Andy Borowitz: Trump Explodes After Biden Asks Him to Dog-Sit During G-7

Donald Trump reportedly “exploded” after President Biden asked him to dog-sit his German shepherd, Major Biden, during the G-7 summit, in London.

“I called him up and said, ‘Do me this favor, man,’ ” Biden said. “He literally flipped his lid.”

Biden said that he had “no idea” why Trump had reacted so negatively to the idea of dog-sitting Major, whose obedience training “has been going really well.”

“I said, ‘Look, Jack, you’re not being reinstated at the White House, so taking care of the White House dog is as close as you’re gonna get,’ ” the President said. “Oh, well. It was worth a shot.” https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/

Republicans Really, Really Dislike Biden. But It’s Not Just About Him.

Republicans don’t like President Biden very much. Among Republicans, his approval rating sits somewhere between 10 and 20 percent in most recent surveys, and his disapproval rating hovers between 75 to 90 percent.

Democrats similarly really disliked former President Trump. Biden’s topline approval rating also isn’t that bad — he’s currently at 53 percent approval and 41 percent disapproval, per FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker — thanks to positive opinions of the president among Democrats (overwhelmingly) and independents (albeit marginally).

Although there’s nothing that unusual about members of the other party holding disproportionately negative attitudes about the president, members from the other party were once more willing to give a new president some benefit of the doubt early on — or at least, their opposition was not quite so baked in, as the figures for both Bush and Barack Obama suggest. What’s more, there hasn’t been a corresponding change in how strongly the president’s own party feels about him. Members of the president’s party overwhelmingly support him, but there hasn’t been an uptick in those who say they strongly approve of him. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/republicans-really-really-dislike-biden-but-its-not-just-about-him/

Don McGahn Told Congress How Close Trump Came to ‘Inflection Point,’ Another ‘Saturday Night Massacre’

Former White House counsel Don McGahn told the House Judiciary Committee last week and said that former President Donald Trump had directed him to convey a message to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein urging the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Law and Crime reports.

When asked if Trump had demanded McGahn “do crazy shit,” McGahn said he thought that was a “fair” characterization of the president’s request. https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/point-of-no-return-don-mcgahn-told-congress-how-close-trump-came-to-inflection-point-another-saturday-night-massacre/

McConnell All But Admits He Would Never Confirm a Biden Supreme Court Pick

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled Monday that Republicans, if they win back control of the upper chamber, wouldn’t advance a Supreme Court nominee if a vacancy occurred in 2024, the year of the next presidential election.  https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/06/mcconnell-hints-hed-never-confirm-biden-supreme-court-pick.htm

Democratic Report Raises 2022 Alarms on Messaging and Voter Outreach

A review of the 2020 election, conducted by several prominent Democratic advocacy groups, has concluded that the party is at risk of losing ground with Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters unless it does a better job presenting an economic agenda and countering Republican efforts to spread misinformation and tie all Democratic candidates to the far left.

The 73-page report, obtained by The New York Times, was assembled at the behest of three major Democratic interest groups: Third Way, a centrist think tank, and the Collective PAC and the Latino Victory Fund, which promote Black and Hispanic candidates. It appears to be the most thorough act of self-criticism carried out by Democrats or Republicans after the last campaign.

Overall, the report warns, Democrats in 2020 lacked a core argument about the economy and recovering from the coronavirus pandemic — one that might have helped candidates repel Republican claims that they wanted to “keep the economy shut down,” or worse. The party “leaned too heavily on ‘anti-Trump’ rhetoric,” the report concludes.

“Win or lose, self-described progressive or moderate, Democrats consistently raised a lack of strong Democratic Party brand as a significant concern in 2020,” the report states. “In the absence of strong party branding, the opposition latched on to G.O.P. talking points, suggesting our candidates would ‘burn down your house and take away the police.’” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/06/us/politics/democrats-2020-election.html

Arizona 'biased teaching' bill would fine teachers for discussion of controversial issues

Arizona teachers could face a $5,000 penalty if they allow classroom discussions on controversial topics such as racism or fail to give equal weight to divisive topics, under provisions of a last-minute amendment that flew through the Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday. https://amp.azcentral.com/amp/4961516001

Sinema faces Arizona blowback over becoming the Senate's new unmovable roadblock

Alejandra Gomez, the co-executive director of the community organizing group, LUCHA, went door to door in the sweltering Arizona heat in 2018, turning out the Democratic voters that helped get Sinema elected to the Senate. The work was arduous and the hours long, but Gomez and others believed deeply in the need to defeat Republican Martha McSally, who had aligned herself with then-President Donald Trump.

