Marianna Sotomayor/WaPo:
New book details how McCarthy came to support Trump after Jan. 6
The Republican House leader berated a member of his conference, leading her to cry, in a previously unreported meeting as he wrestled with fallout from Jan. 6, 2021
“I alone am taking all the heat to protect people from Trump! I alone am holding the party together!” he yelled at Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) during a previously undisclosed meeting in McCarthy’s office on Feb. 25, 2021. “I have been working with Trump to keep him from going after Republicans like you and blowing up the party and destroying all our work!”
Greg Sargent/WaPo:
Kevin McCarthy’s rage at Trump over Jan. 6 signals danger ahead
These revelations — courtesy of two new books about Trump and the GOP — illustrate in fresh detail the craven depths McCarthy plumbed to protect Trump from accountability related to Jan. 6, after initially being horrified by Trump’s role in the insurrection.
But this also raises a forward-looking question: What is a man who literally feared that a Trump-incited mob would kill him — then spent the next 20 months engaged in a coverup on Trump’s behalf — capable of doing for Trump should he become House speaker?
Jamelle Bouie/NY Times:
This Is What Happens When Election Deniers Let Their Freak Flag Fly
“President Trump and I lost an election in 2020 because of a rigged election,” Marchant said, with Trump by his side. “I’ve been working since Nov. 4, 2020, to expose what happened. And what I found out is horrifying. And when I’m secretary of state of Nevada, we’re going to fix it. And when my coalition of secretary of state candidates around the country get elected, we’re going to fix the whole country, and President Trump is going to be president again in 2024.”
From the writeup:
But if this poll has Warnock at 46% and Kemp at 51%, why is it more likely that the governor’s race goes to a runoff? It all comes down to turnout.
Looking at the crosstabs, Kemp and Warnock both receive similar portions of support from their own party and the opposite party, but Warnock has much higher support among independents. That’s similar to a September Quinnipiac poll that found that 52% of voters polled backed Warnock, and 50% supported Kemp.
Lee Harris/The American Prospect:
Supreme Court May Curb State Economic Regulatory Powers
In a little-noticed case on pork production, the justices could pare back the tools that California and other progressive states use to regulate a wide array of industries.
In a Supreme Court case scheduled for oral argument on October 11, pro-business justices could curb the power of liberal states to pass regulations with economic consequences for large industries across the country. Meat lobbyists in National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) v. Ross argue that California’s new agribusiness regulations force them to overhaul pork production practices nationwide. They say that the Golden State cannot lift standards for its own consumers if those changes affect the whole sector—an argument which, if upheld, could have far-reaching impact on state regulation of issues like energy policy, public health, and worker pay.
As America’s most populous state, California has long used regulation to raise standards in industries with impacts on public health and the environment. Its vehicle emission standards have jump-started the national market for electric cars. Now, the pork industry is casting California as obnoxiously imposing its “philosophical preferences” on all Americans. It argues that the Court should resist “allowing a State to export its social experiments extraterritorially.
Dean Obeidallah/CNN:
Tuberville’s racially charged remarks should be condemned
Tuberville, appearing with Trump in a rural area of Nevada in support of those candidates, first told the crowd that the Democratic Party is “pro-crime, they want crime.” Then he exclaimed, “They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have.” What that means is hard to say, but GOP leaders know their base well, so telling the audience that Democrats want to steal what you have was the message Tuberville believes will animate some Republican voters.
Tuberville’s comment that caused such a backlash must also be viewed in the same light. Raising his voice in anger, the senator shouted, “They want reparations, because they think the people that do the crime are owed that! Bullsh**!” That line drew big cheers from the audience, with Tuberville adding, “They are not owed that.”
Connecting reparations — the concept of compensating Black Americans who are the descendants of enslaved people for the inhumane suffering of their ancestors — with people who commit crimes is outrageous — and way beyond a dog whistle.
Jonathan V Last/Bulwark:
Joe Biden Just Crushed China's Semiconductor Industry
Dark Brandon strikes again.
There was some big, important news on Friday and no one really noticed: The Biden administration hit China, hard, with a series of export controls that are going to hurt.
Here’s how the policy works: Making computer chips requires a lot of advanced equipment. Much of that advanced equipment is made by American companies. The new rules from the Biden administration make it so that any company, anywhere in the world, using certain advanced American equipment to make chips can’t sell those chips to Chinese-controlled companies.
Which means that, at the stroke of a pen, China is getting cut off from the kind of advanced chips it can’t manufacture on its own. Which will cripple both military progress and tech-sector progress, too.
Jennifer Rubin/WaPo:
Distinguished persons of the week: Accountability for lawyers who betrayed democracy
Only a few bar proceedings to date have begun to evaluate potential misconduct and possibly disbar miscreants. One of them, the D.C. Bar, took up the cause of enforcing ethical standards this week, holding a hearing in anticipation of more extensive fact-finding and briefing regarding the conduct of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
Susan Page/USA Today:
Biden's popular pardons: Americans by 2-to-1 back forgiving convictions for possession of pot
Americans by more than 2-to-1 support pardoning those convicted of violating federal laws prohibiting possession of pot, a USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds, demonstrating broad public support for the step President Joe Biden unexpectedly took last week.
By an equally lopsided margin, 68%-30%, those surveyed support the governor of their state pardoning those convicted of marijuana possession in state courts, where most prosecutions occur.
The findings reflect how much attitudes toward marijuana have changed in recent decades. Twenty-seven states have fully or partially decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and 37 states permit marijuana for medical use.