Gabbard and RFK Jr. Were Nominated to Destroy, Not to Lead
Plus: JD Vance Is Lying About the J6 Pardons
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MATT JOHNSON: Gabbard and RFK Jr. Were Nominated to Destroy, Not to Lead
DONALD TRUMP, IN HIS SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, promised to make America āmerit-basedā again. This week, the Senate will hold hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi GabbardāTrumpās nominations for secretary of health and human services and director of national intelligence, respectively. Kennedy is a professional conspiracy theorist whose top qualification (if it can be called that) to run Americaās public health agencies is his chairmanship of an anti-vaccine advocacy group. Gabbard is a former House member and Army veteran with no intelligence experience. Of course, the nomineesā merits or lack thereof are irrelevantātheyāre MAGA sycophants who are being considered for two of the most important jobs in the country because theyāre loyal to Trump.
MONA CHAREN: Why America Needs Birthright Citizenship
DONALD TRUMPāS EXECUTIVE ORDER theoretically ending birthright citizenship grandly proclaims its purpose as āProtecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.ā As weāve come to expect from this administration, the proposed change to American law would do the exact opposite. Also in keeping with the Trumpian model, the presidentās comments accompanying the signing were false. āBirthright, thatās a big one,ā Trump frowned. āItās ridiculous. We are the only country in the world that does this with the birthright, as you know, and itās just absolutely ridiculous.ā
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Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Chris Hayes and Alex Kantrowitz: Trying To Break the Whole Thing [YouTube: Hayes, Kantrowitz]
Just Between Us: Racing Toward a Showdown with the Supreme Court š [YouTube preview]
Across the Movie Aisle: An Unsettling 'Presence'
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WILL SALETAN: JD Vance Is Lying About the J6 Pardons
DONALD TRUMPāS SECOND TERM, like his first, will focus on two projects. The first is destroying the rule of law. The second is lying. And in these pursuits, Trump has a new right-hand man: Vice President JD Vance.
Trumpās previous vice president, Mike Pence, tried to excuse Trumpās corruption. But on January 6, 2021, Pence failed his boss. He refused to overturn the 2020 election, and he denounced the attack on the Capitol.
šØOVERTIMEšØ
Happy Tuesday! Todayās Overtime will be shorter than usual today. Not only do we have a glut of wonderful new written and multimedia content, but I am sick! Whatever is going around, I do not recommend it.
Elon Musk Lackeysā¦ Have Taken Over the Office of Personnel Management (WIRED)
Google reclassifies U.S. as āsensitive countryāā¦ alongside China, Russia after Trumpās āGulf of Americaā comments (CNBC). Awesome, huh? Maybe they should label our government āSnowflakes?ā
Where are we going to get this money? NBC reports: āTrump administration will offer the roughly 2 million federal workers a buyout to resignā "If you wish to resign: Type the word 'Resign' into the body of this reply email. Hit 'Send'ā the email allegedly says.
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