Are You Blue, Purple, or Red?
It’s Wednesday, which means it is time to play “Are You Blue, Purple, or Red!??!!”
Total up your score and see where you fit on the Great American Spectrum.
But, first, a word from me.
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Now, on with the game!!
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1. Tuesday night in Aspen at the private closing dinner of a big Republican Governors Association meeting, former Mississippi governor and former RNC chair Haley Barbour, a featured speaker along with Maryland’s Larry Hogan and Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker, told the full group something he had been saying to attendees more quietly throughout the day:
“It is clear the Democrats’ fondest dream is that Donald Trump will announce his candidacy for president before the mid-term elections. The Democrats hope that will make the mid-term elections about 2020 and not 2022; make it not about inflation, not about gasoline prices or energy independence, not about crime or open borders; but instead they hope to make it about the past, not the future.”
The significance of this statement to this audience at this time, which received extensive applause throughout the room, is
A. Nothing – the Republican Party is full MAGA (0 points).
B. Haley knows the imperative of keeping the main thing the main thing – and this represents the leading edge of a strong pushback by the Barbour wing of the Republican Party to try to keep the former president from screwing up the midterms. (5 points)
C. It takes a private jet to get from Yazoo City to Aspen. (10 points)
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2. Your reaction to this poll is
A. Nothing – the Republican Party is full MAGA (0 points).
B. What Marc Thiessen writes in the Washington Post (5 points):
[I]f Trump again faces a divided field, with a dozen or more major candidates, he will likely prevail. Indeed, rather than trying to dissuade other Republicans from challenging him for the nomination, Trump should hope for a crowded field — which would allow him to win with a plurality of GOP voters. And for the Republican majority who want someone else as their standard-bearer, they will need to rally around a single candidate, or see Trump prevail.
C. Either way America wins! (10 points)
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3. The results of the Maryland gubernatorial primaries make you feel like:
Dan Cox, a far-right state legislator endorsed by former President Donald Trump, won the Republican primary for Maryland governor on Tuesday, defeating a moderate rival backed by outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan.
Cox will face the winner of the highly competitive Democratic primary in the November general election. Wes Moore, a bestselling author backed by Oprah Winfrey, had an early lead Tuesday night, with the focus starting to turn to mail ballots that won’t be counted until later in the week.
Despite being a win for Trump, Cox’s victory over former Hogan Cabinet member Kelly Schulz could be a blow to Republican chances to hold on to the governor’s mansion in November. Hogan, who was prohibited from running for a third consecutive term, was a rare two-term Republican governor in a heavily Democratic state, and he had endorsed Schulz as the successor to his bipartisan style of leadership. (Associated Press)
A. Maybe messing in these Republican primaries by backing MAGA hopeless hopefuls is a good idea after all! (0 points)
B. Ladies and gentlemen, please say “hello” to Governor-elect The Real Wes Moore. (5 points)
C. Dan Cox is going to win this thing in November. (10 points)
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4. This news makes you feel like
The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday to protect same-sex and interracial marriages amid concerns that the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade abortion access could jeopardize other rights criticized by many conservatives.
In a robust but lopsided debate, Democrats argued intensely and often personally in favor of enshrining marriage equality in federal law, while Republicans steered clear of openly rejecting gay marriage. Instead leading Republicans portrayed the bill as unnecessary amid other issues facing the nation.
Tuesday’s election-year roll call, 267-157, was partly political strategy, forcing all House members, Republicans and Democrats, to go on the record. It also reflected the legislative branch pushing back against an aggressive court that has raised questions about revisiting other apparently settled U.S. laws.
Wary of political fallout, GOP leaders did not press their members to hold the party line against the bill, aides said. In all, 47 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting for passage. (Associated Press)
A. Take that, Justice Thomas. (0 points)
B. Nota bene (5 points):
In a notable silence, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell declined to express his view on the bill, leaving an open question over how strongly his party would fight it, if it should come up for a vote in the upper chamber….
“The MAGA radicals that are taking over the Republican Party have made it abundantly clear they are not satisfied with repealing Roe,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., referring to Trump’s backers.
He pointed to comments from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said over the weekend that the Supreme Court’s decision protecting marriage equality was “clearly wrong” and state legislatures should visit the issue.
But Schumer did not commit to holding a vote on the marriage bill.
C. Jim Jordan is right – this is all meant to distract from Joe Biden’s record on inflation. (10 points)
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5. Those missing Secret Service texts are….
The U.S. Secret Service has determined it has no new texts to provide Congress relevant to its Jan. 6 investigation, and that any other texts its agents exchanged around the time of the 2021 attack on the Capitol were purged, according to a senior official briefed on the matter.
