Happened – Democrat Tom Suozzi defeated – no, annihilated – Republican Mazi Pilip, 53.9% to 46.1% to replace former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) in a special election for New York’s 3rd District House seat (Associated Press). Polls leading up to Tuesday’s special election showed a close race as Pilip tried to tie Suozzi with President Biden on the border issue, and Democrats believed that with either result, the outcome would hint at which party might have House control after the November election. 

--TL

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TUESDAY 2/13/24

The annual Consumer Price Index fell slightly to 3.1% in January, the Labor Department reports, buoying the possibility that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates when it next meets, in five weeks (the CPI was 3.4% a month earlier). The month-over-month increase was 0.3%, up from 0.2% in January, with shelter up 0.6% to account for more than two-thirds of the monthly increase. Food was up 0.4% but energy prices fell by 0.9%, largely the result of falling gas prices. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Senate Passes Ukraine/Israel/Taiwan Aid – The Senate passed an $95.1 billion military aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan early Tuesday with a healthy 70-29 vote after filibusters by “a handful” of Republican senators into the pre-dawn hours, according to CQ Roll Call. Still, the will of GOP leader Donald J. Trump hovers over the national security package, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) suggested the bill won’t reach the full House floor in its current form because it lacks the “real border security provision” … like the $20 billion in additional border security that accompanied a national security package rejected by the former president so he could use it as a campaign cudgel against President Biden.

Trump’s choice: Meanwhile, the former president has endorsed Michael Whatley, head of the North Carolina GOP and a fellow election-denier, to replace Ronna McDaniel as chair of the Republican National Committee, with son Eric Trump’s wife, Lara Trump as co-chair (per The Hill). McDaniel is expected to step down as RNC chair after the February 24 South Carolina primary. 

Trump’s statement: “The RNC MUST be a good partner in the Presidential election. It must do the work we expect from the national Party and do it flawlessly. That means helping to ensure fair and transparent elections across the country, getting out the vote everywhere – even in parts of the country where it won’t be easy – and working with my campaign, as the Republican presumptive nominee for President, to win this election and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.” Er, endquote.

--TL

__________________________________________

MONDAY 2/12/24

Trump and Putin – Former President Trump has been campaigning in South Carolina, where he hopes to annihilate its former governor and his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, in the state’s GOP primary Saturday, February 24. Haley has taken the traditional Republican position regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying she would continue aid to Ukraine. 

Donald J. Trump has said he would “negotiate” an end to the Ukraine-Russia war to end it on his first day in office, which presumably means he would let dictator Vladimir Putin take over at least the eastern part of Ukraine his troops have occupied. 

In Conway, South Carolina last Saturday evening Trump told his fawning crowd he had a conversation with an unnamed NATO ally’s leader, who asked him; “If we don’t pay (what it owes NATO) and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?”

“No, I would not protect you,” Trump told the cheering crowd he said to the leader. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.” (Per NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.)

In a statement released Sunday, President Biden called Trump’s comments “unhinged.”

•••

Ukraine, Israel Aid Advances – The Senate Sunday advanced a $95 billion emergency aid bill for Ukraine and Israel to keep it on-track for passage this week, The New York Times reports. The bipartisan vote was 67-27, teeing up $60.1 billion for Ukraine in its defense against Russia and $14.1 billion for Israel’s war against Hamas. It also addresses threats in the Indo-Pacific region. 

“It’s no exaggeration to say the eyes of the world are on the United States,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). U.S. allies “don’t have the luxury of pretending that the world’s most dangerous aggressors are someone else’s problems and neither do we.”

•••

Hogan v. Trone – Former two-term Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan last Friday announced he is running for retiring Sen. Ben Cardin’s (D-MD) seat (per CQ Roll Call). He would become the state’s first Republican senator in 32 years. 

Hogan is a never-Trump Republican whose father, Larry Hogan Sr., was among the Republican U.S. representatives who voted to impeach President Nixon some 50 years ago. 

Among the Democrats running in the May 14 primary for Cardin’s seat are Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. David Trone, who serves Maryland’s westernmost district, which transitions from blue to purple to red heading further west into the rural panhandle. Could become a center-right vs. center-left race.

•••

This Week – The House only is scheduled to be in-session Tuesday through Friday, though Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will likely call the full Senate to the floor early in the week to vote on the emergency aid bill for Ukraine and Israel. 

Coming Tuesday: A special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District to replace Republican Rep. George Santos, who stepped down late last year. Former Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) is “locked in a tight race” with Republican Mazi Pilip, who has tried to tie Suozzi with Biden’s policies, especially on immigration, according to The Hill, which reports that Democrats are trying to avert an embarrassing defeat and keep hope alive to retake the House majority in November.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

History Lesson

By Stephen Macaulay

Back in 1952, war was raging in Korea. President Harry Truman faced all manner of economic challenges, including something we are all-too familiar with, inflation.

To help manage the economic situation the Office of Price Stabilization (OPS) and the Wage Stabilization Board (WSB) were established. The former made sure that there were price controls on things deemed important to the war effort. The latter was charged with making sure that there weren’t excessive wage increases in private industry.

War wreaks havoc on economies.

And just as we have recently seen in the auto industry, trade unions, especially those in the steel industry, were exerting their power.

The workers, of course, wanted a wage increase.

The steel companies, of course, wanted to raise the price of steel should they have to increase the wages.

To borrow an alleged quote from Napoleon— “An army marches on its stomach” — “a war is fought with steel.”

Well, as it happens, the OPS and the WSB became involved.

Things seemed to be reaching an impasse that would lead to a strike, which would mean no steel, which would mean a problem vis-à-vis defending the 38th parallel.

So Harry Truman seized the steel mills by Executive Order.

He wanted to keep the materials for tanks and ammunition and the like produced.

Seems like an extreme, but understandable thing to do.

“Give ‘em Hell Harry” acted for purposes of national defense.

