The MAGA Playbook
Philip Bump: “Deny, deny, deny. Lump the media in with critics on the left. Never acknowledge that you erred but, instead, argue that you are being unfairly accused of having erred because of bias. By now, it’s rote — even when the question is whether you stand by an argument that was allegedly deployed by a man accused of killing 10 people at a grocery store.”
“In 2016, Trump ran in explicit opposition to immigration, even at one point making an argument that the Democrats wanted to bring in uncountable numbers of immigrants who would vote for their party. He refused to admit his errors or his lies. And then he won. And then he retained enormous popularity with the base.”
“And lessons were imparted.”
Facebook Funded Effort to Fight Antitrust Regulation
Washington Post: “Records show Facebook-funded American Edge backed minority interest groups, conservative think tanks and small business groups to create the appearance of grassroots opposition to antitrust regulation.”
Arizona Senate Launches Probe Into GOP State Senator
“The Republican-controlled Arizona State Senate voted 24-3 Monday to conduct an ethics investigation of state Sen. Wendy Rogers, for a social media post suggesting that the suspect in the Buffalo massacre was a federal agent, echoing claims made by white nationalists,” KPNX reports.
Most Extremist Violence Comes from the Right
David Leonhardt: “Over the past decade, the Anti-Defamation League has counted about 450 U.S. murders committed by political extremists.”
“Of these 450 killings, right-wing extremists committed about 75 percent. Islamic extremists were responsible for about 20 percent, and left-wing extremists were responsible for 4 percent.”
Retired Russian Colonel Gives Frank Assessment of War
In a rare moment of candor on Russian state TV, retired Russian colonel Mikhail Khodaryonok said the invasion of Ukraine “is not going the way Russia is portraying it, and that the global isolation facing the country is more daunting than Russian leaders are letting on,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Khodaryonok: “After all, the main deficiency of our military-political position is that, in a way, we are in full geopolitical isolation, and that, however much we would hate to admit this, virtually the entire world is against us. And it’s that situation that we need to get out of.”
House Panel Opens Public Hearing on UFOs
“A House subcommittee opened a hearing on Tuesday on unidentified aerial phenomena observed by military pilots and others, pledging to bring transparency to an investigation of unexplained reports that have long been shrouded in stigma, confusion and secrecy,” the New York Times reports.
The Top Issue Is Very Clear
In the first FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll, 52% of Americans said the most important issue facing the country was inflation. We asked Americans this question in a variety of ways, but regardless of how we asked it, the top answer was always the same: inflation.
“It’s true that a larger percentage of Republicans than Democrats or independents in our poll said they were concerned about inflation. But inflation still led the way regardless of party identification: About two-thirds of Republicans selected it as a top issue, as did about half of all independents and slightly more than 40 percent of Democrats. Inflation was the top issue for respondents of all age groups and for both men and women, too.”
FBI Records Reveal Matt Gaetz in Chaos Mode
“Fifteen minutes before Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was due to go on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show on March 30, 2021—hours after a bombshell report that he was under investigation for allegedly sex trafficking a minor—Gaetz was shouting, repeatedly, at FBI agents in his family home,” the Daily Beast reports.
“This scene and others are detailed in previously unreported documents that shine new light on the sting operation, which Gaetz helped orchestrate in the frenzied days before The New York Times published the explosive report that changed the Panhandle congressman’s public and political life.”
U.S. More Interested in Depp-Heard Trial Than Abortion
The defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard “has quickly amassed more online attention than some of the country’s biggest and most pressing news stories, including the leaked Supreme Court decision and Russia’s war in Ukraine,” Axios reports.
Fox News Suddenly Quiet on ‘Great Replacement’ Theory
The Guardian: “Over at Fox News, however, there was barely any mention of the white gunman’s alleged reasoning for opening fire at a supermarket, killing 10 people and wounding three more, in a predominantly Black area.”
“The absence of coverage of the motive was revealing, given Fox News’s most popular host, Tucker Carlson, has pushed the concept of replacement theory in more than 400 of his shows – and has arguably done more than anyone in the US to popularize the racist conspiracy.”
The Biggest Global Risk of All
Ian Bremmer writes in his new book, The Power of Crisis, that the globe’s three great threats are the next pandemic, the climate emergency and the unexpected impact of disruptive technologies, Axios reports.
Writes Bremmer: “The speed of technological change is the biggest risk of all. Companies are now using artificial intelligence to figure out the most efficient ways to change human behavior in ways that profit them.”
He adds: “New technologies are already changing what it means to be human — and we have no idea where that might lead.”
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The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – and Our Response – Will Change the World
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January 6 Committee Still Grappling with Focus on Trump
Washington Post: “The tense discussion — which played out in a conference room tucked inside the world’s largest library, where members posed for pictures with historic texts such as the Gettysburg Address — reflected just one among numerous weighty questions the committee must resolve before nationally televised hearings kick off next month.”
“With only weeks to go, panel members are grappling with how to synthesize a complex investigation into a cohesive narrative — and how best to tell the story of what went wrong on Jan. 6 in a way that captivates and moves a hyper-polarized American public.”
Liz Cheney has been significantly more aggressive than Democrats on the committee — highlighting a problem that also plagued the two Trump impeachments.
What the Media Keeps Getting Wrong About Trump
Dan Pfeiffer: “Trump did not lead the Republican base to MAGA-Land. He followed them there. He did to the Republican Party what he has done to countless buildings and brands — slapped his name on an existing structure and then pretended he built it.”
Barnette Won’t Commit to Supporting Her Rivals
Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Barnette (R) hinted to Breitbart that she might not support her GOP rivals if she loses today’s primary.
Said Barnette: “I have no intentions of supporting globalists. I believe we have ran out of room on this runway for this spaceship. I believe we have very little rope left to just roll the dice and we’ll see how it all works out on the other end. I believe our country is in trouble. I don’t believe we have much longer and I believe what I have done is I have made it possible where Pennsylvanians do not have to hold their nose and vote for the lesser of two evils this time.”
She added: “I don’t think we have room to just vote for any old warm body with an R next to their name. I think we can do better than that.”
Tucker Carlson Calls Crenshaw ‘Eye-Patch McCain’
Tucker Carlson derisively referred to Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) who lost his eye while serving our country as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan, as “eye-patch McCain.”
Bezos and White House Battle Over Taxes and Inflation
“The White House and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos squared off on Monday over the Biden administration’s handling of U.S. inflation and its plans to tax the rich,” Reuters reports.
“Starting over the weekend, Bezos has been slamming President Joe Biden, accusing him of misleading the public on inflation by arguing that hiking taxes on corporations and the rich would lower consumer costs.”
“The administration responded with an unusually personal jab that suggested Bezos was trying to protect his wealth and undermine unions.”
Said Bezos, on Twitter: “Look, a squirrel! This is the White House’s statement about my recent tweets. They understandably want to muddy the topic.”
Elon Musk Says He’ll Vote Republican This Election
Elon Musk said he plans to vote Republican in the upcoming election cycle after voting “overwhelmingly” for Democrats in the past, Insider reports.
Said Musk: “I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically. Like I’m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear.”
He added: “Now this election I will.”
