BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER,
& CROOKED MEDIA

Monday, July 9, 2018

—Protestors chanting at Mitch McConnell as he left a restaurant in Kentucky.

SCOTUS PICK: BRETT KAVANAUGH

President Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee is Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative judge on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, whom Trump selected, as promised, from a list of 25 pre-approved judges that the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation put together to maximize right-wing power. Not good.

Kavanaugh was a Republican operative who made his name in legal circles as senior counsel for Ken Starr’s sprawling and highly partisan investigation of Bill Clinton, during which he was once overheard at a social function hosted by right wing propagandist Laura Ingraham calling Hillary Clinton a “bitch.” Seriously. Kavanaugh was President George W. Bush’s staff secretary, and had no judicial experience when Bush nominated him to the DC Circuit. Democrats overwhelmingly opposed his nomination, which stalled for years, but he has served as a reliably conservative vote on that court for over a decade.

And of course the purpose of the list was to install another Supreme Court justice who will be a reliable vote for conservatives. Where retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy ruled for corporate power and against voting rights, Kavanaugh will also rule for corporate interests and against voting rights; but where Kennedy voted decisively to uphold reproductive rights, gay rights, and affirmative action, Kavanaugh is very unlikely to follow suit. Not good!

Many liberals are no doubt tempted to despair. And there is a lot to be unhappy about. (Don’t stop reading here.) But Democrats also have an opportunity to make the stakes of the nomination clear. If every Senate Democrat opposes Kavanaugh, then every single Republican will become a decisive vote on critical questions, like whether abortion will be criminalized, or remain a constitutionally protected right.

From Brian: Even the loss of a Supreme Court seat wouldn’t signify permanent defeat for liberals—it would illustrate anti-democratic flaws in our system of government, which liberals can and must make a high priority of fixing.

Read →

BYE SCOTTY

We at Crooked Media enjoyed a long weekend, but not as long as the one Scott Pruitt is enjoying! Pruitt picked a day he knew we wouldn’t be writing a newsletter (Thursday) to resign amid more than a dozen federal investigations into his 40 or 50 corruption scandals.

Though Pruitt’s replacement, former coal, chemical, and uranium company lobbyist turned acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, is as aligned with polluters as Pruitt was, it’s still good that Pruitt lost his job. Insisting that public officials aren’t corrupt and cruel or creepy bosses should transcend ideology. (Emphasis on “should.”)

Pruitt fawned over Trump in his embarrassingly obsequious resignation letter, and blamed his departure on the media’s “unrelenting attacks” on him. [Cough, “Pardon me? Please? Sir?” Cough.] But Trump administration officials had been leaning on Trump to fire Pruitt for months, understanding that Pruitt could become a huge political liability. We will miss dragging him in What A Day, but we also won’t be surprised if we get another chance sometime down the line.

At the behest of formula manufacturers, the U.S. tried to defeat a widely agreed upon World Health Organization resolution designed to encourage breastfeeding around the world by threatening Ecuador, the country that planned to introduce the measure, with retaliatory trade measures and the withdrawal of U.S. military aid. Ecuador caved, but Russia reintroduced the measure, and for completely mysterious reasons that have nothing to do with a pee tape, the U.S. dropped its threats.

The world is watching the herculean efforts to rescue a Thai soccer team and its coach from a flooded cave they’ve been stuck in for over two weeks. Four boys were rescued yesterday, and since then four more have been brought to safety, leaving four other boys and the coach still in the cave. The conditions the rescuers face are treacherous—a former Thai Navy SEAL died on Friday in the process of laying down oxygen tanks for his team—but volunteers and divers from around the world have gathered to aid the rescue effort.

The government will miss tomorrow’s deadline to reunify children under five with their parents—so far, it has only returned two of these youngest 102 kids. Trump administration lawyers have asked for the deadline to be pushed back, but a Southern California judge denied the request, instead asking for them to return tomorrow with an updated count and to explain why they couldn’t meet the deadline. A DOJ attorney claims 54 more of these children can be brought back to their parents by tomorrow.

On Saturday, nuclear disarmament negotiations between North Korea and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ended with North Korea calling the talks “regrettable” and indicating the country has no intention of disarming, as Trump pretended to have accomplished during his summit with Kim Jong Un last month. No-bel! No-bel! No-bel!

Some members of Mar-a-Lago and Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach were invited on an exclusive tour of Air Force One last year, raising more questions about the ways Trump is using the White House as a source of profit for his private businesses.

Trump’s former personal driver of 25-plus years is suing him for over $175,000 in backpay for thousands of hours of unpaid overtime—a violation of state and federal labor laws. Fingers crossed he talks to the press in the process.

A woman in Britain died after being exposed to the same Russian nerve agent that poisoned a former spy and his daughter there earlier this year.

Stephen Miller threw out $80 worth of takeout sushi he had already paid for because a bartender at the restaurant gave him the finger. This is so stupid it requires no punchline.

Would this even be What A Day if we didn’t mention Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin getting engaged? (From Lovett: I care about this less than the British royalty.)

Announcing The Wilderness, a 15-part documentary podcast about the history and future of the Democratic Party hosted by Jon Favreau.

This series will tell the story of a party finding its way out of the political wilderness through conversations with strategists, historians, policy experts, organizers, and voters. In fifteen chapters, the series explores issues like inequality, race, immigration, sexism, foreign policy, media strategy, and how Democrats can build a winning majority that lasts.

The first four episodes drop Monday, July 16th.

Listen to the trailer and subscribe here →

After Britain’s ruling party agreed on a “soft” Brexit plan this weekend, the country’s foreign secretary, Brexit minister, AND minister for the Department of Exiting the E.U. all resigned within hours of each other in protest. The plan allows Britain to strike independent deals while following existing E.U. rules on trade of goods, and lets them limit migration, but some Brexit supporters believe it concedes too much to the E.U. The resignations have thrown Theresa May’s viability as the country’s prime minister into doubt.

The Trump administration is targeting immigrants with prior offenses, and attempting to denaturalize and potentially deport them. The policy has swept up 63-year-old Miami grandmother Norma Borgono, a citizen who immigrated from Peru nearly 30 years ago and is guilty of nothing but unknowingly preparing paperwork for her boss who was part of a fraud scheme years ago—a man she later helped the FBI make a case against.

Read →

Which of you nerds is gonna do this? 

Did someone forward you this email? Sign up to get What A Day in your inbox!