Good news too late for Biden? – June’s Consumer Price Index fell to 3.0%, from a 3.4% rate the month before. Month-over-month prices actually fell by 0.1% on the heels of Chairman Jerome Powell’s hints the Federal Reserve may soon ease interest rates. Overall CPI less food and energy was up 3.3%, lowest since April 2021. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Biden His Time – President Biden holds a news conference in Washington Thursday afternoon to wrap up the NATO summit, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Meanwhile, the future of his re-election bid appear to be at the tipping point, as Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to call for him to withdraw. 

Biden has held the fewest press conferences of any president since Ronald Reagan, according to NPR.

Did I say that out loud?... Actor George Clooney’s warning in his New York Times op-ed that Biden’s cognitive issues also will hand the House and Senate over to Republican control reportedly is shaking up Democratic congressmembers themselves, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “hasn’t tried to hide her disdain for the situation the party now finds itself in,” one anonymous lawmaker told Politico Playbook

Meanwhile… Adding to pressure from the Democratic side, the Trump campaign is now looking at a landslide and hope Biden will not drop out, according to Tim Alberta in The Atlantic magazine’s The Decision newsletter. “Donald Trump was well on his way to a 320-electoral vote win before the debate,” campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita told Alberta.

Politico Playbook quotes “about a half-dozen” Democratic lawmakers who say Pelosi told them Biden will not win in November, and aside from her much-parsed statement on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Biden should make the decision himself, has advised some Democrats in swing districts that they should “secure their own re-elections” even if it means they ask Biden to step aside. 

About time… However, Pelosi’s advice above comes with the warning that they hold off from asking Biden to withdraw from the race until after this week’s NATO summit is finished. 

It’s going to be a long weekend.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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AOC: Impeach Thomas, Alito/WEDNESDAY 7/10/24

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY, above) has filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito alleging a "pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements" (The Hill).

"Justices Thomas and Alito's repeated failure over decades to disclose that they received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court is explicitly against the law. And their refusal to recuse from the specific matters and cases before the court in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis. These failures alone would amount to a deep transgression worthy of standard removal in any lower court, and would disqualify any nominee to the highest court from confirmation in the first place," she said in a press release.

BIDEN AND NATO'S 75TH

Zelenskyy Addresses NATO – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the meeting of NATO members gathered in Washington for the alliance’s 75th anniversary that American missiles and permission to fire them across the border into Russia helped his military hold off an attack on the city of Kharkiv, and for thus stopping a Russian offensive this spring, The New York Times reports. But he requested the lifting of other restrictions to allow Ukraine to fire at military bases hundreds of miles inside Russia to destroy aircraft and weapons being dropped on his country’s civilians and children. 

‘Trump-proof’… At Washington’s convention center, policymakers moved control of major elements of aid to Ukraine to NATO’s “umbrella” from the US in order to “Trump-proof” the military alliance (The Washington Post). Whether Joe Biden or Donald J. Trump wins the November election, “Putin will hate him,” Zelenskyy said at the conference (NYT).

Meanwhile, on MSNBC… Appearing on Morning Joe with Belarusian political activist Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, with whom she penned a Washington Post op-ed, House Speaker emeritus Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was asked to comment on whether Biden should remain in the presidential race. Pelosi gave the non-answer answer; “It’s up to the president to decide if he’s going to run.” Of course, Biden has decided, and the primary delegates he won are his to give up. 

Pelosi’s WaPo op-ed with Tikhanovskaya is titled, “NATO is a bulwark against tyranny,” subtitle, “Facing down dictators such as Vladimir Putin and (Belarus’) Alexander Lukashenko is what the alliance was built for.”

•••

Hollywood Dissent -- Actor George Clooney, who hosted a star-studded Los Angeles fundraiser for President Biden in June is now asking him to step down from the campaign in a New York Times op-ed.

"I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as a president," Clooney writes. "I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced.

"But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. ... It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe "big F-ing deal" Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."

--TL

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TUESDAY 7/9/24

Biden Bites Back – President Biden has support of his continued re-election campaign by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), The Washington Post reports Tuesday morning. Democratic senators were to discuss Biden’s debate debacle and what to do about his defiance in remaining in the presidential race at their weekly luncheon Tuesday.

