The Morning Memo at Talking Points Memo for July 3 by David Kurtz discusses several issues. Between the debate fallout and the Imperial Presidency the Roberts Supreme Court has created, we are living in those ‘interesting times’ the old curse refers to. The memo is titled “The American Experiment Has Gone Off The Rails” complete with an appropriate picture.
To grab just a bit, Kurtz has this to say about the way things have all piled up in what is a historic moment:
...If your hair was already on fire at the prospect of Trump II, as it should have been, any weakness in the standard bearer for the Trump opposition is cause for concern and can quickly escalate into alarming.
But not everyone had their hair on fire or appreciated the historic moment before last week’s debate. So as I try to make sense of the jumbled political landscape before us, it helps me to set aside the handwringing, misdirected focus, and lack of proportion offered by those folks now. Already obsessed for the past year with Biden’s age? Setting you aside. Eager to reduce politics to petty infighting, personality clashes, and high school popularity contests? Not paying you much attention. It’s a process of elimination to try to refocus on the core things that really matter.
One item from Kurtz in particular that caught my eye was this:
Cold Civil War Remains The Best Analogy For America Today
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, who has hauled the venerable think tank deep into MAGA land, hailed the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision using language that is barely veiled authoritarianism: “[W]e are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
Don’t make us hurt you, remains a recurring theme of Trumpism’s cycle of abuse.
Meanwhile, The Guardian has more on the preparation of the blacklist of government workers the Heritage Foundation is helping to fund.
emphasis added
You’d think an open threat like that would be front page news and all over the media. Nope — and it should be because for once a Republican is speaking the truth. It IS a revolution they want and between the Supreme Court, Trump, and Project 2025, they have all the pieces in place ready to go. They’re not hiding it, they’re promising it, and the attitude of the mainstream media seems to be “not news because they’re always saying that stuff.”
Boiled frog anyone?
It seems somehow too fitting that in the midst of a cold civil war, President Biden took time to honor two heroes from the earlier hot Civil War. They were part of what’s known as The Great Locomotive Chase.
Two Union soldiers who 162 years ago took part in one of America's first special operations were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on Wednesday.
Descendants of Pvt. George Wilson and Pvt. Shadrach received a long-awaited call from the White House telling them the Civil War heroes would be awarded the nation's highest military honor for "gallantry and intrepidity" in defense of the Union.
Despite near unanimous calls from the mainstream media, President Biden and Vice President Harris insist he is not stepping aside. It’s difficult to find a news story that doesn’t play up the calls for him to do so, so I’ll grab a snippet from this report:
Facing rapid-fire questions for the second day in a row, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked point-blank during Wednesday's briefing if Biden was considering that option.
"Absolutely not," Jean-Pierre responded. "And you heard that, I believe, directly from the campaign as well."
Jean-Pierre was also pressed on recent reports that Biden is evaluating whether to stay in the race.
"That is absolutely false," she said. "We asked the president ... the president said it is -- no, it is absolutely false. That is coming directly from him."
emphasis added
It doesn’t matter what President Biden’s press secretary says; the headlines are all saying different. Funny how that works.
President Biden was supposed to meet with Democratic governors at 6:30 EDT to discuss the status of the campaign. No reports yet on how it went, but it’s a certainty there will be plenty of unnamed sources saying he’s being pressured to drop out.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is facing no calls to bow out, and is enjoying his get out of jail free card from the Dirty Half-Dozen at the Supreme Court. He also has a list of people he plans to put in jail.
Charles M. Blow at The NY Times is one of the few voices arguing Biden should stay in. (Full access link)
Forcing Biden Out Would Have Only One Beneficiary: Trump
...The American University historian Allan Lichtman, a prescient predictor of presidential election results, told me on Sunday that pushing Biden out of the race would be a “tragic mistake for the Democrats,” because he believes that the president remains his party’s best chance at winning the election.
As for the alternatives, Lichtman adds, “It’s not as if there’s some, you know, J.F.K. out there just waiting to jump on the white horse and save the Democratic Party.”
Blow has a number of points to make. He admits Biden has an uphill fight to solidify his support and grow it, but there’s this too:
The fact that an 81-year-old is increasingly showing signs of being an 81-year-old doesn’t panic me; what Trump has signaled he’ll do with another term does.
Blow is covering many of the same arguments Josh Marshall made.
One thing is clear. The media is hungering for Biden’s scalp and they won’t be happy until they get it. I wonder how many of them now regret piling on Hillary Clinton and not taking Trump seriously?