September 30:
Amid congressional chaos and uncertainty over aid to Ukraine, there seems to be some kind of solution with a Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline.
***
September 29:
There is now little over a day to go for Congress to prevent a government shutdown at the hands of extreme members of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s caucus. The consequences for the GOP, McCarthy himself and – most importantly – many ordinary Americans could be catastrophic.
At a ceremony to mark his retirement, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Mark Milley said this…
To which the wannabe dictator in question said this…
Meanwhile there was some pushback from the Washington Post following criticism of their description of Milley as “polarizing”. Reporter Dan Lamothe explains…
*
Groundbreaking California Senator Dianne Feinstein died aged 90. With her passing the Democrats effectively lost their “majority” in the Senate, taking Sens Sinema and Manchin into account, thus CA Gov Gavin Newsom will have to weigh naming her replacement in coming days.
And, well, yeah…
***
September 28:
After President Biden’s appearance on a UAW picket line on Tuesday, the former President travelled to Detroit for a photo opportunity at a non-union plant at the invitation of management. A day after being held liable for fraud in his business dealings, the extent of the fraud of Trump’s political pantomime just becomes clearer with each event.
The problem is, none of it matters. Just like last night’s “debate” among Republicans who supposedly want the job Trump used to have, it’s a completely pointless exercise while he remains the only candidate the party is coalescing around.
And his supporters know it…
Trump has literally zero incentive to debate or even interact with any of these people, who clearly are running for their own various reasons. It was probably ironic that the event was held at the library of a former Republican President who would stand no chance of becoming the nominee of the current Republican party.
A complete clown show.
Meanwhile as Washington slides inexorably towards a government shutdown this coming weekend, the House GOP of course begins its performative hearings on the impeachment of Joe Biden.
And yet…
Perhaps Democrats on the committee might bring along receipts on Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s business activity during their time as actual White House appointees. Or perhaps not. Again, after all, none of this matters.
***
September 27:
A judge in New York last night ruled that the former President and his business organisation had lied when it overvalued – and undervalued – its assets, exaggerating his net worth by billions of dollars. The judge said this had been happening for about a decade, and the former President’s arguments defending his actions were based in a “fantasy world, not the real world.”
And, invoking third base…
***
September 26:
With a deal to end the Hollywood writers’ strike now apparently in place (but another potential dispute looming in the creative industries), the focus shifts back to the autoworkers as President Biden headed to Michigan to show support for strikers on a picket line with their strike action into its second week.
Not wanting to miss the spotlight – while also distracting from the upcoming second GOP debate – the former President will go to Detroit on Wednesday. The duelling appearances by the two leading potential candidates highlight the role Michigan will play in the coming election cycle.
In legal news, the former President is, unsurprisingly, challenging Jack Smith’s proposed limited gag order, arguing that it would restrict his ability to campaign.
Democratic Senator Bob Menendez remains defiant after his corruption indictment as calls grow for his resignation (including from his fellow NJ Senator Cory Booker); while Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed another privacy lawsuit, this time against Rudy Giuliani.
A significant Supreme Court ruling today upheld its previous decision and denied a request by Alabama’s Republican legislature to retain an electoral map featuring one majority-Black congressional district. In June, SCOTUS had ruled that the map should be re-drawn to include a second.
Meanwhile, a government shutdown moves closer with each day, as does the possible end of Kevin McCarthy’s speakership at the hands of his own caucus. Strangely, he seems unfazed, apparently relying on the notion that no-one else wants the job. It promises to be a dramatic, dysfunctional, four days.
Finally, Cassidy Hutchinson, former assistant to the former President’s last chief-of-staff Mark Meadows, kicked off her book tour last night by describing the chaotic end to Trump’s presidency and the potential damage that could ensue if he was to win a second term.
***
September 25:
New Jersey’s veteran Democratic Senator Bob Menendez pushed back at a press conference following his recent indictment on bribery charges. He said he wasn’t planning to resign and that he kept nearly half a million dollars in cash in his home “for emergencies”.
Whatever happens to Menendez next, the only winners seem to be those who want to muddy the waters and leave voters with the perception that government is corrupt and all politicians are as bad as each other.
Meanwhile, this looks like it might actually happen – maybe because DeSantis is running out of ways to remain relevant in the GOP primary with the second debate set for Wednesday evening.
September 24:
An end to the Writers strike appears to be in sight; the Autoworkers’ action, probably not so much…
It’s the start of the last full working week before the deadline to avoid a government shutdown; a move encouraged by the former President and enabled by his devotees in the House. Trump appears to be under the mistaken belief that a shutdown might somehow end his legal troubles.
Meanwhile, there is duelling presidential punditry, with the expectation that at least one of today’s polls might be an outlier.
