Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: 'Losing all credibility'

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Adam Klasfeld/X via Threadreader gives us a running story of what happened Tuesday during the gag order-contempt hearing:

Good morning from New York. Before jurors hear a word of witness testimony this morning, the court has an unfinished order of business: Trump's contempt hearing over the gag order…

Blanche says that "reposting an article from a news site" or "a news program" doesn't violate the gag order. Justice Merchan asks him where the case law supports that. "I don't have any case law," Blanche says, calling the proposition "common sense." 

The judge scoffs at the notion that it's "common sense" that Trump is "washing his hands" of the posts through reposts. 

Throughout these arguments, Blanche studiously uses "Truth" as a verb for posting on Trump's social media platform. 

Blanche: "President Trump is being very careful to comply" with the gag order. Merchan, sharply: "Mr. Blanche, you are losing all credibility." 

Merchan says he's going to "reserve decision on this," after brutal arguments for the defense. 

This is a conspiracy and fraud trial. The prosecution alleges that Donald Trump conspired to keep information from the voting public and committed fraud to do it. It’s being called by media a hush money trial, but it isn't.

Jennifer Rubin/The Washington Post:

Trump was going to dominate the courtroom. Instead, he is shrinking.

Despite this Trump-friendly prediction, Trump got slammed with a huge verdict (plus two fines for contempt), had to scramble to post a bond and, if the bond is proven defective, might once more face seizure of his assets. That sure does not look impressive. The real estate mogul looks a lot like the casino operator who went bankrupt years ago.

In the run-up to the Manhattan criminal trial, the coverage again suggested Trump was going to steal the spotlight. (From the headline writers at the New York Times: “Trump and his lawyers realize his chances in the courtroom are dicey. He intends to make whatever happens a political triumph.”) Cable TV panelists oohed and aahed over Trump’s ability to manipulate the courts to enhance his image.

How wrong they were. When the criminal trial actually began, reality hit home. Rather than dominate the proceedings or leverage his court appearance to appear in control and demonstrate no court could corral him, Trump day by day has become smaller, more decrepit and, frankly, somewhat pathetic.

Axios:

How Republicans castrated themselves

Never before has the party in control of the House of Representatives knowingly and willingly castrated its own power so thoroughly as today's Republicans.

Why it matters: Republicans blew years of potential authority by weak leaders surrendering to keep power. So with a razor-thin GOP majority, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had to depend on Democrats to muscle through the $60 billion Ukraine bill over the weekend.

• "The structural changes they made, made the place ungovernable," a former member of GOP leadership told Axios.
• "When you give this many nihilists ... this kind of leverage, this is what's going to happen and it was just a matter of time," they said.

Jill Lawrence/The Bulwark:

One Cheer for Republicans Doing the Right Thing

Ukraine lives to fight another day—but let’s not give Republicans too much credit for finally doing their jobs.

Don’t get me wrong, House Speaker Mike Johnson deserves credit for defying the MAGA extremists threatening to oust him for holding votes on critical military, economic and humanitarian aid that roughly three-quarters of the House wanted to pass. Was it some sudden deeper understanding of U.S. intelligence? The recognition that if America doesn’t stop Russia with bullets for Ukraine, his son—entering the U.S. Naval Academy this fall—might have to fight a war? Was it a favor from Donald Trump, a Vladimir Putin admirer who kept quiet after he met with Johnson instead of raising his customary ALL-CAPS hell?

Whatever the reason, I am grateful Johnson got to this place. He made an eloquent case for aid to Ukraine, and hopefully this messenger can sway some hearts and minds.

On the other hand, as President Joe Biden noted amid his praise, “I have fought for months” for the aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. He proposed the package last October. It languished while three senators—a Republican, a Democrat and an independent—laboriously negotiated a border security component demanded by Republicans, only to see their work deep-sixed by Trump’s explicit directive that Republicans not solve that problem so he could campaign on it.

That latter part: Trump personally sandbagged the border security bill to make it a campaign issue. It can’t be said enough.

Tuesday also marked a solemn anniversary:

Amanda Marcotte/Slate:

Marjorie Taylor Greene's "space lasers" show how the GOP gets away with escalating violence

From Kari Lake's "strap on a Glock" to the Supreme Court coddling Capitol rioters, GOP threat levels are growing

In case that's not obvious, let me spell it out: Setting aside the factual errors, what Greene is saying is that tech used to shoot down drones and missiles should now be aimed at refugees who are entering the United States, to make use of their legal right to seek asylum. Now, the U.S. government will not do this, at least under President Joe Biden. It's both evil and violates all sorts of international law. But Greene's rhetoric is still dangerous. She's normalizing the idea of mass murdering unarmed civilians, and encouraging her supporters to enact the violence if the government won't.

Gerard Edic/The American Prospect:

Why Is the Biden Administration Completing So Many Regulations?

The answer is the Congressional Review Act, which Republicans in a second Trump presidency could use to further attack the administrative state. Finalizing rules early protects them from this fate.

Why has April been a month of regulatory action? The administration surely wants to show key constituencies that they have made progress. But policymakers are also racing to get regulations done to protect them from being overturned in the next Congress.

Ariel Edwards-Levy/CNN:

Polls show substantial support for candidates like RFK Jr. How much of it is real?

Across five national polls released in March and April – from Quinnipiac University, Fox News, Marquette Law School, NBC News and Marist College – Kennedy received an average of 13% support for his independent presidential bid when his name was explicitly included in the survey question, with independent candidate Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein taking an average of 3% each. Given the narrow margin between Trump and Biden, who are effectively deadlocked in many surveys, even a fraction of that support could prove crucial to the election’s outcome.

Historical precedent, however, suggests that third-party and independent candidates’ election performances rarely live up to their polling.

“When people tell us that they’re going to vote for a third-party candidate, they’re actually telling us one of two things,” said Dan Cassino, the executive director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll, who has researched the overestimated support for such candidates in surveys. “Some proportion are saying, ‘I hate both of the major party candidates, and I’m going to illustrate that by saying that I’ll vote for literally whoever you put in the third spot (whether I’ve heard of them or not).’ Others are saying, ‘I really like that third party candidate, and I’m going to vote for them!’”

Given the relative unpopularity of this year’s two major presidential candidates, Cassino noted, the first group – those who treat being polled as an opportunity to vent their discontent with the system – are likely to far outnumber those who are fully committed to backing a specific alternative. In a national CNN poll last year, 39% of voters who said they would support Kennedy for president also said, in a separate question, that they didn’t know enough about the candidate to offer an opinion of him.

Cliff Schecter covers Jamie Raskin and Jared Moskowitz double teaming James Comer: