Biden’s overall job performance approval came in at a strong 60%, but it’s notable that he’s doing 10 points better on pandemic-specific issues. It suggests the popularity of Biden’s pandemic relief is redounding to his benefit more broadly, along with his other efforts to speed up vaccine distribution and more generally provide palpable leadership on…
Governors drop mask mandates and open in-restaurant dining. New report shows these are huge mistakes
Fresh evidence of this comes in the form of a new CDC report issued on Friday. That report drives home the facts that: “Mandating masks was associated with a decrease in daily COVID-19 case and death growth rates within 20 days of implementation.” States that put mask mandates in place and kept them in place,…
Federal judge slams ICE for ‘doing nothing’ to protect detained immigrants against pandemic
ICE’s excuses have been extremely questionable, but again, this is ICE. The Buffalo News reports that while an attorney representing the agency claimed officials had been asking for vaccine doses from the state, “he did not explain why the facility could not obtain doses from the federal government, which supplies them to the states.” One would think that…
Republican voters can’t agree on much of anything, except direct payments in Biden’s COVID-19 plan
Then the 52-year-old McGill went on to demonstrate how Donald Trump has basically destroyed what was once the central organizing tenet of the GOP: “The debt is so far out of hand that it’s a fantasy number at this point,” he offered. “We might as well just blow it out till everything collapses.” That’s what happens…
Republicans aren’t turning away from Trump’s Big Lie, because confronting the truth is too painful
Not only are state and county Republican officials endorsing the Big Lie about election fraud, many of them are explicitly supporting the violent assault on Jan. 6. At the same time, Republicans in leadership positions who have repudiated either the violence on Jan. 6 or Donald Trump’s lies that made that day possible are finding themselves “sanctioned”…
Senate official deems minimum wage hike out for COVID-19 relief, so Democrats find a new approach
Campaign Action Nevertheless, there seems to be no stomach in the White House for challenging that ruling. The White House released a statement Friday morning essentially withdrawing Vice President Kamala Harris from the process. The advice of the parliamentarian can be overruled by a simple majority, which would require Harris’ help. The problem is primary with this year’s…
Senate battleground races already getting dicey for GOP as Trump-McConnell feud heats up
In Pennsylvania, the vote of retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey to convict Trump has already pitted county parties against Republican moderates like former Rep. Ryan Costello, who is eyeing a bid to replace Toomey. In saner times for the GOP, Costello might be the type of statewide candidate with crossover appeal that the Mitch McConnell wing…
Faced with real consequences for participating in insurrection, MAGA followers turn on Trump
Take William “Billy” Chrestman of Olathe, Kansas. A bearded Proud Boy who was mistaken for founder Gavin McInnes when video of the insurrection first appeared on social media, he now faces multiple federal charges related to his behavior that day, including conspiracy, civil disorder, and obstruction of an official proceeding. His attorneys are claiming that…
Lindsey Graham’s heading to Mar-a-Lago to reason with Trump. It’s a master plan
A little golf, a few chats, and suddenly Trump is going to morph from a self-obsessed ghoul into a vision of magnanimity willing to table his own concerns for the greater good. That seems realistic. One thing Graham is right about is the fact the internecine warfare between Trump and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is a ginormous…
Donald Trump’s insult-to-the-nation of an impeachment defense continues: Live coverage #2
Daily Kos Staff Friday February 12, 2021 · 10:15 AM PST 2021/02/12 · 10:15 Donald Trump’s impeachment defense begins—and is expected to end—today, following two days of argument for his guilt by the House impeachment managers. That prosecution was rock solid, tracing out how Trump set the stage to delegitimize an election he lost, then…