And it sounds like NBC may have some tea to spill, judging by the former President’s outburst tonight…
Ah yes, of course…
***
September 22:
New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and his wife have been indicted on federal bribery charges going as far back as 2018 and allegedly involving the transfer of “highly sensitive” information. The Senator’s previous corruption indictment, in 2015, ended in a mistrial.
After a noon deadline today for progress in the talks between the UAW and automakers, an escalation looks likely in the ongoing labor dispute.
As the Senate finally overcame Alabama Sen Tommy Tuberville’s block on military promotions to approve three senior appointments, including the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an excellent Jeffrey Goldberg article in The Atlantic helped emphasise the extent of the debt America owes the man whose term in that post is coming to a close.
Meanwhile, with the second failure to pass a military spending measure, GOP dysfunction continues to cut across foreign and domestic policy; and with no clear endgame other than further chaos.
Finally, NYT columnist David Brooks probably regrets tweeting after a couple of scotches from a restaurant at Newark Airport…
***
September 21:
With President Volodomyr Zelenskyy in Washington appealing to US politicians for continued support for Ukraine’s war effort, Russian forces launched a sweeping attack, the biggest in weeks, on his capital Kyiv and across the nation.
Talking of normalization, Rupert Murdoch – the man who has undoubtedly had a greater influence on transatlantic politics than most politicians over the past half-century – will next month hand over control of the Fox networks to his son Lachlan.
***
September 20:
Republicans on the House judiciary committee probably didn’t win over many viewers who weren’t already in their column with their “grilling” of Attorney-General Merrick Garland. In fact, beyond just creating TV soundbites it’s not immediately clear what they did manage to accomplish.
Meanwhile, what passes for “real” politics continues as a dysfunctional government slouches towards a self-imposed paralysis.
***
September 19:
Presidents Biden and Zelenskyy both addressed the UN in New York, but the challenge for continued support for the Ukrainian war effort could well turn out to be in Washington this week, with Republicans split over continuing support for Ukraine.
Domestically, the House GOP seems even more fractured – and Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s position more precarious – after failing to pass a defense spending bill and a government shutdown edges closer. But at least they’re moving forward with their impeachment hearing against President Biden, the first session set for next Thursday.
Today was National Voter Registration Day and the Governor of Pennsylvania stepped up.
But plenty more work needs to be done, everywhere.
***
September 18:
As world leaders – or at least some of them – start to gather in New York for this week’s UN General Assembly, the planned prisoner exchange between the US and Iran is under way today after Qatar confirmed that $6bn of Iranian funds had been unfrozen and transferred.
Meanwhile, even though President Xi Jinping won’t be in New York, US-China relations remain at the forefront of the Biden administration’s foreign policy.
***
September 17:
A big, potentially fraught week coming up both in Washington and at the UN General Assembly in New York.
On the world stage and home of another form of gridlock…
In Texas, Attorney-General and Trump loyalist Ken Paxton was acquitted in his impeachment on numerous counts of corruption and bribery, apparently with some help from other loyalists.
The former President himself, meanwhile, continues to be given a media platform by establishment news organizations, despite the Special Counsel seeking a limited gag order.
*
The Baltimore Orioles came back in dramatic fashion to beat the Tampa Bay Rays and take a two-game lead in the AL East today. The 11th-inning win – which turned around the O’s fortunes from the midway point in the series on Friday night – came just after both teams had clinched post-season berths with a defeat for the Texas Rangers.
Later, Orioles president John Angelos pledged the team would remain at Camden Yards “for thirty years”.
The Los Angeles Dodgers again made the post-season, clinching the NL West with a win in Seattle.
Meanwhile, as the Angels are formally eliminated from post-season play…
***
September 15:
This doesn’t look good…
This, however…
***
September 14:
It looks unlikely Donald Trump will go to trial in Georgia this fall after a court in Fulton County ruled that the former President and 16 other co-defendants should be severed from the October 23 scheduled trial date for Trump allies Kenneth Cheseboro and Sidney Powell. Meanwhile, at an ill-tempered hearing this morning, their lawyers argued they should be able to interview members of the Grand Jury.
Meanwhile, the current President’s son’s legal situation continues to muddy the waters, particularly surrounding any potential impeachment moves.
After a closed-door Congressional hearing on AI yesterday, some Senators appear more keen to act to regulate the fast-evolving technology than others, as well as some tech company leaders.
The United Auto Workers union could be on strike tomorrow if a deadline of midnight tonight fails to resolve their demands with Detroit’s Big Three automakers.
The Boston Red Sox fired Chaim Bloom as Chief Baseball Officer, setting off a predictable groundswell for a return to Fenway for one of their recent favorite sons…
***
September 13:
The extent of the devastating floods in Libya is starting to become clear, with the death toll now well above 5,000 and thousands more still missing.
There’s plenty of global diplomatic maneuvering in the wake of President Biden’s trip to the G20 and Vietnam, with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to pledge a “fight against imperialism”, while China and Venezuela entered a “strategic relationship.”
