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The Politicus Pod is the official PoliticusUSA podcast where we dive deep into the news that matters to you.
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Politicus Pod
Sarah Jones Explains Trump Trial Jury Selection
16 APR 2024 · This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit https://www.thedailypoliticususa.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7
With democracy and freedom under attack, The Daily is fighting for our rights, and we could use your help. To support us, please consider becoming a subscriber.Explaining Trump Jury SelectionSarah was recently on BBC Five Live, where she discussed the Trump trial jury selection. Here is the lightly edited transcript of her interview:Q: This process is pretty normal in high-profile trials, isn't it? But what's interesting, from what I can gather, Donald Trump's in the court while these jurors are talking about him. Sarah Jones: Yes. He yesterday was reported to have fallen asleep and was also reported to have fallen asleep today, but kind of perked up when they were asked questions about the books that he has written that they have read.So it's weird to watch him in court and to watch a former president. This is a historic trial. This is a criminal trial that has never happened against a former American president before.Q: One of the jurors who was excused yesterday said that you'd have to have lived in a cardboard box not to have a prior opinion of Donald Trump. Is that a fair point? Sarah Jones: That really is because he was famous. He's lived in New York as his main residence his entire life and he's lived in Manhattan since 1971. And he was already famous there long before he ran for president. And in fact, during the 2016 election, there was a lot of kind of arguments about why so many people in Manhattan don't like him that he has a reputation as maybe a shyster, a little, running a little bit of a shady business.
Our Broken Media: The Trifecta of Bad Incentives
1 MAR 2024 · The Daily is a newsletter committed to democracy and journalism, and we could use your help. If you would like to support our work, please consider becoming a subscriber.Today, we're going to be talking about the threat the media poses to our democracy, and how the media has become perhaps unintentionally complicit. Sarah Jones: In this growing threat of autocracy, the media has been pushing false equivalencies and asymmetric coverage of, for example, the age of the 2 leading Presidential candidates: President Joe Biden, the Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican, the latter of whom has been criminally indicted on 91 counts, and recently found liable for sexual assault, and in a separate case for fraud.Trump is also accused of inciting a terrorist attack against the United States in an attempted self coup to remain in power even after the people voted him out. In other words, it's very clear that these 2 candidates are not the same and even after it's become clear that Donald Trump and the Republican party, under his leadership, are harmful to the national security of the United States, and indeed, the very concept of the US. and her sacred freedoms, the media's will and capability to tackle encroaching autocracy remains distressing. Whether that's due to a corporate mindset, the for-profit news click bait or outdated an outdated method of journalism which is so easily exploited by dishonest actors, such as the he said/she said version of journalism.But the bottom line is the media should be fair to the public and to the facts there is no obligation to present both parties as the same. Yet, even as the Republican party over the last decade has become more corrupt. The media continues to launder their misinformation and phony scandals, and it sure Democrats have been guilty of this as well, but just on a on a scale. This is largely benefiting the Republican Party.The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts, podcasts and to support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Joining me today to discuss this is Kaivan Schroff, a democratic political commentator and public interest attorney. He is a frequent guest on CNN. Tonight, and a press secretary for Dream America. Welcome to the Politicus Pod.Kaivan Shroff: Great to join Sarah. I know we've been following each other for a few years. So glad to be on.So good to have you, and I really can't wait to get into this. So you are an expert on this, and you've brought up a lot of thoughts about this. One of your concepts that you've mentioned many times is the that I want you to get into here, for our audience, is the “Trifecta of bad incentives: The book deals that cable news hits and going viral.” How do you see that as having degraded the Fourth Estate? And do you think it's gotten worse since 2016, or is it the same?KS: Yes, so you know, I really focused on this for a project a capstone at Harvard Law School in the Kennedy school, where I was really focused on we had to pick a big public problem, and I thought one of the most timely public problems we face as a country in a democracy is clearly the decline of trust in our media. And also, I think, the the degradation of journalism. It's not just perception, of course. So one of the things I tapped into was what I'm calling the trifecta of bad incentives. And this is something I think we saw very clearly during the trump era, but even started earlier, and what those incentives are, and you