Biden to announce next week!

April 21, 2023

          President Biden plans to announce his re-election bid on Tuesday of next week on the fourth anniversary of his announcement for the 2020 election. He will do so after a historically productive and significant first two years in office. At the same time, he is weeks away from the greatest challenge to his presidency—the Republican threat to allow the US to default on debt by failing to increase the debt ceiling. Even some Democrats are becoming nervous, urging Biden to sit down with McCarthy for a second time to discuss a path forward.

          Speaker Kevin McCarthy is whipping support for a proposed budget bill that would repeal some of Biden’s signature legislative achievements while increasing the debt limit by $1.5 trillion—just enough to have this fight again in the middle of the 2024 primary season. As described by Talking Points Memo, McCarthy’s plan amounts to Give Us Everything We’ve Ever Wanted And We’ll Extend The Debt Ceiling . . . .

          Let’s acknowledge that the brinkmanship involved in the debt ceiling fight is anxiety-producing for Americans looking for stability and rationality in their lives. Watching the federal government come close to defaulting on its debt for the first time in the 246-year history of our nation is enough to make anyone nervous. But it is an issue entirely of Kevin McCarthy’s creation.

          Raising the debt ceiling relates only to the ability of the US to pay for existing debts and appropriations—it is not related directly to new spending. Raising the debt ceiling relates to the debt financing of the US and is usually passed with bipartisan support. See PolitiFact, “Raising the debt limit is usually a bipartisan undertaking.” McCarthy’s effort to use the debt ceiling to unwind previous legislation is an entirely new form of political terrorism and has no place in a functioning democracy.

          I have no special insight into how Biden should handle the negotiations. If Biden concedes to Republicans in this instance, he will legitimize the politics of chaos and destruction that is becoming the GOP’s business model. That is a result that should be avoided at all costs.

          There are theories under which Biden could act unilaterally to protect the full faith and credit of the US even if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling. See Garrett Epps in Washington Monthly, Biden Can Raise the Debt Ceiling Without Congress. Per Epps,

Here’s the argument: The Constitution’s text bars the federal government from defaulting on the debt—even a little, even for a short while. There’s a case to be made that if Congress decides to default on the debt, the president has the power and the obligation to pay it without congressional permission, even if that requires borrowing more money to do so. The result would be a constitutional crisis—Article I is pretty clear that borrowing and repaying indebtedness are congressional, not executive, powers—but a constitutional showdown may be preferable to an economic collapse.

          If Biden follows the above plan, the House will impeach Biden and the Senate will exonerate him. But at least the US would not default on its debts. Let’s hope that it does not come to a constitutional crisis.

House GOP passes anti-transgender legislation.

          As the nation careers toward a debt-limit crisis and struggles with daily shootings of innocent teens, the House GOP decided that the highest and best use of its time was to address the issue of transgender athletes in sports. See The Hill, House Republicans pass bill to ban transgender women, girls from school sports teams. The GOP majority was able to unify around an issue that affects a fraction of a percentage of sports teams in the US and injures no one. Yet, they cannot rouse themselves to address gun violence affecting tens of thousands of Americans yearly.

          I understand that the issue of transgender athletes presents complicated issues on which people of good faith can disagree. But the manner in which Republicans chose to pass the bill stigmatized and blamed transgender athletes for the complicated issues that are a reflection of societal biases and intolerance.

As usual, the GOP position is based on the mistaken notion that gender is binary, refusing to acknowledge that some children are born with chromosomes (e.g., XXY) or anatomy that defies the “binary” categorization of gender. Under the Republican bill, school districts may be forced to conduct anatomical examinations or genetic tests of children—a fact that is as dystopian as it is creepy.

          As always, we should recognize that the attack on transgender people is a wedge issue for mounting a subsequent attack on LGBTQ people  Last month, Republicans in Iowa introduced a bill to ban same-sex marriage in that state. The bill is unlikely to pass this legislative session. But Iowa’s tactic is the same as that used in the Dobbs case: Mississippi Republicans passed legislation that violated Roe v. Wade to force the Supreme Court to reconsider its recognition of the right to privacy in the Constitution.

          Democrats were united in opposing the Republican bill to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports. Rightly so. If we do not stop efforts to discriminate against transgender people, legislation to discriminate against LGBTQ people will not be far behind. We cannot let that happen.

Top Republican lawyer lays out plan to suppress vote on college campuses.

          Attorney Cleta Mitchell is a former BigLaw partner who participated with Trump in the infamous call to Brad Raffensperger in which Trump asked the Georgia Secretary of State to “find 11,780 votes.” Mitchell was immediately dropped as a partner by her law firm and has since joined a Republican think tanks and organizations, including the cynically named “Election Integrity Network,” which is implicitly based on the premise that any election Republicans don’t win was rigged.

          Cleta Mitchell is now making the rounds at various Republican meetings and conventions where she gives her view on “election integrity.” As reported by WaPo, her standard PowerPoint deck includes a pitch to “limit voting on college campuses, same-day voter registration and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters.” See Washington Post, GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell decries ease of ‘campus voting’ in private RNC pitch.

