The Conversation -- July 6, 2024

Biden's Blind Spot Is Shakespearean. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "King Lear gave up power too early. President Biden will give it up too late. And that is Joe's tragedy.... Biden's contention that he alone can beat Trump was never true. And now he has lost some moral high ground because he hid the evidence of cognitive deterioration.... We don't know now who is running the country. We only know who shouldn't be -- the president and the former president.... Let's open the convention and check out all the Democratic stars." MB: Dowd doesn't write anything I haven't written since reading the debate reviews and seeing some 30 seconds of Biden's performance. But she writes it better.

Lisa Kashinsky & Kelly Garrity of Politico: "One of Joe Biden's high-profile campaign surrogates is publicly urging him to consider exiting the presidential race. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a member of Biden's national campaign advisory board who earlier this spring headlined a big-dollar fundraiser for him in Boston, said in a statement Friday that he should 'carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump.'"

Matt Viser & Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), who is in a competitive race and among the more endangered Democrats, on Saturday morning called on [President] Biden to drop out of the race, saying 'there is only a small window left to make sure we have a candidate best equipped to make the case and win.... Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week's debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump,' she said in a statement." Politico's story is here.

Sanjay Gupta of CNN: "The consensus from the doctors reaching out to me ... [following President Biden's debate performance] was that the president should be encouraged to undergo detailed cognitive and movement disorder testing, and those results should be made available to the public." MB: See also Paul Campos in LG&$. (Thanks to RAS for the link.) See my comment near the top of Saturday's thread. ~~~

~~~ Edward Helmore of the Guardian: "Joe Biden's doctor met with a leading Washington DC neurologist at the White House this year, it was reported on Saturday. The report came after Biden on Friday ruled out taking an independent cognitive test and releasing its findings publicly.... According White House visitor logs reviewed by the New York Post, Dr Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson's disease expert at Walter Reed medical center, met with Dr Kevin O'Connor, a doctor of osteopathic medicine who has treated the president for years. The visit took place at the White House residence clinic on 17 January. Cannard has visited the White House house eight times since August 2023.... Biden has consistently rejected taking any cognitive test, including in August 2020 when he dismissed a reporter's question with: 'Why the hell would I take a test?' He has continued to dismiss the need for one and, according to aides, has not received one during his three annual physical exams during his term in the White House. The Washington Post on Saturday reported a White House aide saying that O'Connor, who has been Biden's doctor since 2009, has never recommended that Biden take a cognitive test." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Okay, it's the New York Post, but the Guardian is willing to accept the reporting, so maybe the Post didn't just make up the story out of whole cloth.

Michael Kranish & Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "Since winning the White House, [President] Biden has continued to dismiss the need for a cognitive exam, and aides have said he has never taken one as president -- not in three annual physical exams, and not in the week since a halting debate performance raised more urgent questions about the now-81-year-old's mental acuity. That decision has been overseen by a key figure largely unknown to the public: Kevin O'Connor, the physician to the president, who has grown extraordinarily close to Biden since becoming his personal doctor in 2009. A White House official said O'Connor has never recommended that Biden take a cognitive test.... Unlike some physicians to a president, O'Connor, 58, a doctor of osteopathic medicine and a retired Army colonel, has not appeared at the White House podium to take questions about Biden's annual physicals and other medical events....

"Three of O'Connor's former colleagues in the White House medical unit, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential relationships, said Biden's debate performance suggested to them that the president should undergo cognitive screening. In addition, Ira Monka, the president of the American Osteopathic Association, who visited with O'Connor at the White House this year, also told The Post that he thinks Biden's performance should prompt an initial cognitive review to see if more tests are needed."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The questions asked of President Biden by two radio interviewers this week were provided in advance to the hosts by members of Mr. Biden's team, one of the hosts said Saturday morning on CNN.... And yet, despite knowing the questions in advance, Mr. Biden still stumbled over some of them.... Andrea Lawful-Sanders, the host of 'The Source' on WURD in Philadelphia, said Biden officials provided her with a list of eight questions ahead of the interview on Wednesday. 'The questions were sent to me for approval; I approved of them,' she told Victor Blackwell ... on CNN. Asked if it was the White House that sent the questions to her in advance, she said it was. 'I got several questions -- eight of them,' she said. 'And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.' Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for the Biden campaign, said it was actually campaign aides, not White House officials, who sent the list of questions.... Ms. Lawful-Sanders said later on Saturday that she 'never once felt pressured to ask certain questions' from the campaign." A Mother Jones story is here.

Delay, Delay, Delay. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Saturday postponed a few deadlines in ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case to allow prosecutors time to respond to his request for a broader pause in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling this week on executive immunity.... In a brief order on Saturday, Judge [Aileen] Cannon told prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, that they had until July 18 to respond to Mr. Trump's request for a broad delay. In the meantime, she pushed back two approaching deadlines in the case related to filings about expert witnesses the two sides plan to introduce at trial and to the defense's obligation to provide discovery information to the government."

Marie: Speaking on MSNBC this morning, Jill Wine-Banks pointed out perhaps the only hilarious by-product of Supreme Court's presidential* immunity ruling: it blows up the fake purpose of Jim Jordan's infamous House Weaponization Committee where the House was supposed to be investigating how Joe Biden had "weaponized" the Justice Department and other federal agencies. Why? Because the Supremes made all that supposed weaponization (which is a right-wing fiction) is now totally legal. Thanks, Supremes!

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Presidential Race

I have a cognitive test every single day.... Everything I do. Not only am I campaigning, but I'm running the world. -- President Joe Biden, to George Stephanopoulos, in response to a question about whether or not he would agree to independent cognitive tests & evaluations ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday dismissed concerns about his age, his mental acuity and polls showing him losing his re-election bid, saying in a prime-time interview that his sharpness is tested every day while he is 'running the world.' He vowed to drop out only if 'the Lord Almighty' told him to. During a 22-minute interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, which aired unedited, Mr. Biden, 81, said there was no need for him to submit to neurological or cognitive testing. He said he simply did not believe the polls showing him losing. And asked how he would feel if ... Donald J. Trump were elected in November, he brushed off the question.... Again and again, Mr. Biden told Mr. Stephanopoulos that voters should consider his accomplishments in office.... Mr. Biden consented to the ABC interview -- one of the few that he has given to news organizations during his presidency -- and traveled to Madison, Wis., for a campaign rally in the hopes that strong performances could help rescue his teetering presidential campaign." ~~~

