GOP Beware: Bragg’s Case Is Just the Start of Trump’s Legal Jeopardy

[Daily Kos Morning Roundup]( A morning roundup of worthy pundit and news reads, brought to you by Daily Kos. [Click here to read the full web version.]( - [GOP Beware: Bragg’s Case Is Just the Start of Trump’s Legal Jeopardy]( GOP Beware: Bragg’s Case Is Just the Start of Trump’s Legal Jeopardy, Andrew C McCarthy, National Review Don’t be fooled by snapshot polls showing Trump beating Biden — which Democrats are hyping because, for now, they want us to think he can win. He can’t. Don’t allow the intensity of Trump’s base supporters to mask how deeply unpopular he is with the country writ large. He had consistently low job-approval ratings as president — reaching 49 percent a couple of times but generally staying in the low 40s and going down to 34 by the time he left office (which actually seemed high under the circumstances). It was a statistical miracle that he won in 2016 — with just 46 percent of the vote in, substantially, a two-candidate race. Trump could never again win a national election after the 2020 coup attempt, the Capitol riot, and his continued delusional insistence that reelection was stolen from him. Moreover, the demagogic riffs that make MAGA crowds swoon — and that Trump doubled down on at this week’s Mar-a-Lago rally (because why wouldn’t an arraignment be the occasion for a rally?) — are exactly what most Americans find deeply disturbing about him. If he’s the nominee, the Democrats will retain the White House by ten points or more, with the tide sweeping the Senate and the House their way, too. Trump would have you believe he’s your crusader against wokeness. Down here on Planet Earth, he’s wokeness’s big chance to cement its reign. - [A Zealot Judge Has Ordered a Nationwide Abortion Pill Ban]( A Zealot Judge Has Ordered a Nationwide Abortion Pill Ban, Elie Mystal, The Nation Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling threw the fate of mifepristone into question. The case is likely headed to the Supreme Court within days. To get to this ruling, Kacsmaryk didn’t just have to agree with the fake science cooked up by forced-birth activists against the drug; he also had to invent a bunch of legal gobbledygook to find a reason for the activists to challenge the FDA process in the first place. Normally, the only people who have standing to sue the government are those who are harmed by a government action. But the case against mifepristone was brought by a group called “Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine,” formed three months after the Supreme Court revoked the right to choose in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The Intercept found that this group is just a front for a bunch of Christian-aligned forced-birth “medical” organizations that regularly challenge abortion rights. Among its members: the Catholic Medical Association, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Coptic Medical Association of North America, and the American College of Pediatricians. - [Our readers and activists donating a few dollars at a time is what keeps Daily Kos operating. Can you support Daily Kos and donate $3?]( - [The ‘Tennessee 3’ saga highlights the GOP retreat into Fortress MAGA]( The ‘Tennessee 3’ saga highlights the GOP retreat into Fortress MAGA, Greg Sargent, The Washington Post At bottom, this hysterical GOP overreaction was triggered, as it were, by mass citizen dissent over the ugly realities of right-wing rule. Before the shooting, Tennessee Republicans had been weakening gun laws every which way. After it, one Republican went viral for declaring that “we’re not going to fix” the problem, which for many protesters typified GOP pro-gun mania and helped inspire their response to it. All of this mirrors a larger story. Red states are sinking deeper into virulent far-right culture-warring — banning books, limiting classroom discussion of race and gender and prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender youth. GOP legislatures passing these things were of course legitimately elected by majorities, though in some cases gerrymanders increase their power. - [Trump’s indictment and the return of his biggest concern: ‘the women’]( Trump’s indictment and the return of his biggest concern: ‘the women’, Martin Pengelly, The Guardian To the New York writer Molly Jong-Fast, host of the Fast Politics podcast, there is a some sense of poetic justice in Trump finally facing a legal reckoning in cases arising from his treatment of women. But, Jong-Fast says: “The thing I’m sort of struck by is, like, how much women continually are dismissed, even in this situation. “There’s so much talk about the Stormy Daniels case, there was so little talk about actually what happened, right? There was almost nothing about how he was married to his third wife [Melania Trump], and she had just had a child [Barron Trump], and he had this affair. He denies the affair but the affair is pretty