mentioned some of them social media fame going viral, I think, blurring the lines we've seen between influencers and journalists, and why that costs us trust at a accelerated rate.Then number 2. All these book deals that it seems like reporters are more focused on than actually reporting. And even we've seen so many cases now where reporters are sitting on scoops of national importance so that they can save that for a book launch or a book tour, you know, a year plus later, what does that cost the public? And then, third, the cable news hits and wanting to be on TV and wanting to go viral again in those sort of reality. TV. Ask exchanges, making themselves the story. And I think you know, some of those moments were really positive. I think a lot of us fondly remember Jim Acosta standing up to bullies at the White House, you know. Press secretary Room. Briefing room, and, you know, going toe to toe with Sarah Sanders and Trump, who are lying to the public. But now that we do have trustworthy folks in those roles you still see some of the same behaviors where these reporters want to have that moment, and it's not necessarily in service of the truth. It's more in service of their agenda. So would love to get into all of that.SJ: There's a great example. He is someone who is doing has been doing and continues to do a good job. He was standing up for the right for the press to ask these questions that he was trying to ask. But then I do see people trying to model themselves off of that, to have this moment where they're kind of shrieking at the Press Secretary, in hopes of getting attention for questions a lot of times not even based in reality, which I'm sad to say because I do support journalists. There's such a difference in the when we're talking about individual journalists. I think most of them have good intentions. So that's part of the question, too. How does how do we get here where people are putting this, as you put it, this viral fame moment ahead of their own integrity. The book deals. What a great point! Because over and over again these little nuggets of, ‘Oh, yeah, your country was at risk, and I held it for my book. Here we are, 2 years later.’ That does not inspire trust in people. And one of my concerns about the lack of trust in media is, ‘how many people have tuned out to politics altogether because of this media coverage?’More in the pod!
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3 Takeaways from SCOTUS' Decision to Hear Trump's Immunity Case
29 FEB 2024 · The Daily is 100% reader-supported. If you enjoy our work, please consider becoming a subscriber.Here are the top three takeaways from the Supreme Court’s decision to hear former President Donald Trump’s immunity case: The legal ramifications, the confirmation about the corruption of the court, and the political ramifications — including a surprising silver lining.* Every day of delay serves to give Trump effective immunity: “The SCOTUS stays DC case and expedites hearing the Trump appeal on immunity. But every day of delay operates as granting Trump de facto immunity,” https://x.com/AWeissmann_/status/1762965590245822531?s=20out. * Yes, thehttps://www.politicususa.com/2024/02/28/supreme-court-trump-immunity-corrupt.html "Look, this is a momentous decision, just to hear this case. There was no reason in this world for the Supreme Court to take this case. The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had written a masterful opinion, denying that the president’s claims of absolute immunity under the constitution and the laws of the United States, there’s never been an argument that a former president is immune from prosecution for crimes that he committed while in office. On a more practical level, of course, the court — the Supreme Court is capable of deciding this very quickly, in time that the former president could be tried, before the election. But today’s decision makes that that much more unlikely,” https://x.com/PoliticusSarah/status/1762969987323408648?s=20The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.* But, it actually gives Democrats a very easy Get Out the Vote call to action. “My view of the SCOTUS action: if the trial is delayed until after November, we will see THE LARGEST BLUE WAVE IN HISTORY. If November becomes a referendum on whether Trump faces justice, then Democrats will absolutely flip the House, keep the White House and expand the Senate,” https://x.com/tedlieu/status/1762992160696078549?s=20Everyone reading this newsletter is already aware that this Supreme Court is corrupt, so many of you probably already feared this outcome. But there is a silver lining to their corruption being made so blatant so early in an election year, and that is as Rep. Lieu pointed out an opportunity for Democrats to drive up turn out, to make an easy case about the importance of showing up to vote. One thing I’d add is to make sure to ask the candidates you support what they will do about this Court. Do they support expanding the court? Do they support term limits? You can actually request a constituent meeting with your member of Congress to tell them how important this issue is. For tips on that, you can visit https://demandjustice.org/One thing is clear: Republicans are not going to make keeping our democracy easy. But they aren’t banking on you, and I am. I know you’re going to show up and turn out. Don’t let these attacks on justice and democracy bring you down, because they are counting on that to kill morale. Instead, use it to fuel your efforts and determination to do more. Talk to more people. Knock on more doors. There is a reckoning coming for those who have tried to destroy freedom in this country.Share your thoughts on the Supreme Court taking Trump’s immunity case in the comments below.PM Links:Illinois Kicks Insurrectionist Trump Off The BallotSupreme Court Shows How Corrupt It Is By Hearing Trump Immunity ClaimJudge Rules Trump Must Pay $454 Million Fraud BondTrump Admits That He Doesn’t Have The Money To Post Fraud BondHouse Republicans Are Humiliating Themselves Questioning Hunter BidenBiden Moves To Replace Gun Violence With Economic Opportunity
