Victorias' Secrets 😱 ✡️🌻😱 👿 

Midterm Madness: Primary day in Texas is March 3, but early voting has already begun. Republican Senator John Cornyn, who is up for reelection, is being primaried from the right by two MAGA types: state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. Republican Senate leadership would prefer to see Cornyn win the primary, but Trump who has not weighed in yet, is likely leaning towards Paxton whose record mirrors his. Paxton is involved in a public, messy divorce and was impeached by the Texas House for bribery, abuse of power, and corruption but was able to remain as Attorney General because he was acquitted by the state’s Senate. Current polls show Paxton polling in the high 30s, about eight points ahead of Cornyn with Hunt who is polling in the high teens serving as the spoiler who could force a runoff since Texas law requires that the winning candidate receive more than 50% of the vote. On the Democratic side the race is between Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett who has made a name for herself by being one of Trump’s loudest most fiery critics and the more moderate State Representative James Talarico who has been running on how his Christian beliefs are consistent with Democratic and democratic principles.  The most recent poll shows Crockett, who was previously running neck and neck with Talarico, now leading him 47% to 39% with 12% undecided and 2% going to a third candidate. Odds are that once the undecided votes are cast, the Democratic race won’t go to a runoff, but anything is possible.  You don’t have to be registered in a party to vote in a Texas primary, but you can only vote in one of them.

CBS WTF: Though he’s lagging in the polls Talarico did get a bit of a lift this week after the powers that be at CBS told nighttime host Stephen Colbert that Talarico was persona non grata. CBS is looking more and more like Fox lite, its Paramount owners are working very hard to get Trump to weigh in on their behalf in their battle to buy Warner Brothers. CBS management “blamed” their decision to ban Talarico on their legal department’s advice that an appearance by Talarico would violate an old equal time rule that for years has not applied to nighttime and news shows. Trump’s FCC Chair, the very MAGA Brendan Carr who appears to be modeling his policies on those of Hungary’s Viktor Orban who has clamped down on the press in his country, has said that he wants to reimpose the antiquated rule. CBS’s acquiescence in advance is alarming, especially given the upcoming elections. Colbert, who is on his way out, is far past caring what CBS management has to say.  He posted his Talarico interview on YouTube where it was seen by a wide audience and discussed the fracas on last night’s show. To her credit Crockett who has appeared on Colbert’s show a few times said that she had no problem with Talarico’s appearance even if it gives him a boost with voters.  In other CBS news, long time 60 Minutes contributor Anderson Cooper is not renewing his contract.  His decision is being attributed to the way that new news head Bari Weiss has been MAGA-fying editorial decisions.

Still Closed:  Though it’s mostly hard to tell, the Department of Homeland Security is still “closed” since the administration and Democrats still haven’t worked out a deal on its funding.  Democrats want restrictions on how Noem’s militia behaves including a ban on agents masking their faces, mandatory body cameras, a requirement for judicial warrants for immigration arrests and an end to “roving patrols,” among other priorities. The White House and Republicans are pushing back on the mask ban and warrant requirements. Stories about how Noem’s INS and Border goons have been behaving continue to leak out, it turns out that the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are only the tip, albeit a very deadly tip, of the Homeland iceberg.  That pattern goes far to explaining why the FBI will not be sharing any information with Minnesota law enforcement about the Good and Pretti murders.  Who could have guessed that inadequate training, the hiring of former January Sixers, hate messaging and the demonizing of “others’ would result in the brutal treatment of immigrants and US citizens and deaths?  Unfortunately, by virtue of the Big Ugly Bill , Homeland already has far too much money at their disposal, $38 billion of which is being spent on detention facilities like the ones already holding far too many children and some pregnant woman, among others.  Monday night Rachel Maddow included a segment on how quite a few municipalities and states, red and blue, are pushing back against the INS’s purchase of land and warehouses for the “storing” of tens of thousands of immigrants. Some of that pushback is over concerns about how those facilities will overtax the already stretched water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure of the communities involved but some of it is because having a concentration camp-like facility as a neighbor, even in a red state, isn’t what a lot of Trump voters imagined when they voted for him. As to voters and messaging, yesterday Kristi Noem’s communications director Trisha McLaughln who called Good and Pretti radicals and worse announced her departure. We shouldn’t get too excited about that because there are probably lots of Trisha types waiting around for an opportunity to takeover her spot, however her departure could be an indication that Noem’s power really is sputtering. Also, there has been a shuffling of chairs, demotions, and some departures in RFK’s orbit. There are some suggestions that Trump wants more messaging about RFK’s efforts to get red dye out of foods rather than his promotion of toilet seat cocaine, measles, and the flu.  As to the flu, Trump also said that Moderna should act with more humility the next time they seek vaccine approval. By humility does he mean a CAVA bag with cash delivered to Mar a Lago?

More 💩:  Kushner, Witkoff and Trump’s other “negotiators” have reportedly been making “progress” in discussion with Iran and Russia, 🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♀️. More and more people not named Trump or in his administration have stepped aside over their association with Jeffrey Epstein.  Not that it matters much to Trump, but the list of Epstein associates in his orbit keeps growing.  Among other bonding moments, Steve Bannon advised Epstein on how to deal with his “bad press” and current Ambassador to Turkey and long-time Trump buddy Thomas Barrack was another Epstein friend. Today, some members of Congress are in Ohio meeting with Victoria’s Secret Les Wexner. The 88- year-old Wexner will likely plead the fifth and/or have no memory of anything memorable.