DL Open Thread: Sunday, March 31, 2024

If you’re celebrating a special holiday, best wishes for joyous celebrations. We’re doing brunch at my oldest daughter’s house–meaning mimosas, followed by a nap for me.

Finally got out there yesterday, and knocked doors for a couple of hours for a great candidate, and with a great (and large) team.  I’m telling you, grassroots campaigns are the best–you meet great new people, have lots of fun, and get your steps in.  Meaning, I’ll have at least one extra mimosa to celebrate the occasion.  In what passes for my mind, I’ve earned it.

Best Description Of Trump That This British Guy Has Ever Read?  I dunno, but it’s pretty good:

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

Great Take And Takedown Of Ronna McDaniel And the NBC Bozos Who Hired Her:

Do NBC News executives live in an elevator together? A pneumatic tube (look it up)? A group home? A reality-TV compound? What an insular, privileged world they must inhabit, to imagine there wouldn’t be mass pushback against the hiring of McDaniel, from viewers but also from valued anchors and contributors. (I’ve criticized Chuck Todd before, but he deserves kudos for going first.)

NBC political news director Carrie Budoff Brown, who came from Politico, had crowed at McDaniel’s hiring, which she orchestrated, saying, “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team.” She insisted that McDaniel would provide “an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.”

Here’s the thing: McDaniel couldn’t deliver “an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.” Or anything else.

Yes, McDaniel supported Trump’s election lies and his insurrection. It should have disqualified her. But also, in television terms: She was not charismatic, convincing, or even articulate. If you watched her on Sunday with beleaguered Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, who said she booked the interview with McDaniel before she knew the RNC flack was hired as a contributor, you know this.

McDaniel sputtered, and lied, repeatedly. She claimed that she was merely worried about the safety of Wayne County, Mich., election officials—yes, Detroit is the county seat—when she and Trump called (the call was recorded) to urge them not to certify their local election results. That was bullshit. Trump and McDaniel were plainly trying to get their local allies to refuse to certify the vote in a major Democratic stronghold. Welker tried to counter as many lies as she could, but it was like playing television whack-a-mole.

Why Hasn’t Delaware Reinstated Background Checks?  Approved in 2022, yet to be implemented:

Reinstating Delaware’s state-sponsored background checks for gun purchases has taken longer than anticipated to get off the ground.

The state background check, commonly referred to as FTAP, was supposed to take effect within one year of its enactment, putting its implementation behind by nearly nine months.

Nathaniel McQueen Jr., Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security secretary, told House representatives on March 7 that delays with FTAP’s implementation were due to “technology issues.” (That, BTW, is as much detail as this most secretive of administrations is willing to provide on any matter.) Similar questions and concerns about the background check program were made during the Senate’s debate to “permit to purchase” on March 14.

“Some of those technology issues have moved forward, and our hopeful implementation for FTAP will probably be about the end of this summer,” McQueen said.

Nice to know.  Yo, John, your entire administration has checked out with you.  Maybe you should resign and turn the reins over to–uh, never mind.

What do you want to talk about?