Show Me The Money Or Move On – The Joe Cunningham Show
The Joe Cunningham Show airs 3-4 p.m. every weekday on NewsTalk 96.5 KPEL. The daily show notes offer you a look into the topics of the day and the links to the top stories and Joe's own writings on the state of politics in Louisiana and around the country. Follow Joe on Twitter at @JoePCunningham and Like the Joe Cunningham Show on Facebook. You can also subscribe to the Joe Cunningham Show podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or Amazon.
Where Is The Save America PAC?
Donald Trump's Save America PAC has about $100 million on hand. As of its last financial disclosure, it has spent $150,000 to defeat Liz Cheney, $3.8 million on legal fees, and $800,000 on travel and events. His PAC has more money on hand than the RNC and DNC combined have spent this election cycle. He was glad to endorse candidates in primaries, but isn't lifting a finger to help them actually win. Meanwhile, those same endorsed candidates, who all said "Yeah, McConnell has to go!" are now indebted to McConnell.
And yet... the GOP is poised to take the Senate. Adam Laxalt is winning in Nevada. Herschel Walker is winning in Georgia. Mehmet Oz and Blake Masters are closing the gap in Pennsylvania and Arizona. The Establishment will carry on, indebted to McConnell and Trump will continue absorbing money meant to help the Republicans. Before too long, the party is going to have to ask itself if it's worth keeping him around or if it's a grift.
Trump's Legal Problems Grow
Trump is being sued by the New York Attorney General, and he lost a bid to stay the Mar-a-Lago investigation on appeal. Andrew McCarthy at National Review has a good breakdown of the latter.
In concluding that Trump failed to show that he had any need for the return of the documents at issue, the panel emphasized that Trump had failed to proffer any evidence that he had declassified the documents. On that score, the court noted Trump’s resistance to Judge Dearie’s admonition that it was his burden to produce evidence of declassification (which I’ve detailed here). Regardless, the panel observed that it “could not discern” why Trump, who is no longer president, would have a need even to know about, let alone keep in his possession, classified information that is encumbered by need-to-know restrictions – restrictions “that pertain[] equally to former presidents” absent a dispensation from the incumbent president (which President Biden has not issued). Consequently, the panel rejected Judge Cannon’s speculation that Trump might have a cognizable interest in the classified documents.
The panel similarly turned aside Trump’s claim that he would suffer irreparable harm if the government were permitted to use the documents in its investigation. To the extent the former president complained about potential government leaks, the panel concluded that the overarching purpose of the investigation is to limit unauthorized disclosure of classified information. And insofar as Judge Cannon dubiously suggested that Trump had a unique interest in avoiding the stigma of potentially unwarranted prosecution, the panel pointed out that, if there were any weight to that concern, then any criminal suspect could “point to the same harm” and ask a court to thwart the government’s investigation.
Finally, the panel gave a sharp back of the hand to Judge Cannon’s expressed concern that, if the classified documents were not submitted for a privilege review by the special master, Trump would have “no legal means of seeking the return of his property for the time being.” As the panel observed, Trump’s lawyers have expressly disavowed seeking a return of the classified documents. Even were that not so, there is no reason to believe the documents marked classified are Trump’s property as opposed to the government’s.
Demography Is Destiny?
Stacey Abrams is losing black voters. Democrats are losing Hispanic voters along the border and in southern states. The Democratic Party is becoming the party of the educated white liberal in tone and rhetoric, and it's chasing away voters concerned with those kitchen table issues and not the state of abortion, transgender education, and identity politics.
See the numbers for Abrams:
A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll underscored her difficulties, showing she has 79% of support from Black voters. While that might appear to be a lofty number, Democrats typically poll at least 10 percentage points higher with Black voters. Among Black men, Abrams’ support dips to 75%, with an additional one-fifth backing Kemp and 6% undecided.
It’s no anomaly. Other recent polls have indicated Abrams has lagging support among voters of color, and Kemp is notching double-digit backing from Black Georgians in a string of surveys released this week.
And from the New York Times on the Hispanic vote:
Hispanic voters have moved to the right over the past several years. As a group, they still prefer Democrats, but the margin has narrowed significantly. In 2020, Joe Biden won the group by only 26 percentage points. And in this year’s midterms, the Democratic lead is nearly identical to Biden’s 2020 margin…
There are some key breakdowns the Times missed, though. Namely, "Hispanic voters" aren't a unified voting block. Hispanic voters whose families originate from South American countries are far more Republican than families of Mexican immigrants, etc. But there are some unifying factors, like culturally conservative beliefs.
Headlines Of The Day
- The McConnell-Thiel Standoff Over Blake Masters (The Dispatch)
- Tropics Update: Two Named Storms, One Gulf Storm Possible Soon (KPEL)
- Florida Warns Credit Card Companies It Will Bring Down the Hammer If They Track Firearm Sales (RedState)
- The Triumph of the Boring Democrats (National Review)
- Remember the baby formula shortage? It’s not over. (Washington Post)
Tweet Of The Day
From an actual doctor: