Paul Kane/Washington Post:
McCarthy, McConnell suffer setbacks over control of their caucuses
The House speaker and Senate minority leader faced rejection on different fronts: McCarthy forced into leaning on Democrats to keep the government open and McConnell defied by GOP senators on Ukraine
First, after days of internal rebellion, McCarthy (R-Calif.) threw in the towel at a Saturday morning meeting. His leadership team had run the numbers, and at least six Republicans would oppose any plan to keep the government open by the midnight deadline.
With just four votes to spare on a GOP-only plan, McCarthy gave up and turned to Democrats to help pass a “clean” resolution to keep the government open at current levels into mid-November.
These aren’t close in terms of setback comparisons. McConnell will come up with a different funding vehicle while McCarthy will have a “motion to vacate” threat to deal with.
Excellent John Harwood interview from ProPublica: “In a rare formal interview, the president discussed X/Twitter under Elon Musk, MAGA’s takeover of the GOP and the threats to democracy he sees posed by Donald Trump’s 2024 candidacy.”
Politico:
House GOP stunner: Spending patch passes with mostly Dem votes
“We’re tired of f–king around with these whack jobs,” one House Republican said as Kevin McCarthy risked a far-right rebellion aimed at taking his gavel.
McCarthy’s abrupt shift in strategy came after weeks of unwillingness to take any route that pits him against a handful of conservative hardliners who have refused to allow any bipartisan efforts to stave off a shutdown.
“There was an outcry from rank-and-file that want a [continuing resolution]. We’re tired of fucking around with these whack jobs. They voted against it yesterday, so let’s just put up a clean CR,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), among those who had repeatedly pushed for the speaker to ignore his right flank.
Marcy Wheeler/emptywheel:
ONE OF DIANNE FEINSTEIN’S GREATEST LEGACIES: DOCUMENTING CIA’S TORTURE
I was only her constituent for a matter of months before I left the state. But her influence on US policy — good and bad — has been national in scope.
Amid what are sure to be many tributes, one part of her legacy deserves close focus: the SSCI Torture Report.
The US has still not fully atoned for the crimes it committed as part of an effort to gin up war on terror scares. It was just over a month ago, after all, that a judge threw out the post-torture confession of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. It was just days ago that a different judge ruled Ramzi bin al-Shibh incompetent to stand trial. We’re still discovering that even after the torture, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was deprived of legal counsel.
America’s crimes of torture remain very much unresolved, much less punished.
Dianne Feinstein wasn’t always right. But she used her tenure as SSCI Chair to ensure there was a document of the torture done in our name. That legacy deserves respect.
She was also a mentor to many Congressional women. Both are well worth remembering. See also:
Bill Scher/Washington Monthly on the UAW Strike and politics:
The Real Debate Last Night Was in Michigan (And Biden Might Be Winning It)
While Donald Trump claims electric vehicles will destroy the US auto industry, Joe Biden is better positioned to help auto workers win the future.
Nationally, Trump hasn’t performed all that much better with labor than other Republican nominees. In 2016, he got 43 percent of the union household vote, and 40 percent in 2020. The latter was matched by the victorious George W. Bush in 2004 as well as the defeated Romney. Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan did better than Trump, though fell short of winning the union vote outright. (The last Republican to do that was Richard Nixon in 1972.)
Michigan is another story. By 2016, the auto bailout had faded from memory, replaced by fears of progressive social change and international trade agreements. Trump slashed the Romney’s 33-point gap with Michigan union families to 13, helping him flip the state. Then in 2020, Trump’s losing margin with hard hats widened to 25, and Michigan returned to blue.
The union vote matters more in Michigan than anywhere else in the country. Among the handful of presidential battleground states, Michigan—home to the Big 3 automakers Ford, GM, and Stellantis—has the highest unionization rate at 14 percent. According to 2020 exit poll estimates, the share of the Michigan electorate that’s in a union household was 21 percent, higher than any other swing state.
In case you missed it, Republicans won’t block a replacement on the committees for Feinstein, including Judiciary.
Jamie Duprey/”Regular Order” on Substack:
In a surprise, Congress avoids shutdown
EAGLE EYE. I have a number of sharp-eyed readers who sometimes demonstrate a better institutional memory about Congress than I have – and it’s always good to hear from them. On Saturday, one pointed out that my look back at the arrival of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also had another story to tell.
WOMEN. I wrote that when Feinstein arrived, she was one of the few women in the Senate. What I forgot was that Feinstein had taken her seat immediately after the 1992 election – in the waning days of the 102nd Congress.
ROSTER. Along with Feinstein at that time, there was Sen. Jocelyn Burdick (D-ND), who had temporarily replaced her husband. Also in office were Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS), and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).
NUMBERS. The raw numbers are proof of how much things have changed on Capitol Hill. When Feinstein arrived, there were four women in the Senate. Before her death on Thursday, there were 24 women.
Nicholas Grossman/”Arc Digital” on Substack:
Putin Wants to Prolong the War. Trump, Tucker, and DeSantis Give Him Reason To.
Russia can’t beat Ukraine on the battlefield, but they can keep fighting through 2024, hoping America flips and the West backs off
Russia’s 2023 offensive appears to have culminated, with a lot of casualties and destroyed equipment for little territorial gain. While surely hoping for greater short-term success, the Putin government likely sees itself in a longer-term endurance contest. They might not be able to defeat the Ukrainian military in the field, but if they keep the war going, and keep bombing civilian infrastructure, maybe they can outlast NATO countries’ willingness to send aid, and Ukraine’s will to resist. Then Russia can get a peace deal to its liking, with territorial concessions, and restrictions on Ukraine’s foreign relations.
It might be the only card they have left. Nuclear use is checked by mutual fear of WWIII, and nuclear extortion hasn’t worked. Negotiation is a nonstarter, because Ukraine appears intent on recapturing territory, and won’t accept any agreement that isn’t humiliating for Russia and Putin, globally and domestically.
Will Bunch/Philadelphia Inquirer:
Donald Trump’s increasingly violent vision is coming through loud and clear to supporters like the MAGA gunman in New Mexico.
When Donald Trump howls into his metaphorical microphone, it’s on a frequency that gets picked up by the likes of Ryan Martinez, a 23-year-old man living in Sandia Park, N.M., a small-town suburb of Albuquerque. Martinez’s Facebook page says he’s a graduate of Los Lunas High School, and, according to the Albuquerque Journal, his bio reads: “(expletive) The Chinese Communist Party and (expletive) Joe Biden. TRUMP WON. (pre-law major).”
Matt Robison with jason Sattler:
