By Todd Lassa

When President Biden took office a year ago, his emerging agenda -- beyond an earnest, flailing effort to quash the COVID-19 pandemic -- centered on a burgeoning social and physical infrastructure program that could have amounted to the wholesale dismantling of the Reaganomics of the last 40 years. Progressives in the House of Representatives were energized by the plans of a fellow Democrat who ran as a moderate who sought bipartisan comity. 

Pro-MAGA and never-Trumper Republicans alike applied the tag “socialism” to the policies and proposals of a president who was certain America is ready for a new chapter in the FDR New Deal/LBJ Great Society saga. 

Whether a true moderate Democrat or not, Joseph R. Biden is pragmatic. When it came time on the 365^th day of his presidency, with only the bipartisan infrastructure program to show for all his reverse-Reaganism, Biden admitted, “It’s clear to me that we’re probably going to have to break it up … I’m confident we can get big chunks of Build Back Better signed into law.”

That means spiking two centerpieces of BBB: Child tax credits and subsidized community college. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has supported early childhood education – universal pre-kindergarten – according to Politico, so that portion of the bill might make it well into 2022.

While Democrats’ progressive wing, led by Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in the House and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Independent Bernie Sanders in the Senate, will have to accept their party’s wafer-thin majority and likelihood that they will lose one or both houses after the midterms for Biden’s moderation to work. Breaking up BBB may start to reverse the president’s awful poll numbers. It gives the White House the chance for a number of small victories spread through the next 10 months. The cheering for the bipartisan infrastructure plan’s passage last November was quickly overshadowed by media focus on the fight over BBB.

Voting rights reform, which Democrats consider vital to fighting a potentially permanent Republican Congressional majority this year and the prospect of Donald J. Trump overturning the presidential election in 2024, faces a tougher battle after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) quixotic attempt to change Senate filibuster rules. The most he can count on this year is for reform of the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which Keith E. Whittington, in the right-leaning Reason calls “a cumbersome statute that has long needed reform.”

And the wild card in Biden’s 2022 agenda is Russian aggression toward Ukraine. He said this as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on his way to Geneva for talks with his counterpart in the Kremlin: “I think what you’re going to see is Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up fighting about what to do and not do, etc. But if they do what they’re actually capable of doing with their forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia. …”

Biden clarified a day later, on the first anniversary of his inauguration, that “any Russian movement into Ukraine will be considered invasion.”

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Please email your comments on President Biden’s year in office ahead to editors@thehustings.news
(Posted FRI 1/21/22)

FRI 1/21/22

•Anti-abortion activists hold their annual ’March for Life’ on Washington today, the day before the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision in anticipation the Supreme Court will likely overturn the abortion rights decision before the end of this year’s session (NPR).

•Can Biden save his presidency in Year Two? Eric Blair and Stephen Macaulay debate the question on this page.  

Back in the U.S.S.R. – Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters his meeting Friday with his Kremlin counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, was “a discussion, not negotiation” over the Kremlin’s aggression toward Ukraine. The Kremlin has made it clear they will invade if NATO doesn’t back off.

Note:  Foreign policy analyst and Washington Post columnist Max Boot told NPR’s Morning Edition he doesn’t compare Putin’s latest aggression with the Cuban Missile Crisis, as there is “no real threat of nuclear war” (don’t duck-and-cover just yet), but it’s still “a very dangerous moment and potentially the worst conflict in Europe since 1945.”

•••

And How Was Your Jan. 6, Ms. Trump? – The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection has politely requested the presence of former First Daughter Ivanka Trump to talk about what she knows about her father’s actions, or lack thereof, that day.

In the letter from its chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), it says, in part “As January 6th approached, President Trump attempted on multiple occasions to persuade Vice President Pence to participate in his plan. One of the President’s discussions with the Vice President occurred by phone on the morning of January 6th. You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation.”

And: “Testimony obtained by the Committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill.”

(Were we not trying to be serious here, we might quote Desi to Lucy regarding explanations.)

Known knowables: Committee member Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) already has revealed evidence Ivanka Trump tried to get the ex-prez to call off the MAGA hats on Capitol Hill that day, as Donald J. Trump delightedly watched and rewound footage of it on cable news. 

Known unknowables: Would the committee – which has met defiance by such January 6 witnesses as Stephen Bannon and Mark Meadows – dare subpoena the ex-prez’s favorite offspring if she declines to RSVP?

•••

About that Electoral College – Republican electors in the capitals of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin – all states won by Joseph R. Biden – declared themselves “duly elected and qualified” on December 14, 2020, the day of the Electoral College vote, and sent signed certificates to the Capitol to affirm Donald J. Trump as the actual winner, The Washington Post reports.

Note: The Hill reports Friday that “multiple groups” on Capitol Hill are working on Electoral College Act reform and that “GOP leaders in both chambers are opening the door to changes in the 1887 law.”

•••

A Pox on Both Your Parties -- You might think that Pelosi and Schumer, McCarthy and McConnell are wildly popular among the members of their respective political parties. To a lesser extent, AOC and MTG. But their public visibility is such that they seem to be, to use a not exactly appropriate but understandable label, “rock stars.”

But then we see the results of a new Gallup Poll on the popularity of Congress.

Overall, Congressional job approval is at 18%.

For Democrats the number is 26%, which sounds better until you know that in August and September it was above 50%.

