The Jim Jordan flop.

April 18, 2023

          Like much of the GOP’s threatened “revenge tour” upon taking control of the House, Jim Jordan’s Manhattan “field hearing” of the Judiciary Committee was a flop. Jordan succeeded in proving that crime exists in Manhattan—a proposition disputed by no one. But in getting to that unremarkable result, Jordan managed to preside over a chaotic hearing interrupted by power outages and disruptive protestors. And Democrats on the committee lambasted Jordan’s naked attempt to interfere in D.A. Bragg’s prosecution of Donald Trump. See, e.g., the opening statement by Rep. Adam Schiff—complete with a protester’s interruption—here: Adam Schiff’s Defense Of Bragg Interrupted By Protester Prompting Police Response.

          The “hearings” are wildly unpopular with Americans, who say that Congress should “butt out” of prosecutions of Trump. See The Hill, Two-thirds say Congress shouldn’t interfere with Trump legal probes: poll. (Per the poll, “67 percent of respondents said that GOP lawmakers shouldn’t interfere with the investigations involving former President Trump, while 33 percent of respondents said that GOP lawmakers should make an effort to stop law enforcement investigations into Trump.”)

          Moreover, the hearing brought renewed attention to Jim Jordan’s sketchy past. On Monday, the NYTimes ran a feature article on Jordan entitled, How Jim Jordan, a Fighter Aligned With Trump, Wrestled His Way to Power (nytimes.com). Tucked away in the article was this surprising revelation:

When a sexual abuse scandal at Ohio State University threatened to derail his political career, Mr. Jordan punched back in characteristic fashion, details of which have not been previously reported, calling a wrestler’s aging parents and asking them to persuade their son to back off the charge that Mr. Jordan knew about the abuse and did nothing, according to interviews conducted for this article.

          If the Times’ reporting is true, Jordan may have engaged in obstruction of justice to conceal his role in covering up the ongoing sexual abuse of athletes at Ohio State University. Sounds like something a curious US Attorney should investigate.

          Meanwhile, Jordan has filed his reply to Alvin Bragg’s lawsuit to stay Jordan’s subpoena to former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz. Jordan has offered little justification for his effort to interview the former prosecutor. Instead, he has relied on blanket assertions that Judiciary Committee hearings are immune from the judicial process because of the Speech & Debate Clause. The parties will appear in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday to argue in support of their respective positions.

          Before Republicans took control of the House in January 2023, the media was filled with dire predictions of devastating investigations promising “payback” against Democrats. A typical headline is this from CNN in July 2022—before Republicans had won a slim majority in the November elections: CNN, House Republicans plot investigative revenge on January 6 panel as Trump itches for payback.

          The Manhattan “field hearings” remind us of a lesson we should not forget: We cannot succumb to the thuggish threats by Republicans designed to conceal their lack of substance. Yes, they are inflicting real damage on the personal liberties of women and LGBTQ people and the safety of all peace-loving Americans. But their wild talk of conspiracies, laptops, and deep state cabals wither in the first light of day. We must stay focused on the real threats the MAGA agenda poses and ignore the political spectacle created to sell “My Pillows” on Fox News. They got nothing. If they had something, Jordan would have played his cards long ago. Ignore the man behind the curtain.

Speaking of lack of substance and distraction.

           In today’s email and Comment section, readers expressed concern over the looming “debt ceiling” crisis. The situation has changed little since January. As Speaker, it is Kevin McCarthy’s job to develop a proposed budget. He has failed to do so—and likely cannot. Consequently, he has spent his time demanding unspecified spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the debt limit. President Biden has refused to negotiate with McCarthy in the absence of a proposal with specific spending cuts—much to McCarthy’s frustration and anger. As a reminder, President Biden released a detailed budget proposal last month—to which McCarthy has not responded.

          McCarthy appeared before the NY Stock Exchange today and gave a speech that mirrored the vague platitudes to which he retreats when pressed for details. See Talking Points Memo, McCarthy Still Can’t Name His Price To Free Debt Ceiling Hostage.

          Per TPM,

That’s been the persistent theme of his debt ceiling remarks, and makes transparent the bind he’s in: He can’t present a detailed list of negotiating stances to try to coerce the administration into forking over concessions, because he can’t come up with any that the whole Republican House (much less their Senate counterparts) would support. Many of the measures floated — mostly various iterations of cutting domestic benefit programs — are also extremely unpopular with voters. 

