Right-wing judges may cripple the GOP

[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.]( - [Right-wing judges may cripple the GOP]( Right-wing judges may cripple the GOP, Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post Given that [Matthew] Kacsmaryk’s decision has heaped fuel onto the conflagration caused by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Republicans might want to ponder: Is the right-wing judiciary as a whole a threat to the MAGA movement’s viability? It is one thing to gin up the base on invented threats from critical race theory or the “great replacement theory.” But when the MAGA movement’s judges begin to inflict radically unpopular edicts on those outside the right-wing audience, that risks sparking a counter-response: a determined, broad-based movement insistent that the United States not turn the clock back on decades of social progress. Republican setbacks such as the disappointing 2022 midterms, a progressive Democrat last week winning a crucial Wisconsin Supreme Court seat and rising support for abortion rights over the past year suggest that conservatives may have won the battle to stack the courts with ideologues but might be losing the war for public opinion and, ultimately, electoral control. - [The Racial Element of Trump’s Attacks on His Prosecutors]( The Racial Element of Trump’s Attacks on His Prosecutors, Jill Lawrence, The Bulwark Why it matters that he calls them “racist” and “animal.” Trump’s brand is spewing abuse, and he certainly has not spared Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel handling the investigations into the Mar-a-Lago documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including the January 6th Capitol attack. Trump has called Smith, who is white, “a terrorist,” a “THUG,” a “fully weaponized monster,” a “Mad Dog Psycho,” and a “hit man” for Democrats “who may very well turn out to be a criminal.” But the way Trump goes after black and Hispanic prosecutors and judges poses a special menace because of the example he sets—the permission structure he creates—for white nationalism, white supremacy, racism, antisemitism, and immigrant-bashing. There’s no forgetting any of it, from “very fine people on both sides,” to “shithole countries” like Haiti and African nations, to insulting black people as low-IQ, to “stand back and stand by,” to dining at Mar-a-Lago with Nick Fuentes, an antisemitic white supremacist. - [2023 has gotten off to a rough financial start for Daily Kos. Our revenue is down and we need to lean more and more on our readers and activists to cover our expenses. Can you help by donating $3 right now?]( - [Pressured by Their Base on Abortion, Republicans Strain to Find a Way Forward]( Pressured by Their Base on Abortion, Republicans Strain to Find a Way Forward, Jonathan Weisman, The New York Times Some in the party are urging compromise, warning of dire electoral consequences for 2024, while other stances, on guns and gay rights, also risk turning off moderates. Republican leaders have followed an emboldened base of conservative activists into what increasingly looks like a political cul-de-sac on the issue of abortion — a tightly confined absolutist position that has limited their options ahead of the 2024 election season, even as some in the party push for moderation. - [Republicans still have no idea what to do about abortion in 2024]( Republicans still have no idea what to do about abortion in 2024, David Weigel, Semafor One week after Democrats flipped the Wisconsin supreme court with an abortion-focused campaign, and days before Kacsmaryk’s order goes into effect, most Republicans are reluctant to discuss the issue and the stakes. (The Biden administration is appealing the decision, and pill manufacturers are suing for a temporary stay.) “You’d have never seen this two years ago, this total fear of the issue,” said Jon Schweppe, the policy director at the social conservative American Principles Project. “My worry, to be honest, is that this gets decided in the presidential primary in a way that hurts the pro-life movement.” DAVID'S VIEW: Republicans are trapped in a machine they switched on, but can’t switch off. Abortion remains a front-of-mind issue for voters, with no clarity on what the leading Republican candidates for presidents would do about it if elected. The problem, for those candidates, is that the issue’s moving on three separate tracks. In federal courts, thanks to Trump-era appointments, conservatives have judges and majorities who’ll approve maximalist restrictions, like Kacsmaryk, with lifetime appointments and no voter accountability. In states, every election can now determine what kinds of abortions are legal — as in Wisconsin, where Justice-elect Janet Protasiewicz said she’d overturn the state’s 1849 ban, and Republicans dithered over their response, never passing an updated law with exceptions after suggesting they could. In federal politics, that dithering has intensified. Republican presidential candidates are mostly avoiding the topic for now, but will face pressure to win over anti-abortion evangelical voters in Iowa and South Carolina with tougher stances and more specifics. - [Daily Kos hats are here just in time for spring. Click here to get yours.]( - [Meet the young Democrats waging war on MAGA from behind enemy lines]( Meet the young Democrats waging war on MAGA from behind enemy lines, Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman, The Washington Post Catalyzing events in U.S. history have a tendency to shape generations of public officials. In the 1920s, Prohibition and the GOP’s depression economics gave rise to the New Deal Democrats. Racial and cultural repression in the mid-20th century spawned classes of lawmakers fighting for the “rights revolution.” In the 1970s, the Vietnam War and Watergate inspired the antiwar “Watergate babies” to run for Congress. It might be happening again: The reactionary turn underway in many red states is beginning to shape a new generation of young Democratic officials, many of whom will one day be the party’s leaders. In these red states, young Democrats are entering local politics and developing public presences in response to the far-right culture-warring unleashed by GOP majorities. New restrictions on abortion and the growing right-wing backlash to LGBTQ rights are radicalizing a wave of Democratic public servants who mostly hail from the Gen Z and millennial generations. - [US support for LGBTQ rights grows even as gap widens between Democrats and Republicans, survey says]( US support for LGBTQ rights grows even as gap widens between Democrats and Republicans, survey says, Marc Ramirez, USA Today “Familiarity makes people more accepting of those rights,” said Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, the nonpartisan group that conducted the poll. “When you look at Generation Z, more younger people are identifying as part of that movement, so as Americans become exposed to more LGBTQ people, it’s having the effect of making them more supportive.” ICYMI: Popular stories from the past week you won't want to miss: - [Trump hire causes civil war between MTG and another white nationalist]( - [Tennessee House speaker who pushed to expel Democrats needs to answer questions about where he lives]( - [We're about to witness something that could vastly change the future, and absolutely no one is ready]( Want even more Daily Kos? 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