June 30:
With the Supreme Court term wrapping up today – the last day of Pride month – the trend of taking away rights appeared to continue, as the right of an individual to refuse to serve all customers equally was upheld. Critics see the move as normalising discrimination and a move toward undermining the 2015 Obergefell ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
Later, the Court blocked a plan by the Biden administration to cancel or reduce $400billion in student loan debt.
But…
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June 29:
The Supreme Court today turned back the clock on racial justice and educational diversity by ruling to effectively overturn affirmative action in college admissions. President Biden said he “strongly disagreed” with the decision, which now looks set to prompt contentious challenges – as it has already done within the Court itself.
Meanwhile, perhaps appropriate on a day like today, Reuters published this special report.
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June 28:
President Biden began the pre-election messaging campaign to highlight his economic policy platforms with the launch of “Bidenomics”.
Meanwhile, the smoke from the Canadian wildfires is back.
With things looking increasingly bleak legally for former President Donald Trump, his close ally Rudy Giuliani appears to be looking for a way out.
Meanwhile, Trump’s only GOP rival in double-digits, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, is trying to push ahead in the performative primary stakes, with mixed results…
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June 27:
By ruling against North Carolina Republicans in a surprisingly clear 6-3 majority, the Supreme Court rejected the concept of the independent state legislature, in theory making it less likely that local lawmakers can interfere in the outcome of elections. But, as the AP reports, some observers believe more limited – but not insignificant – challenges remain ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
Donald Trump’s legal situation appeared to get even worse after the emergence of another audio tape in the documents case and a ratcheting up of the Jan 6th/Fake Electors investigation.
Trump’s political situation, however, shows no sign of weakening.
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June 26:
Amid conflicting reports over Yevgeny Prigozhin’s whereabouts as the fallout from his “mutiny” continues, Russia’s apparently real President, Vladimir Putin, gave a short address to the nation.
https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1673376571560714241
Meanwhile, the theatre surrounding the GOP primary gets increasingly separated from reality. It’s half a year until the first meaningful vote, yet desperation seems to be already taking hold.
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June 25:
There have been protests across the country marking the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s overturning of the 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. More than 60 per cent of Americans disapprove of the new restrictions, while President Biden has pledged to veto any move by the current Congress to impose a legislative ban.
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June 24:
Big – and still confusing – developments in Russia overnight, with what at first looked like some kind of coup mounted by Wagner forces led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, but by the end of the day appeared to have evolved into something else entirely. It remains unclear which faction within Russia’s military has been strengthened by the day’s events and how they might impact the wider conflict in Ukraine.
AFP Thread here:
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June 23:
Fresh off voting to censure Rep Adam Schiff for leading the first impeachment of Donald Trump, House Republicans introduced resolutions that would expunge the two impeachment proceedings against the former President altogether.
As the majority party’s clown show of division and dysfunction continues to run rampant, even their attempts to impeach the current President can’t go by without some performative insanity.
Meanwhile, another Republican joined the field for the party’s presidential nomination, because, well, why not…
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June 22:
Sadly the search for the submersible that has dominated the news agenda for the past few days ended the way many had suggested it would. That, of course, doesn’t mean the story is finished.
And, by contrast…
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June 21:
Polls this far out from any actual vote are generally meaningless except when they indicate or confirm a trend, but in the wake of his disastrous interview with Bret Baier, the former President’s team will likely be taking particular note of these latest CNN numbers, with his favorability among Republican-inclined voters taking a significant dip.
His deeply-committed base, though, remains exactly that; a discouraging sign for his primary opponents.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito picking a fight with ProPublica via an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday seemed somewhat strange, until the loop closed this morning.
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June 20:
Republicans are predictably angry after President Biden’s son Hunter agreed a plea deal to likely avoid prison time over offences related to his tax returns and a firearm possession charge. The deal was cut with a Trump-appointed Attorney, David Weiss.
Meanwhile a court date has been set for former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents case. The trial has been set to begin in Florida on August 14 – which could lead to a resolution well ahead of the political primary season – but it seems likely the trial will be delayed, due to the complexity and sensitive nature of the material involved.
