Biden meets the moment.

June 3, 2022

[Audio version here]

          President Biden met the moment by delivering a powerful call to “stop the carnage” caused by endless mass killings of America’s youth. In a speech delivered Thursday evening, he rose above his familiar role of “consoler-in-chief” to deliver a strong call to (1) ban assault rifles, (2) implement universal background checks, and (3) rescind legal immunity for manufacturers of firearms. Failing a complete ban, Biden called for raising the age limit to 21 for the purchase of an assault rifle. A video of President Biden’s remarks is here (starting at the 12-minute mark).

          Biden’s call for a ban on assault weapons created a marker for measuring the success of gun control legislation—a sorely needed counterweight to the feeble efforts currently under discussion in the Senate. Some political commentators (on CNN) called Biden’s remarks “demagoguery” for proposing measures that cannot pass in the current Senate. Those commentators miss the point of Biden’s speech. He is attempting to wrest control of the terms of the debate from temporizing Republicans and give it back to the American people—so that they can vote on the issue of gun control in 2022 and 2024. America must ban assault weapons and will never succeed unless we declare our resolve to achieve a ban. In that regard, Biden’s speech was a welcome change of tactics that succeeded in its purpose.

          Unlike Biden’s initial comments after Uvalde, Thursday’s speech was strong and animated. I have said many times that Biden is not a great orator but is an effective communicator. On Thursday, he was a bit of both. Immediately after Biden concluded his speech, I received texts and emails from readers who were impressed and thankful that Biden had confronted the gun lobby head-on. (One reader disagreed, saying that Biden’s speech was “weak” and that his delivery was a “lullaby.”)

          Many gun control advocates are frustrated that Biden is not implementing significant gun control by executive action. But Biden is limited in what he can do by executive action. Only Congress can legislate; the President’s role is limited to “faithfully executing laws” passed by Congress. In many instances, Congress vests rulemaking authority in executive agencies to implement legislation. That is where Biden can put his thumb on the scale—by ordering agencies to amend the rules delegated to the executive branch by Congress.  

          An example is “ghost guns”—firearms manufactured at home on 3-D printers or sold as “do it yourself home assembly kits” that do not contain serial numbers. Biden issued an executive order that included “ghost guns” (and components) within the definition of a “firearm” within the meaning of the Gun Control Act and Federal Firearms Act (“Acts”). Biden’s executive order prohibited the manufacture or sale of ghost-guns (or kits) that do not include serial numbers. Sellers of such kits must register as firearms dealers. But Biden cannot and did not outlaw the manufacture of ghost guns at home for personal use or assembling ghost guns from serialized parts—an order that would exceed the legislative rulemaking authority delegated to the executive branch by the Acts. See WhiteHouse.gov, Fact Sheet: The Biden Administration Cracks Down on Ghost Guns.

          Biden has already issued a slew of executive orders amending rules to extend the reach and effectiveness of existing laws regulating guns. See WhiteHouse.gov, Fact Sheet: President Biden’s Historic Actions to Make Our Communities Safer by Reducing Gun Crime. But Biden cannot ban assault rifles by executive order. If he tried, such a rule would be immediately challenged in court as exceeding his authority to “faithfully execute” the laws enacted by Congress. The urge to blame Biden for lack of action is misplaced; it is up to Congress to act.

          On Thursday, Biden challenged Congress to do its job by passing legislation that will make America safer. Many in Congress—including many Democrats—are already sputtering excuses about why Americans must accept fig leaves to protect themselves from armor-piercing bullets. Okay. . . let’s put the question to the voters in 2022 and 2024: Are we incapable of protecting our children from mass killings caused by assault weapons? We may win; we may lose. But if we refuse even to try, we become participants in the collective failure of will to protect our children. I will not be part of that failure . . . and I hope you will not be, either.

Holding Trump accountable.

          The House January 6th Committee will hold its first public hearing on June 9th at 8:00 PM Eastern. Stay tuned!

          Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger testified for five hours before a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to interfere with the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. See Talking Points Memo, Raffensperger Testifies For Hours Before Special Grand Jury Probing Election Steal Scheme.

