The Conversation -- January 14, 2025
The New York Times' liveblog of the Senate Armed Services Committee's confirmation hearing of Pete Hegseth is here. "Pete Hegseth..., Donald J. Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, sought to defend himself against a raft of criticism during a confirmation hearing on Tuesday, as Democrats pressed him on his views about women in combat and support for convicted war criminals. Mr. Hegseth also claimed to have been the victim of a 'smear campaign' that raised allegations of past misconduct. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the committee, said in his opening statement that he believed Mr. Hegseth was not qualified to serve as defense secretary, adding that accusations against him, which include an allegation of sexual misconduct and episodes of drinking to excess, were 'alarming.'"
Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has warned that 'forever chemicals' present in sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer can pose human health risks, saying in a study on Tuesday that, in some cases, the risks could exceed the agency's safety thresholds 'sometimes by several orders of magnitude.' The agency maintained, however, that the general food supply was not at risk. A growing body of research has shown that the sludge can be contaminated with manmade chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are used widely in everyday items like nonstick cookware and stain-resistant carpets. The chemicals, which are linked to a range of illnesses including an increased risk of cancer, do not break down in the environment, and, when tainted sludge is used as fertilizer on farmland, it can contaminate the soil, groundwater, crops and livestock."
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⭐Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted ... Donald J. Trump on charges of illegally seeking to cling to power after losing the 2020 election, said in a final report released early Tuesday that the evidence would have been sufficient to convict Mr. Trump in a trial.... '... but for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.' The Justice Department delivered the 137-page volume -- representing half of Mr. Smith's overall final report, with the volume about Mr. Trump's other federal case, accusing him of mishandling classified documents, still confidential -- to Congress just after midnight on Tuesday.
"The report amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of a president-elect.... Mr. Smith laid the attack on the Capitol squarely at Mr. Trump's feet, quoting from the evidence in several criminal cases of people charged with taking part in the riot who made clear that they believed they were acting on Mr. Trump's behalf. In several lengthy footnotes, Mr. Smith explored the trauma experienced by Capitol Police officers who were attacked during the riot, including 'shell-shock' and the inability to move." Read on.
Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Trump is only off the hook, the special counsel wrote, because he won back the White House in 2024, forcing the Justice Department to shut down the historic prosecution.... The report draws from 250 interviews his staff conducted, as well as information gleaned from 55 grand jury witnesses and transcripts from congressional investigations.... The report describes a multifaceted scheme, orchestrated by Trump, to stay in power despite losing the 2020 election. That plan, Smith said, included spreading false claims of election fraud to drive up public distrust in the results. Trump then used that sentiment to lean on GOP allies in statehouses and Congress -- as well as his own vice president -- to help him corrupt the results, the report says....
"The details [in the report] underscore claims by [Merrick] Garland's defenders that the investigation was active earlier than many people realize. Smith also said his own team worked at an extraordinary pace to make sure charges were ready before Trump's reelection campaign began in earnest.... In a letter accompanying the report, Smith directly challenged Trump's repeated claims that the election case ended in his 'complete exoneration.' 'That is false,' the special counsel wrote....
"The unusual overnight release of the first volume of the report followed last-ditch legal maneuvering by Trump on Monday night seeking to persuade U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to keep the entire report secret.... 'Jack is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide,' Trump wrote in an early-morning taunt Tuesday on social media. 'THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!'"
Marie: IOW, Trump is not on his way to Club Fed because Republicans, specifically those in the Senate, led by Mitch McConnell, who refused to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, and specifically the Republican-appointed "jurists" on the Supreme Court, who slow-walked the various appeals Trump made to them. They are all accessories-after-the-fact. I mean that.
⭐The report, via the Justice Department, is here.
"He Got Away with Everything." digby: "It's pretty clear from the report, although he doesn't say it, that [Jack Smith] believes the Supreme Court decision was an abomination, not least because it left so many loose ends that it would have taken years to unravel (which I assume was a feature not a bug.) I'd guess that was all for the purpose of protecting Dear Leader had he lost the election. They were never going to let him be tried. I think they would have dragged it out until he was in his grave if need be."