     ~~~ Steve Peoples of the AP: "The president and his team were hopeful that this first interview would help rally his party and generate momentum for the long road ahead. It's unclear if he was successful.... If people were looking for further signs of trouble, they were easy to find.... He needed to do much more than clear the incredibly low bar he set on national television last week. And the ABC interview had several examples of awkward pauses, garbled words and moments where he meandered.... Biden does not have a good explanation for his dismal debate performance.... Biden appeared flustered at times.... Even before the interview was over, it was clear it would take much more to win over a party that is suddenly open to Biden alternatives just four months before Election Day." Politico's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the transcript, via ABC News.

     ~~~ Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "... many Democrats who spoke out after the interview, which aired on ABC News on Friday night, signaled that it had done little to shift their stances, regardless of whether they thought [President] Biden should remain in the race or drop out.... The president's critics among the Democrats, including those asking him to step aside, said Mr. Biden appeared to be out of touch or in denial about his prospects for re-election.... Representative Mike Quigley, Democrat of Illinois..., said Mr. Biden should step aside, telling CNN that he found points in the interview 'disturbing' and that it was clear 'the president of the United States doesn't have the vigor necessary to overcome the deficit here.'... Former Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, who also has said that Mr. Biden should step aside, said after the interview, 'I don't think he moved the needle at all...,' Mr. Ryan said on MSNBC. 'I think there was a level of him being out of touch with reality on the ground.'... A handful of Democratic lawmakers who have consistently supported Mr. Biden said soon after the interview that they would stick with the president." MB: Quigley is the fourth member of the House to call for President Biden to withdraw his candidacy.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Biden's prime-time interview with Stephanopoulos will do nothing to reassure people worried about a Biden defeat. Stephanopoulos hectored him with nonstop and repetitive questions about his mental acuity for the full 22-minute session, which undoubtedly made Biden defensive. But the president seemed to be in denial about the magnitude of the problem facing him, unwilling even to acknowledge the obvious truth that he has lost a step over the last 3½ years.... Biden's determination not to give an inch was belied by his delivery: some of the same mouth-agape looks while listening to the question, a couple of meandering answers where he seemed to lose his train of thought. Incredibly, he said he hadn't re-watched the debate that threatens to sink his candidacy. 'I don't think I did, no,' he said after a pause."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "One of America's political parties has a presidential candidate who is really old and showing it. The other has a presidential candidate who is a convicted felon, adjudicated sexual abuser, business fraudster and self-described aspiring dictator for a day.... After Mr. Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies by a Manhattan jury in May -- a verdict that came after civil judgments against him for personal and professional misdeeds -- there was no significant groundswell within the Republican Party to force him out of the race.... Even though many Republican officeholders and strategists privately loathe him, they fell in line and made clear they would stick with him no matter how many scandals piled up.

"Until last week, Democrats had also ... effectively squelched any internal dissent, forcing Democrats to stay quiet despite fears that his age would ultimately undercut his campaign. After last week's debate showcased concerns about his mental sharpness, however..., a wide swath of Democrats concluded that he was no longer viable and mounted an effort to pressure him to step aside.... 'While Biden had the worst debate performance in all of presidential history, Trump's was likely the second-worst," said Jeffrey A. Engel ... [of] Southern Methodist University. 'Yet we hear crickets from Republicans after their presumptive nominee was incoherent, rambling and utterly divorced from the truth. Oh, and also a convicted felon.'... Mr. Trump ... has turned shortcomings into power, at least among his own partisans." (Also linked yesterday.)

Leigh Ann Caldwell & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) is attempting to assemble a group of Democratic senators to ask Joe Biden to exit the presidential race, according to two people with direct knowledge of the effort.... The Virginia senator has told others that he is deeply concerned Biden is not able to run a campaign that could beat ... Donald Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Kate Santaliz, et al., of NBC News: "Some key House and Senate Democrats are planning meetings next week where they're expected to discuss the path forward for President Joe Biden. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., will convene a virtual meeting with Democratic committee ranking members on Sunday, three sources told NBC News. The meeting is expected to focus on President Biden, one of the sources said, as he faces calls to step aside as the party's nominee.... The House committee leaders' meeting, set for 2 p.m. Sunday., is not part of any regularly scheduled gathering of ranking members.... Jeffries has been fairly quiet about Biden in recent days and very little has leaked from his conference call with top House Democratic leaders before the July 4 holiday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Scalese & John Bender of WBUR (Boston): "Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton says President Biden should bow out of the upcoming election. Speaking with WBUR on Thursday, Moulton said he does not have confidence Biden could defeat former President Trump in November. 'President Biden has done enormous service to our country, but now is the time for him to follow in one of our founding father, George Washington's footsteps and step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump,' Moulton said. Moulton is the third sitting member of Congress to publicly say Biden shouldn't run again -- and the first from the Massachusetts delegation." A New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Contingency Plans. Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post: "Bill Harris, a former chief executive of Intuit and PayPal, said he is leading a small group of Democratic donors who have pledged $2 million to help fund presidential debates among potential nominees if President Biden decides to step aside. The group of donors is pressing for an open competition for the Democratic nomination that would draw public attention if Biden drops out. The group is looking for robust debates rather than merely coalescing around Vice President Harris or another nominee, according to Bill Harris, who declined to name the other donors. Bill Harris described the vice president -- a likely front-runner to replace Biden if he bows out -- as 'a very strong candidate.' But he and the other donors financing the effort favor a 'mini-primary' similar to what Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) outlined Wednesday." ~~~

~~~ Edward-Isaac Dovere of CNN: "Amid the ongoing fallout from Joe Biden's debate performance, talk in many top Democratic circles has already moved to who Kamala Harris' running mate would be. That's how certain a widening group of leading party officials, operatives and donors are that the president's slow start to salvage his campaign just won't work, with several close allies skeptical that he is up to the reelection campaign he has pledged to stay in, based on CNN's conversations with two dozen Democratic politicians and operatives."

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden, who at 81 is the oldest person ever to hold the office, has displayed signs of accelerated aging in recent months, said numerous aides, foreign officials, members of Congress, donors and others who have interacted with Biden over the last 3½ years, noting that he moves more slowly, speaks more softly and has moments when he loses his train of thought more often than even just a year ago. None of those who spoke to The Washington Post said they had seen Biden appear as lost and confused as he did at the presidential debate against Donald Trump on June 27, where his halting performance sent panic through the Democratic Party. They largely did not question his mental acuity, and several senior White House aides who interact with Biden regularly said that he continues to ask probing, detailed questions about complicated policy matters and can recall facts from previous briefings in minute detail."