Her work paid off -- Sinema won by nearly 3 percentage points. But it is what happened next -- the Arizona Democrat has become one of the most unmovable roadblocks on Democratic priorities in Washington -- that has shocked people who considered themselves ardent Sinema supporters a few short years ago.

Gomez now has another label for the woman she helped elect: A wolf in sheep's clothing.

"We are prepared to support a viable candidate that is ready to actually stand for our communities," Gomez said.

When asked if challenging Sinema was worth the risk of losing the seat to a Republican, Gomez didn't flinch.

"We already have a Republican in that seat," she said. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/06/10/politics/sinema-arizona-progressive-blowback/index.html

Haaland urges Biden to fully protect three national monuments weakened by Donald Trump

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has recommended in a confidential report that President Biden restore full protections to three national monuments diminished by President Donald Trump, including Utah’s Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and a huge marine reserve off New England. The move, described by two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was not yet public, would preserve about 5 million acres of federal land and water. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/06/14/haaland-biden-national-monuments/

Exodus of election officials raises concerns of partisanship

It’s difficult to quantify exactly how many election officials across the country have left their posts and why, since the departures are not generally tallied. Retirements also are common after presidential elections.

But in places that do track such information, along with anecdotal accounts from county officials, it is clear that many have recently left because of the newfound partisan rancor around the jobs and the threats many local election workers faced leading up to the November election and afterward as former President Donald Trump and his allies challenged the results.

About a third of Pennsylvania’s county election officials have left in the last year and a half, according to a spokesman for the state’s county commissioners association, who cited heavy workloads and rampant misinformation related to voting among the reasons.

“It was particularly challenging last year with all the misinformation and angst out there,” said Lisa Schaefer, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. “And none of it was caused by county election officials.”

The executive director of a clerks association in Wisconsin said more than two-dozen clerks have retired since the presidential election and another 30 clerks or their deputies quit by the end of 2020. Thirteen have left since the beginning of this year. In Michigan, Byrum said she didn’t know a precise number of newly vacant positions but was able to rattle off several seasoned election officials who have recently left.

The local election jobs are being vacated as Trump’s false claims of fraud persist within the GOP and provide a platform for his loyalists to launch campaigns to become top election officials in several swing states. https://apnews.com/article/election-officials-retire-trump-2020-threats-misinformation-3b810d8b3b3adee2ca409689788b863f

Trump is doing more lying about the election than talking about any other subject

Forty-three of the 132 post-presidency statements Trump had issued through June 9 included a lie about the election. That's about 33%. These lies range from vague claims that the election was "stolen" and "rigged" to specific false assertions about what happened in various states he lost. https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/12/politics/analysis-trump-election-lies-blog-post-presidency/index.html

Garland announces expansion of Justice Department’s voting rights unit, vowing to scrutinize GOP-backed voting restrictions and ballot reviews

In an expansive speech that invoked the nation’s long and, at times, faltering progress toward ensuring every American’s right to vote, AG Merrick Garland likened the fight against efforts to curtail ballot access to past campaigns enshrining voting rights for Black Americans in the Constitution and the seminal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Garland said additional trial attorneys, which he plans to hire over the coming 30 days, will scrutinize new laws and existing practices across the nation for potential discrimination against Americans of color, including in new measures GOP state lawmakers are pushing. They will enforce provisions of the Voting Rights Act by challenging such laws or practices in court — and prosecute anyone found to intimidate or threaten violence against election officials. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/merrick-garland-voting-rights/2021/06/11/47906eda-cad1-11eb-81b1-34796c7393af_story.html

America’s Image Abroad Rebounds With Transition From Trump to Biden

The election of Joe Biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in America’s international image. Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, publics around the world held the United States in low regard, with most opposed to his foreign policies. This was especially true among key American allies and partners. Now, a new Pew Research Center survey of 16 publics finds a significant uptick in ratings for the U.S., with strong support for Biden and several of his major policy initiatives.

Looking at 12 nations surveyed both this year and in 2020, a median of 75% express confidence in Biden, compared with 17% for Trump last year. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/06/10/americas-image-abroad-rebounds-with-transition-from-trump-to-biden/

Biden officials move to reinstate Alaska roadless rule, overturning Trump policy

The Biden administration said Friday that it would “repeal or replace” a rule allowing roads and other types of development in more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, reviving 20-year-old protections President Donald Trump had stripped three months before leaving office.