Last night, Trump gave an interview to Bret Baier of Fox News, during which he appears to issue some self-incriminating statements.
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June 19:
For the second year, a federal holiday marks Juneteenth, commemorating the final declaration of the ending of slavery. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in some parts of the country such a commemoration remains contentious, with almost half the states not recognising the holiday.
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June 18:
A Washington Post investigation tonight suggests why Attorney-General Merrick Garland and the DOJ appeared so reluctant to investigate former President Trump’s role in the Jan 6th insurrection, resulting in a delay of more than a year.
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June 16:
Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers revealing the secret activities of the US in the Vietnam war, died.
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15 June:
Amid news that Donald Trump last year rejected advice from one of his lawyers who was trying to negotiate a settlement with the Justice Department, attention has turned to the former President’s body man and co-defendant Walt Nauta, with plenty of speculation over whether he might eventually co-operate with prosecutors against his boss.
There’s also continuing talk that the former President could be in line for further document charges in New Jersey, related to alleged possible use of classified documents at his Bedminster golf club.
The GOP figurehead’s legal difficulties were never far from the surface at last night’s Congressional Baseball game, where sections of the “blue” side of Nationals Park could be heard chanting “In-dict-ed, In-dict-ed”….
Read a Game Note from the Congressional Baseball Game here (scroll down).
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14 June:
Plenty of media navel-gazing this morning in the wake of yesterday’s wall-to-wall coverage of the Trump arraignment circus, which stretched through to the former President’s speech later in the day at his Bedminster golf club. Interestingly, the “morning after” comes as the release of the annual Reuters Institute survey of digital news usage shows that overall trust in media in the US is up on last year’s low, but is still only at 32%.
Meanwhile in Brussels this morning…
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13 June:
Donald Trump’s legal circus pitched its tent briefly in Miami today, as the former President was arraigned in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. As expected, Trump pleaded not guilty to the 37 counts against him, while his defence team’s strategy appears to be to push to delay proceedings as far as possible.
Whatever happens next, the impact of the trial – and Trump’s other possible legal problems still to come – on both the unfolding GOP primary and the dynamic of congressional business into the 2024 election cycle will only intensify.
One of Trump’s rivals for the GOP presidential nomination, Chris Christie, said on his CNN Town Hall last night: “What I can tell you, for sure I know about that indictment, is there’s probably about 1/3 of the evidence they actually have is in that indictment. There will guaranteed be a lot more.”
The so far publicly unexplained aspect of the case against Trump is, of course, what he actually did with the documents he took and retained. And that, in turn, prompts questions about his handling of the information to which he had access while he was President.
We – might – soon learn more, but don’t hold your breath.
Regardless of how strong the government’s case might be, they still need a unanimous guilty verdict, and that may be a stretch, regardless of who the judge might be.
Meanwhile, the Jan 6 conspiracy investigation continues…
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12 June:
Part of one of the nation’s busiest transport arteries, I-95 through Philadelphia, is shut down when a section of highway collapsed after a gas tanker explosion in an underpass.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a prototype in power for both Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, died aged 86. He offers a timely reminder that a politician can be ludicrous and dangerous at the same time.
Oh, and… can’t wait.
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11 June:
A defiant former President Trump literally preached to the choir last night at campaign appearances in Georgia and North Carolina, as his allies predictably rallied round. It would seem that the true “test of democracy” might be less in whether or not he is eventually convicted, but rather in why his support remains largely unaffected by his alleged crimes; and what happens when a sizeable section of the country considers itself outside of established political and legal norms.
Some on the Republican side, though, appear to be prepared to say that their emperor, finally, is unclothed.
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10 June:
Ukraine’s counter-offensive is apparently under way, according to President Zelenskyy, with western-supplied armoured vehicles being used in the field. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Kyiv today.
The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, died in federal prison aged 81.
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9 June:
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8 June:
Much of the country – but perhaps most spectacularly New York City – continues to be blanketed in haze as smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires threatens air quality. With millions of people under air quality warnings, meteorologists say the conditions are not expected to improve for the next few days.
