The Conversation -- January 18, 2024

Jacob Bogage & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "Congress on Thursday passed legislation to keep the federal government open into March, approving the third stopgap spending bill in four months as lawmakers struggle to agree on long-term government funding plans. The bill extends deadlines to March 1 and March 8. Money for roughly 20 percent of the government -- including the Transportation Department, some veterans' assistance and food and drug safety programs -- had been set to expire just after midnight Saturday morning. The remainder -- which funds the Defense and State departments, among other critical functions -- would have expired on Feb. 2 without the new extension. The Senate passed the legislation, 77-18, early Thursday afternoon. The House followed suit, 314-108, hours later, after GOP hard-liners launched a last-minute pressure campaign to attach partisan border security measures to the funding package. The votes send the legislation to President Biden to sign into law and avert a partial shutdown ahead of the deadline." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe you think it's great that Congress didn't wait till tomorrow -- the very last day parts of the government could "stay open" -- to pass the stop-gap legislation. But the reason they didn't wait till the literal eleventh hour: Washington, D.C. weather forecasts suggest bad weather might ground flights, and some members were afraid they couldn't get out of town.

Edgar Sandoval & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "A Justice Department investigation released on Thursday found that a near-total breakdown in policing protocols hindered the response to the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 people dead -- but the gravest error was the reluctance of officials to confront the killer during the first few minutes of the attack. The department blamed 'cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics policy and training' for the delayed and passive law enforcement response that allowed an 18-year-old gunman with a semiautomatic rifle to remain inside a pair of connected fourth grade classrooms at Robb Elementary School for 77 minutes before he was confronted and killed. The 'most significant failure,' investigators concluded, was the fateful decision by local police officials to classify the incident as a barricaded standoff rather than an 'active-shooter' scenario, which would have demanded instant and aggressive action regardless of the danger to those responding or the lack of appropriate weapons to confront the gunman." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's report is here. CNN's report is here. Update: CNN has a facsimile of the full DOJ report here.

A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MUST HAVE FULL IMMUNITY, WITHOUT WHICH IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM/HER TO PROPERLY FUNCTION. -- Donald Trump, in a post Thursday morning

President Biden, invoking full immunity, should immediately order the Army to take Donald Trump into custody, remove him to an undisclosed location (say, Guantanamo) and incarcerate him there for the rest of his natural life, rendering Trump unable to ever assume any political office in which he might enjoy any form of immunity. If questioned about Trump's mysterious disappearance, Biden should respond, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You're welcome. -- Marie

Amy Gardner & Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "A state judge overseeing the election-interference case against ... Donald Trump in Georgia has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 15 to hear evidence regarding accusations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) and her lead prosecutor engaged in an improper relationship and mishandled public money. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee also wrote in his order that Willis must respond to the accusations in writing by Feb. 2. The accusations first came to light in a filing from one of Trump's co-defendants, former campaign aide Mike Roman. The order, which is not yet on the case docket, was obtained by The Washington Post." At 1:15 pm ET, this is a developing story.

Marcy Wheeler writes that Trump's bad behavior in court is a pre-planned attack on the rule of law and that Trump is willing to pay millions extra in damages and/or face contempt-of-court charges to advance his plan. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While I agree with Wheeler's general point, she faults the media for "serially fall[ing] into Donald Trump's trap of reporting on his courtroom tantrums rather than the evidence of his fraud and crime presented therein." I don't totally disagree with her here, either, but I do think it's important to showcase Trump's lack of self-control. Everyone (except Nikki Haley -- see Mediaite item linked below) knows that Trump has already been found liable for raping & defaming E. Jeanne Carroll, for instance. The public's interest in the extent of the damages she deserves is more limited, I think, than the public's interest in Trump's conduct. We cannot do anything about how much a jury awards Carroll, but we can do something about Trump; i.e., deprive him of regaining the presidency* & wriggling out of every civil and criminal action against him.

Florida. Brendan Farrington of the AP: "A bill advanced by Florida Republicans on Wednesday would ban teachers and other government employees from displaying a rainbow flag -- even wearing one as a lapel pin for a day -- but they could hang the full-size flag of any 'recognized nation' as long as they want, according to the bill's sponsor. Flag displays that depict a 'racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint' would be banned from any state or local government building, including public schools and universities, under the bill authored by GOP Rep. David Borrero.... The ban wouldn't apply to students, or to government employees when they're not at work or in public buildings, Borrero said." Thanks to Forrest M. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Obviously, this is a homophobic, racist bill. Borrero seems to have tried to stay within First Amendment bounds, but if it becomes law, attempts to enforce it may prove otherwise, particularly since race & sexual orientation are protected categories and gender is, well, gender. If a teacher wears a necklace with an "XX" pendant, isn't she breaking Borrero's proposed law? On the other hand, if Borrero is just trying to call attention to what a jerk he is, well, mission accomplished.

Missouri. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "A coalition of reproductive-rights groups in Missouri kicked off a campaign on Thursday to establish a right to abortion in the state constitution, setting up the nation's next big test of public support for legalized abortion. Missouri was the first state to officially outlaw abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade 18 months ago. A successful ballot measure there could make it the first state where a citizen-led initiative reverses a near-total ban. Abortion-rights supporters have prevailed on all seven ballot measures put before voters since Roe was overturned, and groups in roughly 10 other states are attempting to pass similar abortion-rights measures this year. In Missouri, though, they face a tight timeline, fierce opposition from the Republicans who control state government, and a long tradition of anti-abortion politics."

Samantha Waldenberg & Michael Williams of CNN: "White House chief of staff Jeff Zients called Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday morning to apologize for a statement issued by the Democratic National Committee's press secretary that mocked Hutchinson's withdrawal from the presidential race. The statement came after the former Arkansas governor dropped out of the 2024 presidential race following his sixth-place finish in the Iowa Republican caucuses. It read: 'This news comes as a shock to those of us who could've sworn he had already dropped out.' President Joe Biden has a 'deep respect' for Hutchinson, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during Wednesday's press briefing, 'and admires the race that he ran.' 'This morning, the chief of staff here, Jeff Zients, called the governor to convey this and apologized for the statement that did not that did not represent the president's views,' she said. Hours after the call, Hutchinson told CNN that while he didn't 'pay much attention' to the DNC's statement, he appreciated Zients reaching out to him." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So we could choose a second term for a classy president or for a president* who constantly denigrates his opponents & others.

~~~~~~~~~~

Karoun Demirjian & Erica Green of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday dug in against President Biden's efforts to revive stalled legislation to send aid to Ukraine, saying the Republican-led House would not entertain it unless Democrats agreed to a far more severe crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border than they have been willing to consider. Mr. Johnson's latest ultimatum cast further doubt on the prospects of Congress's approving Mr. Biden's request for tens of billions of dollars in emergency security assistance to help Ukraine fight off Russia. Republicans have insisted that such a package be paired with measures to clamp down on migration at the southwestern border, and a bipartisan group of senators has made considerable progress on striking a compromise to do so. But the plan has no path to enactment if the House, where a sizable far-right contingent is pressing for even tougher immigration policies, refuses to accept it." ~~~

~~~ Sahil Kapur & Syedah Asghar of NBC News: "Leading Senate Republicans are warning their House colleagues not to play political games with the current immigration negotiations because they won't get a better deal down the road under a potential second Donald Trump presidency. 'To those who think that if President Trump wins, which I hope he does, that we can get a better deal -- you won't,' Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Wednesday. 'You got to get 60 votes in the United States Senate.'... Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., echoed Graham's view.... 'We have a unique opportunity here. And the timing is right to do this.'" MB: This is pretty pathetic, inasmuch as everybody knows reality is never a consideration in House GOP decision-making. (And it's not much of a consideration in the Senate GOP, either.)

