Friday Talking Points -- Biden Enters "First 100 Days" Homestretch In Good Shape

[ChrisWeigant]

President Joe Biden just had a pretty good week. And next week's going to be even better for him. Especially considering how far we've come since this time exactly one year ago.

In the past week alone, Biden and his administration chalked up the following achievements or milestones:

Biden has already reached his (doubled!) goal of 200 million vaccine shots into people's arms in his first 100 days in office -- a week early.

Over 41 percent of the American population has been vaccinated at least once, including over 51 percent of all those currently eligible (age 16 and up).

The average number of new infections has actually started to come down once again, and is once again lower than the peak of the second wave. It is still too high, but at least it is heading in the right direction once again. The average deaths per day seems to have plateaued at just below 750 -- again, too high, but a lot better than the peak of almost 3,500 deaths per day.

We are very close to -- and in some areas, already beyond -- the tipping point for vaccinations, where the supply of vaccine suddenly becomes greater than the demand. Once this point is reached (it will arrive at different times in different states), anyone who wants a shot should essentially be able to get one on the same day, with no (or very little) waiting. This is much earlier than most experts had predicted, which is a positive sign indeed.

President Biden held a successful Earth Day virtual summit with dozens of world leaders, where the rest of the world saw America begin to regain its leadership position on climate change and green energy.

Biden began the week by almost immediately realizing he had made a mistake, so the White House then corrected it and changed course. This is also leadership -- admitting when you get something wrong, and then rectifying the mistake (something entirely absent under the previous administration). More on this in a bit.

Despite Donald Trump's dire predictions of economic collapse under a Biden presidency, the economy is doing just fine. Trump, from one of the debates last year: "If [Joe Biden] gets in, you will have a depression the likes of which you've never seen. Your 401(k)s will go to hell and it'll be a very, very sad day for this country." The reality: since Biden became president, 1.3 million jobs have been created, the economy is headed for its best year since 1984, and the stock market is up more under Biden (16 percent) than it was when Trump first took office (10.5 percent).

Speaking of Trump, he actually had some praise for Joe Biden's announced Afghanistan withdrawal plan, calling it "a wonderful and positive thing." Trump did complain that Biden should have stuck to Trump's May 1 deadline, but generally approved of Biden's decision -- something few other Republicans managed to do.

You may not have even heard of Trump's praise for Biden, and there's a big fat reason for that. Because this week we all got to celebrate the first 100 days of Trump being banished from social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Some close confidants of Trump have reported that he has been somewhat relieved by not having to tweet all the time, and that it has actually relaxed him. The entire rest of the country echoes that sentiment as well.

In Congress, the D.C. statehood bill passed the House for only the second time in history, while an Asian-American hate crimes bill made it out of the Senate on an almost-unanimous vote (Senator Josh Hawley was the only Republican to vote against it, because of course he was). Biden's three nominees for the U.S.P.S. board -- who will hopefully quickly boot Louis DeJoy from the office of postmaster general -- moved forward in the Senate, as well.

Biden himself charted a higher approval rating among young voters this week than even Barack Obama ever managed, and Biden (and the rest of us) breathed a sigh of relief when the Minnesota jury returned three guilty verdicts for the murderer of George Floyd.

All in all, a pretty good week all around.

And just to remind everyone, one year ago today, Donald Trump said the following at a COVID-19 task force press briefing:

A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you're totally into that world. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous -- whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light -- and I think you said that that hasn't been checked, but you're going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that, too. It sounds interesting. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So if you're going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds interesting to me. So we'll see. But the whole concept of the light the way it kills it in one minute, that's pretty powerful.

That's right -- it's "Inject Bleach Day" and "Sunshine Where The Sun Don't Shine Day," boys and girls! [Warning: of course, nobody should inject any disinfectant into their bodies for any reason, ever, because it will probably kill you. As for sunshine up your skirt, well, that's a matter between you and your proctologist....] Now that we have a sane and competent president once again, such idiocy has returned to its natural lair -- rabid and unhinged cable news shows.

