1/ Today the #2024Election kicks off in earnest with #JoeBiden’s re-election bid announcement
There is 560 days to the #PresidentialElection. Much will happen, conditions will change but it as #Biden suggests a continuation of the battle for the soul of America
I’ll use this thread to comment periodically on the election over the next 80 weeks. It’s a long road to #ElectionDay2024, but the stakes couldn’t be higher
2) One of America’s better columnists, #TomFriedman, with some thoughts on #KamalaHarris and how the VP needs to be a more visible presence in the #2024Election.
#USPolitics #Politics #WomenInPolitics
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/opinion/kamala-harris-joe-biden-2024-reelection.html
3) is the #2024Election a contest between morality vs amorality?
#DavidBrooks of the #NYTimes certainly thinks so
#USPolitics #Politics #Elections
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/opinion/biden-trump-soul-america-election-2024.html
4) Meanwhile #DonaldTrump is on the campaign trail reinforcing his uber fan base by embracing a convicted #Jan6 agitator. In Donald world these people were patriots and acted in his best interests although he lifted nary a figure to help them as the indictments and convictions started flowing
5) The #Desantis campaign for the presidency now seems dead before its birth.
What is more surprsing, the empty vision of DeSantis or the continued acceptance of #Trump as a presidentail candidate?
#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/03/trump-critics-desantis-gop-primary-00095011
6) Meanwhile the candidate accused of rape in a current civil suit trial plays golf in #Ireland.
While Mr #Trump claims he will return to #NYC to defend himself, he has opted NOT to attend the #JeanCarroll trial. While the geography was different, the usual MO was on full display, made for #NewsMedia assertions without reference to fact or logic
7) #DonaldTrump is not hirable for most jobs. Like many, conservative pundit, Charlie Sykes, is mystified that many Americans consider #Trump to be a plausible candidate for control of the nuclear codes or top secret clearance
#Politics #USPolitics #Election2024
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/05/trump-reelection-2024-assault-allegations/673957
8) The #2023Election will be the first election where #AI generated imagery, audio and video will be deployed.
Donie O'Sullivan recently flagged a #GOP campaign add which used AI generated imagery to stoke fears about fictional dystopian future resulting from a #Biden re-election
This ad was created by the #RNC not some outsourced hacked media shop. A shameful moment for the #Republican Party
#USPolitics #Politics #DeepFake
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/02/politics/ai-election-ads-2024/index.html
9) The #Trump show was on #CNN last night. He served up a big dose of red meat to true believer supporters who were predominant in the town hall format audience.
While that makes going into the primary process, the #Election2024 campaign will be fought for the middle swing 30%. Many will not be enamored by #ElectionDenialism, #Jan6 rioter embrace or the #JeanCarroll rape verdict
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/11/us/politics/trump-cnn-town-hall-takeaways.html
10) #CNN has had a busy 24 hours trying to justify why it hosted #donaldtrump
Should #Trump be hosted by legitimate news operations? I think yes, but not in the circus like town hall environment
@rbreich is out with a good piece indicating that "libertarian", #JohnMalone was the likely driver behind the decision to host #Trump. I find this suspicion to be highly plausible
#Election2024 #USPolitics #Politics #NewsMedia #News
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/after-last-night-anyone-still-trust
11) File this one under #FailureToLaunch. Hardly surprising when understaffed and under resourced #Twitter is used as a broadcast platform. Seems like #DeSantis lacks risk assessment skills, fairly important if you wish to be #POTUS.
This latest #Musk mess will do little to improve the credibility of his crumbling network
12) I find myself being oddly aligned with #ChrisChristie in the last 24 hours. Is the #MirrorHog trending. If not it should be
13) #DonaldTrump is now facing 2 different criminal court dates in New York and Federal court in Florida. It’s likely that more indictments are forthcoming: election tampering in Georgia and then the #Jan6 conspiracy
14) Speaker #KevinMcCarthy in reacting to the #Trump indictment seems to misunderstand that the charges come from the Department of Justice and not #JoeBiden.
I can understand the confusion given how #DonaldTrump yearned to leverage the DOJ to pursue political vendettas. Seems McCarthy’s understanding of the separation of power is similar
In the US system of government, "The executive Power shall be vested in a President," and since indictments are executive branch actions, they DO come from Joe Biden.
The Department of Justice is the agency that the president acts through for this kind of thing.
The DoJ is not a fourth branch of the US government. It is part of the president's executive branch, part of the president's administration.
Traditionally the President has a hands off roll with the DOJ. He gets to appoint the Attorney General. Most Presidents opt to maintain distance least they be perceived as interferring in the judicial process.
That changed in the #Trump presidency when #DonaldTrump attempted to find an AG who would do his bidding directly. #WilliamBarr initially proved to be the right man for that job. Now #KevinMcCarthy is attempting to tar #JoeBiden with the same thing, projection at its worst
That a president may choose to allow his subordinates to operate without close oversight is itself a reflection of the president's authority over his branch.
And it does become problematic: we trust presidents to restrain this powerful law enforcement organization. Presidents traditionally letting them operate as they wish is giving them quite a lot of flexibility to exercise that power against the public.
But we need to be absolutely clear on this: The president is legally responsible for his Department of Justice, and should the DoJ misbehave the president must stand accountable and even impeachable over it.
It is an error for us to buy the idea that law enforcement can do what it wants without accountability for the president that it reports ti.
