The Commentariat -- February 9, 2021

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times is liveblogging the first day of Trump's second impeachment trial here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. The Guardian's liveblog, which also covers other topics, is here.

Rosalind Helderman & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump was 'horrified' when violence broke out at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, as a joint session of Congress convened to confirm that he lost the election, according to his defense attorneys.... But that revisionist history conflicts with the timeline of events on the day of the Capitol riot, as well as accounts of multiple people in contact with the president that day, who have said Trump was initially pleased to see a halt in the counting of the electoral college votes. Some former White House officials have acknowledged that he only belatedly and reluctantly issued calls for peace, after first ignoring public and private entreaties to do so." The report relies on anonymous White House sources, but also cites Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ben Sasse & Mike Lee contradicting assertions Trump was concerned about the violence. "By 1:49 p.m. -- nearly an hour after the Capitol Police chief had urgently requested backup from D.C. police -- Trump remained focused on his recently concluded speech. He tweeted a video of his own remarks, adding the caption, 'Our country has had enough, we will not take it anymore, and that's what this is all about.'... At 2:24 p.m., [13 minutes after his supporters breached the building,] Trump tweeted: 'Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution ... USA demands the truth.'... While Trump's defense attorneys claim he and the White House 'took immediate steps to coordinate with authorities,' the president played no known role in organizing reinforcements that day."

Hayley Miller of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump falsely claimed more than 100 times that Democrats had 'rigged' or 'stolen' the 2020 election ahead of January's deadly insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol, a HuffPost analysis found.... He made claims of voter fraud and ballot-counting irregularities more than 250 times, specifically making baseless claims that voting machines tossed or changed votes at least 45 times....Trump falsely declared victory at least 40 times, often claiming he won in a 'landslide.' He peddled these nuggets of disinformation during press conferences and rallies watched by millions of people, or on Twitter to his more than 88 million followers."

Kristen Holmes of CNN: "Embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has told those close to him he wants to stay in his role under the new president, two sources tell CNN, despite his troubled tenure at the helm of the US Postal Service and his background as a supporter and donor to ... Donald Trump. President Joe Biden faces mounting pressure from fellow Democrats to remove DeJoy, however, amid months of complaints over mail delivery delays -- including prescription drugs.... The President does not have the power to remove the Postmaster General. Only the Postal Service Board of Governors -- which is comprised of members nominated by the President and confirmed in the Senate -- has the power to do so, and DeJoy continues to have the support of the Trump-appointed board. But Biden has the power to nominate members of the board and to send them to the Senate -- now led by Democrats -- for confirmation. Some lawmakers want Biden to go beyond filling empty seats, and take drastic action by firing the entire board."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here: "A team of World Health Organization scientists said on Tuesday in China that the coronavirus had probably first spread to humans through an animal and was 'extremely unlikely' to have been the result of a lab accident. The findings, delivered after 12 days of field work by the team visiting Wuhan, China, were the first step in a painstaking process to trace the pandemic's origins, a question that is critical to helping prevent a recurrence"

Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: "The pilot carrying NBA star Kobe Bryant, his teenage daughter and six other people didn't follow his training after flying into clouds and likely became disoriented, federal safety investigators said Tuesday. Pilot Ara Zobayan should have steadied the helicopter, climbed slowly and declared an emergency to get help from air traffic controllers, National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Tuesday. But the investigation into the crash found that he didn't take those steps. Once he was in the clouds, the investigators said Zobayan likely became disoriented as he lost visual references, thinking he was climbing when, in fact, the helicopter was plunging toward a hillside. Federal safety investigators were meeting Tuesday to determine the likely reason a helicopter carrying Bryant plunged into a Los Angeles County hillside last year." The AP's story is here.

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John Hudson of the Washington Post: "President Biden instructed the State Department on Monday to reengage with the United Nations Human Rights Council, reversing a decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from it nearly three years ago because of frustrations that the council repeatedly criticized Israel. In explaining the decision, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said ... Donald Trump's withdrawal from the U.N. body in June 2018 'did nothing to encourage meaningful change, but instead created a vacuum of U.S. leadership, which countries with authoritarian agendas have used to their advantage.'"

