CNN: “For Biden’s economic team, the process is a continuation of more than a year of all-hands-on-deck approaches to confront pop-up crises — ‘basically whack-a-mole’ was how one senior White House official referred to it — only to immediately confront another challenge.”
Democrats Can’t Rely on the Courts
From a Wall Street Journal editorial:
“The fury of the left’s reaction isn’t merely about guns and abortion. It reflects their grief at having lost the Court as the vehicle for achieving policy goals they can’t get through legislatures. The cultural victories they achieved by judicial fiat will now have to be won by persuading voters. We understand their frustration, but they ought to try democracy for a change. They might even win the debate over abortion.”
Republicans Downplay Impact of Abortion Decision
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), a former party campaign chief, “said the abortion decision could help Democrats flip one or two seats at most,” Politico reports.
“But he argued it wouldn’t hurt Republicans in other key areas — such as the predominantly Hispanic districts already moving in their direction.”
Said Cole: “It may well hurt us in old Republican suburban strongholds, but those have been slipping away from us for a variety of reasons, gun control among them.”
Democrats Seize on Abortion Ruling in Midterms
Washington Post: “Democratic strategists argued that such a massive change in the legal landscape will trigger a drumbeat of news coverage as states adapt, keeping the issue front of mind for a sustained period. Some argued it could help the party improve its standing among women, including those in the suburbs who grew frustrated with Democrats over pandemic school closures.”
Said pollster John Anzalone: “If you are in a close race this will be a game changer.”
Abortion Opponents Consider Their Next Move
“For the nearly half-century that Roe v. Wade was the law of the land, the most prominent opponents of abortion often urged an incremental approach to narrowing access to the procedure,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Now, having achieved a Supreme Court victory that overruled Roe and ended the constitutional right to an abortion, antiabortion advocates are considering what to do next.”
“Some powerful voices in the movement urge a measured approach guided by political realities post-Roe, seeking to ban the procedure after the first trimester in more moderate states and maintaining meaningful exceptions for rape and incest. Others view this as a once-in-a-generation moment and moral imperative to push for a complete end to abortion, especially in states where conservatives hold political power. The staunchest opponents want states to treat it as murder.”
G-7 Solidify Support for Ukraine
“The Group of Seven economic powers are set to commit themselves to supporting Ukraine for the long haul, with the U.S. preparing to announce the purchase of an advanced surface-to-air missile system for Kyiv,” the AP reports.
“Leaders are also set to announce an agreement to pursue a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose new sanctions on hundreds of officials and entities supporting the four month long war.”
Quote of the Day
“This court has lost legitimacy. They have burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had after their gun decision, after their voting decision, after their union decision. They just took the last of it and set a torch to it with the Roe versus Wade opinion.”
— Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), quoted by USA Today.
Texas Patients ‘Begged for Help’ After Roe Overturned
A Texas abortion clinic said they had to turn away people seeking abortions away just minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, The 19th reports.
The staff described people screaming, crying, and begging for help after being denied abortions.
Johnson Draws Congressman Into Fake Electors Plot
Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI) said last week he “had no hand” in an effort to deliver illegitimate “alternate” Electoral College ballots, but now he says he coordinated the attempted delivery with a Wisconsin attorney and was given the fake electors by Rep. Mike Kelly’s (R-PA) office, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
However, Kelly’s office called Johnson’s allegation “patently false.”
Bannon Calls for ‘Army’ to ‘Shatter’ Democrats
Steve Bannon called for an “army of the awakened” to “shatter” the Democratic party in post-Roe America, Insider reports.
Said Bannon: “This is the key take-away for MAGA … the pro-abortion movement is shattered and is now turning in on itself — because for 50 years they didn’t have to work— the Courts and Regime Media covered for them — now The Abyss.”
He added: “That’s the Democratic Party in November— we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shatter it into a million small pieces.”
Trump Moved Money From Political Groups To His Business
“Donald Trump never stopped raising funds from his supporters after the 2020 presidential race,” Forbes reports.
