DL Open Thread: Saturday, July 29, 2023
Trump Support Softening. I’m not much of a believer in polls, especially this far out from the election. But I think this one’s worth watching:
Republicans and Republican-leaning independents saying they believe Trump has done “nothing wrong” dropped 9 points in the last month, from 50% to 41%.
Trump also dropped 6 points in support with that same group when asked whether they were more likely to support Trump or another candidate, if he continues to run for president.
Still, a solid majority — 58% — continue to say they would support Trump as their standard-bearer, so more polling and time would be necessary to see if this is a trend, if it continues and if it has a real effect on his chances in the GOP primary. He continues to lead the field by wide margins.
He’s still way up, but we’ve got at least two more indictments coming.
DeSantis To Black Republican Congressman: Whose Side Are You On? I’ve joined the CW chorus: DeSantis is toast nationally. I think the key question is now: Does Florida stay the course, or have we already begun to see the demise of the Anti-Woke DeSantis Dynasty?:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday accused Rep. Byron Donalds – the only Black Republican in Florida’s congressional delegation – of aligning himself with Vice President Kamala Harris by critiquing the state’s new standards for teaching Black history.
Donalds tweeted Wednesday that the new standards are “good, robust, & accurate.” But the two-term congressman added that a new requirement for middle school students to be taught that slaves learned skills they later benefited from “is wrong & needs to be adjusted.” He added that he has “faith that (Florida Department of Education) will correct this.”
In the face of that seemingly gentle criticism, DeSantis’ administration and online allies unloaded on Donalds, who has backed former President Donald Trump over his home state governor for the 2024 nomination. Jeremy Redfern, the spokesman for the governor’s office, called Donalds a “supposed conservative.” Christina Pushaw, the campaign’s rapid response director, replied to Donalds’ tweet: “Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?” DeSantis’ Education Commissioner Manny Diaz tweeted that Florida would “not back down … at the behest of a supposedly conservative congressman.”
DeSantis joined the pile on during his Iowa bus tour, telling Donalds to “stand up for your state.”
“You got to choose: Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets or are you doing to side with the state of Florida?” he said.
To put it mildly, Donalds’ criticism was, at best, half-assed. OK, I’ll use the word ‘pathetic’. The real story is the unhinged nature of DeSantis’ response. If the nomination goes to the most-unhinged, he’s got a shot. Still, better the unhinged candidate you know rather than the unhinged candidate you don’t really know. Today’s GOP, ladeez and gentlemen.
Alito: ‘We’re A Law Unto Ourselves. Congress Can’t Do Anything About It.’:
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who has been at the center of a number of ethics controversies at the court recently, told the Wall Street Journal lawmakers need to give up on the idea of imposing new rules on the justices.
“No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court — period,” he told a pair of interviewers for the business paper’s Opinion section in a piece that appeared Friday.
In the interview published Friday, Alito said ordinarily, “the organized bar” of lawyers would defend the court against its critics. But he said that hasn’t been happening, “And, so at a certain point I’ve said to myself, nobody else is going to do this, so I have to defend myself.”
Chief Justice John Roberts has said such changes aren’t needed, and the court could be trusted to self-regulate. But Alito’s comments appear to go much further, saying Congress cannot impose any requirements on the Supreme Court because it is part of an equal branch of government created by the U.S. Constitution.
Congress already controls one big aspect of the Supreme Court by setting how much it can spend annually, and the Constitution also notes its jurisdiction as a court of appeals is subject to “such regulations as the Congress may make.”
The Story Of Slavery: Charleston vs. South Carolina: Tourists want an honest telling of the story. South Carolina disagrees:
“African American tourism right now is red hot, especially in the South,” Youmans said. He sees this up close as manager of the Old Slave Mart Museum and director of the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, two key historic sites. “People are hungry for this information,” he said, “and they come to Charleston specifically looking for it.”
For generations, Charleston has been better known for its wartime history and physical beauty than the horrific institution that built it. But new interest from visitors, historians and armchair detectives alike is helping to unearth details of the painful past of this coastal city where about 40% of captive Africans arrived into American chattel slavery.
Multiple companies now offer tours of Charleston emphasizing Black history and culture. Plantations that once described enslaved laborers as “servants” and “workers” hold Juneteenth commemorations. The City Council apologized for the city’s role in slavery. And an expansive new museum opened in June to tell the African American story at a wharf where thousands of captives once arrived to be sold.
Yet, as that redress gains potency, tensions are flaring. Republicans increasingly frame demands for a frank accounting of slave history as the exploitation of a bygone past to push “woke” agendas.
South Carolina’s GOP-controlled legislature enacted a measure similar to hundreds nationwide, concentrated in former slave states, that restrict teaching related to race. Since 2021, a budget provision has forbidden state education funds from being used to teach that any student “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race” or that someone should feel “discomfort, guilt or anguish” due to race.
Netanyahu: Trump Before Trump. He’s already on trial. Hence his efforts to destroy Israel’s judiciary:
Beware the strongman leader who fears jail. Donald Trump is running for president in part because he sees a return to the White House as a literal get-out-of-jail-free card: reinstalled in the Oval Office, he would be able to pardon himself for the mounting pile of serious federal crimes for which he is indicted. His legal strategy is his political strategy.
But the exemplar of the phenomenon is the man who was Trumpian before Trump: the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. It is Netanyahu – and the war he is currently waging against his own country – whom all those who care about the wider future of democracy should be watching. For Israel has become the test case in the global fight against ultranationalist populism.
On Monday, Netanyahu’s coalition passed a new law curbing the powers of Israel’s judiciary. No longer will the supreme court be able to block the government from taking action the judges deem “extremely unreasonable”. That matters, because in Israel the courts are pretty well the only restraint on government power: there is no second chamber, no established constitution. And Monday’s vote was merely the first in a series of moves designed to gut the power of the judiciary: opponents, who have been out on the streets in huge numbers since January, call it a “judicial coup”.
There are multiple motives in play here, but the crucial one is that Netanyahu is several steps down the road that Trump dreads: he is on trial for corruption. He is due to testify in the coming months, which is sufficiently perilous a prospect that he’s willing to abuse the power of his office to avoid it. Thanks to the law passed this week, that could mean an attempt either to sack the attorney general or strip her of authority over prosecutions, clearing the way for a new, more sympathetic official who might – purely coincidentally, you understand – decide to review existing cases, before concluding that all charges against Netanyahu should be dropped and the trial halted.
More Sycophantism From Chris Coons. His comments on Jack Markell becoming the US Ambassador to Italy:
“He’ll bring a little bit of “The Delaware Way” of working across the aisle, of finding common sense solutions and of solving real problems to his new post in Rome,” Senator Chris Coons, D-Del. stated on the Senate floor. “In these uncertain times, the United States has found greater strength in allies and partner nations, and Jack is the consummate bridge-builder who understands how important alliances are.”
Just. Shut. Up.
What do you want to talk about?
DeSantis is yesterdays Fascist golden child, today’s poster child for give it the hell up. As for the supremely arrogant Alito he plays the “Originalist” game as in nyah nyah na nhay nhay! You can’t touch me. Bullshit, congress can do as it like with the court to some extent, choking off their funds and adding justices is one way, ignoring their almighty rulings even better.