This statement has already gone down in history as one of (if not "the" ) stupidest things a president has ever said during a press conference, but then again Trump has absolutely cornered the market in this category -- he's easily taken at least the top ten or twenty places on the all-time list.

Next week, among other things, Joe Biden will roll out the second part of his Build Back Better agenda (to be called the "American Families Plan" ), which is being teased thusly:

While final numbers had not been determined, the largest efforts are expected to center on roughly $225 billion for child-care funding; $225 billion for paid family and medical leave; $200 billion for universal prekindergarten instruction; hundreds of billions in education funding, including tuition-free community colleges across the country; and other sums for nutritional assistance, the people familiar with the matter said.

The tax-credits section includes an extension of the expanded child tax credit through 2025, the people said.... The expanded child tax credit, which offers families $3,600 per young child and $3,000 per older child, was first approved in the $1.9 trillion [COVID-19] relief plan and is set to expire at the end of this year.

Once this plan is unveiled, Biden will deliver his first speech to a joint session of Congress. Normally, in the first year of a president's term, this is not actually referred to as a "State Of The Union speech," because normally it is delivered within weeks of the new president being sworn in. This year, however, it is really a distinction without a difference, since Biden will have been in office a full 99 days when he delivers it, and since he has already visibly taken the reins of power and changed America for the better during that period. So instead of just an aspirational speech, Biden will begin by touting what he has already achieved, before exhorting Congress to do more on his agenda. Or, to put it another way: a typical State Of The Union speech.

The day after Biden speaks will be his 100th day in office, which should generate an absolute flood of good press for him. So while this past week was indeed impressive, next week might prove to be even more so.

Let's see, what else is going on? How about a few Republican cruelty footnotes?

Two House members -- Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert -- voted against renewing the National Marrow Donor Program, a nationwide program that matches donors to people in desperate need of bone marrow. How could anyone in their right mind vote against such a program?

And as time goes by, more and more inspectors general reports are appearing, which shed light on just precisely how awful the Trump administration was about just about everything. The most recent of these proves what has long been suspected -- the Trump administration "put up bureaucratic obstacles" which "stalled approximately $20 billion in hurricane relief" for Puerto Rico. They then obstructed the investigation into the delays. This was all done under the sleepy-eyed watch of Ben Carson, who refused to be interviewed by the inspector general's office during the investigation.

And if that weren't shocking enough, it seems the United States Postal Service is, for some unfathomable reason, monitoring social media accounts of Americans, even when it has nothing whatsoever to do with protecting the mail. Here's the frightening story:

The Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP), part of the U.S.P.S. law enforcement arm, is one of seven groups that deal with cybercrime, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which says it targets the use of the mail to facilitate black market trade and other illegal activities related to drugs, fraud and violent crime. But that description neglects to mention that the group also tracks social media sites for "inflammatory" posts, including messages about planned protests.

"Analysts with the United States Postal Inspection Service (U.S.P.I.S.) Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) monitored significant activity regarding planned protests occurring internationally and domestically on March 20, 2021," said a March 16 government bulletin marked as "law enforcement sensitive" and distributed by the Department of Homeland Security. "Locations and times have been identified for these protests, which are being distributed online across multiple social media platforms, to include right-wing leaning Parler and Telegram accounts."

. . .

Civil liberties experts expressed concerns about the Postal Service's collection of social media posts.

"I don't understand why the government would go to the Postal Service for examining the internet for security issues," Geoffrey Stone, a University of Chicago law professor who was appointed by former President Barack Obama to review the National Security Agency's metadata collection, told Yahoo News.

"This seems a little bizarre," added Rachel Levinson-Waldman, deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice's liberty and national security program. "Based on the very minimal information that's available online, it appears that [iCOP] is meant to root out misuse of the postal system by online actors, which doesn't seem to encompass what's going on here. It's not at all clear why their mandate would include monitoring of social media that's unrelated to use of the postal system."