On the Republican side, things are even more sour: a 9% approval rating. And that’s up from 5% in October.

Note: The common wisdom has it that the Democrats are most at-risk in the coming midterms. But how can it be that the Republicans keep their jobs? Do you think that if you worked at any job and your job approval rating among the people who were your customers (external or internal) was under 10% (meaning 90% were unhappy with you) you’d have a job?

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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THU 1/20/22

•Jury selection is scheduled to begin Thursday in federal court in the civil rights case against three Minneapolis police officers who allegedly stood by as fellow officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd.

•How did President Biden do in his first year in office? What do you think of his more moderate agenda for 2022? Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and let us know whether your comments belong in the left or the right column.

Build Back in Big Chunks – From his one hour, 51-minute press conference Wednesday, it looks like the difference between Year One and Year Two of President Biden’s administration will be a move to the middle.

Biden admitted in the presser his $1.75-trillion (or so) Build Back Better social infrastructure plan will be split up into smaller programs to better appeal to the kind of bipartisan support that got his infrastructure bill through both chambers last year. 

“It’s clear to me that we’re probably going to have to break it up,” Biden said. … “I’m confident we can get big chunks of Build Back Better signed into law.”

Now he tells us: Politico notes that White House aides last year were “happy” to promote Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT), chair of the Budget Committee, as author of the initial legislation (back when it had a $3.5-trillion price tag). 

“Don’t call me Bernie … I like him, but I’m not Bernie Sanders. I’m not a socialist. I’m a mainstream Democrat, and I have been.”

Note: Biden and supporters often compare his agenda with what FDR and LBJ got done. President Reagan overturned the remains of the New Deal and the Great Society. Biden evidently wanted to overturn Reaganomics. But that was never going to happen with the Democratic Party’s thin majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives, and this year, the first order of business for the White House is to get House progressives in line, on its way to getting Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) in line.

Biden, who was first elected to the Senate during the Nixon administration, is a pre-Reagan moderate Democrat; Certainly, a pre-Trump moderate from before the MAGA crowd began referring to the entire Democratic Party as “socialists.”

•••

Biden’s Controversial Answer on Ukraine -- On Russia v. Ukraine: “I think what you’re going to see is Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we [i.e., NATO members] end up fighting about what to do and not do, etc. But if they [the Russians] do what they’re actually capable of doing with their forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia. (If they invade) … our partners are going to incur severe cuts on Russia and the Russian economy.”

Note: Welcome to the New Cold War.

•••

Voting Rights and Filibuster Reform Go as Planned -- By Senate Republicans, that is. They blocked votes on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act Wednesday evening, thanks to Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) joining them in voting down Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) attempt to change filibuster rules, 52-48. 

Reform the Electoral Count Act: In the aftermath of Wednesday evening’s voting rights bill debacle, if there is any legislation related to protecting the integrity of elections it will be through the reformation of the Electoral Count Act. Compared with the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, such reform would be a rather narrow preventative to make sure state partisan election officials do not try to overturn the results of voters’ will on the Electoral College for president in 2024, when Donald J. Trump probably will run if one of myriad investigations don’t get him first.

Note: That’s why such never-Trump conservatives as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) has indicated interest in tackling the arcane, flawed 1887 Electoral Count Act. 

•••

How is That Executive Privilege Claim Working Out? – The National Archives can turn over Trump administration paperwork related to the January 6 insurrection to the House Select Committee investigating what happened (or didn’t) that day. The Supreme Court says so. Last evening it released an unsigned, one-paragraph statement to that effect. Apparently only Justice Clarence Thomas disagreed. 

(Thomas’s wife, Ginni, signed a letter this week which says, in part, according to Slate, "The actions of Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger on behalf of House Democrats have given supposedly bipartisan justification to an overtly partisan political persecution that brings disrespect to our country's rule of law, legal harassment to private citizens who have done nothing wrong, and which demeans the standing of the House.") Trump had been claiming executive privilege, despite the facts that (1) he is no longer president and (2) Joe Biden, who is the president and so has such privilege, had previously signed off on the release of the documents.

The 1/6 panel is now seeking phone records from Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.’s wife, Kimberly Guillfoyle, both of whom attended Trump Sr.’s January 6 rally prior to the Capitol attack.

•••

Meanwhile, Back at the Comfort Inn – New government court filings say the Oath Keepers extremist group in organizing for the January 6 Capitol insurrection allegedly stashed enough weapons, ammunition and supplies in a Virginia Comfort Inn motel to last 30 days, The Hill reports. The stockpiling was allegedly part of a “quick reaction force” in case Oath Keepers rioting the Capitol needed backup. The filing argues that because of the stockpiling of weapons and ammo, Oath Keeper Edward Vallejo should be held in jail while he awaits trial in federal court. 

Note: Tourism sure has changed during the pandemic.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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WED 1/19/22

•President Biden is scheduled to hold a formal press conference at the White House at 4 p.m. Eastern time today.

•Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Kyiv, Ukraine today and travels to Geneva Friday for talks with his Kremlin counterpart over Russia’s intensifying tensions at Ukraine’s border.

•Read Stephen Macaulay’s commentary, Gorsuch: So Much for Civility now at our Substack page, https://thehustings.substack.com.

