Dem
47
GOP
53
Time for another rundown of some of the second-tier political news from the last week:
...Try, Try Again: The White House has announced that, in the opinion of the Department of Justice, the 1974 Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional, and Donald Trump is free to take any paperwork he wants with him when he leaves office in 2029.
Our Take: Why does Trump want to do this so very badly that he's already making his plans? The only explanation is that he wants to sell state secrets, right? In any event, Trump beat the rap on this issue the first time because he drew exactly the right judge (Aileen Cannon) and because time to prosecute him ran out due to his re-election and re-inauguration. He is apparently going to do whatever he can to give the DoJ another bite at the apple, once it is run by people who are not Trump lackeys.
Tricky Dick: Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) is clearly a sleazeball, as news has broken he was carrying on an affair with a staffer, and exchanging lewd pictures and texts with her. No, not the staffer who took her own life. A different staffer.
Our Take: We can imagine an arrangement where both Gonzales and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) are forced out or expelled, which would rid each party of an anchor around its neck without ceding anything in terms of the balance of power in the House (well, except that Gonzales would be replaced before Cherfilus-McCormick).
Roll, Jordan, Roll: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is a shark in wolf's clothes, senses that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has grown weak, and that there might be a chance to foment an insurrection and seize the gavel.
Our Take: We'll believe it when we see it. That said, if House Republicans really do choose a show horse like Jordan as their leader, it means two things: (1) They have no real interest in legislating, and (2) They expect to be in the minority as of January 4, and so need someone who is good at going on TV and complaining about the majority party. That is, after all, the main job of the House Minority Leader these days.
Youngkin in Da (White) House: This week, Glenn Youngkin, who has recently joined the ranks of the unemployed due to the end of his term as Virginia governor, has been doing interviews in which he says he still wants to serve, and he still has a lot to give, and he sure does respect Donald Trump. This is what auditioning for a Cabinet seat looks like.
Our Take: Any of the Cabinet members who are in the hot seat should be nervous, because Youngkin is a made-to-order fawning lackey. Just pop him in the microwave for 90 seconds and he's ready to go. He's not really qualified to lead Justice (no law degree) or defense (no military background), but since when have qualifications mattered to Trump? Well, there is one qualification, but Youngkin passes that test—he looks good on TV. Since the former governor is a finance guy, we'd guess that Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who is among the folks in the hot seat, is particularly vulnerable.
Close Call: Last week, there was a near-collision between a helicopter and a plane at John Wayne Airport.
Our Take: We don't know if the Trump administration has any actual responsibility here, but we know that this is happening often enough that the White House will get the blame nonetheless. That's likely doubly true when the incident happens at an airport named after a(nother) white supremacist Republican.
Deep Cuts: The current administration, along with its Republican backers in Congress, wants to cut taxes. That's what Republicans do. They also want to gut the IRS, so that rich tax cheats are less likely to get caught. This is also what Republicans do, at least these days. Turns out, the first goal (cutting taxes) and the second goal (gutting the IRS) are not always compatible. People need help understanding their tax breaks, and they can't do that if there's nobody at the IRS to answer the phone when they call with questions.
Our Take: Let's be honest, there's a lot of incompetence in this administration. But on the list "most incompetent," does anything top the idiots from DOGE? Seems like every cut they made has backfired.
The Key to Maine: The good people at NBC News have taken a long look at the upcoming Maine Senate primary between Graham Platner and Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME), and have figured out which voting bloc is going to swing the election. That bloc is—drum roll—women.
Our Take: Really? In an election featuring a man who's young and progressive but is kind of a bro versus a woman who's much older and more moderate and is a short-term officeholder at best, the roughly 60% of the Democratic base who are women is going to be decisive? Maybe if we practice writing this blog long enough, we can grow up to produce that kind of incisive analysis.
That's the news and we are outta here. (Z)