The '24 Seven - 2/29/24
The top seven stories shaping the race for the White House
Hello, and welcome to The ‘24 Seven - 24sight’s daily roundup of the top seven stories shaping the race for the White House. If you see something I missed or have suggestions, drop me a note - 24sight@substack.com.
So, running out the clock is a successful strategy …
1 Foundational
The Supreme Court will weigh whether a president of the United States enjoys total immunity from prosecution for any actions while taken in office.
Or, put another way:
The third branch of the United States government will decide if the second branch is immune to prosecution for spreading lies which spurred the historic attack on the first branch of government on January 6th, 2021.
2 President in Court
The Supreme Court will take up former President Donald Trump’s argument that he is immune to prosecution because he was president. To most legal observers, the claim is clearly spurious … and yet it is working in delaying his federal trial on charges that he attempted to block the rightful transfer of power after his 2020 election loss and defrauded the country’s voters with threats and intimidation.
For his part, the 45th president of the United States has repeatedly alleged publicly that he is the victim of an illuminati set on exacting vengeance on his base of voters and that he will have his retribution on “judgment day” if he wins back the White House in November.
The court’s decision to take up an appelate ruling which clearly stated that no president is above the law could easily push Trump’s Jan. 6th trial past the November election.
3 Senate leader
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he is stepping down as the chamber’s top Republican in November. The AP’s Michael Tackett, who has been granted extensive access to McConnell as he works on his biography of the Senate’s longest serving leader, scooped the news Wednesday. McConnell, in his floor speech, said it’s imperative to know when to step aside. (Of note, however, is he will remain in the chamber - potentially as a standard bearer of the Reagan conservatism which has steadily ceded ground to nationalist populists on the right since the end of the Cold War.)
Veteran political observer Taegan Goddard writes at Political Wire, “Mitch McConnell’s Legacy is Donald Trump.”
4 Norm Busting
McConnell’s announcement is a clear victory for the Trump nationalist populists in the GOP — Trump adherent and possible running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, told Playbook not to count on any of McConnell’s old establishment lieutenants winning control of the Senate Republican conference.
But McConnell still has three years left in his term, after winning re-election to one of Kentucky’s two U.S. Senate seats in 2020 — meaning he will, more than likely, be around as the elder statesman among Republicans as his successor takes the reins and either Trump retakes the White House or President Joe Biden wins re-election.
Trump loyalists, including MAGA influencer Rep. Matt Gaetz, took a victory lap for having successfully pushed out McConnell, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel (of the Romney family dynasty.)
And yet the deposed are not leaving. In fact, the opposite seems to be the new norm - sparked in part by Trump himself, who ended the modern tradition of losing presidents relinquishing their party’s reins.
McConnell will continue in the Senate, McCarthy is exacting revenge against the House Republicans (including Gaetz) who banded with House Democrats to remove him and in a similar vein former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is staying in the race, with plenty of financial support, despite repeatedly losing Republican primary contests.
Even former Vice President Mike Pence, who by Washington conventional wisdom was cast into a no-man’s land after bucking Trump and defending the Constitution on January 6th, was able to find $20 million and plenty of support to launch his Heritage-style think tank to carry the mantle of Reagan conservatism forward.
5 Border Lines
Biden and Trump head to the Southern border today for competing events. Biden will meet with border agents and other law enforcement, he has attempted to wrest the issue of immigration from Trump and the Republicans hitting his opponent for killing a bipartisan immigration bill. Trump has been touting plans for a possible second administration in which he would deport millions of undocumented immigrants and possibly use the military to deport them.
6 The government remains open
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer cut a deal Wednesday which keeps averts a partial shutdown of the government, keeping a handful of agencies funded through March 8 while others stay funded through March 22.
7 Friends til the end
Larry David paid tribute to his lifelong friend, comedian Richard Lewis, who died Wednesday.
"Richard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital and for most of my life he's been like a brother to me," David said in a statement posted to Instagram. "He had that rare combination of being the funniest person and also the sweetest. But today he made me sob and for that I'll never forgive him."