Jim Tankersley & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The early weeks of the Biden administration have brought a surge of support, in the White House and across party lines in Congress, for what could be the most ambitious effort in a generation to reduce child poverty. The plans vary in duration, design and the amount they would add to the federal debt, but they share a new and central premise in the policy debate over how to help the poor: that sending monthly payments through tax credits to parents, even if they do not earn income from work, is the best way to help feed, clothe and house children from low-income families." ~~~

~~~ Jason DeParle of the New York Times: "Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour -- a proposal included in the package of relief measures being pushed by President Biden -- would add $54 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office concluded on Monday. Normally, a prediction of increased debt might harm the plan's political chances. But proponents of the wage hike seized on the forecast as evidence that the hotly contested proposal could survive a procedural challenge under the Senate's arcane rules. Democrats are trying to add the measure to a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package that is advancing through a process called budget reconciliation, which requires a simple majority rather than the 60-vote margin to overcome a filibuster. But reconciliation is reserved for matters with a significant budgetary effect. Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, said the forecast of an increased deficit showed that the measure passed the test." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: BTW, Robert Reich, an economist & former secretary of labor, appeared on one of the cable networks to question the CBO's findings; he opined the CBO must not have taken into account the increased taxes higher wage-earners would pay & would generate by their increased purchasing power.

Get Out! Evan Perez & Christina Carrega of CNN: "The Justice Department, as soon as Tuesday, is expected to ask US attorneys appointed by ... Donald Trump to submit their resignations, a turnover expected to spare two top prosecutors in Delaware and Connecticut overseeing two sensitive Trump-era investigations, a senior Justice Department official said. In a call Monday night, acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson asked Delaware US Attorney David Weiss to remain in office, where he is overseeing the tax probe of Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son. John Durham, appointed as special counsel by former Attorney General William Barr to reinvestigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, will also continue his work, but he is expected to resign as US attorney in Connecticut, the Justice official said. The resignation request is expected to apply to 56 Senate-confirmed US attorneys appointed by Trump."

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Monday confirmed Denis McDonough as President Biden's Veterans Affairs secretary, choosing a non-veteran but a manager with years of government service to lead the sprawling health and benefits agency. McDonough, 51, was chief of staff during Barack Obama's second term and held senior roles on the National Security Council and on Capitol Hill before that. He told senators at his confirmation hearing that although he is not a veteran, his long career as a behind-the-scenes troubleshooter and policymaker would serve him well at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a massive bureaucracy beset by multiple challenges.... McDonough was confirmed on an 87-to-7 vote."

Natasha Korecki of Politico: "Impeachment? What impeachment? The Biden team has shut down question after question about where Biden stands on this week's trial, even with its massive historical, constitutional and political ramifications. On Monday, press secretary Jen Psaki wouldn't even say whether the president would receive daily updates on the trial's progress." ~~~

Mike DeBonis & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "The House managers prosecuting the case against Trump responded [to a brief by Trump's lawyers], vowing to prove their case in the coming days.... 'The evidence of President Trump's conduct is overwhelming,' the managers wrote. 'He has no valid excuse or defense for his actions.... President Trump violated his Oath of Office and betrayed the American people.'... In their brief filing Monday, the managers blasted [the Trump lawyers'] free-speech argument as 'utterly baseless,' responding that Trump's false claims and incendiary rhetoric were entitled to no such protection. 'When President Trump demanded that the armed, angry crowd at his Save America Rally "fight like hell" or "you're not going to have a country anymore," he wasn't urging them to form political action committees about "election security in general,"' they said, quoting the Trump defense's words. In sum, the managers wrote: 'The House did not impeach President Trump because he expressed an unpopular political opinion. It impeached him because he willfully incited violent insurrection against the government.'"

New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's lawyers on Monday denounced the impeachment case against him as partisan 'political theater,' arguing on the eve of the Senate's trial that he bore no responsibility for the deadly assault on the Capitol and that trying a former president at all was unconstitutional. In a 78-page brief submitted to the Senate, the lawyers asserted that Mr. Trump's speech just before the attack 'did not direct anyone to commit unlawful actions,' and that he deserved no blame for the conduct of a 'small group of criminals' who rioted at the Capitol on Jan 6. after he had urged them to 'fight like hell' against his election loss. They also insisted that the Senate 'lacks jurisdiction' to try him at all because he was now a private citizen, calling such an effort 'patently ridiculous.'" The item is part of the Times' impeachment live blog Monday. Politico's story is here and also includes a link to the brief Trump's lawyers submitted to the Senate. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Trump's Brief Is Bull. Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "Similar to the House Impeachment Managers' pre-trial filing, the [Trump lawyers'] brief relied heavily on a highly-regarded 2001 academic article on late impeachments by Michigan State University law professor Brian Kalt. Unfortunately for Trump's attorneys, Kalt -- who is widely viewed as the leading expert in constitutional law dealing with the presidency, presidential pardons, impeachment, succession, and the 25th Amendment -- immediately responded to the memo by saying it repeatedly distorted and misrepresented his work.... [Kalt's] 133-page article ... is an exhaustive analysis of the history and law relevant to the issue which ultimately concludes that there is a 'solid basis' for post-presidential impeachments.... [After citing some specific examples,] Kalt went on to say that there are 'multiple examples of such flat-out misrepresentations' in the Trump memo, highlighting 'the worst' such instance as the contention that his work espoused the theory that 'when a president is no longer in office, the objective of an impeachment ceases,' a notion expressly rejected as 'deeply flawed' in the article.... In an email to Law&Crime, Kalt said the misrepresentation of his work tainted the credibility of Trump's attorneys before the trial has even begun."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate leadership announced on Monday that they have reached a deal on the framework for former President Trump''s impeachment trial, which will start on Tuesday. 'For the information of the Senate, the Republican leader and I, in consultation with both the House managers and Former President Trump's lawyers, have agreed to a bipartisan resolution to govern the structure and timing of the impending trial,' Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said from the Senate floor.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) confirmed on the Senate floor that they have reached a deal, noting that it 'preserves due process and the rights of both sides.'... Under the deal, the Senate will debate and vote on Tuesday on whether the trial is constitutional. The effort to declare the trial unconstitutional will fall short after Rand Paul (R-Ky.) forced a vote on the issue late last month. Forty-four GOP senators supported his effort. Opening arguments will start on Wednesday. Under the deal, the House impeachment managers and Trump's team will have 16 hours over two days each to present their case to the Senate.... The deal also leaves the door open to calling witnesses." The Washington Post's story, which gives more of an idea of what to expect, is here. ~~~

~~~ Ali Zaslav, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's lawyer David Schoen is withdrawing his request to not hold the impeachment trial on the Jewish Sabbath, according to a person familiar with trial planning, which had altered the likely schedule for the proceedings. In a letter written to Sens. Pat Leahy, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, Schoen wrote, 'Based on adjustments that have been made on the President's defense team, I am writing today to withdraw my request so that the proceedings can go forward as originally contemplated before I made my request. I will not participate during the Sabbath; but the role I would have played will be fully covered to the satisfaction of the defense team.'... This will likely lead to a change in the trial schedule laid out in the resolution that was slated to be passed Tuesday. Text for the resolution, which set the parameters for the trial's length and schedule, included language to pause the trial on Friday evening and resume on Sunday afternoon." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Couldn't find a print story on this, but Rachel Maddow reported last night that Trump has added an ambulance-chaser -- a/k/a personal injury lawyer -- to his impeachment defense team. For you kidz thinking of becoming lawyers, the defense in the Second Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump will probably provide a living classroom example of how not to lawyer. They've already written one brief in which they misspelled "United States" in the heading, another in which they extensively misrepresent a prominent legal scholar's writing in order to put forth a spurious Constitutional argument, and have changed the schedule of trial -- twice -- for personal reasons. It can only get worse. Take notes.