Adriana Licon of the AP: "Donald Trump distanced himself Friday from Project 2025, a massive proposed overhaul of the federal government drafted by longtime allies and former officials in his administration, days after the head of the think tank responsible for the program suggested there would be a second American Revolution. 'I know nothing about Project 2025,' Trump posted on his social media website. 'I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they're saying and some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.'... Some of the people involved in Project 2025 are former senior administration officials. The project's director is Paul Dans, who served as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Trump. Trump's campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt was featured in one of Project 2025's videos. John McEntee, a former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump administration, is a senior adviser." The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Obviously, you can (a) know "nothing" about a subject, then (b) say you disagree/agree with the subject. I guess it takes a stable genius to admit ignorance in the same breath he disavows that about which he knows nothing.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump on Friday asked the judge overseeing his classified documents case to put that proceeding almost entirely on hold as they sort through whether Mr. Trump enjoys immunity from the charges based on a landmark Supreme Court ruling this week.... In a 10-page motion, they asked Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is overseeing the proceedings, to allow them to file additional briefings on immunity and to freeze nearly all pretrial activity until she resolves the issue.... Mr. Trump's lawyers have already asked Judge Cannon to grant him immunity to the charges...." Politico's report is here.

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The Social Security Administration's recently departed inspector general abused her authority and undermined the integrity of her office while under investigation for misconduct, a report from a committee of federal watchdogs found. Gail Ennis, who left her post last week, repeatedly refused to steer clear of an inquiry into her leadership of an anti-fraud program that issued extraordinary fines on disabled and elderly people accused of disability benefit fraud, investigators found. The report said she obstructed the probe by refusing to be interviewed, ordering subordinates and witnesses to limit access to information, and at times seeking to mislead investigators." The committee has not yet released its report. MB: Ennis was a Trump appointee, so her obstruction and lies were perfectly consistent with Trump's MO.

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Kansas. John Hanna of the AP: "Kansas' highest court strongly reaffirmed Friday that the state constitution protects abortion access, striking down a ban on a common second-trimester procedure and laws regulating abortion providers more strictly than other health care providers. The pair of 5-1 decisions suggests that other restrictions -- even ones decades on the books -- might not withstand legal challenges.... 'This is an immense victory for the health, safety, and dignity of people in Kansas and the entire Midwestern region, where millions have been cut off from abortion access,' said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented the abortion providers challenging the two laws."

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "Liberals on the Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the use of absentee-ballot drop boxes, changing the rules for voting four months before the presidential election and reversing a decision made by conservatives two years ago when they controlled the court. The 4-3 ruling came a year after liberals took a majority on the top court in a crucial swing state and six months after they undid a gerrymander that had long given Republicans huge majorities in the state legislature.... Ballot drop boxes were available for years in some Wisconsin communities, and their use was greatly expanded for the 2020 presidential election as voters turned to absentee voting because of the covid-19 pandemic. Top Wisconsin Republicans supported them at the time but turned against them after Joe Biden narrowly beat ... Donald Trump in the state.... The decision leaves it to local officials to decide whether to use drop boxes." The AP's report is here.

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Hungary. Two Members of Dictators' Club Meet in Moscow. Emily Rauhala & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Fresh off his first visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Moscow on Friday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin -- a striking break with the European Union's collective foreign policy just days after Hungary took over the bloc's rotating presidency. Even before Orban's plane touched down Friday, the trip drew sharp disavowals from Brussels. Josep Borrell, the E.U.'s top diplomat, preemptively noted that the Hungarian leader's travel is not official E.U. business and 'takes place exclusively in the framework of bilateral relations between Hungary and Russia.' But with Hungary now holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, the trip represented a diplomatic triumph for Putin...."

Iran. Farnaz Fassihi & Cassandra Vinograd of the New York Times: "In an election upset in Iran, the reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocated for moderate policies at home and improved relations with the West, won the presidential runoff election, beating his hard-line rival, the Ministry of Interior said on Saturday morning. Mr. Pezeshkian, 69, a cardiac surgeon, got 16.3 million votes to defeat the hard-line candidate, Saeed Jalili.... Mr. Jalili received 13.5 million votes. After polls closed at midnight, turnout stood at 50 percent, about 10 percentage points higher than in the first round of the election with about 30.5 million ballots cast in total, according to Iran's interior ministry. The first round saw a record-low turnout because many Iranians had boycotted the vote as an act of protest." The AP's report is here.

Vatican. Excommunication Comes to the Archbishop. Emma Bubola & Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "The Vatican said on Friday that it had excommunicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the church's former ambassador to the United States, after finding him guilty of schism for refusing to recognize the authority of Pope Francis and the liberal reforms enacted after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Archbishop Viganò has emerged as one of the most unbridled conservative critics of Francis, calling him in public statements a 'false prophet' and a 'servant of Satan,' while embracing right-wing conspiracy theories and lauding ... Donald J. Trump. Though excommunicated, Archbishop Viganò will be able to keep his title, but he will not be allowed to celebrate Mass, receive or administer sacraments and hold official positions within the church's hierarchy."

News Lede

New York Times: "Texas was bracing for Tropical Storm Beryl as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico early Saturday, and a hurricane watch was issued for the state's southern coast. Hours earlier, the storm made landfall in Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane. Damaging winds and storm surge battered the Mexican coast, leaving snapped trees and power outages in its wake. Beryl, which then weakened to a tropical storm, was expected to become a hurricane before reaching the Texas coast as soon as late Sunday. In the past week, the storm flattened islands and killed 12 people in Grenada, Jamaica and Venezuela."

The Conversation -- July 5, 2024

Leigh Ann Caldwell & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) is attempting to assemble a group of Democratic senators to ask Joe Biden to exit the presidential race, according to two people with direct knowledge of the effort.... The Virginia senator has told others that he is deeply concerned Biden is not able to run a campaign that could beat ... Donald Trump." ~~~

~~~ Kate Santaliz, et al., of NBC News: "Some key House and Senate Democrats are planning meetings next week where they're expected to discuss the path forward for President Joe Biden. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., will convene a virtual meeting with Democratic committee ranking members on Sunday, three sources told NBC News. The meeting is expected to focus on President Biden, one of the sources said, as he faces calls to step aside as the party's nominee.... The House committee leaders' meeting, set for 2 p.m. Sunday., is not part of any regularly scheduled gathering of ranking members.... Jeffries has been fairly quiet about Biden in recent days and very little has leaked from his conference call with top House Democratic leaders before the July 4 holiday."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "One of America's political parties has a presidential candidate who is really old and showing it. The other has a presidential candidate who is a convicted felon, adjudicated sexual abuser, business fraudster and self-described aspiring dictator for a day.... After Mr. Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies by a Manhattan jury in May -- a verdict that came after civil judgments against him for personal and professional misdeeds -- there was no significant groundswell within the Republican Party to force him out of the race.... Even though many Republican officeholders and strategists privately loathe him, they fell in line and made clear they would stick with him no matter how many scandals piled up.

"Until last week, Democrats had also ... effectively squelched any internal dissent, forcing Democrats to stay quiet despite fears that his age would ultimately undercut his campaign. After last week's debate showcased concerns about his mental sharpness, however..., a wide swath of Democrats concluded that he was no longer viable and mounted an effort to pressure him to step aside.... 'While Biden had the worst debate performance in all of presidential history, Trump's was likely the second-worst,' said Jeffrey A. Engel ... [of] Southern Methodist University. 'Yet we hear crickets from Republicans after their presumptive nominee was incoherent, rambling and utterly divorced from the truth. Oh, and also a convicted felon.'... Mr. Trump ... has turned shortcomings into power, at least among his own partisans."

Robert Scalese & John Bender of WBUR (Boston): "Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton says President Biden should bow out of the upcoming election. Speaking with WBUR on Thursday, Moulton said he does not have confidence Biden could defeat former President Trump in November. 'President Biden has done enormous service to our country, but now is the time for him to follow in one of our founding father, George Washington's footsteps and step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump,' Moulton said. Moulton is the third sitting member of Congress to publicly say Biden shouldn't run again -- and the first from the Massachusetts delegation." A New York Times story is here.

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Presidential Race

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden sought to steady his re-election campaign by talking with two Black radio hosts for interviews broadcast on Thursday, but he spoke haltingly at points during one interview and struggled to find the right phrase in the other, saying that he was proud to have been 'the first Black woman to serve with a Black president.' He also stumbled over his words during a four-minute Fourth of July speech to military families at the White House, beginning a story about ... Donald J. Trump, calling him 'one of our colleagues, the former president' and then adding, 'probably shouldn't say, at any rate' before abruptly ending the story and moving on." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As I read on through the examples Shear provided, Biden's mistakes sounded to me a lot like Donald Trump's.

Carl Gibson of AlterNet: "President Joe Biden's inner circle has been working hard to conceal the 81 year-old's fragile state for the better part of the 2024 cycle only to have the most recent televised debate confirm everyone's fears, according to a new report. In a Thursday article for New York Magazine, journalist Olivia Nuzzi wrote in-depth about conversations with 'Democratic officials, activists and donors' who all shared their concern about Biden's cognitive health.... 'It hasn't been good for a long time but it's gotten so, so much worse,' [a] witness to [an] exchange [between Biden and a donor] told Nuzzi. 'So much worse!'"

Kenneth Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: "After several days of quiet griping and hoping that President Biden would abandon his re-election campaign on his own, many wealthy Democratic donors are trying to take matters into their own hands. Wielding their fortunes as both carrot and stick, donors have undertaken a number of initiatives to pressure Mr. Biden to step down from the top of the ticket and help lay the groundwork for an alternate candidate. The efforts -- some coordinated, some conflicting and others still nascent -- expose a remarkable and growing rift between the party's contributor class and its standard-bearer that could have an impact on down-ballot races, whether or not the donors influence Mr. Biden's decision.... A group of them is working to raise as much as $100 million for a sort of escrow fund, called the Next Generation PAC, that would be used to support a replacement candidate. If Mr. Biden does not step aside, the money could be used to help down-ballot candidates, according to people close to the effort. Supporters of potential replacements like Vice President Kamala Harris are jockeying to position their preferred successor. Other donors are threatening to withhold contributions not only from Mr. Biden but also from other Democratic groups unless Mr. Biden bows out." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "President Joe Biden is facing an uprising from some his own party's wealthy donors, including an heiress to the Disney family fortune, who say they will no longer fund the Democratic Party until Biden drops out of the presidential race following his disastrous debate performance. Abigail Disney, the granddaughter to Roy O. Disney, who cofounded The Walt Disney Company, told CNBC on Thursday that she plans to withhold donations to the party she has funded for years until Biden drops out. The president has said he has no plans to withdraw from the race...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case you are thinking of all this as a massive reprise of "Democrats in Disarray!" stories -- take heart! Here are these fatcat Democratic donors devising ways to help the part come up with a candidate for president who can (a) win and (b) take positive steps to help the American people. Meanwhile, over at the GOP donors' club, everybody is bribing Trump to lower their taxes, write drilling & mining permits, appoint corrupt aides, department heads and judges, and fire all the "deep-state" regulators.

Jonathan Martin in Politico Magazine: "By descending on Washington to meet with President Joe Biden and then emerging from the West Wing to oh-so-earnestly pledge their public support to the beleaguered president, [Democratic] governors complicated the efforts of congressional Democrats to ease him off the ticket.... Most congressional Democrats simply see no path to take back the House and hold their Senate majority if they are led by a president who large majorities of the country, as new polls indicate, believe is too old for the job. Yet by showing up at the White House and then, more significantly, offering public displays of support, the governors only encouraged a standard bearer many lawmakers feel is doomed -- and will doom them. Most House Democrats are outrunning Biden in their internal surveys, I'm told by people familiar with the results. But they know they can't overcome his drag if he's losing their seats by 15 points...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Reid Epstein & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments. The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against ... Donald J. Trump.... Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race." (Also linked yesterday.)

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump kicked off the Fourth of July with a lengthy screed on Truth Social praising himself and lobbing insults at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris -- barely mentioning anything at all about the founding of the country or any of its values." (Also linked yesterday.)

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U.K. William Booth & Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "Keir Starmer and his renewed Labour Party won a landslide election in Britain on Thursday, according to the exit poll, ending 14 years of Conservative Party rule and moving toward a new government dominated by the center left. This was an election that was more about mood than policy, and voters conveyed their frustration with the incumbent Tories and a willingness to take a chance on a 'changed Labour Party,' as Starmer calls it, purged of its hard-left elements and socialist rhetoric. The sophisticated exit poll, sponsored by Britain's top broadcasters, found that Labour was on track to win 410 seats in the 650-seat Parliament. The Conservatives were projected to take 131 seats -- which would the party's worst result since its founding."

The New York Times liveblogged Britain's election results. Mark Landler: "Britain's Labour Party was projected on Thursday evening to win a landslide election victory, sweeping the Conservative Party out of power after 14 years, in a thundering anti-incumbent revolt that heralded a new era in British politics. A nationwide exit poll conducted for the BBC and two other broadcasters indicated that Labour was on course to win around 410 of the 650 seats in the British House of Commons, versus 131 for the Conservatives. If the projections are confirmed, it would be the worst defeat for the Conservatives in the nearly 200-year history of the party...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New pinned item, by Landler & others: "Prime Minister Keir Starmer took office in Britain on Friday after his center-left Labour Party won a landslide election victory, sweeping the Conservatives out of power after 14 years in an anti-incumbent revolt that heralded a new era in the nation's politics. Mr. Starmer met at Buckingham Palace with King Charles III and then delivered a speech outside No. 10 Downing Street, saying Britons had 'voted decisively for change' and calling on the country 'to move forward together.' Hours earlier, the departing prime minister, Rishi Sunak, gave brief, conciliatory remarks in Downing Street, congratulating Mr. Starmer, accepting responsibility for his party's resounding defeat and saying to voters that he had 'heard your anger.'" ~~~