Alana Richer & Eric Tucker of the AP: "The Justice Department can publicly release its investigative report on ... Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case, [Judge Aileen Cannon] said Monday. But a temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until Tuesday, and ... defense lawyers may seek to challenge it all the way up to the Supreme Court.... She set a hearing for Friday on whether the department can release to lawmakers the volume on the case that accused Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House in 2021. The department has said it will not publicly disclose that volume as long as criminal proceedings against two of Trump's co-defendants remain pending." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ From Cheney & Gerstein's Politico report, also linked above: Cannon "wrote in a brief order that she only had authority to act in connection with the classified-documents case that she previously presided over. She lacked the power, she acknowledged, to dictate what the Justice Department made public about the 2020 election-focused case brought in Washington."
Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "Trump's co-defendants in the classified documents case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, over the weekend implored Cannon, the presiding judge in their criminal case, to extend the order blocking both volumes of the report, arguing the release of the first volume would unconstitutionally prejudice their due process rights.... Nauta and De Oliveira on Sunday filed a 12-page reply [to a DOJ filing reiterating that publication of the first part of Smith's report] seeking to keep Cannon's order in place, arguing that the government was motivated by politics ahead of Trump taking office. 'The Government, driven by political priorities that have no place in a criminal trial setting, seeks to strong-arm its way through this orderly process and has repeatedly failed to abide by established rules and procedure,' the filing states. 'Political preference must yield to due process of law.'" MB: As Cheney & Gerstein remind us in their report linked above, Nauta & De Oliveira's "defense is being bankrolled by Trump political committees."
Devlin Barrett & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "David C. Weiss, the special counsel who spent years investigating Hunter Biden, criticized President Biden for making 'baseless accusations' about his inquiry that threatened 'the integrity of the justice system as a whole' in a final report made public on Monday. 'The president's characterizations are incorrect based on the facts in this case, and on a more fundamental level, they are wrong,' Mr. Weiss wrote. His inquiry had been a subject of fierce debate until the president issued a broad pardon that ended the case against his son, saying that the prosecution was the result of 'raw politics.'...
"'Like all his court filings, David Weiss's 27-page report continues to ignore some of the major mysteries of his seven-year investigation,' said [a] lawyer for Hunter Biden, Abbe Lowell, adding that 'what is clear from this report is that the investigation into Hunter Biden is a cautionary tale of the abuse of prosecutorial power.'... Because the presidential pardon had effectively ruled out any such analysis, the report said, Mr. Weiss reached no conclusions about the possibility that Hunter Biden had committed other crimes." (The embedded link to Weiss's report is to a DOJ file, not a subscriber-firewalled NYT file.) The CBS News report is here.
My administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play And we're leaving them an America with more friends and stronger alliances, whose adversaries are weak and under pressure -- an America who once again is leading. -- President Biden, in a foreign-policy speech yesterday ~~~
~~~ Cleve Wootson & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Speaking as much to the history books as to the civil servants gathered at the State Department on Monday afternoon, President Joe Biden said U.S. foreign policy during his term had put the United States and its allies on a stronger footing, another effort to use his final days in office to burnish his presidential legacy. The nearly 30-minute speech touched on dozens of issues on nearly every continent, from fraying alliances Biden said he encountered after he took office to recent Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks that he expressed optimism about as he makes his exit. Biden said he had sought at nearly every turn to have the United States lead alliances on global issues -- a rebuke, if oblique, to the 'America First' agenda of Donald Trump...." A CBS News report is here. You can watch the speech on this YouTube video.
Zach Montague of the New York Times: "The Education Department announced on Monday that it had canceled student loans for more than 150,000 borrowers, bringing the tally of Americans whose loans were forgiven under President Biden to over five million.... The latest cancellations were most likely the administration's final round of relief. They covered borrowers who have worked in public service for at least 10 years, students who had applied after being defrauded or misled by their school, and some students with disabilities.
"With Monday's authorization and 27 previous ones, the Biden administration has canceled more than $183 billion in outstanding student loans.... Mr. Biden will leave office next week with many of his boldest ambitions for student debt reform stymied, after a wave of legal challenges brought by Republican attorneys general chipped away at plans that once envisioned student loan forgiveness for over 40 million people.... Both ... Donald J. Trump and the America First Policy Institute, where his pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon, has served as a chair, have been intensely critical of the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness policies." Politico's report is here.