The steel companies sued.

It went to the Supreme Court.

Which decided, in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, that Harry Truman’s Executive Order had exceeded his authority as president.

This historical minute is something that is part of the ruling in United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, the decision made by the justices of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

As the justices write, “President Truman could lawfully act only to execute the Congress’s laws or to carry out his constitutional duties as the Executive; and he lacked authority from either source to seize the steel mills.”

Trump argues, in part, that whatever he did as president is OK. 

The issues he is facing related are related, in large part, to election interference and election fraud.

As it is put in the ruling:

“The Indictment alleges that former President Trump understood that he had lost the election and that the election results were legitimate but that he nevertheless was ‘determined to remain in power.’”

Truman was ostensibly acting for the good of the country.

Trump clearly acted on behalf of Trump.

The Appeals Court justices quote 19th century Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer: “No man in this country is so high that he is above the law. No officer of the law may set that law at defiance with impunity. All the officers of the government, from the highest to the lowest, are creatures of the law and are bound to obey it. It is the only supreme power in our system of government, and every man who by accepting office participates in its functions is only the more strongly bound to submit to that supremacy, and to observe the limitations which it imposes upon the exercise of the authority which it gives.”

Or, to simply quote Baretta:

“Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”

Regardless of what position you once held.

_____

‘Uncommitted’ Dems in Michigan Primary

Arab American activists in Michigan have launched a campaign to urge voters to cast "uncommitted" votes in the state's February 27 primary to protest President Biden for not demanding Israel cease military action in Gaza. Listen to Michigan campaign organizers hope to activate voters by reaching out to 128,000 Arab and Muslim voters in the state, as well as Black Americans and Native Americans.

"Voting uncommitted in the Democratic primary is our way of telling Biden we're uncommitted to his financing of genocide in Gaza," said Layla Elated, manager of the Listen to Michigan campaign and sister of U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who is not involved in the effort, according to a wire report.

Are you liberal? Tell us why you agree or disagree with the Listen to Michigan campaign's push to get Democratic voters to cast "uncommitted" ballots in the state's primary. Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news.

•••

Nevada's Democratic Primary This Week

Hot on the heels of his overwhelming victory last week in the South Carolina Democratic primary, President Biden moves on to the Tuesday, February 6 Nevada primary. Nevada delivers 48 delegates to the Democratic convention, 36 of them pledged and 12 of them super delegates, according to Ballotpedia.

On the ballot with Biden are Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, and author Marianne Williamson. The Nevada Democratic primary is closed, which means only registered Democrats may vote for on this ballot. 

Biden won 96% of the Democratic vote in South Carolina, according to WAMU’s 1A.

•••

Should Congress pass the Senate’s bipartisan border security and emergency security funding bill, as outlined in the center column, or should Republicans give in to Donald J. Trump’s opposition and keep the issue alive for the presumed Republican presidential nominee?

Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and list in the subject line whether you consider yourself liberal or conservative, so we post your civilly expressed thoughts in the appropriate column.

_____

…meanwhile…

The Oklahoma GOP has censured Lankford for his work on the "compromise" border bill. Scroll down for details.

FRIDAY 2/9/24

Biden’s Age Trumps Docs Case – Special Counsel Robert K. Hur found that Joe Biden’s “willfull” retention and disclosure of classified documents doesn’t establish the president’s guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt,” but the other side of those findings sure does sting. Hur, a U.S. attorney during the Trump administration, found Biden a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory,” and that part prompted Biden to hold a press conference Thursday to defend himself.

But in the presser, Biden referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the president of Mexico, NPR’s Morning Editionreports, and told a CNN reporter that the press does not agree with age/memory issues raised – apparently he meant “the public” does not agree. 

Meanwhile: Hur’s report will trigger another round of hand wringing from supporters, including never-Trump conservatives, who want to see a younger Democratic candidate take on Donald J. Trump. Three years younger than Biden, Trump has exhibited plenty of memory lapses and name mix-ups himself, though his avid supporters expect no explanation.

Trumpdate: The former president easily won GOP caucuses Thursday in Nevada, as expected, and in the U.S. Virgin Islands, AP reports.

•••

Zelenskyy Fires Military Commander – After weeks of speculation he would do so, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has replaced Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who had led the military since before Russia’s full-scale invasion, with Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi (The Kyiv Independent). The new commander previously served as commander of Ukraine’s Grand Forces and the Khortysia Operational and Strategic Group fighting in Ukraine’s east.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. Senate: After aid to Ukraine, Israel and to Indo-Pacifc allies went down with the border bill earlier this week, the Senate cleared an initial procedural hearing to move said aid along, The Hill reports, with several more procedural votes to come. 

And in the House: The Senate’s determination to pass above aid, with help from non-MAGA Republicans including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, is placing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in an especially sticky space. If and when the full Senate passes an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, Johnson will be forced to bring the bill to the House’s floor, where a majority of Democrats plus non-MAGA Republicans will very likely pass it. But Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green (R-GA) already has said she would pull a Kevin McCarthy on the current speaker.

•••

Pardon the Interruption, Mr. Putin – Ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlton struggled to get a word in during the first half-hour of a two-hour-plus interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to The Washington Post’s account. As expected, Putin defended his invasion of Ukraine and claimed to have no interest in attacking Poland or any other NATO countries unless attacked by them first.

“Carlson spent most of the interview in silence, or looking confounded,” WaPo says in its report. 

--TL

__________________________________________

THURSDAY 2/8/24

No Charges in Biden Docs Case – Special Counsel Robert K. Hur found evidence President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” The Washington Post reports, but the evidence “does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” The long-awaited 345-page Justice Department filing comes after 173 interviews with 145 witnesses, including Biden. To secure a conviction, DOJ officials would need to prove to a jury that Biden retained the information willfully, according to the report.

