“I don’t think it’s nice when they’re telling your 5-year-old that he can go and suck another 5-year-old’s dick. Do you? Because that’s what’s happening in your schools!”
— Rayla Campbell (R), candidate for secretary of state at the Massachusetts Republican convention, quoted by the Boston Globe.
“A notorious Hungarian racist who has called Jews ‘stinking excrement,’ referred to Roma as ‘animals’ and used racial epithets to describe Black people, was a featured speaker at a major gathering of US Republicans in Budapest,” The Guardian reports.
New York Times: “Mr. Perdue’s impending downfall in Tuesday’s primary for governor looms as the biggest electoral setback for Mr. Trump since his own defeat in the 2020 election. There is perhaps no contest in which the former president has done more to try to influence the outcome. Mr. Trump recruited, promoted and cleared the field for his ally, while assailing Mr. Kemp, recording television ads and giving $2.64 million to groups helping Mr. Perdue — by far the most he has ever invested in another politician.”
“Yet the race has exposed the limits of Mr. Trump’s sway, especially against entrenched Republican incumbents.”
Amanda Carpenter: “After a year of threats and bluster, Trump is now nowhere to be seen in the Peach State.”
A must-watch on Netflix: The Martha Mitchell Effect.
The documentary chronicles the story of the wife of a Nixon Cabinet official who became a divisive figure in Republican circles after speaking out about the Watergate scandal.
“New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will lead a trade delegation to the US this week but is yet to confirm a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House due to her recent Covid-19 infection,” Bloomberg reports.
Bloomberg: “Global power grids are about to face their biggest test in decades with electricity generation strangled in the world’s largest economies.”
“War. Drought. Production shortages. Historically low inventories. And pandemic backlash. Energy markets across the planet have been put through the wringer over the past year, and consumers have suffered the consequences of soaring prices. But, somehow, things are on track to get even worse.”
The U.N. reports that a staggering 95% of Afghans are not getting enough to eat, with that number rising to almost 100% in female-headed households.
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot “intends to hold six hearings, with the first and last in prime time, where its lawyers will run through how Trump’s schemes took shape before the election and culminated with the Capitol attack,” The Guardian reports.
“A shipment of infant formula intended to fill a nationwide shortage arrived in the United States from Europe on Sunday, and a second flight was expected to bring additional supplies in the coming days,” the New York Times reports.
“An Israeli lawmaker who quit the government this past week decided to rejoin the ruling, yet shaky, coalition helping Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to stay in power and avoid new elections for the time being,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Kellyanne Conway writes in her new book that there was no “deal” between her and her husband as she served as one of Donald Trump’s top aides, Axios reports.
“Night after night, I would come home from a busy day at work and be there for the kids: dinner, homework, projects. While I was minding dishes, dogs, laundry, managing adolescent dramas and traumas, George would be just steps away from me, tucked away in his home office, plotting against my boss and me.”
“The question for every one of us is in this time of testing, will we do our duty? Will we defend our Constitution? Will we stand for truth? Will we put duty to our oath above partisan politics? Or will we look away from danger, ignore the threat, embrace the lies and enable the liar?”
— Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), speaking at the JFK Profiles in Courage award ceremony Sunday.
“Armed with a secret list of more than 700 abusive pastors, Southern Baptist leaders chose to protect the denomination from lawsuits rather than protect the people in their churches from further abuse,” Christianity Today reports.
“Survivors, advocates, and some Southern Baptists themselves spent more than 15 years calling for ways to keep sexual predators from moving quietly from one flock to another.”
Washington Post: “The findings of nearly 300 pages include shocking new details about specific abuse cases and shine a light on how denominational leaders for decades actively resisted calls for abuse prevention and reform.”
While marching in a New York City parade, Rudy Giuliani got into a shouting match with a spectator.
Said Giuliani: “You are a jackass… You are a brainwashed asshole… you are probably as demented as Biden.”
“When historian Kristin Du Mez’s latest book, Jesus and John Wayne, came out in the summer of 2020, it received little attention from mainstream gatekeepers and reviewers,” the Washington Post reports.
“But the book, which explores evangelical fondness for former president Donald Trump and strong masculine figures, has since sold more than 100,000 copies through word of mouth, podcasts and book clubs. When it came out in paperback last month, the book shot up to No. 4 among nonfiction paperbacks on the New York Times bestseller list.”
“As journalists and academics tried to explain how evangelicals could bring themselves to vote for Trump, Du Mez argued that evangelical support was not a shocking aberration from their views but a culmination of evangelicals’ long-standing embrace of militant masculinity, presenting the man as protector and warrior.”
“Beijing reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases for its current outbreak, reviving concern China’s capital may face a broad lockdown as authorities seek to stamp out community spread of the virus,” Bloomberg reports.
“Democrats and allied groups are launching a $6 million digital, television and voter mobilization campaign attacking GOP Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, betting that his pledges to completely ban abortion will turn off swing state voters,” Politico reports.
“The campaign is a massive sum for the starting gate of the most high-profiled gubernatorial races in the country. And it’s the latest indication that Democrats nationwide believe a potential Supreme Court decision overturning the landmark case Roe v. Wade will be a boon for turnout in November.”
“State-level Democratic officials and abortion-rights advocates are discouraged by how little their allies in Congress and the White House have done since a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade became public,” Politico reports.
“Instead of executive actions that could increase access to abortion pills or help protect people’s medical information, national Democrats have largely highlighted what they can’t do in the Senate and focused on fueling midterm-election turnout, angering state and local leaders who feel the burden to protect and expand access is falling almost entirely on their shoulders.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.