          As noted by WaPo, McCarthy is facing a GOP caucus with no real experience in governing and no understanding of what damage the failure to lift the debt limit would inflict on the global economy. See WaPo, House GOP puts on united front as conflict brews behind the scenes. Per WaPo, McCarthy has been reduced to holding remedial education efforts for GOP representatives who have no understanding of the role of the House in preparing and passing a budget:

[GOP] leaders are routinely holding educational roundtables so members — some of whom have never held any elected office before and more than half of whom have never been in the House majority — understand that their redline demands have a higher likelihood of derailing good-faith negotiations than becoming law.

          McCarthy’s dilemma is that Republicans are “all hat and no cattle” on substance. The one proposal McCarthy made in his speech before the NYSE was to propose “work requirements” to receive government benefits. Which benefits? The supplemental food program—SNAP—already has substantial work requirements for eligibility. See SNAP Work Requirements | Food and Nutrition Service (usda.gov). What additional work requirements does McCarthy propose? For mothers with children under six at home? For family caregivers supporting infirm parents?

          As we approach the deadline of June 5, 2023, McCarthy will turn up the rhetoric but add no details to his demands. Biden has little choice but to refuse to negotiate with financial terrorists. Perhaps a handful of Republicans will learn enough in their remedial classes on governing to understand that they have a constitutional duty to ensure that the US pays its debts.

More gun deaths at the hands of angry white men with too many guns.

          Two tragic incidents involving teenagers who mistakenly approached residences have resulted in a death and a near fatality. Many Americans have heard about Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who was shot through a glass door as he rang the doorbell at a residence he mistakenly believed was the pickup point for his sibling. See Vox, Ralph Yarl shooting: A Black Kansas City teen went to the wrong house. He was shot.

          After an 83-year-old white man shot Yarl in the head, the homeowner opened the door and shot the teenager as he lay on the front porch. Despite these facts, the Kansas City police released the homeowner as they tried to “decide” whether the homeowner had committed a crime. Only after a public outcry did the police make a referral to the district attorney, who filed charges. See, e.g., Editorial in Kansas City Star, Kansas City police must take Ralph Yarl shooting seriously.

          The excuses offered by the Kansas City police for their delay are transparent efforts to conceal a double standard in charging a white man accused of shooting an unarmed Black teenager. If the situation were reversed, the Black teenager would have never left police custody.

          An eerily similar event occurred in Hebron, New York, on Saturday. A twenty-year-old girl was lost on a rural road with three companions in her car. She drove up the wrong driveway and was shot and killed by a 65-year-old white male, who fired into the car indiscriminately. See Times Union, Kaylin Gillis, 20, killed after turning into wrong driveway.

          The shootings fit neatly into the NRA’s campaign to instill fear into white males that everyone who approaches them is a potential threat to be met with deadly force. It is time to hold gun manufacturers liable for the deaths of innocent civilians caused by the intended use of weapons marketed as devices to kill other humans.

Ron DeSantis has lost his mind.

          Disney out-maneuvered Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the special district that houses Disney World. DeSantis has now threatened legislation to unwind the contract that Disney legally entered into in February. In doing so, DeSantis raised the possibility that Florida will locate a state prison adjacent to Disney World. See Business Insider, DeSantis Threatens to Build a State Prison Next to Disney World.

          Such a proposal would destroy the family atmosphere at Florida’s number one tourist attraction and pinnacle of culture. Floridians already side with Disney (33%) over DeSantis (28%) in terms of overall favorability. DeSantis is digging himself deeper into a hole because he cannot control his temper. He should find other ways to mediate his insecurity over his short stature—like three-inch heels and a four-inch fascinator on his cowboy hat. That should allow him to claim he is the same height as Trump—which may be at the root of DeSantis’s compulsive drive to be even nastier than Trump.

US indicts members of Chinese “police station” in New York.

          China has been operating a private “police station” in New York City to keep track of Chinese nationals in the US and enforce loyalty to the Chinese government. See MSN, US alleges secret Chinese police post in NYC, online tracking of dissidents. Apart from the sheer audacity of running a private police station in a foreign nation, the Chinese government is also engaged in large-scale manipulation of US social media. As described in the article linked above,

The indictment involving Chinese government agents and social media paints the most detailed picture yet of the country’s alleged troll operations, describing a sophisticated system that controls thousands of fake accounts on Twitter and elsewhere. [¶]

Like Russian troll campaigns, which have received far more attention, the fake Chinese accounts also tried to increase American social divisions. In one notable case cited in the complaint, the fake accounts repeatedly invoked an anti-Semitic trope to suggest that an unnamed Jewish social media executive had lobbied against a Chinese company, possibly TikTok.

