The conservative news media lost its collective minds last weekend because Taylor Swift attended a football game. She was there to support her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who was already reviled by conservatives for making ads for Bud Light and the Pfizer covid vaccine. During the game, television cameras kept tabs on Swift's reaction to various plays. She is, after all, the most popular pop star on the planet, bigger than Madonna ever was.
But when the Chiefs won — sending them to the Super Bowl in two weeks against the San Francisco 49ers — the conspiracy theories started flowing, especially since Republicans fear the impact of Taylor Swift's expected endorsement of President Biden in the 2024 election.
Vivek Ramaswamy went so far to suggest the Super Bowl was rigged: "I wonder who's going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there's a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let's see how it ages over the next 8 months."
I won't bother to cite dozens of other examples of the MAGA meltdown this week because Ramaswamy's tweet gets to the heart of what's gone wrong with Republican politics. Although he technically ran for president, Ramazwamy is much more of a creature built up by the conservative media. And the incentives to be a personality on Fox News or Newsmax are very different than what it takes to win an election — especially a general election.
Noah Berlatsky explains: "Swift was one of the most well-known people on earth before she met Kelce. Now she's even more famous. If you post a tweet making outrageous claims about Taylor Swift, or film a segment making even more outrageous claims about Taylor Swift, you are likely to attract a lot of potentially monetizable eyeballs. Attracting monetizable eyeballs is great when you're a media personality. Politics, though, is not really about monetizable eyeballs and hate clicks. On the contrary, if you're a GOP strategist, having your party rush to associate itself with hating on Taylor Swift doesn't make much sense."
The whole affair was further amplified when Donald Trump's narcissism forced him to claim he's more popular than Taylor Swift. Because he knows that's not true, he recently strained to offer his best wishes to Swift and Kelce in a Daily Caller interview: "I hope they enjoy their life, maybe together, maybe not — most likely not."
Brian Beutler: Maybe Republicans should wonder why all the attractive, likable people hate them?
Rolling Stone: "Behind the scenes, Trump has reacted to the possibility of Biden and Swift teaming up against him this year not with alarm, but with an instant projection of ego. In recent weeks, the former president has told people in his orbit that no amount of A-list celebrity endorsements will save Biden. Trump has also privately claimed that he is 'more popular' than Swift is and that he has more committed fans than she does."
"Last month, the source close to Trump adds, the ex-president commented to some confidants that it "obviously" made no sense that he was not named Time magazine's 2023 Person of the Year — an honor that went to none other than Swift in December."
"Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday issued a warning to Grammy Award-winning pop superstar Taylor Swift, telling her to 'think twice' before endorsing President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, joining a chorus of Republicans who have criticized her amid her high-profile relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce," The Messenger reports.
Said Hannity: "As the Biden campaign apparently tries to come up with some way to get Taylor Swift's endorsement, now we have to ask, does Taylor know who she is getting involved with here?"
"This woman has made a career off of writing songs about picking the wrong guy. We should not trust her to pick the wrong guy in this presidential election."— Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, during an interview, on Taylor Swift's expected endorsement of President Biden.
"After a marathon, 13-hour hearing, the House Homeland Security Committee voted along party lines to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The vote was 18-15," Punchbowl News reports.
"Republicans on the panel charged that Mayorkas was guilty of 'willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law' as well as a 'breach of public trust.' No Cabinet official has been impeached in nearly 150 years."
"The full House is very likely to vote on Mayorkas' impeachment next week."
New York Times: "The GOP was plowing forward without producing evidence that Mr. Mayorkas committed a crime or acts of corruption, arguing instead that the Biden administration border policies he implemented ran afoul of the law. Legal scholars, including prominent conservatives, have argued that the effort is a perversion of the constitutional power of impeachment, and Democrats remained solidly opposed."
"House Democrats are expecting their caucus to stay unified against a Republican vote to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas that could come as soon as next week," Axios reports.
"Republicans have a razor-thin majority and a handful of members are undecided. If Democrats can lock arms in opposition, the GOP will have almost no margin for error."
Punchbowl News: Democrats slow roll marathon impeachment markup.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) responded to claims he is opposing the Senate's bipartisan border bill in order to support Donald Trump's White House bid, calling the accusations "absurd," The Messenger reports. LOL, which is it, Mike?
"GOP infighting and indecision is already threatening to disintegrate the border deal, even before Senate negotiators release the long-awaited bill text," Politico reports.
"As senators returned for a critical two-week sprint in D.C. before a lengthy recess, Republicans are starting to doubt whether the agreement — which would be tied to billions in foreign aid — can pass their chamber. GOP leaders first set out to find a compromise that could win a majority of Republican senators over, but that's only grown more challenging as conservatives, Speaker Mike Johnson and former President Donald Trump hammer the deal."
"Six in 10 swing-state voters say President Joe Biden bears responsibility for a surge in migrants at the US-Mexico border, a downbeat signal for his reelection prospects as Republicans largely avoid blame on the issue," a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found.