Jim Acosta & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "... Donald Trump has been reaching out to aides and advisers to discuss his upcoming Senate impeachment trial, sources familiar with the conversations said, with one of those sources saying Trump thinks there won't be enough Republican senators who'll vote to convict him.... Since leaving office, Trump has been fixated on punishing GOP lawmakers who voted to impeach him in the House.... Ten Republicans, including [Liz] Cheney [Wyo.], voted to impeach Trump. One Trump adviser said the ex-President is seeking what he sees as 'accountability' for Republican House members who turned 'against the people.' The adviser acknowledged that was a twisted view of reality as Trump was the one who was actively attempting to overturn the will of the voters.... Former Trump aides recall the then-President having enjoyed the spectacle created by the riot at the Capitol. Trump was 'loving watching the Capitol mob,' one former senior White House official said." Emphasis added.

Karen Heller of the Washington Post profiles Bruce Castor, one of Trump's top impeachment attorneys and "a magnet for controversy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "The office of Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, on Monday started an investigation into ... Donald J. Trump's attempts to overturn the state's election results, including a phone call he made to Mr. Raffensperger in which Mr. Trump pressured him to 'find' enough votes to reverse his loss. Such inquiries are 'fact-finding and administrative in nature,' the secretary's office said, and are a routine step when complaints are received about electoral matters. Findings are typically brought before the Republican-controlled state board of elections, which decides whether to refer them for prosecution to the state attorney general or another agency. The move comes as Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney of Fulton County, which encompasses much of Atlanta, is weighing whether to begin a criminal inquiry of her own.... The January call was one of several attempts Mr. Trump made to try to persuade top Republican officials in the state to uncover instances of voting fraud that might change the outcome, despite the insistence of voting officials that there was no widespread fraud to be found." Reuters' story is here.

Alanna Richer & Michael Balsamo of the AP: "A man who authorities say is a leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group and helped to organize a ring of other extremists and led them in the attack last month at the U.S. Capitol has held a top-secret security clearance for decades and previously worked for the FBI, his attorney said Monday. Thomas Caldwell, who authorities believe holds a leadership role in the extremist group, worked as a section chief for the FBI from 2009 to 2010 after retiring from the Navy, his lawyer, Thomas Plofchan, wrote in a motion urging the judge to release him from jail while he awaits trial. The defense said Caldwell, who has denied being part of the Oath Keepers, has held a top-secret security clearance since 1979, which required multiple special background investigations, according to Plofchan. Caldwell also ran a consulting firm that did classified work for the U.S. government, the lawyer said." MB: If this is true, what kind of "background checks" is the FBI doing on its own employees & contractors?

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal magistrate judge in Seattle on Monday ordered the release of top Proud Boys organizer Ethan Nordean, rejecting prosecutors' call to detain him pending trial for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Nordean, who went by the alias Rufio Panman, was charged with destruction of government property, as well as a series of lower level charges for trespassing on Capitol Grounds. The government described him as a flight risk -- a passport with someone else's name was found on his bedside dresser -- and a danger to the community. But Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida agreed to release Nordean with a series of conditions, including limiting his travel to within the Seattle area, imposing a curfew and requiring him to follow local Covid masking rules.... Prosecutors say they intend to appeal the ruling and seek a stay of Tsuchida's order. Tsuchida agreed to stay the effect of his decision once they file their appeal."

** "The Republican Party Has It's Own Domestic Army." David Kirkpatrick & Mike McIntire of the New York Times: "Following signals from ... Donald J. Trump -- who had tweeted 'LIBERATE MICHIGAN!' after a ... show of force in Lansing -- Michigan's Republican Party last year welcomed the support of newly emboldened paramilitary groups and other vigilantes. Prominent party members formed bonds with militias or gave tacit approval to armed activists using intimidation in a series of rallies and confrontations around the state. That intrusion into the Statehouse now looks like a portent of the assault halfway across the country months later at the United States Capitol. As the Senate on Tuesday begins the impeachment trial of Mr. Trump on charges of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol rioting, what happened in Michigan helps explain how, under his influence, party leaders aligned themselves with a culture of militancy to pursue political goals.... The Republican alliance with paramilitary groups shows how difficult it may be for the national party to extricate itself from the shadow of the former president and his appeal to this aggressive segment of its base." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is the most unsettling story I've read in a long time. Charles Pierce's "laboratories of democracy," in at least one case (and I'd guess more) are actually "laboratories of sedition." The Civil War of the 19th century was confined largely to a section of the country; the civil war of the 21st century is bubbling up in every state. And it exists at every level of government, from the ex-president* on down to beat cops. The Republican party, here and there, is a domestic terrorist organization. The fact that the majority of GOP members of the House of Representatives & the vast majority of GOP U.S. senators won't acknowledge that is all the evidence you need. Pretending this is business as usual is a nonsustainable fantasy. I admit it; it's worse than I thought.