Talking a Talking Filibuster – Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took up the strategy named by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) in The Hill yesterday that a group of Democrats would try a procedural move to force a “talking filibuster” on Republicans blocking the voting rights bills. Now it looks like Schumer will take up a vote on the voting rights bills passed in the House last year and “force” senators to go on record on where they stand on the issue. Then Schumer will take up a vote to change Senate rules and make filibusters “talking,” requiring the Republican caucus to block a simple majority vote on voting rights for days or weeks by jawboning on the floor. 

The usual suspects, Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin III (WV) and Krysten Sinema (AZ) apparently are not likely to vote with their party on filibuster rule changes, even though Manchin, at least, has previously suggested he would support the talking filibuster requirement. 

Note: Taking up voting rights bills and filibuster reform is being orchestrated to prove to Democratic Party supporters they are trying to get what conservatives consider “progressive” legislation passed in a recalcitrant Senate, as each move Schumer attempts is declared Dead on Arrival.

•••

DOA by the GOP – Republicans will make sure nothing with President Biden’s imprimatur will get past the Senate. That’s the takeaway from a Washington Examiner interview with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, whom Republicans were trying to convince to challenge Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) this November, as reported by Chris Cilizza in his CNN The Point! daily newsletter.

Sununu spoke with current Republican senators before he made his decision to instead run for a third term for governor: “They were all, for the most part, content with the speed at which they weren’t doing anything. It was very clear that we just have to hold the line for two years. Okay, so I’m just going to be a roadblock for two years. That’s not what I do.”

•••

Real Estate Deals – New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James has released court papers arguing for the need to question Donald J. Trump and two of his children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, in a civil investigation alleging fraud against the Trump Organization, The New York Times reports. James released the papers Tuesday in response to ex-president Trump’s efforts to block the investigation. Son Eric Trump already has been questioned, so yeah, based on that, the case must have legs despite a spokeswoman issuing a statement that the allegations are baseless and politically motivated. 

James left it “unclear” whether her attorneys will file a lawsuit against the Trumps, the NYT says. To keep this particular Trump case straight: This is the one investigating allegations the Trump Organization er, trumped-up the value of its properties, including golf courses, office buildings and personal properties, to investors and banks, while undervaluing their value to the IRS for tax-paying purposes.

Note: That must be some accounting trick. A specific case noted in James’ court papers describes how the Trump Organization listed $150,000 in initiation fees for its Westchester golf club that were never collected. Yes, that would be an example of over-valuing properties for investors.

•••

Tightening the Circle with More Subpoenas – Rudolph Guiliani, the former New York City mayor and personal attorney to Donald J. Trump, and attorneys Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis sure were eager to tell the nation about the “election fraud” that “stole” the November 2020 election from the incumbent president. Are they ready to appear before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection?

Don’t expect much cooperation from the otherwise talkative attorneys who are among the latest to be subpoenaed by the select committee, along with former White House aide Boris Epshteyn, further tightening the circle surrounding Trump and his kids. They’re likely to balk of course. 

But the panel’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) indicated how much evidence they have already, including testimony, reportedly from former Trumpsters who have run from the movement. His statement released Tuesday, per The Washington Post:

“We expect the individuals to join the nearly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the Select Committee on the committee’s work to get answers for the American people about the violent attack on our democracy.”

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Charles Dervarics

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TUE 1/18/22

•Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 Dashboard reports 851,730 U.S. deaths from the coronavirus and 5,547,903 reported globally.

•Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to Kyiv, Ukraine, and Berlin, Germany this week to join talks between the West and Russia over Russia’s military aggression near the Ukraine Border (Politico).

•Read Notes from a Stormy Martin Luther King Jr. Day Tuesday at https://thehustings.substack.com.

Senate Vote for Show – Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), will bring voter rights legislation to the Senate floor Tuesday, and then will push a vote on the Senate’s legislative filibuster rules when those fail. Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) already has promised to vote against the filibuster change, and of course with Sen. Joe Manchin III’s (D-AZ) opposition, Democrats will be two votes short of the majority necessary to pass anything. Unless…

Hail Mary Pass?: The Hill reports Tuesday morning that a group of Democratic senators, led by Tim Kaine of Virginia, are “exploring the possibility of forcing Senate Republicans to actually hold the floor with speeches and procedural motions.” The hope is, according to the report, that the special procedural move would tire out the GOP caucus “after a few days or weeks” and that Schumer “may be able to call for a simple majority vote. This could go into overtime.

Note: Kaine & Co. would then have to make sure that Manchinema would be in support of at least one of the voter rights bills. Does the John Lewis Voting Rights Act -- which would restore Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 – still have the support of Manchin and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), as reported by The Hill last November? 

•••

Here’s One that Could have Bipartisan Support -- Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) introduced legislation last week that would prohibit Congress members, their spouses and dependents from owning individual stock, The Wall Street Journal reports. While current laws require members to publicly file and disclose stock trades within 45 days, under the proposed rule they would have to place them in a blind trust.

While the Senate bill is sponsored by two Democrats, a similar bill introduced in the House of Representatives has sponsors from both parties. According to the WSJ the FBI has investigated, but closed cases involving alleged insider trading on former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Sens. James Inhofe (R-OK), Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

Note: Such legislation has earned a rather Trumpy notoriety, considering the former president’s lack of interest in placing his investments in a blind trust and in disclosing his IRS records. Data and market analysis by 2iQ’s Capital Trades reported that 113 of 533 Congress members reported market activity last year, WSJ says, and none of them was House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who supports some new limits. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who opposes individual stock trade bans, has reported her husband made “dozens” of individual stock transactions in 2021.