~~~ William Booth & Karla Adam of the Washington Post write a brief biography of Keir Starmer. It's complicated.

News Ledes

CNBC: "The U.S. economy again added slightly more jobs than expected in June though the unemployment rate increased, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 206,000 for the month, better than the 200,000 Dow Jones forecast though less than the downwardly revised gain of 218,000 in May. The unemployment unexpectedly climbed to 4.1%, tied for the highest level since October 2021 and providing a conflicting sign for Federal Reserve official weighing their next move on monetary policy. The forecast had been for the jobless rate to hold steady at 4%."

New York Times: "Hurricane Beryl was churning toward the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico at Category 3 strength early Friday after tearing through the eastern Caribbean, where it left islands flattened, communities inundated and at least eight people dead. The storm, the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, had weakened to Category 2 strength on Thursday, but it regained force in the Caribbean Sea, with maximum sustained winds up to 115 miles an hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was expected to make landfall in Mexico later on Friday morning."

The Conversation -- July 4, 2024

The New York Times is liveblogging Britain's election results. Mark Landler: "Britain's Labour Party was projected on Thursday evening to win a landslide election victory, sweeping the Conservative Party out of power after 14 years, in a thundering anti-incumbent revolt that heralded a new era in British politics. A nationwide exit poll conducted for the BBC and two other broadcasters indicated that Labour was on course to win around 410 of the 650 seats in the British House of Commons, versus 131 for the Conservatives. If the projections are confirmed, it would be the worst defeat for the Conservatives in the nearly 200-year history of the party...." This is the pinned item in the liveblog.

Kenneth Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: "After several days of quiet griping and hoping that President Biden would abandon his re-election campaign on his own, many wealthy Democratic donors are trying to take matters into their own hands. Wielding their fortunes as both carrot and stick, donors have undertaken a number of initiatives to pressure Mr. Biden to step down from the top of the ticket and help lay the groundwork for an alternate candidate. The efforts -- some coordinated, some conflicting and others still nascent -- expose a remarkable and growing rift between the party's contributor class and its standard-bearer that could have an impact on down-ballot races, whether or not the donors influence Mr. Biden's decision.... A group of them is working to raise as much as $100 million for a sort of escrow fund, called the Next Generation PAC, that would be used to support a replacement candidate. If Mr. Biden does not step aside, the money could be used to help down-ballot candidates, according to people close to the effort. Supporters of potential replacements like Vice President Kamala Harris are jockeying to position their preferred successor. Other donors are threatening to withhold contributions not only from Mr. Biden but also from other Democratic groups unless Mr. Biden bows out." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case you are thinking of all this as a massive reprise of "Democrats in Disarray!" stories -- take heart! Here are these fatcat Democratic donors devising ways to help the party come up with a candidate for president who can (a) win and (b) take positive steps to help the American people. Meanwhile, over at the GOP donors' club, everybody is bribing Trump to lower their taxes, write drilling & mining permits, appoint corrupt aides, department heads and judges, and fire all the "deep-state" regulators.

Jonathan Martin in Politico Magazine: "By descending on Washington to meet with President Joe Biden and then emerging from the West Wing to oh-so-earnestly pledge their public support to the beleaguered president, [Democratic] governors complicated the efforts of congressional Democrats to ease him off the ticket.... Most congressional Democrats simply see no path to take back the House and hold their Senate majority if they are led by a president who large majorities of the country, as new polls indicate, believe is too old for the job. Yet by showing up at the White House and then, more significantly, offering public displays of support, the governors only encouraged a standard bearer many lawmakers feel is doomed -- and will doom them. Most House Democrats are outrunning Biden in their internal surveys, I'm told by people familiar with the results. But they know they can't overcome his drag if he's losing their seats by 15 points...."

Reid Epstein & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments. The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against ... Donald J. Trump.... Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race."

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump kicked off the Fourth of July with a lengthy screed on Truth Social praising himself and lobbing insults at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris -- barely mentioning anything at all about the founding of the country or any of its values."

And there it is https://t.co/wYZpDfvNZ4

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) July 3, 2024

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: I do know today is what used to be the most important national holiday, but I not much for patriots to celebrate this year.

President Biden Awards the Medal of Honor to Two Civil War Soldiers. John Ismay of the New York Times: "In the spring of 1862, a small group of Union Army saboteurs came up with a daring idea to cut off Confederate supply lines near Chattanooga by stealing a train, tearing up railroad tracks, burning bridges and cutting down telegraph wires -- which would have denied means of travel and communication to enemy forces in the area. Dressed in plain clothes, they launched their mission in April, sneaking behind enemy lines in Georgia, taking over a locomotive near Marietta and wreaking havoc for seven hours along miles of railway in an effort to help take the battle deep into Tennessee. But the stolen train, called 'the General,' ran out of fuel 18 miles from Chattanooga, according to a U.S. Army account of the heist, which became known as the Great Locomotive Chase. The Union soldiers and civilians who took part in the mission fled, but all were captured after less than two weeks on the run. Most were sent to prisoner of war camps. The rest were hanged as spies. In 1863, six survivors of the raid were the first American soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest decoration for valor in combat, which had been authorized by President Abraham Lincoln the year before. In all, 19 of the men received the Medal of Honor.... But two soldiers who were executed by Confederates soon after the mission were never recognized.

