Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Things are getting very real
Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet. Philip Bump/Washington Post: The revamped Republican Party turns Trump’s lies into a loyalty test In the 1,200-plus days since the election ended, no evidence has emerged of widespread or even significant electoral fraud. Instead, numerous theories elevated or embraced by Trump have been debunked. No election in American history has been scrutinized as robustly and ceaselessly as the 2020 contest. Nothing to suggest that the results were invalid or artificial has emerged. But that observation comes from the real world, in which arguments are tested and abandoned when disproved. Donald Trump operates in Trumpworld, where reality is dependent on the views and positions of Donald Trump. And in Trumpworld, the idea that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud is accepted as fact, even though it isn’t. Good news -- US Consumer sentiment has surged since the fall. Americans believe inflation is getting back under control and their personal finance are improving. "Sentiment is currently about 30% above November 2023 and about 6% below its historical average since 1978." (From… pic.twitter.com/L4sTslFwyt— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) March 28, 2024 Marc Caputo/The Bulwark: “There is no breaking point with Donald Trump.” The ex-president prepares to start his first criminal trial. THE BEGINNING OF JURY SELECTION on April 15 will kick off ten of the most consequential days in modern presidential campaign legal history. On April 16, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Fischer v. United States, which could limit the application of a federal statute used to charge Trump in two of the four counts in his January 6th election-interference case. On April 25, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Trump’s presidential immunity claims. Of Trump’s four criminal cases, Bragg’s is the likeliest to be adjudicated before Election Day. Marital issues aside, it’s also the case that gives Trump the best chance to prevail, because while the facts of the case are relatively established, Bragg is attempting a relatively novel interpretation of criminal statutes. Even so: Prosecutors don’t often go to trial unless they have a good chance to win, and even Trump’s otherwise Pollyannaish team believes that the best he can hope for in deep-blue Manhattan is a hung jury. Jill Lawrence/The Bulwark: So You Want to Hire a Conservative Commentator... After the Ronna McDaniel fiasco at NBC, how can news orgs find principled conservatives worth publishing and airing? The temptation to hire big names like McDaniel is understandable, especially if—like NBC News—you have $300,000 lying around to pay her. Trump himself had the occasional byline on our page, and he was fact-checked. Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence wrote the “opposing view” in 2016 when the editorial board, breaking with USA Today tradition, said Trump was “unfit for the presidency.” Pence also wrote it in 2020 after we went even further and endorsed Biden—the first time in the paper’s history that the board endorsed a presidential candidate. That election was, or should be, a line of demarcation. Before the Big Lie, and after it. Before the January 6th Capitol attack, and after it. BREAKING: MS Senate passes a Medicaid expansion bill with a veto-proof majority, 37-15. While the Senate bill does not fully expand Medicaid we expect it to head to a conference committee so they can work with the House. This is BIG! ????????????— Lucy C. Dagneau (@thelucygoose) March 28, 2024 The New Republic: This Alabama Democrat Won a GOP Seat in Stunning Election. Here’s How. Marilyn Lands defeated a Republican in a deep-red Alabama district. Her victory deserves more attention. Lands secured a whopping 63 percent of the vote—a 26-point lead—by aggressively going against the grain, telling voters she supports a repeal of Alabama’s abortion bans while sharing her own experience with abortion two decades ago, when she received a devastating diagnosis: a genetic defect called trisomy. “Twenty years ago I was able to get the care I needed. My three doctors told me this is the procedure I needed, that my life was at risk. I was able to go to my own hospital with my own doctor there, I didn’t have to leave my community,” Lands told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent. “And to think we’ve gone 20 years backwards. I can’t believe that. I’ve seen, in my lifetime, women make great strides in many areas. And, I’m just, I’m outraged that 20 years later women do not have the same freedoms and protections that I had.” Associated Press: Judge issues gag order barring Donald Trump from commenting on witnesses, others in hush money case Judge Juan M. Merchan’s decision, echoing a gag order in Trump’s Washington, D.C., election interference criminal case, came a day after he rejected the defense’s
JoriPress
Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.
Philip Bump/Washington Post:
The revamped Republican Party turns Trump’s lies into a loyalty test
In the 1,200-plus days since the election ended, no evidence has emerged of widespread or even significant electoral fraud. Instead, numerous theories elevated or embraced by Trump have been debunked. No election in American history has been scrutinized as robustly and ceaselessly as the 2020 contest. Nothing to suggest that the results were invalid or artificial has emerged.
