Dem
47
GOP
53
We're less than a week until Inauguration Day, and there was a fair bit of news on that front yesterday.
To start, the intelligence agencies are warning that Trump's second swearing-in is a "potential target" for violent extremists. They note that they do not know what kind of extremists, and concede there have been no specific, credible threats. Still, the intelligence pros want everyone to be on their guard.
Although we pass this story along, since it got a lot of attention yesterday, we are taking it with many grains of salt. First, it's not at all clear to us who might commit these acts of violence, or how they might pull them off, given that there will be 25,000 police officers on the scene. It's also worth pointing out that this looks to be a pretty clear example of error management. That is to say, if the intelligence agencies issue no warning, and then there's an attack, then the intelligence agencies end up with omelets full of egg on their faces. On the other hand, if the intelligence agencies issue a warning, and then there's no attack, then nobody complains. So, there is a lot of incentive here to cry wolf, just in case. There was a near-identical warning issued prior to Joe Biden's inauguration in 2020 and, of course, there was no violence on that day (despite there having been a near-insurrection just 2 weeks earlier).
The second big inauguration story of the day involves Michelle Obama. Although her husband will be in Washington for Tuesday's swearing in, she is taking a pass. This is hardly unexpected; the former First Lady doesn't like the spotlight and she really, really hates Trump. This is presumably why she also took a pass on Jimmy Carter's funeral last week. We do not think this story is particularly important, or interesting, but pretty much every outlet treated it as front-page news. So, we figured we might as well give it a paragraph.
And finally, speaking of the rivalry between Democrats and Republicans, many Washington flags will be flying at full staff on Tuesday. In short, Trump believes his inauguration (full-staff flags) is more important that Jimmy Carter's death (half-staff flags). So, the flags that are under Republican control will be raised, on that day, so as to accommodate the President-elect's delicate psyche. That means flags on Capitol Hill (under the control of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA) and in states with Republican governors.
Maybe you get the sense that yesterday was a pretty slow news day. We have that sense, too, since these stories aren't really all that significant. That said, they do speak to the motivations of the intel pros, Michelle Obama and Donald Trump, so hopefully they're instructive on that level. (Z)