          Mitchell complained that on-campus voting “basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.” Despite her obvious disdain for college students’ sleeping habits, Mitchell did not explain why placing polling stations on college campuses was bad for democracy.

          Here’s the point: Republicans are trying to disenfranchise college students. One way you can help fight that effort is to support The Civics Center, a non-partisan organization devoted to helping register high school and college students as first-time voters. The Civic Center is looking for adults willing to supervise student-led registration drives and identify opportunities for such drives at high schools and universities. It will also gladly accept your financial support for its vital work. Check out the link above if you are interested in helping young people to exercise their right to vote.

Quick note re VoteRiders.

          In yesterday’s newsletter, I neglected to mention a group targeted by onerous voter ID laws—women. Because of name changes associated with marriages and divorce, women frequently have a government-issued ID that does not match their legal name. As noted on the VoteRiders website,

          Based on current census data, the only available proof-of-citizenship documents possessed by almost 37 million voting-age women do not reflect their current name.

          The above statistic is shocking. It means that nearly 15% of the eligible voting population (37 million/252 million) can be blocked from voting by restrictive voter ID laws. If you know anyone who needs help getting a voter ID that will comply with their state law, check out VoteRiders.

Judge tells Trump to show up at trial—or not—but refuses to tell jurors that Trump is “excused.”

          E. Jean Carroll’s rape/defamation case is set to start on April 25, 2023, in a federal courthouse in Manhattan. Trump has the option of attending or not. But his lawyer asked the federal judge to say that Trump is “excused” from attending due to logistical issues of having the former president appear in court. The judge rejected the request for a special jury instruction, telling Trump to show up or not, at his option. See The Guardian, Trump rebuked by judge over jury request in New York civil rape trial.

          If Trump doesn’t show up at trial, he will appear to be hiding from the jury. If he does show up at trial, he will be forced to sit through testimony that will be accusatory, painful, and dramatic. Either way, it is a losing proposition for Trump. Let’s hope that E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit establishes the truth about Trump's predatory behavior—both for her sake and for the sake of the American people, who deserve to know whether the candidate for the GOP nomination is a rapist (as measured by the burden of proof in a civil trial).

A nod to Judd Legum at Popular Information.

          Judd Legum, who writes Popular Information on Substack, has been tenacious in following up on scandals in the Tennessee legislature after the expulsion of the Tennessee Three. Legum has helped to expose that the Republican speaker of the Tennessee assembly, Cameron Sexton, does not live in the district that he represents and, therefore, is not eligible to serve in the assembly. See Popular Information, UPDATE: Tennessee's largest newspaper says House Speaker may not be a legal resident of his district. Residents of Sexton’s district have called upon him to resign.

          Legum reported on Thursday that speaker Cameron Sexton has been aware for weeks that a member of the Republican caucus was found to have sexually harassed a staff member—but did nothing to discipline or expel the GOP legislator. And yet, Sexton presided over the lightning-quick expulsion of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. Indeed, the member found to have engaged in sexual harassment voted to expel Jones and Pearson. See Judd Legum on Twitter,

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton has known that Scotty Campbell, a member of his leadership team, was found to have sexually harassed an intern since March 29. Why did he take no action? Would anything have happened had the intern not come forward publicly?

          At this rate, it is doubtful that Sexton will maintain his position as the speaker—largely because of the fine investigative work of Judd Legum and his staff. Kudos to them!

Concluding Thoughts.

          Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Although we are long past any doubts about the MAGA agenda, a move in the Texas legislature this week drops all pretense about their desire to impose their religious views on everyone. A proposed bill would require each classroom to include a copy of the Ten Commandments and schedule times every school day for prayer and bible reading. Given the GOP control of Texas, the bill will likely pass.

          While you would think such a bill would violate the First Amendment ban against establishing a religion, Texas legislators believe that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District clears the way for school prayer and religious indoctrination in public schools. Although the holding in Bremerton falls far short of authorizing classroom prayer and bible reading, Texas legislators hope the Supreme Court will accept their invitation to expand the ruling in Bremerton.

          While we are fighting individual attempts to erode the liberties and rights in the Constitution, we should be clear-eyed about the goal of MAGA extremists—they want nothing less than the establishment of a religious state. They will attack anyone who gets in their way—including Donald Trump. On Thursday, the conservative “Susan B. Anthony List” attacked Trump for failing to support a nationwide ban on abortion.

          As we look ahead to Joe Biden’s announcement next week, we should recognize the choice we face. On the one hand, the GOP candidate will seek to impose a conservative Christian agenda on all Americans without regard to the will of the people or the provisions of the Constitution. On the other hand, Joe Biden will seek to protect the right of all Americans to exercise the liberties guaranteed under the Constitution.

          Biden is not perfect and has offended some constituencies in the Democratic Party with recent efforts to move the “center” of national politics. While frustration and impatience with Biden are understandable, there is simply no choice between the competing visions of America offered by Biden and his GOP opponent. When Biden announces, Democrats everywhere should unite behind his candidacy and do everything possible to ensure his election.

          Friday will be a big day (if the Court issues its mifepristone ruling). I will send a newsletter on Friday evening in all events to kick off the weekend discussion.

          Stay strong, everyone! Talk to you tomorrow!