Whatever President Biden’s allies may say about the likely effectiveness of Republicans’ move on impeachment without a full vote in the House, the conversation is already normalizing the process, ensuring that the significance of Donald Trump’s impeachments (plural) is being negated.
Flooding the zone.
The problem with this is, it doesn’t matter…
And, of course…
Mitt’s had enough…
Meanwhile…
***
September 12:
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is back in session today, and despite a short deadline to avoid a government shutdown, moved to press ahead with impeachment proceedings against President Biden. Amid internal threats to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership he apparently was determined to placate his more extreme wing by – again – opting for the performative over the practical.
The actual “leader” of the Republican Party, such as it is, continues his efforts at legal maneuvering aimed at escaping any accountability for his alleged involvement in the attempted insurrection of Jan 6th, 2021.
Meanwhile, looking – much – further out…
***
September 11:
***
September 10:
President Biden rounded off his trip to the G20 Summit in India with a visit to Vietnam, where he emphasised the position of the US for Asian nations as a more reliable and trustworthy global partner than China, while emphasizing that he did not want a new Cold War with Beijing.
The trip comes amid assertions by opponents seeking to play up his age that the President has been conducting his re-election campaign “from his basement”.
Nevertheless…
And…
***
September 9:
More than two thousand people are now reported to have been killed in a 6.8 earthquake that struck Morocco south of the city of Marrakech late on Friday.
***
September 8:
The Fulton County Georgia Grand Jury considering attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results issued its report, which revealed that more than 20 additional people – some of them high-profile members of the former President’s inner circle – had been recommended for indictment, but had not been charged by DA Fani Willis.
Trump’s last Chief of Staff Mark Meadows failed in his attempt to move his own case to federal court. Meadows said he would appeal. The former President is understood to be considering making a similar application, but will likely wait until the last possible date to do so.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he would not recuse himself from a case coming before the Court, despite a plea to Chief Justice John Roberts by Sen Sheldon Whitehouse and other Democrats for greater ethical accountability.
Amid renewed attention on the political gerontocracy running the country, 83-year-old former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would seek re-election next year.
***
September 7:
Ahead of Friday’s expected release of the Grand Jury report in the Georgia election interference investigation, Fulton County DA Fani Willis brutally rebuked Trump ally Jim Jordan after the House Judiciary Committee chairman attempted to obstruct the charges against the former President and others.
Meanwhile, Trump has indicated he might attempt to move his trial from Georgia to Federal Court, which could prevent it being televised.
Another Trump ally, former adviser Peter Navarro, was convicted of contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena from the Jan 6th Committee. The trial took four hours. Sentencing is set for Jan 12th, when Navarro could face up to two years in prison.
Presidential Libraries representing 13 former White House occupants took the unusual step of issuing a collective appeal to citizens to realise that democracy is at stake in the upcoming election cycle. Historian Jon Meacham called the move “supra-partisan”, in that protection of the small-d democratic system is an issue for everyone regardless of party affiliation.
***
September 6:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky, bringing a promise of further US assistance as the counter-offensive continues. As well as more financial aid, the US will send depleted-uranium munitions to Ukrainian forces.
The Special Counsel investigating President Biden’s son Hunter appears set to bring an indictment by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, the GOP continues to reach when it comes to Hunter’s dad…
***
September 5:
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in organising the events of Jan 6th. It is the longest sentence yet imposed on anyone involved in the attempted insurrection.
In Texas, the impeachment trial began of Attorney-General Ken Paxton. You can watch the livestream here.
Jury selection has begun in Trump ally Peter Navarro’s contempt of Congress case. Yet, as throughout the pantomime that is the current GOP race, Trump’s lead continues to make the “primary” largely irrelevant.
Alabama became the latest state where courts struck down a redistricting attempt.
***
September 4
First Lady Jill Biden tested positive for Covid and is isolating in Delaware. The President is still testing negative and will be cautiously looking towards his trip to the G20 in India this coming weekend.
As the nation celebrates Labor Day, there is a growing prospect of potential strikes by UAW workers at the ‘Big Three’ automakers in Detroit.
Shohei Ohtani’s agent said that Ohtani is “exploring treatment possibilities” after it was revealed that the prospective AL MVP had torn his UCL and would not pitch again this season . Nez Baleo said “some type of procedure” will be necessary but it may not be Tommy John surgery. Also, he said Ohtani will be ready to hit “when the bell rings” in 2024
***
September 3
The events surrounding this year’s Burning Man festival do actually appear to be beyond parody.
***
September 2
Former Governor of New Mexico and diplomat Ambassador Bill Richardson died aged 75.
***
September 1
Chief Parrothead Jimmy Buffett – or as one lawmaker described him, Jimmy Buffet – passed away.
States of Play 