Politics Weekend Summary 6/24
My Take on GOP's DOJ Weaponization Farce, 2023 Elections, 2024 Topics, SCOTUS, and More
DOJ Weaponization Claims Are a Complete Farce:
So let me ask you this as a rhetorical question: Is this what a “political persecution” by law enforcement looks like?
If it is, the criminal doesn’t seem to mind the spotlight and the headlines. I say this because Trump and many lawmakers in the Republican Party all across the country have been blasting the supposed two-tier system going after conservatives and other political opponents of the Biden Administration.
There are issues in our justice and law enforcement systems for sure to be mentioned shortly. This is not one of them. Beyond not a single scintilla of evidence present in the House Committees investigating this “Weaponization of Justice,” It is ridiculous to even think for a moment that Republicans are the ones being charged with crimes while Democrats are all getting free passes. Like the DOJ is looking through our voter records to see which people they will go after legally based on their party ID and their ideological preferences.
When it comes to corruption in American politics, there is no backing of the accusations of weaponized law enforcement targeting Republicans and conservatives. If anything, it’s the opposite. The DOJ is applying the law fairly with both Democrats and Republicans to varying degrees and to different legal results and outcomes-since each legal/criminal case is different.
Not that law breaking by anyone is a good thing. Rather tragic and melancholy in a way actually. But it does shows fair enforcement of the law contrary to most of these baseless weaponization claims. We see this in Andrew Gillum’s criminal indictment for campaign money laundering which ended up in Florida court. We see this in another investigation into former NY Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin on similar fraud matters. Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has already been indicted with federal racketeering charges. Former California Congressman TJ Cox faces a multitude of wire fraud and money laundering charges too. Full disclosure: all of them are NOT Republicans.
That’s not to say there aren’t issues in our legal system, from policing to criminal justice. Indeed with Attorney General William Barr, the DOJ can at times betray its independent principles and become a defense firm for the President. Barr was known for that-even though Trump wanted him to go farther, including on post-2020 election actions and orders. That’s unlike the unprecedented precautions Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland has taken to ensure independence and trust-by appointing Special Counsels in needed situations. Another note in the DOJ classified documents case: neither Biden nor Pence tried to withhold the materials they had unlike in the allegations concerning Trump.
But more importantly, there are issues in the legal system that disproportionately impact communities of color: African Americans, Hispanics & Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and the rest. People with disabilities, mental health issues, substance abuse disorders, and the poor also suffer to the flaws exposed in our systems in policing & incarceration, and the violation of basic rights. From drug sentencing disparities to stop-and-frisk, the death penalty, three strikes, and the rest, even innocent people suffer to this system. They had to do the mugshots and the fingerprinting. Their houses probably got raided and they had to be handcuffed out. And yet, they didn’t say law enforcement is weaponized the same way Republicans have. If anything, Trump has been very privileged in the way the system treats him and other major white-collar criminals.
Which is all to say the DOJ weaponization allegations are a complete farce and a waste of this great nation’s time. They are so far unfounded and unproven.
2023 Election Contests:
Believe it or not, there are off year elections in several states; gubernatorial contests, and races for control of state legislatures. This is definitely the case in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where primaries were just held this past Tuesday.
While there were many contested races in the Commonwealth, the most significant was the unseating of State Senator Joe Morrissey by State Delegate Lashrecse Aird in a more than two-to-one ratio. It is an embarrassing loss-though not really surprising. For sure, the Senator had his own personal issues that was way too much baggage even for some longtime constituents.
But more importantly, the primary was a referendum on Democratic allies who went along with Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s agenda-specifically around LGBTQ-based culture wars, loosening gun laws, and restricting abortion access. The abortion and gun issues are ever more relevant in the Southern US-where most states have started to roll back gun safety and abortion protection laws off the books. North Carolina was the latest domino to fall earlier this year.
With the United States Congress gridlocked, it makes state legislatures for the time being even more influential and powerful in political affairs. This is something we see in the Midwestern progressivism revival taking place in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota. We also see the importance of state governments in Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois. State legislatures and executive offices can either make progress-or roll it back entirely.
Virginia offers the first real test of this as a prelude to 2024. If Republicans gain full control of the state legislature in November, the Commonwealth will become a cesspool for extreme right-wing initiatives, from election denial and attacks on basic freedoms and liberties, to state budget austerity on working families and public giveaways for Big Business & Corporate America. It will be the first major test in advertising Democratic Party accomplishments on the state level and outmaneuvering state GOP operations on the ground.
2024 Election Cycle Developments:
Everything is up for grabs in 2024, from the Oval Office, to the closely divided House of Representatives and US Senate; all the way down to state and local governments. The election does not actually take place until November, but it’s already starting to take its early shape in the country now.
Beyond the usual-like candidate recruitment in the Senate-there are also various redistricting battles taking place in critical bellwether and battleground states. New York Democrats are giving it another try after last year’s disaster. There is an effort that will also be taking place in Ohio in the coming months. Republicans in North Carolina will try to gerrymander the state the way Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies did in Florida.
On a more optimistic note, the very conservative Supreme Court defended a provision of the Voting Rights Act that bans racial gerrymandering. If applied right, this could open a path for more majority-minority districts across the South-including in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Not to mention GOP Congressman Andy Ogles’s fixed Nashville-based district that was uniquely created for the 2022 midterm majority.
Other Weekend Highlights:
The Divided States of America on abortion access and reproductive health.
Serbia shows and tells the United States how to deal with gun violence.
The most corrupt US Supreme Court since at least the 1890s takes another image hit with the Justice Samuel Alito reports.
Is Russia beginning to fracture? And what does it mean for both Ukraine and nuclear arms in Europe? What does Trump think about Putin now?
RFK Jr.’s legendary and groundbreaking environmental work remains clouded by a presidential campaign of misinformation and conspiracies.
And growing bipartisan concerns about US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s conduct in the State of Rhode Island and Washington DC, along with new calls for federal executive agency intervention and congressional oversight-which will likely increase further over the coming weeks and months.
What are your thoughts on the month of June 2023 so far?