Investigators detail years of alleged misconduct by Texas AG Ken Paxton in stunning House committee hearing

[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.]( - [Investigators detail years of alleged misconduct by Texas AG Ken Paxton in stunning House committee hearing]( Investigators detail years of alleged misconduct by Texas AG Ken Paxton in stunning House committee hearing, Zach Despart and James Barragán, Texas Tribune In painstaking and methodical detail in a rare public forum, four investigators for the House General Investigating Committee testified that they believe Paxton broke numerous state laws, misspent office funds and misused his power to benefit a friend and political donor. Their inquiry focused first on a proposed $3.3 million agreement to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by four high-ranking deputies who were fired after accusing Paxton of accepting bribes and other misconduct. Committee Chair Andrew Murr said the payout, which the Legislature would have to authorize, would also prevent a trial at which evidence of Paxton’s alleged misdeeds would be presented publicly. Committee members questioned, in essence, if lawmakers were being asked to participate in a cover-up. “It is alarming and very serious having this discussion when millions of taxpayer dollars have been asked to remedy what is alleged to be some wrongs,” Murr said. “That’s something we have to grapple with. It’s challenging.” - [The Debt-Ceiling Crisis Is Christmas Morning for Ratfckers]( The Debt-Ceiling Crisis Is Christmas Morning for Ratfckers, Charles Pierce, Esquire Trembling with fear about "blowing up" the debt ceiling ignores the obvious fact that it's already been blown up as a viable instrument of policy and has been ever since the Republicans realized it could be used as a cudgel against any Democratic president's ability to perform the duties of the office. The political basis for the debt-ceiling law is as dead as the Treaty of Versailles. All McCarthy and the Insane Crazy Caucus are doing now is making the rubble bounce to what should be a familiar rhythm. What the president needs to do is to disrupt that rhythm, a task for which resorting to the 14th Amendment is uniquely suited. On Wednesday, a hearing will be held in federal court right here in the Commonweath (God save it!) next Wednesday on whether or not the president can use the provisions of the 14th to deal with the extortionate Republican strategy. The hearing will be held in the context of a lawsuit filed by the National Association of Government Employees, a union made up of federal workers. NAGE wants to make sure its membership will get paid if the federal budget continues to be held hostage... - [Daily Kos needs your help. In hopes of offsetting some revenue deficits, we had to increase our fundraising goals. Can you chip in $5?]( - [Left-behind polling memo shows abortion hurting outlook for GOP]( Left-behind polling memo shows abortion hurting outlook for GOP, Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call In the latest chapter of what seems to be a long-running series about Roll Call getting ahold of things people shouldn’t leave behind, a binder from a conference an outside group held for top GOP Senate staffers at a West Virginia resort had some cautionary signs about the 2024 climate. [...] “There has been a 6 point swing in the last year on the Generic Senate ballot from R+3 to D+3. This movement is [led] overwhelmingly by Independent and NEW voters that identify abortion as one of their top issues,” according to a “National Issue Study” by co/efficient, which was in the news recently as one of the pollsters for Kentucky Republican gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron. The poll, conducted April 20-24, had similar findings on the House side. “There has been a 10 point swing in the last year on the Generic House Ballot from R+6 to D+4. This movement is [led] overwhelmingly by Independent and NEW voters that identify abortion as one of their top issues,” it said on slide seven. “Reproductive Freedom is the #1 issue among those that DID NOT vote in 2020.” - [Scared of School: Even in States With Protective Laws, LGBTQ Students Are Reporting Attacks from Other Kids — and Teachers]( Scared of School: Even in States With Protective Laws, LGBTQ Students Are Reporting Attacks from Other Kids — and Teachers, Beth Hawkins, The 74 It’s no surprise that queer students in Republican-dominated stateswhere these laws have passed are profoundly impacted. But less visible is the dramatic effect the steady drumbeat of headlines has had on youth in places with even strong anti-discrimination laws. Newly released data from the advocacy groups GLSEN and The Trevor Project show increases in hostility, victimization and discrimination experienced by students in blue states as well as red. [...] In California — where the first gay couples married in 2008 and schools began teaching LGBTQ history a decade ago — a statewide survey of students found that the number who reported hearing homophobic remarks from adults in school rose from 12% in 2019 to 49% in 2021. That’s an increase of 408%. In Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage has been recognized for almost 20 years, the number of youth exposed to anti-LGBT remarks is up 686% over the same time frame. In Minnesota, where queer youth are protected by strong human rights laws, the number is up 520%. In Connecticut, it’s 482%. In New Hampshire, 545%. - [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]( - [Unprepared Republicans Are Flooding Into the Presidential Race]( Unprepared Republicans Are Flooding Into the Presidential Race, Charles Blow, The New York Times Yet many Republican commentators and donors, who’ve been desperate to move on from the toxicity of Trump, landed on DeSantis when casting about for alternatives. They inflated his ego, convincing him his big-footing in Florida made him formidable. He appears to be banking on Trump fatigue, or maybe Trump’s legal problems piling so high that even the former president’s most ardent supporters come to the conclusion that he is too encumbered to prevail. If he can’t outpace Trump, he’ll lie in wait to catch him limping. He’s not alone in that lane. The candidates (or potential candidates) Mike Pence, Asa Hutchinson and Chris Sununu — all current or former governors — occupy the same lane. They are the in-case-of-emergency-break-glass cohort: If Trump winds up on the path to prison and Republicans must scrounge for a last-minute replacement, they’re hoping that voters see them as solid substitutes. They’re positioned as candidates who can deliver on Republican policy priorities without Trump’s baggage and Trump’s drama — but Trump’s drama is the thing that many of his supporters are addicted to. The policies are welded to the persona. - [Ron DeSantis 2024 announcement takeaways]( Ron DeSantis 2024 announcement takeaways, Aaron Blake, The Washington Post In other words: You can have Trump — even a better version of him — without actual Trump and all the baggage and chaos that comes with him. It’s the “Trumpism without Trump” argument we’ve suspected might surface, paired with a ding on Trump’s ability to lead. This is the conceit that makes the most sense for DeSantis’s campaign. We know that Trump has reinvented the Republican Party in his image. We know that it’s hugely difficult to actually attack Trump on the substance (that’s a recipe for excommunication from the party). Better to argue you’d be a better version of what people have signaled they already want. Effectuating that argument is another matter, as is its sustainability. DeSantis’s political operation already stumbled in making the case after Trump’s most high-profile recent event, the CNN town hall. Trump’s team is pressing the idea that there are real differences, including on tax policy and Social Security, despite Trump having once taken similar positions. (Trump’s super PAC launched an ad featuring DeSantis saying in 2018, “I voted contrary to him in the Congress.”) There will be pressure on DeSantis to draw his own actual contrasts. Haley devoted much of Wednesday to pushing him on precisely that, even dinging him for supposedly copying Trump’s mannerisms. 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