Manafort Is Granted Another Get-out-of-Jail Card. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "The Manhattan district attorney's attempt to prosecute ... Donald Trump's 2016 campaign chairman was dealt a final blow when New York's highest court said quietly last week it would not review lower court rulings on the case. The court's decision brings to an end the district attorney's quest to ensure that the campaign chairman, Paul J. Manafort, will face state charges for mortgage fraud and other state felonies, crimes similar to those for which he was convicted in federal court and then pardoned by Mr. Trump. When the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat, first brought charges against Mr. Manafort in March 2019, it was widely understood that he was doing so to make sure that Mr. Manafort would face prosecution even if Mr. Trump decided to pardon him.... In October, a New York appeals court found that Mr. Vance's efforts to try Mr. Manafort violated the state's double jeopardy law.... It is possible, though unlikely, that Mr. Manafort may still face federal charges. Last month, Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor from the special counsel's office, argued that the wording of Mr. Trump's pardons had been 'oddly' drafted. Rather than relieving those who had been pardoned from all potential liability for their actions, Mr. Weissmann argued, the language only narrowly covered their convictions.... That might leave the door open to new charges, including on crimes that Mr. Manafort admitted he was guilty of as part of a plea deal." A CNBC story is here.

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "David Correia, whose business ties to Rudolph W. Giuliani had drawn scrutiny, was sentenced Monday to a year in prison for defrauding investors of an insurance start-up that paid the former New York mayor hundreds of thousands of dollars for consulting work while he was ... Donald Trump's lawyer. Correia pleaded guilty in October to duping investors in Fraud Guarantee, the business he started with Giuliani's former associate Lev Parnas. The firm offered fraud protection and 'risk management tools' to other companies, but prosecutors say it was never operational and that, instead, Correia and Parnas used over $2 million in investment capital for personal expenses."

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), a fixture of the Senate who chaired the powerful Appropriations Committee, announced Monday that he will retire when his term ends in 2022. Shelby, 86, was first elected to the House in 1978 as a Democrat and won election to the Senate in 1986. He switched parties to become a Republican in 1994. Shelby has been a master of steering projects to his home state and also adept at cutting deals with Democrats. He becomes the fourth Senate Republican to announce his retirement in 2022, and the race to replace him will become another test for the direction of the GOP in the post-Trump era." The New York Times' story is here. The Week has an item here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News About Women Who Have Fucked Donald Trump
(Forgive My Indelicacy)

DOJ Drops "Melanie's Revenge" Suit. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department on Monday dropped a lawsuit that asserted that a former senior aide to Melania Trump violated a White House nondisclosure agreement by publishing a tell-all memoir about the former first lady. The department's Civil Division gave no reason for the decision to voluntarily dismiss the suit, brought in October, against Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.... The lawsuit filed under the Trump administration had also sought to seize the profits of Wolkoff's book."

Jim Mustian of the AP: In his new podcast, former Trump consigliere Michael Cohen interviews Stormy Daniels. Describing her sexual encounter with Trump, a memory she said she had repressed for years, Daniels called it "the worst 90 seconds of my life, for sure, because it just made me hate myself." At one point preceding the brief moment of torture, Daniels said she considered a way to escape; "I could definitely outrun him," she thought. Thanks to unwashed for the lead.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Every day the Washington Post posts on its online front page the number of Americans who have received at least one dose of the vaccination. You don't need a subscription, of course, to check it out.

Gregory Wallace & Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will quarantine for 14 days after a member of his security detail tested positive for Covid-19, department chief of staff Laura Schiller said in a statement. Schiller's statement says the agent has been in 'close contact' with Buttigieg as recently as Monday morning. Buttigieg tested negative Monday and has not shown any symptoms, the statement said."

Paulina Firozi & Dave Wiegel of the Washington Post: "Rep. Ron Wright (R-Tex.), who had received cancer treatment for years, died Sunday after being hospitalized with covid-19. He was 67.... Wright had announced on Jan. 21 that he tested positive for the coronavirus 'after coming in contact with an individual with the virus last week.' He is the first sitting member of Congress to die after battling covid-19." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Ivan Pereira of ABC News: "A hacker allegedly took control over a Florida water treatment facility's computer and attempted to tamper with the water supply, investigators said. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a news conference that an 'awful intrusion' into the computer system at Oldsmar's water treatment plant took place Friday afternoon. The computer system, which had remote access capabilities, controls the chemicals and other operations, and a plant manager noticed that someone was raising the levels of sodium hydroxide [i.e., lye] from about 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million, Gualtieri said.... The plant manager who noticed the three to five-minute hack acted quickly to prevent serious damage to the water, Gualtieri said."

News Lede

New York Times: "Mary Wilson, a founding member of the Supremes, the trailblazing group from the 1960s that spun up 12 No. 1 singles on the musical charts and was key to Motown's legendary sound, died on Monday at her home in Henderson, Nev. She was 76."

The Commentariat -- February 8, 2021

Afternoon Update:

New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's lawyers on Monday denounced the impeachment case against him as partisan 'political theater,' arguing on the eve of the Senate's trial that he bore no responsibility for the deadly assault on the Capitol and that trying a former president at all was unconstitutional. In a 78-page brief submitted to the Senate, the lawyers asserted that Mr. Trump's speech just before the attack 'did not direct anyone to commit unlawful actions,' and that he deserved no blame for the conduct of a 'small group of criminals' who rioted at the Capitol on Jan 6. after he had urged them to 'fight like hell' against his election loss. They also insisted that the Senate 'lacks jurisdiction' to try him at all because he was now a private citizen, calling such an effort 'patently ridiculous.'" The item is part of the Times' impeachment live blog Monday. Politico's story is here and also includes a link to the brief by Trump's lawyers.

Karen Heller of the Washington Post profiles Bruce Castor, one of Trump's top impeachment attorneys and "a magnet for controversy."

Paulina Firozi & Dave Wiegel of the Washington Post: "Rep. Ron Wright (R-Tex.), who had received cancer treatment for years, died Sunday after being hospitalized with covid-19. He was 67.... Wright had announced on Jan. 21 that he tested positive for the coronavirus 'after coming in contact with an individual with the virus last week.' He is the first sitting member of Congress to die after battling covid-19." CNN's story is here.