•••

John F. Kennedy, Jr.: Still Dead — John F. Kennedy, Jr., died in an airplane crash on July 16, 1999. He is still dead[VJ1] .

Note: According to Politico, some attendees at Donald J. Trump’s rally this past weekend in Florence, Arizona, think that JFK Jr. would make a good running mate for DJT in the ’24 presidential. The thinking (if one can describe it as such) is that JFK Jr. didn’t leave this veil of tears but is actually, as Politico writer Meridith McGraw puts it, “a secret Trump supporter embedded far in the ‘deep state.’” OK. And Trump won the 2020 election.

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods

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FRI 1/14/22

•Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has cancelled next week’s recess and will take up voting rights legislation next Tuesday. Schumer threatens that if (when) Republicans block passage of that, he will push a vote on changing filibuster rules (which Republican senators also will block). (Punchbowl News)

•ICYMI: Just before President Biden was to speak to the Senate Democratic caucus to push voting rights legislation, Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) took to the Senate floor Thursday announcing she would not support changes to filibuster rules (The Hill).

•News & Notes will join Congress in taking recess Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. See you Tuesday.

Disappointing December Retail Sales – Retail and food sales dropped 1.9% in December to $626.8 billion, -- below economists’ expectations -- compared with an adjusted level of $639.1 billion for November 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Friday. The December number was up 19.3% over December 2020, and for the full year, retail sales were up 16.9% compared with calendar 2020.

•••

Will Kavenaugh Become a SCOTUS Swing Vote? – Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh joined Chief Justice John Roberts Thursday in voting with the liberal minority to uphold a White House vaccination mandate for health care workers whose facilities receive federal Medicare and/or Medicaid funding, in Biden v. Missouri.

The majority opinion noted that the first rule of health care workers is “to do no harm.” In the minority opinion on Biden v. Missouri, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the administration proposes “virtually unlimited vaccination power over millions of health care workers” in a “hodgepodge” of statutes, SCOTUSblog reports.

Note: Conversely, the court voted 5-4 to block the Biden administration’s OSHA mandate for private employers, in National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Department of Labor. Thursday’s SCOTUS double-header certainly gives the overall win to MAGA-world’s freedom-from-vax philosophy. The Washington Post notes that the Biden v. Missouri mandate affects about 10 million health care workers, while the OSHA rule would have affected 84 million employees. But it’s worth watching to see whether Kavenaugh continues to side with Roberts as the court’s new swing vote moderates, while justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett continue to side with Thomas and Samuel Alito.

•••

‘1/6 Capitol Seditious Conspiracy’ – “Seditious conspiracy” is the charge against Oath Keeper founder and leader Stewart Rhodes and 10 other members of the extremist group by a district court grand jury Thursday. Nine of the Oath Keepers were already facing charges in the January 6 – insurrection, riot, coup, what have you. Rhodes had said previously he did nothing wrong that day, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

The grand jury, which the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia convened on January 8, 2021, said Rhodes and his fellow Oath Keepers conspired to stop the election of President Biden. The 11 Oath Keepers represent the first organized group that has been charged in the incitement. They allegedly planned, organized and brought paramilitary gear to the Capitol January 6 (and apparently acted as bodyguards for longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone). 

Rhodes and a stash of guns the Oath Keepers allegedly brought with them January 6 appears to have remained behind in a suburban Virginia hotel, NPR reported.

Note: The Anti-Defamation League describes the Oath Keepers as “a large but loosely based organized collection of right-wing anti-government extremists who are part of the militia movement, which believes that the federal government has been co-opted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights.” 

It says something about the MAGA movement that such a group would find itself in the mainstream in helping then-President Trump to subvert the 2020 presidential election. 

One more note: Curiously, a look at the Oath Keepers’ website (whose “ability to take new memberships online has been temporarily interrupted”) reveals that the organization was established after U.S. military were “commanded” to take firearms from New Orleans-area citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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THU 1/13/22

•President Joe Biden meets with Senate Democrats today to push voter rights legislation and lift the legislative filibuster to make it happen, although it is facing certain death thanks to Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) (The Hill).

•Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will start debate on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act using existing Senate rules that would require just 51 votes to commence (WaPo).

Thompson’s Epistolary Fail — “We write to request your voluntary cooperation with our investigation on a range of critical topics, including your conversations with President Trump before, during and after the violent January 6th attack” is the first sentence of the second paragraph of a letter addressed to “The Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Republican Leader” from Bennie G. Thompson, chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol. The penultimate paragraph says, in full: “We would like to meet with you soon, but we also want to accommodate your schedule. We propose meeting with you on February 3, 2022 or February 4, 2022. Please let us know whether one of those dates will fit with your schedule, or connect us with your counsel so we can coordinate on scheduling. If you are unavailable on those dates, we can arrange a time during the week of February 7, 2022.”

It almost goes without saying that McCarthy has rejected the request: “As a representative and the leader of the minority party, it is with neither regret nor satisfaction that I have concluded to not participate with this select committee’s abuse of power that stains this institution today and will harm it going forward.”

Note — While there is something to be said for politeness and civility, has there been a scintilla of willingness on behalf of the likes of McCarthy to behave in a manner one should expect of elected officials at the highest level? If you were to receive a letter from a Congressional Select Committee, wouldn’t you imagine that you’d honor the request? Do you think McCarthy will?