Last night’s Yankees game against the White Sox was postponed due to “hazardous” air quality. The plan is to make the game up as part of a double-header on Thursday, depending on conditions later today.
On a different kind of congestion, in the growing GOP primary Mike Pence formally launched his campaign to lead the “Hang Mike Pence” party.
In other political news, the Supreme Court ruled that Alabama’s congressionap map violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting strength of Black voters.
The House GOP cancelled a plan to hold the Director of the FBI in contempt after the agency agreed to share documents apparently alleging something or other against President Biden. But wait! There’s more…
Finally, the first presidential election contest I covered was the 1988 Iowa caucuses. Pat Robertson finished second to Bob Dole (third-place finisher George HW Bush eventually became the party’s nominee and, subsequently, president).
Robertson was a wingnut’s wingnut, but he knew exactly how gullible ordinary people could be, and how profitable it was to exploit them. He’s absolutely one of the reasons the GOP is how it is today. He won’t be missed.
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7 June:
Today’s Trump “indictment watch” intensified after it emerged that his final chief of staff and key confidant Mark Meadows had testified as part of the Special Counsel’s investigation. Meadows – who denied allegations last year that he had sought a pardon from Trump – reportedly answered questions both on the Mar-a-Lago documents case and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
And this probably isn’t good either. Another former Trump aide, Taylor Budowich, was spotted this morning entering the courthouse in Miami.
Meanwhile, former NJ Governor – and another former Trump ally – Chris Christie declared for President in New Hampshire last night, with the legally embattled former President in his sights and signs that his campaign probably won’t be a re-run of his 2016 bid.
Meanwhile Trump’s former VP will have a Town Hall show on CNN tonight to promote whatever his campaign’s raison d’etre might be. He may tell us later.
Another good piece here by Jonathan Chait summing up where things stand as the GOP primary pieces start to fall into place.
“The years since Trump arrived on the Republican scene have instilled in the party’s elite a learned helplessness. The notion that the GOP could grow so dangerous that they must abandon it for the sake of the Republic is unimaginable to them. Trump is planning a second term that can break down every guardrail that held him back the first time. The Republican “opposition,” as it were, is dedicated to bringing more planning, intraparty support, and ruthlessness to the very same project.”
Totally separately – apart from the fact that money, inevitably, talks – Saudi Arabia just bought the PGA.
Big bank takes smaller bank; but everything inevitably comes back to Trump… or as Rick Reilly famously called him, the Commander-in-Cheat.
Oh, and…
and…
***
6 June:
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council amid counter-allegations of responsibility for an attack on a critical dam which threatens to cause many thousands of evacuations and may risk the nearby Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Ironically, today the “chronically dysfunctional” Security Council could wind up with Moscow-allied Belarus as its Eastern European representative for the coming year.
Also overseas, protests are again taking place in France over President Macron’s plan to raise the nation’s retirement age.
- Read the most recent States of Play Q&A with economist Norma Cohen about the demographic time bomb facing France and other countries:
In the US, the GOP presidential field is set get even larger today, with former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie’s entry – again, simply because, for now, there is no disincentive not to jump in. The expanding field is literally in the on-deck circle, waiting to see what happens to the guy in the batter’s box – especially as it looks increasingly likely that he ends up getting hit by a pitch.
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5 June:
Expectations are – once more – growing that the Special Counsel investigating the Mar-a-Lago documents case might be close to bringing charges, after lawyers for former President Trump met with the Department of Justice for two hours this morning.
New Hampshire Gov Chris Sununu said he would not run for President in 2024 “on the Republican ticket”…. perhaps dangling the possibility that he might run on the NoLabels apparent “unity” platform?
Former VP Mike Pence is running for the GOP nod, though, because, like everyone else who jumps in, there’s zero disincentive to doing so. We’ll see how his bid to lead the “Hang Mike Pence” party works out for him, and that should be the first question he’s asked at his CNN town hall show on Wednesday.
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1 June:
The Senate passed the debt limit bill late on Thursday, in theory averting a US default.
Former President Donald Trump may have, finally, talked too much…
And, really, who cares…?
It’s Pride Month…
States of Play 