"Those two men, Pvt. Philip G. Shadrach and Pvt. George D. Wilson of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, finally received the honor posthumously on Wednesday afternoon, 162 years after their service was cut short by a hangman's noose in Atlanta. In a ceremony at the White House, President Biden bestowed the medals to their family members, some of whom were unaware of their ancestors' actions until contacted by historians." Okay, a little something to celebrate. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You can rent the film "The Great Locomotive Chase" on YouTube. It's a Disney film, so probably pretty hokey. If I'd been a better film critic when I saw the movie in 1956, I could provide a more definitive review. But at seven or eight years old, I perhaps was not all that discerning.

Presidential Race

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden has told a key ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after a disastrous debate performance last week. The president, whom this ally emphasized is still deeply in the fight for re-election, understands that his next few appearances heading into the holiday weekend must go well, particularly an interview scheduled for Friday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 'He knows if he has two more events like that, we're in a different place' by the end of the weekend, said the ally, referring to Mr. Biden's halting and unfocused performance in the debate. The person, who talked to the president in the past 24 hours, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation. Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said the report was 'absolutely false' and that the White House had not been given enough time to respond." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: "President Biden has told key allies that he knows the coming days are crucial and understands that he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince voters that he is up to the job after a disastrous debate performance last week. According to two allies who have spoken with him, Mr. Biden has emphasized that he is still deeply committed to the fight for re-election but understands that his viability as a candidate is on the line. The president sought to project confidence on Wednesday in a call with his campaign staff, even as White House officials were trying to calm nerves among the ranks inside the Biden administration." A related Guardian story is here.~~~

     ~~~ Carol Lee & Monica Alba of NBC News: "In recent conversations with aides, family members and allies outside the White House, President Joe Biden has vacillated between acceptance and defiance in the face of the seismic shift in his political standing within his own party, according to four people familiar with the matter. In some discussions, Biden has acknowledged that the blowback from his debate performance last week may grow too large to overcome, while in others he has been completely dismissive of any notion that he might walk away from his re-election campaign, these people said."

     ~~~ Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and his senior team said they accepted Wednesday the grim ultimatum they have been hearing from almost all quarters of the Democratic Party this week: quickly demonstrate his fitness for office or face a significant effort to force him to step aside.... His critics have been shaken by his relative inaction over the previous six days to directly address the panic ignited by his halting debate performance. Starting Tuesday afternoon, he started calling top congressional leaders, scheduled a sit-down interview with ABC News and announced weekend campaign travel plans that will be closely scrutinized." ~~~

     ~~~ Brian Steinberg of ABC News: "ABC News said it will move an interview between [George Stephanopoulos] and President Joe Biden to Friday evening, rather than waiting until Sunday morning as previously planned, a sign of the extreme interest in seeing the Commander-in-Chief address issues of physical and mental fitness in the wake of a poor debate performance against ... Donald Trump last week. The interview is the first Biden has granted to a mainstream national news outlet since the debate performance."

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden told a group of Democratic governors on Wednesday that he was staying in the 2024 campaign, as the group peppered the president with questions about the path forward after Mr. Biden's disastrous debate performance last week. After the meeting, a handful of governors spoke with reporters outside the White House, with one, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, declaring, 'President Joe Biden is in it to win it, and all of us said we pledged our support to him.' Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said: 'He has had our backs through Covid, through all of the recovery, all of the things that have happened. The governors have his back, and we're working together just to make very, very clear on that.' But he added, 'A path to victory in November is the No. 1 priority, and that's the No. 1 priority of the president.'"

Elena Schneider, et al., of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday evening told more than 20 Democratic governors in a private meeting that he underwent a medical checkup after last week's debate and is fine, according to three people with knowledge of the discussion.... That statement -- in a hastily arranged White House meeting that saw nearly a dozen governors travel to Washington while others participated virtually -- came just hours after press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped direct questions from reporters who asked if he'd been examined since the debate.... Biden's remark, according to a person familiar with the president's schedule, was in reference to a short checkup by a White House physician in the days following the debate due to lingering symptoms from his cold. The exam, that person added, was brief and did not include any major tests." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll just guess that a White House physician routinely has given this President -- as well as every recent president -- "brief" medical checkups several times a week. So the check-up President Biden described to the governors likely was quite perfunctory. And there seems to be some disagreement on whether or not Biden has had a medical exam in the past several months.

Irie Sentner of Politico: "Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, a top ally of Joe Biden, said Wednesday that if the president steps aside from the election, he would expect to see a 'mini-primary' ahead of the Democratic National Convention with Kamala Harris and Democratic governors vying for the top two spots on the party's ticket. Responding to a question on CNN about whether Harris should be the party's automatic nominee if the president were to step aside or if there should be a 'mini-primary' between several candidates, Clyburn (D-S.C.) said: 'Well, I think we're going to have a mini-primary leading into the convention.'... He added, 'You can actually fashion the process that's already in place to make it a mini-primary, and I would support that absolutely. We can't close that down, and we should open up everything for the general election.' A spokesperson for Clyburn emphasized in a statement to Politico that the congressman was answering 'a hypothetical question.'..."

Tim Balk of the New York Times: "Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, a progressive Arizona Democrat, on Wednesday became the second House Democrat to publicly urge President Biden to leave the race, citing the 'precarious' state of the president's campaign."

Kathleen Culliton of the Raw Story: "Democrats fearful that President Joe Biden will cost them control of Congress are mulling calling on him to withdraw from the race against convicted felon ... Donald Trump, according to a new report. Dozens of Democrats in the House of Representatives terrified of what Republican control would mean should Trump reclaim the White House in 2025 are now considering co-signing a letter to that effect, a senior party official told Bloomberg Wednesday. 'Democrats running for reelection in traditionally safe Democratic districts are circulating the letter,' the report notes, 'underscoring how widespread the panic is within the party.'" ~~~

~~ Marianna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: "As of early Wednesday morning, President Biden had called just one congressional leader personally in the wake of his faltering debate performance: Hakeem Jeffries.... The New York Democrat may be the only thing standing between Biden and a flood of panicked House Democrats -- few of whom have so far gone on the record -- demanding the president exit the race, hopefully saving their chances of regaining the slender House majority in the process. On Wednesday evening, Jeffries led a tightly controlled conference call of House Democratic leaders.... According to four people..., the leader mainly listened, as some panicked participants worried about Biden's electability and said the president should step aside. Some argued, however..., that it would be too 'messy' to replace him. Jeffries acknowledged being concerned about Biden's situation but held his fire, according to one person familiar with the call."