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Comey 2.0: The Press, the DOJ, and You
9 FEB 2024 · The Daily is 100% reader-supported. Please consider becoming a subscriber to ensure that you never miss a podcast or a newsletter.Here we are, facing another Comey political hit job like the one he did on Hillary Clinton.Robert Hur’s Special Counsel report exonerated President Joe Biden on the classified documents case. But that’s not the headline. The press took the bait as if they learned nothing from 2016. The headline from folks like the AP was:This is a good time to point out that President Biden sat for this interview for two days, October 8th and 9th, as he was dealing with the international crisis of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th.This partisan hit job on President Joe Biden went so low as to attack him in a DOJ report for not recalling the date his son died, a matter that was wholly unrelated to the issue of classified documents and had no place in an official report given by someone who does not have any expertise in memory issues and was not called upon to give a report about anything other than classified documents.The report was issued by a Trump appointee and Trump supporter whom Merrick Garland appointed as special counsel over Biden for some unknown reason. This man even stated that Biden willfully took the documents and shared them, yet later in the report admits he has no proof of this.Is this a clown show? What is going on? Why wasn’t the report even looked at by Garland before being published?You might be wondering why Biden’s age is even being raised as a concern when his opponent is an adjudicated rapist found liable for fraud who faces 91 felony counts, including for acts against the United States, and is not only an authoritarian but also “elderly” with memory problems.The point, or at least result, is to conflate Biden and Trump as similar, while glossing over Trump’s egregious criminal indictments, incompetency as president, two impeachments, sexual assault accusations including a jury finding him liable for rape, and worst of all his attack on this nation after he lost an election and the continued attempts to use lies about fraud to steal votes from over 81 million Americans.That is the story.The real story is how different these two men are, even though on the surface they are both white, older, and stumble when speaking.And even this requires context, because while both men forget names and dates, Trump speaks in second or third grade phrases; it’s not clear he has a grasp of nuanced policy on any matter, whereas Biden clearly does. Biden goes to work every day and does the job; Trump did not. Etc. Biden holds press conferences and takes questions he answers with comprehension of policy, even when he stumbles, which he does. The man has a stutter and he is older, but even younger politicians misspeak often enough that this shouldn’t even be raising eyebrows.As they were criticizing President Biden for his “memory” issues, Sean Hannity couldn’t pronounce Angela Merkel’s name and Jesse Watters called Kristi Noem the Governor of South Carolina.Are they being fired?Speaker Johnson confused Israel with Iran on Meet the Press. Is his memory the topic of discussion? Why not?Just in passing, Trump forgot what year he was president during his time on the stand in a New York trial, as president he suggested Frederick Douglass was still alive and ‘being recognized more and more,’ he confused a photo of his rape victim for his ex-wife during a deposition, called Nikki Haley Nancy Pelosi repeatedly, thought he was running against Barack Obama, said Viktor Orban is the leader of Turkey, claimed voter ID is required to buy bread, had to be told where he was during a speech.There are three parts to this equation on how propaganda works: The DOJ, the Press, and You.DOJ:Former justice officials say Hur put his “thumb on the scale”Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissman on MSNBC: “Unfortunately we’re seeing a redux of what we saw with respect to James Comey at the FBI with respect to Hillary Clinton.” He also called the report " Entirely inappropriate, that's not the role of the Department of Justice… It's gratuitous. It's what you're not supposed to do which is putting your thumb on the scale that could have political repercussions. Adjectives and adverbs, those have no place... stick to the facts.”Neal Katyal Former Acting U.S. Solicitor General : “My first tour at the Justice Department, I wrote the special counsel regulations that give this special counsel Robert Hur his power. And at the end of it, we actually said that there shouldn't be a public report in general, that there shouldn’t be a kind of list of adjectives, to use Andrew’s phrase, that would occur.I'm not aware of anything quite like this, in which you’ve got a special counsel going after