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Representative Dan Goldman, Democrat of New York, on Wednesday announced he would file a formal censure of Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, accusing her of peddling voter fraud conspiracy theories that fueled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol and supporting rioters who violently threatened members of Congress, referring to them as 'hostages.'" The Hill's story is here.

Donnie Misbehaves in Court. So Does His Lawyer. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: As journalist E. Jeanne Carroll testified during her second defamation case against Donald Trump, "Mr. Trump repeatedly shook his head and exhaled loudly, appearing to scoff as Ms. Carroll testified.... Mr. Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, interrupted Ms. Carroll's testimony several times with objections that were frequently overruled by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.... Mr. Trump was expressive throughout the morning, showing impatience and anger as Ms. Habba and Judge Kaplan sparred, particularly over the judge's refusal to adjourn the trial on Thursday for the funeral of Mr. Trump's mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs.... (Mr. Trump attended jury selection on Tuesday but missed opening statements after, when he left for a rally in New Hampshire.) Mr. Trump slammed the defense table when the judge announced his decision. 'Man,' he said, then whispered angrily to Ms. Habba. Ms. Carroll's lawyer, Shawn Crowley, told Judge Kaplan that Mr. Trump was making audible statements from the defense table intended to undermine the testimony. She said she heard Mr. Trump mutter 'she has gotten her memory back' during Ms. Carroll's testimony." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The linked page was a liveblog of presidential candidacy stuff, then it wasn't, now (1:00 am Thursday) it is again. Somewhere in there is some version of the narrative above. The main story has now been incorporated into yet another story, with Benjamin Weiser as the lead reporter. The NYT is definitely a dynamic newspaper. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ben Feuerherd of the Messenger: "The federal judge presiding over Donald Trump's defamation trial on Wednesday warned the former president that he has the right to throw him out of the courtroom if he continues making audible statements during the proceedings. 'Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive,' U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan told the former president before the trial broke for lunch Wednesday. 'Mr. Trump, I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial. I understand you are probably very eager for me to do that,' Kaplan said. 'I would love it. I would love it,' Trump responded and waved his hands. 'I know you would because you just can't control yourself in this circumstance,' Kaplan responded. 'You can't either,' Trump responded." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Chris Hayes theorized last night that Trump followers admire his lawless behavior because they fantasize that they themselves had the power to get away with it. I expect he's right because Trump's courtroom behavior mirrors that of the criminal characters in the police procedurals I watch. Just like Trump, when the cops call them in for questioning, the petty thugs show a low level of self-control, mouth off, act out, squirm in their seats, play the victim, lie, claim police abuse, and generally say stupid stuff. These characters are supposed to be drug dealers & murderers; the rich characters clam up and ask for their lawyers. I suppose if a judge had shackled me, I would want to tell him off, too. But if I did it, it would be with some bon mot I thought clever, not with that "I know you are but what am I?" schoolyard retort that is the best Trump can do. He's just a stupid thug. ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, make that a stupid thug with some kind of mysterious disease. Thanks to Forrest M. for the link. See also discussion near the end of yesterday's Comments thread.

House GOP Goes After Cassidy Hutchinson. Steve Benen of MSNBC (Jan. 15): "Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk [Ga.], in his capacity as the chair of the House Administration's subcommittee on oversight" is leading an 'investigation' into "what really happened" in the January 6 insurrection. Loudermilk "faced some awkward questions about a controversial Capitol tour the day before the riot. After launching his own Jan. 6 probe, among the Georgia Republican's first steps was exonerating himself. Nearly a year later, he's apparently still at it.... [According to] this press statement last week [by Loudermilk's committee]: 'Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) today sent a letter to former January 6 Select Committee's star witness Cassidy Hutchinson, instructing her to preserve and produce all records and materials in her possession related to the events of January 6, 2021.'" MB: They have no shame.

Florida Man. Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: Kenneth Bonawitz, a member of the Proud Boys, "ultimately assaulted six officers [during the January 6 insurrection] before retreating after being hit with chemical spray. Prosecutors called him 'one of the most violent Jan. 6 rioters' and said his attacks 'were barbaric and left his victims with lasting physical, emotional and psychological injuries.'... [Judge Jia] Cobb imposed a sentence of five years.... She addressed the view held by some that defendants such as Bonawitz are political prisoners. 'I don't care about your political beliefs,' the judge said. 'It's your actions that you're facing sentencing for.'"MB: Bonawitz lives in Pompano Beach, Florida, though it looks like he will have a new residence now in some federal pen. Unlike his hero, he appears to have behaved himself in court. Even the Wild Man of Pompano seems to have more self-control than Donald Trump.

Presidential Race

Marie: In case you think maybe Nikki Haley wouldn't be such a bad president*, watch the video embedded in this story: ~~~

     ~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: During an interview, CNN's Dana Bash said to Haley that Donald Trump was "in a courthouse in New York.... He actually chose to be there. He's already been found liable for defaming E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her 30 years ago. A jury found him liable for sexual abuse.... You're the only woman in this race. How do you feel about your party's frontrunner being held liable for sexual abuse?" Haley's response: "I mean, first of all, I haven't paid attention to his cases. And I'm not a lawyer. All I know is that he's innocent until proven guilty. And when he's proven guilty and he's sitting in a courtroom, that's exactly what I'm talking about. You've got investigations on Trump and Biden.... If he's found guilty, then he needs to pay the price. He needs to do what he's supposed to. Every one of these cases, they need to be heard out. He needs to defend himself.... If he's not found guilty, then we move forward. What I will tell you is I'm focused on the economy, the border and education and getting our country back on track." ~~~

     ~~~ Bash's question is fair and timely. She asks it during a scheduled interview, so this isn't any sort of ambush. Any Haley's answer to her political rival's unconscionable behavior is that she's not a lawyer and if he's found guilty, blah-blah, after Bash has specified -- twice -- that Trump has been found liable for raping and defaming a woman. Haley also is not a nuclear physicist. Should she be given the nuclear codes? I find Haley's non-answer here as disqualifying as her not-slavery answer, which at least could be characterized as a response to a surprise question.

Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: "Straining to recover after a bruising defeat in Iowa,Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and his allies moved on Wednesday to shake up his operation yet again, with his super PAC carrying out layoffs and the campaign signaling that it would largely bypass New Hampshire's primary election next week in favor of competing in South Carolina. The change in strategy appeared to set up the one-on-one contest in New Hampshire that Nikki Haley has been hoping for against ... Donald J. Trump, who leads in polls but is more vulnerable in the moderate state than in socially conservative Iowa. At the same time, the shift could put new pressure on Ms. Haley in South Carolina, where she once served as governor." The headline describes DeSantis as "desperate."

Jenna Russell of the New York Times: "A Maine judge ordered the state's top election official on Wednesday to wait for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling before putting into effect her decision to exclude ... Donald J. Trump from Maine's Republican primary ballot. Justice Michaela Murphy of Maine Superior Court said in the ruling that the official, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, had been forced under Maine law to issue her decision quickly, without the benefit of the high court's input. The Supreme Court has agreed to review, at Mr. Trump's request, an earlier decision by a Colorado court to exclude him from the ballot, and is expected to hear arguments in the case on Feb. 8. Ms. Bellows had cited the Colorado court's reasoning in her decision."

** Very Fishy, Ctd. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Members of the Supreme Court's conservative majority seemed inclined on Wednesday to limit or even overturn a key precedent that has empowered executive agencies, threatening regulations in countless areas, including the environment, health care and consumer safety. Each side warned of devastating consequences should it lose, underscoring how the court's decision in a highly technical case could reverberate across wide swaths of American life."

     ~~~ Marie: I predict that when I am dead and gone, historians & experts in the judiciary will label the Roberts-Thomas court the worst Supreme Court since the Taney court of Dred Scott infamy. So in the meantime, let me just say that this is the worst damned court since the Taney court. ~~~

     ~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Four justices..., Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh..., appeared absolutely determined, on Wednesday, to overrule one of the most consequential Supreme Court decisions in the Court's entire history." But, as Millhiser's headline indicates, "John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett are unsure if they should be in charge of everything." "So the bottom line is that, if you are a gambler, you should bet on Chevron being overruled. But there is an off chance that Roberts and Barrett will decide not to make one of the biggest power shifts to an unelected branch of government in American history."

Judd Legum of Popular Information has more on David Smith, who purchased the Baltimore Sun, and whom Legum describes as "a wealthy conservative businessman with a history of using local media outlets to push an ideological agenda." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ignorant and Proud of It. Elahe Izadi & Laura Wagner of the Washington Post: After admitting he had not read the Baltimore Sun in 40 years, David "Smith seemed to have strong opinions -- negative ones -- about the Sun and the fleet of suburban papers he purchased alongside it, which he laid out in a tense, 2½-hour meeting that left many staffers baffled about the multimillionaire's intentions for the city's 186-year-old newspaper.... 'We don't know how to reason with him,' one Sun staffer told The Post after the meeting.... 'Because he is so uninformed about print media standards and journalism ethics as a whole.'... Tax forms show that his family's foundation has contributed generously to conservative and right-wing advocacy groups that have inserted themselves into some of the nation's most polarizing discussions. The ... foundation gave $275,000 in 2021 and $261,000 in 2019 to Project Veritas, a right-wing organization known for undercover sting operations.... It also contributed $121,000 in 2018 to Moms for America, a conservative activist group that ... has joined campaigns to remove books it finds controversial from public schools." The Baltimore Banner's story is here.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Guardian: "Arnold Schwarzenegger was briefly detained by customs officers at Munich airport on Wednesday after allegedly failing to declare a €26,000 (£22,000) Audemars Piguet watch the Terminator star was planning to sell at an auction in aid of his climate crisis charity.... Schwarzenegger was taken aside by officers who searched his luggage and found the watch, which the actor had allegedly not declared on his arrivals customs form. A spokesperson for the main customs office in Munich said: 'We have initiated criminal tax proceedings. The watch should have been registered because it is an import.' Schwarzenegger said he tried to tell officials that the watch was being donated to his Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, and is due to be auctioned off at an event in the Austrian ski resort of Kitzbühel on Thursday night.... Officials charged Schwarzenegger €35,000, including €4,000 in tax and a €5,000 penalty, according to Bild. The actor is said to have offered to pay the charge with his credit card, but German customs rules require half of the charge to be paid in cash. Customs officials are said to have accompanied Schwarzenegger to a bank to withdraw cash, before he was allowed to continue his journey." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Florida. Michelle Garcia of NBC News: "Florida's Board of Education announced a new rule Wednesday that bars public colleges from using state and federal funds for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, activities and policies. The rule, which applies to the 28 schools within the Florida College System, 'will ensure that taxpayer funds can no longer be used to promote DEI on Florida's 28 state college campuses,' the board wrote in a statement.... The board also announced that colleges will replace the course 'Principles of Sociology' with a general education American history course, claiming the former curriculum exposed students to 'radical woke ideologies.'" MB: Hack GOP politicians are remarkably enamored of infringing on academic freedom.