Theodore Schleifer, et al., of the New York Times: "Wealthy Democratic donors who believe a different nominee would be the party's best chance to hold the White House are increasingly gritting their teeth in silence about President Biden, fearful that any move against him could backfire.... Earlier moves by donors to mount their own campaigns to pressure Mr. Biden to step down as the party's presidential candidate have either fizzled out or prompted pushback from fellow contributors and operatives. The deadlock reflects a broader paralysis within the party about how to handle a fraught situation that could inflame intraparty rifts, alienate key constituencies, damage personal relationships and benefit a Republican candidate most of the donors believe poses a threat to democracy." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: "Reed Hastings, the Netflix co-founder who in recent years has become one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party, called on Wednesday for President Biden to relinquish his place atop of the Democratic presidential ticket. Mr. Hastings became one of the first to say publicly what many Democratic megadonors are saying privately. 'Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,' he said in an email with The Times." ~~~

~~~ Kenneth Vogel of the New York Times: "A group of business leaders is calling on President Biden to step aside and make way for a replacement atop the Democratic Party's presidential ticket. Leadership Now Project, a coalition of 400 politically active current and retired executives who mostly but not entirely lean left, issued a statement on Wednesday urging Mr. Biden to 'pass the torch of this year's presidential nomination to the next generation of highly capable Democrats.' The statement is unsigned, but Daniella Ballou-Aares, the group's founder and chief executive, said that it was supported by an overwhelming majority of the members of Leadership Now Project.... In its statement, Leadership Now Project called the prospect of a second Trump term 'an existential threat to American democracy' and said that at the debate Mr. Biden 'failed to effectively make the case against Trump, and we now fear the risk of a devastating loss in November.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Kelly Gerrity of Politico: "The Boston Globe urged President Joe Biden to bow out of the presidential race Wednesday, citing a lack of sufficient explanation for Biden's 'historically bad' debate performance last week. 'In the days since last week's presidential debate, President Biden's team has said little that adequately explains why his performance was historically bad, beyond that he had a cold,' the editorial board wrote in a column [firewalled].... 'What we mostly heard instead was the closing of ranks around a beleaguered and wounded candidate.' The Globe is the latest in a flurry of news outlets -- including the New York Times -- to use its editorial pages to urge Biden to step aside."

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "New video footage obtained by The Daily Beast shows ... Donald Trump at a golf outing, boasting that he forced President Joe Biden out of the race and speculating that he'll have to run against Vice President Kamala Harris. 'He just quit, you know -- he;s quitting the race,' Trump can be heard saying in the video. 'I got him out of the -- and that means we have Kamala.' He went on to call Biden a 'broken-down pile of crap' and said of Harris, 'I think she's gonna be better' as an opponent, but even so 'she's so bad. She's so pathetic.'" ~~~

     ~~~ According to Charlie Nash's Mediaite transcript, Trump added to his assessment of Harris, "She's so fucking bad." As for Biden's being "an old broken-down pile of crap," Mediaite's screenshot of Trump in his golf cart sure suggests that the pot is calling the kettle "an old broken-down pile of crap."

Media Matters provides a transcript of remarks by Kevin Roberts, the Heritage Foundation's president to David Brat*, a college professor & former righty-right Virginia Congressman: "... the left has taken over our institutions. The reason that they are apoplectic right now, the reason that so many anchors on MSNBC, for example, are losing their minds daily is because our side is winning.... We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     * And why David Brat? Because Brat was filling in for Trumpy luminary Steve Bannon, who currently is in the federal pen.

     ~~~ The White People's Revolution. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "It is true that, particularly of late, [Kevin Roberts'] side has been winning.... The court that made ... changes is one that arose largely despite popular will, not because of it.... This fear of a declining America because of an ascendant left is pervasive on the right.... So much of this is about demography and power.... America has for decades been shifting toward a government in which power is distributed broadly and irrespective of identity. On the right, this is a problem; getting more people to vote, for example, is positioned as 'rigging' elections since those more people are presumed to be Democrats. So we have Roberts, Trump and their revolution. This time, though, the aim ... is ... to largely reverse the trajectory of the first American Revolution, centralizing power in one leader who happens to look a lot like them." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ ** Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Donald Trump has never been coy about his longing to kill people. [Marcotte gives many examples.] No doubt Trump uses intimidation to keep party members in line. But his real power comes less from scaring people and more from the widespread longing in the GOP ranks for a right-wing dictatorship.... People who are afraid of Trump would not be happy that he's been granted the license to kill by the Supreme Court.... [Speaker Mike] Johnson is hardly alone in expressing his elation over this. Politico described the Republican reaction as 'giddy,' with prominent politicians using language like 'win' and 'victory.' Right-wing media is also celebrating like it's their birthday, while, like Johnson, lying to their audiences about how much freedom Trump would have to commit crimes in office.... Trump wants to be a dictator. Republicans want that, too." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times reports on Kevin Roberts' declaration of revolution and on Donald Trump's history of promoting violence. As Patrick pointed out in yesterday's thread, this is a straight news report, not an opinion piece. (Also linked yesterday.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed to take two views of executive power this term, saying presidents should have immunity to free them from constraints while also scaling back the ability of the executive branch to impose regulations. But both have been the targets of the conservative legal movement, which sees no contradiction.... In the eyes of the conservative legal movement, presidential power is good while that of regulatory agencies -- even though they are housed in the executive branch -- is bad. Indeed, the movement, and the wealthy donors who funded its rise, has sought to expand presidential power in part so that when Republicans win the White House, they would be better able to restrain and roll back the administrative state.

"The conflict traces back to the Great Depression and the New Deal, when it became clear that the economy, after the Industrial Revolution, technological change and banking crises, had grown too complex for Congress to capably regulate through statutes alone. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Democratic allies in Congress created the modern administrative state. Congress passed laws that govern different sectors of the economy at a broad level and created specialized agencies to regulate them at a detailed level.... Regulatory agencies are staffed by career officials.... Since they chose to devote their careers to working there -- [they] most likely personally believe in the missions that Congress has given to their agencies. As a result, when Republican presidents have tried to impose deregulatory agendas, lawmakers and sometimes agency employees have resisted."

Kate Riga of TPM: "As the dust settles from Trump v. United States, those paying attention look out over the wreckage, contemplating an unbounded future President Trump, a system of checks and balances toppled, a super-executive free to commit crimes with impunity. 'Trump v. United States is one of the most, if not the most, authoritarian court opinions I have ever read in U.S. law,' Blake Emerson, professor of law and political science at UCLA, told TPM.... 'This is one of the most important Supreme Court cases of the past 100 years,' Emerson said. 'I'd put it up there with cases like Shelby County v. Holder, Plessy v. Ferguson, Dred Scott.' [MB: To be clear, neither Plessy nor Dred Scott was decided in the past 100 years.] David Super, a Georgetown Law School professor, ranked it alongside Bush v. Gore and another case from this Supreme Court term, the 14th Amendment disqualification case, in which the justices 'effectively read the insurrection clause right out of the Constitution,' he said.... [The decision creates] a new form of executive, a super president who, depending on his level of creativity, could stretch this newly invented immunity to cover huge amounts of criminal behavior."

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "Chief Justice John Roberts and his right-wing colleagues on the Supreme Court are projecting their own insecurities and 'hurt feelings' onto women who are calling out their flawed and dangerous rulings, wrote Dahlia Lithwick in a scorching analysis for Slate.... It's hard to swallow this criticism [from Chief Justice Roberts (in his opinion) and right-wing pundits], wrote Lithwick, given that warnings that Roe v. Wade would be overturned were similarly dismissed as'hysterical' including by senators who voted to confirm Trump's Supreme Court Justices, like Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE).... 'This isn't hypothetical. This isn't fearmongering. This is how Trump lives and will continue to live. It is how he governs and how he will continue to govern,' Lithwick concluded -- and people in power should stop laughing off women whenever they voice real fears about their rights and prospects. 'It's almost as if the conservative justices' commitment to originalism requires them to believe that women who raise any objection to their tidy paradigms should be viewed as either empty vessels or scheming witches.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: "... John Roberts has shown a shocking spinelessness.... In case after case, the court has whispered, 'We'll hold off to see whether Donald Trump finds his way back into office,' even as the justices acted -- repeatedly -- to make that possible, if not more likely. Even where the court has purportedly decided a case, it has left open different pathways for differing applications of the decision going forward.... Roberts was in the majority the most of any justice, per Adam Feldman's analysis -- but ... [this also reflects] Roberts's lack of expressed concern about ethics questions and unwillingness even to engage with other national leaders on those questions.... Both Thomas and Alito should have recused themselves from multiple cases this term. They did not do so. Roberts said nothing. What we are left with, in issue after issue, is a set up for a 'choose your own right-wing adventure' Supreme Court."

Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "... with the United States Supreme Court granting ... presidents legal immunity, analysts in some [U.S.-allied] countries are even more concerned about the reliability of American power. Across Asia and Europe, where allied leaders have grown accustomed to dealing with threats from authoritarian leaders in Russia, North Korea and China, the idea that they might also have to deal with an unfettered American president is an unsettling prospect.... 'This may be rude to the U.S., but it is not that different from Xi Jinping in China,' ... said said Keigo Komamura, a professor of law at Keio University in Tokyo. 'The rule of law has become the rule of power.' Though some give limited immunity to leaders while in office, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Great Britain -- among the United States' closest allies in the world -- offer nothing like the sweeping protections the Supreme Court appears to have granted in its ruling this week. The court's decision to give the president immunity from criminal prosecution for official conduct -- which was itself vaguely defined by the court -- was 'out of line with global norms,' said Rosalind Dixon, a professor of law at the University of New South Wales in Sydney." MB: Not rude, professor; accurate. (Also linked yesterday.)

Julian Mark of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked on Wednesday a Federal Trade Commission rule banning noncompete agreements, a new regulation business groups have strenuously opposed. In a 33-page opinion, Judge Ada Brown found that the agency lacked the authority to issue the rule, which makes it illegal for employers to include noncompete agreements in workers' contracts." MB: Brown is a Trump appointee, natch. However, in view of the Supremes' decision to usurp the powers of regulatory authorities, Brown's decision very well may be a prudent reading of the New Order.

Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "After sitting through 30 prosecution witnesses testifying at his federal corruption trial, Sen. Bob Menendez called on family and forensic accountants this week as his attorneys made the case that the New Jersey Democrat took no bribes from wealthy businessmen and that his Cuban-refugee parents taught him to stash bundles of money at home. Menendez, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee..., declined Wednesday to take the witness stand in his own defense. Closing arguments in the case are expected to begin Monday. Five people -- his sister, sister-in-law, a prominent New Jersey lawyer and two forensic accountants -- testified on his behalf."

