Gold Ingots 🌻 🌻 🌻

💰 💵 💰 💵: New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is proof that you don’t have to be a Republican to be corrupt.  Sure, he’s innocent until proven guilty but the allegations against him aren’t just serious, they’re wild.  Who doesn’t keep $1 million in cash plus some gold bars hidden in their home and who hasn’t secretly aided the Egyptian government for pocket money? Menendez’s defenses, that he’s being unfairly targeted because of his Hispanic heritage and that he learned from his immigrant Cuban mother the importance of keeping emergency cash and gold around the house in case you need to flee a revolution, are creative but also kind of lame.  Given Menendez’s past legal problems you’d think that he would have figured out that the DOJ had him under their microscope and that playing squarely between the lines was the right way to go.  However, having once gotten away with some legally questionable actions, he must have felt invincible, and why not, that strategy has worked for Trump for years. That’s Trump who may have violated the law again yesterday in South Carolina when he either purchased or pretended to purchase a Glock pistol with his face embossed on the handle. Unfortunately, Menendez’s problems affect all of us because he is up for reelection in 2024, in a Senate cycle that is unfavorable for Democrats who are already defending a number of seats in both swing and solidly red states and while NJ currently has two Democratic Senators and a Democratic Governor, the last Governor’s race where Phil Murphy eked through, was too close for comfort. Menendez has stepped away from his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee, but an increasing number of Democrats are calling for him to step down altogether and given that the accusations against him make those against former Senator Al Franken seem even more ridiculous than they were, that’s fair and a sentiment that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed with last night so while Menendez says he’s going to stick it out in the Senate, maybe he won’t. Would it surprise you to learn that George of many names DeSantis is one of those who thinks that Menendez should stay put while Trump thinks that every Democratic Senator should step down because they’re all “election stealing THUGS.” Democratic, Congressman Andy Kim who you might remember as the one who helped pick up the detritus left in the Capitol after the January 6 insurrection who represents some of NJ’s eastern and southern suburbs quickly announced plans to primary Menendez.  Former Governor Christie, who’s busy right now challenging Trump and who isn’t all that popular in NJ, says he won’t run for the seat but Congressman Jeff Van Drew, the former Democrat who defected to the Republican party because of his affinity for all things Trump, says he is now considering a run and it’s fair to assume a few more credible candidates will raise their hands soon.  Has anyone checked to see if Mehmet Oz has stopped pretending to be a Pennsylvanian?  Also, in case you were watching football and/or fasting over the weekend Trump called for NBC and MSNBC to be investigated for “country threatening treason,” called for raids of Democratic Senators, presumably for their election stealing thuggery, and both he and Congressman Paul Gosar said that the country’s former top general Mark Milley deserves the death penalty, preferably by hanging.

Counting Down:   Kevin McCarthy and his crew of 🤡 🤡 🤡 who appear to be taking Trump’s encouragement to close the country down don’t appear any closer to passing a budget resolution to keep the government open past September 30.  McCarthy’s chief House antagonist right now is Panhandle Putz Matt Gaetz, another one who former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows’ chief of staff Cassidy Hutchinson (yes, chiefs of staff have chiefs of staff) quite credibly revealed stalked her at Camp David of all places.  By the way, Cassidy whose White House tell all is due out today is making the interview rounds.  Last night she was interviewed live on The Rachel Maddow Show. Cassidy was poised beyond her years and convincing and did a great job pushing back against denials and counter accusations from Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and Matt Gaetz who have all questioned her accounts with Gaetz even claiming that the two once dated, something that Hutchinson denied, saying he fell way below her standards.   She spared no words when it came to the clear and present danger that another Trump presidency would be for the country and democracy. We’ve known for some time that Gaetz and Giuliani are sleazy so her stories about them, while disturbing aren’t shocking.  Her revelations about Mark Meadows, who didn’t hit on her,  are frightening because while serving as the chief of staff to Trump, he was the ultimate yes man, consistently displaying incompetence and fear, leaving it to the then 24-year-old Hutchinson to be the one who had to martial people to push back at Trump and his cronies’ efforts to stage a coup. As to Meadows, who she hasn’t spoken for some time, she appears to hold out hope that like her, he will or maybe is doing the right thing as in cooperating with Special Counsel’s Jack Smith’s prosecutors.  Wouldn’t that be interesting?

Debate Night:  Tomorrow night is Republican debate night again.  Trump won’t be there as he is planning to go to Detroit to hobnob with some striking auto workers, presumably not the same ones that union man President Biden will be marching the picket line with today. Like Trump, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson won’t be on the Fox stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi California because he failed to qualify but Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Mike Pence, Tim Scott and Doug Burgum will all be there, reprising their roles from the first debate. Maybe if we look very closely, we’ll see Tim Scott’s significant other, the “nice Christian girl” who may or may not exist in the audience. 

And:  Sad news out of Virginia, where 55-year-old Democratic Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton has announced that she won’t be running for reelection for her purple district seat that was previously held by Republican Barbara Comstock.  In April Wexton disclosed that she had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease but was planning to run for reelection since at that time she was confident that she could manage the disease and her job.  Unfortunately, she recently learned that she has a debilitating, untreatable form of Parkinson’s called supranational palsy and though she plans to remain in the House for the rest of her term she won’t be seeking reelection. Arizona’s failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake who isn’t physically ill but who has the capacity to provoke intense nausea in others is planning to announce her run for the Senate shortly.  That’s the Senate seat currently held by the now Independent Krysten Sinema who also appears to be running as is at least one Democrat, Congressman Rueben Gallego. Another mess in another seat that the Democrats really need to hold.  Lastly, though right-wing media with lots of help from the mainstream outlets loves to bring all of Joe Biden’s gaffes and stumbles to our attention, last night Trump “revealed” that Jeb Bush was the president who started the Iraq war and has expressed his view that Biden will lead us into World War II. Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV?