House speaker begs warring Republicans to play nice, pretty please

The big story out of last week’s House Republican retreat is the ongoing GOP civil war, and Speaker Mike Johnson is proving to be a pathetic excuse for a general. 

Last week’s planned two-day retreat was supposed to be a policy session for members to map out their strategy for the general election. It ended up being a one-day retreat when the majority of the GOP conference decided to stay away. The only theme that emerged was Johnson’s pleas for the team to play nice with each other and stop getting involved in primary challenges against incumbents.

“I’ve asked them all to cool it,” Johnson told CNN. “I am vehemently opposed to member-on-member action in primaries because it’s not productive. And it causes division for obvious reasons, and we should not be engaging in that.”

“So I’m telling everyone who’s doing that to knock it off,” Johnson added. “And both sides, they’ll say, ‘Well, we didn’t start it, they started it.’” 

If you needed to know how ill-equipped Johnson is to lead in any of this, there you go: He’s calling out “both sides.”

Read More

Trump can’t post bond because no one wants to give him the money

In a court filing on Monday, Donald Trump’s lawyers sprung the news we’ve all suspected: Trump doesn’t have the money to pay the $454 million civil fraud judgment levied against him lying to banks and insurers about his supposed wealth for decades. Trump has appealed that ruling, or is trying to, but there’s a catch: In order to appeal the verdict, he has to post a bond fully covering the judgment against him—and the coup-attempting “billionaire” doesn’t have it.

Here’s CNBC:

″Defendants’ ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is ‘a practical impossibility,’” the lawyers wrote, quoting an affidavit in the filing with the Appellate Division of Manhattan Supreme Court.

Just Security’s Adam Klasfeld gives more details from Trump’s filing, including the assertion that “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world” have proven that coming up with an appeal bond for the full amount “is not possible under the circumstances presented.”

Most surety companies don’t want to—or legally can’t—issue a bond approaching half a billion dollars, and the ones that might be willing to do so won’t accept assets like real estate as collateral, according to his lawyers. So Trump seems to be out of luck. He’s again pressing the courts to allow the appeal to move forward without posting bond, or by posting a smaller amount. So far, he’s had no luck.

Read More

New GOP stunt hearing dresses up anti-abortion radicals as pro-child advocates

Republican lawmakers have been trying to dig themselves out of the ditch created when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization should be considered children. And former President Donald Trump has been trying to throw off the political albatross of near-total abortion bans imposed in red states post-Dobbs v. Jackson as he campaigns for a White House get-out-of-jail-free card.

But now Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has come along with a shovel to dig that ditch a little deeper. Greene was creepily enough all smiles when she announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she would be conducting a hearing next Tuesday to investigate “the Black Market of Baby Organ Harvesting.” She also invited people to register on her congressional website for a livestream of the hearing.

RELATED STORY: Watch 12 great moments from Biden’s State of the Union

Read More

Supreme Court rejects appeal by former county commissioner banned for Jan. 6 insurrection

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a former New Mexico county commissioner who was kicked out of office over his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Former Otero County commissioner Couy Griffin, a cowboy pastor who rode to national political fame by embracing then-President Donald Trump with a series of horseback caravans, is the only elected official thus far to be banned from office in connection with the Capitol attack, which disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Trump.

At a 2022 trial in state district court, Griffin received the first disqualification from office in over a century under a provision of the 14th Amendment written to prevent former Confederates from serving in government after the Civil War.

Though the Supreme Court ruled this month that states don’t have the ability to bar Trump or other candidates for federal offices from the ballot, the justices said different rules apply to state and local candidates.

“We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office,” the justices wrote in an unsigned opinion.

The outcome of Griffin’s case could bolster efforts to hold other state and local elected officials accountable for their involvement in the Jan. 6 attack.

Read More

7 stories to know: ‘Trump Employee 5,’ giant cloned sheep, and Superman

“7 stories to know” is a new Monday series showcasing stories that may have been ignored in the crush of news over the past few weeks, and stories that have continued to evolve over the weekend. Expect to read coverage about health, science, and climate that frequently take second chair to what’s happening at the top of the page, plus information from local sources that the national media may have overlooked.

1. “Trump Employee 5”

On March 11, Brian Butler, who was employed at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for 20 years, sat down for an interview with CNN. But he wasn’t there to talk about the endless shrimp buffet or the exquisite guest rooms. Instead, Butler was outing himself as “Trump Employee 5.” 

Here’s why that matters. 

When Donald Trump was first indicted back in June for illegal retention of classified material, the original indictment contained 37 felony counts. Also named in that indictment was Trump’s assistant, Walt Nauta. A month later, special counsel Jack Smith’s office filed a superseding indictment that not only added an additional charge for Trump, but brought in a third defendant, Carlos De Oliveira. It’s this second indictment that contains six references to “Trump Employee 5.”

Donald Trump’s legal team has made several unsuccessful motions aimed at revealing the names of potential witnesses in the case. But Butler is going public on his own, telling CNN that he believes the public needs to hear his testimony before the election.

Read More

Morning Digest: The GOP protected her with a gerrymander. She just got a notable challenger anyway

The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.

Subscribe to The Downballot, our weekly podcast

x
Embedded Content

Leading Off

● MO-02: Longtime St. Louis area journalist Ray Hartmann, who is the founder of the alternative weekly Riverfront Times, unexpectedly announced on Thursday evening that he would seek the Democratic nomination to take on GOP Rep. Ann Wagner.

Hartmann, who stepped down after 37 years as a panelist on the public television program “Donnybrook” to run, will be in for a tough battle after the GOP gerrymandered in 2022 to protect their hold on a district that had been drifting to the left.

Read More

Cartoon: Elon and the Daleks

To paraphrase the famous viral tweet, Elon creates the Daleks from the famous British tv series, Don’t Create the Daleks. 

As always: if you find value in this work I do, please consider helping me keep it sustainable by joining my weekly newsletter, Sparky’s List! You can get it in your inbox or read it on Patreon, the content is the same. Also, signed prints have been restocked in the Tom Tomorrow Merchandise Mall!

Read More

Cheers and Jeers: Monday

I Haiku So You Don’t Have To

Badass Ray-Bans gleam

Brains at work in the West Wing

Chill out—Joe’s got this

Pulse quickens, sweat drips

Think, Marjorie! Think! Think! Think!

Doorknobs are so hard

Continued…

Read More

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Parsing what it means to say ‘bloodbath’

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

The New York Times:

Trump Says Some Migrants Are ‘Not People’ and Predicts a ‘Blood Bath’ if He Loses

In a caustic and discursive speech in Ohio, former President Donald J. Trump once again doubled down on a doomsday vision of the United States.

With his general-election matchup against President Biden in clear view, Mr. Trump once more doubled down on the doomsday vision of the country that has animated his third presidential campaign and energized his base during the Republican primary.

The dark view resurfaced throughout his speech. While discussing the U.S. economy and its auto industry, Mr. Trump promised to place tariffs on cars manufactured abroad if he won in November. He added: “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood bath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a blood bath for the country.”

Read More