~~~~~~~~~~

Mississippi. Emily Pettus of the AP: "Three federal judges are telling Mississippi to redraw some of its [state] legislative districts, saying the current ones dilute the power of Black voters in three parts of the state. The judges issued their order Tuesday night in a lawsuit filed in 2022 by the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and several Black residents."

Texas. Anumita Kaur & Maria Paul of the Washington Post: "A state district court judge blocked Texas's attempt to shutter a decades-old migrant shelter network near the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday, calling Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton's actions 'outrageous and intolerable.' Paxton earlier this year demanded that Annunciation House, which operates several shelters serving migrants and refugees, turn over records showing the names of those it housed. The nonprofit filed a lawsuit asking a judge to rule on the request; the attorney general responded with a countersuit seeking the closure of the shelters and accusing the nonprofit of violating smuggling laws. Judge Francisco X. Dominguez of the 205th District Court shot down the effort in a pair of rulings, writing that Paxton's allegations were unfounded and his request for documents violated the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches. Thus, his ruling said, it was void and unenforceable." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Ledes

New York Times: About 26,000 people have evacuated Northern California around Oroville because of a wildfire that already have destroyed 3,600 acres.

New York Times: "Jamaica was hammered by a surge of water, damaging winds and flooding rainfall on Wednesday as Hurricane Beryl delivered a glancing blow when it passed just south of the coast, claiming at least one life on the island. The effects of the storm, a Category 4, struck Jamaica just days after it swept through the eastern Caribbean, killing at least seven other people. Virtually every building on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique in Grenada lay in ruins after the storm made landfall there earlier this week,leaving hospitals and marinas destroyed, rooftops torn away and tree trunks snapped like matchsticks across the drenched earth."