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), a fixture of the Senate who chaired the powerful Appropriations Committee, announced Monday that he will retire when his term ends in 2022. Shelby, 86, was first elected to the House in 1978 as a Democrat and won election to the Senate in 1986. He switched parties to become a Republican in 1994. Shelby has been a master of steering projects to his home state and also adept at cutting deals with Democrats. He becomes the fourth Senate Republican to announce his retirement in 2022, and the race to replace him will become another test for the direction of the GOP in the post-Trump era." The New York Times' story is here. The Week has an item here.

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Marie: Never thought I'd get to use this graphic again: ~~~

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "When the House impeachment managers prosecute ... Donald J. Trump this week for inciting the Capitol attack, they plan to mount a fast-paced and cinematic case aimed at rekindling the outrage lawmakers experienced themselves on Jan. 6, in arguments delivered from the scene of the invasion. Armed with lessons from the first impeachment trial of Mr. Trump, when even Democratic senators complained the arguments were repetitive and sometimes sanctimonious, the prosecutors managing his second are prepared to complete the proceeding in as little as a week, forgo distracting fights over witnesses and rely more heavily on video, according to a half-dozen people working on the case."

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "One of Washington's leading conservative constitutional lawyers publicly broke on Sunday with the main Republican argument against convicting ... Donald J. Trump in his impeachment trial, asserting that an ex-president can indeed be tried for high crimes and misdemeanors. In an opinion piece posted on The Wall Street Journal's website, the lawyer, Charles J. Cooper, who is closely allied with top Republicans in Congress, dismissed as illogical the claim that it is unconstitutional to hold an impeachment trial for a former president. The piece came two days before the Senate was set to start the proceeding.... Since the [January 6] rampage, Republicans have made little effort to excuse Mr. Trump's conduct, but have coalesced behind the legal argument about constitutionality as their rationale for why he should not be tried, much less convicted. Their theory is that because the Constitution's penalty for an impeachment conviction is removal from office, it was never intended to apply to a former president, who is no longer in office. Many legal scholars disagree, and the Senate has previously held an impeachment trial of a former official -- though never a former president."

Trump Made Me Do It. Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "The nine House impeachment managers leading Trump's prosecution made clear in an 80-page brief filed last week that they will argue that his role in inspiring the crowd to action began long before the 70-minute speech he gave that day. They assert that the violence was virtually inevitable after Trump spent months falsely claiming that the election had been stolen from him.... Evidence to bolster the Democratic case has already emerged in federal criminal cases filed against more than 185 people so far in the aftermath of the insurrection.... Court documents show that more than two dozen people charged in the attack specifically cited Trump and his calls to gather that day in describing ... why they decided to take action by coming to Washington." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One argument I suppose the managers will find ill-advised is nonetheless true: Trump, with his trademark bullying & outright threats, made pawns of the very triers-of-fact, the Republican senators themselves. Even those who clearly despised him, like Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio & Ted Cruz, quickly learned to fawn over him to preserve their own sorry political careers. They do so not out of admiration by of fear. As for me, I'd tell Josh Hawley, et al., to their faces that Trump has made chumps of them (not that they weren't silly, self-serving blowhards before Trump showed up).

Quinn Scanlan of ABC News: "With his impeachment trial set to begin this week, a narrow majority of Americans say they support the Senate convicting ... Donald Trump and barring him from holding federal office again, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday.... [Fifty-six percent] of Americans say Trump should be convicted and barred from holding office again, and 43% say he should not be."

One Way Trump Plans to Profit off QAnon. Suzanne Kelleher of Forbes: "For some QAnon conspiracy theorists, [on] March 4, 2021..., Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 19th president of the United States.... At the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, the least expensive room option is the deluxe king.... At this time of year, it normally runs anywhere from $476 to $596 per night.... On March 3 and 4, the same room is selling for $1,331 per night. That's 180% above the base rate and more than double what you'd pay any other night in February or March, according to the hotel's website. The March 4 rate hike appears to be exclusive to the Trump International.... The day after the pro-Trump mob rioted at the U.S. Capitol, the managing director of Trump International Hotel tweeted, 'So proud of our @TrumpDC In Room Dining Team for record breaking numbers this week.'"

Alayna Treene of Axios: "Kevin McCarthy tried to get Liz Cheney to apologize for how she handled her vote to impeach former President Trump before last week's highly anticipated House GOP conference meeting -- a request she refused, two people with direct knowledge told Axios.... Cheney rolled the dice, refusing her leader's ask and counting on her supporters to keep her as conference chair, the party's No. 3 post in the House. Newly empowered, she's now embracing her role as the Republicans' Trump critic-in-chief." ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming waded deeper into Republicans' identity crisis on Sunday, warning her party on the eve of a Senate impeachment trial not to 'look past' ... Donald J. Trump's role in stoking a violent attack on the Capitol and a culture of conspiracy roosting among their ranks. In her first television interview since fending off an attempt by Mr. Trump's allies to oust her from House leadership over her vote to impeach him, Ms. Cheney said Republican voters had been 'lied to' by a president eager to steal an election with baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. She cautioned that the party risked being locked out of power if it did not show a majority of Americans that it could be trusted to lead truthfully.... She added that Mr. Trump 'does not have a role as a leader of our party going forward.'" ~~~

~~~ David of Crooks & Liars: "Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Sunday said that she expects 'many, many criminal investigations' into ... Donald Trump's role in inciting a violent insurrection on January 6. During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Cheney ... if she would also vote to convict the former president of insurrection if she were a U.S. senator. 'I would listen to the evidence,' Cheney said. 'The Senate trial is [a] snapshot. There's a massive criminal investigation underway.... People will want to know exactly what the president was doing,' she continued. 'They will want to know, for example, if the tweet he sent out calling Vice President Pence a coward while the attack was underway, whether that tweet, for example, was a premeditated effort to provoke violence. There are a lot of questions that have to be answered and there will be many, many criminal investigations looking at every aspect of this and everyone who was involved.'"

Jennifer Senior of the New York Times: "Marjorie Taylor Greene ... [is] the latest descendant in a lineage of Republican women who embrace a boffo radicalism, who delight in making trouble and in causing offense.... These women are playing simultaneously into male Republican stereotypes of power -- loving their guns, defending their country from the migrant hordes -- and stereotypes of femininity, to reassure the Republican faithful that they're still real women.... You can also ask whether unconscious gender bias plays a role in the coverage of Greene. Television loves a brassy hot mess.... Hillary Clinton's supporters were fond of the adage, the future is female.'... But we should brace ourselves. That future may be quite different from the one we were expecting. The future often is." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ PD Pepe wrote, "Is our culture still grappling with what women should BE as women? We have always accepted the male disparity, why be surprised at the female's?... I think we need to come to terms with our humanity not in sexual identities but as human beings and like one of the above females in Senior's list once said, 'You can't put lipstick on a pig' but you sure as hell can try." MB: I'm with Pepe. In general, right-wingers, male and female, despise feminism as a social reality. Because Democrats largely preceded them, thus forcing the issue, confederates are slowly coming to terms with the idea that women must have a seat at the table (though not at the head of it -- Palin & Harris are sidekicks, helpmates, as women "should be"). That means, of course, that a woman must be most feminine, in the traditional sense, yet forceful: a narrow, hazardous track to run. In the old days, that would have meant a PTA-type "lady" politician; in today's fake-populist GOP, it means a crude, gun-totin' mama. In the GOP, there's still room for both types of female politicians, but not for tough & effective female leaders like Clinton & Pelosi. ~~~

