Tag: George Santos

…meanwhile…

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.

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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.

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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

Biden’s Strategy Wins

By Ken Zino

Presidents Biden began his State of the Union speech to set this up: “The story of America is a story of progress and resilience … We are the only country that has emerged from every crisis stronger than when we entered it. That is what we are doing again.” The president too was stronger -- much stronger. He used the Republican politics of grievance and destructive posturing against them to promote another two years of progressive headway.

“We’re building an economy where no one is left behind. Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years. This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives,” Biden said. 

Then Biden out-foxed, the Republicans starting with a jab at Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “I look forward to working with you,” he said, adding the caveat; “I don’t want to ruin your reputation.” Biden then loaded his speech with facts in the spirit of New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who in similar situations called on his political opponents to look at the record. 

Enter a tsunami of Administration triumphs: 

  • “Two years ago, our economy was reeling.”
  • “As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs, more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years.”
  • “Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, COVID no longer controls our lives.”
  • “And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War. Today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”
  • "As we gather here tonight, we are writing the next chapter in the great American story, a story of progress and resilience. I define our country in one word: Possibilities.”

Republicans face crossroads. Will sanity prevail and dump Trump and his losing, racist, sexist, fascist, insurrectionist ways? A party overhaul is needed. Biden Democrats did it: Look at the party’s stunning reversal of a global trade policy that had made the rich richer and harmed the middle class. Now the rest of the Democratic Party is firmly backing Biden’s policy of building and buying American. 

Biden’s jab at Republicans who wish to end Social Security was brilliant. When a witness heckler said that it wasn’t so, Biden offered to produce the document. Heckling ensued claiming it was only one individual’s position (Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who also was chair of the party’s midterm campaigns last year). 

Biden used an assumptive close that shut down the obstructionist noise. “So Medicare and Social Security are off the books in the next budget?” Biden stared them down, into silence. 

During his first State of the Union, Biden’s Unity Agenda sought areas where both parties could work together and make progress for We The People. These are now -- again -- populist policies that only heartless Republicans could oppose: a “moonshot” at finding a cure for cancer; delivering on obligations to veterans; tackling the mental health crisis; beating the opioid and overdose epidemic; immigration reform. 

I realize that many Republicans have a George Santos-like relationship to facts. However, Biden signed more than 300 bipartisan bills. And the positive effects of, say, his infrastructure bill are just beginning, including projects in Republican districts where Biden promised to attend the groundbreaking ceremonies. 

Biden Tuesday announced a new wave of plans toward more progress, with better results for families. Along the way, Biden had Republicans on the ropes with jab after jab and devastating left hooks. 

The president said he was proud to work with Democrats and Republicans to enact major legislation that delivers on all aspects of this agenda. This starts with the deficit. As I looked at the Republicans, I saw later-day Benedict Arnolds who spent too much on tax cuts for the rich. Now they want the middle class, the poor and retired to pay the price for their actions. 

Biden’s predecessor signed nearly $2 trillion worth of unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. This Republican deficit went up every year under Trump’s mis-administration. Biden has cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion. Democratic reforms to take on Big Pharma, lower prescription costs, and make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share will reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars more.

Here’s the key to the winning strategy: Biden knows that the work to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out is far from done. “Let’s finish the job” is the rallying cry. Biden teased the budget he will send to Congress on March 9th, building on the historic economic progress of the past two years by continuing to invest in America and its people, continuing to lower costs for families; for child care, housing, college costs and health care, while protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and reducing the deficit through additional reforms.

Why abandon a winning strategy? 

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