~~~ Marie: Opposition to student loan forgiveness programs arises out of cruelty, stupidity or both. It's true that the federal government is losing the debt-repayment revenue stream in the short run. But in the long run, consider this a stimulus package that will pay dividends: well-educated, working-aged people freed from burdensome, expanding debt will be among the greatest contributors to the U.S. economy as well as some of the highest taxpayers.
Paul McLeary of Politico: "The nation's next two aircraft carriers will feature the names of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, President Joe Biden announced Monday in a bipartisan salute that might irritate the next occupant of the White House. The new, nuclear-powered carriers will be officially named the USS William J. Clinton and the USS George W. Bush when they enter service in the mid-2030s, the White House said in an announcement. Biden said in the statement that he personally delivered the news to 'Bill and George.' It's a traditional honor for former presidents but somewhat unusual decision since Bush's appearance on an aircraft carrier marked an awkward point of his tenure -- when he made a speech on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a 'Mission Accomplished' banner in May 2003 to incorrectly proclaim major combat over in Iraq." ~~~
~~~ President Biden's statement, via the White House, is here.
Harris Is Bitter. Jennifer Jacobs of CBS News: "Vice President Kamala Harris has not extended an invitation [to JD & Usha Vance] for a formal sit-down or tour [of the Naval Observatory residence], multiple Democratic and Republican sources told CBS News. In November, Usha Vance, via intermediaries, reached out to staff for the home's current occupants, Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, seeking details including what they would need to childproof it. Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel Vance are all under the age of eight. The questions were initially rebuffed by a Harris political appointee. But there has since been communication between the Vance team and Navy aides who oversee the residence. Before Christmas, Navy officials provided an overview of the house to discuss the layout of the residence, logistics and practicalities of the move-in, and to help answer any questions the Vances had, a person familiar with the call said. Usha Vance spoke with Emhoff for about 40 minutes last week, sources said. Harris sources said that arrangements are underway to accommodate the Vance children." Read on for an account of Pence-Harris transition.
Darlene Superville of the AP: "U.S. flags at ... Donald Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club are back to flying at full height. Flags are supposed to fly at half-staff through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29. A large flag on Trump's property in Palm Beach was initially lowered to half-staff according to protocol but has since been raised in the days after Carter was buried Thursday in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Both President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, directed that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff for 30 days from the date of Carter's death -- or through Jan. 28. Trump has expressed annoyance that flags will be at half-staff on Jan. 20 when he takes the oath of office for his second term. During the presidential campaign, the Republican repeatedly criticized Carter, a Democrat, but offered praise for the 39th president in a statement after his death at the age of 100." Related story linked below under "Texas."
Tom Friedman of the New York Times: "Some may think Trump's remarks on taking Greenland and the Panama Canal are just a joke from an attention-seeking leader with no filter. They are not a joke. They are a prescription for chaos.... If the U.S. president can decide that he wants to seize Greenland and explicitly refuses to rule out the use of force to do so, that is like a giant permission slip for China to seize Taiwan.... Trump's remarks are reckless stupidity beyond belief.... How does America get off telling [Putin] that by invading Ukraine he has violated international laws and norms..., while Trump muses about seizing Greenland and forcibly reimposing U.S. sovereignty over the Panama Canal? Ukraine's territory was once part of Mother Russia, as was Crimea, which Putin has already fully taken back. No wonder Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told CNBC on Thursday that Russia is 'watching the rhetoric on these topics coming out of Washington with great interest.'" More on Greenland linked below.
Aamer Madhani & Zeke Miller of the AP: "Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by ... Donald Trump's team, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. At least some of these nonpolitical employees have begun packing up their belongings since being asked about their loyalty to Trump -- after they had earlier been given indications that they would be asked to stay on at the NSC in the new administration, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. Trump's pick for national security adviser, >Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, in recent days publicly signaled his intention to get rid of all nonpolitical appointees and career intelligence officials serving on the NSC by Inauguration Day to ensure the council is staffed with those who support Trump's agenda." (Also linked yesterday.)