~~~ AND, according to Charles Darwin, the right is right. Women are not so much the fairer sex as the weaker one and intellectually inferior, Michael Sims writes in a New York Times op-ed. MB: Sims seems surprised that Darwin admired Harriet Martineau, "a prolific journalist and pioneer sociologist," who was a friend, and perhaps more, to Charles' brother Erasmus. It's not surprising at all. Most bigots of every category can justify their prejudices by rationalizing that women, people of color, of exotic religions or exotic places may have "exceptional" members even though "those people," on the whole, just don't measure up. From your standard, "traditional" bigotry to the strange, ridiculous turns of QAnon, bigotry will always find a path, albeit not necessarily direct routes to their destinations. ~~~

~~~ Steve Sack, editorial cartoonist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, applies Occam's Razor to QAnon. Thanks to RAS for the link:

PEN America responds to the New York Times' firing/forced resignation of reporter Don McNeil. Marie: PEN America is occasionally too lefist for me, but I do wholly agree with them here. I think the real problem McNeil encountered was that he didn't know his audience. An adult should be able to figure out that 16-year-olds aren't very good at appreciating the nuances of context. It appears that many NYT staff aren't either, or else they were misinformed about the context when they protested his retention at the paper. As McNeil has said, he "made an error in judgment," and Times management probably should have stood by him. I have long thought that the prohibition of the use of the word "nigger" in any context gives the word too much importance. In fact, I like the way Blacks use it among themselves; still, there is absolutely no circumstance under which I would join in & use it in a conversation among mostly-Black people where the word was being tossed around in a playful way. Food for thought, whether you agree or not.

Tim Weiner of the New York Times: "George P. Shultz, who presided with a steady hand over the beginning of the end of the Cold War as President Ronald Reagan's often embattled secretary of state, died on Saturday at his home in Stanford, Calif. He was 100. His death was announced by the Hoover Institution, where he was a distinguished fellow. He was also professor emeritus at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Mr. Shultz, who had served Republican presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower, moved to California after leaving Washington in January 1989. He continued writing and speaking on issues ranging from nuclear weapons to climate change into his late 90s, expressing concern about America's direction."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

Amy Wang & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "In his first network television interview since taking office, President Biden acknowledged it will be 'very difficult' for the United States to reach herd immunity at the current rate coronavirus vaccines are being administered in the country and that his administration would utilize all 32 National Football League stadiums as mass vaccination centers to help in the effort. 'It is a national emergency,' Biden said on 'CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell,' referring to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its effect on schoolchildren and the workforce. Biden indicated that the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic was 'even more dire than we thought.' Since taking office, Biden has used the Defense Production Act to direct companies to ramp up manufacturing of vaccines and protective equipment. On Thursday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told Biden all 32 stadiums would be made available as mass vaccination sites.... In portions of the wide-ranging interview, which aired Friday and Sunday before the Super Bowl, Biden discussed the pandemic, foreign policy and why he believed former president Donald Trump should not have continued access to intelligence briefings."

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Senior Democrats on Monday will unveil legislation to provide $3,000 per child to tens of millions of American families, aiming to make a major dent in child poverty as part of President Biden's $1.9 trillion economic relief package. The 22-page bill to dramatically expand direct cash benefits to American families was obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its release. Under the proposal, the Internal Revenue Service would provide $3,600 over the course of the year per child under the age of 6, as well as $3,000 per child of ages 6 to 17. The size of the benefit would diminish for Americans earning more than $75,000 per year, as well as for couples jointly earning more than $150,000 per year. The payments would be sent monthly beginning in July, a delay intended to give the IRS time to prepare for the massive new initiative. The bill ... comes days after Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) surprised policymakers with a proposal to send even more in direct cash per child to American families, lending bipartisan support to the major push for child benefits."

Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "The coronavirus variant that shut down much of the United Kingdom is spreading rapidly across the United States, outcompeting other strains and doubling its prevalence among confirmed infections every week and a half, according to new research made public Sunday. The report, posted on the preprint server MedRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed or published in a journal, comes from a collaboration of many scientists and provides the first hard data to support a forecast issued last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed the variant becoming dominant in the United States by late March." A New York Times story is here. Mother Jones has a story here.

William Booth & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "South Africa will suspend use of the coronavirus vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca after researchers found it provided 'minimal protection' against mild to moderate coronavirus infections caused by the new variant first detected in that country. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said Sunday that the rollout will be paused while scientists assess the data and determine a way forward. Officials had been eager to begin vaccinating health-care workers with the shots after 1 million doses arrived last week."

Way Beyond the Beltway