This is part and parcel of the approach taken by Donald Trump and his January 6 enablers: Deny, deny, deny.

When did Republicans stop believing in the rule of law, be it de facto or de jure? Or in telling the truth when asked? Probably when it became inconvenient for them.

What are they trying to hide?

•••

Challenge to Trump’s GOP Begins Again – It’s too early to call, considering how the former president managed to hold control of his party last year after his impeachment and acquittal following his January 6, 2021 “efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election,” but hard-right pundit Ann Coulter had this to say on Twitter about Trump Wednesday and his call for Republican leaders to reveal their COVID-19 booster shot status:

“EXCLUSIVE: Trump is demanding to know Ron DeSantis’s booster status, and I can now reveal it. He was a loyal booster when Trump ran in 2016, but then he learned our president was a liar and a con man whose grift was permanent. I hope that clears things up.”

Coulter was referring to Trump’s Tuesday interview on One America News Network – the media outlet he favors because Fox News is no longer “Trumpy” enough – in which he called out Republican leaders for refusing to say whether they have taken the COVID-19 vaccine booster. The answer, he said, “is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless.”

Arizona is the new Florida: Trump is headed to Arizona this weekend to be kingmaker for the state’s mid-term GOP primaries, Roll Call reports, and counter to whatever is happening with DeSantis, Republicans there are giddy about it. 

It should be noted it was Coulter, and not Trump, who called out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by name. Coulter has largely been missing in action in the Fox News universe since early 2019, when she turned on Trump for his failure to “act on his promise” to build The Wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, per Newsweek.

About that timeline: A “loyal booster when Trump ran in 2016,” according to Coulter’s tweets, DeSantis now realizes the former president was a “liar and a con man,” but when did he flip?

Not at the CPAC meeting in Orlando late last February, when DeSantis scored 21% in a straw poll of favorite GOP presidential candidates for 2024, second to Trump’s 51% (North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was third at just 4%). Consensus at the event is that DeSantis would be the Trumpiest alternative if the former president chooses not to run in ’24, and the number-one running mate if he did.

Coulter, so far, hasn’t regained any traction from her tweet, three years after her schism with Trump pretty much removed her from the Fox News world, but never-Trump conservatives should be encouraged by the ex-prez’s apparent split with the Florida governor, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) continues to try to grab the GOP back.

--Edited by Gary S. Vasilash, Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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WED 1/12/22

Inflation Rate Hits 7.0% -- The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% in December to reach an annual rate of 7.0% for 2021, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday morning. It was the highest annual rate since hitting 17% in 1982, when the high inflation of the Ford and Carter years bled into the second year of the Reagan administration. Indexes for shelter and for used cars and trucks led the December increase, BLS says. Food prices also rose, up 0.5% in December, though at a slower rate than in previous months. Energy prices fell in December, by 0.4%.

Biden’s Second Stemwinder This Year Goes Nowhere – It was President Biden’s best speech, given in Atlanta Tuesday just five days after his last best speech, on the January 6 Capitol insurrection anniversary. But civil rights organizations that stayed away want Biden to take his arguments back to Washington. 

From Atlanta, Biden told Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) this: “To protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate filibuster … however they can.”

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says the Senate will vote by January 17 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day, next Monday – to change filibuster rules if Republicans continue to block votes on voting rights bills, according to The Washington Post. 

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) responded by threatening to clog the Senate with more than a dozen GOP bills using Rule XIV. Among these are bills to block vaccine mandates and White House fracking bans, McConnell told The Wall Street Journal. To which Schumer responded, “We aren’t afraid of these bills.”

Note: McConnell spoke from the Senate floor with a quote on a placard behind him, arguing that the legislative filibuster gives political minorities a voice and should remain in place. The quote was by the late Sen. Robert Byrd, Democrat from West Virginia, Joe Manchin’s predecessor and mentor.

The point: “We have 51 presidents” in the Senate, Biden said in Atlanta. In reality, there currently are two; Manchin and McConnell. While Manchin was the audience Biden and McConnell were speaking to, the Senate minority leader also was speaking to ex-President Trump as he grabbed a bit more control of the GOP from him. 

•••

Cracks in the Trump GOP? – Donald J. Trump “appeared to snap at Gov. Ron DeSantis” in a One America News Network interview Tuesday night, Politico reports. The former president called out Republican leaders, including DeSantis (regarded as a frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination if Trump doesn’t run again), for waffling on whether they have personally taken COVID-19 vaccines. 

“Because they had the vaccine, and they’re answering like – in other words, the answer is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless.”

•••

What Do the Numbers Say About Whitmer? -- Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan, the woman who was targeted for kidnapping by a far-right extremist group in 2020 for demanding people wear masks and imposing other measures during the explosion of COVID, a leader who was called a “dictator” by Donald Trump, will be up for reelection this year. So how’s it looking for her?

Note — A WDIV/Detroit News survey found that Whitmer’s favorability is 47.6%. Her unfavorables: 39.6%. Independents say 49% favorable and 32.9% unfavorable.

She is actually gaining some traction. A similar poll taken last fall had her approval rating at 48.3% and disapproval at 44%. The latest numbers are 56.2% approve of her job and 38.7% disapprove. The change is predicated on. . .independents. In September 51.2% disapproved. That number has fallen to 27.9%, with 62.3% of independents approving of her performance.

