When major political parties ask young people what they need and want from them, the answer is always the same. But the parties are always unwilling to do what’s needed to get, and keep, support from younger voters.
What, If Anything, Did the President Think?
•
During the Watergate scandal, a recurring question was asked: What did President [Nixon] know and when did he know it? Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6th-related charges against Donald Trump prompt a similar question, albeit one that is fundamentally unknowable. If he truly believed that Biden cheated him out of the 2020 election, his efforts to reverse the results were nothing of the sort, but merely his attempt to set things right.
Dragnet Ain’t the Same
•
As if Twitter were secret, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office executed a search warrant against Donald Trump’s Twitter account, searching for “evidence of criminal offenses” related to January 6th. Twitter unsuccessfully objected to an attached nondisclosure order that ordered the company not to tell Trump.
Highly Strategic Consulting
•
Donald Trump’s Save America PAC paid over $108,000 for the first six months of 2023 to Hervé Pierre Braillard, a French-American fashion designer who is Melania Trump’s stylist for years, for “strategy consulting.” What kind of consulting justifies such high compensation?
Plausible Insanity
•
Can Special Prosecutor Jack Smith convince a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Donald Trump didn’t believe his own lies when he suggested to his lawyers and subordinates that he’d been cheated out of the 2020 election, all with a Richard II-sized dollop of plausible deniability?
Can You Read His Mind?
•
Special Counsel Jack Smith has indicted Donald Trump on charges that require a jury to believe that Trump knew he lost the 2020 election and then conspired to change the results. If Trump genuinely believed that he won, he will defeat this round of January 6th-related charges.
Everyone Gets a Censure!
•
House Democrats trying to censure far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for fanning “the flames of racism, antisemitism, LGBTQ hate speech, Islamophobia, anti-Asian hate, xenophobia and other forms of hatred.” Last month, Republicans censured Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA). Last week, Democrats filed a resolution against Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
A Perfect Fit
•
A study shows that students with identical grades and test scores are 2.2 times more likely to be admitted to an Ivy League school if their parents are in the top0.1% of wage earners, or get more than $611,000 per year.
Race to the Bottom
•
The Florida Legislature created the African History Task Force in 1994 in order to write guidelines for teaching the history, culture, experiences, and contributions of African Americans in public schools.
But Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE Act” prohibited any teaching that could make students feel they bear personal responsibility, guilt, anguish, or “other forms of psychological distress” for actions committed by members of their own race.
So the curriculum was rewritten. In the African American History section for grades 6-8, teachers are now required to include “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
Critics are blasting this revision as historically inaccurate and a racist dog whistle. Regardless of the level of accuracy, it was obviously motivated by partisan politics.
Another Day, Another Booking
•
Special counsel Jack Smith informed Donald Trump that yet another indictment of the former president, about his role on January 6th, could be imminent. After his 4th set of criminal charges, getting arrested becomes routine.