An Israeli Man Walks Out of His Own Trial. Shira Rubin of the Washington Post: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told judges in a Jerusalem court on Monday that he is innocent of corruption charges before abruptly standing, saying 'thank you very much' and leaving with his motorcade. Netanyahu quit the courtroom some 20 minutes after the start of Monday morning's hearing, which continued on without him. The sessions kick-started the second phase of a precedent-setting legal procedure, which, for the first time, involves the indictment of an Israeli prime minister while still in office and campaigning for elections in the coming weeks -- the fourth in two years." MB: You can see here why Bibi & Donald got on so well. This is just what Trump would have done if forced to testify at his impeachment trial.

The Commentariat -- February 7, 2021

Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "The White House on Saturday said President Biden's statement that his predecessor should not receive intelligence briefings did not represent a final decision on the matter, which will instead be resolved by intelligence officials.... Biden has the unilateral authority to deny intelligence access to anyone he chooses, and his remarks seemed to suggest he considered Trump enough of a risk to do so. But his aides said he would leave that decision to his intelligence team.

Dan Diamond, et al., of the Washington Post: "A few weeks after taking office, [President] Biden and his team are confronted with numerous challenges, including smoothing over chaotic operations, boosting flagging morale and staffing up agencies that dwindled. To achieve their policy goals, they must move quickly to communicate a sense of mission, build expertise, improve performance, assure stability and regain public confidence, analysts say. 'They're going to have the traditional challenge of transition, but now they'll have to address the institutional damage [Trump did],' Max Stier, president and chief executive of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, said of the Biden team. 'You had a president who went to war with his own workforce,' Stier added. 'It's not like you flip a switch and the loss of expertise and harm to morale reverse themselves.'... Civil servants have hunkered in a defensive crouch as Trump and his allies demanded political loyalty, tested their professionalism and called them the intransigent 'deep state.'" MB: Since the federal bureaucracy a/k/a deep state is huge, a conventional rhetorical question is, "How much damage can one president* do" Answer: "Trump."

There's A High Monetary Cost to Trump's Lies, Too. Toluse Olorunnipa & Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's onslaught of falsehoods about the November election ... has now left taxpayers with a large, and growing, bill. The total so far: $519 million. The costs have mounted daily as government agencies at all levels have been forced to devote public funds to respond to actions taken by Trump and his supporters, according to a Washington Post review of local, state and federal spending records, as well as interviews with government officials. The expenditures include legal fees prompted by dozens of fruitless lawsuits, enhanced security in response to death threats against poll workers, and costly repairs needed after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. That attack triggered the expensive massing of thousands of National Guard troops on the streets of Washington.... Although more than $480 million of the total is attributable to the military's estimated expenses for the troop deployment through mid-March, the financial impact of the president's refusal to concede the election is probably much higher than what has been documented thus far, and the true costs may never be known."

Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "One of the lead defense lawyers for Mr. Trump [-- David Schoen --] has informed Senate leaders that he is an observant Jew who strictly adheres to the commandment against working on the Sabbath, and thus would be unable to participate in any proceeding that stretched past sundown on Friday or met on Saturday.... In a statement Saturday evening, a spokesman for [Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer said an allowance would be made for Mr. Schoen, but did not elaborate on how.... [Conversations with the relevant parties about the structure of the trial continue.'"

"Just Following [Trump's] Orders" Does Not Work Out Well. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "As prosecutors from the House of Representatives prepare to present their case against Donald Trump at his impeachment trial ... for incitement of insurrection, supporters who heeded his call on 6 January to 'fight like hell' and went on to storm the Capitol Building are finding themselves in far greater legal peril.... The mob of fervent Maga acolytes who broke into the US Capitol following an incendiary rally headlined by Trump could face prison for up to 20 years. One month after the events which left five people dead including a US Capitol police officer, there is no sign of the Department of Justice and FBI letting up in their relentless pursuit of the insurrectionists.... Already the number of people who have been arrested, either by the FBI, Capitol police or local Washington DC officers has reached 235, spanning more than 40 states. As the investigation widens and deepens, the focus is tightening on anyone considered to have acted as a coordinator of the action in an attempt to take out the ringleaders."

Ryan Goodman & Justin Hendrix of Just Security: New video footage obtained by Just Security, and published in [in this story], shows connections between [Roger] Stone and leaders of the Proud Boys who may have planned some aspects of the attack. The footage shows Stone and Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio and Ethan Nordean (a.k.a. Rufio Panman) participating together in a demonstration the night before the December 12th 'Stop The Steal' rally in Washington DC.... Extraordinary video footage recently published by the Wall Street Journal shows Nordean in a lead role in the Proud Boys' assault on the Capitol [Jan 6]. The FBI also showed images of Nordean inside the Capitol. Tarrio was not present that day. He had been arrested on the Monday afternoon shortly after he drove into Washington D.C. He was found to be in possession of two high capacity firearm magazines, and charged for possession." The article goes on to establish that, via Roger Stone, there are only two degrees of separation between Trump and the violent groups Proud Boys & Oath Keepers, and those close ties are specific to the events of Jan. 6. ~~~