•••

SCOTUS Hears Colorado Ballot Case -- Hearing legal arguments in Trump v. Anderson the U.S. Supreme Court appeared likely to overturn a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that ordered former President Trump from the state's 2024 presidential primary ballot. Liberal as well as conservative justices were skeptical in their questioning of whether a ruling upholding the Colorado court would prompt other states from removing a Democratic candidate from their ballots.

•••

MAGA Rules – Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who negotiated the failed bipartisan border bill with Sens. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) took to the Senate floor Wednesday and said a right-wing media personality weeks ago vowed to do “whatever I can to destroy you” if he tried to “move a bill that solves the border crisis during this presidential year…” (The New York Times). “By the way. They have been faithful to their promise and have done everything they can to destroy me.”

The Daily Beast has identified that media personality as radio host Jesse Kelly, who broadcasts on iHeartRadio’s Premiere Networks.

Sinking aid for Ukraine: The Senate’s failure to pass cloture on the border bill has, among other effects, sunk $60 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine. Donald Tusk, prime minister of neighboring Poland said that Ronald Reagan would be “turning in his grave” over U.S. Congress’ failure to pass the aid package (per BBC) and effectively hand victory to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Single-party Congress?: Has indicted GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump already taken over Congress? Is it essentially a single-(MAGA) party, authoritarian entity that can effectively rule without compromise? Email your comments to editora@thehustings.news.

•••

Colorado or Bust?: The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday will consider whether Donald J. Trump can be removed from Colorado’s primary ballot, under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. SCOTUS’ decision will have implications for Trump’s campaign in the rest of the nation (NPR).

--TL

__________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 2/7/24

NOTC Beats Haley in Nevada – None of These Candidates won the Nevada GOP presidential primary Tuesday, handily beating the only other candidate on the ballot, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (Associated Press). That makes Haley the first candidate for either party to lose a race to NOTC since offered as an option in 1975. Haley did not campaign in Nevada, where citizen Donald J. Trump is certain to win Thursday’s GOP caucus.

“Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!” Trump posted on his Truth Social site. 

Haley has been campaigning for the February 24 GOP primary in her home state of South Carolina. Her chances of nabbing the nomination now depend on how, and how soon, the Supreme Court rules on Tuesday’s federal appeals court ruling against Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in his January 6 insurrection case.

Meanwhile: The AP called Nevada’s Democratic primary for President Biden, based on the vote from Washoe County, second most populous in the state. Biden had 89%, NOTC got 6% and Marianne Williamson scored 3%. 

•••

McDaniel to Step Down – Ronna McDaniel will step down as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee after the South Carolina GOP primary, sources have told The New York Times. Citizen Trump is likely to back North Carolina GOP head Michael Whatley, a supporter of the former president’s false claims of election fraud, according to the report.

--TL

__________________________________________

No Impeachment for Mayorkas -- Four House Republicans joined all Democrats to defeat a motion to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, 216-214, The New York Times reports.

As the Border Bill Churns ...

TUESDAY 2/6/24

Meanwhile … House Republicans have been proceeding with potential impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for “failing” to control the border, as the pro-Trump faction of the caucus vows to block the Senate’s border bill proposal. Now The Hill reports that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has but one Republican to spare to vote for Mayorkas’ impeachment, as Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) have announced they will vote “nay.” Buck and McClintock argue that a cabinet secretary should not be removed for carrying out administration policy on immigration and border control.

•••

Border Bill Response -- "All indications are this bill won't even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it's bad for him politically." -- President Biden speaking from the White House Tuesday (per The Hill).

•••

Trump Can Face Trial -- A federal appeals court unanimously ruled Tuesday morning that Donald J. Trump can be put on trial for trying to remain in power after the 2020 election (The Washington Post), rejecting the former president's sweeping claim of immunity. One judge on the appeals court had feared during the hearing that a ruling for Trump could allow for political assassinations. Trump already has plans to appeal first to the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on up to the U.S. Supreme Court, to delay well past the original March 4 trial date, and through the November elections.

•••

There’s Got to be a Morning After—Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will bring the $118 border security/Ukraine aid bill to the floor for a procedural vote Wednesday, but Republicans already are declaring it doomed to fail.

Semafor is staging a “deathwatch,” citing a Reuters report that the border bill is in trouble. 

A House Democrat told Politico Playbook, on condition of anonymity; “I’m coming to the notion that everything is dead. All of it.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who spent the last four months negotiating the bill with Sens. Jim Lankford (R-OK) and Krysten Sinema (I-AZ), told NPR’s Morning Edition “it would be the most significant bipartisan border reform in 40 years. And it is what American people want. They don’t want this issue to be used as a permanent political cudgel. They want to solve the problem.”

But a “wave” of Republicans in the Senate, even the hawks who want to see continued aid to Ukraine, appear ready to put the brakes on the bill Wednesday by voting against cloture.

Wait, wait … Punchbowl News scoops that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told a closed-door meeting with his caucus that the problem “isn’t the bill itself but that the political mood has shifted” in those past four months. McConnell told fellow Republicans to vote against cloture this week and take more time to consider the bill and offer amendments. The message, according to a senator who spoke to the outlet about McConnell’s meeting on the condition of anonymity is; “we can’t rush this right now.”

Nevertheless, it’s unclear, the report concludes, whether there is a future for the bill if it fails to advance this week, even as Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warns of what happens to U.S. security if Vladimir Putin takes Ukraine. 

Compromise … Murphy concedes there are a few senators in his party opposed to the bill (including Bob Menendez of New Jersey), but that a bipartisan majority would otherwise be ready to pass it. 

“The problem is, right now, it looks as if most Republicans are going to vote against this as well,” he told Morning Edition. “And the only way you can get this passed in the Senate right now is if you have a majority of Democrats and a majority of Republicans supporting it. And right now, most Republicans are willing to listen to Donald Trump. He wants chaos to continue at the border because that will help him politically.”