Meanwhile, NATO… Tuesday evening in Washington, Biden is to give a commemorative speech at the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with leaders from its member countries (WaPo).

Meanwhile, Ukraine… “Poorly trained” Russian forces are unlikely to make “significant” territorial gains in a Ukraine that finally has been reinforced with fresh Western munitions, The New York Times reports ahead of NATO’s 75th celebration, citing US officials. 

•••

Neurologist’s Visits – White House visitor logs show Dr. Kevin Cannard, expert on Parkinson’s disease from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, visited the White House eight times in eight months up to this spring, The New York Timesreports. At least one of the meetings was with President Biden’s physician. 

After Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “dodged” and refused to reply to questions about the president’s health, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor released a statement at 9:40 p.m. Monday that Biden had not seen a neurologist “outside his annual physical” and suggested most of those eight visits were to others working in the White House.

•••

MAGA in Milwaukee – The Republican National Committee released the 2024 Republican Party Platform Monday from Milwaukee, where the national convention that will formally nominate Donald J. Trump as its presidential candidate begins next week. The document reflecting “20 GOP Principles, Roadmap to Make America Great Again” calls for, number one, to “seal the border, and stop the migrant invasion,” and two, to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”

Number three; “End inflation, and make America affordable again.”

Number four is to “make America the dominant energy producer in the world, by far!”, answering the Democratic argument that the US already is the world’s largest oil exporter … but with OPEC still hanging on, not yet “by far.”

Five, “Stop outsourcing, and turn the United States into a manufacturing superpower.”

Six, “Large tax cuts for workers, no tax on tips!”

Seven, “Defend our Constitution, our bill of rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms.”

Eight, “Prevent World War Three, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country – all made in America.”

Number nine, almost the halfway point, is to “end the weaponization of government against the American people.”  

Read all 20 planks of the platform here.

The platform’s press release concludes with “When America is united, confident, and committed to our principles, it will never fail,” and “Today and together, with Love for our Country, Faith in People, and Trust in God’s Good Grace, we will Make America Great Again!”

•••

Defund Justice? – The fiscal year 2025 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill is up for markup Tuesday in the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where Republicans hope to “handcuff” the Department of Justice with riders preventing it from suing states over laws that limit abortion, curtail court challenges to state redistricting plans and block it from bringing lawsuits against local or state governments that limit “transgender medical procedures,” CQ Roll Call reports.

None of this will get far in the Democratic-controlled Senate or the Biden White House, of course, though it would give voters a clear roadmap of what a 2025 Trump White House and GOP-controlled Senate would look like.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Too Big to Fill – Donald J. Trump (whose limited-edition gilded hi-tops, above, are sold out at $399) leads Nikki Haley 64% to 33% in South Carolina’s GOP presidential primary Saturday according to 538’s polling average for the state.

FRIDAY 2/23/24

Da, CPAC – Fearing he could be a flight risk, federal law enforcement re-arrested Alexander Smirnov in Nevada Thursday, two days after a federal judge released him from custody over charges he told the FBI lies about President Biden and his son, Hunter (per HuffPost) regarding bribes from Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Smirnov says he was handed those lies by Russian intelligence agents.

We are not paying enough attention to Smirnov and the collapse of the House Republican investigation into the Biden case, led by Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY), Jonathan V. Last argues in the never-Trumper conservative publication, The Bulwark. By which he means; American voters and mainstream media are not sufficiently concerned.

“Russia is trying to interfere in a presidential race (again) on behalf of Donald Trump (again),” Last writes. But hey, to be fair, there is a lot going on, and it seems unlikely core MAGA Republicans are getting much coverage of this from their preferred media outlets.

At CPAC in suburban Washington Thursday, before what is described by several outlets as having a sparse crowd so far, candidate for running mate Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) backed Donald J. Trump’s longstanding Russia policy.

“We’re the one that forced this war, because we kept forcing NATO on Ukraine and showing Russia, hey, we’re going to build military bases on your borders,” Tuberville told the crowd (per The Recount). “And Putin said, no, no, you’re not going to do that. I haven’t voted for any money to go to Ukraine because I know they can’t win.” Tuberville later added; “Donald Trump will stop [the war] when he first gets in … he knows there’s no winning for Ukraine. He can work a deal with Putin.”

