President Biden said Wednesday that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza — over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there, the AP reports.
House Defeats Effort to Oust Mike Johnson
The House resoundingly defeated a motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, Punchbowl News reports.
The vote was 359 to 43. Eleven Republicans voted against tabling the resolution, effectively voting to oust Johnson.
Seven lawmakers voted present.
Biden Looks to Thwart Surge of Chinese Imports
“President Biden is warning that a new surge of cheap Chinese products poses a threat to American factories. There is little sign of one in official trade data, which show that Chinese steel imports are down sharply from last year and that the gap between what the United States sells to China and what it buys is at a post-pandemic low,” the New York Times reports.
“But the president’s aides are looking past those numbers and fixating on what they call troubling signs from China and Europe. That includes data showing China’s growing appetite to churn out big-ticket goods like cars and heavy metals at a rate that far exceeds the demand of domestic consumers.”
“China’s lavish subsidies, including loans from state-run banks, have helped sustain companies that might otherwise have folded in a struggling domestic economy. The result is, in many cases, a significant cost advantage for Chinese manufactured goods like steel and electric cars.”
Did Stormy Daniels Help or Hurt the Case Against Trump?
Harry Litman: “From the vantage point of the prosecution, the legal essentials of the hush money payment and alleged fabrication of documents don’t turn on whether the jury believes Daniels. Indeed, a number of analysts suggested the district attorney would have been better off not calling her at all.”
“What that analysis overlooks, however, is the jury’s natural desire to take the measure of the woman who propelled the crisis and about whom they had heard so much. Not calling her risked leaving them wondering what the prosecution was hiding. On the other hand, if a good portion of the jury didn’t like Daniels or, worse, didn’t believe her, that could negatively influence their deliberations.”
“From Trump’s vantage point, the risks are keener. That is in large part because his vanity and arrogance have forced his lawyers to commit to an unnecessary insistence that he never had sex with Daniels. Consequently, if the jury credits the basics of her story, it discredits Trump.”
“And it’s very hard to see how the jury could adopt Trump’s absolutist account, including his claim that he met Daniels only once at a celebrity golf tournament. For starters, the evidence that they met several times thereafter is basically undisputed.”
GOP Staffer Engaged with Antisemitic Posts
“A staffer for Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy engaged with numerous social media posts with racist and antisemitic messaging,” Axios reports.
Democrats Sense Shift on Abortion Rights from Latinas
New York Times: “Polling trends, interviews with strategists and election results in Ohio and Virginia, where abortion rights played a central role, suggest Democrats’ optimism regarding Latinas — once considered too religious or too socially conservative to support abortion rights — could bear out.”
“But the diversity of the Latino voting population still poses some obstacles for Democrats.”
Biden Prepares New Asylum Change
“Biden administration officials are readying to publish a new rule to more rapidly reject some migrants from asylum soon after crossing the border,” Axios reports.
“It is one of several actions being weighed by President Biden to clamp down on illegal border crossings ahead of the election, as Biden and Democrats try to go on offense on one of their most vulnerable issues.”
Politico: “That change would effectively allow the U.S. to expedite the removal of migrants whom officials see as potentially ineligible to stay in the country due to national security or public safety risks, per all four people, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the administration’s plans. The Department of Homeland Security will announce the new policy via a proposed rule on Thursday.”
How Trump’s Allies Amplify His Truth Social Posts
Washington Post: “Truth Social was estimated to have 5.4 million website visits in the United States in March, with another 800,000 on its app. By comparison, X, which was formerly known as Twitter, claimed more than 200 times that, with over 1 billion visits. Facebook is estimated to have had 3 billion visits in the same period… Even though Trump has now been reinstated on the larger platforms, he has stuck with Truth Social, a platform that gives him greater freedom but a far more limited reach.”
“Yet despite its relatively small user base, Truth Social is influential because it sustains the networks of MAGA influencers, culture warriors and election deniers that power the right-wing media and guide the rhetoric and policies of many Republican elected officials. It directly connects Trump to influencers with enormous networks and audiences outside the platform.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“He promised a $10 billion investment by Foxconn. He came with your senator, Ron Johnson, with a golden shovel and didn’t build a damn thing. They dug a hole with those golden shovels and then they fell into it.”
— President Biden, quoted by Politico, slamming Donald Trump’s economic promises for Wisconsin.
Extending Trump Tax Cuts Would Cost $4.6 Trillion
“The cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts for households, small businesses and the estates of wealthy individuals enacted under President Donald Trump has expanded to $4.6 trillion,” Bloomberg reports.
