Surging Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Barnette (R) has a history of anti-Muslim and anti-gay statements, CNN reports.
In many tweets, Barnette also spread the false conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama is a Muslim.
Florida Secretary of State Suddenly Quits
Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee (R) is resigning, seven months before the November elections, WKMG reports.
Lee’s resignation does not specifically say why she is resigning.
White House Says U.S. Vulnerable Without More Vaccines
“White House Covid-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha issued a dire warning Thursday that the U.S. will be increasingly vulnerable to the coronavirus this fall and winter if Congress doesn’t swiftly approve new funding for more vaccines and treatments,” the AP reports.
Said Jha: “As we get to the fall, we are all going to have a lot more vulnerability to a virus that has a lot more immune escape than even it does today and certainly than it did six months ago. That leaves a lot of us vulnerable.”
McConnell Defends Supreme Court on Abortion
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) defended the U.S. Supreme Court’s potential move to issue rulings that are in conflict with a majority of Americans’ views on abortion rights, telling NPR that is a feature of the system.
Said McConnell: “So for the Supreme Court to on any issue, to reach a decision contrary to public opinion it is exactly what the Supreme Court is about. It’s to protect basic rights, even when majorities are in favor of something else, that happens all the time.”
But he didn’t expect it to be a big issue in the midterm elections: “My guess is in terms of the impact on federal races, I think it’s probably going to be a wash.”
Economy and Abortion Are Top Issues
A new Monmouth poll finds the economy (26%) and abortion (25%) are essentially tied as the most important issues for the 2022 midterm elections.
Two GOP Lawmakers Get Into Twitter Fight
Reps. Dan Crensahw (R-TX) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) traded insults on Twitter, with Crenshaw asking Greene: “Still going after that slot on Russia Today, huh?”
Biden Drags His Feet on Student Loan Plan
“President Joe Biden is agonizing over ordering a sweeping cancellation of student loan debt, despite pressure from Democrats — including Vice President Kamala Harris — eager for a political win before midterm elections,” Bloomberg reports.
“The White House’s hesitance on the issue represents the latest fracture within the Democratic party, which Biden has failed to unite around his ambitious economic agenda. But this time it’s the Democratic rank-and-file who haven’t yet persuaded the president to use his power for broad loan relief.”
Trump Is Hiring Television Producers
“Donald Trump’s media company is now hiring for its upcoming streaming television service, posting an ad on job sites for creators looking to help produce Trump’s MAGAfied answer to Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+,” Rolling Stone reports.
Senate Confirms Powell to Second Term as Fed Chair
“The Senate confirmed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to a second four-year term that is shaping up to be every bit as trying as his first term as the central bank faces the highest inflation in 40 years,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. Powell’s nomination, approved Thursday on an 80-19 bipartisan vote, has been on track for months to win bipartisan approval despite unease over inflation and aggressive interest-rate increases that the Fed has urgently commenced to cool price pressures.”
Changing How We Talk About Abortion
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Trump Slams Kathy Barnette
Donald Trump issued a statement saying that Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Barnette (R) “will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats.”
Then he added: “She has many things in her past which have not been properly explained or vetted, but if she is able to do so, she will have a wonderful future in the Republican Party — and I will be behind her all the way.”
Saying she can’t win — while also saying that she could have a great future in the GOP — pretty much explains everything about this race.
They Had a Duty to Speak Up
Tom Nichols: “Even if we cut some slack for Esper and all the others who served as honorably and conscientiously as they could until they were faced with either the dead end of resignation or being fired, the fact is that these men and women remained silent for far too long once they were out of government service. They held back important things that the American people and their elected representatives needed to know. They kept them as their own personal secrets, either out of some misplaced sense of bureaucratic propriety, or because they had a book deal and didn’t want to steal their own thunder from release day.”
“They had a duty to speak up sooner. And they failed in that duty.”
“Esper, Mattis, Tillerson, and many, many other people who crawled through the Shawshank sewer pipe that was the four years of the Trump administration needed to speak up the minute they were out. Instead, they teased their book bombshells or played coy games of slap and tickle on cable outlets.”
January 6 Committee Subpoenas Five GOP Lawmakers
“The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued subpoenas on Thursday to five Republican members of Congress, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, who refused to meet with the panel voluntarily,” the New York Times reports.
“The committee’s leaders had previously been reluctant to issue subpoenas to their fellow lawmakers. That is an extraordinarily rare step for most congressional committees to take, though the House Ethics Committee, which is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by members, is known to do so.”
Playbook: “This is a huge escalation by the committee, one it had been debating for months. Among the concerns is the precedent that it sets, and the potential for Republicans to return in kind if, as expected, they take control of the House after the midterms. The committee is also prepping for a slate of prime time hearings that are expected next month.”
Punchbowl News: “This is an unprecedented move, and it shows just how toxic relations are between the two parties in the House. It puts in plain view just how far Democrats will go to get to the bottom of what happened during the Jan. 6 insurrection.”
GOP Candidate for Pennsylvania Governor Backs Rival
Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman (R) said “that he was ending his campaign and endorsing rival Lou Barletta (R), a move that comes as GOP leaders warn that leading candidate Doug Mastriano is too far right to win in a general election,” the AP reports.
Don’t Blame Biden for the Coming Recession
William Cohan: “The blame this time around lies squarely with the Federal Reserve, and the policies the central bank enacted after the 2008 financial crisis and that the Fed has kept in place pretty much since then.”
Feds Begin Inquiry Into Trump’s Handling of Classified Info
“Federal prosecutors have begun a grand jury investigation into whether classified White House documents that ended up at former President Donald Trump’s Florida home were mishandled,” the New York Times reports.
“The intensifying inquiry suggests that the Justice Department is examining the role of Mr. Trump and other officials in his White House in their handling of sensitive materials during the final stages of his administration.”
Biden Administration and GOP Clash on Vaccine Strategy
“Congressional Republicans’ concerns about wasting COVID vaccines are colliding with the Biden administration’s commitment to making the shots as widely accessible as possible, adding another wrinkle to the stalled Covid funding negotiations,” Axios reports.
“Some Republicans are growing skeptical of the currently available vaccines’ ability to contain the Omicron variant, and don’t want to allocate money for more doses without a firmer plan in place for the fall.”
Jonathan Chait: Republicans want to save money by skimping on vaccines.
Chris Christie Mocks Trump for Losing Election
Donald Trump took aim at three “RINOs” who are campaigning for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), The Hill reports.
“That’s right, he had them all. Chris Christie, Doug Ducey from Arizona, and Pete Ricketts from Nebraska. That tells you all you need to know about what you are getting in Georgia—just a continuation of bad elections and a real RINO if you vote for Brian Kemp.”
Christie responded on Twitter: “Insightful commentary about three Republican Governors who were overwhelmingly re-elected by their people from a former President who lost to Joe Biden. Maybe the ‘R’ in RINO really stands for re-elected.”
