Washington Post:
Hard-right Republicans, still angry over debt ceiling, foil McCarthy on vote
Hard-right Republicans, still angry with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s handling of the debt ceiling bill last week, sunk a GOP procedural vote Tuesday in a show of strength in a razor-thin majority.
It’s a show of Speaker Kevin McCarthy weakness, despite the fact we were told (by Kevin) that Kevin won. But please proceed, Republicans.
Big win, huh?
Maybe I should have called it the “it’s all good for John McCain” edition.
Punchbowl yesterday:
For the first time in more than 20 years, a rebellion within the House majority brought down a rule, temporarily stripping Republican leadership of its control of the floor.
The rule and the bills whose debate it controlled were standard Republican talking points – a proposal to block any attempt by the Biden administration to phase out the use of gas stoves.
And some of the GOP lawmakers who voted to bring down the rule even had amendment votes scheduled – Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). Roy and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) also voted for the resolution in the Rules Committee Monday before switching their votes on the floor today.
Yet the nearly dozen conservative lawmakers who took down the rule said they were aggrieved by how GOP leadership had treated Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) over a measure he wanted a vote on – a bill to limit the ATF’s ability to clamp down on pistol braces. But really, this group is still fuming over the debt-limit bill Speaker Kevin McCarthy muscled through last week over their protests.
And today:
The realities of the current House Republican Conference — and the knotty institutional issues facing the GOP leadership — are screaming back into full view this week, providing a neat encapsulation of what Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s team will need to contend with for the rest of the 118th Congress.
Will Bunch/Philadelphia inquirer:
RFK’s assassination and 55 years of paranoia
There was a lot of good reason to be cynical when Robert F. Kennedy Sr. announced belatedly in March 1968 that he was running for president. This RFK was the original nepo baby, a product of Kennedy family rivalries that made HBO’s Succession look tame, and just 35 years old when his brother John F. Kennedy shocked Washington by making him attorney general. Nothing he did as AG — from bugging the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to plotting against Fidel Castro — suggested he would become a progressive icon.
But his brother’s murder in November 1963 changed RFK for good. After he was elected U.S. senator from New York, Kennedy used his platform to tour rural Mississippi and eastern Kentucky to call for an end to poverty. After launching that ‘68 presidential campaign, he infuriated some advisers by taking a couple of days to spotlight deplorable conditions on the isolated Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, telling them in a handwritten note: “Those of you who think you’re running my campaign don’t love Indians the way I do.”
Steven Beschloss/”America America” on Substack:
Is Accountability Finally Coming?
It may be time to expect evidence of Trump taking and keeping classified documents will lead to criminal indictment
Remember when he was called Teflon Don (à la mob boss John Gotti)? Are you angered (like me) that as evidence of his crimes keeps piling up prosecutors continue to hesitate from filing charges? Are you worried (like I have been) that nothing Donald Trump has done—or might still do—will ever convince Attorney General Merrick Garland that it is time to indict?
Well, in recent days, a growing collection of legal experts are insisting that the taped recording by Trump admitting that he kept a classified document about a potential attack on Iran and knew that he could not share it is finally—really, seriously, genuinely—smoking-gun evidence. Finally—really, seriously, genuinely—Special Counsel Jack Smith and his federal grand jury may have the evidence they need to indict Trump for espionage and obstruction of justice. Finally—really, seriously, genuinely—such an indictment could be weeks or even days away.
The definite vibe is that an indictment is coming very soon. But as the New York Times notes:
Grand Jury in Florida Hints at Unknown Complexities in Trump Documents Inquiry
Prosecutors have started calling witnesses to a federal grand jury in Miami after months in which activity in the investigation was centered on a separate grand jury in Washington
But there are indications that the Washington grand jury — located in the city’s federal courthouse — may have stopped hearing witness testimony in recent weeks, according to three people familiar with its workings.
As for the Florida grand jury, which began hearing evidence last month, only a handful of witnesses have testified to it or are scheduled to appear before it, according to the people familiar with its workings. At least one witness has already testified there, and another is set to testify on Wednesday.
Maybe it’s to interview Mar a Lago employees, or maybe it’s something else. But we’ll find out soon enough.
Maggie Severns/The Messenger:
The Trump Investigations are Becoming a 2024 Landmine for His Primary Opponents
As possible indictments loom, rival GOP candidates have to stake out a position on the legal challenges facing Trump
DeSantis’ decision to stand by Trump – even mimicking his statements about the Manhattan district attorney being “Soros-backed” – reflects a belief shared by many Republican strategists that there’s not much to gain on the campaign trail by criticizing the former president over his legal problems. Yet some rival candidates are staking out a different approach as they try to distinguish themselves and their message from the growing field.
It will get interesting if and when the Chris Christies of the world decide that maybe it’s neither Trump nor Ron DeSantis, so why not call out the crooks and extremists?
Until then, same old dance but with new players.
Wall Street Journal:
Why the U.S. Remains Far From Recession
The pandemic’s aftereffects fuel economic resilience despite rising interest rates
Job gains, in particular, remain robust, pumping more money into Americans’ wallets. Payrolls grew by a surprisingly large 339,000 in May, and the increases for the preceding two months were higher than initially estimated, the Labor Department said Friday.
“I don’t think there’s any chance we’re in a recession,” said Justin Wolfers, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, an academic research group and the official arbiter of U.S. recessions, analyzes a slew of economic data to help determine whether the economy is in a recession. Most of those indicators look healthy, Wolfers said.
And fitting with the theme:
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