Two Corinthians in Gold Sneakers Walk into a Bar ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️ 🐰  🐣  

Sneakers and Bibles: Once again, Teflon Trump has managed to avoid the consequences, or at least some of the consequences, of his actions.  On Monday, a New York appeals court reduced the bond he has to put up to appeal his New York fraud case from $474 million to $175 million, still large but not half a billion large.  Moreover, even though NY AG Tish James had already given Trump a thirty-day grace period, the court gave him an additional ten days to provide the reduced amount. The reduction in the bond requirement isn’t all that surprising but the gift of an additional ten days, that seems particularly unnecessary given that Trump spent the weekend bragging about having $500 million is cash.  Just once, it would be nice to see a court take him at his word when he brags about the size of his piggy bank. Not all the news was good for Trump, the appeals court kept in place Judge Engoron’s order for an independent monitor to oversee the Trump Organization and the installation of a compliance director and said that they would take up his appeal in September rather than putting it off until after the election.  Also, over the objection of his lawyers,  Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s election interference/hush money case, set an April 15 trial start date and then followed-up yesterday by imposing a gag order limiting Trump from making statements about potential witnesses, attorneys, court staff, the family members of the prosecutors or any potential or actual juror.  The judge justified the gag order by pointing out Trump’s history of making “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” statements against “people at all levels of the justice system.“ As to Trump’s finances, Trump Media, the shell company that owns twitter copycat Truth Social, started trading on the NASDAQ yesterday, ending the day at a valuation somewhere north of $8 billion; Trump’s share of that ginormous amount is somewhere around $5 billion. If that number sounds nuts, it’s because it is.  Truth Social is a relatively small and money losing operation. Comparable companies trade at substantially lower valuations.  Odds are that Trump Media’s “meme” valuation won’t stand the test of time, but Trump only needs its stock price to last long enough for him to sell off some or all of his position, an action which in and of itself will depress its share price. His shares are currently subject to a six-month lock-up so in theory he can’t sell now, however he also controls the board so don’t be surprised if his lock-up gets reduced.  In the meantime, he must really need cash, how else to explain that in addition to selling $399 gold sneakers he is now selling $60 Bibles? Fueling that jet, paying for Melania’s wardrobe, not to mention his legal bills add up.  According to the NY Times, the legal bills alone have cost $100 million since he left office, an average of $90,000 per day. A lot of those expenses, including some of Melania’s clothing bills have been covered by his PACs, but that well is not as bottomless as he’d hoped so sneakers and Bibles because every penny helps.

Gaslighting: Former RNC head Ronna Romney McDaniel’s tenure didn’t even last one Scaramucci.  Yesterday, after most of MSNBC’s line-up weighed in, each one with his or her own scathing criticism about her hiring, NBC cancelled her contract. All of the critiques hit hard but two stood out: Chuck Todd’s because he was first out the gate, he called McDaniel out for her gaslighting and also said that his colleague Kristen Welker was due an apology from management for putting her in the position of having to conduct an interview with a paid contributor, and Rachel Maddow’s which began with a history lesson on fascism in America that slammed McDaniel for smoothing the way for the Republican Party to become fascist, or at the very least fascist adjacent, and included her calling McDaniel’s hiring “inexplicable” like hiring “mobster” to work at a “DA's office.”  Maddow ended her piece by giving her bosses an out, telling them that admitting their mistake would be a sign of strength.  They apparently got the message making McDaniel a history burger with her lettuce intact by day’s end.  And by lettuce, not just the green leafy variety but also the real green stuff.  No doubt, McDaniel who was also dropped by CAA, the agency that represented her and who is said to be shopping for lawyers, will walk away with a bundle of cash, though far less than Megyn Kelly who still holds the record for a payout for a job that she was poorly suited to perform. And to be clear, McDaniel wasn’t let go for being a Republican or even for being a former RNC head.  Richard Steele, a former RNC head, is an MSNBC commentator and co-host of its revamped Saturday morning show, afternoon host Nicolle Wallace worked for George W Bush and John McCain, commentator Charlie Sykes is a pro-life conservative and Tim Miller, another frequent guest ran Jeb Bush’s campaign. The difference is that McDaniel abetted Trump’s attempted coup, something that continues to this day with new leadership at the RNC, that includes daughter in law Lara, requiring employees and new hires to say that the 2020 election was rigged.

Reproductive Rights:  Yesterday the Supreme Court heard arguments in the mifepristone case with Erin Hawley, the wife of the fist bump wielding Senator Josh Hawley arguing the plaintiffs case against the abortion drug.  The general consensus is that most of the Justices didn’t buy the argument that mifepristone should be banned.  That’s the good news, the not so good news is that SCOTUS even took the case and that the conservative Justice’s reasons for leaving mifepristone be is mostly because they don’t believe that the plaintiffs have standing to sue which could mean that they would be open to banning the drug in the future if a “better” case shows up on their doorstep. Also in the reproductive sphere, yesterday a Democrat picked up a Republican seat in a state race in Alabama.  Her campaign focused on reproductive rights and its likely that her victory got a boost from Alabama IVF screw-up.     

Politics:  RFK Jr who stands no chance of becoming president but who could be a spoiler announced that his running mate will be Nicole Shanahan who funded his Super Bowl ad, the one that featured the nepo guy’s beloved father. She’s also known for having been married to Google founder Sergey Brin who divorced her over her alleged affair with Elon Musk. In all likelihood RFK picked Shanahan because she’s got money and even more significantly has connections with tech bros who also have lots of cash to burn. Worth noting, she’s also a vaccine skeptic. Facing deservedly scathing criticism New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman is trying to walk back his assertion that the rapes of Israelis during the October 7 attack by Hamas, rapes that have been confirmed by the UN, are just Israel propaganda. He doesn’t care about what the women endured; he’s just concerned about his upcoming primary where he is being challenged by former Westchester County executive George Latimer. That primary takes place on June 25, If you live in his Westchester area district let him know what you think. Early voting for the April 2^nd, New York presidential primary is currently taking place.  Please vote because even though Biden has secured the nomination, Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips’ names are still on the ballot.  It’s important not to let the press spin low turnout as lack of support for Biden at a time when Trump is promising to be a dictator, to imprison millions of people, to restrict abortion rights nationwide, to walk away from Ukraine, to end Obamacare, to cut Social Security and Medicare and so on.                  

#BringThemAllHomeNow