Branden Johnson

Good, clean fun. History/Government teacher. The loudest voice is often the one you shouldn’t listen to. 1 Timothy 1:15-16

[Sarah Longwell @SarahLongwell25]

It genuinely amazes me that Republicans—in the immediate aftermath of Dems doing the right thing on Platner—are like, “Yep we’re total hypocrites and happy to tolerate abusers as long as they’re Republicans. No shame in our game!”

[Tim Miller @Timodc]

Tough break for the January 6 patriots who don't get their slice of the pie but the good news is their hero Mr. Trump takes care of himself once again!

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

🚨 NEWS: In a new court filing, Capital One says Donald Trump’s accounts were closed in 2021 after months of analysis by its anti-money laundering (AML) professionals, not because of politics, as Trump has long claimed.

The bank says its AML team conducted a careful review that identified suspicious transaction patterns and made the decision under federal anti-money laundering obligations.

[Sarah Longwell @SarahLongwell25]

The breathtaking corruption of this administration is outpaced only by its incompetence and stupidity.

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

I don’t want to be an alarmist, but a commander in chief who wants to blame foreign cyber attacks against American assets on domestic partisans so as to avoid admitting he made a mess of things, is … suboptimal.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Wolfers: For nine out of the last 10 presidencies, if you’d said, “How much should we blame the president for what’s going on with the economy right now?” I would have said that the president is just one factor among many.

That’s what I would have said nine out of 10 times. This is the 10th time.

There’s literally no question about the cause of the current oil price spike. It is that we decided to go to war in Iran on an open-ended, ill-defined mission, and we’re not quite sure what to do. The Iranians took over the Strait of Hormuz, and now the global economy is substantially fractured and global energy markets are in disarray. There’s no question about what caused that. We know that because we actually saw things get a little bit better in June during the ceasefire, but those happy days are behind us.

There’s also no question that tariffs are a complete own goal. They’ve led to higher prices paid by Americans. And that, I think, explains why, if you look at the United States compared to our peers in the G7—think of these as other economies that are kind of like, if the U.S. economy had mates, this is who they’d be—comparable large industrialized economies, the United States right now has higher inflation than any of them. We’re number one, but it’s not one of those good number ones.

And let me just add: it really does hurt my heart because we know how not to screw things up. Any economics textbook, anyone who’s taken introductory economics, would know that there are large economic costs to going to war. They would know that starting a global trade war in a chaotic and incoherent fashion is all downside and no upside.

[Olivia Julianna 🇺🇸🦅🗳️ @0liviajulianna]

The White House LAST YEAR.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Bartiromo: I don't understand how Iran has the capabilities to fight this way because the U.S. has obliterated Iran's military, and the president continues to reiterate that.

[Rev. Benjamin Cremer @Brcremer]

One of the most successful deceptions of our time was getting many Christians to fear diversity more than racism, equality more than misogyny, democracy more than fascism, immigrants more than authoritarians, the poor more than corrupt billionaires and empathy more than cruelty.

[Branden Johnson @bjohn7352]

@igorbobic An idea: Start school at a later time. 💡

[Branden Johnson @bjohn7352]

@shadihamid @mattyglesias I think you have nailed the dilemma. AES is the candidate of the future that older/established Dems say he isn’t right for next election while his supporters actively believe he’s the necessary change for the moment. It will be interesting!

[Branden Johnson @bjohn7352]

@JillFilipovic By comparison, El Sayed is a great public speaker. My Michigan-resident take is that she gives me a lot of Hillary ‘16 vibes. I’m not certain who has the best chance in the general as they will both need to convince people to turnout who are mad they are the nominee.

[Branden Johnson @bjohn7352]

@njvlietstra That and Edvinson isn’t signed and vulnerable to an offer sheet. Concerning management to me!

[Team Ossoff @TeamOssoff]

Ossoff: There's talk that he might try to declare me and Raphael Warnock illegitimate senators. Obviously, the President has no power to do that, but he does have the power to try to intimidate people. He's demonstrated his will to abuse power.

I expect him to use whatever he puts out there on Thursday as a pretext, either for some attempted unconstitutional use of federal power to interfere in the election, or to give his proxies and loyalists in state and local jurisdictions some cover for whatever they might attempt, or to lay the groundwork for challenging the result.

And the bottom line is that this is a real and live threat to voting rights in the United States right now.

[Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger]

Every day, a Watergate. Therefore, no Watergate at all. That is one of Trump's "superpowers." https://t.co/xCt3mXTMf4

[Christopher Webb @cwebbonline]

Nicole Wallace ☠️☠️☠️

"Riddle me this: when Obama ran intelligence, the election was secure and Donald Trump won in 2016.

When Biden ran the government and the intelligence, the election was secure and Trump ran in 2024.

But when Donald Trump and all of his boobs were running US national security, it got all effed up. Is that the theory?"

[Acyn @Acyn]

Collins: You've been bombing Iran for months now. Is this just the new normal for the American people?

Trump: Well, you know, we were in Vietnam for 19 years…

[Jon Ossoff @ossoff]

Donald Trump’s spiral continues. The failed president, pocketing billions as he drives up prices, is afraid to lose the midterms. So he will reheat debunked election conspiracy theories and tell bizarre new lies to deny his 2020 defeat and attack voting rights. This is a disaster for Trump puppet Mike Collins. Already mired in scandal, Mike will now have to double down on conspiracy theories toxic in the General Election. From the start, Trump’s obsession with Georgia elections revealed his fury that Black voters were instrumental to his defeat. I'm asking concerned citizens nationwide to join me and support our voter protection efforts in Georgia.