Saturday Report 4/20/24 - Will the “FART” Team Work for Conservatives?

The Best of the Rest of the News

— Will Trump face stronger contempt charges for violating his gag order while sitting in court? And, if Trump is jailed, will there be mass protests? Does anyone really care? It’s looking more and more like Trump’s trial in New York may be one of those “the emperor has no clothes” moments that knocks him off his pedestal and reveals to everybody that he’s just a weird, cranky old man with the impulse control of a 5-year-old. Under New York law, the judge can immediately hold him in contempt of court if Trump does things in front of the judge, but if he does them outside the courtroom and the judge wants to go for criminal (jail) sanctions rather than civil (fines) sanctions, he has to have a separate hearing to do that. Thus, the delay to next Tuesday for the hearing on Trump’s violations of his gag order. This is actually bad news for Trump; it indicates that Judge Merchan is taking the contempt charges seriously and laying the foundation for actually tossing Trump in jail for a day or more. While Fox “News” and CNN commentators, and randos on the internet, are promising such an action would produce riots nationwide, I’m skeptical: the number of Trump supporters outside the courthouse, for example, had dwindled to two people yesterday when the (apparently Qanon) guy in the park across the street set himself on fire. And it may well be a splash of cold water to the face for Trump, a man who’s never in his entire life had to bear responsibility for his crimes and sociopathic behavior. Finally, multiple press reports, verified by George Conway on X, suggest that when Trump falls asleep he also starts farting, and the smell is so bad that it’s a problem for his attorneys. Noel Casler has repeatedly said that when he worked with Trump on Celebrity Apprentice the billionaire (?) was wearing diapers that were often soiled and smelly, grossing out the NBC film crew. I’m reluctant to make fun of elderly people who are incontinent, but this is another way that the patina of “strongman” gets etched away from Trump because he has to sit in this courtroom all day every day of his trial and, if the reports are true, the smell is extraordinary. Finally, adding to Trump’s legal woes, another federal judge yesterday ruled that the civil lawsuit against him by Capitol police officers and a few members of Congress for endangering their lives on January 6th can go forward. Tick-tock.

— Ukraine may lose by the end of 2024 — will our Congress stand up to the Putin caucus or let down democracy? CIA Director Burns testified this week that if US aid to Ukraine doesn’t arrive soon, that country could fall to the ongoing Russian assault. Speaker Johnson has finally — after a half a year of foot-dragging — scheduled a vote on that aid for 1 PM ET this afternoon. Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene and her buddies, Thomas Massey and Paul Gosar, say they’re going to try to de-throne Johnson in retaliation for Ukraine aid, as they continue to echo propaganda coming straight from the Kremlin, including the absurd charge that Ukraine’s Jewish president is running a “Nazi” state. The other interesting thing to watch with today’s vote is whether the aid to Israel — which Johnson split out from Ukraine and Taiwan aid — can get enough votes to pass given how upset Democrats (and a handful of Republicans) are about Netanyahu’s slaughter of Gazan civilians. Vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Congressman Ro Khanna told me yesterday that he, Rep. Jayapal, and Rep. Pocan (among others) will be voting against it because it contains funds for and export authority for offensive weapons without any conditions such as blocking their use against unarmed people. Today will most likely be historic…

— Why do Republicans in Congress want banks to be able to continue to “squeeze customers with junk fees”? A few weeks ago, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) promulgated a rule that mandated credit card late fees — which normally float around $30-$40 — can’t be over $8, a number that more closely reflects the cost to banks of handling them with plenty of room for them to make a profit (not to mention that they immediately begin hitting people with obscenely high interest rates). The banking industry protested, so now Republicans in the House and Senate are riding to their rescue with legislation that would overturn the CFPB’s rule and again let the banks gouge their most vulnerable customers. The effort in the House is being led by the usual suspects, and in the Senate the bill’s author is Republican South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Reporting on the story, Rolling Stone noted: “An analysis published this week by the watchdog group Accountable.US found that Republicans on the committee have ‘received over $7.9 million from industry groups against this rule and the largest credit issuers.’ Several of those who voted for the repeal, including Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), and Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) are facing competitive reelection races in November.” Let’s hope so!

— Will the “FART” team work for House Republicans? Now that Speaker Mike Johnson is defying the Putin (“Freedom”) Caucus in the House of Representatives, a group of them have put together a team to constantly have at least one member on the floor at all times to be able to stop any effort by Johnson or others that may change their ability to challenge his speakership or otherwise reduce their political power. Without a trace of irony, particularly given the reports out of Trump’s New York courtroom, they call it the Floor Action Response Team. As Lauren Boebert told reporters, “Myself and other members of the House Freedom Caucus, we have a Floor Action Response Team. F-A-R-T. I’m a mother of four boys; I can appreciate that.” Boebert is facing serious opposition in this fall’s election, but, if nothing else, she may have a future in standup comedy.

— Wisdom School Alert:

Is There Power In How We Think About Things?

—Crazy Alert! House Democrats filed a bill to make Marjorie Taylor Greene “Putin’s Special Envoy to the US Congress.” Nonetheless, the bizarre congresswoman seemed undeterred yesterday as she continued to argue that Jewish President Zelenskyy was a Nazi and Putin was justified in killing thousands of Ukrainians and kidnapping over 100,000 Ukrainian children and selling them into sex slavery in Russia (which has since become the world’s second largest producer of child porn, as it’s not illegal to produce or possess in that nation).

— Hunter in a Farmer’s World Alert:

ADHD: “Good German Schools” Come to America

— Hospitals are “so scared” of GOP abortion laws that they’re turning away pregnant women in trouble. Now that about half the states in the nation have outlawed abortion to varying degrees, with penalties as high as 20 years in prison for anybody participating in an abortion, ER docs and their hospitals are freaking out. As a result, numerous women have had to endure medical emergencies that have risked their lives and, in some cases, ended their ability to have future children. One woman started to miscarry in the bathroom of a Texas Catholic hospital after the Emergency Room physicians threw her out: they were terrified that they may be breaking the law,