A troubling number for Whitmer: 41.7%. That is the number of people who said they would prefer voting for someone new rather than reelecting her. The number in favor of her reelection was 39.9%, whereas 12.2% said it depends on her opponent.

Of the four leading Republicans who are vying for the nomination, Whitmer bests all of them, with the closest competitor being James Craig, former chief of the Detroit Police Department and occasional talking head on Fox News. Whitmer is at 48.6% and Craig at 39.1%. An interesting aspect of Craig: In the question about favorable or unfavorable, the biggest number, 55% goes to “Never heard of.” Which apparently translates to, “does not watch Fox News.”

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics

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TUE 1/11/22

•Read ‘Voting with the Opposition’ at https://thehustings.substack.com.

‘Autocracy v. Democracy’ – That’s the choice President Biden will pose to voters in Atlanta, where he and Vice President Harris will try to sell voting rights’ bills, first to Republicans and when that doesn’t work, to Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV), whose vote is needed to fix the filibuster and pass his own proposal. Several voting rights groups, including Black Voters Matter, say they won’t attend because they want Biden and Harris to sell their bills to Congress in Washington and not on the road, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Even Stacy Abrams won’t attend – because of a “scheduling conflict,” according to Politico.

Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have self-imposed a deadline of next Monday – Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day – to get a bill passed.

Note: But which bill? Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) on Morning Edition laid the burden on Manchin, who introduced The Freedom to Vote Act, a compromise combo of H.R. 4, The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and H.R. 1, For the People Act. Clyburn called on Manchin to support his own bill, which he says was written to bring in bipartisan support to pass a bill without removing the filibuster. 

Of course, none of this is going to happen. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) attacked any such legislation, saying that Democrats are using the January 6 Capitol insurrection as an excuse for federal overreach of states’ rights on voter laws. Well, yeah. Not such a bad excuse.

Reforming the Electoral Count Act of 1887 is being given a better chance of bipartisan support in the Senat, according to Punchbowl News. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has convened a group of Republican and Democratic senators to discuss such reform.

It appears the best voting rights groups can hope for is a return to 2020 guidelines and maybe overruling recent state legislation to make it easier to overturn the next presidential election in favor of Donald J. Trump. Wonder why many voters’ rights advocates are uninterested in Biden’s speech today, huh?

About that filibuster: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Monday vowed to force votes on a dozen GOP bills if Democrats nuke the filibuster, Politico reports. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer responded by moving to call up all the GOP bills for passage at the majority threshold. Lesson is the legislative filibuster, first target in Democratic leadership’s goals for the year, is not about to go down.

•••

Republicans and the Iranian Nuclear Deal — Remember the Obama-era- nuclear deal with Iran signed in 2015 that was meant to stop the development of nuclear weapons, the deal that Donald Trump, who called it “decaying and rotten,” pulled out of in 2018? A Morning Consult poll shows that 43% of Republicans support the 2015 deal, 39% oppose it, and 18% aren’t sure. Forty-three, of course, is bigger than 39.

Note — However, in the current bizzarro world of Republicans, when asked whether it was correct for Trump to withdraw from the agreement, 67% said that it was the right move. Simply: they support the agreement with Iran but think it was correct to break the agreement. Go figure.

A category to watch is that of Independents, which could have an ever-increasing importance in electoral politics. On the question of whether they supported the Iranian agreement or not, 52% said they did and 26% said they didn’t. On whether it was right or wrong to withdraw from the deal, 34% of Independents think it is the right move and 41% think it is wrong.

Those numbers don’t support one of Trump’s main foreign policy moves. To the extent that there are more issues of an international scope (e.g., troubles in central Europe, continued friction with China), which would make foreign relations a more important consideration, this may not bode well for the Trump Republican party.

--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics

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MON 1/10/22

•It’s voting rights week as President Biden and Vice President Harris take to the road, beginning in Georgia, to promote a couple of voting rights bills ahead of Martin Luther King Day next week. Hill Democrats are said to be losing confidence in whether Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) will support either of two bills, or the filibuster reform necessary to get one of them passed.

U.S.-Russia Security Talks in Geneva – The U.S. and Russia meet in Geneva this week to discuss the Russian troops gathered near Ukraine’s eastern border. While the Biden administration has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin not to invade Ukraine, again, with threats of economic sanctions, Putin is warning against any further expansion of NATO into Eastern European countries that once were part of the Soviet Union. 

“There are confidence-building measures, there are risk-reduction measures, all of which, if done reciprocally, I think can really reduce tensions and address concerns, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in his most diplomatic language, on ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Blinken also expects discussion over Russian troops aiding the post-Soviet authoritarian government in Kazakhstan over widespread protests there.

Note: Almost impossible to imagine this diplomatic meeting even taking place under the anti-NATO isolationism of the Trump administration. Putin clearly thinks he still has the upper hand, but he understands how much more compromised his position is versus a year ago.

•••

Rounds Acknowledges Reality, And Says It Out Loud -- Yesterday, South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds, went on national television and stated of November 2020, “The election was fair, as fair as we’ve seen. We simply did not win the election, as Republicans, for the presidency.” The subordinate clause, “as Republicans” is what makes this notable.