•••

Speaking of Putin – Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson’s visit to Moscow over the weekend has sparked some buzz over whether he might interview Russian leader Vladimir Putin, The Guardian reports. After the Mash Telegram channel published a photo Saturday of Carlson attending the Bolshoi theater in Moscow, Russian state media outlet Isvestia interviewed him about his visit. 

Carlson told Isvestia he “wanted to talk to people, look around, and see how it’s doing … and it’s doing very well.” Isvestia then asked whether Carlson was in Moscow to interview Putin.

“We’ll see,” Carlson responded, with a smile.

Watch for Carlson’s interview of dictator Putin, coming up on Elon Musk’s X-Twitter.

•••

Dearborn Ramps Up Security – Dearborn, Michigan has the highest concentration of Muslims in the United States. Last Friday, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle Eastern Research Institute in which he called Dearborn “America’s jihad capital.” That prompted its mayor, Abdullah Hammoud to tweet that police have increased security at the city’s places of worship and at its major infrastructures.

--TL

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'DOA' Senate Border Bill Released

MONDAY 2/5/24

UPDATE -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is trying to "cobble together" Republican votes to pass the border/national security funding bill, The Hill reports. This alters the meaning of his first statement after the bipartisan bill was unveiled, but it also contradicts the expectation that the bill would have an easy time passing the full Senate.

Arrived – The Senate delivered text over the weekend of a $118.3-billion bipartisan bill containing emergency national security funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as the way the U.S. handles immigrants at the southwest border with Mexico. The Senate is expected to take up the bill this week as a substitute amendment, according to CQ Roll Call’s report.

The bill provides:

•$60 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine.

•$14.1 billion for emergency aid for Israel.

•$10 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, Ukraine and other conflicts.

•Nearly $5 billion to support U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific region, including funds to replenish American weapons in Taiwan.

“What we have here is something that can pass the Senate and the House,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murphy (D-WA) said, according to the Roll Call report. “There is no reason for drama, delay or partisanship.”

But with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) opposition expressed before any language was released, in favor of maintaining the border crisis as Donald J. Trump’s main talking point in his election campaign, even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is keeping his options open.

The Senate “must carefully consider the opportunity,” was all McConnell said in response to the bill. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a lead negotiator, said the bipartisan bill would:

•Empower President Biden to reduce the flow of migrants to the U.S.

•Speed up asylum applications.

•Expand legal pathways to immigrants.

More than $20 billion from the bill would expand operational needs and expand border control capabilities at the border.

Counter-bill: Johnson said he is preparing to bring a standalone, $17.6 billion supplemental funding package for Israel and U.S. troops in the Middle East to the House floor this week. 

The takeaway: The two bills likely will die as each moves to the other chamber … though Murphy says overwhelming bipartisan support for the Senate’s bill would force it to the floor of the House, NPR reports.

•••

Blinken in Saudi Arabia – Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday for his fifth visit to the Middle East since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Blinken hopes to negotiate a peace framework in Gaza (per The New York Times).

Hamas is still considering a proposal to stop fighting, according to the NYT.

Meanwhile … The Pentagon continues military retaliation over the killing of three U.S. soldiers last month by Iran-backed militias, following dozens of military strikes last week by U.S. forces on targets in Iraq and Syria.

Up on the Hill – The House is in session Monday, and the Senate is in session Thursday and Friday. Both chambers are in session Tuesday and Wednesday.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Conservative Argues in Favor of Border Bill

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and MAGA Republicans in the House never wanted a border bill, David Frum argues Tuesday in The Atlantic. While the bill was being negotiated, Republican-controlled legislatures in Florida, Arkansas, Ohio and Wisconsin have been easing workplace laws on high school-age children, serving as virtual “help-wanted” advertising for immigrants, he writes.

Frum’s comments are in this right column in part because he is a traditional conservative pundit. In his column, he argues that what Johnson and MAGA House members really want is to say “no” to more aid for Ukraine and to refuse compromise with Democrats.

He also quotes this study from the libertarian Cato Institute – one of its three founders in 1974 was Charles Koch – published in November 2023:

“The Biden Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has removed a higher percentage of arrested border crossers in its first two years than the Trump DHS did over its last two years. Moreover, migrants were more likely to be released after a border arrest under President Trump than under President Biden. In absolute terms, the Biden DHS removed 3.5 times as many people per month as the Trump DHS did.”

“Glowering and yelling does not in fact accomplish much,” Frum writes.

We’re looking for conservative readers to tell us whether Senate and House Republicans should vote for the border bill, and if not, why not? Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news.

•••

Nevada's GOP Primary and Caucus This Week

Good news for Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley: She has a good chance of winning the Nevada GOP primary.

Bad news for Haley: She is not participating in the state’s GOP caucus, which is the only contest awarding delegates to the GOP convention (per Ballotpedia).

Haley is on Nevada’s Tuesday, February 6 primary ballot, which is open only to registered Republicans, and Donald J. Trump is not. 

Trump’s campaign is participating in the Thursday, February 8 Nevada caucus along with Create Church co-founder Ryan Brinkley. Haley is not. The caucus will award 26 delegates to the Republican convention. The primary will not.

•••

Should Congress pass the Senate’s bipartisan border security and emergency security funding bill, as outlined in the center column, or should Republicans give in to Donald J. Trump’s opposition and keep the issue alive for the presumed Republican presidential nominee?

Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and list in the subject line whether you consider yourself conservative or liberal, so we post your civilly expressed thoughts in the appropriate column.

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Arab American Groups Cancel Biden Meeting

A majority of 15 Arab American groups set to meet with Biden campaign official Julie Chavez Rodriguez in Dearborn, Michigan, have decided to skip it, Ahmad Chebbani, co-founder of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce, told Reuters last week. 

“We’re not interested,” Chebbani said. “Only when a ceasefire has been announced and the people of Gaza are taken care of, then will a discussion be appropriate.”

