[Daily Kos Morning Roundup](
[Abbreviated Pundit Roundup]( is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet. - [Judge issues gag order barring Donald Trump from commenting on witnesses, others in hush money case]( Judge Juan M. Merchanâs decision, echoing a gag order in Trumpâs Washington, D.C., election interference criminal case, came a day after he rejected the defenseâs 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. âGiven that the eve of trial is upon us, it is without question that the imminency of the risk of harm is now paramount,â Merchan wrote in a four-page decision granting the prosecutionâs request for what it deemed a ânarrowly tailoredâ gag order.
- [Daily Kos is $71,513 away from our monthly goal. Can you donate $5 now to help us close the books on March?]( - [The Cynical Hypocrisy Behind Trumpâs Visit to an NYPD Officerâs Wake]( Donald Trump attended the wake of fallen NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller on Thursday, telling the crowd of media outside afterward, âPolice are the greatest people.â 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.
- [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 ifâlike NBC Newsâyou 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 âopposing viewâ in 2016 when the editorial board, breaking with USA Today tradition, said Trump was âunfit for the presidency.â Pence also wrote it in 2020 after we went even further and endorsed Bidenâthe first time in the paperâs 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.
- [âThere is no breaking point with Donald Trump.â]( 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 Trumpâs presidential immunity claims. Of Trumpâs four criminal cases, Braggâs is the likeliest to be adjudicated before Election Day. Marital issues aside, itâs 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 donât often go to trial unless they have a good chance to win, and even Trumpâs otherwise Pollyannaish team believes that the best he can hope for in deep-blue Manhattan is a hung jury.
- [This Alabama Democrat Won a GOP Seat in Stunning Election. Hereâs 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 voteâa 26-point leadâby aggressively going against the grain, telling voters she supports a repeal of Alabamaâs abortion bans while sharing her own experience with abortion two decades ago, when she received a devastating diagnosis: a genetic defect called trisomy. âTwenty 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 didnât have to leave my community,â Lands told The New Republicâs Greg Sargent. âAnd to think weâve gone 20 years backwards. I canât believe that. Iâve seen, in my lifetime, women make great strides in many areas. And, Iâm just, Iâm outraged that 20 years later women do not have the same freedoms and protections that I had.â
- [Good for the environment and the country: Carry your groceries home in our reusable, union-decorated Daily Kos bagâmade in the USA!]( - [The revamped Republican Party turns Trumpâs 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 isnât. Want to write your own stories? [Log in]( or [sign up]( to post articles and comments on Daily Kos, the nation's largest progressive community. Follow Daily Kos on [Facebook](, [Threads](, and [Instagram](. Thanks for all you do,
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