A moment of truth.

April 4, 2023

Special note to voters in Wisconsin (and potential volunteers nationwide):

• If you are eligible to vote in Wisconsin and haven’t already done so, please vote on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, for Judge Janet Protasiewicz for the open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. If you are unsure where or how to vote, consult this website: Democratic Party of Wisconsin (wisdems.org).

• If you are unaware of the critically important issues in Wisconsin and nationally at stake in the election, see WisPolitics, Common Cause Wisconsin: April 4th is the most important election in the United States of America in 2023!

• There is still time to volunteer for phone banking, urging voters to turn out! Register here to volunteer: Phone Bank with WisDems! (mobilize.us).

Manhattan indictment of Trump.

          Trump flew from Florida to New York on Monday, avoiding the unseemly possibility of a former president running as a fugitive from justice. Despite Trump’s calls for massive protests and predictions of “death and destruction” if the Manhattan grand jury issued an indictment, the number of MAGA supporters who showed up at Trump Tower could be counted on one finger of one hand. Nonetheless, the media gave Trump’s trek to New York the full “OJ-Simpson-slow-speed-chase” treatment. The takeaway from the story is that nothing happened—which is good.

          Late Monday evening, Judge Juan Merchan issued an order permitting limited still photography in the courtroom before the hearing. After that, the use of cameras, computers, or cell phones in the courtroom will be prohibited.

          These developments are reassuring. A criminal case is beginning to unfold like a criminal case. There will be much more to discuss tomorrow, so let’s return to the Trump criminal indictment when we have more information.

Republicans are on the defensive over the absolutist approach to gun rights.

          Last week, the mass shooting in Nashville touched a nerve in Tennessee and nationwide. Despite clear public anger toward Republican leaders over their refusal to ban weapons of war and impose red flag laws, Republicans continue to act as staff employees of the gun lobby. But they are ashamed of themselves—perhaps for the first time in history. That is a good development because it manifests an understanding by Republicans that they are on the wrong side of the issue.

          Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill authorizing the permitless carry of weapons in Florida, adding that state to the growing number of GOP-controlled states to adopt the so-called “constitutional carry” of firearms. But DeSantis was uncharacteristically bashful when he signed the bill. DeSantis typically conducts bill signings as surrogate campaign rallies. Not so with the signing of the permitless carry bill. DeSantis signed the bill in a closed ceremony attended only by—wait for it—representatives of the National Rifle Association and the bill's sponsors. See  MSNBC, Following mass shootings, DeSantis signs permitless carry bill.

          Members of the media were excluded from the event, and credit for a photo of the signing was given to the National Rifle Association! As wryly observed by NBC,

It’s almost as if the GOP governor, ahead of his as-yet-unannounced presidential campaign, realizes that signing a bill that lets people carry guns without permits or training might be unpopular with much of the American mainstream.

          Indeed! “Permitless carry” is wildly unpopular with the American public. Per Pew Research, 80% of Americans oppose “allowing people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.” See Pew Research Center, Key facts about Americans and guns. (See Part 7, last question.) Republicans are swimming against the tide of public opinion on gun regulation. The callousness of signing such a bill days after the killings in Nashville is breathtaking. Such actions by DeSantis (and other Republicans) will slowly erode their marginal advantage in closely contested races enough to allow Democrats to reverse the reckless laws passed in GOP-controlled states.

          The fact that Republicans are fighting a losing battle was made apparent today by a protest in the Tennessee state legislature by hundreds of school kids and their parents. See Chalkbeat Tennessee, Nashville students rally for tougher gun laws, as the governor seeks armed officer for every school. Per Chalkbeat, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee continues to support permitless carry (legislation he sponsored). He wants the legislature to pay for an armed guard at every public and private school instead of restricting access to guns.

          Several Democratic members of the Tennessee House joined the chants of protestors who entered the state legislature. Tennessee Republicans have introduced legislation to expel those Democrats from the state legislature—which will serve only to make them heroes of the movement to ban assault weapons. If Tennessee Republicans don’t understand that fact, they deserve the political comeuppance they have coming their way. See USA Today, Tennessee GOP file resolutions to expel three Democrats who led gun reform chants on House floor.

          Banning assault weapons and restricting gun ownership and carry laws will be key issues in the 2024 campaign. The two stories above should make that point, but if anyone is unclear on the concept, the Supreme Court is about to let down the hammer on any semblance of gun regulation. Court observers believe that the reactionary majority will invalidate laws that temporarily remove guns from the hands of defendants accused of domestic violence. See Linda Greenhouse’s op-ed in NYTimes, We’re About to Find Out How Far the Supreme Court Will Go to Arm America.

          The facts in the case currently before the US Supreme Court (US v. Rahimi) are extreme. A woman obtained a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend for domestic abuse, including threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend and their child. The ex-boyfriend then went on a violent crime spree that included multiple shootings. A judge entered an order prohibiting him from possessing weapons pending the resolution of the domestic violence claims and related charges.

The ex-boyfriend then challenged the constitutionality of that order under the Supreme Court’s ruling in NY Rifle & Pistol Club v Bruen. A panel of Fifth Circuit judges held that the order violated the rights protected in Bruen and declared the statute permitting the removal of his firearms unconstitutional.

          Here’s the problem: The test established by Justice Thomas in the majority opinion in Bruen is impossible to satisfy. Per Thomas, if a state wants to justify a restriction on the possession of guns,

The government must affirmatively prove that its firearms regulation is part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms.