Levinson-Waldman also raised questions about the legality of the program.

"If the individuals they're monitoring are carrying out or planning criminal activity, that should be the purview of the F.B.I.," she said. "If they're simply engaging in lawfully protected speech, even if it's odious or objectionable, then monitoring them on that basis raises serious constitutional concerns."

It's one thing for the N.S.A. or F.B.I. to do this sort of thing, but the post office?!? Who thought that was a good idea? Biden can't get those new board members confirmed fast enough, it seems.

As usual, we'll end on a rather amusing note. It seems the temptation for celebrities to enter politics has grown due to Trump's success, as this week Caitlyn Jenner announced she would be running for California governor during the recall election. This isn't much of a worry, since few expect the recall effort to succeed, but it is notable since the last time the Golden State held a recall, we ended up with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Not to be outdone, Matthew McConaughey polled over ten points higher than the sitting governor of Texas in a recent survey. McConaughey is reportedly now seriously considering a run. So perhaps Texas will soon get a new governor who will promise to make everything "alright alright alright" in the Lone Star State? Hey, stranger things have happened. Just ask Jesse Ventura.





We have three Honorable Mention awards to give out before the big one this week. First, although it is not the first time he has done so, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is the highest-ranking Democrat ever to get fully on board with the effort to totally deschedule and legalize marijuana at the federal level. Schumer promised at least a floor vote on the bill, which simply wasn't possible with Mitch McConnell running things. And, of course, he picked the day for his announcement with great care:

Speaking on April 20 -- a folk holiday for marijuana enthusiasts -- Schumer said on the Senate floor that he planned to draft and advance Senate legislation "not only to end the federal prohibition on marijuana, but to ensure restorative justice, protect public health, and implement responsible taxes and regulations."

"It makes no sense. It's time for change. I believe the time has come to end the federal prohibition on marijuana in this country," he said, adding that strict federal penalties for cannabis have disproportionately hurt people of color who serve long jail sentences over possession of the drug and then struggle to obtain jobs because of their criminal records.

Schumer didn't used to support legalization, but he evolved on the issue after travelling to states that had already legalized it and just talking to lots of people there. In every case, they said essentially the same thing: the opposition had predicted the skies would fall and civilization would crumble if weed became legal, and in every instance this just did not happen.

Two House members also deserve Honorable Mention for fiercely pushing back on Jim Jordan's belligerent and disrespectful behavior in committee hearings. Jordan has made it one of his trademarks to prove to the world that he is the biggest anal sphincter in all of Congress. He treats committee hearings the same way he would a cable television interview. He talks whenever he feels the urge (despite rules which dictate who has the floor and who gets to speak without interruption), he thinks talking loudest and fastest wins all arguments, and he has zero respect for either the witnesses or the committee chair (to say nothing of his sneering contempt for Democrats luckless enough to share a committee with him).

It really should be up to the committee chairs to smack this guy down, but for some reason most of them fail to adequately do so. When the chair cuts in to Jordan after his time expires, Jordan immediately tries to pick a petty argument with the chair. When another congressman is given the floor, Jordan just keeps right on yapping.

Personally, we'd love to see some committee chair call in the House sergeant-at-arms and just have Jordan forcibly ejected for his refusal to follow civilized rules of debate, but we'll settle for what just happened instead. Representative Val Demings absolutely refused to put up with Jordan's insubordination, and then Representative Maxine Waters took it a step further:

Rep. Maxine Waters on Sunday said she told GOP Rep. Jim Jordan to "shut your mouth" during a hearing last week because the Ohio lawmaker was not respecting other lawmakers on the panel and was bullying the panel's witness, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The brief exchange between the California Democrat and Jordan (R-Ohio), which took place during a House coronavirus subcommittee hearing, quickly became a viral video clip. In it, Jordan repeatedly seeks to question the top infectious disease doctor after his time expires.

"Your time has expired, sir," Waters tells Jordan as he continues to press Fauci. "You need to respect the chair and shut your mouth."

Waters told Jonathan Capehart, host of MSNBC's The Sunday Show, that she saw Jordan as seeking to bully Fauci, adding: "There was an attempt to basically shut him down by Congressman Jordan."

"We only have five minutes each. And he does not respect the chair. He does not respect the other members. He speaks over time," Waters said, accusing Jordan of attempting to undermine Fauci and Democrats.

Waters is right. Jordan needs being told to "shut up" much more often, in fact. On a regular basis, until he changes his rude and disrespectful ways. So we feel Honorable Mention awards are in line for both of these no-nonsense congresswomen.

But our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week is Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Ellison personally took over the job of overseeing the prosecution of Derek Chauvin (now "the convicted murderer of George Floyd" ), after questions were raised about the prosecutor originally assigned to the case. And, obviously, Ellison did a stellar job of it.

The jury took less than eleven hours to return a guilty verdict on all three counts -- which is blindingly fast for such a major case with such serious crimes. This was likely due to two major factors, the first being all the video of those horrific nine-and-a-half minutes, which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt (certainly beyond "reasonable doubt" ) that Chauvin was, in fact, guilty of murdering Floyd.

But the second big factor was that the "blue wall of silence" did not hold. Other police officers -- including those of the highest rank -- testified for the prosecution. That is rare, in such cases. Incredibly rare. So Ellison should deserve praise for whatever he did to make this happen.

As previously mentioned, the vast majority of America heaved a giant sigh of relief when the verdicts were read. The media had already provided an overwhelming amount of coverage of the case (since video cameras were allowed in the courtroom), and they all broke in to cover the jury's verdict live.

Of course, being the media, then they all had to hide their thinly-veiled disappointment that the entire rest of that day's news cycles didn't feature protests, violence, or even rioting in the streets -- which the media were fully primed and prepared for.

But in the end, justice was served. And Attorney General Keith Ellison deserves a lot of the credit for ensuring that that happened, which is why he is our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week.

[Congratulate Minnesota Attorney General on his official contact page, to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]





To begin with, we did not for a moment consider either Nancy Pelosi or Maxine Waters for any negative award this week. Republicans tried to twist things they said right before and right after the jury's verdict was read, but in both cases they were attempting to make a partisan mountain out of a molehill. Personally, we didn't take this bait.

We do have two (Dis-)Honorable Mention awards this week, though. The first is for Senator Joe Manchin who -- long before a Democratic primary would even have been held -- gave a full-throated endorsement to Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in her 2022 re-election bid. This is just more of Manchin being Manchin, and flexing his outsized power in a 50-50 Senate.

Representative Jim Clyburn also deserves a (Dis-)Honorable Mention, for refusing to take his medicine. No, not the vaccine, his $5,000 fine for skipping the metal detectors outside the House floor.

Now, there is a very obvious problem with the way these security checkpoints are set up. Members of Congress are apparently subjected to being searched not only when they first arrive at the House floor, but also after every time they go to the bathroom. There seems a very obvious fix to this problem -- move the checkpoint back and include at least one set of bathrooms inside the secure area. Airports figured this out a long time ago, after all the post-9/11 changes, so it's not like this is rocket science or anything.

Anyway, here's what happened with Clyburn:

House Majority Whip James Clyburn is facing a possible $5,000 fine for evading the metal detectors off the House floor, which are part of the security protocols House Speaker Nancy Pelosi enacted after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

The South Carolina Democrat was caught going around the detectors after he used the bathroom during a vote on Tuesday. If found guilty of violating the House's security rules, Clyburn -- a senior member of Democratic leadership -- would be the first Democrat to be fined under the new metal detector protocols.

