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CHARLIE SYKES: Actually, Weāre All a Little Bit Dumber
JOE PERTICONE: The Biden Impeachment Inquiry Starts With a Flop š
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NICHOLAS GROSSMAN: In Trumpās Shadow, a Meaningless Debate.
HOSTED AT THE REAGAN LIBRARY, Wednesday nightās GOP presidential debate billed the primary race as a ātime for choosing,ā but avoided discussing the choice that matters most. It felt like a broadcast from an alternate dimensionāone where the Senate had convicted Donald Trump in the January 6th impeachment and barred him from office, freeing up Republicans to leave Trump and all his baggage behind them and hash out serious policy questions.
A.B. STODDARD: Pro-Life Voters Will Eat Whatever Trump Serves Them.
DESPITE BEING HANDED A PRIME OPPORTUNITY to rip at former President Donald Trump, the candidates on stage at Wednesday nightās Republican primary debate had little to say about the frontrunnerās recent dismissal of abortion bans.
Only Ron DeSantis, who was asked directly about the issue of abortion, criticized Trump. āThe former president, you know, heās missing in action tonight,ā the Florida governor said. āI want him to look into the eyesā of people āwho have been fighting this fight for a long timeā and explain his views.
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KIMBERLY WEHLE: A Civil Case May Have Just Cost Trump His Business.
ALTHOUGH ALL EYES ARE ON the four criminal indictments against Donald Trump, Trump himself is undoubtedly seething over what just happened in the civil case brought against him and his companies by New York Attorney General Letitia James. On Tuesday, state court Judge Arthur F. Engoron entered a judgment against Trump on one of seven fraud-related counts. This one involves exorbitantly inflated or deflated property valuations made in statements of financial condition (SFCs), which reported his businessesā assets, liabilities, and the value that would be returned to investors if they liquidated in a given year, for purposes of securing financing and insurance between 2011 and 2021.
MONA CHAREN: The Fear Factor in Republican Politics.
Now Trump has upped the ante by including a reference to the death penalty, which is in fact a punishment available in cases of treason, not just āin times gone by.ā Trump knows full well that some of his more rabid followers may interpret this as an invitation to assassination, just as the January 6th crowd chanted āHang Mike Pence.ā That thuggishness, that play of the finger near the trigger, places Trump in a category all his own in American politics.
šØOVERTIMEšØ

Happy Thursday! I know lots of Republicans are eager to make Glenn Youngkin for President a thing, but the timeline does not work. And in sports news, Tito Francona got a proper send off in Cleveland, and the USFL and the XFL are merging.
Gavin Newsom⦠Is piling on after last nightās FoxBiz circus on Ron DeSantis, who is seemingly quite excited to debate⦠him? Meanwhile, the health department of the āFree State of Floridaā¢ā is showing how unserious it is.
The sound of hypocrisy⦠Women Accuse Tim Ballard of āSpiritual Manipulation, Grooming, and Sexual Misconductā.
House Republicans⦠Are shamelessly owning this shutdown and the impeachment inquiry. (Hereās a video thread of all of the impeachment insanity.)
The GOP Primary is an Overcooked Turkey⦠Reed Galen argues that āRonna Romney and Co. Have Rigged the Game for Trump.ā
A Scottish travel horror story⦠When taking the train.
The legend of Brown Smear⦠In Newfoundland.
Peter Daouās Theory of Election Interferenceā¦.by Democrats?
She challenges one school book a week... She says sheāll never stop. Interesting stat from the story: āThe majority of all school book challenges in the 2021-2022 school year came from just 11 people.ā
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