Let’s Not Write Off the Senate Just Yet Good morning! Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, “has practically fallen over himself to embrace” the president-elect’s agenda and “various grievances, including vendettas against the media and federal bureaucracy,” writes Caitlin Dewey. Still, while tapping Patel “only adds to the sense of gloom that Trump’s authoritarian fantasies may come to fruition,” Molly Jong-Fast warns against cynically dismissing the Senate, which has a constitutional responsibility to scrutinize nominees for such powerful posts.
In other Trump loyalist news, Dewey notes that incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt “once condemned the January 6 riots and praised former Vice President Mike Pence for certifying the 2020 election.”
Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s decision to go back on his word and pardon his son Hunter Biden, argues Eric Lutz, feeds “into the very cynicism that powers Trump’s movement—the idea that power is all that matters, that the principles his opponents espouse are just empty.” Unsurprisingly, writes Bess Levin, Republicans have responded “by throwing a massive shit fit.” Thanks for reading.
—Michael Calderone, editor |