Note — Mike Rounds is the junior senator from South Dakota. He assumed office in January 2015. John Thune, also a Republican, is the senior senator. Rounds was the governor of South Dakota from 2003 to 2011. The present governor, also a Republican, is Kristi Noem — self-described in the first sentence on the state’s governor’s website as “a wife, a mother, and a lifelong rancher, farmer and small business owner.” It also points out on that webpage, that her response to COVID-19 has been, well, not really a response: “Governor Noem never ordered a single business or church to close and never issued a statewide shelter-in-place order.” South Dakota has had 281 deaths per 100,000 people.

Anyway, Sen. Rounds simply stated what has been acknowledged by essentially everyone with the exceptions of the man who was soundly thrashed by Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and those who he has managed to persuade there is an alternate reality.

But because he is (a) a Republican and (b) from a so-called “Red State” (a distinction, if you think about it, which must make Vladimir Putin giddy), that he makes news with that observation. (See: We’re going on about it, too.)

Another interesting thing that Rounds said yesterday, in relation to whether Trump might be in some serious legal trouble related to the January 6 insurrection, “But that shield of the presidency does not exist for someone who is a former president.”

Again: if you are no longer president, then you don’t have the privileges of being, well, president. Let’s say Trump wanted to take a trip. Could he take Air Force One? Let’s say Trump wanted to practice drawing on maps with a Sharpie. Could he do it on the Resolute Desk?

•••

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin – Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) promised a self-imposed two-term limit when he beat Democrat incumbent Russ Feingold in 2010. Since then, he has gone full-Trump, even giving January 6 insurrectionists every description from “peaceful patriots” to “fake Trump protesters” to people on “a normal tourist visit,” so of course he has decided to run for a third term in the state both Donald J. Trump in 2016 and Joseph R. Biden in 2020 won by less than one point.

The field of Democratic challengers already has topped the half-dozen mark according to Roll Call, led by Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who would become the first Black senator from Wisconsin, as well as state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, whose father is co-owner of the 2021 NBA championship team.

Note: This is gearing up to be the next epic race, after last November’s Virginia gubernatorial election to gauge the strength of ex-President Trump’s influence over a loyal minority core of supporters and over the GOP itself. Between now and November, Johnson’s political fate will rely heavily on whatever action Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland takes against Trump for his influence on the insurrection.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash

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Please email your comments on these news items and/or our debates, including “The Trump Coup Must be Stopped” (scroll down) to editors@thehustings.news

FRI 1/7/22

•The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, regarding the Biden administration’s vaccination-or-test mandate for workers with at-large employees, and Biden v. Missouri,a mandate for health care workers at facilities that receive federal funding (SCOTUSblog).

•A judge is expected today to sentence the three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery in Satilla Shores near Brunswick, Georgia (WaPo). Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William “Roddy” Bryan will be sentenced to life in prison – the judge will decide whether they will be eligible for parole.

Unemployment Rate Drops to 3.9 -- The U.S. economy added just 199,000 jobs in December, far below economists’ expectations, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday morning, although the unemployment rate fell to just 3.9%. The COVID-19 surge from the omicron variant is blamed for the poor jobs number. Upward trends in employment continue to be the hospitality industry, professional, and business services, manufacturing, construction and transportation and warehousing.

•••

Biden’s Best Speech – Democrats are giving President Biden high marks for his January 6 commemoration speech yesterday in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, where he denounced the former president (without naming him) for instigating the insurrection (scroll down to read excerpts of his remarks in the January 6 News & Notes). 

Biden’s party now hopes he will make a habit of such speeches in the months leading up to this November’s midterm elections, igniting perhaps a few legislative victories, despite super-thin majorities in both chambers. The president is scheduled to head to Georgia next Tuesday to build public support for voting rights legislation, according to Punchbowl News.

After Biden’s Speech: Representatives on the House floor commemorated the Capitol insurrection with solemn speeches Thursday afternoon. The Democrats’ side of the aisle was full, while the Republicans’ side had just two people, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. “Warm words” were exchanged between the senior Cheney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and afterward, the former vice president and Wyoming representative said of the GOP: “It’s not a leadership that resembles any of the folks I knew when I was here for 10 years.” (Per CNN video)

•••

He Who Was Not Named – Donald J. Trump issued four statements on his website Thursday, none mentioning the Capitol insurrection of a year earlier.

1. ”Due to inept leadership that gave us open borders, COVID incompetence, loss of energy independence, a military in chaos, rampant inflation, corrupt elections, and lack of world standing, our Nation (sic), perhaps for the first time, has lost its confidence.”
2. “Biden, who is destroying our Nation with insane policies of open Borders (sic), corrupt Elections (sic), disastrous energy policies, unconstitutional mandates, and devastating school closures, used my name today to further divide Americans…” (excerpt).
3. (More of the same.)
4. “To watch Biden’s speech is very hurtful to many people. They’re the ones who tried to stop the peaceful transfer with a rigged election. (Continues, with comparison of Biden’s popular vote versus Barrack Obama’s among Black voters in swing states.)

ICYMI: The closest President Biden came to calling out Trump by name in his January 6 speech was “defeated former president.”

•••

Arizona Ballot Audit Firm Shuts Down – Cyber Ninjas, the online security company hired by Trump supporters to audit Arizona ballots in the November 2020 presidential election last year is shutting down, The Guardian reports, citing a company spokesperson. The reportedly insolvent Florida firm, founded in 2013, has fewer than 12 employees. The firm closed its doors after a Maricopa County superior court judge threatened a $50,000-per-day fine for failing to turn over its financial records in an open records case by The Arizona Republic, whose attorneys had expected a daily fine of $1,000.

