Dem
47
GOP
53
Lots of news over the last few days.
Vance Gets Poped in the Eye: It would appear that someone has persuaded Donald Trump that he cannot win a fight against Pope Leo XIV. And so, he's toned down the anti-Leo rhetoric, and has dispatched Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the Vatican to make nice with the Vicar of Christ. The administration's other prominent Catholic, J.D. Vance, certainly could have tagged along, but was not invited to do so.
Our Take: We guess the White House wants to extend an olive branch to Leo, and not to kill him.
In seriousness, though, the evidence continues to mount that Rubio is the favorite child, not Vance. That said, 2+ years is plenty of time for someone to go from Donald Trump's penthouse to his doghouse.
The People vs. James Comey: The second attempt to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, this time over some seashells that made Donald Trump cranky, has been met with much derision, even from those on the right. The news that the government spent 11 months "investigating" this incident does not help. Acting AG Todd Blanche insists the government has gathered a lot of other dirt on Comey, and it will all come out in court.
Our Take: This could be true; we won't know for sure until Comey has his day in court (and maybe not even then, if the case is dismissed). However, we are skeptical that Blanche is telling the truth, for two reasons. First, he rarely tells the truth. Second, when Comey had his arraignment, the government asked (unsuccessfully) for the court to require bail. Bail serves two purposes; (1) to keep people from fleeing, and (2) to keep dangerous people from harming anyone else. Clearly, neither applies to Comey, so the bail request was a gross overreach. And if the DoJ is ALREADY overreaching, then it's an early indicator that the whole case is the overreach it appears to be.
Inc'est la vie: A new analysis from Politico finds that Donald Trump has appointed at least 10 of his former personal lawyers to prominent positions in the federal government. Naturally, his hope, which is often realized, is that they will continue to regard him as their client, as opposed to the people of the United States.
Our Take: We were stunned by this report. "Only 10?," we said.
Sleep Deprived: The Daily Beast crunched the numbers and found that of the 30 nights in April, Donald Trump's Truth Social account was sending out messages during normal sleeping hours on 25 of them. So, either he's got someone who is responsible for sending out tweets, written in his style, at 2:00 in the morning, or he's not getting a full night's sleep very often.
Our Take: Given Trump's propensity for dozing off at Cabinet meetings and other events, we know which explanation we favor.
The Blue Wave Blues, Part I: Ken Griffin was the fifth-biggest donor to the GOP during the most recent complete cycle (2022-2024), giving a little over $108 million to various Republicans candidates and committees. Yesterday, he declared that the House is lost to his party, and that the Senate is on razor's edge.
Our Take: If Griffin's prediction means he's going to close his wallet until 2027, that is unhappy news for the red team. $108 million is, as we understand it, quite a bit of money. However, this could mean that Griffin is going to put the full $108 into Senate races.
Blue Wave Blues, Part II: Perhaps the even better indicator that Republicans are expecting a blue wave is this story: The Office of the White House Counsel has put together a PowerPoint presentation about "how congressional oversight works and best practices for handling it." In other words, "There will be a boatload of House investigations coming down the pike starting on January 3, 2027, so get started preparing now."
Our Take: What is not clear is if the advice is about how to deal with investigations once the subpoenas start to arrive, or how to prepare in advance, when you are rather less constrained in getting rid of certain kinds of evidence. But the (implicit) advice might be to shred any documents the Democrats might want right now and then burn the strips.
COVID v2.0?: Well, this is unsettling. There has been an outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship currently anchored (and quarantined) off the coast of Cape Verde. The disease, transmitted by rodents, is not commonly found in this context (i.e., tourist transports). There is no vaccine, and no known cure. Oh, and the World Cup is about to come to North America.
Our Take: One hopes this is an aberration, and that we're not witnessing the prologue to another pandemic. The (somewhat) good news is that WHO is taking the lead in managing the situation, by virtue of having special expertise in this area. The bad news is that Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from WHO. He's a man of vision, that one.
Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow. (Z & A)