You're a conservative or right-leaning independent who will not vote for Donald Trump. What to do?

A 🧵

From @MatthewJFranck , a case against the "binary choice" claim and for "choosing not to choose."

1/

thedispatch.com/article/choosi… “Vote as if your ballot determines nothing whatsoever—except the shape of your own character…Vote as if the public consequences of your action weigh nothing next to the private consequences. The country will go whither it will go, when all the votes are counted. What should matter the most to you is whither you will go, on and after this November’s election day.”

2/

NEWS: Liz Cheney on Pence and Jan 6, Trump and political violence, the debate about prosecuting an ex-POTUS, "strange new respect" from Dems and media, votes on abortion and guns, and a possible run for president.

thedispatch.com/p/liz-cheney-t… On Pence and Jan 6 cmte: "When you have the kind of dereliction of duty and likely crimes that were committed here I think everybody who was involved has a responsibility to tell the truth."

He's right.

After the Biden WH shrugging dismissal of protests targeting homes of SCOTUS justices and Chuck Schumer saying Gorsuch/Kavanaugh will "pay the price" for abortion views - outrageous that House Dems would hold it up.

https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1534542036413587456

Schumer: "I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."

nbcnews.com/politics/congr…

With Donald Trump's early endorsement, Joe Kent was once a big player in Trump's GOP-on-GOP impeachment-revenge scheme. But his campaign turmoil, flirtation with white nationalists and Putin-friendly rhetoric have complicated those plans. @AudreyFahlberg
thedispatch.com/p/staff-disput… Kent's current and former campaign managers - Byron Sanford and Ozzie Gonzalez - shared text messages meant to make the other look bad and then accused each other of manipulating the images.

Dale's Diner in Waterville, Ohio, closed last week. More customers than anytime in its 10-year history. The problem? No applicants for its many job openings.

thedispatch.com/p/we-just-cant… Bill Anderson, co-owner of Dale's Diner, on worker shortage: “I’ve been in business for 33 years—10 years here, 33 years in Maumee—this is the absolute worst it’s ever been.”

For your weekend listening - a fun, insightful and at times intense conservation with @MickMulvaney on: infrastructure, the GOP and spending, the Trump WH, January 6, the evolution of the House Freedom Caucus and post-Trump conservatism. w/@whignewtons

podcast.thedispatch.com/p/mick-mulvane… Mulvaney: “Spending is a real tough issue for my party b/c while most folks will at least pay lip service to some type of fiscal conservatism, many of them don’t believe it. The rarest thing in DC, in the last 10 years, probably the last 30, has been a true fiscal conservative."

The Kracken is Backtrackin'

Lawyers for Sidney Powell, who helped lead pro-Trump post-election conspiracy theorizing, now say “no reasonable person would conclude that [Powell’s] statements were truly statements of fact.”

morning.thedispatch.com/p/the-morning-… Powell invented and amplified fringe theories, but she was hardly a fringe character. She held press conferences at the RNC, was repeatedly featured on Fox News/Fox Business, worked w/Trump campaign lawyers, met w/Trump himself in the Oval Office as late as December 18.

Thread.

@hughhewitt has this to say about those of us who believe the president should be impeached.

"Whatever the impeachment chorus is, it isn’t principled, it isn’t concerned with justice and it isn’t concerned with the future."

Some thoughts

1/

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… Hewitt writes that many impeachment proponents have “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and the claims to know what motivates them – and what doesn’t.

“Of concern for the country, well, concern for that part of the country they don’t inhabit, there is none.”

2/

To help make sense of a chaotic long weekend, we made today's Morning Dispatch free.

morning.thedispatch.com/p/the-morning-… NEW: On GOP conf call Friday, after Rep. Liz Cheney made an impassioned plea to fellow Republicans to take their constitution duties seriously on 1/6, GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke up to make clear that Cheney wasn't speaking for all GOP leadership.

Hours after Marjorie Greene was revealed as a 9/11 truther -- in addition to her embrace of QAnon and various other conspiracies -- GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy says he "looks forward" to having her in Congress. @declanpgarvey w/some terrific reporting here. thedispatch.com/p/marjorie-gre… It's not just crazy conspiracy theories. Greene has a history of bigoted comments, too. So, why is McCarthy embracing Greene after defenestrating Steve King?

Context: In February, the NYT published an op-ed by Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of an al Qaeda affiliated terror network. At the time, the US government was offering $10 million for information on his whereabouts. The NYT did not disclose this. vitalinterests.thedispatch.com/p/what-you-won… State Dept's Country Reports on Terrorism: The Haqqani Network "is integrated into—and cooperates closely with—the larger Afghan Taliban and draws strength through cooperation with other terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan, including al-Qaeda and Jaish-e Mohammad.”

This is a very bad deal.

https://twitter.com/TOLOnews/status/1233743305445384194

Full troop withdrawal, releasing Taliban/jihadist prisoners, sanctions relief from the US and UN, etc.

A Dispatch on Qassem Suleimani:

*What led to the strikes last night?
*Who was Suleimani?
*What comes next?

thedispatch.com/p/the-morning-… "Discussion among senior administration officials about targeting Suleimani began immediately after the December 27 attack, which was quickly attributed to Iran-backed operatives. Trump’s national security team had debated killing Suleimani before, on several occasions..."

Some thoughts on the MemCon of the Trump/Zelensky conversation and what it means. 1/ After some small talk, Trump opens the conversation by saying twice US has been “very, very good” to Ukraine. He then notes that the relationship is “not reciprocal.” 2/?

A bracing assessment of the war in Afghanistan from, @thomasjoscelyn, an analyst who is a master of the subject.
weeklystandard.com/thomas-joscely… Is there a better summary of the current state of things than this lede? "President Donald Trump opposes his own policy in Afghanistan. It shows."
weeklystandard.com/thomas-joscely…

Brennan is an incredible hack. He's been caught lying repeatedly. He routinely politicized intelligence. He sought to silence dissenting intel voices. Whatever you think about Trump's decision, it's a mistake to lionize a political hack.

https://twitter.com/ktumulty/status/1030164596735311872

When Brennan was CIA Director, his agency presented unnecessary NDAs to Benghazi survivors -- at a memorial service for their fallen comrades. An ugly attempt to silence them.
weeklystandard.com/stephen-f-haye…