"Biden again trails Donald Trump in each of seven swing states in the monthly survey, and lags Trump 42% to 48% across all those states in a head-to-head match-up. The former president's lead grows to 9 percentage points when third-party candidates are included."
Rick Wilson: "The border and immigration issues are now purely emotional, and it's time to invert public perceptions on the matter. Biden has the chance to own both strength and compassion when it comes to immigration."
"I've often remarked that Republican campaign superiority is primarily not about better messages, better campaigns, or better ads — though those count for a lot — but rather about an appreciation for the power of spectacle in an entirely media-driven culture."
"Democrats often seem to miss the power of spectacle in the culture war. Love it or hate it, Republicans know how to engineer a stunt. They understand that a jaded, itchy-swiping-finger populace needs new drama and outrage to stay engaged and outraged in the attention economy."
"Which is why the stunt playing out now on the Texas border gives Biden a chance to pop the MAGA issue in the face and knock Trump down many notches."
New York Times: "An examination of Mr. Biden's record over the last three years by The New York Times, based on interviews with more than 35 current and former officials and others, shows that the president has failed to overcome those obstacles. The result is a growing humanitarian crisis at the border and in major cities around the country. Many voters now say immigration is their top concern, and they do not have confidence that Mr. Biden is addressing it."
"Someone who served as a personal financial advisor for Joe Biden when he was vice president told impeachment investigators Tuesday that he had no knowledge of Biden receiving any compensation for his family's business dealings," The Messenger reports.
Roll Call: "At least 34 members of Congress since Christmas have been the target of swatting incidents."
"Two days after a man called in a fake emergency at the South Carolina home of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, she was targeted by a second 'swatting' attempt on New Year's Day, this time by someone who said Haley had shot her daughter," Reuters reports.
"Whether Donald Trump faces a potential prison sentence in 2024 is at the mercy of a federal appeals court that's operating on its own schedule — at a time when every day matters," Politico reports.
"More than 50 days have elapsed since Trump's criminal proceedings in a Washington, D.C., trial court — on charges for attempting to subvert the 2020 election — were paused indefinitely. They won't resume until the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and, most likely, the Supreme Court resolve the question hanging over the entire case: whether Trump, as a former president, is immune from criminal prosecution."
"Even if those courts ultimately reject Trump's immunity arguments — an outcome that most legal experts expect — the protracted delays help the former president, whose strategy across his various trials has been to drag them out for as long as possible. Lengthy delays in his federal criminal cases create the possibility that, if he wins the presidency this November, Trump could avoid the charges altogether by having the Justice Department end the prosecutions or perhaps even by pardoning himself."
"The lead prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case against former president Donald Trump and his allies settled a contentious divorce dispute on Tuesday, canceling a hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning that could have included testimony about allegations of an improper relationship between him and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis," the Washington Post reports.
"An ongoing cyberattack against Georgia's Fulton County, which includes parts of Atlanta, has brought some of the government's systems to a standstill, halting access to court filings, tax processing and other services," CNN reports.
"The outage has not been resolved, and it's unclear when systems would return to normal."
"The office of the county's District Attorney Fani Willis lost access to its phones, internet and the court system website."
The Hill: "Taking a page out of the playbook normally used by hard-line conservatives, four moderate New York Republicans — Reps. Anthony D'Esposito, Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler — initially joined Democrats in voting against a procedural rule for four unrelated pieces of legislation, enough opposition to sink the effort and shut down business on the floor."
"The vote sent leadership into a scramble, prompting Johnson and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) to huddle with the four rabble-rousers and their allies."
"After nearly 40 minutes, the four moderate New Yorkers switched their vote in support of the rule, allowing the procedural vote to squeak through, 216-210."
Playbook: "The conventional wisdom in Washington is that legislating grinds to a halt during an election year. Rather than make risky compromises, lawmakers worried about their campaigns revert instead to posturing for their constituents and donors. Partisan show votes become the name of the game, and nothing gets done."
"This week, we're seeing just how true that is. Despite high hopes for bipartisan accord, campaign-trail dynamics have two big Capitol Hill deals hanging by a thread."
Politico: "According to members who attended the meeting, Republican leaders are staring down a messy litany of complaints from both incumbents in vulnerable districts demanding state and local tax relief and conservative Freedom Caucus members who are intent on bringing border politics into the tax debate."
"Then there are the lawmakers with a third type of complaint: anger that Johnson is relying on Democratic votes to pass a major piece of tax legislation in an election year."
"The United States economy grew faster than any other large advanced economy last year — by a wide margin — and is on track to do so again in 2024," Axios reports.
While still negative overall, Gallup's Economic Confidence Index has improved each of the past two months to its highest point in two years, reflecting improved views of both current economic conditions and the economy's direction.
Arizona state Sen. Anthony Kern (R) wants to give the state legislature the power to appoint presidential electors regardless of who wins the popular vote, KNAU reports.
Kern was photographed in the crowd of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He's not running for reelection and has set his sights on Congress instead.