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Pete Hegseth..., Donald J. Trump's pick to head the Pentagon, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday to answer questions on a range of issues, including a sexual assault allegation, his lack of management experience and his comments against women serving in combat. Mr. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has a slew of commentary, opinions and allegations to explain, as Democratic lawmakers get their chance to question him about his qualifications to lead the Defense Department, an $849 billion enterprise with nearly three million employees. Eyes will also be on Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, who is an Army Reserve and National Guard veteran and a sexual assault survivor. Ms. Ernst received a barrage of criticism from Trump supporters last month after she said that Mr. Hegseth needed to address issues including the role of women in the military and sexual assault prevention. Her support is viewed as critical to Mr. Hegseth's confirmation chances. Whether Mr. Hegseth has the votes to be confirmed remains an open question." ~~~
~~~ Looks Like the Dog Ate Part of the FBI's Homework. Julie Tsirkin, et al., of NBC News: "The FBI background check on Pete Hegseth... does not include interviews with Hegseth's ex-wives or the woman who accused him of sexual assault in a California hotel room in 2017, according to three sources with direct knowledge.... It is standard protocol to interview current and former spouses in conducting FBI background checks.... But it is also contingent on cooperation from the interviewees, and it is not clear whether the FBI attempted outreach to those people. Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will hold Hegseth's confirmation hearing Tuesday, also sent inquiries to counsel for Hegseth's ex-wives, but they did not share information with the committee.... Senate Democrats have already been raising alarms about delays producing the FBI check and concerns about its thoroughness...." ~~~
~~~ Liz Goodwin & Abigail Hauslohner of the Washington Post: "Democratic senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee are now slamming the report as inadequate as they prepare to question the candidate picked to lead the Defense Department at Tuesday's public confirmation hearing. 'Several of the witnesses were not interviewed by the FBI, even though they wanted to be,' Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) said as she left a meeting of committee Democrats on Monday, declining to say which witnesses she was referring to."
Dr. Paul Offit in a New York Times op-ed: "The news media labels [label!] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a 'vaccine skeptic.' He's not. I'm an actual vaccine skeptic. In fact, everyone who serves with me on the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory committee is a vaccine skeptic. Pharmaceutical companies must prove to us that a vaccine is safe, that it's effective.... Mr. Kennedy, on the other hand, is a vaccine cynic, failing to accept studies that refute his beliefs. He claims that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism despite more than a dozen studies performed in seven countries on three continents involving thousands of children showing that it doesn't. He has claimed that 'there is no vaccine that is safe and effective.' (Childhood vaccines have prevented more than one million deaths and 32 million hospitalizations over the past three decades). He has encouraged people not to vaccinate their babies.... [And more.] Given the lack of appropriate guardrails that would normally prevent an anti-vaccine activist, science denialist and conspiracy theorist from heading the country's most important public health agency, it's a dangerous time to be a child in the United States." (Also linked yesterday.)
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Elon Musk is expected to use office space in the White House complex as he launches the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to slash government spending in the Trump administration, according to two people briefed on the plans. The space anticipated for Mr. Musk's use is in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House. The location would allow Mr. Musk, who owns companies with billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government, to continue to have significant access to ... Donald J. Trump when he takes office this month.... DOGE staff members are currently working out of the Washington, D.C., offices of Mr. Musk's SpaceX company.... The work around DOGE has so far been shrouded in secrecy, with the transition revealing little to nothing about how it will function, or how it will be budgeted for."
Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "Melania Trump ... said in an interview broadcast on Monday that she planned to live and work full time in the White House during Donald J. Trump's second term, addressing speculation about whether she would be a regular presence in Washington. Mrs. Trump told 'Fox and Friends' that she would travel as needed to New York, her longtime home where she stayed regularly during Mr. Trump's first term, and his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which has become Mr. Trump's official state of residence. 'When I need to be in New York, I will be in New York,' she said. 'When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach. But my first priority is, you know, to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife.'" MB: I dunno. Doesn't sound too definitive to me. At least we know Donald comes after Barron & the blood-red Christmas decor. (Also linked yesterday.)