the sitting president for being too old and having a faulty memory. That is, you know, he's come up with a clever way to get those adjectives in there by saying, well, if I brought this case to trial, this is what I would face from a jury.”Former AG Eric Holderhttps://x.com/EricHolder/status/1755829938140189179?s=20 “Special Counsel Hur report on Biden classified documents issues contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions. Had this report been been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised.”CNN Chief Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin: “It was outrageous that Hur put in some of that stuff in this report. That had no place in it. There is no reason this report had to be 300 pages. There is no reason why this fairly straightforward case had to be treated this way. I mean this is just like what James Comey did to Hillary Clinton…The job of prosecutors is to put up or shut up. If you have a case, bring your case. If you don't have a case, shut the hell up.”Discussion:Why exactly did Hur go beyond the point: “The evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt”? Instead, he began his op-ed into Biden’s mental state and memory in the future – something that has zero relevance to the issue and read more like the Tumblr post of a confused teenager --in what can only be described as a political gift to Donald Trump.And Garland did not review or did review and allowed this completely unsupported opinion to remain, even though he was well aware that Hur’s bio was an advertisement of his potential political agenda.A commentator wrote me on X: “I investigate and write reports like this SC report for a living. I have never once deviated from the essential facts and conclusions to answer the question I am to address: Is there sufficient evidence to…”This is the second Trump appointed Special Counsel he has appointed, perhaps in a mistaken and misguided effort to appear neutral to Republicans, who are never going to even care if someone is neutral.This frankly is the biggest weakness we have facing authoritarianism: A desire to be even-handed when the opposition is playing a death match and the belief that somehow only Republicans can be trusted to fairly judge a Democrat, but also only Republicans can be trusted to fairly judge a Republican president. Funny how that works. Garland was a non-partisan, highly ethical institutionalist who would have made the perfect Supreme Court justice. His ethics alone would have changed the course of SCOTUS from what it has become.But we are fighting encroaching authoritarianism, and this requires a certain temperament and spine. Garland is a brilliant person with high integrity, but we can see how easily exploited is his excessive tendency toward congeniality and institutionalism.Not every person with integrity can be a warrior, though, and Garland is showing himself to be incapable of rising to this moment in history. On this matter, I continue my criticism of his appointment to Attorney General, and no, it won’t matter how much people yell at me about it. Press:The press feasted on the carcass of Biden’s grief and it was grotesque.Last night, the White House press corps attacked Biden in what can only be called a feeding frenzy of ambulance-chasing cheap tabloid tactics. They attacked Biden harder than they’ve ever come at Trump, who is facing 91 indictments and tried to overthrow the U.S. government to steal an election. They were so rabid career journalists expressed their disgust.This environment is certainly not about justice or fairness and way too much of the DC press is operating more as tabloid media than as political press. The people are going to have to insist on better by refusing to reward this tabloid orientation to political coverage.https://x.com/JohnJHarwood/status/1755961536588235141?s=20Biden's press conference showed the same thing his performance in office has shown for 3 years: he can do the job Mexico for Egypt meant nothing but the GOP political apparatus is a bad-faith enterprise and mainstream press has been knocked silly by financial/political pressurehttps://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/1755952919013138935?s=10&t=5OBHgS5IHpuBp4Ov0gMmtw:Four separate articles in the NYT today about Biden’s age today, including a *35 paragraph* front page article on a verbal gaffe.Trump’s own verbal gaffes are mentioned once, 21 paragraphs in, wherein we’re told they don’t matter because “voters do not question his sharpness.”This isn’t journalism, this is electioneering. And it isn’t reporting, it’s punditry. This is the press openly speculating on politics rather reporting on substance, quite literally calling balls and strikes on what they deem voters should and shouldn’t care about.”And https://twitter.com/fritschner/status/1755762244569211287?s=57&t=5OBHgS5IHpuBp4Ov0gMmtw(DCoS/CD Rep. Don Beyer): Biden address
The E. Jean Carroll Verdict: Legally, Politically and Personally