. . .

Multiple House Republicans have faced the $5,000 fine, including one GOP member who similarly exited the chamber to use the same nearby bathroom. If Clyburn is not ultimately fined, it could spark a major issue in the chamber as Republicans are likely to question why they faced fines but not Clyburn. House Republicans voted against the fines in February.

Clyburn entered the House floor on Tuesday through an entrance that faces the Capitol Rotunda. He was wanded by security, according to a source familiar with the matter, who noted that he then voted, before exiting through a different door to go to the bathroom that is outside of the House Speaker's lobby. When he left the bathroom, Clyburn walked to his Capitol Police detail, who were speaking with the officer at the magnetometer in the Speaker's Lobby. They went around the metal detector to return onto the House floor, the source said.

Fair is fair. It does not matter whether this was intentional or inadvertent. If Republicans are getting fined for this behavior, then Democrats need to be fined just as consistently. That's the only real defensible position to take.

But Clyburn says he'll appeal the decision, which is a political headache for Democrats. He should instead promise never to do it again and put himself forward as an example to the other Democrats never to forget to go through security, ever. If Democrats are going to take this moral high road, then they must be consistent and evenhanded about it.

But the winner of this week's Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week is Senator Kyrsten Sinema, for a photo she posted to social media. After seeing it, you'll want to double-check that she is an actual United States senator and not some twentysomething desperately trying to look cool to her friends. Because that is exactly the vibe the photo exudes.

It shows Sinema drinking what looks an awful lot like sangria through a "just look at how cool I am!" bendy straw, in an outfit seemingly color-coordinated with the wine itself (including an "I am so darn hip!" hat). But the worst thing about this photo was noticed by an eagle-eyed reporter at Politico.

Link to tweet

Sinema is wearing a ring that, upon close examination, reads: "Fuck off."

Once again, we remind everyone, this is a United States senator, not some desperate teen on spring break. Think we're exaggerating? Look at the photo and decide for yourself.

For us, that photo didn't have to speak 1,000 words to win Sinema this week's Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week, it really only required two words for that.

[Contact Senator Kyrsten Sinema on her Senate contact page, to let her know what you think of her actions.]




Volume 615 (4/23/21)

Yes, it's that time of week once again, where we suggest a short list of talking points for all Democrats to use, whether being interviewed on national television or just around the water cooler at work. A varied bunch this week with no particular theme. So sit back, relax, and enjoy....



How refreshing!

There's a larger point to this story.

"The White House announced last Friday that President Joe Biden would not be raising the number of refugees admitted to America this year, instead keeping in place the tiny 15,000 cap that Donald Trump had instituted. After some rather fierce pushback from Democrats and immigration advocates, however, the White House realized their mistake and on the same day announced that Biden would indeed raise the cap for this year. His initial pledge was to raise it to 62,500 this year and 125,000 the next, so this is a welcome course-correction. But what heartened me is that we once again have a president who is capable of admitting error and who is also politically secure enough to then change course as a direct result. After the previous four years, I find that incredibly refreshing, don't you?"



If this is Hell...

It's not time for a "mission accomplished" moment quite yet, but this drum still could use a little beating.

"Donald Trump predicted that if Joe Biden became president, and I quote, 'you will have a depression the likes of which you've never seen,' and warned 'your 401(k)s will go to Hell.' OF course, as with just about everything Trump ever predicted, none of that came true. Joe Biden has been president for almost 100 days. The economy is roaring back, mostly due to the efficiency of the Biden vaccine distribution program. The stock market is up 16 percent -- half again as high as Trump managed during the same period (which was only 10.5 percent). Over a million Americans have gone back to work. The economy is projected to grow faster this year than any year since Ronald Reagan was president. So I guess 'Hell' isn't such a bad place after all, eh?"



Except for, you know, Wyoming

What was she thinking?