History check: Ukraine wanted to join NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the 1990s. 

--TL

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Haley’s Comet – Facing likely embarrassment in Saturday’s South Carolina, her home state, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is sticking it out, going so far as to break away from the Republican comfort of Fox News to appear on mainstream outlets like CNN and NPR. 

“Just wait, just wait. March, April, May, June,” Haley told CNN Wednesday. The question has not been so much “why?” but “how can she stick it out?”, so let’s not forget that the former South Carolina governor and Trump administration UN ambassador has the hefty financial backing of the Koch brothers, who have become never-Trumpers. 

On CNN’s King Charles Wednesday, basketball legend and co-host Charles Barkley told her, “I’m dying to vote for you,” but is put off by Haley’s statements about racism in America. 

In a phone call from her campaign bus Thursday morning, she resisted telling NPR’s Steve Inskeep whether she would vote for Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee. (Which seems inevitable unless his myriad trials sink him before the Republican convention in Milwaukee.)

“I have a lot of concerns about Trump regaining the presidency,” Haley said on Morning Edition. “I have even more concerns about Biden being president. I mean, you look at both of these men and all they have done is given us chaos, all they have given us is division.” 

Being a “traditional” Republican, Haley criticizes Biden for the most “socialist” policy of any president in U.S. history (uh, FDR?) but unlike Trump, she is in favor of continued support for Ukraine in its resistance against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Meanwhile: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) also appeared on Thursday’s Morning Edition, telling Michelle Martin why he’s not running for president as a third-party candidate: “I just didn’t want to be a spoiler.” Manchin said he will continue to speak out for the middle, however. “It’s difficult being in the middle.”

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 2/21/24

In From the Cold – Alexander Smirnov was charged last week by special counsel David Weiss with felony false statement and obstruction charges for providing allegedly false information about Joe and Hunter Biden in the Burisma case. On Tuesday, Smirnov admitted that the “intel” pumped up by Fox News since the latter part of the Trump administration was passed to him by “officials associated with Russian intelligence” (per Axios). 

As yet another connection between ex-President Trump and Vladimir Putin’s Russia comes to light, Trump has finally expressed his feelings about the death of dissident Aleksei Navalny at an Arctic Circle prison.

When Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked Trump at a town hall Tuesday how he would raise the $364 million (plus interest) in penalties in last Friday’s verdict in the New York fraud case against the Trump Organization, the ex-prez said; “It is a Navalny. It is a form of communism or fascism” (per Rolling Stone).

•••

Saving Speaker Johnson – Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is leading a group of moderate Democrats as sponsor of a resolution that would require any Democrat or Republican party leadership to sanction any vote to vacate the speaker’s chair, Axios scoops. The resolution would free Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to move bipartisan bills to the floor without fear of Donald J. Trump’s reprisals. That might include desperately needed relief to Ukraine in its defense against Russia … except … Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) has said she would introduce a motion to vacate Johnson if he advances the Ukraine aid bill to the floor.

--TL

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TUESDAY 2/20/24

Trump’s Navalny Problem – The death of Aleksei Navalny, likely at the indirect hand of Vladimir Putin, has nothing on the indignities thrust upon the former president … according to the former president. Yes, Donald J. Trump weighed in on Navalny’s death on his own Truth Social media site Monday, though he did not mention his friend and mentor, Vladimir Putin. To quote (per The New York Times)…

“The sudden death of Alexie Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our country. … CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down on path to destruction.”

Meanwhile: Trump’s former national security advisor, John Bolton, told MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki over the weekend, that Putin was playing his former boss when he named Biden the “more stable” candidate that Russia could work with after November. “If Trump is elected, there will be celebrations in the Kremlin, no doubt about it,” Bolton said.

•••

Can Thomas Refuse This Offer?: Tired of the U.S. Supreme Court’s lack of ethics and Justice Clarence Thomas’ eagerness to take advantage of that lack in the name of ultra-conservative politics, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver has offered Thomas $1 million per year for the rest of his life if he steps down, now. Or, at least, in the next 30 days, which Oliver has given him to respond, according to The Washington Post. Oliver also is throwing in as a bonus a $2.4 million motor coach outfitted with a king-size bed, four televisions and a fireplace. 

