Tuned Out Voters Help Trump
Tuned Out Voters Help Trump
Plus: Recent Scandals Reveal Weakness of the New SCOTUS Code of Conduct
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KIMBERLY WEHLE: Trump Got Due Process and Then Some
FOLLOWING LAST THURSDAY’S JURY VERDICT convicting Donald Trump on 34 felony charges in New York, speculation has already begun about the feasibility of his anticipated appeal, whether he could actually see jail time, and whether the verdict will wind up helping Trump in the 2024 presidential election, further polarizing the nation. Answers to those questions will become clearer in the weeks and months ahead, but for now, we should take this moment to step back and appreciate the big picture, which is this:
At a time when American democracy is at risk, just 157 days before the election, the rule of law prevailed.
A.B. STODDARD: Tuned-Out Voters Benefit Trump
IF YOU ARE READING THIS here at The Bulwark, you are likely a well-informed voter closely following the campaign.1 But chances are many of the people you surround yourself with are not. Ask them why, and they will probably tell you something like, Yeah, I’m going to vote, but I can’t take any more Trump, so life is better without the news.
Voters like that could actually sink Joe Biden’s re-election.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Bill Kristol: Rally Around the Flag
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CATHY YOUNG: Russia: The Show (Trial) Must Go On
SINCE THE INVASION OF UKRAINE in February 2022, the Vladimir Putin regime has launched hundreds of political prosecutions, mostly under hastily passed laws that prohibit “discrediting” the Russian military or disseminating “fake news” about the war. But even against this depressing backdrop, the case of writer and theater director Evgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, which is currently being heard in a Moscow court a year after the women’s arrest, stands out for its sheer absurdity and cruelty. The women are being prosecuted for “justifying terrorism” by writing and producing a play about Russian jihadi brides—a play, Finist the Fair Falcon, first produced in 2020, which won the “Best Dramatic Work” award at Russia’s prestigious Golden Mask theater festival in April 2022.
PEGGY A. QUINCE AND LAUREN STILLER RIKLEEN: Recent Scandals Reveal Weakness of the New SCOTUS Code of Conduct
THE RULES DON’T APPLY TO THE SUPREME COURT. That’s the message Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have sent with their responses to the cascading scandals impugning their independence, nonpartisanship, and personal integrity. It is also, as a legal matter, true. Justices Thomas and Alito are immune from the restrictions placed on other federal judges to protect the judiciary—the only rules that bind them are ones they wrote for themselves.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Monday! Hope your weekend was enjoyable. It feels like summer is already here in Northern Virginia.
Strange things are afoot… At the Epoch Times, whose CFO was recently charged for his alleged role in a $67 million money laundering scheme. Does this mean those weird billboards are going to go away? Please say yes. Kudos to Intelligencer for this headline: “DOJ Says Epoch Times Newspaper Is an Epic Money-Laundering Operation” A bit about the scheme:
The alleged scheme was fairly simple, relying on prepaid debit cards, which are a common method in crypto laundering. The Make Money Online team, based abroad, would allegedly purchase “proceeds of fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits” loaded onto prepaid cards. The team then allegedly traded them for cryptocurrency at 70 to 80 percent of the cards’ actual value. After making the deal, the Feds claim that those funds would then be transferred into bank accounts associated with the Epoch Times as well as into Guan’s personal bank accounts.
Why scientists say we need to send clocks to the moon — soon (CNN).
The Felon… Matt Labash writes: “Don't do the crime if you can't do the time, a two-handed consideration” 🔐 (You can read a version with ads here.)
An Amazing Scientist… At our colleague Will Selber’s Substack (sign up!), a new post entitled “Thoughts from Aqsa Rahmani” will make you smile. At least it made me smile.
“I paid hush money because I had a lot of fun…” Don fought the law, and the law won.
Criminal Justice system prompts eight GOP Senators… To promise to make the Senate even more dysfunctional (HuffPo). Nice work if you can get it! The unserious signers: Mike Lee, J.D. Vance, Tommy Tuberville, Eric Schmitt, Marsha Blackburn, Rick Scott, Roger Marshall, and Marco Rubio. Some names you’d expect, and some a few years ago, you wouldn’t. But as Charles Krauthammer observed, decline is a choice, and Mike Lee and Marco Rubio have really decided to embrace their decisions.
Speaking of the unserious / “based” Mike Lee… One of his favorite news sources was exposed for its founder’s ties to Russia and Iran (WaPo).
50 hours… In the most nuked site on earth (Yes Theory). (In college, I took a seismology class on nuclear weapons and our professor used to work at Los Alamos. He wanted to organize a field trip to the Trinity Site. I was the only one who wanted to go, so no field trip happened. This is a really neat look at Semipalatinsk.
Ladies and gentleman, please welcome… the co-host of CNN's Crossfire, famed political consultant, the raging Cajun, Mr. James Carville to Conversations with Bill Kristol.
Introducing… Cosmic baseball. See? Rob Manfred can’t ruin everything!
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