A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
You Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, Gotta Hand It To Hitler
Tennessee state Sen. Frank Niceley (R) gave what he called a “history on homelessness” on the Senate floor on Wednesday in which he claimed that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler managed to escape homelessness when he “practiced his oratory and his body language and how to connect with citizens” on the streets “and then went on to lead a life that got him in the history books.” So what’s your excuse, homeless people?
- “They can come out of these homeless camps and have a productive life,” Niceley declared before quickly backpedaling, sort of. “Or in Hitler’s case, a very unproductive life,” he added.
- BTW, Niceley also believes that the Civil War isn’t really over and the South’s winning it, actually.
The Villages? More Like The Voter Fraudages
Two residents from The Villages in Florida have confessed and pleaded guilty to committing voter fraud by casting two ballots in the 2020 election. One of them is a registered Republican, the other isn’t affiliated with a party in Florida, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
- Two other residents from The Villages (one a registered Republican, the other unaffiliated) were similarly arrested around the same time as the first two for allegedly double-voting. Those two have pleaded not guilty.
Meadows Kicked Off North Carolina Voter Rolls
The Macon County Board of Elections director in North Carolina has removed former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows from the state’s voter rolls amid the State Bureau of Investigation’s voter fraud probe into the ex-Trump official.
Kentucky GOPers Override Dem Guv’s Abortion Ban Veto
Kentucky’s Republican-controlled state legislature on Wednesday voted to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s (D) veto of a bill that would ban abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest, only medical emergencies.
- The legislation also adds extra burdens on receiving drugs for medical abortions and on abortion access for minors.
- Kentucky Republicans also overrode Beshear’s veto of a ban on transgender female athletes participating in women and girl’s sports.
Biden Swats Away Trump’s Executive Privilege Claim Over More Jan. 6 Docs
The House Jan. 6 Committee is slated to get more of Trump’s White House records in connection with the Capitol attack after Biden decided once again not to invoke executive privilege over them this week.
- The committee will receive the documents on April 28, barring interference from the courts, the archivist informed Trump in a letter on Wednesday.
- It’s not clear what this latest tranche of documents contains.
Brooklyn Subway Shooting Suspect Arrested
Frank James, 62, who is suspected of opening fire in a New York City subway car in Brooklyn on Tuesday, was arrested Wednesday after the police got a tip from a bystander who reported seeing James casually stroll around in the East Village. New York’s finest, everyone!
Impeachment Trial For Hit-And-Run Attorney General Set
The GOP-controlled South Dakota state Senate on Wednesday scheduled a two-day impeachment trial for state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R), who ran over and killed a man with his car, beginning on June 21.
- The state Senate will need to reach a two-thirds majority of 24 lawmakers to convict Ravnsborg and kick him out of office after the House impeached him on Tuesday.
- The lead prosecutor in the trial will be a state’s attorney who was originally part of the team that investigated the incident. However, that attorney left the team before the prosecutors handed Ravnsborg a mere three trafficking misdemeanors, one of which was dropped when he pleaded no contest to the other two.
Trump Deigns To Give Some Cash In Other People’s Races For The First Time Because Revenge
Trump’s Save America PAC has raised more than $110 million since he left office (most of which probably came from his exquisite How Fauci Stole Christmas stickers) but hasn’t spent much of it on anyone who isn’t named Donald Trump (which is very shocking) up until now.
- Save America recently funneled $500,000 into a superPAC dedicated to ousting Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), one of Trump’s biggest punching bags, ahead of the state’s May 24 primary, when Kemp will be facing off against the Trump-endorsed David Perdue.
- Trump’s nervous about Perdue trailing Kemp in the race, according to Politico. Right now the incumbent governor’s trouncing Perdue in the polls and has spent/reserved way more money on TV ads than the former governor.
We’ve Reached More Than Half A Billion COVID Cases Worldwide
As of Thursday morning, there are more than 501 million cases of COVID-19 in the world, according to John Hopkins University’s pandemic tracker.
Must Read
“‘Down With France’: Former Colonies in Africa Demand a Reset” – The New York Times
No Longer Just Whispers
San Francisco Chronicle: “Colleagues worry Dianne Feinstein is now mentally unfit to serve, citing recent interactions”
McConnell Didn’t Call Out Trump’s Election Lies Because Of Georgia Senate Races
According to CNN’s excerpt of an upcoming book by two New York Times reporters, the reason then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) didn’t publicly acknowledge that Trump was lying about the 2020 election before Jan. 6 was because he didn’t want to piss off the then-president and jeopardize the Georgia Senate runoff elections with Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Loeffler and Perdue ended up losing the runoffs anyway.
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