He can: Of course, there’s nothing above – not prohibited by ethics restrictions -- that Leonard Leo and the money behind the Federalist Society couldn’t put up to make sure Clarence Thomas remains on the SCOTUS bench and maintain the conservative super-majority.

•••

Expelled former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has sued the eponymous host of late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live for hiring Santos on Cameo to send several short messages, including a video congratulating a blind woman for passing a drivers’ test (The Washington Post). Kimmel’s segment, called ‘Will Santos Say This?’ appears to have violated Cameo’s guidelines stating users must not use false names … though Kimmel’s schtick certainly has made the site more popular than ever.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

(THU 9/29/22)

Senate Votes to Fund Fed to December 16 – The Senate passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government past its midnight Friday fiscal year deadline and on to December 16, The Washington Post reports. The vote was 72-25. The CR includes $12.4 billion for military and diplomatic assistance to Ukraine, and $18.8 billion for domestic disaster recovery efforts.

•••

Ginni Thomas Testifies – Virginia Thomas “was seen on Thursday appearing to testify behind closed doors” before the House 1/6 panel, NPR reports. The appearance of the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “stretched” into Thursday afternoon. She offered no comments to reporters afterward. 

House Select Committee member Pete Aguilar (D-CA), declined to comment on her voluntary appearance, but said the panel will later share information Thomas provided that’s relevant to the public. The ninth and likely final public hearing by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol was postponed from Wednesday because of Hurricane Ian’s impending impact on Florida. No make-up date has been announced.

•••

CR Vote Teed Up for Friday – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has filed cloture, pushing Republicans to keep negotiating to fund the federal government through December 16, ahead of the end of the fiscal year midnight Friday, Punchbowl News reports. Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) were still trying to work to set the time for the vote on the continuing resolution. 

Democratic and Republican leaders believe they will reach a deal possibly as early as Thursday, though these CRs historically have pushed up to the deadline – and you can count on senators like Ted Cruz (R-TX) to disrupt the timing as much as possible.

Let the campaigning commence: Whenever the CR is passed, Congress goes on recess as the calendar turns to October, when the Senate is in session only the second and third full weeks, after Columbus Day, and the House is out until after the November 8 midterm elections. The Supreme Court is back in session Monday, October 3.

•••

Sham Signing Ceremony – Russian President Vladimir Putin formally seizes four regions of Ukraine where sham referendums were held early this week. The signing ceremony to be held Friday at the Grand Kremlin Palace claims the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia for Putin’s Mother Russia, The Washington Post reports.

MeanwhileThe Pentagon Wednesday announced more long-range rocket artillery systems headed for Ukraine. That’s the good news – this is the artillery that has been so effective at pushing back Russian troops. The not-so-good news is that these systems are not yet built, meaning we’re expecting years of Ukraine’s fight for democracy against Russia.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

...meanwhile... (WED 9/28/22)

Senate to Pass CR – The Senate is expected to pass a continuing resolution funding the federal government beyond Friday and prevent a partial shutdown, to December 16, including $13.7 billion in additional aid to Ukraine (per NPR). Republicans have rejected White House requests for $22.4 billion in emergency COVID relief and $4.5 billion for monkeypox treatments, however. The Senate moved the CR forward with a 72-23 procedural vote Tuesday.

McConnell v. Manchin: “Manch gets Mitched” reads the Politico story heading describing how Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) had tried to attach legislation to overhaul energy project permitting to the spending stopgap bill. 

Manchin had a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to provide the vote needed to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in exchange for heavy Democratic support for the energy permitting legislation.

Upshot: “Energy permitting legislation” would seem a sure-thing for Republican support. But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly torpedoed his caucus’ support because Manchin traded his vote on the Inflation Reduction Act for sufficient Democratic backing on the permitting provision -- McConnell’s “spite” trumps bipartisan comity once again. Manchin may have the opportunity to attach the provision to the annual defense bill, or lame-duck government spending, Politico says.

•••

Leave Russia – Americans already in Russia are urged to leave, and any U.S. citizens planning to travel there should cancel plans, the U.S. Embassy there says, as President Vladimir Putin calls up 300,000 reservists to join the attack on Ukraine (per The Hill).

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news