Meredith Hill of Politico: "A group of House Republicans and ... Donald Trump talked about tying wildfire aid to a debt ceiling increase Sunday night, as the fires spreading across huge swaths of Los Angeles are estimated to become one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. Of the nearly two dozen House Republicans who attended the Sunday dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where this option was discussed, several are caucus leaders and appropriators with major influence in upcoming budget reconciliation and government funding negotiations." MB: This is sort of ironic-laced cruelty -- as Krugman points out in the post linked below, the debt would be a lot higher if not for Californians' contributions to the federal coffers. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Here's Philip Bump of the Washington Post forcefully backing me up: "Within hours [of the fires' spreading], Republicans and others on the right were spreading claims (often false ones) presenting the disaster as fundamentally a function of Democratic mismanagement. With that baseline established, various legislators have suggested that the state needs to change its policies before it should receive federal funding.... [This] rhetoric ... is not only disingenuous; it presents the state as supplicant. In reality, California pays far more to the federal government than it receives in benefits -- one of only a handful of states for which that is true.... IRS data looking at the 2021 tax year shows that residents of [Los Angeles] county filed tax returns owing a cumulative $20 billion -- more in L.A. itself than in all but four entire states. The funding to which those Republicans are tying political strings can accurately be described as California's money in the first place." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Update. Meredith Hill of Politico: "House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed to reporters Monday there's 'been some discussion' of tying California wildfire aid to a debt limit increase, after GOP members raised the issue with Donald Trump in several meetings at the President-elect's Florida resort this weekend.... Johnson told reporters, 'we'll see where it goes,' acknowledging that he, personally, supported putting 'conditions' on California wildfire aid. 'That's my personal view,' he said.... The notion that Congress could make the release of disaster relief dollars conditional upon also agreeing to raise the debt ceiling is already facing pushback from some Democrats." ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the WashPo writes in his analysis linked above, "On Monday afternoon, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) ... said that it 'appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects,' bolstering the idea that 'there should be conditions on that aid.'" ~~~
~~~ "Bumbling Callousness." Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice: Donald Trump "and his minions are already using the fires to score cheap political points while Americans suffer. It's an ominous reminder of, and prelude to, Trump's mob boss approach to disaster relief in particular and to the presidency in general." Berlatsky reminds us that Trump's reactions to disasters -- as occurred when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and the pandemic hit the whole country -- could not be worse: "a cocktail of incompetence and malice." Definitely worth a read. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump notes in the analysis linked above that Trump, in the midst of decrying "incompetent" California politicians, wrote, "'There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country.' There have been 24 confirmed fatalities in the fires, as of writing. Scores more are missing. But contrast that with the nearly 3,000 people killed by Hurricane Maria on the island of Puerto Rico.... Maria struck the island when Trump was president. His response was to downplay the death toll and to insist that the extent of the damage was the fault of Puerto Rican leaders." MB: AND of course to toss a few residents rolls of paper towels so they could do their own clean-up.
Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would allow ... Trump to enter into negotiations with Denmark to acquire Greenland.... It's the latest in a series of proposed Republican legislation to bring Trump's vision of a new, sprawling American empire to fruition....Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) also introduced a bill last week along with 15 other Republicans that would authorize talks to repurchase the Panama Canal.... Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) is introducing the two-page 'Make Greenland Great Again Act.'... The bill would authorize the president -- at the moment of Trump's swearing in on Jan. 20 -- to seek to enter into negotiations with the Kingdom of Denmark to secure the acquisition of Greenland by the United States.'... Ogles, a member of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, has 10 GOP co-sponsors, including some moderate and establishment members like Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Mike Rulli (R-Ohio)."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd.
Dave Enrich & Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "With ... Donald J. Trump returning to the White House, media outlets large and small are taking steps to prepare for what they fear could be a legal and political onslaught against them from the new administration and Mr. Trump's allies inside and outside the government.... Mr. Trump's choice to run the F.B.I., Kash Patel, said before the election that a new Trump administration would 'come after the people in the media.' Brendan Carr, the expected chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, recently raised the prospect of revoking federal broadcast licenses for television stations that he perceived as biased against conservatives.... Among the most pressing concerns, media lawyers said, was that the Trump administration would increase the use of subpoenas to ferret out journalists' confidential sources." Read on.
Brian Stelter of CNN: "Veteran opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin is becoming the latest in a long list of Washington Post figures to leave the troubled institution. Rubin is partnering with former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen and launching something new: a startup publication called The Contrarian. The startup's tagline, 'Not owned by anybody,' is a pointed reference to billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and other moguls who, in Rubin's view, have 'bent the knee' to ... Donald Trump.... Rather than anti-Trump, the founders describe their venture as pro-democracy. They said they have already enlisted about two dozen contributors, including people who played prominent roles in debunking 2020 election denialism and investigating the January 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Rubin of the Contrarian, a Substack site: "Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences' loyalty and sabotaged journalism's sacred mission -- defending, protecting and advancing democracy. The Washington Post's billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to The Post's mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence. I cannot justify remaining at The Post. Jeff Bezos and his fellow billionaires accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy -- Donald Trump -- at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy's survival and capacity to thrive. I therefore have resigned from The Post, effective today." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic considers why Bidenomics or "post-neoliberalism" was not enough to give either Biden or Harris a win over the Bloated Buffoon. Thanks to laura h. for the gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) See discussion of Chait's hypothesis in yesterday's Comments.