“His companies, meanwhile, continued to charge his political outfits for goods and services. As a result, the former president has been able to convert about $1.3 million of donor money into business revenue since he lost the 2020 election.”
The Fallout from Overturning Roe
The Economist: “After the fallout of the Supreme Court’s decision, America will be more dangerously divided. In the most doctrinaire pro-life states, the abortion regime will be more austere than that of Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, which permit the procedure to preserve the health, not just the life, of the mother. Democratic-dominated states have codified Roe’s right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability, a more permissive standard that that of Norway and Sweden, which have gestational limits for terminating pregnancies at 12 and 18 weeks, respectively. In four states and the District of Columbia, late-term abortion is legally permissible even if the mother’s health is not at risk. And the war over reproductive rights will heat up rather than cool down.”
“Mike Pence, the former vice-president who seems to be contemplating a presidential run, has called for a nationwide ban. In Missouri, doctrinaire legislators are pitching laws to prevent women from travelling out of state for the procedure. Mississippi has passed a law to restrict access to mifepristone—one of the two drugs needed for medically induced abortions, which are now the most common type. Even more creative means to dissuade women from seeking abortions are sure to be devised. The Department of Justice is vowing to fight Republican-led states on these restrictions, auguring even more legal warring.”
More Than 80 Prosecutors Won’t Enforce Abortion Bans
Elected prosecutors across the country, including from 12 states with “trigger bans,” are saying they will not prosecute people who seek or provide abortion care, the Washington Post reports.
Fox Host Rips Trump Over Baseless Election Claims
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade attacked Donald Trump on Sunday and said he has seen no evidence that proves the former president’s claims of election fraud, the HuffPost reports.
Said Kilmeade: “I’ve said this before: I believe from the time when the election results came in until January 6th is the worst moment of Donald Trump’s political career.”
He added: “I think how you lose in life defines who you are. And even if there are things that bother you, welcome to the world. A lot of times times things don’t work out, and are so-called ‘unfair.’ Your team couldn’t prove the vote was rigged, move on.”
Stacey Abrams Won’t Discuss Abortion Restrictions
“Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams (D) on Sunday refused to say whether she believed there should be restrictions on abortions or whether she believed abortion was acceptable all the way up to nine months, saying it is a ‘medical decision’ and shouldn’t be political,” Fox News reports.
Kevin McCarthy’s Coming Headaches
“Far-right candidates are surging in House races across the map: Republican leaders increasingly fear that a red wave will wash in a raft of conspiracy theorists and extremists,” Axios reports.
“The establishment grows ever weaker. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — on the doorstep of the speaker’s office — can expect to be saddled with new members who have zero loyalty or predictability.”
More Than One Million Voters Switch to GOP
“A political shift is beginning to take hold across the U.S. as tens of thousands of suburban swing voters who helped fuel the Democratic Party’s gains in recent years are becoming Republicans,” the AP reports.
“More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year… The previously unreported number reflects a phenomenon that is playing out in virtually every region of the country — Democratic and Republican states along with cities and small towns — in the period since President Joe Biden replaced former President Donald Trump.”
“But nowhere is the shift more pronounced — and dangerous for Democrats — than in the suburbs, where well-educated swing voters who turned against Trump’s Republican Party in recent years appear to be swinging back. Over the last year, far more people are switching to the GOP across suburban counties from Denver to Atlanta and Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Republicans also gained ground in counties around medium-size cities such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; and Des Moines, Iowa.”
Giuliani Has Grocery Store Worker Arrested
“A worker at a grocery store in New York was arrested after slapping Rudy Giuliani on the back and calling him a ‘scumbag’ during a campaign event Sunday for his son, a GOP candidate for governor,” the HuffPost reports.
“The incident, which was initially cast as an assault, was shared in video footage in the hours after the encounter at a ShopRite store on Staten Island. A man wearing a mask is seen walking by Giuliani before hitting him on the back with an outstretched hand. It’s unclear how hard the man slapped the former New York City mayor, who looked surprised by the encounter but didn’t seem to be physically reeling.”
