O-hi Buckeye 🌻 🌻 🌻

The Buckeye State: First the good news.  Voters in Ohio, a state that voted for Trump over Biden 53% to 45% and Senator JD Vance over former Congressman Tim Ryan by almost an identical amount resoundingly rejected, by a vote of 57% to 43%, Republican efforts to require a 60% supermajority rather than a simple 50% majority to pass changes to the state constitution. Yesterday’s vote makes it highly likely that November’s vote on enshrining abortion rights, now polling just short of 60% will easily pass. It also demonstrated that reproductive rights and to a lesser extent, defending democratic principles remain vote motivators, good news for Biden and even better for Ohio’s Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown who is up for reelection in 2024. Now the bad news, Trump is still here, still doing his thing, ramping up his attacks on the “stolen, disgusting, rigged” 2020 election, “crooked” Biden’s Department of Justice, “racist” Fulton County DA Fani Willis who he is now falsely claiming had a sexual relationship with a gang member, and January 6 Judge Tanya Chutkan who he describes as both unfair and the judge of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s dreams. Trump knows he lost the 2020 election and that he committed more than a few crimes while trying to remain in power, but he also knows that his idol worshipping base believes what he says no matter how preposterous so he’s arguing his case in the court of public opinion and at least among Republicans and maybe among some of those all-important swingy voters to the extent they really exist, is winning it which is why he has his lawyers trying their hardest to make sure that he can continue saying whatever he wants, even if that means that involves verbally haranguing witnesses, exposing them to the potentially dangerous fury of one or more of his deranged fans. Of course, Trump doesn’t hate all judges, he’s still all on his Mar a Lago case judge, Eileen “loose” Cannon and for good reason because while Judge Chutkan has her foot on the accelerator pedal, Cannon not so much.  On her own, or more likely because she heard Trump’s former lawyer Jim Trusty say something on Fox, likely her favorite, if not only, news source, Cannon is questioning Special Counsel Jack’s ongoing grand jury activity in Washington DC.  She’s off base but by asking lawyers from both sides to weigh in on the issue, she’s impeding progress, exactly what Trump is depending on her doing.  She’s also further damaging her own reputation but she either doesn’t care, is really ignorant, or is positioning herself for promotion once Trump’s retakes the Oval Office. Ugh.

Follow the Money: As to CrackerJack Jack’s ongoing grand jury activities, it appears that he’s investigating the activities of Trump’s Save America PAC which raised money by telling its mostly small dollar donors that it needed funds to “stop the steal” of the “rigged” 2020 election but instead has been using their money to pay for Trump and his crime family’s legal expenses.  If former Mueller investigation lawyer/now MSNBC legal commentator/NYU professor Andrews Weissmann is right, Special Jack may be seeking to freeze the PAC’s funds, which could be a bigly problem for Trump or at least for any of his lawyers who still hope to be paid.  In addition, via the NY Times, last night we learned a bit more about the genesis of Trump’s strategy to stay in office by overturning the election results.  It apparently originated with a previously secret memo written by Kenneth Chesebro, who is not so affectionately referred to as co-conspirator 5 in the text of Special Jack’s January 6 indictment.  Though Chesebro “acknowledged from the start” that his plan was both “bold and controversial” and that the Supreme Court would likely reject it in the end, he “argued that it would achieve two goals,” focusing “attention on claims of voter fraud and buying “the Trump campaign more time to win litigation that would deprive Biden of electoral votes and/or add to Trump’s column.”  Moving on to Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her ever imminent indictments, word now is that, despite the security ramp up in her neck of the peach trees, we won’t be hearing from her this week but will be hearing from her next week when her grand jury is scheduled to do its indictment thing so once again imminent has slipped a week.   

Florida, Florida, Florida:  Though he’s still mostly polling second to Trump, Ron DeSantis appears to be coming closer and closer to being this cycle’s Scott Walker, the former Wisconsin Governor who was supposed to be the Republican’s 2016 candidate but who never passed Go.  Even DeSantis knows that his campaign is going no where which explains why he’s reorganized again, this time replacing his campaign manager, as if she not he was the problem. Though he won’t say it out loud, DeSantis who has finally admitted that Biden won the 2020 election, still believes that Trump’s legal woes will ultimately take the mango maniac down.  DeSantis’ hope is that if that happens, he’ll emerge as the leading contender.  Unfortunately for him, he’s bleeding big dollar donors, doesn’t have much small donor support and some of his earlier supporters have moved on to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who while not yet an announced candidate is still thought to be one or to South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who many believe is next in line to be second to Trump or his VP candidate, a roll that former VP Mike Pence will clearly not play though he has finally met the criteria to be on the first Republican candidate debate stage. At least Ron DeSantis has a job to return to, he can go back to Florida where only excerpts of Shakespeare plays will be taught going forward because teachers fear that teaching the sexy parts will get them axed. Of course, he could go home and work on finding insurance for homeowners but then again since his preferred school syllabus designers are casting down on the dire impact of climate change, maybe not.  

Viral Musings:  Yes, COVID is still here and making a resurgence, again.  The newest Omicron sub variant is EG.5, nicknamed Eris by those in the know.  With our immunity waning, Eris is making the rounds resulting in a 55% case uptick in New York, where COVID related hospitalizations are also up 22%.  The good news is that most people aren’t getting really sick, though having fever and chills still sucks, and that COVID levels are still relatively low.  The not so good news is that stores are having a hard time keeping test kits on their shelves, an indication that more people are seeking them out to confirm their symptoms.  So, if you are in crowded places like elevators, trains, subways and planes, think about masking, especially if you have plans you’d rather not miss or those plans include hanging with anyone who is very vulnerable.  Newly designed Omicron focused boosters should be available soon, but probably not until after Labor Day.