Here's something I missed from two months ago: asked about mail truck production moving from (a union shop in) Wisconsin to (a non-union shop in) South Carolina, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said, and I quote: "It’s not like we don’t have enough jobs here in Wisconsin." After all, it's not like anyone with a job has ever left for a better job! That's weapons-grade PR for his eventual opponent, who could (and should!) run ads saying Ron Johnson won't fight for Wisconsin jobs, and then let him explain what he "really meant," since rule one is "when you're explaining, you're losing," and rule two is "especially if you're Ron Johnson."
Ho hum, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis loves going on about imaginary liberals "grooming" kids, yet won't allow the release of public records relating to an actual sex trafficking investigation! You'll read that this is that Matt Gaetz-related investigation and say well, no wonder, but that still doesn't give Mr. DeSantis the "right" to review records "for accuracy." Why, I wouldn't blame you if you read "review for accuracy" and thought bury records that would reflect badly on Republicans. He's become such a horrible person -- and he works so hard at it! -- that an attack ad might be better off portraying him as Godzilla, rampaging against the Sunshine State.
A Morning Consult/Politico survey finds Republicans actually have a slim lead over Democrats among folks who received the expanded Child Tax Credit -- which sure as hell wasn't the case before that expansion expired. This is yet another occasion to say thanks, Joe Manchin! He sure does seem out to destroy Democrats' midterm prospects so he can hear how "right" he was about everything afterwards, and this poll result suggests that effort is going quite swimmingly. He'll still have to answer for his works at the Pearly Gates, of course, but that'll be little comfort to us if he enables fascism because bipartisanship.
In other Senate Trolls news, Kyrsten Sinema has supposedly "told donors a path to revival" for the parts of the Build Back Better agenda Mr. Manchin will tolerate "is unlikely," and putting it like that sure does obscure the fact that she went to great lengths to kill that agenda, single-handedly killing higher tax rates on the rich and corporations as well as Medicare drug price negotiation. This is also a good opportunity to remember that to "get to yes" with Republicans on the infrastructure bill she gave in to everything of importance they wanted, but with her own caucus, she lays down the red lines. She, too, will have to answer for her works, whether she believes so or not.
Finally, when I hear that the Conservative Political Action Conference will take place in Hungary next year and Hungary's right-wing prime minister Viktor Orban will be the keynote speaker, I feel compelled to ask: don't they feel safe here? And if they don't, you have to wonder why. In any case, it's not a good look for people who thump their chests about how patriotic they are and how tough they are to run to a right-wing dictator for succor. (Don't care they did a similar conference in Brazil so they could bask in the warmth of Jair Bolsonaro; cowardice doesn't become courage when you do it twice.)
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