Texas. Julia Ainsley & Zoe Richards of NBC News: "Texas is refusing to comply with a cease-and-desist letter from the Biden administration over actions by the state that have impeded U.S. Border Patrol agents from accessing part of the border with Mexico. In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton rejected the Biden administration's request for the state to 'cease and desist' its takeover of Shelby Park, an epicenter of southwest border illegal immigration in Eagle Pass.... DHS officials said Saturday that a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande after Border Patrol agents 'were physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area' under orders from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott." ~~~

~~~ AP: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed an order requiring Texas to move a floating barrier on the Rio Grande that drew backlash from Mexico -- the latest development in legal battles between the Biden administration and Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over control of migration at the border. In December, a divided panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had sided with a federal district judge in Texas who said the buoys must be moved. On Wednesday, the court vacated the panel's 2-1 ruling after a majority of its 17 active judges voted to rehear the case."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, etc. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday are here: "Pakistan launched retaliatory strikes inside Iran early Thursday local time, its Foreign Ministry said, in the latest escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The attack in Iran's Baluchistan region came two days after Iran struck targets inside Pakistan. The U.S. Navy launched a new wave of strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen, targeting about a dozen sites, U.S. officials said late Wednesday.... Gaza remained under a telecommunications blackout on Wednesday night after a fifth day with almost no internet or phone access, according to the watchdog NetBlocks. The blackout 'prevents people in Gaza from accessing lifesaving information or calling for first responders, and impedes other forms of humanitarian response,' the U.N. humanitarian affairs office said." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates for Thursday are here. The New York Times' live updates are here.

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Two of the most senior members of Britain's royal family have been hit by health concerns, with Catherine, the Princess of Wales and the wife of Prince William, undergoing abdominal surgery in London on Tuesday, while King Charles III will receive treatment for an enlarged prostate next week. Catherine will be hospitalized for 10 to 14 days, according to the couple's office in Kensington Palace, and will convalesce for two to three months after that. The king's recovery is expected to be swifter, according to Buckingham Palace, which described his treatment as a 'corrective procedure' for a common, benign condition. Kensington Palace did not offer details on Catherine's diagnosis or prognosis, other than to say that the surgery had been planned and was successful, and that her condition was 'not cancerous.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

The Conversation -- January 17, 2024

Donnie Behaves Badly in Court. So Does His Lawyer. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: As journalist E. Jeanne Carroll testified during her second defamation case against Donald Trump, "Mr. Trump repeatedly shook his head and exhaled loudly, appearing to scoff as Ms. Carroll testified.... Mr. Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, interrupted Ms. Carroll's testimony several times with objections that were frequently overruled by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.... Mr. Trump was expressive throughout the morning, showing impatience and anger as Ms. Habba and Judge Kaplan sparred, particularly over the judge's refusal to adjourn the trial on Thursday for the funeral of Mr. Trump's mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs.... (Mr. Trump attended jury selection on Tuesday but missed opening statements after, when he left for a rally in New Hampshire.) Mr. Trump slammed the defense table when the judge announced his decision. 'Man,' he said, then whispered angrily to Ms. Habba. Ms. Carroll's lawyer, Shawn Crowley, told Judge Kaplan that Mr. Trump was making audible statements from the defense table intended to undermine the testimony. She said she heard Mr. Trump mutter 'she has gotten her memory back' during Ms. Carroll's testimony." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ben Feuerherd of the Messenger: "The federal judge presiding over Donald Trump's defamation trial on Wednesday warned the former president that he has the right to throw him out of the courtroom if he continues making audible statements during the proceedings. 'Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive,' U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan told the former president before the trial broke for lunch Wednesday. 'Mr. Trump, I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial. I understand you are probably very eager for me to do that,' Kaplan said. 'I would love it. I would love it,' Trump responded and waved his hands. 'I know you would because you just can't control yourself in this circumstance,' Kaplan responded. 'You can't either,' Trump responded."

Judd Legum of Popular Information has more on David Smith, who purchased the Baltimore Sun, and whom Legum describes as "a wealthy conservative businessman with a history of using local media outlets to push an ideological agenda."

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Guardian: "Arnold Schwarzenegger was briefly detained by customs officers at Munich airport on Wednesday after allegedly failing to declare a €26,000 (£22,000) Audemars Piguet watch the Terminator star was planning to sell at an auction in aid of his climate crisis charity.... Schwarzenegger was taken aside by officers who searched his luggage and found the watch, which the actor had allegedly not declared on his arrivals customs form. A spokesperson for the main customs office in Munich said: 'We have initiated criminal tax proceedings. The watch should have been registered because it is an import.' Schwarzenegger said he tried to tell officials that the watch was being donated to his Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, and is due to be auctioned off at an event in the Austrian ski resort of Kitzbühel on Thursday night.... Officials charged Schwarzenegger €35,000, including €4,000 in tax and a €5,000 penalty, according to Bild. The actor is said to have offered to pay the charge with his credit card, but German customs rules require half of the charge to be paid in cash. Customs officials are said to have accompanied Schwarzenegger to a bank to withdraw cash, before he was allowed to continue his journey."

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Two of the most senior members of Britain's royal family have been hit by health concerns, with Catherine, the Princess of Wales and the wife of Prince William, undergoing abdominal surgery in London on Tuesday, while King Charles III will receive treatment for an enlarged prostate next week. Catherine will be hospitalized for 10 to 14 days, according to the couple's office in Kensington Palace, and will convalesce for two to three months after that. The king's recovery is expected to be swifter, according to Buckingham Palace, which described his treatment as a 'corrective procedure' for a common, benign condition. Kensington Palace did not offer details on Catherine's diagnosis or prognosis, other than to say that the surgery had been planned and was successful, and that her condition was 'not cancerous.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Erica Green & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden invited congressional leaders to a meeting at the White House on Wednesday to discuss his funding request for Ukraine, Israel and the border, which has been stalled for weeks on Capitol Hill. Mr. Biden's request for the $110.5 billion package has been held up by Republicans who are demanding a new crackdown at the border in exchange for their votes."

Kayla Guo of the New York Times: "Top Democrats and Republicans in Congress on Tuesday released a $78 billion compromise they have reached to expand the child tax credit and restore three popular expired business tax breaks, but the package faces a challenging road to enactment in an election year." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Senate on Tuesday took the first step in advancing a stopgap spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the week, buying time to enact a broader bipartisan funding agreement for the remainder of the year. By a 68-to-13 vote, senators voted to take up the legislation, which would temporarily extend funding for some federal agencies until March 1 and for others through March 8. It would keep spending levels flat...."

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "The Senate voted on Tuesday night to table a resolution [introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)] that would require the Department of State to produce a report about Israel's actions in Gaza since launching its military campaign in the territory. Its aim would have been to determine whether Israel has committed human rights violations.... The final vote tally was 72 to 11. Seventeen senators did not vote, as many of them experienced flight delays traveling back to Washington, D.C."

"The Incredible Shrinking Majority." Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Day by day, thanks to a combination of coincidence, scandal, health issues and political turmoil, the G.O.P. majority [in the House] keeps getting smaller. This week, with lawmakers absent for medical reasons and the recent not-so-voluntary departures of the ousted former speaker Kevin McCarthy and the expelled [George] Santos, the best G.O.P. attendance that Speaker Mike Johnson can muster as he tries to avoid a government shutdown is the bare-minimum 218 votes. That is before factoring in the impact of rough winter weather across the nation. Another Republican, Representative Bill Johnson[*] of Ohio, is resigning as of Sunday to take a job as a university president, lowering the number to 217 if Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky, the 86-year-old dean of the House, is unable to quickly return from recuperating from a car accident. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, is out until at least next month while undergoing cancer treatment. As a result, the G.O.P. could soon be able to afford just a single defection on any matter if Democrats remain united and have no absences of their own." ~~~

~~~ Fer Instance. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "When she arrived in Congress last year, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a hard-right Republican from Florida, joined the rest of her party in staunchly opposing proxy voting, a practice adopted by House Democrats to allow for remote legislating during the pandemic. Then, in August, she gave birth to her first child and her perspective changed. Now, Ms. Luna is pressing to allow new mothers in Congress to stay away from Washington immediately after giving birth and designate a colleague to cast votes on the House floor on their behalf. Given Republicans' deep opposition to proxy voting, the bill Ms. Luna plans to introduce on Tuesday to make the change faces long odds to even be given a floor vote. But it raises a novel issue for a male-dominated institution where the average age is nearly 58 -- a place that is largely exempt from workplace laws and is still behind in bringing some of its arcane practices in line with modern expectations." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Luna's change of heart is not only an example of how likely it is that some House Republicans will break ranks in upcoming votes; it is also a perfect case of Republican's notion of "empathy": they favor liberal (or just plain humane or sensible) policies only when those policies affect them personally. Luna was horrified by the very idea of proxy voting -- till she herself had a health need to vote by proxy. They are selfish people, those Republicans. ~~~

     ~~~ * BTW, many Youngstown State students, faculty & alumni are not happy with the trustees' selection of election-denying Trumpist Bill Johnson to be the university's president.

