It’s a new year, with surprisingly little new news! Which is to say, most of the news I have for you this cycle relates back to elections – either the upcoming 2024 election, or fallout from the insurrection of the 2020 one. And the 2024 election is looking more and more like a complete repeat of the 2020 circus. Everything new is old again, y’all.
Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be starting my eighth year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a primary!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!
Cleanup in Aisle 45:
I think it’s likely that Election Rejection will feature 2024 election news from here on out, though I’m going to keep the name for now. Here’s what has happened since last time:
- Wins and What? The New Hampshire primary came and went, with Trump soundly beating Nikki Haley and disappointing half the country. Biden won the Democratic primary there as well, despite needing a write-in campaign and therefore earning no delegates. He also won the endorsement of the United Auto Workers, and handily won the first “real” DNC primary in South Carolina this past Saturday as well. It was a good week for E Jean Caroll as well, as she won a $83M verdict against Trump in her defamation suit. Meanwhile, nobody won when the federal DC judge decided to postpone Trump’s insurrection trial this week by vacating the March 4 trial date without selecting a new date. (It’s not canceled, don’t worry – likely the new trial date will be sometime in May.) And for reasons I still don’t understand even after reading the ‘explanation,’ Trump and half of his minions have apparently declared ‘holy war’ on Taylor Swift.
Meanwhile, Biden Rebuilding features a by-now-rare asterisk, as I cover a topic that I think needs attention even though it’s not my lane. Here’s what I have for you:
- Airstrikes and Sanctions in the Middle East.* After three Americans were killed in Jordan by drone strike last week, the Biden Administration launched airstrikes on Iraq and Syria this past Friday. They then followed up with a strike on Yemen the following day. Now the Houthis are threatening escalation, though Biden is apparently trying to avoid striking Iran. Foreign policy isn’t exactly my main expertise, but I think this needs attention, especially during an election year and against the backdrop of Biden sanctioning several Israelis in the West Bank last week. I’ll try to keep reporting on this as things develop.
Your New Normal:
- Immigration Immolation. The biggest news threads from Capitol Hill right now all center around far-right people absolutely losing it over immigration issues. After the Supreme Court agreed last cycle that Texas needs to stop basically usurping the federal immigration process at the southern border and let Homeland Security function, House Republicans responded by advancing impeachment articles for the Secretary of Homeland Security. They’re also signaling that they will tank the bipartisan deal in the Senate that was successfully brokered yesterday on this very topic, and for some reason Lauren Boebert wants to oust the current Speaker even though he called the Senate deal “dead on arrival.” Meanwhile, Texas governor Gangrene Abbot decided to take the MAGA up to eleven, and created an old-fashioned standoff with federal officials while he blocked their entry to the border. Abbott publicly compared federal presence to a “foreign invasion,” and 25 other governors backed his play.
The Bad:
- Violence and Abortion. (CW: sexual violence, miscarriage, forced birth) With the election season now in full swing, there was a lot of news about the reproductive rights, much of it hard to read. The Democratic Women’s Caucus drew attention to a case in Ohio, where a woman faced felony charges after experiencing a miscarriage. A study letter was also published this cycle estimating that 64,565 rape-related pregancies have occurred in states that have banned abortion. On a related note, Texas was in the news because its medical board still hasn’t defined what emergency conditions would make medical abortion permissible.
The Good:
- Recent House Resilience. Surprisingly, given everything else going on, the House managed to extend the Child Tax Credit with strong bipartisan support this past week. I genuinely have no idea how that happened, but I’ll take it.
So that’s what I have for you, and there’s definitely more where that came from. For making it through, you deserve Elmo checking in on you and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more chocolate because we’re running out!
National News Roundup 