SG

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

Bonchie’s being diplomatic. Russia is a crappy country. It has some great literature. And like all nations, it has some lovely people and traditions. But as a nation-state and empire, its history is of cruelty, backwardness, oppression, and violence. https://t.co/i9nhAaODPf

[Josh Larky @jlarkytweets]

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is a critically important role for the safety of all Americans

Bill Pulte is a 38 year old broadcast journalism major whose billionaire grandfather helped him launch a private equity firm at age 23

Pulte has exclusively worked in real estate and private equity until now

If I made a list of the 25,000 people most qualified to be the new DNI, Bill Pulte would not be on that list

[Aaron Terr @aaronterr1]

It’s hard to square the claim of being the “most transparent War Department in history” with the steady stream of new restrictions on press access.

[Sarah Isgur @whignewtons]

What about the settlement itself? Its existence is still a problem, including the civil and criminal pardon Trump granted to himself and his family.

This wasn’t an adversarial case—live by unitary executive theory, die by unitary executive theory!

https://t.co/c0MG0j1SSr

[Aaron Fritschner @Fritschner]

You should have voted to convict the scorpion in its impeachment trial, Senator Frog

[Eric Levitz @EricLevitz]

Trump could have presided over a very strong economy. All he had to do was...nothing: Inflation was trending downward, the AI boom was raising growth.

Instead, he engineered a global trade war and energy shock, while shrinking America's labor force. https://t.co/JvvlsQ83R8

[Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger]

My notifications are inundated with Republicans saying that Ken Paxton is necessary to ... "drain the swamp." Paxton is a one-man swamp (like Donald Trump). Paxton is so corrupt, he was impeached by a Republican chamber (and spared, of course, by another -- because tribe).

[Kristy Greenberg @KGreenberg_]

“They” didn’t leak Trump’s tax returns. An IRS contractor did - along with thousands of other tax returns - during Trump’s first term.

Biden’s DOJ prosecuted the contractor, who got the max: 5 years in prison.

This is shameful spin from SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.

[Peter Schiff @PeterSchiff]

It's not @RepThomasMassie who lost today; it's the Republican Party that lost, and more importantly, it's the United States that lost.

[David Frum @davidfrum]

In case you've forgotten, here are some of the things learned from the Trump tax returns leaked by a government contractor in 2020:

In 10 of the 15 years before Trump won the presidency, Trump paid no federal income tax. In 2016 and 2017, he paid $750. https://t.co/yGgjY0sQdP

[SG @hitplay]

The single largest corrupt act in the history of our country. Trump is stealing $1.7 billion from taxpayers.

[Andrew Feinberg @AndrewFeinberg]

Trump’s DOJ announces $1.7B fund to pay his allies who were ‘unfairly’ investigated by Obama and Biden https://t.co/dAIN0JAmnC

[Rep. Mike Levin @RepMikeLevin]

Let me get this straight. Trump sued his own IRS for $10 billion. His own Justice Department is now considering settling that case. And one of the terms on the table is that the IRS drops all audits of Trump, his family, and his businesses PERMANENTLY.

He’s using the full weight of the federal government to protect himself and his family from accountability and potentially pay himself BILLIONS of your tax dollars.
https://t.co/TyfIGUFxqh

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

When you listen to Trump talk about Taiwan (or many other topics) it’s the stuff he doesn’t say that is more revealing. Asked about Taiwan he blathers on about how big and strong China is, how tiny Taiwan is, about tariffs and dumb American presidents who didn’t use them. What doesn’t he talk about?

Alliances, obligations, democracy, values, honor, etc.

Keep in mind, if you don’t care whether Trump throws Taiwan under the bus, that wouldn’t be the only betrayal involved. We’d be screwing Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia too. I’m not saying we should get into a shooting war over Taiwan. I am saying Trump shouldn’t betray our allies, our values, and our national security and national honor just because he’s got a man crush on Xi.

[Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers]

Trump campaigned on bringing down the cost of living "starting on day one," and then: started a trade war; deported much of the farm workforce, bombed Iran, allowed healthcare subsidies to expire, cut food assistance, ran an interest-rate boosting deficit, and attacked fed independence.

[Jesse Singal @jessesingal]

absolutely despicable. loathsome. if you supported this administration because of your concerns about "free speech" go to a monastery for a year or someting. seriously carve out some time for self-reflection. try to figure out how you were conned so badly!

[FIRE @TheFIREorg]

Couldn’t make it to our webinar today? No worries.

From James Comey and Jimmy Kimmel, to Disney and the FCC, free speech developments moved quickly this week and you deserve to be up to speed.

Now’s your chance to catch the full breakdown. ⬇️

[Nico Perrino @NicoPerrino]

This is embarrassing for America.

We should be celebrating our country's free speech exceptionalism on this 250th anniversary.

That's hard to do when the executive branch is pursuing politically motivated indictments against individuals for their obviously protected speech.

[Aaron Terr @aaronterr1]

@TheFIREorg Here's the joke of an indictment:

[Conor Fitzpatrick @CTFitzpatrick]

This indictment is breathtakingly frivolous and makes a mockery of the First Amendment. Every attorney who participated in securing it should be ashamed of themselves, if they have that capability. A dark day for freedom of speech.

[FIRE @TheFIREorg]

Brendan Carr’s FCC subjecting Disney-owned and-operated television stations to an early license renewal proceeding because of jokes in a late-night monologue is viewpoint retaliation.

The FCC may claim these actions are based on DEI policies and have nothing to do with Jimmy Kimmel, but its timing makes it clear these justifications are a fig leaf. This campaign against a disfavored broadcaster violates the First Amendment, pure and simple.

The First Amendment requires those in government to be strong enough to take a joke—including ones that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump consider to be in bad taste.