"Wyoming's only House member -- because it is such a low-population state -- stood behind another Republican this week who was trying to come up with some other reason to deny statehood to Washington D.C. than the obvious one (racism). While Nancy Mace tried to make the case that D.C. 'wouldn't even qualify as a singular congressional district,' Liz Cheney stood behind her in support. This would not have been remarkable except for the fact that the entire state of Wyoming has 100,000-plus fewer people living in it than does D.C. So Cheney's appearance only served to point out what a ridiculous argument the Republicans have settled upon."



Anglo-Saxon Caucus stillborn

They're increasingly just coming out and saying the quiet parts out loud, folks.

"The so-called America First Caucus idea was quickly shelved this week, as well it should have been. The founding document defined the caucus as one having a, quote, common respect for Anglo-Saxon culture, unquote, as well as praising 'European architecture' as being 'stunningly, classically beautiful.' Prominent Republicans trotted out their usual fictions, such as the following from Kevin McCarthy: 'The Republican Party is the party of Lincoln & the party of more opportunity for all Americans -- not nativist dog whistles.' Liz Cheney added her opinion as well: 'Racism, nativism, and anti-Semitism are evil. History teaches we all have an obligation to confront & reject such malicious hate.' Well, one would certainly like to think so, at any rate. I mean, really, I'm surprised they didn't want to name it the 'Aryan Caucus.' And as for what the Republican Party tolerates by way of racism and nativist dog whistles, I would point them to just about any statement on the subject from Donald Trump. Didn't notice much 'rejecting' of any of that from the GOP, did you? That shoe may be ugly, but it certainly fits and some in the GOP want to proudly wear it, it seems."



Three's a riot

Much like the voter suppression bills, there is another movement underway in Republican statehouses across the country that needs calling out.

"The state of Florida just passed a new law which defines a 'riot' as three people committing a breach of the peace. Two's company, three's a riot, I suppose, at least in the Sunshine State. If (gasp!) nine people are involved, the crime escalates to 'aggravated rioting,' with much harsher penalties. People arrested for alleged rioting would be denied release and must stay in jail until they see a judge. Confederate monuments now get special protections. And counter to standard Republican dogma, if a city or town in Florida decides to save money by reducing its budget for the police, the governor can override them. This is an obvious overreaction to the Black Lives Matter protests, and should be seen for exactly what it is -- just more ways to lock as many Black people up as possible."



Or you can just run them over

This is just flat-out insane.

"Remember the woman killed by a white-supremacist driver in Charlottesville, Virginia? Well, as far as the Republican Party is concerned, such vehicular manslaughter should no longer be considered a crime at all. In both Florida and Oklahoma, they're making it fully legal for drivers to just run over people peacefully protesting. The Oklahoma law states that drivers 'shall not be criminally or civilly liable for the injury or death if... [it] occurred while the motor vehicle driver was fleeing from a riot.' Seriously -- they're legalizing using your car to murder protesters. Strange how Republicans leap to defend police officers who shoot people using their cars to threaten cops, but want to allow drivers to use the same deadly force against protesters. If these laws were in place in Virginia, then assumably no crime would even have been committed in Charlottesville. This is completely insane, people -- not to mention evil -- and it is not worthy of a supposedly civilized society."



Y'all can vote... if you vote right, that is...

Again, they're just not even bothering with dog whistles any more.

"At the ceremony where the governor signed the new anti-protesting law in Florida, a local sheriff clarified what the real goal of the Florida Republican Party truly is in all of this. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd actually said the following: 'We're a special place, and there are millions and millions of people who like to come here. And quite frankly, we like to have them here. We only want to share one thing as you move in hundreds a day. Welcome to Florida, but don't register to vote and vote the stupid way you did up north, or you'll get what they got.' Or, to put it slightly differently: as long as you vote for Republicans, everything will be just fine and dandy. But if you vote stupid, then watch out. Nothing like a supposedly-impartial lawman showing his true colors, eh?"




Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com
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