Donald Trump praises terrorists
Donald Trump has always been a terrible human being, but no one can say he wasn’t effective. He conquered the Republican Party and won the presidency by projecting power and strength. He also has an uncanny ability to tickle the conservative lizard brain, validating their most racist, sexist, xenophobic, and bigoted tendencies. However, those political instincts seem to have abandoned Trump lately. His low-energy, slurred-word, bizarrely meandering speeches (like this one and this one) are getting him in repeated trouble.
Trump has already angered his anti-abortion constituency by criticizing the draconian restrictions that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law. But today, Trump finally united his Republican primary challengers in outrage. First, he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because Netanyahu, in Trump’s words, “didn’t make me feel too good.” Second, Trump made sure everyone understood just how impressed he was by the terrorists attacking Israel. “You know, Hezbollah’s very smart, they’re all very smart. The press doesn’t like when they say [unintelligible],” he said. But just in case his admiration wasn’t clear enough, he restated his main point: “But Hezbollah, they’re very smart.” Good luck walking that one back.
The 2016 version of Trump would not have made this mistake, but that Trump wasn’t burdened with two-plus years of post-presidential grievances. Trump never got over Netanyahu congratulating Joe Biden on his victory in 2020. “Fuck him,” Trump said about Netanyahu at the time. For Trump, that anger now manifests as him praising terrorists.
Republicans still can’t govern
Trump isn’t the only challenge facing Republicans, who every single day prove their inability to govern. In the House of Representatives, the Republican majority still can’t get their act together to pick a speaker. While earning the official backing of a majority of the Republican caucus, Rep. Steve Scalise is still a long way from the 217 votes he needs from the entire House to become speaker. With enough “hard no” votes among nihilist Republicans to scuttle any leadership vote, Republicans remain paralyzed—and will continue to be until they cut a deal with Democrats. What could Democrats demand? At minimum: funding for Ukraine, Israel, and disaster relief; an omnibus bill to keep the government funded until after the 2024 elections; and an end to the baseless impeachment inquiry against Biden. Meanwhile, Rep. Kevin McCarthy wants his old job back, and he thinks pretending to be an elder statesman will get him there. His problem? He sucks at it.
So where is Trump in all of this? Ghoulishly using Scalise’s cancer diagnosis to undermine him.
Other top stories:
A new indictment charges Sen. Menendez with being an unregistered agent of the Egyptian government
Unlike Republicans, Democrats don’t rally around their crooks. Menendez must go.
Ukraine Update: Russia suffers catastrophic losses in two ill-fated attacks
In these dark days, who doesn’t love a heart-warming story of a massive Russian battlefield loss?
Ohio effort to end GOP gerrymandering can begin gathering voter signatures for the 2024 ballot
Trump won Ohio by 8 percentage points in 2016 and 2020, yet Republicans hold 10 of the state’s 15 seats in one of the nation’s most aggressive partisan gerrymanders. In August, Ohio voters soundly rejected a Republican effort this summer to curtail citizen ballot initiatives. And speaking of gerrymandering, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case out of South Carolina that might make it harder to challenge Republicans’ racial gerrymanders.
'Podiumgate': The Huckabee Sanders' scandal that keeps on giving
Arkansas Republicans weakened child labor laws so that kids could work at bars on school nights. The state also enacted some of the nation’s strictest anti-abortion laws. And apparently, that’s all A-okay with voters. But buying a $20,000 lectern with taxpayer money? Suddenly, people are pissed!
Banker says Trump’s financial statements were key to loan approvals, but there were 'sanity checks'
A bank official testified that his financial institution relied on Trump’s reported valuations, but they also kinda knew he was lying, giving the numbers “haircuts.”
Moms for Liberty's school board takeover strategy is meeting pushback
These Moms for Liberty tactics are deplorable, but parents are getting savvy to them and pushing back.