Kurt Bardella/USA Today:
Manchin's decision on Build Back Better is a sign no one is afraid of this White House
Joe Manchin's stunning announcement on Fox News should show Democrats they need to have a better plan for governing and navigating politics in 2022.
From Meadows to Manchin, absolutely nobody is afraid of this White House or of Democrats in general. Republicans, on the other hand, have taken the politics of fear and turned them into a Jedi-level art form. Fear is their weapon of choice, and they love nothing more than using it to bludgeon Democrats over and over and over again.
Jill Lawrence/USA Today:
Biden can save his Build Back Better agenda by just listening to Manchin
I understand why Democrats are trying to fix every mess in one giant bill. But it's time for them to listen to Manchin: Do less but longer and better.
If you look really hard at Sen. Joe Manchin's statement on President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill, you can find a tiny loophole. "I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation," he said.
This piece of legislation. But what if it changed? It’s time for Biden and Democrats to listen to Manchin’s longstanding demand to do less, and do it better and more permanently.
I say this as someone who until now was in the "do everything, just do it shorter" camp. History is littered, as they say, with scuttled deals and wrongheaded decisions that could have saved today's political parties from massive headaches and, more important, could have done all kinds of good for people, families and the economy. I completely understand the determination to try to fix all of these legacy messes in one massive bill.
Steve Benen/MSNBC:
Why the Jan. 6 investigation is focusing on one Republican rep
For the first time, the Jan. 6 committee is focusing its attention on one member of Congress: Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
A year ago this week, Donald Trump pressed the Justice Department's top two officials on voter-fraud claims they knew to be false. The officials — acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, and his deputy, Richard Donoghue — responded by telling the then-president that they could not help him change the election's outcome.
Trump said he was asking for something slightly different. "Just say that the election was corrupt [and] leave the rest to me" and to the White House's congressional allies the then-president said, according to Donoghue's written notes.
In other words, Trump wanted the Justice Department to lie, at which point some congressional Republicans would advance the rest of the scheme to overturn the results.
The then-president did not identify the lawmakers by name, but as The New York Times reported over the summer, at other points during the conversation, Trump specifically referenced a handful of far-right lawmakers — including Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
NY Times:
Jan. 6 Committee Weighs Possibility of Criminal Referrals
The House panel is examining whether there is enough evidence to recommend that the Justice Department pursue cases against Donald J. Trump and others.
But as investigators sifted through troves of documents, metadata and interview transcripts, they started considering whether the inquiry could yield something potentially more consequential: evidence of criminal conduct by President Donald J. Trump or others that they could send to the Justice Department urging an investigation.
That move — known as sending a criminal referral — has no legal weight, as Congress has little ability to tell the Justice Department what investigations it should undertake. But it could have a substantial political impact by increasing public pressure on Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who in his first year in office has largely sidestepped questions about what prosecutors are doing to examine the conduct of Mr. Trump and his aides as they promoted baseless allegations of voter fraud.
The questions of criminality go far beyond the contempt of Congress referrals that the House has sent to the Justice Department for Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, and his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, for their refusal to cooperate with the investigation. (Federal law requires prosecutors to bring contempt of Congress charges before a grand jury upon receiving such a referral.)
Tim Miller/Bulwark:
The mask is off. So to speak.
Trump, DeSantis, and the anti-vax politics of boosters.
But as summer turned to fall, their tune changed. It became clear that the vaccine holdouts in the MAGA base were not persuaded by the overwhelming data indicating that the vaccines were safe and effective; nor by paeans to the American entrepreneurial spirit; nor by the desire to honor their dunce-king for his OWS accomplishment.
As the Delta variant ravaged Trump-supporting counties at a disproportionate rate, the people who had the most credibility with their audience gave up on trying to help them save themselves.
No, really. Look at this chart.
No, really. Look at the chart.
Michael Mina/Twitter:
Well - it’s Finally happening!
US will make 500 million #Rapidtests available for free to Americans
@POTUS will invoke the Defense Productions Act to make this happen
STARTING in January… but note, *starting* - not all in January
That thread is available here if you wish.
Daniel Dale/CNN:
Republican candidates across the country refuse to acknowledge Biden won legitimately
A refusal to endorse the legitimacy of Biden's victory has become a key requirement in Republican primaries across the country. From
conservative Alabama to the
swing states of the Midwest, numerous Republicans trying to win party nominations in 2022 have joined former President Donald Trump in refusing to publicly admit that Trump just plain lost.
Some candidates are
aggressive, turning the lie that Trump was the rightful winner into a central part of their campaign pitches. Other candidates are
evasive, straining to sidestep a direct answer on the question of Biden's legitimacy.