Biden’s approval rating jumps 6 points. More fallout from GOP extremist stances on abortion, guns, and election conspiracy theories. Republicans should be up 20 points by now. Trumpism is dragging them down, just like it did in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 elections. Interesting fact: Only 2 presidents over the last half century have had higher approval ratings at this stage of their presidency than Joe Biden. @Gallup

MEDIA BIAS ALERT: Kamala Harris hasn’t had a positive profile in a year. DeSantis sneezes and he’s framed as the rising star of politics. And yet the Great White Hope STILL loses is every head-to-head matchup with Harris. The VP also draws even with Trump. floridapolitics.com/archives/52766… Here’s a recent poll showing Biden beating DeSantis and Trump. Newsom beating DeSantis and Trump, Harris beating DeSantis and drawing with Trump.

Mika and I are fortunate to have a friend like Cesar heading up @NBCNews. We believe in his vision for the network and are proud to be a part of his team. It’s also nice to be working with such a good guy. @andrewrsorkin with @cesarconde_ on the set of @Morning_Joe

“Pres­i­dent Biden is off to a good start. In the Asia-Pa­cific re­gion, ad­min­is­tra­tion of­fi­cials have shored up tra­di­tional al­liances and are cre­at­ing new ones.”
⁦@WSJopinion⁩ wsj.com/articles/axis-… “The Biden ad­min­is­tra­tion is get­ting high marks in Eu­rope for its strong stand against a pos­si­ble Russ­ian at­tack on Ukraine—and for its care­ful con­sul­ta­tion with Eu­ropean al­lies to co­or­di­nate a united re­sponse.”

“Conservatives once worked to cut domestic spending and limit DC’s power. Trump blew that out of the water. Even before the pandemic, Trump exceeded even Obama as the biggest spender in U.S. history , in raw numbers and the size of debt to GDP.” ⁦ washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-amer… “True conservatives understand (with Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville, and others) that a crucial part of maintaining a healthy national policy involves the maintenance of norms and standards of the sort Trump regularly and flagrantly ground to dust.”

“Authoritarians don’t just want to control the government, the economy and the military. They want to control the truth. Truth has its own authority, an authority a strongman must defeat in the minds of his followers, convincing them to abandon fact.” nytimes.com/2022/01/05/opi… “Since vaccines became widely available, counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump have had nearly three times the Covid-19 death rate as counties that voted for Joe Biden.”

THIS: “Our two countercultures, separately and together, correctly identify weaknesses and flaws in twenty-first century liberal democracy. But they mistakenly view these problematic conditions not as discrete challenges but as totalistic indictments.” freebeacon.com/columns/the-tw… “They marry disinterest in empirical reality with utopian expectations from politics. They collapse the distinction between private & public that guarantees political, economic, and religious freedom. They silence dissent and promote victimhood, hopelessness, paranoia, and fear.”

There’s a good list of churches and civic organizations providing help during this tough time: Texans can find more details about community resources and warming centers in their area by calling 877-541-7905 or 211, the state’s free 24-hour helpline. texastribune.org/2021/02/16/tex… AUSTIN, TX You can contribute blankets for those in need in Austin, TX here: frontsteps.org/get-involved/a…

Your support for Trump’s crimes against humanity by caging and separating babies from mothers is not erased by a glib, misleading tweet. Your party held a vote in the White House to cage children and rip them from their parents. It is inhumane and unAmerican.

https://twitter.com/missourigop/status/1335574156990177287

Obama’s administration built the cages to hold unaccompanied children for up to 72 hours for their protection until they were released to Health and Human Services for safety and placement. Trump seized kids from parents, separated them, and caged them as a deliberate policy.

2020 Election Lede: Democrats rebuilt the Blue Wall while shattering the Solid South and flipping Arizona. They also own the two US Senate seats in the land of Goldwater and McCain, a result unthinkable before Trump. Democrats underperformed in congressional races and state legislative contests. At the same time, the weeping and gnashing of teeth over these failures obscured a more permanent reality: Trumpism accelerated damage done by demographic changes and will harm Republicans for years.