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Mob

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump said in court papers filed on Tuesday night that they intended to place accusations that the intelligence community was biased against Mr. Trump at the heart of their defense against charges accusing him of illegally holding onto dozens of highly sensitive classified documents after he left office. The lawyers also indicated that they were planning to defend Mr. Trump by seeking to prove that the investigation of the case was 'politically motivated and biased.'... While the 68-page filing was formally a request by Mr. Trump's lawyers to the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, to provide them with reams of additional information that they believe can help them fight the charges, it often read more like a list of political talking points than a brief of legal arguments.... Many of the requests in Mr. Trump's filing appeared intended to paint Mr. Trump as the victim of the spy agencies that once served him and of purported collusion between the Biden administration...." ~~~

     ~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Donald Trump's legal team is asking for access to Biden-era White House records, including from the National Security Council and the White House Counsel's Office, as he attempts to build a defense against charges he mishandled more than 30 sensitive national security records after he left the presidency. If the judge allows it, Trump's team would be aiming for sweeping access to core advisers around President Joe Biden and their communications, at a time when investigators were looking at Trump's cavalier approach to state secrets and demands by the federal government to return documents he kept." ~~~

     ~~~ Eric Tucker of the AP: The motion "offers a blend of legal analysis and political bombast that has come to be expected in Trump team motions. For instance, it references Trump's record victory this week in the Iowa caucuses and decries the charges as 'partisan election interference.'... Despite Trump's repeated claims, there is no evidence of any coordination between the Justice Department and the White House.... Defense lawyers said in their motion that they intend to dispute allegations that 'Mar-a-Lago was not secure and that there was a risk that materials stored at those premises could be compromised.'... Trump's lawyers also referenced what they said was an Energy Department action in June, after the charges were filed, to 'retroactively terminate' a security clearance for the former president." ~~~

     ~~~ Steve Reilly & Darren Samuelsohn of the Messenger: "Owing partially to the nature of the criminal case which centers on classified and sensitive government documents, much of the evidence the former president's legal team references remains hidden from public view. The Trump filing is pockmarked with blacked-out redactions, and references court filings or proceedings that haven't been put on the public record.... [Joyce] Vance, on Tuesday, said [on MSNBC] the new filings pertaining to classified discovery could present [Judge Aileen] Cannon with 'the opportunity to delay things even further' as the case moves toward its scheduled trial date." Includes copy of the motion. ~~~

     ~~~ Bradley Moss & Andrew Weissmann, appearing on MSNBC, characterized the filing as largely bonkers but agreed it could serve to delay the trial -- because Judge Aileen Cannon. Weissmann said the appeals court would likely overrule any efforts Cannon might make to acquiesce to the motion's demands. Moss was incensed by the allegation that the Energy Department had "retroactively terminated" Trump's security clearance inasmuch as Trump never even had a security clearance; a POTUS (or POTUS*) automatically has access to all government documents during his time in office, and no agency grants him a clearance.

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "A federal appeals court said Tuesday it won't re-hear a case concerning executive privilege and Twitter after special counsel investigators in the 2020 election interference case were allowed to access data from Donald Trump's account without telling him. The case has centered around questions about protection of communication around the presidency, and if Trump should have been informed when the special counsel's office got court approval for a search warrant for his Twitter data. Ultimately, the courts decided federal investigators could access Trump's account for its criminal probe, and Twitter could be forced to keep the search secret from Trump. Both a trial-level judge and a three-judge panel in the Washington, DC, appeals court agreed that disclosing the Twitter search to Trump or his representatives could hurt the grand jury investigation. Eleven judges of the DC Circuit declined to look at the case again on Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ But the Trumpy Judges Are Outraged. Marisa Sarnoff of Law & Crime: "But four judges -- Trump appointees Neomi Rao, Gregory G. Katsas, and Justin R. Walker, along with George H.W. Bush appointee Karen LeCraft Henderson -- disagreed with the majority's decision, largely on executive privilege grounds.... 'The district court and this court permitted this arrangement without any consideration of the consequential executive privilege issues raised by this unprecedented search. We should not have endorsed this gambit.' Rao [-- who wrote the opinion, which the three other judges joined --] noted that [in her decision on the warrant, U.S. District Judge Beryl] Howell failed to recognize that Trump's Twitter file was 'presumptively privileged,' and that she should have allowed the former president to assert an executive privilege claim over the material.... Trump himself, however, did not assert such a claim when he learned of the search warrant.... Rao said that because Trump 'used his Twitter account to conduct official business,' the contents of that account could have contained privileged material -- a possibility 'vigorously maintained' by [Elon] Musk's company." ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Weissmann, speaking on MSNBC, found the Rao's speculation about the substance of the tweets to be, well, out of order. It is not the job of an appellate judge to be a finder-of-fact, much less to try to guess what the facts might be, absent evidence in the record.

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Donald Trump has injected himself into disbarment proceedings against former Justice Department ally Jeff Clark, raising the specter that the former president will attempt to assert executive privilege to block crucial testimony from senior administration officials -- or force months of litigation on the matter. In a letter to Clark dated Jan. 12, Trump attorney Todd Blanche urged Clark to ensure that neither he nor other witnesses talk about confidential conversations they had while Trump was in office. Those conversations, Blanche said, could be covered by 'Trump's executive privilege and other related privileges, including law enforcement privilege, attorney client privilege, and deliberative process privilege.'... In his new letter, [Trump lawyer Todd] Blanche ... said [Trump] reserves the right to 'intervene in any litigation involving these privileges.'"

Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: summarize the first day in the second courtroom trial of E. Jeanne Carroll's v. Donald Trump. Trump has already been found liable in a previous trial, and this trial is to determine more damages. "Shawn G. Crowley, one of Ms. Carroll's lawyers, told the jury in an opening statement that 'speaking from the White House, Donald Trump used the most famous platform on earth to lie about what he had done, to attack Ms. Carroll's hard-earned integrity and to falsely accuse her of inventing a terrible lie.' Ms. Crowley said Mr. Trump had persisted in his attacks even as his supporters deluged Ms. Carroll with cruel insults about her looks and threats to her life. He continued to brand her a liar even after last year's trial in which he was found liable for abusing her, all the way through this week. Ms. Crowley noted that over the course of Tuesday, he posted more lies about Ms. Carroll -- by last count 22 social media posts, she said." A CNBC story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Chutzpah. Lawrence O'Donnell said that Trump was sending defamatory social media posts about Carroll while he was sitting in the courtroom.