The move was outlined in the administration’s new regulatory agenda. The notice from the White House said the change was consistent with President Biden’s Jan. 27 executive order “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.” The Agriculture Department expects to publish the proposed rule in August, the notice said. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/06/11/tongass-roadless-rule/]

Critical race theory battle invades school boards — with help from conservative groups

Virtually all school districts insist they are not teaching critical race theory, but many activists and parents have begun using it as a catch-all term to refer to what schools often call equity programs, teaching about racism or LGBTQ-inclusive policies.

Now, conservative activists are setting their sights on ousting as many school board members as they can, and local Republican Parties have vowed to help, viewing the revolt against critical race theory as akin to the tea party wave from a decade ago. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/critical-race-theory-invades-school-boards-help-conservative-groups-n1270794

Progressives draw red line on keeping climate provisions in infrastructure bill

Progressive anxiety about sufficiently strong climate change provisions being left out of forthcoming infrastructure legislation burst into public Wednesday with several Democratic lawmakers warning they would not rubber-stamp eventual legislation. Faced with razor-thin majorities in both chambers and bipartisan negotiations that have languished for weeks, many Democrats behind the scenes worry climate change has faded from center stage — and they worry about sacrificing what the scientific community says is necessary to stave off the worst consequences to claim a bipartisan victory.

“The White House and Democratic Congress need to hold strong on real meaningful bold substantial climate provisions that President Biden proposed in his American Jobs Plan,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said at an event with Climate Power on Wednesday. “There is little appetite in our caucus for an infrastructure plan that ignores the greatest crisis, the most existential crisis that we face.” https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/09/progressives-climate-provisions-infrastructure-492667

The campaign of fear, sparked by Trump's voter-fraud falsehoods, threatens the U.S. electoral system.

Late on the night of April 24, the wife of Georgia’s top election official got a chilling text message: “You and your family will be killed very slowly.”

A week earlier, Tricia Raffensperger, wife of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, had received another anonymous text: “We plan for the death of you and your family every day.”

That followed an April 5 text warning. A family member, the texter told her, was “going to have a very unfortunate incident.”

Trump’s relentless false claims that the vote was “rigged” against him sparked a campaign to terrorize election officials nationwide – from senior officials such as Raffensperger to the lowest-level local election workers. The intimidation has been particularly severe in Georgia, where Raffensperger and other Republican election officials refuted Trump’s stolen-election claims. The ongoing harassment could have far-reaching implications for future elections by making the already difficult task of recruiting staff and poll workers much harder, election officials say. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-georgia-threats/

This melting glacier was already the biggest source of sea level rise. Then things got worse

The Pine Island glacier, a160-mile-long river of ice is known as “the weak underbelly” of West Antarctic, contributes more to sea level rise than any other glacier on the continent and ranks among the fastest melting glaciers in the world.

Unlike other Antarctic glaciers, Pine Island is not sheltered from the warming ocean by a vast expanse of sea ice. The only thing preventing it from flowing directly into the Amundsen Sea embayment is a shelf of floating ice that sticks out from the glacier’s edge. This shelf is like a cork in a bottle, pressing against the stable sides of the bay to contain the tremendous pressure at its back.

But the ice shelf is tearing itself apart. It has lost one-fifth of its mass in the last five years, shedding icebergs the size of cities. Rifts have opened up in the center of the shelf, potentially adding to the instability.

If this disintegration continues, “the whole shelf could potentially fall apart in the next few years, which is greatly faster than what we expected,” said Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory who co-wrote the new report. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/06/11/pine-island-ice-shelf-collapse/

Schumer to trigger reconciliation process

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he will convene a meeting with all 11 Democratic members of the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday to begin the process for passing a budget resolution, paving the way for Democrats to pass a major infrastructure bill on a party-line vote.

Schumer said he hopes to pass the budget resolution for fiscal 2022 in July. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/558567-schumer-to-trigger-reconciliation-process-on-wednesday

Most Republicans Think ‘Audits’ Will Change Election Outcome

A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds a 51% of Republicans think “audits” of the 2020 presidential election will change its outcome, including 29% who “definitely” think it will change the outcome and 22% who think it “probably” will change the results.

Gov. Abbott signs ‘anti-critical race theory’ bill into law over objections from educators and civic groups

Texas on Tuesday became the latest conservative state to bar certain concepts related to race and racism from being discussed in the classroom, ignoring the passionate objections of educators who say the new law will make it harder for them to teach about America’s true past and present.

