Used Plane Anyone? ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️🌻

Buckeyes:  Yesterday was a primary day.  As expected, President Biden and Trump easily won their respective presidential races so not a lot to report there.  There were however also a number of state and local races with two standing out. Most notably, Bernie Moreno, Trump’s preferred Ohio Senate candidate, easily won his primary, an indication that Trump’s endorsement continues to carry weight.  MAGA Moreno will now face off against incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown in the fall. In 2020 Trump beat Biden by 8 points in Ohio and in 2022 newbie Senator/faux Hillbilly JD Vance beat then Congressman Tim Ryan by 6 points, so in a normal world, Moreno would be expected to glide to victory.  However, despite being a Democrat in an increasingly red state, the populist Brown has a record of beating the odds in Ohio where his everyman persona crosses the political divide. Democrats who were fairly upfront in hoping that Moreno would win the Republican primary, are counting on his brand of Republicanism being too MAGA for Ohio. The race will be close and closely watched because control of the Senate could rest on its outcome.  Attention was also focused on the California special election to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy who’d resigned the House after losing his leadership role to Speaker for now Mike Johnson.  Vince Fong, Trump’s preferred candidate who also had McCarthy’s support garnered the most votes but failed to cross over the 50% threshold required by California law and will now face off against the as yet undetermined second-place finisher, also a Republican, in still another special election scheduled to take place on May 21. That’s a bummer for Speaker Johnson who had been hoping to be able to immediately increase his very thin majority. Johnson has just signed on to another budget that will enrage some of the members of his crazy caucus so he needs every vote he can get.    

Money, Money, Money: Not too long ago, Trump claimed that he had $400 million is liquid assets at his disposal.  It turns out that he doesn’t, so it’s not all that surprising that it also turns out that he doesn’t have the half a billion plus that he needs to post with the court to keep hold of all of his properties while he moves forward with an appeal of his New York State fraud case.  It’s also not surprising that none of the thirty bond companies he says that he asked nor Ivanka, Jared, Elon, or anyone else he’s approached named Vlad are at all interested in providing him with the money or a bond. As rich as he is Elon is probably not all that liquid either and not all of Jared’s investors are complicit Saudis. Not that we should count Vlad out, it’s just not all that easy to transfer money from Russian accounts these days.  As to the bond companies, half a billion is outside of their comfort zones and then there’s the problem that Trump is a problem borrower who should he win reelection will hide behind the presidency to avoid meeting his obligations.  Though Trump’s net worth is probably around $3 billion, his real estate assets are illiquid and leveraged.  Bond companies want assets that they can glom onto and sell quickly which is why the Chubb bond that Trump posted to secure his $90 million E Jean Caroll penalty is secured by liquid assets held in his Florida Charles Schwab account.  Trump is now asking the courts to reduce or waive his fraud bond requirement.  We’ll know by Monday, the date that his bond is due,  whether that court hail Mary works.  Don’t count him out because stalling consequences remains his super-power. If he doesn’t get relief, expect to see New York AG Tish James jump into action.  In case you are wondering the current value of Trump’s used 757 is somewhere around $6 million, Melania’s Louboutin collection and closet full of worn once designer duds may be even higher. Trump’s campaign is also having trouble raising money, apparently his small money donors, are starting to feel tapped out maybe because of all the times they’ve ponied up to pay his legal expenses.  That could explain why this NY registered Democrat has been receiving fund raising pleas from RNC co-chair/daughter in law Lara.  It could also explain why Trump is now suing ABC and George Stephanopoulos for asking Republican Congresswoman/rape victim Nancy Mace how she could endorse a rapist.  The problem with Trump’s suit is that the judge who oversaw his E Jean Caroll case, opined that “the fact that Mr. Trump sexually abused – indeed raped Ms. Carroll has been conclusively established and is binding” in his ruling. It’s not clear why Trump wants to highlight the judge’s remarks during a campaign that could be decided by women, but why not?          

People:  Former Trump advisor Peter Navarro is now ensconced in a Florida jail because even this Supreme Court thought that he didn’t deserve a get out of jail pass.  Following in the footsteps of Rudy Giuliani who isn’t in jail but could be someday, he held a pre jail news conference at a gas station where he called his incarceration an “unprecedented assault on the constitutional separation of powers.”  Of course, he could have avoided that “assault” by showing up to testify before Congress about all those things, he voluntarily told MSNBC’s Ari Melber on cable TV.  Elsewhere in Trump land, it’s reported that Trump’s campaign team is considering bringing Paul Manafort on board.  You may recall that back in the halcyon days of Trump’s presidency Manafort was found guilty of five counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failing to disclose a foreign bank account.  Moreover, the then Republican controlled Senate deemed Manafort a counterintelligence threat likely because he canoodled with Russian agents and is believed to have shared election data with at least one of them. Manafort who spent some time in jail had his sentence commuted and was then pardoned by Trump.  Trump isn’t even bothering to hide his Russian connections these days.  That may or may not be why former Vice President Mike Pence will not be endorsing him.  Nor will former presidential candidate/Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, current Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Todd Young of Indiana. or Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. That list, to the extent it matters, is likely to grow.  So far none of them have indicated an interest in endorsing Biden but hope springs eternal.  

Fog: So according to Trump, if you are Jewish and plan to vote for Biden you hate Israel. That’s a not very subtle rehashing of the old “loyalty trope” that says Jews are others who can’t be trusted to be loyal Americans.  Just to be clear, you can be Jewish, you can dislike Bibi Netanyahu, you can be outraged about October 7, you can stay up at night anguished about the hostages and the rapes endured by some of the victims, and also be upset about events in Gaza and still support Biden and Chuck Schumer and be a loyal American.  It’s sad that I have to say that.  It’s absurd that I have to say that in response to the hateful remarks of a former American president and current American presidential candidate who continues to cozy up to Putin and his “pure blood” spewing cronies but that’s where we are in 2024.  Not good at all. 

#BringThemAllHomeNow