Also, the National Archives on Tuesday sought more information on “the potential unauthorized deletion” of agency text messages. The U.S. government’s chief record-keeper asked the Secret Service to report back to the Archives within 30 days about the deletion of any records, including describing what was purged and the circumstances of how the documentation was lost. (Washington Post)
A. Worse than Watergate. (0 points)
B. Still confusing. (5 points)
C. Nothing compared to what Hillary Clinton did – and the Service is a tool of the Democrats so of course they wouldn’t be helping Donald Trump. (10 points)
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6. Your reaction to this story is
Top national security officials warned on Tuesday about the continuing threat of election interference from abroad, emphasizing that Russia could still seek to meddle or promote disinformation during the 2022 midterm races even as it wages war in Ukraine.
“I am quite confident the Russians can walk and chew gum,” Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, said during a cybersecurity conference in Manhattan, where he spoke alongside Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. (New York Times)
A. This is all Trump’s fault. (0 points)
B. This really needs to get more attention. (5 points)
C. More Russia, Russia, Russia hoaxing. (10 points)
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7. When you read this, you think
The White House is considering a major overhaul of its press and communications shop in the coming weeks, a staff shakeup that’s aimed at putting a new team in place to drive President Joe Biden’s message into November’s midterm elections and in the months after voters decide whether his party retains control of Congress, according to multiple people familiar with the effort.
The effort to revamp the White House press operation comes as Biden has expressed frustration that his message isn’t breaking through to Americans and his approval ratings continue to hit new lows, while his aides prepare for him to seek re-election.
One of Biden’s top advisers, Anita Dunn, has begun interviewing candidates to be the next White House communications director, the first step in the overhaul, these people said.
Dunn, who returned to the White House in May, is overseeing the broader plans to restructure the entire press office, which recently has seen significant turnover, people familiar with the effort said.
Among those under consideration to be communications director are Liz Allen, currently Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs; Kate Berner, currently Deputy Communications Director, and Elizabeth Alexander, Communications Director for First Lady Jill Biden.
Two sources familiar with the process said the search has prioritized candidates who have a previously existing relationship with Biden, though one source said that preference does not preclude additional possible contenders. (NBC News)
A. The problem isn’t rearranging comms deck chairs; the problem is the indecisiveness of the president when it comes to fundamental and urgent needs of the American people and the planet, as in, see a pattern here? (0 points):
White House officials plotting the administration’s post-Roe response are weighing a narrow public health directive aimed at safeguarding nationwide access to abortion pills, three people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO.
The Biden team has zeroed in on that authority in recent days. They consider it the most feasible of the White House’s limited options for protecting abortion rights, and have concluded that it could have the most immediate on-the-ground impact while also quelling Democrats’ demands for stronger action….
Yet such a move still faces deep skepticism from senior aides who are unconvinced it would survive the inevitable legal challenges, and who worry conservative judges will seize on any opportunity to further limit President Joe Biden’s executive power.
“It’s the only one that’s had a reasonably decent amount of support [internally],” one of the people familiar with the discussions said of a PREP Act declaration. “But there’s no one that’s gung ho.”
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President Joe Biden will travel to Massachusetts on Wednesday to promote new efforts to combat climate change, although he will not declare an emergency that would unlock federal resources to deal with the issue despite increasing pressure from climate activists and Democratic lawmakers.
The White House said Tuesday it has not ruled out issuing such a declaration later, which would allow the president to reroute funds to climate efforts without congressional approval. (Associated Press)
B. Bringing in more longtime Biden aides (rather than an outsider, who might speak truth to power and shake things up) is not going to change the trajectory. (5 points)
C. Never heard of any of these people but the problems are named “Joe Biden” and “Kamala Harris.” (10 points)
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8. This must-see clash between Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Tex.) and Pete Buttigieg at an infrastructure hearing at which Mr. Nehls decided to ask about President Biden’s mental condition and the 25thAmendment brings to mind:
A. How horrid House Republicans are. (0 points)
B. How much more skilled Secretary Buttigieg is than the norm. (5 points)
C. How biased the fake news is, in engaging in the coverup of the century (10 points):
Critics, including former president Donald Trump and Republicans supportive of him, have used Biden’s falls, trips, stutters and slips of speech to raise doubts about the fitness of the nation’s oldest president, at times seeking to present Biden’s verbal mistakes as signs of his mental deterioration. But he has long been known for verbal slips, even gaffes, and he grew up with a stutter. (Washington Post, emphasis added)
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9. When you look at this picture, you think:
A. Freedom fighters. (0 points)
B. Can’t name more than two of them. (5 points)
C. Oooooh, where are the fake handcuffs? (10 points)
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10. This video reflects:
A. Everything we always knew about Bill de Blasio. (0 points)
B. Everything we always knew about Bill de Blasio. (5 points)
C. Everything we always knew about Bill de Blasio. (10 points)
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11. This video:
A. Makes you cry and laugh. (0 points)
B. Makes you laugh and cry. (5 points)
C. Makes you cry and laugh. (10 points)
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HOW DO YOU RATE:
0-20 POINTS: Buy your Jiffy Pop now for Thursday’s 1/6 hearing.
21-60 POINTS: Don’t forget to renew your Netflix subscription!
60-ABOVE POINTS: Get the pins out of your Liz Cheney voodoo doll to be able to start afresh Thursday night.
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