Biden is expected to meet with the United Auto Workers and tentatively, Arab American groups in the purple state of Michigan this week.

Whether left or right, moderate, progressive or hard-right, you are invited to email your comments on our recent political news/news aggregates and/or recent right-column or left-column commentary to editors@thehustings.news and please be sure to indicate your political leanings in the subject line so we can post your comments in the appropriate column.

_____

…meanwhile…

More good news (maybe) for the Biden campaign; the economy added a healthy 353,000 jobs in January, with gains in professional and business services, health care, retail trade and social assistance. GOP talking points: there were fewer jobs in mining, quarrying and gas and oil extraction. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7%. [SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, FRIDAY 2/2/24.]

__________________________________________

THURSDAY 2/1/24

EU Passes Aid to Ukraine – The European Union got Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to go along with a 50-billion euro fund (about $54 billion) for Ukraine Thursday, 27-0, at their summit in Brussels, The New York Times reports. As leader for the EU’s standout authoritarian country, Orban is considered a close ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, so his necessary concession for a unanimous vote is significant. 

“All 27 leaders agreed on an additional 50-billion euro support package for Ukraine within the European Union budget,” European Council President Charles Michel said on social media. “This is steadfast, long-term, predictable funding. EU is taking leadership & responsibility in support for Ukraine; we know what is at stake.”

Note: This maybe takes a slight bit of pressure off U.S. Congress, where the House Freedom Caucus is trying to block a border bill tied to roughly $61 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine (as well as aid for Israel and Taiwan) in order to keep the border issue in Donald J. Trump’s corner.

•••

House Passes $78b Tax Bill – With opposition from the Freedom Caucus, some progressive Democrats and a few moderate New York Republicans, the House passed a $78 billion tax bill Wednesday that boosts the child tax credit through 2025 and reinstates three business deductions cut from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, The Hill reports. GOP leadership suspended rules that would have required a three-quarters vote, but that proved unnecessary as it passed 357-70. 

Bipartisan, indeed. 

•••

Zucked Up – It took Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) to get Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook and Instagram) to stand up and turn to parents of children who were victims of sexual abuse and exploitation on social media, in the Senate Judiciary Committee audience, and apologize.

“I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” Zuckerberg said (per USA Today).

Like the House tax bill (above), this Senate hearing proved refreshingly bipartisan in committee members’ criticism of social media effects on children.

Social media apps have “given predators powerful new tools to exploit Children,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said.

“You have blood on your hands,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Zuckerberg was grilled along with X’s (Twitter’s) Linda Yaccarino, TikTok’s Shou Zi Chew, Snap’s Evan Spiegel and Discord’s Jason Citron, according to NPR’s All Things Considered.

Five federal bills have been introduced to counter social media exploitation. Prior to the hearing, only Snap announced support for one of the bills, the Kids Online Safety Act.

Another bipartisan bill, The Platform Accountability and Transparency Act, is co-sponsored by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). 

“Is there any of you willing to say now that you support this bill?” Coons asked the five social media CEOs (per ATC). “Mr. Chairman, let the record reflect a yawning silence from the leaders of the social media platforms.”

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 1/31/24

Mayorkas Faces Impeachment – The House Homeland Security Committee voted 18-15 along party lines early Wednesday to send two articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing him of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and breach of public trust, The Washington Post reports.  

But the Democrats… repeatedly countered during the committee hearing that Republicans have no basis to impeach Mayorkas, President Biden’s Homeland Security secretary. They say that in two previous hearings Republican congressmembers have struggled to show evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors. Mayorkas will surely be acquitted by the Senate if the impeachment gets that far. 

Meanwhile: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is pumping the brakes on the Senate’s border security bill in order to keep the issue for ex-President Trump’s campaign.

•••

Trump’s Next Penalty – Judge Arthur Engoran is expected to issue his decision as early as Wednesday on the size and scale of the penalty in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case against the Trump Organization, according to Newsweek. This would come hot on the heels of a jury’s $83.3 million award ordering Donald J. Trump – the ex-president, not the organization – to pay E. Jean Carroll for defamation. In the New York civil fraud case, James wants the Trump Organization to lose its license to do business in New York.

--TL

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TUESDAY 1/30/24

Senate GOP v. House GOP – Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is betting that if the Senate’s yet-to-be-revealed border bill passes with heavy Republican support House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will be “pressed” to put it up for a vote, according to The Hill. Johnson last week called the bill “dead on arrival,” shortly after McConnell revealed to Punchbowl News his caucus was getting pressure from Donald J. Trump directly to sink the bill and assure it remains his campaign’s major talking point going into the November presidential elections. 

The bill also is tied to aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Johnson knows, however, that if he does advance the bill to the floor he could face potential removal from the speakership by the House Freedom Caucus. 

Conservative Republicans have called on President Biden to shut down the border by executive action, as Trump did during his administration. Over the last weekend, The Hill notes, Biden pledged to do just that if given the power by the bipartisan Senate legislation in question.

•••

Bowling for Biden? — Super Bowl LVIII could be “rigged” to boost the profile of pop music singer/songwriter Taylor Swift ahead of her plans to endorse President Biden’s re-election, former GOP presidential candidate and Trump cabinet member-in-waiting Vivek Ramaswamy posited Monday, according to the New York Daily News. Ramaswamy floated a conspiracy theory that “some unseen hand” wants the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the San Francisco 49ers because Swift is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. 

On Vivek’s X feed: “I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall.”

If any of the above words stand out to you, they should be “boost the profile” of Swift, who has boosted the profile of the Chiefs, Kelce and the entire NFL.

The Daily News notes that Swift endorsed Biden in 2020 and quoted an article in The New York Times that White House aides are “apparently brainstorming” how to get the immensely popular superstar to endorse him again ahead of the November election.