          The above news is concerning, especially given the disclosure in the recent leak of documents by Jack Teixeira that only 1% of Russia’s social media bots in the US are detected. In other words, it is highly likely that the social media posts you are reading are efforts by China and Russia to influence your political opinions. Stick to trusted sources!

Article on Kamala Harris.

          Several readers forwarded and commented favorably on an article by Lucian K. Truscott IV on Substack, Kamala Harris comes into her own. Truscott covers a series of recent successes by V.P. Harris, including her trip to Ghana, her visit to Tennessee in the aftermath of the Nashville shooting and expulsion of the Tennessee Three, and her foray into the issue of reproductive liberty after Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision. Truscott concludes that the Vice President’s handling of a series of tough issues has quieted some of the “whispers in Washington” about replacing her on the 2024 ticket.

          Truscott concludes,

But it’s a very good sign that at least within the Democratic Party, Vice President Kamala Harris is seen as handling the most unforgiving job in the world quite well, thank you very much.

Not your father’s GOP.

          Sarah Longwell is the publisher of The Bulwark and spends much of her time talking to Republican voters in focus groups. She has written convincingly that the Republican Party no longer exists—at least in the minds of Republican voters. The problem for the GOP, per Longwell, is that Republican leadership hasn’t caught up to the party’s base, as evidenced by the emergence of candidates like Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, and Ron DeSantis. Each harkens back to the “pre-Trump” GOP, although DeSantis is doing his best to put that chapter of his political career behind him. See The Bulwark, You Have to Think of Trump’s Election as Year Zero.

          Why does this matter? Because if Longwell is correct, there is no question that Trump will be the 2024 nominee. Before anyone panics, we should recognize that a twice-impeached, twice (or three times) indicted failed coup plotter will not be the most attractive candidate to persuadable Independents—who will likely decide the election.

          We shouldn’t spend a lot of time obsessing over who the 2024 GOP nominee will be—since there is little we can do about it. Nor should we engage in magical thinking that imagines Trump won’t run in 2024. He will run. We will beat him. That’s the plan. Let’s stick to it!

Two personal notes.

          Many paid subscriptions are auto-renewing this week. If you see a charge for a subscription to “Today’s Edition Newsletter,” that is the name of this newsletter—it says so right at the top of every newsletter! Thanks to everyone who subscribes; you help make this newsletter possible. If you don’t subscribe and would like to, there is an invitation to do so at the bottom of every newsletter! (If you are already a subscriber, it says so at the bottom of every newsletter.)

          My wife and I have finally ventured out of our house after two rough weeks with a virus. She spent her time in the garden today and posted a video on the spring bloom in Los Angeles. Early Spring Garden Tour 2023! (everydaywithjill.com). Truth be told, she is made of stronger stuff than me and kept me afloat during the last two weeks. I couldn’t have continued publishing without her support! Thank you, darling!

Concluding Thoughts.

          We are in a rare retrograde moment for the rights and liberties of LGBTQ people and women. A wave of anti-LGBTQ sentiment and anti-trans legislation is sweeping the nation. Women are losing rights state-by-state, lawsuit-by-lawsuit, and ruling-by-ruling. We will make it through this period. The retrenchment is a spasm of the old world resisting as it gives way to the new. In the meantime, we should recognize that it is hard for those who are the subject of the assaults on their dignity, humanity, and autonomy.

          As we engage in the long struggle to overcome this retrograde moment, let’s make a special effort to be present in the lives of friends and family who are the targets of the GOP’s culture war on LGBTQ people and women. Especially the children. I hear from mothers (always mothers) of LGBTQ kids who tell me about the anxiety their children and teens suffer, knowing that they are entering a world in which discrimination against them is not only acceptable but encouraged by one of America’s major political parties. We need not be intrusive or preachy or rush to “save” people. We just need to be present for them as friends, family members, and decent citizens willing to stand alongside them in the coming struggle.

          In solidarity. Robert Hubbell.