Note: This indicates that if Cyber Ninjas’ silent supporters were willing to burn $1,000 per day to avoid exposure, $50,000 per day is too much.

•••

Warner to Manchin – As Democrats’ plans to vote on the Build Back Better social infrastructure program broke down last month, the man at the center of the deal, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) blamed poor relations and communication with White House staff. Now Politico Playbook says the Biden administration has recruited Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) to negotiate with West Virginia’s swing voter. 

Warner is a former roommate of Manchin – who has said he will no longer negotiate with the White House -- and said to be one of his closest friends. BBB is back on, at least in the pages of Washington media.

Note: If the White House can’t repair its relationship with Manchin, 2022 could be a wash for Biden’s legislative agenda, including the voter rights bill and the change in Senate filibuster rules necessary to make it happen.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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THU 1/6/22 -- News & Notes

President Biden placed sole blame for the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection Thursday on former President Donald J. Trump. He called on American voters to accept the 2020 election results and reject political violence.

“And so, at this moment, we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be. Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies? We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it. …

Noting that last January 6 marked the first time the flag of the Confederacy was carried through the Capitol, Biden said; “We must make sure this type of attack never, never happens again.”

The president cited “zero evidence” of inaccurate results or fraudulent voting in the presidential election, noting that Republicans “closed the gap” in the House of Representatives even as Trump disputed the results. “He’s not just a former president, he’s a defeated former president.”

Graham responds: Neither chamber is in session Thursday, and many Republicans are in Atlanta for the funeral of former Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), but Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), tweeted this: “What brazen politicization of January 6 by President Biden … I wonder if the Taliban, who now rule Afghanistan with al Qaeda elements present contrary to President Biden’s beliefs, are allowing this speech to be cancelled?”

Schumer’s gamble: Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has set January 17, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, as a deadline to change Senate filibuster rules to pass legislation by simple majority that would potentially outlaw legislation by several states, including Georgia and Texas, that would allow partisan election officials to flip their Electoral College count. The constant impediments to both the filibuster rule change and significant voter rights legislation are Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). Senate Democratic leaders have reportedly been discussing compromise with the two senators, specifically allowing for the old fashion Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-style filibuster that requires the subject to keep speaking. 

AG Garland speaks: Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland addressed concerns Wednesday that the Justice Department is too slow in investigating and prosecuting the insurrection of January 6. Many Democrats are worried the investigation will drag on beyond the November midterms, when the GOP could retake the House and possibly the Senate, and put an end to Garland’s efforts.

“Our answer is, and will continue to be, the same answer we would give with respect to any ongoing investigation: as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done — consistent with the facts and the law,” Garland said.

“I understand that this may not be the answer some are looking for. But we will and we must speak through our work. Anything else jeopardizes the viability of our investigations and the civil liberties of our citizens.”

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

1/5/22 --

•North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea Wednesday, the U.S. military said, its first such bellicose exercise in nearly two months and a reminder that it has no interest in rejoining denuclearization talks anytime soon (AP). 

•Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) will posthumously pardon Homer Plessy for violating in 1892 a state law that required Black people to ride in passenger rail cars that the law described as “separate but equal.” The conviction was upheld in what is considered one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most egregiously racist decisions, Plessy v. Ferguson (AP).

One Year of Infamy – GOP leaders in the House of Representatives in a private call Tuesday encouraged members to continue attacking President Joe Biden rather than engage in any January 6 commemoration, Politico reports. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are “relieved” to have the diversion of former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s (R-GA) funeral in Atlanta Thursday. Few Republicans beyond Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming are expected to join a “largely Democratic” commemoration of the Capitol insurrection by supporters of Donald J. Trump and his Big Lie about the presidential election. 

Meanwhile, senior Biden officials have told The Washington Post privately that security at the Capitol was hampered by “lack of high-level information sharing and a failure to anticipate how bad the day could be.”

President Biden and Vice President Harris will deliver remarks Thursday at the Capitol, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has scheduled a moment of silence on the House floor and a prayer vigil on the Capitol steps (per CNN). 

But no Donald J. Trump: The former president has cancelled a press conference planned for Thursday at Mar-a-Lago, The Washington Post reports. He has promised to re-schedule at his pretend “Winter White House” in Florida later this month. Republican leaders are relieved, Politico says, as he continues to evoke “executive privilege” in avoiding testimony for his former aides and himself before the 1/6 committee. We’re sure his attorneys are relieved as well.

•••

1/6 Committee Wants Hannity to Talk – The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection wants Fox News host Sean Hannity to appear before the panel as a “fact witness” who “had advanced knowledge regarding President Trump’s and his legal team’s planning for January 6,” USA Today reports. Fox News responded by pointing to Hannity attorney Jay Sekulow’s statement to Axios fearing that “any such request would raise serious Constitutional issues regarding freedom of the press.”

Note: 1.) Talk show host Hannity would never admit to belonging to “the press,” “lamestream media,” or whatever he wants to call it. 2.) No doubt those reported phone calls on January 6 to Donald J. Trump begging him to call off the mob would be of interest nearly as much as any “advanced knowledge.” Could some form of “dereliction of duties” or violating the oath to uphold the Constitution be among the potential charges against the former president?

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news