~~~ Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: "When Oath Keeper Rob Minuta provided security for Roger Stone on the day of the Capitol riot, it wasn't his first time providing muscle for a top Trump aide. Imagery obtained by The Daily Beast shows Minuta marched alongside former Trump National Security Adviser Mike Flynn when he attended a similar march in Washington, D.C. in December which sought to overturn the 2020 election. His appearance in similar roles for Flynn and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones at pro-Trump rallies after the election highlights the troubling network of connections between members of the far-right militia and some of Trump's closest advisers and supporters." ~~~

~~~ Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Where others see disgrace, [Michael] Flynn, 62, has found redemption. Recast by ... Donald J. Trump's most ardent supporters as a MAGA martyr, Mr. Flynn has embraced his role as the man who spent four years unjustly ensnared in the Russia investigation. He was one of the most extreme voices in Mr. Trump's 77-day push to overturn the election.... Mr. Flynn went so far as to suggest using the military to rerun the vote in crucial battleground states. At one point, Mr. Trump even floated the idea of bringing Mr. Flynn back into the administration, as chief of staff or possibly F.B.I. director, people familiar with the conversations told The New York Times. And now, safely pardoned and free to speak his mind, Mr. Flynn has emerged from the Trump presidency much as he entered it -- as the angry outsider who pushes fringe ideas, talks of shadowy conspiracies and is positioning himself as a voice of a far right that, in the wake of the Capitol riot, appears newly, and violently, emboldened." MB: It isn't only Trump who profits from the crazy, which is another reason the crazy won't stop.

Triumph of the Trumpists

Wyoming. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "The Wyoming Republican Party on Saturday formally censured Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) because she voted to impeach Donald Trump last month, making the congresswoman the latest in a string of high-profile Republicans punished by their state or local party apparatuses for daring to criticize the former president.... Cheney was rebuked by her state GOP's central committee 'by a resounding margin,' with fewer than 10 members voting against the censure in the Saturday voice vote, the Casper Star-Tribune reported." The AP's story is here.

Michigan. Kathleen Gray of the New York Times: "Ron Weiser, a wealthy real estate developer from Ann Arbor, was elected chair of the Michigan Republican Party on Saturday, bringing along a vice chair who has caused consternation among some factions of the party because of her fierce support of ... Donald J. Trump.... The election partially hinged on who was the more loyal supporter of Mr. Trump, with supporters of Mr. Weiser saying [Laura] Cox[, who has chaired the state party for the last two years,] had failed the party when Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the state by more than 154,000 votes, flipping a key state that went for Mr. Trump in 2016.... [Weiser] won the election for party chair by a two-to-one ratio."

Nebraska. This video Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) cut a couple of days ago has Nebraska Trumpbots hopping mad, Politico report: ~~~

Tankless Toilets? Felicia Sonmez & Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: "Two Republican House members have been fined $5,000 for bypassing the security screening that was set up outside the House chamber in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, a senior Democratic aide said Friday. Reps. Louie Gohmert (Tex.) and Andrew S. Clyde (Ga.) appear to be the first members punished under a new rule approved by the House on Tuesday night. Spokespeople for Gohmert and Clyde did not respond to requests for comment, but Gohmert issued a statement Friday night, explaining that he had stepped out to use the restroom and did not know that he needed to be rescreened on his way back in. 'Unlike in the movie The Godfather, there are no toilets with tanks where one could hide a gun, so my reentry onto the House floor should have been a non-issue,' Gohmert said in the statement.... Gohmert called the policy 'unconstitutional' and vowed to appeal the fine, citing ... the speech or debate clause..." of the Constitution. MB: Apparently, Louis thinks taking a piss is a form of speech. I leave it to you to try to follow his "logic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "In just a few weeks, lawsuits and legal threats from a pair of obscure election technology companies have achieved what years of advertising boycotts, public pressure campaigns and liberal outrage could not: curbing the flow of misinformation in right-wing media. Fox Business canceled its highest rated show, 'Lou Dobbs Tonight,' on Friday after its host was sued as part of a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit. On Tuesday, the pro-Trump cable channel Newsmax cut off a guest's [-- the MyPillow guy --] rant about rigged voting machines. Fox News, which seldom bows to critics, has run fact-checking segments to debunk its own anchors' false claims about electoral fraud. This is not the typical playbook for right-wing media, which prides itself on pugilism and delights in ignoring the liberals who have long complained about its content. But conservative outlets have rarely faced this level of direct assault on their economic lifeblood." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What really happened here, although there's no acknowledgment of it in Grynbaum's report, is that Dobbs the the other dodos got so accustomed to lying about politicians that they eased on in to lying about corporations. This is partially a "Capitalism Is Awesome" story, because libel law is much less forgiving of pundits who disparage corporations (or private citizens) with false statements than it is with those who falsely tar politicians. I don't think Hillary stands of chance to winning a judgment against Miss Margie Q over "Frazzledrip" (see Michille Goldberg's column, linked yesterday), but Dominion & Smartmatic could prevail against media lies that potentially diminish their bottom lines.

Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "A federal judge in California has ordered Herring Networks, the parent company of far-right conservative media organization One America News Network (OAN), to pay MSNBC and host Rachel Maddow $250,000 in attorney's fees stemming from a [frivolous] defamation lawsuit that was dismissed last year. Herring in July 2019 filed a lawsuit against Maddow which claimed the liberal host had defamed OAN when she discussed reports that one of the network's contributors also worked for the Russia state news organization Sputnik. Maddow went on to state that OAN 'literally is paid Russian propaganda,' which OAN's parent company claimed was false and defamatory.... Siding against OAN, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant, an appointee of President Barack Obama, dismissed the suit with prejudice. Bashant reasoned that there was 'no set of facts that could support a claim for defamation based on Maddow's statement.'"

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

AP: "Mario Draghi on Saturday secured preliminary support from two key parties for forming a new government.... The populist 5-Star Movement and the rightwing League both signalled support for a Draghi-led government, saying they were ready to put aside bitter rivalries for the good of the country and increasing the potential for a broad-based government of national unity. Draghi, 73, the former president of the European Central Bank, completed a first round of talks with political parties this week.... Italy's president asked Draghi this week to form a government after the resignation of ex-premier Giuseppe Conte, who lost support of a smal but key coalition party.