Comment on Why a Former Trump Campaign Consultant Is on a List of Democracy Defenders

The group White Dudes for Harris rolled out a $10 million ad campaign yesterday, with the first ad of the effort targeting white men in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Via The Hill: The more than minute-long spot addresses former President Trump’s grip on the white male vote but works to appeal to voters in the bloc who are disillusioned with him and his campaign. “All they’ve ever done is screw us over, but if you’re not on the MAGA train, where do you go?” the narrator says.

As the Week Of Republicans Behaving Badly draws to an end, we have more on the long-rumored Matt Gaetz sex party. The DoJ previously investigated Gaetz and eventually declined to file criminal charges. So unless there's something new here, I won't do the schadenfreude dance just yet. A caveat: His father, prominent Florida politician and multimillionaire Don Gaetz, has been known to bail out Matty's for various bad behaviors.

Former head of the RNC and now MSNBC contributor Michael Steele blasted Republicans for suddenly dropping their support for Christian nationalist extremist Mark Robinson for North Carolina governor when new inflammatory information came to light. Mark Robinson has said horrible things about the LGBTQ+ community, women, Hitler, murder and the left that C&L has documented, so it was weird that he won the Republican nomination for governor. But as Steele said to Republicans, "He is you." STEELE: So, so this was the line?

Kevin Drum: What does Kamala Harris need to do to seal the deal? Homo Svm: On the abolitionism of the ancients. Balkinization: We are all cafeteria originalists now (and we always have been). Lawfare: Presidential unilateralism and war powers. Informed Comment: Protesting Israel's targeted destruction of all schools and universities in Gaza. This installment by Batocchio.

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) is out with a blockbuster report detailing how foreign governments spent millions at Trump properties while the felonious fraudster was in office. The report also notes some of the ways in which Donald Trump used the office of the presidency to return the favor(s). From CREW: During Trump’s presidency, CREW tracked what ultimately became thousands of conflicts of interest swirling around him and his businesses—an unheard of level of corruption caused by Trump’s unprecedented refusal to divest his business empire.

Taiwan’s Constitutional Court upheld the legality of the death penalty but moved to limit its use, in a decision that strikes a balance between keeping the punishment’s deterrent effect and preventing its abuse. The court on Friday affirmed the constitutionality of capital punishment but restricted its use to only the most serious crimes, while emphasizing the need for better safeguards.