          The Worst Attorney General in American History—Bill Barr—testified to the January 6th Committee on Wednesday. Barr may be an idiot, but he is smart enough not to commit perjury. So, he may have some interesting things to say about Trump. But the most likely topic of testimony is Barr’s repeated statements to Trump that there was no election fraud—thereby establishing that Trump did not have a good-faith belief in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. See William Barr: Former attorney general meets with January 6 select committee - CNNPolitics.

          And in “Trump adjacent news” the House Oversight Committee is examining the $2 billion investment by Saudi Arabia in Jared Kushner’s newly formed and woefully inexperienced investment firm. See MSN, House Oversight Committee Looking Into Jared Kushner’s Relationship With The Saudis. In a letter to Kushner, the Committee said that it appeared Kushner was “trading on the relationships [Kushner] built while working for [his] father-in-law in the White House.” Talk about an understatement! The entire point of Trump’s tenure in office was to monetize the presidency and save Trump’s failing business empire!

 Trump’s efforts to skew the 2020 Census succeeded—just not how he planned.

          Trump tried to skew the 2020 Census by undercounting minority populations and non-citizens. (The Constitution requires a census of all “persons”—not “citizens.”) Trump’s objective was obvious—deprive Democratic-leaning states of additional seats in Congress. The plan backfired. As discussed in a Washington Post Editorial, the 2020 Census undercounted Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans and “overcounted” Whites and Asian Americans. As a result,

The undercounts might have deprived Florida and Texas — both red states with large minority populations — of congressional seats. On the flip side, Minnesota and Rhode Island, which are Whiter and run by Democrats, possibly retained congressional seats their population sizes did not warrant.

          Of course, Trump’s effort to skew the census was ultimately blocked in the courts, but not before damage was done. There is a lesson here as we stare down voter suppression legislation: Efforts to manipulate complicated processes affecting millions of people can have unpredictable consequences. We should not assume that the wave of voter suppression laws enacted after the 2020 election will disproportionately affect Democrats. The voter suppression laws are reprehensible—but are blunt instruments that affect Democrats, Independents, and Republicans alike.

Religion and war don’t mix.

          The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has cheered on Putin’s war against the Ukrainian people. In a fascinating article, Paul Goble details the splintering and defections rending the Russian Orthodox Church because of its support for Putin’s war. Per Goble, the Russian Orthodox Church “is on the way to losing its status as the largest Orthodox Church in the world . . . with the Ukrainian Church quickly rising in prominence.”

Millenia of history teach that it is a bad idea for religions to become involved in war and politics. The Russian Orthodox Church is re-learning that lesson every day that Putin continues to inflict war crimes on the Ukrainian people with the support and blessing of a church supposedly rooted in the message of the Gospel.

Putin’s war on the Ukrainian people.

          Per the Institute for the Study of War, Russia continues to make slow but steady gains but is having difficulty “establishing permanent societal control in newly occupied Ukrainian territories.” Moreover, Russia continues to suffer from morale and command problems, with “30 to 40% of Russian personnel that rotated out of Ukraine refus[ing] to return, forcing Russian commanders to send unprepared and unmotivated units back into combat.” But Ukraine is suffering daily losses of “between 60 and 100 Ukrainian soldiers killed and about 500 wounded.”

Concluding Thoughts.

          Sometime in the next four weeks, the Supreme Court will release opinions overruling Roe v. Wade and striking down New York State’s requirement of “good cause” to carry a concealed weapon in public places. Both issues should drive historic turnout in the midterms. Whether they do or not will be determined by the level of effort Democrats put into “getting out the vote” in the next five months.

          I frequently hear from readers who believe that the only issue voters care about is inflation. It is true that inflation is a serious issue, but there is little we can do about it. (Inflation is an economic phenomenon that is wrongly assumed to be something politicians can control.) So, let’s stop dwelling on inflation and start talking about personal liberty—the freedom to make choices about reproduction and to live in society without fear of mass killings. And, with any luck, the January 6th Committee hearings and a Georgia grand jury indictment of Trump will put into stark relief the choice between democracy and authoritarianism that will be on the ballot in 2022 and 2024.

          Most primaries will be completed by early June. We are heading into the home stretch for the midterms and should focus all of our energy—nervous and otherwise—on getting Democrats and persuadable independents to the polls. If we can do that, we maximize the chances of success up and down the ballot.

          Talk to you on Monday! I hope each of you can find respite and renewal over the weekend.