First, some housekeeping: The January 6 panel has a “deal” for an interview with Pat A. Cipollone, which seems to be that he will testify only behind closed doors. Better than nothing.
The next hearing will be televised Tuesday morning, July 12.
The Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating Trump’s election fraud has subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, and Lindsay Graham. I hope they have a witness waiting room with padded walls. Graham is fighting the subpoena. And see What Lindsey Graham Did In Georgia To Keep Trump In Power at TPM.
Now on to new news — in 2020, I believe a lot of people voted for Joe Biden for POTUS because they were exhausted with the endless Trump drama and just wanted some normal. That’s very understandable. However, we don’t live in a normal country or in normal times. And even Joe Biden cannot provide enough warmth, comfort, and reasonableness to make it so.
Today’s links:
From Politico, ‘Be absolutely furious’: Dems want more from Biden after Highland Park. The takeaway: Biden is not rising to the moment. He’s not reflecting the mood of Democrats, which is angry. Very angry. People don’t want to hear the Preisdnet console them by saying we did just pass a gun bill. They want fire and brimstone.
Ashley Parker and Matt Viser write at WaPo, As some Democrats grow impatient with Biden, alternative voices emerge. In contrast to Biden, they write,
J.B. Pritzker, Illinois’ Democratic governor, delivered a fiery response that took direct aim at those blocking gun control legislation. “If you are angry today, I’m here to tell you to be angry,” he said, seething while Biden was consoling. “I’m furious. I’m furious that yet more innocent lives were taken by gun violence.”
There are multiple headlines right now about how Democrats are angry, about guns, about abortion, about Republicans, and President Biden is just not reflecting what they feel.
Of course, it’s also the case that (in some quarters) Democrats are not among the group privileged to be angry. The Daily Beast is running an article headlined Democrats Abroad Slammed for ‘Kavanaugh’s a C*nt’ July 4 Party, in which a bunch of American abroad gathered to express their anger in front of the Place du Trocadéro, the monument to the dead of World War I, in Paris. I’m not sure what Justice Kavanaugh’s many character flaws have to do with World War I, but naturally righties are making a Big Deal out of it, like they would never, ever associate some vulgarity with a politician they don’t like. Right?
Anyway — I do wish we had someone able to fight fire with fire. The Republic is under attack. The usual political processes no longer work. A lot of voters don’t get how Dems could hold the House, Senate, and White House and still be blocked from accomplishing much. In a normal world Joe Manchin wouldn’t have veto power over his own party.
But, yes, I think Democrats need to own their anger again.
I happen to think Joe Biden is catching a lot of shit that is unwarranted.
Biden was nominated for one reason. To dispatch Trump.
He did his job and I will be forever grateful.
I'm not out to tar and feather Joe Biden, BUT if he could not get the job done (and he hasn't) he needed to go on offense. IMO, that should have included scorching Sinema and Manchin for being mealymouthed. The only legislative accomplishment of the Trump admin was tax cuts passed by reconciliation which could have been rescinded by reconciliation.
Obama had some excuse that maybe Republicans would come around if he was nice enough, but after eight years, Joe has no excuse for pretending the GOP Senate will function in a gentlemanly way.
Joe can't "wing it" live without chewing on his insole or heel. We need someone like Bernie or Liz who can go live, take questions, and bloody (rhetorically) some noses. I'm not suggesting Joe has lost any fights he could have won but Gentleman Joe isn't confronting. (Hell, even Obama called out the USSC to their faces over Citizens United.) Joe isn't swinging – I object to that.
Cipollone, if he answers fully and honestly, will blow the lid off what was happening in the Trump WH. This will put him in the crosshairs of Trumpsters forever – not part of his job description. He was trying to get Trump to pull back so Cipolonne would not have to risk life and limb after the insurrection. This all sucks (to him.) If he doesn't testify openly, Trump might get reelected. If he does, he (Cipollone) damn near has to go into the witness protection program. My guess is that since he's screwed either way, he'll testify honestly.
I think he'll testify honestly also. But not because it's a guiding principle of his character. He doesn't know what 'under oath' information the committee already has so he'll be walking a legal tightrope/minefield if he tries to cover for Trump. Smart money says don't place your bet on Trump!
Looking back at Watergate, Nixon managed to sail away clean, but in his wake he left a lot of people who tried to cover for him with shattered lives and prison time.
I think Joe Biden has been doing a good job of being the anti-tRUMP.
Having said that, Democratic leadership is too old.
Joe, Nancy, and Chuck keep referring back to the "good old bipartisan" days. Those days are long, long gone! But they keep waiting, or hoping, for a return to the old normal. Ain't gonna happen!
The Democrats need to be challenged by younger leaders. Someone like Schiff could be an excellent SotH. Cory Booker might make a good Senate Leader.
Who's going to be the D's presidential candidate?
I'm not against Biden. But it would be nice to see a younger candidate.
Someone like CA's Governor, Gavin Newsom? Too "California-ee?". How about IL's Pritzker? Or is he too rich? Booker? Too early for another Black candidate?
I don't know.
But in my opinion, we need to start to see some changes. Soon.
I get a lot of Biden critics, as I live in a red state and our media saturation of bad county music, right wing radio, worthless biased television news, and a "daily" newspaper publishing three days a week. I assume they are propagandizing with the question 'What has Biden done for us' as I hear it a lot. I simply answer he has given us truth and sanity. They usually repeat the question, so I just repeat my answer. That has gone on for a number of repetitions at times but has never gone to the response I would like to hear…something like those are good presidential qualities. They can hate whole ethnicities of people they have never met but they are blind to any flaws of their corrupt hero. It must be quite dark in their rabbit hole.
In some ways Biden is getting a bum rap. He succeeded in job number one, dispatching Trump, a huge weight off the world's shoulder. He was a much needed calming presence ushering in normalcy, relatively speaking. He got the stimulus and infrastructure bills passed. And he's been a much needed voice of calm while the media and the republicans push people into panic mode over manufactured wingnut talking point "scandals." That said, Biden's amiable, ambling go along to get along, it will work itself out demeanor in the face of vicious, coordinated "cultural" attacks from the right, the uniquely American festival of mass shootings, a far right conservative court taking that's dropped all semblance of being a court and is outright wreaking vengeance on the American people just does not meet the moment.
The good news is, even with all this, the latest generic democrat vs republican polls show dems with anywhere from a +3 to +7 lead on the GOP. So maybe Biden getting out of their way and letting the republicans jump the shark and do themselves in ahead of November is a good thing.