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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: 'Hunter Biden's Laptop,' and other tales to scare the children [1]

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Date: 2023-09-15

McKay Coppins/The Atlantic:

WHAT MITT ROMNEY SAW IN THE SENATE In an exclusive excerpt from my forthcoming biography of the senator, Romney: A Reckoning, he reveals what drove him to retire. It begins with a text message from Angus King, the junior senator from Maine: “Could you give me a call when you get a chance? Important.” Romney calls, and King informs him of a conversation he’s just had with a high-ranking Pentagon official. Law enforcement has been tracking online chatter among right-wing extremists who appear to be planning something bad on the day of Donald Trump’s upcoming rally in Washington, D.C. The president has been telling them the election was stolen; now they’re coming to steal it back. There’s talk of gun smuggling, of bombs and arson, of targeting the traitors in Congress who are responsible for this travesty. Romney’s name has been popping up in some frightening corners of the internet, which is why King needed to talk to him. He isn’t sure Romney will be safe.

This excerpt and the bit that follows has been all over Washington. While much of it is known, Romney told Mitch McConnell what King told him. And if senators knew, what did the FBI and security forces know?

Whatever the answers may be, it’s a stark reminder of why Donald Trump was impeached a second time.

Charlie Sykes/The Bulwark:

Mitt Romney and the Verdict of History Thoughts about Death and History and Fragility and Violence. Mitt Romney will leave the Senate the same way he came in. One of the vanishingly rare statesmen left in politics, Romney tried to be the conscience of the party he once led. That made him a very lonely man. As he told the Wapo’s Dan Balz yesterday: “It’s pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message.” Now comes the verdict of history.

x Abbe Lowell refrain: "What changed [between Hunter Biden plea deal and charges brought today]? Not the facts, not the law; just the politics." Don't see what the fair rebuttal to this point is. — Harry Litman (@harrylitman) September 14, 2023

Punchbowl News:

Yet in reality, McCarthy’s decision to pivot even harder to the right this week, acquiescing to demands that he open an impeachment inquiry, will have far-reaching implications for the House. It could undo months of effort the two men [Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries] have put into building a more congenial dynamic than the frosty relationship McCarthy had with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi was notoriously frigid toward McCarthy, even calling him “a moron” on camera last year. This bothered McCarthy so much that he sat down with Jeffries before the new Congress to set a new tone. No public name calling, they said. Both vowed to treat each other respectfully, even when they disagree, according to multiple sources familiar with the meeting. So far, they’ve stuck to that handshake deal. The two leaders have even worked closely together on some joint initiatives, including standing up the China select committee and pulling together a bipartisan artificial intelligence briefing. Jeffries’ allies see McCarthy as a speaker who would theoretically like to work with Democrats, but has no political space to do so. Yet that bonhomie is in jeopardy as McCarthy continues to bend to his right flank.

POLITICO:

Kevin McCarthy's profanity-laced tirade overshadowed the special GOP impeachment briefing. “If you think you scare me because you want to file a motion to vacate, move the f—ing motion,” the speaker said at the top of the meeting. It's a sign of the broader frustration building among the majority of House Republicans, many of whom were receptive to McCarthy's blow up. Some have advocated for increased pressure on conservative members, who have shrugged at the idea of a shutdown and continued pushing spending priorities that would be rejected by the Democratic Senate and White House. And McCarthy is dialing up the pressure, telling his members during the closed-door meeting that once they return to Washington next week they won’t leave until they’ve funded the government. “We’re going to come back in next week and we’re not going to leave until we get the job done,” he told reporters after the meeting.

And who believes McCarthy will stand up to pressure from his right flank?

Cliff Schecter on Sen. Tim Scott:

x “Hopefulness…is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.”



Nick Cave — Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) June 27, 2022

Dan Pfeiffer/”The Message Box” on Substack:

Impeachment Scam: What You Need to Know The GOP is hoping to use impeachment and a broken info environment to damage Biden This week, the Republicans in the House made the unprecedented and constitutionally dubious decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden without a single shred of evidence. While the politics of impeachment are likely to blow up in the Republicans’ faces, this unpredictable situation is not without pitfalls for Biden and the Democrats. One of those pitfalls involves the horse-race obsessed political media and dystopic information environment flooded with disinformation and clickbait. The White House is so concerned about how news of the impeachment inquiry will reach the public that on Tuesday they sent a letter to news organizations urging them to not to treat this inquiry as normal. As Ian Sams, Special Assistant the Spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office wrote: Reporting that solely focuses on process rather than substance is woefully inadequate when it comes to something as historically grave as impeachment. It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies. When even House Republican members are admitting that there is simply no evidence that Joe Biden did anything wrong, much less impeachable, that should set off alarm bells for news organizations. The White House’s concerns are warranted. Less than 24 hours after McCarthy’s announcement, social media is being flooded with enough disinformation and overly credulous reporting to make people who haven’t been following the story think that Biden is somehow guilty of something. I wanted to provide some information and context to help Message Box readers understand this madness and talk to your friends and family who may encounter the bad info floating out there.

x Hot take: Meadows don’t want the motions panel (that’s very unfavorable to him) preemptively steering the discourse and wants to avoid too much discussion about whether former officers are covered by the removal statute. So, this morning’s order is a gift that he wants to use. https://t.co/zR7aK0QbBQ — Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) September 14, 2023

Mark Meadows had two items in federal court pending in the Fulton County, Georgia, case. One was to stay a result that hadn’t happened (as seen here, withdrawn). That would have failed, since Georgia law allows a trial but would have withheld a verdict pending appeal.

The other item is an appeal to remove his case to federal jurisdiction, already denied by Steve Jones and now on expedited appeal to the 11th Circuit. Meadows’s initial brief for the appeal is due Monday. and the state of Georgia’s response, a week later.

Emily Bazelon/The New York Times:

The Surprising Places Where Abortion Rights Are on the Ballot, and Winning But something else also happened. In his majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Samuel Alito invited Americans to decide directly how much abortion access to allow. “In some states, voters may believe that the abortion right should be even more extensive,” Alito wrote. “Voters in other states may wish to impose tight restrictions.” Unexpectedly, in red and purple states that have put the question directly to the public — asking people to reject or support abortion rights in a ballot measure — they have voted against new restrictions or in favor of more access every time.

x BREAKING: Planned Parenthood will resume their Wisconsin services next week now that a Dane Co judge said the 1849 law widely interpreted as a near-complete abortion ban doesn't apply to abortions at all — Alexander Shur (@AlexanderShur) September 14, 2023

Greg Sargent/The Washington Post:

How the ‘MAGA doom loop’ is already threatening Trump’s 2024 chances The pattern is becoming clear: Even as voters are mobilizing to protect democracy at the ballot box, Republicans are redoubling their commitment to the former president’s anti-majoritarian mode of politics. And this, in turn, is motivating voters even more. Call it the “MAGA doom loop.” It’s playing out in state after state.

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