A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Why Was Tucker Canned Now?
I’m sorry to disappoint, but there was no overnight reporting that fully explained the mystery of Tucker Carlson’s firing by Fox News. Everything from some yet-to-be revealed bombshell to the mercurial whims of Rupert Murdoch remains in play as the “real reason” for Tucker’s demise. But so far at least the reporting doesn’t generally point in the same direction, isn’t particularly definitive, and doesn’t establish with any conviction a solid answer to “Why now?”
A sampling of some of the more reliable observers:
- NPR media reporter David Folkenflik:
Murdoch empire expert Gabriel Sherman:
Tucker Carlson Miscellany
- Fox said a rotating series of hosts would replace Tucker until a permanent host is selected. Brian Kilmeade was the first to take over Tucker’s chair Monday night:
- Donald Trump and MAGA World were reportedly “stunned” by the news.
- Carlson, who made $20 million a year, will be paid the remainder due on his current contract.
- Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott seem to want credit for the decision to fire Carlson.
Biden Launches Re-Election Campaign
The three-minute announcement video unveiled today at 6 a.m. ET begins with a short montage of the Jan. 6 attack then has Biden himself narrating. The first half of the video is about what he’s running against. He squarely tees up “MAGA extremists” as the foe but deftly makes their threat not just about “bedrock freedoms” of democracy like the right to vote but also about Social Security cuts, abortion restrictions, and tax cuts for the wealthy.
The battle for the soul of America continues, he intones before the video shifts to an upbeat, bouncy message about what he’s running for. In short, it’s to “finish the job,” but with the buoyancy and optimism that marked his 2020 campaign, contrasting his lightness and hope with the darkness and fear of Trump, who is never mentioned by name and appears only once in a fleeting image that is more focused on Ron Desantis and tying him to Trump.
2024 Ephemera
- This is why “DeSantis bobblehead” was a thing yesterday:
- Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, endorsed Trump for president.
- UGH: Politico games out a Tucker Carlson presidential run.
Trump Rape Trial Starts Today
Jury selection begins in the trial of E. Jean Carroll’s rape claim against Donald Trump.
Fani Willis Will Decide On Trump Charges This Summer
The Atlanta DA told law enforcement to expect a charging decision in her investigation of the 2020 election subversion effort sometime between July 11 and Sept. 1.
A Bit More To Gnaw On
TPM: Trump Was At A Meeting Where Loyalists Discussed Plans To Break Into Voting Machines
Do Tell
A Michigan grand jury has been quietly investigating voting machine tampering after the 2020 election by Trump supporters.
Proud Boys Closing Args Underway
Closing arguments began Monday and will continue today in the month’s old seditious conspiracy trial of the Proud Boys taking place in DC.
Clarence Thomas Has A Harlan Crow Problem
Despite the denials, it turns out billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow did have business before the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas did not recuse himself in the case.
I would hasten to add that we shouldn’t define “business” too narrowly. In his role as a board member for two major conservative think tanks –the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution – Crow had loads of business before the high court at the same time that he was generously giving Thomas undisclosed travel and accommodations.
Gorsuch Has A Disclosure Fail, Too
Nine days after his Senate confirmation, Justice Neil Gorsuch sold a Colorado property he co-owned but failed to list the buyer on his financial disclosure form: Greenberg Traurig CEO Brian Duffy.
College Board Backtracks On AP African-American Studies
NYT: “The College Board said on Monday that it would revise its Advanced Placement African American studies course, less than three months after releasing it to a barrage of criticism from scholars, who accused the board of omitting key concepts and bending to political pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had said he would not approve the curriculum for use in Florida.”
Abortion Alert
North Dakota enacts a new, near-total ban on abortion.
He Called It
The late Simon Maloy didn’t live to see the day Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News, but he teed it up perfectly back in 2016:
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