“That puts a massive price tag on what is likely to be a top issue in Washington next year as lawmakers grapple with the future of Trump’s tax cuts, which are slated to expire at the end of 2025.”
Trump Tries to Expedite Appeal of Gag Order
“Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a New York appeals court to rule on their challenge to the gag order limiting what the former president can say about witnesses in the criminal hush money trial,” CNN reports.
Mike Johnson Is No Kevin McCarthy
Politico: “He is not someone who GOP politicians can torment with impunity. He has aligned himself with former President Donald Trump — indispensable for a Republican in his position — while not being treated like a golden retriever, as Trump did with ‘my Kevin.’ He is disliked by Democrats, naturally, but not generally held in abject contempt.”
“He, in short, is not a Washington joke — or at least not as much of one as seemed possible when he took the speaker’s gavel almost by accident, the political equivalent of Forrest Gump.”
Kristi Noem Cuts Short Book Tour Citing ‘Bad Weather’
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) “has cut short a disastrous book tour after receiving withering criticism for her story of shooting an ill-behaved puppy and unverified claims of meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un,” RealClearPolitics reports.
“Noem sat for a series of in-person interviews in New York and was scheduled to travel later in the week to Washington, D.C., before canceling the tour, citing inclement weather.”
GOP Lawmaker Says KKK Is the ‘Military Wing’ for Dems
Rep. Scott Perry (R-FL) said in a closed door briefing with lawmakers that the Ku Klux Klan is the “the military wing of the Democratic party” and that migrants coming to the U.S. “have no interest in being Americans,” CNN reports.
“Perry then defended replacement theory, which is the idea that white people are being slowly and intentionally replaced by minorities and immigrants.”
Said Perry: “Replacement theory is real… They added white to it to stop everybody from talking about it.”
Biden Leads In Wisconsin
A new Quinnipiac poll in Wisconsin shows Joe Biden leading Donald Trump, 50% to 44% among registered voters.
When the match up is expanded to include independent candidates, the race is too close to call. Biden receives 40% support, Trump receives 39% support, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. receives 12%, Jill Stein receives 4% and Cornel West receives 1%.
In the U.S. Senate race, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) leads challenger Eric Hovde (R) 54% to 42%.
Democrats Brace for Gaza War Protests at Convention
“Democrats are bracing for the prospect of waves of protests seeking to disrupt the party’s August convention in Chicago, a spectacle that could damage President Biden’s re-election bid and the start of his fall campaign,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Pro-Palestinian groups have vowed to stage mass demonstrations outside the main convention site, with or without a permit, while Chicago officials are urging them to hold their protests miles away. Though party officials and donors note a cease-fire deal could lower tensions, the potential for large protests could draw parallels to the city’s hosting of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.”
“That event was best remembered for violence that led to a National Guard activation to deal with as many as 10,000 Vietnam War protesters, hundreds of whom were arrested. This August, Democrats expect about 5,000 delegates, raising the possibility that the city could see more protesters than delegates during the week of the event.”
Biden Revives ‘Build Back Better’ Proposals
“As President Joe Biden runs for reelection, he’s resurrecting proposals to reshape American life from the cradle to the grave by lowering the cost of child care, expanding preschool opportunities and making home aides more available to the elderly,” the AP reports.
“The initiatives were once part of Build Back Better, Biden’s gargantuan legislative agenda that stalled on Capitol Hill two years ago. Now they’re what Neera Tanden, the Democratic president’s top domestic policy adviser, describes as ‘unfinished business.'”
“Although the White House has tried to advance these ideas in a piecemeal fashion through regulations and executive orders, Biden hopes to have another opportunity to push more ambitious legislation through Congress in a second term.”
McCarthy Escalates Attacks on Matt Gaetz
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) “is escalating his revenge campaign against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL),” Politico reports.
“In an interview with Politico, McCarthy backed Gaetz’s new Florida GOP primary challenger; a top McCarthy adviser also acknowledged playing a role in vetting that opponent, Aaron Dimmock. And McCarthy delivered a slashing attack on Gaetz, who led the effort to overthrow him as speaker last fall.”
Said McCarthy: “Gaetz is the Hunter Biden of the Republican Party. He’s got an opponent who is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, trained at Pensacola, went to the Naval Academy and flew jets to defend us while Gaetz was getting kicked out of high school, buying coke and paying minors for sex.”
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