Alan Feuer & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The Capitol Police and the F.B.I. are investigating remarks reported to have been made by Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime Republican operative and informal adviser to ... Donald J. Trump, in which he expressed a desire for the deaths of two Democratic lawmakers in the weeks before the 2020 election.... The investigation into Mr. Stone was opened shortly after the website Mediaite released an audio recording in which someone sounding like him can be heard discussing Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York and Representative Eric Swalwell of California, who are among Mr. Trump's most vocal congressional critics. 'It's time to do it,' the speaker can be heard saying. 'Let's go find Swalwell. It's time to do it. Then we'll see how brave the rest of them are.... It's either Swalwell or Nadler has to die before the election. They need to get the message.' An article by Mediaite accompanying the recording claimed that Mr. Stone made the remarks to an associate, Salvatore Greco, a former New York City policeman, at a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. But the recording itself does not make clear whom the speaker was addressing." CNN's story is here.

A Secret Ambulance for a Secret Emergency Hospitalization. Caryn Littler, et al., of NBC News: "A 911 caller seeking an ambulance for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Jan. 1 asked the dispatcher to have first responders arrive on the scene in a discreet manner before transporting Austin to a military hospital. 'Can the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens? We're trying to remain a little subtle,' said the caller, whose identity was redacted, according to an audio recording obtained by NBC News through a Virginia Freedom of Information request."

** Very Fishy. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday over whether to overturn a key precedent, one that has empowered executive agencies and frustrated business groups hostile to government regulation. The court, which has in recent years rejected precedents on abortion and affirmative action and struck down regulations addressing climate change, student loans and coronavirus vaccines, will consider the fate of a foundational doctrine of administrative law called Chevron deference. The doctrine takes its name from a 1984 decision, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the most cited cases in American law. Discarding it could threaten regulations in countless areas, including the environment, health care, consumer safety, nuclear energy and government benefit programs. It would also transfer power from agencies to Congress and the courts.... Under Chevron, judges must defer to agencies' reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes....

The cases the justices will consider were brought on behalf of two sets of fishermen, one in New Jersey and the other in Rhode Island. They objected to a maritime agency's interpretation of a 1976 law that requires them to carry observers to gather data to prevent overfishing.... Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is recused from the New Jersey case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, No. 22-451, having participated in it as a federal appeals court judge. In an unusual move, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a nearly identical case from Rhode Island.... That may have been a sign that the court wanted to have nine members in place as it considers whether to overturn a major precedent.... The fishermen are represented by two conservative groups, Cause of Action Institute and the New Civil Liberties Alliance. Both have financial ties to the network of foundations and advocacy organizations funded by Charles Koch...."

Presidential Race

Nikki Brushes off Ron. Neil Vigdor & Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "ABC News canceled a Republican presidential debate scheduled for Thursday in New Hampshire, after Ron DeSantis was the only candidate who had agreed to participate. Hours earlier, Nikki Haley said she would not participate in future debates unless either Donald J. Trump or President Biden also participated, after a lower-than-expected result placing third in the Iowa caucuses. Ms. Haley's statement also cast uncertainty over another upcoming Republican debate in New Hampshire, hosted by CNN and scheduled for Sunday."

Andrew Demillo of the AP: "Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson dropped his long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday, ending a candidacy that was a throwback to an earlier era of the GOP but ultimately failed to resonate in a party now dominated by Donald Trump. Hutchinson's exit came a day after he finished sixth in Iowa's leadoff caucuses, well behind Trump and other top rivals but also behind Ryan Binkley, a pastor who failed to qualify for any of the debates. Hutchinson was the last GOP candidate remaining in the race who was willing to directly take on Trump."

Eva Surovell of the Messenger: "The Lincoln Project, a Republican anti-Trump political advocacy group, on Tuesday released a new ad comparing ... Donald Trump to dictators past and present. Titled 'God Made a Dictator,' the minute-long ad shows images of dictators, including Adolf Hitler and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un, as well as videos and still images of the former president." MB: Oddly, Surovell doesn't mentioned that the Lincoln Project ad is a parody of a video Trump recently promoted on his social media site. The fan-made video claimed God chose Trump to lead the country. "And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, 'I need a caretaker.' So God gave us Trump," the voiceover on video begins. ~~~

Forrest M. points to this democratic underground entry, where the writer calculates that Trump "won" the Iowa caucuses by grabbing 2.7% of registered Iowa voters. Woo-woo! Marie: I checked the writer's sources and arithmetic, and it all looks correct to me. Great way to pick a president*. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Moreover, this is a piss-poor showing for a candidate running more-or-less as an incumbent because, you know, he won the 2020 election -- at least according to nearly two-thirds of Iowa caucus-goers. (WashPo link.)

digby relies a good deal on McKay Coppins' Atlantic essay about his impression of a Trump rally he attended. Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: My own impression of watching a very few clips of recent Trump rallies is that he is listless, muted, boring and incoherent. Coppins does make the point that he has lost his supposed charisma and h is appeal to all but the most plugged-in MAGAts. (Also linked yesterday.)

AP: "A federal judge is siding with the Biden administration and blocking JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines, saying the $3.8 billion deal would reduce competition. The Justice Department sued to block the merger, saying it would drive up fares by eliminating Spirit, the nation's biggest low-cost airline.... U.S. District Judge William Young, who presided over a non-jury trial last year, said in the ruling Tuesday that the government had proven that the merger 'would substantially lessen competition' and violated a century-old antitrust law." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "A deal to transfer medicine to Israeli hostages in exchange for aid to civilians in Gaza is underway, according to an Israeli official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue. The rare diplomatic breakthrough, brokered by Qatar and France, is expected to provide medicine to at least 45 hostages, while a Hamas official said the aid would include 140 types of medicine, delivered to four hospitals in Gaza.... The Biden administration on Wednesday is set to put Yemen's Houthi rebels back on a global terrorism list, after the United States launched an attack against the group in retaliation for Houthi strikes on commercial ships in the Red Sea." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Wednesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Eric Schmitt & Saeed Al-Batati of the New York Times: "The United States carried out a new military strike against Houthi ballistic missiles in Yemen on Tuesday, the U.S. military said, but the latest salvo against the Iran-backed group left the White House grappling with how to stop a battle-hardened foe from disrupting shipping lanes critical for global trade. The strikes on Tuesday, the third overall against the group since a U.S.-led air and naval barrage hit dozens of targets last week, destroyed four missiles that the Pentagon's Central Command said posed an imminent threat to merchant vessels and Navy ships traveling through the Red Sea and nearby waters. But the pre-emptive American strike also came on the third day in a row the Houthis have defied the Biden administration and its allies by firing missiles at passing ships, damaging a Greek-owned cargo vessel on Tuesday. The Houthis damaged a U.S.-owned commercial ship on Monday after attempting to hit an American warship the day before."