27 JAN 2024 · There are several takeaways after today’s https://www.politicususa.com/2024/01/26/big-win-for-e-jean-carroll-as-jury-awards-her-83-3-million-in-trump-defamation-suit.html in which a Manhattan federal jury awarded her $83.3 million, including the legal, the political, and the personal.Legal: To set the stage for this in context of the other cases Trump is facing, https://www.politicususa.com/2024/01/26/judge-kaplan-shuts-down-alina-habbas-attempt-to-gaslight-about-trump-being-found-liable-for-rape.htmlThat argument is one to not to follow the law. That failed today.If that argument of https://x.com/AWeissmann_/status/1751007058705432724?s=20which would be beneficial for someone facing 91 felony counts (91 charges across four criminal cases. They include 44 federal charges and 47 state charges, all of them felonies.) and a separate fraud case. There’s no knowing if a criminal court will come to the same conclusion or uphold the rule the law, but this was a good indication that our legal institution has held against the ongoing assault of Donald Trump behaving as if he is above the law. (The unchecked corruption of the U.S. Supreme Court notwithstanding.)Today’s jury came back with $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive, for a total of $83.3 million for defamation Trump committed while president, in 2019.The $65 million in punitive damages is meant to punish and deter. The amount can be lowered by the trial court, but given Trump’s stated net worth, he might find himself in a tough position making that argument. We don’t actually know how much money Trump has. This high amount signals that the jury thinks the defendant’s conduct was outrageous, and this is a way to deter future conduct.The jury penalized Trump in a way that shows he is perhaps finally facing accountability in the courts. Both today’s case and the upcoming fraud case are civil cases; the former President has yet to be tested in a criminal court.The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Political:In the Republican primary, this means nothing – they’ve already decided this is fake. But in the general election, this is not great for Republicans. It will hurt more in the fall than right now, especially given that we are in a post-Roe environment in which women have shown tremendous political power in recent elections.Trump has already attacked the decision on social media, and he will continue to attack the media and https://www.politicususa.com/2024/01/26/trump-blames-biden-for-83-million-e-jean-carroll-verdict.htmlwhich is unlikely to move many voters other than his core supporters. So when you hear the argument that this is going to be good for Trump politically, yes it will be in the Republican primary but it will not help him in the general election and is likely to hurt in a way that the Access Hollywood tape didn’t in 2016.Personal:This was an important victory for survivors of sexual assault. In the U.S., women have watched as Donald Trump was elected after being caught on tape bragging about grabbing women and getting away with it, so there’s been an ongoing sense that there justice escapes the powerful like Mr. Trump. It’s important for victims and survivors to hear that no one is above the law and that they matter, and their voices are important.We all owe a debt of gratitude to E. Jean Carroll for having the fortitude to persevere through what had to have been a nightmare of threats, intimidation and more as well as ongoing defamation and attacks on her character. The E. Jean Carroll jury gave U.S. democracy a strong argument to shut down the attempt by Trump and his lawyers to establish that the rule of law shouldn’t apply to him and further that jury decisions should be nullified when one doesn’t like them. They also gave a very important $83.3 million message of justice for victims and survivors of sexual assault. What do think about the E. Jean Carroll verdict? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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A Victory for Democracy
8 NOV 2023 · The Daily is standing up for democracy. To join us, please consider becoming a subscriber.(Transcript is AI generated and may not be accurate.)
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Have you no sense of decency_
30 SEP 2023 · The nation watched as Republicans again cruelly used the full resources of the U.S. House to destroy the President's struggling son in order to excuse the career crimes of Donald Trump.
Have you no sense of decency?
29 SEP 2023 · This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit https://www.thedailypoliticususa.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7
It used to be taken for granted that political warfare should be focused on the elected person, while the family would be left alone. This is the shield, for example, behind which Ginni Thomas has hidden, even as she is actively interfering in U.S. politics, trying to overturn an election and has interests in cases that come before her husband, Clarence Thomas.On December 6, 1950, President Truman https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/trivia/letter-truman-defends-daughter-singing to a Washington Post music critic (Mr. Hume) who had, perhaps, too accurately reported on his daughter Margaret Truman's singing performance at Constitution Hall. His letter promised, “Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!”While Truman’s threats against a member of the press are rather uncouth and off-putting, it’s also notable that those were the days, apparently, when a President could defend their child from mere criticism. Not so much anymore.“I hope and pray that my parents love me half as much as he loves his child”There was a moment during Thursday’s hearing when the cruelty of an entire political party using the resources of the U.S. House to go after the troubled son of the President was made crystal clear. It should be a moment of reckoning for the political pundits who have so far been way too enabling of the abuse of this family.