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California. A $50MM Anti-Trump Bill. Blake Jones & Lindsey Holden of Politico: “California Democrats have reached a $50 million agreement to shore up state and local legal defenses against the incoming Trump administration just a week ahead of the president-elect's inauguration. Half the money would go to fending off any mass deportation plan the new president might enact early in his administration. The move -- the first of its kind in the nation that positions California to lead a second term resistance against Donald Trump -- comes as Republicans bash state Democratic leaders for focusing on a highly partisan issue even as the southern part of the state suffers from historically devastating fires. The deal includes $25 million Newsom had proposed for the state Department of Justice to fight the federal government in court shortly after Trump's reelection in November -- plus $25 million more proposed by state Senate leaders to defend immigrants against deportation, detention and wage theft. The $25 million proposed by the Senate would fund grants for legal nonprofits and immigration support centers."
MEANWHILE. Florida. Kate Payne of the AP: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling state lawmakers into a special session to help carry out ... Donald Trump's promises for a swift crackdown on immigration. But he's facing pushback from the legislature's Republican leaders, who have pledged their support for the incoming president but said a special session would be 'premature' and 'irresponsible.'"
Texas. Steven Rosenbaum of CBS News: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has directed that American flags on state property be flown at full staff to mark ... Donald Trump's inauguration next week, bypassing the national mourning period for former President Jimmy Carter. The move has sparked both praise and criticism on social media. On Dec. 29, President Biden ordered flags across the country to fly at half-staff for 30 days following Carter's death. On Monday, Gov. Abbott released a statement that he would be directing flags on state property to be flown at full staff on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. 'While we honor the service of a former President, we must also celebrate the service of an incoming President and the bright future ahead for the United States of America,' Abbott's statement said in part." Thanks to laura h. for the link.
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Israel/Palestine et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Israel's wars are here: "Israel and Hamas are at their 'closest point' in months to agreeing on a ceasefire deal that could halt the devastating 15-month-long war in Gaza and release hostages, Qatar said Tuesday. 'We believe that we have reached the final stages,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said in Doha, where negotiators are meeting, while seeking to temper expectations until a final deal is in place. An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the deal is now in Hamas's hands. The first phase of the proposed deal would involve the release of 33 living hostages during a 42-day ceasefire, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, according to U.S. officials. Over the course of the war, ceasefire negotiations have faltered at the 11th hour on several occasions."
U.K. Musk Defends Another Violent Nazi. Megan Specia of the New York Times: "Hours after a deadly knife attack in the northern English town of Southport last July, [Neo-Nazi] Andrew McIntyre set up a Telegram channel called 'Southport Wake Up.' Amid posts riddled with anti-Islamic, antisemitic and anti-immigrant abuse, he urged people to take to the streets, directing them to a mosque and calling for 'war.'... On July 30, a violent mob targeted the mosque that Mr. McIntyre had highlighted, and dozens of police officers were injured.... Mr. McIntyre, 39, who took part in two of several riots that rattled Britain last summer, was sentenced to seven years in prison last Monday. He pleaded guilty to encouraging violent disorder and criminal damage, and to possession of a knife. A day after his conviction, Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul, bemoaned Mr. McIntyre's sentencing in a post on his social media platform X, declaring: 'Over 7 years prison for social media posts ... Whoever gave that sentence deserves prison themselves.'... 'I think it's really important to note here just how extreme the individuals that Musk has been defending and engaging with in Europe and in the U.K. in recent months are,' said Joe Mulhall of Hope Not Hate...."
News Lede
New York Times: "Severe winds are whipping through Southern California, creating conditions for new fires in an area where the most destructive blazes in state history have left tens of thousands scrambling to find temporary housing. Tuesday's forecast for the Los Angeles area is extreme by any measure, even after a week in which high winds and perilously dry conditions fueled fires that have killed at least 24 people, with at least 23 others missing. More than 100,000 people have been displaced and whole neighborhoods destroyed." This is a liveblog.
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