Justin Moyer of the Washington Post: "About 130 demonstrators were arrested Tuesday on Capitol Hill at a sit-in organized by a Mennonite group calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, police and protest organizers said. Video circulated on a social media by a group called Mennonite Action showed protesters being arrested in the Cannon House Office Building as they sang hymns or chanted 'Cease fire!' and 'Let Gaza live!'" Video shows the protesters sitting on the floor, being led in singing together by one man standing among them. MB: It seems kind of embarrassing to arrest these peaceful protesters, who entered the building legally.

The Conversation -- January 16, 2024

Kayla Guo of the New York Times: "Top Democrats and Republicans in Congress on Tuesday released a $78 billion compromise they have reached to expand the child tax credit and restore three popular expired business tax breaks, but the package face a challenging road to enactment in an election year."

AP: "A federal judge is siding with the Biden administration and blocking JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines, saying the $3.8 billion deal would reduce competition. The Justice Department sued to block the merger, saying it would drive up fares by eliminating Spirit, the nation's biggest low-cost airline.... U.S. District Judge William Young, who presided over a non-jury trial last year, said in the ruling Tuesday that the government had proven that the merger 'would substantially lessen competition' and violated a century-old antitrust law."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "A federal appeals court said Tuesday it won't re-hear a case concerning executive privilege and Twitter after special counsel investigators in the 2020 election interference case were allowed to access data from Donald Trump's account without telling him. The case has centered around questions about protection of communication around the presidency, and if Trump should have been informed when the special counsel's office got court approval for a search warrant for his Twitter data. Ultimately, the courts decided federal investigators could access Trump's account for its criminal probe, and Twitter could be forced to keep the search secret from Trump. Both a trial-level judge and a three-judge panel in the Washington, DC, appeals court agreed that disclosing the Twitter search to Trump or his representatives could hurt the grand jury investigation. Eleven judges of the DC Circuit declined to look at the case again on Tuesday."

Forrest M. points to this democratic underground entry, where the writer calculates that Trump "won" the Iowa caucuses by grabbing 2.7% of registered Iowa voters. Woo-woo! Marie: I checked the writer's sources and arithmetic, and it all looks correct to me. Great way to pick a president*.

digby relies a good deal on McKay Coppins' Atlantic essay about his impression of a Trump rally he attended. Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: My own impression of watching a few clips of recent Trump rallies is that he is listless, muted, boring and incoherent. Coppins does make the point that he has lost his supposed charisma and h is appeal to all but the most plugged-in MAGAts.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race 2024 -- Iowa CarcassesTM Jeanne Edition

The New York Times has a liveblog of developments in the Iowa Caucuses for today, for @7:30 am ET, there's not much in it. See yesterday's NYT liveblog, linked below.

NBC News projected at 7:33 pm CT that Donald Trump will win the Iowa Caucuses. No link. At about the same time, the AP projected that Trump would win the caucuses. MB: Maybe the bad news here is that the NYT projects (at 9:00 pm ET) that Trump will win about 52 percent of the caucus vote; i.e., more than half.

Here's the New York Times' liveblog Monday of developments in the Iowa caucuses. The caucuses began at 7:00 pm CT. The Times has the results on its front page (so free to nonsubscribers) and on the linked page. ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's live updates for Monday are here. CNN's live updates are here. ~~~

~~~ From the New York Times liveblog. More or less from most recent to earliest:

Shane Goldmacher: "Donald J. Trump won the Iowa caucuses on Monday, a crucial first step in his bid to reclaim the Republican nomination for the third consecutive election as voters braved the bitter cold, looked past his mounting legal jeopardy and embraced his vision of vengeful disruption." (Pinned item.)

Nicholas Nehamas: "DeSantis finishes [his concession speech] by vowing he will 'not make any excuses.' He and his campaign have spent the evening castigating the news media for calling the race early and pointed out how much money his opponents have spent against him."

Jonathan Weisman: "Vivek Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old entrepreneur and political newcomer who briefly made a splash with brash policy proposals and an outsize sense of confidence, dropped out of the race for the Republican White House nomination after a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. He then immediately endorsed ... Donald J. Trump for the White House."

Jonathan Swan: "I haven't seen Trump give a speech like [his victory speech] since election night in 2016. He's confident enough of victory that he's praising all of his rivals and talking about uniting liberals and conservatives -- an absurd notion given the polarized state of the country and Trump's own role in demonizing the left."

Nehamas: "Judging from the DeSantis campaign's public statements so far, it seems the plan is to blame the media and The A.P.'s early call for his poor performance tonight."

Nate Cohn: "The early results show an extraordinary educational divide, with Nikki Haley routing Donald Trump in precincts where a majority of the population has a college degree, even as she fails to even clear 10 percent in many less educated areas."

Ruth Igielnik: "Twenty percent of caucusgoers said they made up their minds in the last few days, according to an early exit poll from the NEP. Among that group, Haley and DeSantis are neck-and-neck, and doing slightly better than Trump. Haley is also slightly ahead among caucusgoers who said they decided this month. Trump is dominant with the two-thirds of caucus-goers who said they decided before that."

Here are a couple of entries to give you an idea of the "flavor" of the caucuses: ~~~

Rebecca O'Brien: "The precinct captains here in Malcom are struggling to log the results of the caucus, because of fuzzy internet in the grain elevator offices." ~~~

~~~ Molly Longman: "After counting the votes on the dining room table of Mayor Sharon McNutt's house in Silver City, someone whistles to get the crowd's attention and the mayor announces the preliminary count: 1 vote Ramaswamy, 8 for DeSantis, 10 for Haley and 23 for Trump. No one seems surprised."

Michael Gold: "So Nikki Haley also just showed up at the super-site in Clive where Trump, Hutchinson and Ramaswamy have all spoken."

Maggie Astor: Donald Trump Jr., speaking at Franklin Jr. High, makes the brazenly false claim that there was 'world peace' during Trump's term and attacks Haley directly, saying she wants to 'be in every war in the history of the world.'"

Gold: "Donald Trump just made an unannounced visit to a caucus site in Clive, which is now hosting a high-profile collision between campaigns. Vivek Ramaswamy, who has recently been trading jabs online with Trump, was already scheduled to show up; Asa Hutchinson, whose long-shot campaign is often mocked by Trump, is here to speak on his own behalf; and Representative Chip Roy of Texas, a top surrogate for Ron DeSantis who Trump has suggested needs to be challenged in a primary, is here to support his candidate."

Gold: "Donald Trump did a local radio interview this morning in which he barely addressed the Iowa caucuses, instead largely attacking President Biden and Democrats. At the end, he said he thought he could get a 'record-setting' or 'close to record-setting' percentage of votes tonight."