--TL

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MONDAY 1/29/24

Mayorkas Faces Impeachment – House Republicans released two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas early Monday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports, as Senate negotiators were set to possibly release text of a bipartisan border bill as early as this week, according to Semafor. This comes as ex-President Trump continues to command Republicans to reject any compromise bill so he could make it the centerpiece of his 2024 campaign against President Biden.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said the bill is “dead on arrival” if “certain rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true.” Last Thursday, Punchbowl News scooped Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s genuflection for Trump, saying Republicans in the chamber are likely to reject the bill because the “Politics have changed.” … “We don’t want to do anything to undermine him.”

Although McConnell split with Trump after January 6, 2021, the minority leader does want the GOP to win enough Senate race toss-ups in November to return him to the majority leader’s position.

Johnson under fire: But there are sufficient numbers of Senate Republicans who want to see a bipartisan bill connected with resumed funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and the House needs all Democrats and a few Republicans to pass it, if they can get the speaker to bring it to the floor, a move that almost certainly would trigger an attempt by MAGA congress members to take back Johnson’s gavel. Passing the bill would not only potentially hurt Trump and Republican congressional candidates this fall; it would force Fox News and other right-wing media to change their attack strategy.

Nothing-to-lose lame-duck Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told reporters late last week that Trump “doesn’t want to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said, “The only purpose for taking this up is giving Democrats political cover to say ‘Gosh, we want to secure the border.’”

Trump sez: “I noticed a lot of senators, a lot of the senators are trying to say – respectfully (! -ed) they’re blaming it on me. That’s OK. Please blame it on me. Please. Because they were getting ready to pass a very bad bill. I’d rather have no bill than a bad bill.”

Border bill negotiator Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), responded with, “I’m looking forward to President Trump getting the opportunity to be able to read it, like everybody else is.” (Quotes per Bloomberg News.)

Which circles back to Semafor’s reporting the bill could be released as early as this week. Is there any chance Trump and Fox News et. al. will say anything nice about it?

ICYMI: Speaking of the $61-billion Ukraine aid package being held up over the border bill, the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UK’s Channel 4 News earlier in January about Trump’s claims he would negotiate an end to the war with Russia in one day; “Donald Trump, I invite you to Kyiv. If you can stop the war during 24 hours, I think it will be enough to come.”

It’s not the economy, stupid: All this comes as President Biden’s re-election campaign hopes to ramp up its cheerleading for the surging economy – Real GDP up 4.9% in the fourth quarter, inflation easing and an historically low unemployment, with no apparent recession in sight – as he campaigned in South Carolina over the weekend. Instead, Biden has the grim task of responding to a drone strike apparently by Iranian-backed militias on a U.S. military facility in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border. Three U.S. soldiers were killed and dozens more were injured. 

“We had a tough day last night in the Middle East,” Biden said (AP). “We lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases. … and we will respond.”

After this attack, the Israel-Hamas war is almost certain to become a larger, regional conflict.

•••

Haley’s Future – Nikki Haley Sunday on NBC News’ Meet the Press on how long she may continue challenging Donald J. Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, said “As long as I keep growing per state, I am in this race. I have every intention of going to Super Tuesday, through Super Tuesday. We’re going to keep going and see where this gets us. That’s what we know we’re going to do right now. I take it one state at a time. I don’t think too far ahead.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Who’s RINO Now?

Constant readers will notice that our regular right-column commentator, pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay, is and has always been a never-Trumper. He is conservative, not populist, representing the pro-business and free-trade pre-2016 GOP. 

But we welcome civilly stated comments from pro-MAGA conservatives as well and hope to engage readers with a wide range of political thought. Here at The Hustings we’re looking for insight on how Donald J. Trump has been able to keep the GOP under his control all these years. 

Whatever your politics, we want to hear from you. Email your comments on our recent political news/news aggregates and/or recent right-column or left-column commentary to editors@thehustings.news and please be sure to indicate your political leanings in the subject line so we can post them in the appropriate column.

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Nothing New in New Hampshire

By Ken Zino

The results of the New Hampshire GOP primary were nothing new. It confirmed the rematch of President Biden versus the 91-count indicted, defeated ex-President Trump. Now, the Republicans can scuffle with each other over who will be their vice-presidential candidate. Yawn. The main event will be the competent and winning Biden-Harris Democratic ticket versus Captain Chaos and his sinking ship, the SS Insurrectionist, which is running out of steam.

Significant here in my view is the weakness of Donald J. Trump. “This race is far from over,” Nikki Haley said Tuesday night. She managed a relatively strong showing against the person who allegedly has a grip on the Republican Party. (Haley received 133,017, or 43.3%, of the vote. Trump got 167,210 for 54.5%). There is a significant number of members of the Grand Old Party who think the party is over for above-the-law King Donald. 

A divided party in the primaries historically -- study history, don’t ban it -- has a tough time in the general election. Take Gerald Ford “the Pardon Watergate Nixon and play golf for life” guy who lost in 1976. George H.W. Bush lost the White House in 1992 after Pat Buchanan took 37% in the New Hampshire primary. Bush won the Republican presidential nomination. Clinton defeated him with 370 electoral votes to Bush’s 168, ending three straight terms of Republican control of the presidency. Don’t read my lips here. Listen to the Republican outcry against Trump.

Freedom Message

Biden-Harris and their newly expanded reelection campaign staff of Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Mike Donilon who just transferred from their White House roles to leadership of the reelection staff are already accelerating the freedom message (https://youtu.be/ChjibtX0UzU) – freedom of choice, freedom to vote, freedom from political violence and chaos. These are the demonstrated policy and positions of Democratic candidates with vast foreign policy experience who can point to a growing economy that is uplifting all. They support and can advance reproductive rights and gun control regulations. They want to make the wealthy two-percenters pay their share of taxes. Biden-Harris addressed climate change and are rebuilding and expanding the infrastructure. They are also bringing Wi-Fi to rural economies, not just cities. Neither has an indictment or conviction on their record.