But that observation comes from the real world, in which arguments are tested and abandoned when disproved. Donald Trump operates in Trumpworld, where reality is dependent on the views and positions of Donald Trump. And in Trumpworld, the idea that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud is accepted as fact, even though it isn’t.
Marc Caputo/The Bulwark:
“There is no breaking point with Donald Trump.”
The ex-president prepares to start his first criminal trial.
THE BEGINNING OF JURY SELECTION on April 15 will kick off ten of the most consequential days in modern presidential campaign legal history.
On April 16, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Fischer v. United States, which could limit the application of a federal statute used to charge Trump in two of the four counts in his January 6th election-interference case. On April 25, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Trump’s presidential immunity claims.
Of Trump’s four criminal cases, Bragg’s is the likeliest to be adjudicated before Election Day. Marital issues aside, it’s also the case that gives Trump the best chance to prevail, because while the facts of the case are relatively established, Bragg is attempting a relatively novel interpretation of criminal statutes. Even so: Prosecutors don’t often go to trial unless they have a good chance to win, and even Trump’s otherwise Pollyannaish team believes that the best he can hope for in deep-blue Manhattan is a hung jury.
Jill Lawrence/The Bulwark:
So You Want to Hire a Conservative Commentator...
After the Ronna McDaniel fiasco at NBC, how can news orgs find principled conservatives worth publishing and airing?
The temptation to hire big names like McDaniel is understandable, especially if—like NBC News—you have $300,000 lying around to pay her. Trump himself had the occasional byline on our page, and he was fact-checked. Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence wrote the “opposing view” in 2016 when the editorial board, breaking with USA Today tradition, said Trump was “unfit for the presidency.” Pence also wrote it in 2020 after we went even further and endorsed Biden—the first time in the paper’s history that the board endorsed a presidential candidate.
That election was, or should be, a line of demarcation. Before the Big Lie, and after it. Before the January 6th Capitol attack, and after it.
This Alabama Democrat Won a GOP Seat in Stunning Election. Here’s How.
Marilyn Lands defeated a Republican in a deep-red Alabama district. Her victory deserves more attention.
Lands secured a whopping 63 percent of the vote—a 26-point lead—by aggressively going against the grain, telling voters she supports a repeal of Alabama’s abortion bans while sharing her own experience with abortion two decades ago, when she received a devastating diagnosis: a genetic defect called trisomy.
“Twenty years ago I was able to get the care I needed. My three doctors told me this is the procedure I needed, that my life was at risk. I was able to go to my own hospital with my own doctor there, I didn’t have to leave my community,” Lands told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent. “And to think we’ve gone 20 years backwards. I can’t believe that. I’ve seen, in my lifetime, women make great strides in many areas. And, I’m just, I’m outraged that 20 years later women do not have the same freedoms and protections that I had.”
Judge issues gag order barring Donald Trump from commenting on witnesses, others in hush money case
Judge Juan M. Merchan’s decision, echoing a gag order in Trump’s Washington, D.C., election interference criminal case, came a day after he rejected the defense’s push to delay the Manhattan trial until summer and ordered it to begin April 15. If the date holds, it will be the first criminal trial of a former president.
“Given that the eve of trial is upon us, it is without question that the imminency of the risk of harm is now paramount,” Merchan wrote in a four-page decision granting the prosecution’s request for what it deemed a “narrowly tailored” gag order.
Trump's Bibles and the evolution of his messianic message
What we're watching: On the 2024 campaign trail, the religious undertones employed by Trump and his allies have grown more apocalyptic — even messianic — as his legal troubles have mounted.
- In one video shared on Truth Social and played at Trump's rallies, a narrator's voice booms: "On June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, 'I need a caretaker.' So God gave us Trump."
- On the first day of his New York civil fraud trial in October, Trump shared an AI-generated courtroom sketch depicting himself sitting next to Jesus.
- This week, Trump posted a message he said he received from a follower: "It's ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you."
The bottom line: 64% of Republicans view Trump as "a man of faith," according to a November poll by Deseret News — more than his former vice president and vocal evangelical Mike Pence.
Michael Daly/Daily Beast:
The Cynical Hypocrisy Behind Trump’s Visit to an NYPD Officer’s Wake
Donald Trump attended the wake of fallen NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller on Thursday, telling the crowd of media outside afterward, “Police are the greatest people.”
Anyone who thinks Trump truly believes that or that he was at the wake out of genuine respect should recall a campaign rally in Ohio earlier this month.
At the start of that March 16 event in Vandalia, Trump solemnly saluted as the sound system played a recording of the J6 Prison Choir singing the national anthem inside the District of Columbia jail.