Reid Epstein & O'Brien: "President Biden's re-election campaign said on Monday that, along with two allied committees, it had pulled in $97 million during the most recent fund-raising period."

O'Brien: "The parting messages from the candidates -- in their ads as in their speeches -- have been notably negative, defensive and dark."

Jasmine Ulloa & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Nikki Haley's "disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Monday showed that for all the hype, her momentum ultimately stalled in the face of a Republican electorate still in the thrall of the former president. That included not only Mr. Trump's working-class base but also the bastions of college-educated Republicans in and around Des Moines that she was supposed to dominate. In her speech after the caucuses, Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, sharpened her attack on Mr. Trump, questioning his age and his ability to unite a fractured country. She lumped Mr. Trump with Mr. Biden as backward-looking barriers to an American revival."

Trump Urges Iowans to Die for Him. Really. Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Former President Trump encouraged his Iowa supporters to caucus for him at any cost, joking that due to extreme winter weather, 'even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it.'... 'You can't sit home. If you're sick as a dog, you say, "Darling, I gotta make it,"' Trump said at an Indianola rally on Sunday. 'Even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it, remember.' Meteorologists warned of 'life-threatening' conditions in Iowa for the weekend as the state prepares to caucus. Trump canceled three of his four in-person Iowa events Sunday due to the freezing cold and snow." MB: Show of hands, class, if you think Trump was "joking." Didn't think so. (Also linked yesterday.)

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "In Iowa -- and probably elsewhere, alas — they are all MAGA Republicans now.... Despite a year of practice, DeSantis is still painfully awkward attempting to sound human.... [At a campaign event invaded by climate change protesters, Ramaswamy] offered his exotic view that 'the earth is more covered by green surface area today than it was a century ago because carbon dioxide is plant food.' The denial of climate-change is but one plank in Ramaswamy's zany platform, which holds that Jan. 6, 2021, was an 'inside job' and white supremacy is a myth.... Haley, for all her timidity, was at least implicitly offering a serious, viable, alternative to Trump. Hers is a traditional Republican message of balanced budgets, lower taxes, help for small business, a strong national defense.... But this Republican electorate wants ... a guy who talks about being a 'dictator' on day one, echoes Hitler in his rhetoric about ethnic minorities, demands absolute immunity from legal liability and threatens 'bedlam' if he"s prosecuted."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post outlines five takeaways from the Iowa caucuses.

Erica Green of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris warned on Monday that American freedom was 'under profound threat' in a speech honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in South Carolina, amplifying a message that the Biden administration has made a rallying cry of its re-election bid. Ms. Harris used her keynote address at a South Carolina N.A.A.C.P. event to highlight curbs placed on civil rights by Republican lawmakers and the Supreme Court in recent years. She urged the crowd of more than 100 to continue to fight for the constitutional promises Dr. King spent his life holding America accountable for."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday, the Pentagon said, ending a two-week hospitalization he had kept secret for days after developing serious complications from a surgery to treat prostate cancer.... 'Now, as I continue to recuperate and perform my duties from home, I'm eager to fully recover and return as quickly as possible to the Pentagon,' [Austin said]. It was not immediately clear how long that may be." (Also linked yesterday.)

Spousal Privilege. Benjamin Weiser & Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were both charged last fall in a broad federal corruption case in which they were accused of accepting cash and gold bribes.... Both Mr. and Ms. Menendez are seeking to split their case and have separate trials, according to papers that each of their lawyers filed late Monday.... Husbands and wives cannot typically be forced to testify against each other. And Ms. Menendez wants to maintain the confidentiality of her communications with her husband, her lawyers wrote to the judge, Sidney H. Stein, of Federal District Court. The senator's lawyers, in a brief filed several hours later, made a similar argument." Read on for details.

Adam Reiss, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump intends to attend the start of the new E. Jean Carroll civil damages trial on Tuesday, according to two sources...."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Joseph Tacopina, the trial lawyer on Donald J. Trump's legal team with the most successes defending high-profile clients, will no longer represent the former president in his criminal trial in Manhattan, according to a notice sent to the court on Monday. Mr. Tacopina also withdrew on Monday from another case in which he was still legally representing Mr. Trump: an appeal of the verdict in a lawsuit brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll. Mr. Trump was found liable for sexual abuse an defamation last year and was ordered to pay Ms. Carroll $5 million." A Law & Crime story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Maryland. Ken Belson of the New York Times: "The Baltimore Sun, the largest newspaper in Maryland, has been sold to David D. Smith, the executive chairman of the nationwide Sinclair network of television stations and other media.... The Sun will remain distinct from Sinclair, which is based in Maryland and owns about 200 television stations, including the Fox affiliate in Baltimore. In 2018, Sinclair drew a backlash when anchors at its stations were ordered to read an editorial about media bias. Mr. Smith fiercely disagreed with the criticism of the scripts." The Hill's story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Guatemala. Marie: I have paid little to no attention to the election turmoil in Guatemala. Luckily, digby has provided us with a short course. Thanks toRAS for the link.

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked a site in Iraq's Kurdistan region that it alleged was being used by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency to plan attacks against Iran. The Iranian-backed Houthi militant group struck a U.S.-owned container ship in the Gulf of Aden, U.S. Central Command said. The separate strikes came amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran and spurred wider fears that the conflict in Israel could spill out across the Middle East.... Israel plans to slow its military operations in southern Gaza and focus on uprooting Hamas leadership, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a news conference. He added that the Israeli military is still 'working to eliminate pockets of resistance' in northern Gaza." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates for Tuesday are here. The New York Times' live updates are here.

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "... on Tuesday..., the Senate votes on a resolution that would freeze all U.S. security aid to Israel unless the State Department produces a report within 30 days examining whether the country committed human rights violations in its conduct of the war. If the Biden administration misses the deadline, the aid would be restored once Congress receives the report, or takes separate votes to ensure the assistance continues uninterrupted. The measure, forced to the floor by Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, has little chance of passing given opposition by Republicans and Democrats. But it is only one of a raft of measures that progressives in the Senate have proposed in recent weeks that reflect their uneasiness with Israel's conduct of the war and raise questions about whether and under what circumstances the United States would send a fresh infusion of funding to back the country."

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "American military personnel recovered Iranian-made missile warheads and related components during a ship-boarding mission near Somalia last week that disrupted the weapons' suspected transit to militants in Yemen but left two elite Navy SEALs lost at sea, U.S. officials said Monday. A massive search-and-rescue operation is ongoing in the Gulf of Aden, where the incident occurred Thursday. The SEALs moved to board the vessel, described by one official as a dhow lacking proper identification.... As The Washington Post and other media previously reported, Thursday's operation took place in rough seas. When one of the SEALs slipped from a ladder while attempting to climb aboard the dhow, the second, having witnessed their comrade fall into the water, dove in to help, officials have said. Both were swept away by the powerful swells. Neither has been publicly identified."