Biden-Harris beat Trump before. In Iowa roughly as many Republicans in total voted against Trump as voted for him. The same applies to New, err Old Hampshire. Biden-Harris can win again. Let them get on with amplifying the policy and positions that matter to the many Republicans (in name only?) who are unhappy with Trump. “If Donald Trump is our opponent, we can expect vile attacks, endless lies, and massive spending,” the reelection campaign website https://joebiden.com/ says.

“Stand up for our personal freedom. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights,” President Biden says in his campaign video.

__________________________________________

TUESDAY 1/23/24

Biden Wins New Hampshire

Although he was not on the ballot, President Biden won New Hampshire’s Democratic primary Tuesday as a write-in with 66,081 votes, or 56.6%, according to The Hill’s Decision Desk HQ. In addition, “Write-In” took another 18,284 votes, or 15.7%. 

This would be a good spot to note that Donald J. Trump beat Nikki Haley in the Republican primary by 34,054 votes.

Biden was not on the ballot because his campaign wanted the February 3 South Carolina primary to be first on his party’s calendar, ahead of Iowa as well as New Hampshire. Decision Desk HQ notes that the Biden campaign’s write-in campaign encouraged voters to write in anything indicating the president, including “Joe and Kamala” or even a misspelling like “Bidon.”

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) took second place, with 23,498 votes, or 20.1% and author Marianne Williamson got 4,746 votes, or 4.1% and just ahead of “Other” at 4,192 votes or 3.6.%. 

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Doing the New Hampshire Math

By Todd Lassa

In the month between her 11.3-point loss to Donald J. Trump in New Hampshire and the next GOP primary, Nikki Haley will either (Plan A): Prop up her Quixotic campaign and face likely embarrassment in her home state of South Carolina or (Plan B):“suspend” her campaign and endorse the leader of the Republican Party. There is a small chance she could suspend her campaign and refuse to endorse Trump, which would buck the trend set recently by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

The morning after her second place showing boosted by crossover votes in the open primary by independents and Democrats, Haley’s campaign says it’s still game-on. For the record, here are final results from New Hampshire, according to the Associated Press:

  1. Donald J. Trump    163,700 votes        54.5%
  2. Nikki Haley            129,646                43.2%

The GOP race is over, Sara Longwell, publisher of The Bullwark and founder of Republicans Against Trump, told NPR’s Morning Edition Wednesday.

On his Truth Social, Trump posted: NIKKI CAME IN LAST, NOT SECOND!

Like New Hampshire, South Carolina’s GOP primary on Saturday, February 24, is open, so Haley could pick up some independent and Democratic voters again. Because the Biden campaign tried to upend the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, the Democratic primary in South Carolina, which also is open, is on Saturday, February 3. 

Super Tuesday is March 5.

If Haley does drop out in the next 10 days, what are the chances some of Trump’s followers might cross over and vote for Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) or author Maryanne Williamson?

As we noted before the primary, if Haley does pick Plan B, there is huge pot of super PAC money from the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity Action committed to her defeat of Donald J. Trump. Where do the Koch Brothers and their money and cause go if she drops out?

And where does the Republican Party go if one of Trump’s criminal indictments makes it to court before November 5 (or more to the point, before the GOP convention in mid-July), or if the Supreme Court allows Colorado, Maine and probably a few other states to remove him from their ballots?

Haley did get nine New Hampshire GOP delegates to Trump’s 12 on Tuesday, according to the AP. Clearly, her campaign figures that’s better than nothing.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

A Stark Situation

By Stephen Macaulay

In 2020 Joe Biden came in fifth in the New Hampshire primary.

Now he is president. Erm, well, while that seems to have been a fact, it seems as though there are quite a number of people in New Hampshire who think that it is an alternative fact, despite their alleged plain-spoken, clear-eyed Yankeeness.

It is just fake news.

As Donald Trump said to the annual VFW convention held in Kansas City on July 24, 2018: “Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. . . . What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

Or, to bring it up to date: Didn’t happen.

Donald Trump received 54.5% of the votes in the New Hampshire primary. Did that really happen?

A Slogan

The New Hampshire slogan, famously, is “Live Free or Die.”

It goes back to General John Stark, New Hampshire’s most famous solider in the American Revolutionary War, the victor of the Battle of Bennington.

The U.S. War of Independence, fought from 1775 to 1793, was in opposition to the British crown, which essentially ran the country (a.k.a., the colonies) from the time the Jamestown colony was established in Virginia. (Sir Walter Raleigh had established the Roanoke Colony in North Carolina in 1585, but mysteriously, by 1590 the colonists had disappeared, just as Donald Trump had predicted the coronavirus would, starting in February 2020 -- he was a bit off, as more than 1 million Americans disappeared from the face of the Earth.)

Donald Trump has said on several occasions that he plans to be a dictator on Day One of his next administration.

Seems like there is a non-trivial number of New Hampshirites whom General John Stark would have no truck with.

After all, he fought against a king, a person with absolute power.

And some 163,700 people in New Hampshire voted for a person who says he wants just that.

Voters So White

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the white population of New Hampshire is 88.8%. The percentage of Asians, which includes those who are from India, is 3.2%.

Not a whole lot of “diversity.”

Is it any wonder that Donald Trump boorishly attacked Nikki Haley’s ethnicity prior to the New Hampshire primary?

Expectations

Haley received 43.2% of the votes. Some 129,646 people voted for her. No doubt there were more than a rounding error who voted for Haley who are not Republicans but who wanted to vote against Trump.

She exceeded expectations.

But the reputationally ornery New Hampshire Republican party members proved themselves to be as homogenized as those in Iowa.

Good and Bad

There is an aphorism that says “The perfect is the enemy of good.”

We’re not talking phone calls here.

A variant on that is “The bad is better than a loss.”

There are a number of Republicans — both those who are pre-Trump Republicans and those who are MAGA Republicans — who have come out in support of Trump with the rationale that it is better to coalesce around him now rather than to have an actual contest.

Trump avoided all debates, so he didn’t have to go up against anyone there.

And evidently Nikki Haley is getting under his skin sufficiently such that he is having trouble with things like facts. (No, he isn’t running against Obama.)

Those Republicans don’t care. They think that as long as there is someone who is ostensibly a Republican in the White House it will be good for them.

Until he decides that he doesn’t like them. And then it won’t be.

John F. Kelly, retired Marine Corps general and former White House chief of staff during the Trump administration, described Trump to Jake Tapper on CNN October 2, 2023: “A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”

What would General John Stark think about the 163,700 people in New Hampshire who voted for that man?

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What’s Left

Biden Quotes Haley – GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has been trying to make the case that President Biden, 80, and Donald J. Trump, 77, are too old, as their cognitive abilities are on the downswing, to win this year’s election and spend another four years in the White House. But as Trump continues to lead Haley by some 55 points in the polls (see center column news aggregate) the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor is going after the former president’s cognitive abilities, or lack thereof, including his statement that Haley was in charge of Capitol security on January 6, 2021.

“We offered them 10,000 people” to fend off the insurrectionists, Trump told a rally in New Hampshire, but “Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley … Nikki Haley is in charge” of security at the Capitol, and she turned his administration down, he said. Not only has he confused Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), he has claimed to have defeated Barack Obama (it was Hilary Clinton) in his first presidential race. 

As MSNBC’s Morning Joe noted, Biden’s re-election campaign picked up the easy hit on Trump, posting on X (formerly Twitter); “I don’t agree with Nikki Haley on everything, but we agree on this much: She is not Nancy Pelosi.”

•••

Your civil commentary on these latest news items or recent issues discussed in The Hustings is most welcomed and indeed, encouraged. If you lean left or liberal, click on this column and go to the Comment section of the page. We will post any civil, fact-based opinions in this column whether you are moderate-liberal or progressive.

Or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate in the subject line whether you are liberal or conservative.

No matter your politics, we encourage you to eschew echo chambers and read political news and analysis in the center column and conservative/right-wing commentary in the left column as well as liberal/progressive in this column.

To navigate, scroll up and down each column with the near-track bar. To read earlier posts, scroll down using the track bar on the far right.

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Haley v. Trump

The AP has called the New Hampshire Republican primary for Donald J. Trump. But Nikki Haley's campaign says she will not drop out of the GOP presidential nomination race no matter the results. Be sure to read Stephen Macaulay's column calling out Trump's dog-whistle on Haley's ethnic background, "Teach Your Children Well", by clicking on The Gray Area at the top of this page.

TUESDAY 1/23/24

Trump Edges Up -- With 16% of the vote in, Trump has 54.2% of the vote to Haley's 44.9% the AP reports.

Early New Hampshire Returns -- With 8% of the Republican primary vote in, Donald J. Trump leads with 52.8% of the vote, to Nikki Haley's 46.6% of the vote, according to the Associated Press. Though he has already withdrawn from the race, Ron DeSantis nabbed 0.6%.

•••

On to South Carolina -- Nikki Haley will not drop out of the GOP presidential race even if she loses New Hampshire to Donald J. Trump by double-digits, Mark Harris, lead strategist for the pro-Haley super PAC SFA Funds Inc. told reporters at the Manchester expo center Tuesday.

"I think turnout is trending in the direction we need it to be so we're optimistic about tonight," Harris said, per The Washington Post. "But regardless we're on to South Carolina tomorrow morning."

•••

Haley Takes Early Lead – Nikki Haley had a 6-0 lead shortly after midnight Tuesday over Donald J. Trump in the New Hampshire primary. All six registered voters in Dixville Notch voted for the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor when the town opened its polls briefly, NPR reports. New Hampshire’s 221 towns are required to open polls from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at a minimum, though with some flexibility, as with Dixville Notch. Twenty-one names are on the Democratic ballot, none of them “Joe Biden.” The president’s supporters are urging write-ins for him.

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MONDAY 1/22/24

Trump Up – Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is ahead of Ron DeSantis in national polls, but Donald J. Trump remains far ahead, according to a national poll averaging by Decision Desk HQ/The Hill. Trump has 67% and Haley, who as of this writing is still in the race, has 12%, one point ahead of DeSantis, who is not.

•••

Haley’s Comet – New Hampshire is the never-Trump traditional Republicans’ one and only shot, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis now officially out of the GOP presidential race and Nikki Haley polling second behind the former president. Like South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and uber-libertarian entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, DeSantis apparently wants a shot at a post of some sort in a second Trump term and is backing his former rival. Apparently, the three former challengers have concluded it’s best to hunker down from inside an authoritarian government rather than from the outside.

Haley’s droll comment after DeSantis’ withdrawal: “May the best woman win,” per The New York Times.

Haley probably will need first place in New Hampshire in order to stay in the race. Her best hope is that a sufficient number of independents and Democrats vote Republican in the primary, which they are allowed to do in the Granite State.

Koch refreshes?: The Koch Brothers early last year vowed to use their super-PAC to stop Trump, and have since put all their campaign money behind Haley. What happens if/when she has to suspend her campaign?

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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What’s Right

Pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay makes a conservative never-Trumper argument for why Donald J. Trump’s big win in the Iowa caucuses shouldn’t matter so much. Scroll down using the trackbar at the far right to read his commentary and Ken Zino’s left-column take. 

Use the scroll bar at the near right to read how you can comment on Macaulay’s commentary, Zino’s commentary or (preferably, for the sake of balance) both.

Be sure to read, also, Macaulay’s take on Trump’s attacks on his UN ambassador, Nikki Haley’s birth name and ethnic background in “Teach Your Children Well” in The Gray Area. Click on the tab above to read it.

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