much documented. “That’s as close to truth in Trumpworld as possible. But we’re discussing the nuances of who paid the hush money and whether or not that’s a campaign contribution, and whether that rises to a federal crime. “That can be argued, but I was surprised at how little focus women had in it. How nobody was talking about like, this is a serial philanderer who has the kind of problems that serial philanderers have. “The filing talked about how he had paid off this doorman, about the illegitimate child. I guess that may have been not true … but like, you don’t pay off somebody unless you have a sense that this could actually be true. - [Show your support for progressive, independent news with a Daily Kos t-shirt—they're union decorated and made in the USA! Click here to get yours]( - [GOP wages an asymmetrical war on democracy because it can’t get the votes]( GOP wages an asymmetrical war on democracy because it can’t get the votes, Will Bunch, The Philadelphia Inquirer The expulsion of two Black Tennessee lawmakers capped a dangerous week when Democrats won elections and the GOP waged war on democracy. It was the highlight reel of what should have been a banner week for American democracy — scores of down vest-wearing, smartphone-gazing students at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in a line that snaked around every corner of a campus building as they waited to cast a ballot for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. When the votes were tallied at the end of the night, some 883 people had cast ballots at the campus polling place — more than any other precinct in Eau Claire, and nearly six times as many as voted there in a similar election four years earlier. And 87% of the students had voted for Democrat Janet Protasiewicz — perhaps a rejection of her Republican opponent Dan Kelly’s lifelong opposition to abortion and his work trying to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. The surge in young-voter turnout was a key reason why Protasiewicz won a landslide, 11-point victory in a key swing state that Biden had only won by just over 20,000 votes three years earlier. Overall, the turnout for a race to decide the balance of power on the Badger State’s highest court set a record for a nonpresidential year, but the GOP’s Kelly wasn’t hearing the chimes of freedom. He all but called the Democrat’s victory illegitimate. - [The Ties That Blind]( The Ties That Blind, Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch With no other frame of reference, young conservatives are starting to think it’s normal to be jerks. Which brings me back to those stupid ties. Everywhere I look these days, I see young conservatives believing they should behave like jerks or like the body parts they cover with those red ties. Because they have no frame of reference, no meaningful political experience or memory of politics prior to this shabby era, they think being shabby is normal and smart. Last week, the New York Republican Club issued a moronic and monstrous statement in solidarity with Donald Trump. In response to my criticism these domestic birds of prey behaved monstrously and moronically. (I won’t link to it because attention is the currency they covet.) I’ve since learned that the D.C. chapter of the Young Republicans is equally asinine, embracing the goons and dupes who stormed the Capitol as martyrs and political prisoners. Indeed, they’ve literally ditched the Republican elephant in favor of a silhouette of Donald Trump. I don’t call attention to this because I think they are somehow worthy intellectual adversaries or anything like that. Rather, I call attention to it because it’s evidence that the corruption of conservatism isn’t just bad for conservatism—which it obviously is—but because it’s bad for these kids. Surrounding yourself with people who think it’s a sign of courage and strength to be coarse or bigoted is how you become coarse and bigoted. ICYMI: Popular stories from the past week you won't want to miss: - [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene F-s around in New York City and finds out]( - [Colorado conservatives resign from school board after CRT hysteria swallows them up in harassment]( - [We're about to witness something that could vastly change the future, and absolutely no one is ready]( Want even more Daily Kos? Check out our podcasts: - [The Brief: A one-hour weekly political conversation hosted by Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld]( - [The Downballot: Daily Kos' podcast devoted to downballot elections. New episodes every Thursday]( 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](, [Twitter](, and [Instagram](. Thanks for all you do, The Daily Kos team Daily Kos Relies on Readers Like You We don't have billionaire backers like some right-wing media outlets. Half our revenue comes from readers like you, meaning we literally couldn't do this work without you. 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