A bill that legislators say sought to ban “critical race theory” in school — but never defined or mentioned the concept explicitly — stirred fear among educators that there could be repercussions for broaching current events during class. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2021/06/15/gov-abbott-signs-anti-critical-race-theory-bill-into-law-over-objections-from-educators-and-civic-groups/

’Potential red flag': Trump struggles to clear Senate GOP fields

A growing number of GOP Senate contenders are spurning former President Donald Trump's wishes with campaigns that defy his criticism or ignore his support of a rival, as the Republican Party debates his role in its future. https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/15/politics/trump-influence-2022-senate-gop-field/index.html

Ex-Police Chief Indicted on Capitol Riot Charges

Alan Hostetter, a California police-chief-turned-yoga-instructor-turned-“Stop the Steal”-organizer, was indicted Wednesday on four charges, along with fellow Californians Russell Taylor, 40; Erik Scott Warner, 45; Felipe Antonio “Tony” Martinez, 47; Derek Kinnison, 39; and Ronald Mele, 51.

The men are all members of the Three Percenters militia group, the indictment states, and allegedly brought two-way radios, bear spray, knives, stun batons, bulletproof vests, and a range of other weaponry to use in storming the Capitol. https://www.thedailybeast.com/alan-hostetter-california-stop-the-steal-organizer-indicted-for-conspiracy

Third member of U.S. FDA advisory panel resigns over Alzheimer’s drug approval

A third member of a panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has resigned in protest over the agency’s decision to approve Biogen Inc’s (BIIB.O) Alzheimer’s disease treatment despite the committee’s recommendation against doing so.

Aaron Kesselheim, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School who had served on the FDA’s advisory committee for nervous system drugs since 2015, told Reuters on Thursday he was stepping down from the panel.

"My rationale was that the FDA needs to re-evaluate how it solicits and uses the advisory committees ... because I didn’t think that the firm recommendations from the committee in this case ... were appropriately integrated into the decision-making process," Kesselheim said in an email.

The 11-member committee voted nearly unanimously in November that Biogen's drug should not be approved, citing inconclusive evidence that the drug was effective.

The FDA on Monday gave the drug “accelerated approval,” based on evidence that it can reduce a likely contributor to Alzheimer’s, rather than proof of a clear benefit against the disease. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/third-member-us-fda-advisory-panel-resigns-over-alzheimers-drug-approval-2021-06-10/

The DAILY GRILL

A Capitol police officer was ‘lying in wait’ for Ashli Babbitt before shooting her. Says Babbitt was “executed” by police, demands name of officer involved in shooting — Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), at House hearing.

VERSUS

On January 6, as the violent mob advanced on the House chamber, I was standing near Rep. Paul Gosar and helped him open his gas mask. The Capitol Police led us to safety. It is disgusting and despicable to see Gosar lie about that day and smear the men and women who defended us. — Rep. Liz Cheney.

 

"As a woman of faith, as a mother of baby Blake, as a person who meticulously prepared at some of the world’s hardest institutions, I never lied. I sourced my information.” — Trump’s Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany at a conservative conference.

VERSUS

Politifact has a fairly harsh rating for McEnany’s tenure as press secretary, evaluating her statements as “Mostly False,” “False,” or “Pants on Fire” 56 percent of the time. McEnany earned “Half True” 14 percent of the time, “Mostly True” 28 percent, and “True” zero percent.

 

“I think that Ilhan (U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar) should receive the same type of punishment as Marjorie because if it’s good for one, it is good for another …..Anti-semitism is the same thing as anti-semitism. – Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.), who voted to remove Greene from her committees.

VERSUS

There’s only one problem: Treating what MTG and Omar have said as equal expressions of false equivalence actually is false, as any honest evaluation of their words quickly shows. Rep. Marjory Greene, bluntly comparing COVID-19 precautions to the Holocaust, analogized vaccine documentation mandates to the Nazi practice of making Jews wear yellow stars, and, for good measure, said Democrats are like Nazis because they are “socialists.” -- Ed Kilgore

 

"YouTube’s arrogant Covid censorship continues. How many lives will be lost as a result? How many lives could have been saved with a free exchange of medical ideas? This suppression of speech should concern every American." -- Senator Ron Johnson

VERSUS

600,000 Americans are dead because Trump failed the country every single step of the way. He failed on testing and contract tracing. He failed to invoke the Defense Production Act as the country’s PPE shortage grew desperate. He failed to implement social distancing measures quickly enough. He even failed to communicate consistently the most basic public health measures that could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. If not for Trump’s lies, incompetence—and his reckless, psychopathic behavior as the virus ravaged the nation—half a million Americans who died during the pandemic could still be alive today. https://thedailyedge.substack.com/p/trump-killed-500000-americans