What have you done for me, lately?
21 AUG 2023 · This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit https://www.thedailypoliticususa.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7
Unless you live off the grid, you’ve heard conservatives screaming that President Joe Biden isn’t doing enough for Maui, because while they don’t even believe in government and are currently refusing to fund FEMA as it runs out of money, there’s not a single opportunity they will miss to grift —while making up wild conspiracies, including convincing their supporters that evil elites from around the world made these tragic and horrific wildfires because Biden something, something. It’s all a psy-op, you see. But one that Joe Biden had better do something about or else.
Enduring Humiliation Might Be Kevin McCarthy's Secret Power
7 JUN 2023 · If you are enjoying The Daily, please consider supporting us by becoming a subscriber.Speaker Kevin McCarthy took repeated victory laps over his alleged debt ceiling victory and the press obliged. He was hailed as underrated, brilliant, masterful and more, even though the debt ceiling “deal” was only accomplished with the help of Democrats, yet again. bad takesDemocrats rescued McCarthy from his own hostage taking, but he got press like:“Underestimated McCarthy emerges from debt deal empowered as speaker” “McCarthy Earns the Speakership”“ has strengthened his grip on power during the debt ceiling fight” “Speaker Kevin McCarthy has shown 'abilities' no one thought he had: Karl Rove” “This principle was brilliantly implemented by Speaker McCarthy’s debt ceiling strategy” “Kevin McCarthy earned his stripes as Republican speaker” McCarthy inhaled all of that hot air and announced giddilyhttps://twitter.com/speakermccarthy/status/1664715297863917573?s=12&t=5OBHgS5IHpuBp4Ov0gMmtw to “Root out wokeness in government, NO new $4 billion FBI building, Secure the border”. Wokeness, you’ve been put on notice, along with law enforcement!record scratch… But then in less than a Scaramucci, it all went away again…. over an attempt to bring to the floor the “https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1615/textYou’re probably thinking: But the freedom of gas stoves has been on everyone’s mind, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/01/26/fact-check-false-claim-biden-administration-wants-ban-gas-stoves/11092963002/ — ever — because we operate in a fact based universe, how could this super unimportant, https://www.factcheck.org/2023/01/hot-air-over-gas-stoves/of prohibiting the use of federal funds to ban gas stoves have been opposed?!? The Daily is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts/podcasts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.What would cause McCarthy’s own caucus to slap him publicly as he was bragging about “turning the ship”?Because the House Majority is so small, if Rep. Matt Gaetz and three of his friends decided to do so, they could block every bill from coming to the House floor for a vote. McCarthy would need Democrats to help him launch Republicans’ frequently kind of bonkers bills. How did Kevin McCarthy go from being an alleged brilliant strategist to having his own caucus refuse to allow a vote on a bill to stop something that isn’t real? reactionary nihilists watch and learnIt was Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FLA) who brought his “concern” to the table along with 10 other House nihilistic reactionaries who identify as the “Freedom Caucus,” although no one has ever confirmed that they are indeed pro-freedom for anyone who isn’t a white, male, straight conservative. Gaetz crossed the aisle to join Democrats to block two gas stove bills, priorities for Republicans, because they are mad over that deal for which McCarthy is taking victory laps. Apparently, https://www.thedailypoliticususa.com/p/bidens-art-of-the-deal#details, yet McCarthy didn’t anticipate that they would. Gaetz et al took their fury to the press, having learned the real lesson from the decade plus of Republican debt ceiling hostage taking: IF YOU WANT SOMETHING YOU CAN’T GET AND SHOULDN’T HAVE BECAUSE THE PEOPLE DENIED YOU THE NUMBERS, JUST TAKE A HOSTAGE.they found outThe Angry Right found out the truth about the deal and they’re not happy.After McCarthy managed to sell conservatives on pretending they got a good deal, McCarthy was hailed as brilliant and many, many bad takes were served about how he had proven himself someone to contend with over this “deal”. Thttps://www.thedailypoliticususa.com/p/republicans-held-country-hostageincreasehttps://www.thedailypoliticususa.com/p/republicans-held-country-hostageTo add insult to injury, the great victory of Republicans was to force more people off of SNAP through work requirements (they call this “freedom”). But… that too will increase federal spending by $2.1 billion over 10 years because https://politicususa.substack.com/p/bidens-art-of-the-dealwill add “almost 80,000 people to the rolls in an average month.”they don’t even trust McCarthy - demand deal in writing“Unfortunately, two weeks a deal was made and it broke away what we had made,” Rep. Chip Roy https://twitter.com/MicaSoellnerDC/status/1666185151976554500?s=20Gaetzhttps://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1666179660739117059?s=20: “We took down the rule because we're frustrated at the way the place is operating. We're concerned that the fundamental commitments that allowed McCarthy to assume the speakership have been violated.”They demand that Speaker Kevin McCarthyhttps://twitter.com/farnoushamiri/status/1666157558602530831?s=12&t=5OBHgS5IHpuBp4Ov0gMmtwthat he will go back to their January agreement. OR ELSE.undeniable humiliationIt was a historic humiliation. It's been more than two decades since the House voted against a rule. But it happened on Tuesday to Kevin McCarthy. As we wrote on https://www.politicususa.com/2023/06/06/house-republicans-humiliate-kevin-mccarthy-rules-vote.html, McCarthy might have saved face with the debt ceiling “deal,” but he “already gave his critics everything to get the gavel, so the only thing left that his opponents could possibly want is for Kevin McCarthy not to be the Speaker of the House any longer.”Things were so humiliating that beltway types like Jake Sherman https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1666161491333062661?s=20 “An incredible embarrassment for the House Republican leadership. The morning McCarthy tries to turn the page, conservatives slap him and his leadership team in the face.”there might be hope for McCarthyThe “Freedom Caucus” gang were spotted going in to the Speaker’s office Tuesday afternoon close to 5 PM Eastern time, including Scott Perry, Dan Bishop, Byron Donalds, Chip Roy and Michael Cloud. humiliation is McCarthy’s secret powerIf Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a secret power, it’s enduring humiliation. McCarthy is Greg from Succession, riding Tom’s coattails, changing directions as the wind blows. He didn’t have an easy time getting voted to be Speaker — and he lacks the consensus making power of a Nancy Pelosi type Speaker. But after 15 rounds of voting — the most since the Civil War, he found himself holding the gavel, however tenuously. Then came the debt ceiling showdown initiated by representatives who identify as “conservatives” even though their actions are most often reactionary rather than conservative. Kevin McCarthy was bailed out again by Democrats and by President Biden, who allowed McCarthy to set the narrative that he had won hours before the President gave his version of events, which when finally given were praising bipartisanship. The deal, however, is a lot of moving around of funds: A shell game to hide the truth from the Freedom Caucus.Kevin McCarthy has shown one enduring strength as a politician: Humiliation rolls off of his back like water off of a duck’s back. Perhaps he expects humiliation. Most people have some core sense of self that wouldn’t allow this level of rather consistent humiliation, but not Kevin McCarthy. In the end, if he has the power, he seems happy.But how long will he be able to stave off the hungry beast of ever more histrionic Right wing demands?Thank you for reading The Daily. This post is public so feel free to share it.Top Stories From PoliticusUSA:https://www.politicususa.com/2023/06/06/chris-christie-trashes-trump-in-presidential-campaign-announcement.htmlChris Christie came out of the gate and talked about Trump in the sort of blunt terms that other Republican presidential candidates have feared.https://www.politicususa.com/2023/06/06/chris-christies-presidential-campaign-announcement-triggers-marco-rubio.htmlChris Christie's announcement that he is running for the 2024 Republican nomination set Sen. Marco Rubio off on a tangent about his own 2016 campaign.https://www.politicususa.com/2023/06/06/mark-meadows-testify-trump.htmlTrump's lawyers were unaware that Mark Meadows was testifying, as the former chief of staff has been out of contact with Donald Trump.https://www.politicususa.com/2023/06/06/powerful-senate-democrat-may-subpoena-clarence-thomas-sugar-daddy-harlan-crow.htmlSenate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said he is talking to his colleagues about
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