          Of course, since restraining orders for domestic violence were essentially non-existent when the Second and Fourteenth Amendments were ratified, Justice Thomas has created a test that is virtually impossible to satisfy. The reactionary Supreme Court is on the verge of making everyone less safe—but especially victims of domestic abuse who are threatened with gun violence by their abusers. As the author of the Fifth Circuit opinion wrote,

[Mr. Rahimi], while hardly a model citizen, is nonetheless among ‘the people’ entitled to the Second Amendment’s guarantees.

          Justice Thomas’s impossible test in Bruen and the reasoning of the Fifth Circuit in the Rahimi case are insane. Together, they posit that a civilized society cannot protect itself against gun violence until after someone has been shot by a defendant using a firearm (and maybe not even then). The extreme positions asserted by gun rights absolutists and the judges and politicians who do the NRA’s bidding will eventually lead to mass protests and voter revolts that will reverse this perverse exaltation of guns over lives.

          That day cannot come soon enough. Indeed, it should already be upon us. We need to fill state legislatures and voting booths with citizens who do not want to live in a society where someone awaiting trial on a shooting spree is guaranteed the right to possess assault rifles and carry concealed weapons in public.

CBS gives Marjorie Taylor Greene a platform to spew conspiracy theories.

          CBS’s 60 Minutes aired an interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene by Leslie Stahl. The decision to give Greene a platform was a mistake. Stahl was not up to the task of interviewing Greene and seemed incapable of countering her unhinged arguments. When Stahl tried to corner Greene on the claim that all Democrats are pedophiles, Greene slithered away. Stahl could only muster an “eye roll” and move on to the next question. See The Guardian, CBS faces backlash over 60 Minutes interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene.

          Of course, CBS has every right to interview controversial figures. But if they are going to do so, they should be prepared with effective cross-examination. Worse, CBS promoted the interview as a “puff piece” with a “controversial” figure, writing:

From the far-right fringe to the Republican party’s front row. She’s gained her national celebrity, some say notoriety, with a sharp tongue and some pretty radical views like her proposal for a national divorce where red and blue states would go their separate ways. But she has managed in just two years in Congress to accumulate real power, landing on important committees and influencing the direction of Republican policies.

          Greene is not merely a “controversial” figure, she is a threat to democracy. If the 60 Minutes’ producers and anchors can’t figure that out, they should hang up their press passes and jump ship to Access Hollywood on NBC.

Do NOT support the “No Labels” third party.

          An anonymous group of financial supporters is backing a so-called “third party” campaign under the name of “No Labels.” The alleged appeal of the group is that it purportedly presents a “middle way” between the “warring factions” of Republicans and Democrats.

I cannot say this strongly enough: The No Labels campaign is a stalking horse designed to elect Donald Trump. Please do not fall for the reasonable-sounding but cynical hype. Hear me out.

          The most a third party can do in 2024 is divert a handful of electoral college votes in a few closely divided states. If that happens, it is possible that no candidate secures a majority of votes in the electoral college. Who wins the election in that instance?

Answer: the GOP nominee—because the election will be decided in the House, with each state’s delegation getting one vote. Republicans currently control 26 state delegations in the US House of Representatives, meaning that the Republican nominee would win without regard to the national popular vote!

          But even if No Labels does not win any electoral college votes, it could draw enough Democratic-leaning Independents to tip a close race to the GOP nominee—likely Trump. In short, there is NO scenario in which the No Labels campaign will elect a “centrist” candidate as president. Instead, the ONLY outcome of a successful No Labels campaign is to ensure victory for the GOP nominee, likely Trump. Do not be fooled! See NYMagazine, The Terrifying Threat That No Labels Will Re-elect Trump.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Here is some “inside baseball” about our household. Our extended nuclear family of eleven (daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren) plus two caregivers (for thirteen) has been battling a severe cold (not Covid) for the last two-and-half weeks as it is passed from victim to victim. Grandpa (me) and Grandma (Managing Editor) have avoided the nasty bug despite hours of holding a sick infant and caring for two sick toddlers as we gave relief to beleaguered parents and caregivers. Our daughters were duly impressed with their grandparents’ immune systems because we were the last two standing.

          Until tonight, that is. I can feel the sore throat coming, and it is a doozy. If my daughters’ and granddaughters’ experience is a guide, I may not have a voice for several days. All of which is to say that I may not do an audio version in the coming days and may “opt” for shorter newsletters (under the stern direction of my still-healthy Managing Editor).

          It’s prosaic, isn’t it? After waiting for seven years for Trump to be brought to the bar of justice, I may be laid up with a bad cold on the appointed day! That serves as a humbling reminder that life goes on despite macro-events that may shape history. But the common cold is a good reminder of the strength of this nation—and why we should not surrender to dark visions of America’s future.

          More than anything else, most Americans want to raise their families in peace, security, and health. I am not saying that major events do not matter—they do. I am saying that when we act collectively at the ballot box, we are voting in our self-interest in promoting peace, security, and well-being. Somehow, Republicans have fooled their followers into believing that a lawless nation rife with guns in which everyone must hew to false notions of conformity is in their interest. It is not.

          The parents and children of Tennessee who flooded the state legislature today have seen through the lies and want a return to a society that cares first and foremost for the peace, security, and well-being of its citizens. In that, we should all take hope as we await momentous events on Tuesday.

          I plan on writing tomorrow! Stay strong!