This is hilarious. After four years of Trump trashing constitutional and political norms, we now learn that the mere prospects of a Democratic majority pushing back on Republican radicalism will destroy the republic. What rank horseshit.

https://twitter.com/baseballcrank/status/1315738326050263043

The Republicans have the constitutional right to do what they want so long as it is constitutional. McConnell, Graham and GOP leaders lying through their teeth about the Garland Rule is wrong but not unconstitutional. Neither is following Lincoln’s example of expanding the Court.

It is good to have these arguments in public, without threat of firing because your viewpoint differs from most around you at work. The @nytimes is stronger because of diverse opinions. The Tom Cotton oped was offensive but also misstated basic constitutional law.

https://twitter.com/benyt/status/1264980004452085764

The Cotton oped should not have been cut because it offended many like me. It should have been scrubbed because he misrepresented the Constitution’s clear language. I expect to be offended by Opeds, but only after editors make sure they are factually accurate.

Mattis Speaks:

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort.” theatlantic.com/politics/archi… “We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.”

A critically important piece by ⁦@anneapplebaum⁩.
⁦@zbig⁩ theatlantic.com/magazine/archi… “Trump has governed in defiance and ignorance of the Constitution, notably declaring he had “total” authority over the states. His administration is not merely corrupt, it is also hostile to checks, balances, and the rule of law.” ~@anneapplebaum

Bobby Kennedy went to inner city Indianapolis to tell black citizens Martin Luther King had just been killed by a white man. The police refused to follow RFK because the situation was too dangerous. Kennedy went regardless and made a passionate plea for peace. “We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, twith compassion and love.”

“This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is chaos. A protest has purpose.”
~Atlanta Mayor @KeishaBottoms

https://twitter.com/TDucklo/status/1266576188908146689

“When you burn down this city, you’re burning down our community. If you want change, register to vote.”
~@KeishaBottoms

Mr. President, Please rise to the occasion today. Tell us the truth about:
~American citizens getting testing, ~nurses and doctors getting masks, &,
~hospitals getting ventilators.

Rural hospitals need help with all three as do doctors and nurses in New York and across America. A good start taking about bipartisanship, working with Democratic governors, and negotiating with Speaker Pelosi. But he ends prepared remarks with predictable Trumpian bluster and maddening generalities.
But still no answers on:
->TESTS
->MASKS
->GLOVES

This article is troubling on so many fronts. A day after being expelled from China, ⁦@nytimes⁩ states as fact that “new daily cases” in China “are dwindling into the single digits” and that COVIS-19 offers China the chance to show its “model works.” nytimes.com/2020/03/18/wor… With reporters expelled and an alarming lack of transparency, is the Times comfortable as stating as fact that new cases are in single digits? Also, who believes this virus serves as a public relations opportunity for China? Where does the @nytimes believe this pandemic began?

The man who said Donald Trump was being paid off by Putin is now on the House floor defending the same man.
What changed, Kevin?

washingtonpost.com/world/national… That’s a Soviet style payoff, wouldn’t you say, Kevin?
Are you being paid off now?
Is #MoscowMitch?
Soviet-styled, as they say?

Great moments in presidential speech making:

“Ich bin ein der Astron fan” Reagan: “I hope you’re all Astros fans”

Doctor: “Mr. President, today we are all Astro’s fans.”

It is remarkable how stupid Donald Trump’s argument is about the Ukraine call. Even more remarkable is how many low information voters will believe it. All lies. But it doesn’t matter to millions of Americans. Trump lies repeatedly saying the Mueller Report cleared him of obstructing justice. Only someone who did not read the Report would say that unless they are lying. I expect Trump and his hacks to repeat this lie.
It is deeply troubling when members of the media suggest the same.