The End of the Pretend Primary Is in Sight
Plus: Trump’s Lawyers Argue Biden Can Assassinate Him
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NICHOLAS GROSSMAN: The End of the Pretend Primary Is in Sight
BY THIS POINT IN THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY SEASON, there’s usually excitement and uncertainty, with Iowa and New Hampshire wide open (like the Republican primaries in 2016 and 2012) or down to a few contenders (like both parties’ primaries in 2008). This cycle, though, Donald Trump’s lead looks like Secretariat’s in the 1973 Belmont Stakes: He has been so far ahead for so long that the word “frontrunner” is inadequate.
Still, even though Trump’s dominance is such that most of his supposed opponents have been defending him, or at least avoiding going after his biggest vulnerabilities, and have said they will back him if he is the nominee, even if he’s a convicted felon, Republicans are going through the motions anyway.
TIM MILLER: Trump And Fox: So Happy Together … Again
ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT, two of Fox News’s “straight news” reporters, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, sat beside the disgraced former president listening to his Catskills standup bit and giggling like a couple of undergrads after a 5mg weed gummy.
“What about any of the people who you’ve run against, would you be open to mending fences with them?” MacCallum asked Donald Trump, not so pointedly.
“Oh sure I will, I will. I’ve already started to like Christie better,” Trump replied, referencing his former opponent dropping out of the race hours earlier. To someone unattuned to Trump’s wiles, this line might have sounded petty and predictable.
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George Conway Explains it All: Is Trump Going to Jail? [Ad-free 🔐]
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PAUL ROSENZWEIG: Trump’s Lawyers Argue Biden Can Assassinate Him.
I CONFESS TO A LONGSTANDING PREFERENCE for the Army’s Delta Force over the Navy’s SEAL Team Six. The preference is not rational—it is the product, no doubt, of some latent pro-Army sentiment because my stepson served in that branch.
Whatever the genesis, my prejudice caused me some consternation as I listened to Tuesday’s oral argument in the appeal of Donald Trump’s claim to absolute presidential immunity. Trump, through his lawyers, was making the claim that if he is not first impeached and convicted of certain conduct, he cannot thereafter be tried in criminal court for his official conduct. And he further contended that “official” conduct is defined by the nature of the act—not by its motivation or intent. In other words, according to Trump, so long as what a president does is plausibly official in its form, no criminal case could ever be brought if he was not first impeached and removed from office.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
🎵On the Jukebox🎵… Whatever this Joe Flacco song is, it’s catchy!
Trump’s doomsday scenario… a Haley upset with a DeSantis exit after Iowa, writes friend of the newsletter Tom LoBianco (who recently set up his own Substack, 24Sight, after being laid off at The Messenger. Sign up!)
Larry Hogan steps down… At “No Labels.”
Chauvin-washing falls short… A review of a new doc from our friends at the Connors Institute.
Find me on CenterClip! If you’re a user of the platform, I’ve just joined!
The Pizza Oven In Our Minds… Addison Del Mastro says farewell to a charming, historic, early suburban pizza parlor.
America250… Got a rebrand.
With Days To Go Before Iowa Voting…. Trump's Top Opponents Finally Hit Him On Jan. 6. Better late than never, I suppose.
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