Remarkable: In new NYT/Siena polls, Biden is more trusted on "law and order" in Arizona, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Why? Maybe because Trump's call for unshackled state and vigilante violence is perceived as the extreme and destructive position. New piece: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
Trump's position, laid bare, is that he's on the side of empowering police to be more thuggish and brutal, and if you oppose that, you side with violence and criminality.
He doesn't get that most voters seem to be flatly rejecting this false binary:
Liz Cheney just said something deeply troubling: If SCOTUS delays immunity ruling, voters might be denied critical info about Trump's conduct while the mob raged, which Jack Smith has. That would reward Trump allies for their coverup.
Jack Smith has testimony from top Trump advisers about how Trump acted *during the attack* that the 1/6 committee could not get. SCOTUS delay could keep that buried.
In this piece, a senior 1/6 committee staffer explains what this means. Deeply sobering:
Those who deny that 1/6 was an insurrection rely heavily on severing Trump's incitement of the mob from the procedural coup. But Jack Smith likely has evidence showing they are one and the same story. It would be scandalous if *that* remains buried.
Important but overlooked: Mike Johnson explicitly says he's acting on Ukraine because believes what our intel agencies say about the awful consequences of abandoning it.
That's a striking rebuke to MAGA's lies about the "deep state" and the war. 1/
“I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten,” Mike Johnson said, noting that Ukraine aid will stop Putin from expanding his conquest later.
Remarkably, he's saying that on these matters, the "deep state" is telling the truth. 2/
Remarkable: By my count, at least a dozen GOP incumbents or prominent candidates in competitive House races are election deniers, were involved in 1/6, or voted against Biden electors.
Kevin McCarthy's craven pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago in 2021 was a fateful moment, showing that the GOP would make the construction of a massive historical lie about 1/6 central to its identity. This mostly failed politically, but the GOP is sticking with it.
When Mike Johnson worshipped at the Mar-a-Lago shrine yesterday, it was really about reassuring Trump that the House GOP remains fully committed to his 1/6 mythmaking.
"Election integrity"? The biggest threat to our elections is Trump and his movement.
Steve Bannon just wrecked one of Trump's biggest lies about Biden. Bannon said MAGA will poach lefty voters from Biden by highlighting record oil production under him.
But that flatly contradicts Trump's claims about Biden's energy policies. 1/
A funny thing: Aileen Cannon is working hard to disguise her unscrupulous advocacy for Trump. But he keeps suggesting right in plain sight that he fully expects her to put a thumb on the scales for him.
Cannon's latest ruling gave Jack Smith a partial win, but it also reserved for her the ability to kill the case against Trump later with no appeal, as many noted.
But Trump's open attacks Smith make it harder for her to retain a veneer of objectivity. 2/
Trump's attacks on Smith, and his rage that Biden isn't being prosecuted for fake crimes, are nonsense in every way. But the point is, Trump's message is *openly* that the law should be corrupted to absolve him and falsely incriminate his enemies. 3/
Important from Jamie Raskin: News of Trump's call with Saudi Crown Prince raises big questions about what Trump is promising right now to Saudis that he'd do for them if he wins.
Jamie Raskin and I discussed whether Trump is promising the Saudis that he'll prevail on Congressional Republicans to help undermine Biden's foreign policies.