"President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he's decided how the U.S. will retaliate after a drone strike in Jordan killed three American soldiers," Politico reports.
"Biden did not detail how the administration plans to respond, or when those actions would be taken. But, during a brief back-and-forth with reporters outside the White House, he said he's not seeking a war with Iran, even though he held the nation somewhat responsible for the attack."
E. Jean Carroll's lead attorney threatened to seek sanctions against her Donald Trump lawyer counterpart Alina Habba over her "utterly baseless" claim that a federal judge had an undisclosed conflict of interest, The Messenger reports.
Donald Trump said he's looking for a new law firm to handle the appeal of his $83.3 million verdict over defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
"E. Jean Carroll, who was awarded more than $83 million in damages on Friday over defamatory statements made by former President Donald Trump, says she wants to do 'anything' she can to help Joe Biden defeat him," Semafor reports.
"But it seems unlikely that Biden, who has remained quiet on the news, will take her up on the offer."
Said former Obama adviser David Axelrod: "In 2016, we all heard a tape in which Trump bragged about doing EXACTLY what he was found liable of doing to E. Jean Carroll, and he was elected anyway. It is vile and disgusting. But people are concerned about their own lives, so while this is a piece of an argument it can't be the essence of it."
"Illinois' election board on Tuesday kept former President Donald Trump on the state's primary ballot, a week before the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on whether the Republican's role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol disqualifies him from the presidency," the AP reports.
"The eight-member board's unanimous ruling comes after its hearing officer, a retired judge and Republican, found that a 'preponderance of the evidence' shows Trump is ineligible to run for president because he violated a constitutional ban on those who 'engaged in insurrection' from holding office. But the hearing officer recommended the board let the courts make the ultimate decision."
"Three former Republican governors—Marc Racicot of Montana, Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, and Bill Weld of Massachusetts—have signed on to a legal brief to the Supreme Court arguing that Donald Trump is disqualified from running for president under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution," the New Republic reports.
CIA Director William Burns wrote in Foreign Affairs that western allies must continue providing assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia this year, or risk a mistake "of historic proportions."
"The Pentagon has successfully tested a new long-range precision bomb for Ukraine that is expected to arrive on the battlefield as soon as Wednesday," Politico reports.
"Donald Trump piled up legal expenses in 2023 as he was indicted four times, spending approximately $50 million in donor money on legal bills and investigation-related expenses last year," the New York Times reports.
"It is a staggering sum. His lone remaining rival in the 2024 Republican primary, Nikki Haley, raised roughly the same amount of money across all her committees in the last year as Mr. Trump's political accounts spent paying the bills stemming from his various legal defenses, including lawyers for witnesses."
"Mr. Trump, who has long been loath to pay lawyers himself and has a history of stiffing those who represent him, has used funds in his political action committee, known as Save America, to underwrite his legal bills."
Aaron Blake: "A consequential development of the Trump era is what increasingly looks like the Republicans' acrimonious divorce from the rule of law."
"The party that once prided itself as the law-and-order side has leaped headlong into highly speculative theories about the "weaponization" of the justice system, spurred by former president Donald Trump. Both Trump and his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani recently flouted civil defamation verdicts against them by continuing to defame their victims — cheered on by many on the right. Republican voters increasingly want a president who is willing to break both rules and laws to get things done."
"But some members of the party have in recent days crossed a new threshold: by suggesting that it's okay to disregard the Supreme Court."
Rick Hasen: "Trump or his lawyers must have calculated that a technical argument would be more appealing to the conservative majority than his other ones, such as an argument that Trump had the constitutional right to encourage his supporters to invade the Capitol. Deciding matters on a technicality would allow the Supreme Court to hide behind legal jargon and avoid weighing in on Trump's conduct. And it would allow Trump to claim a victory (I can imagine him crowing about a 'complete and total vindication') that would shut down disqualification efforts across the country and that could inure to his political benefit."
"Further, Trump's lawyer probably does not want to get up in front of the justices at oral argument and parse Trump's comments made in the speech before the Capitol invasion about why his supporters need to 'fight like hell.'"
Ralph Celentano, the January 6 rioter known as "Chair Guy," was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison, with a Trump-appointed judge saying that blindside tackling an officer over a wall was "a truly cowardly and despicable thing to do," NBC News reports.
A self-proclaimed "messiah" decapitated his 68-year-old father — then held up the victim's head in a politically-charged YouTube video blasting the federal government and the Biden administration, the Daily Mail reports.
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) tried to take credit for federally-funded projects in her district made possible by legislation she voted against, CBS Miami reports. When reminded of this, she claimed she forgot how she voted and would have to ask her staff.
Donald Trump endorsed David Covey (R) in his challenge to Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) after the former president accused Phelan of overseeing a "fraudulent impeachment" of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). He acknowledged that Phelan is a supporter, but called him an "embarrassment."
"The former Internal Revenue Service contractor who leaked the tax records of former President Donald Trump to The New York Times as well as the tax records of billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to ProPublica was sentenced Monday to five years in prison," NBC News reports.
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