Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The shoe salesman does The Motor City

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

We begin today with Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post reporting on the shoe salesman’s visit to my hometown in an attempt to woo Black voters.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump repeated his characterization of Black communities as dangerous and depressed on Saturday, courting voters in a city he has called “hell” and “totally corrupt” as his campaign hopes incremental gains with Black voters could be decisive in swing states.

“Look, the crime is most rampant right here and in African American communities,” Trump said at 180 Church in Detroit. “More people see me and they say, ‘Sir, we want protection. We want police to protect us. We don’t want to get robbed and mugged and beat up or killed because we want to walk across the street to buy a loaf of bread.’”

The audience, which was not predominantly Black, cheered at the remark. He returned to the topic of crime when asked how he would address Black entrepreneurship. “The biggest thing we can do is stop the crime,” he said.

Trump has been giving Detroit the Milwaukee/Chicago/Baltimore treatment for years now and did so again in this latest visit. Any Black person that votes for Trump is a goddamn fool. No asterisk. Periodt.

Jaz Brisack writes for The New York Times about an underreported decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last week that makes it harder for the National Relations Labor Board to sanction companies for union-busting activities.

U.S. labor law contains no penalties for firing workers in retaliation for organizing — only remedies. If the courts rule that a worker was unlawfully fired, they are entitled to reinstatement and back pay, minus their interim earnings. In practice, the court process can take years and workers frequently receive significantly reduced back pay.

By making it harder for the N.L.R.B. to obtain 10(j) injunctions, which are emergency legal measures intended to stop the harm that extreme union-busting actions cause to organizing campaigns, the Supreme Court underestimates the damage that retaliatory firings cause. Even before the decision, 10(j) injunctions were rare, totaling less than 20 in 2023. The Supreme Court’s action exposes how little relief workers can expect to receive moving forward.

Yasmeen Abutaleb of The Washington Post reports on the $28 million haul taken in by the Biden campaign last night in a fundraiser that feature Barack Obama and George Clooney.

The massive haul — which surpasses the more than $25 million the campaign said it raised during a March fundraiser at New York’s Radio City Music Hall that featured Biden and former presidents Obama and Bill Clinton — comes as Biden and Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, are in an effectively deadlocked race.

Biden and his allies have sought to use his large cash advantage over Trump to demonstrate enthusiasm for his campaign heading into November’s election, although Trump’s fundraising has shown signs of picking up in recent weeks. [...]

The Biden campaign said the money raised at Saturday’s event will go toward opening offices around the country, hiring organizers and launching ad campaigns to target key voters.

Raja Abdulrahim of The New York Times notes that more Gazans are willing to speak out against Hamas.

Some of the Gazans who spoke to The New York Times said that Hamas knew it would be starting a devastating war with Israel that would cause heavy civilian casualties, but that it did not provide any food, water or shelter to help people survive it. Hamas leaders have said they wanted to ignite a permanent state of war with Israel on all fronts as a way to revive the Palestinian cause and knew that the Israeli response would be big.

Throughout the war, hints of dissent have broken through, sometimes even as Gazans were mourning loved ones killed by Israeli attacks. Others waited until they left the enclave to condemn Hamas — and even then were at times reluctant in case the group survives the war and continues to govern Gaza.

Carlos Torralba and Tereixa Constenla of El País in English points at that the European far-right did not win everywhere in European in last week’s parliamentary elections.

The advance of ultranationalist and far-right parties has shaken the European Union, but in northern Europe, the far right was badly hurt in Sunday’s election. Finland and Sweden voted against the current. Extremist parties lost ground, and environmentalists and left-wing groups made important gains, providing a lifeline for their respective groups in the European Parliament. The EU election was also bad for the Portuguese extreme right. Chega, founded in 2019, has entered the European Parliament for the first time with two MEPs, but these results were far from the ambitious objectives it had set itself and far from the historic support it achieved in the general elections in March. [...]

The defeats of the Sweden Democrats, the Finns Party and Chega have elements in common, such as the fact their voters are less interested in EU affairs, but also factors that are particular to each. Although the three formations account for around 20% of the lawmakers in their respective national parliaments, each group is in a different situation. In Finland, they control seven ministries, while in Sweden they are the leading force on the right and support — and condition — the conservative-led coalition government.

While in Sweden and Finland, the far right’s disappointing result can be considered a verdict on their management in government, this is not the case in Portugal, where Chega failed in its effort to be a part of the executive.

Finally today, Rebecca Ratcliffe of the Guardian reports on the increased tensions in the South China Sea between China and The Philippines.

China claims almost 90% of the South China Sea – though an international tribunal in The Hague has rejected this. The Philippines, as well as Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims.

There are growing concerns that as maritime confrontations in the waters increase, so too does the risk of a miscalculation that could inadvertently provoke conflict.

The Philippines has repeatedly accused China of dangerous behaviour, including firing water cannon and ramming its boats to disrupt Philippine Coast Guard missions. Such incidents have drawn warnings from the US, which has said it would defend the Philippines, a treaty ally, in the event of an armed attack on its public vessels, aircraft, and armed forces or its Coast Guard in the South China Sea.

Representatives of fishing groups have told Philippine media this week they are fearful about being detained at sea, but have no option but to continue as their livelihoods depend upon it.

Everyone have the best possible day and Happy Father’s Day to those who acknowledge and celebrate it!