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Just moments ago the Post reported that the National Archives has asked the Justice Department to investigate ex-President Trump’s handling of White House records and possible violations of the Presidential Records Act. For clarity, the PRA is the post-Watergate statute that makes clear the the work product of the presidency belongs to the American public and not the individual president. As is so often the case, adjudicating Trump’s infractions is paradoxically complicated by their sheer brazenness. I mean, what is there to investigate? The violations have been so open that he seems to be saying with his actions that his actions are okay. Trump for years openly destroyed records covered by the PRA. (His staff reportedly attempted to piece them back together with tape.) Then he absconded with 15 boxes of records that the National Archives had to recover from Mar-a-Lago.

A short time ago, Mitch McConnell was asked whether the Jan. 6th insurrection was “legitimate political discourse” and he responded saying that it was on the contrary a “violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election.”

Video after the jump …

The RNC said crystal clear and out in the open that January 6th was “legitimate political discourse.” The first explanation of how this didn’t mean what it clearly meant was that they somehow only meant the stuff that happened before things got violent and turned into an insurrection. So only the pre-insurrection stuff even though the only reason anyone is investigating January 6th is the violence and insurrection. Now Kevin McCarthy, literally dashing away as Manu Raju asked him the question, is trying another tack. He says the RNC statement about Jan. 6th wasn’t even about January 6th. It was about six members of the RNC who have been subpoenaed by the committee. And they were in Florida on Jan. 6th. And remember it has nothing to do with Jan. 6th. Which RNC members? He won’t say.

Here’s the video.

I’m highly skeptical of the savior/voice of reason role carved out for Ivanka Trump in this report from the Associated Press. But it’s still a very illuminating account of the course of events at the White House on the afternoon of January 6th. In one noteworthy addition, the account notes that as news networks were reporting live video of violent assaults and chaos at the Capitol Trump was cheering them on and seemingly providing his own live color commentary, rewinding and replaying the best parts to watch again. He couldn’t figure out why everyone else didn’t think it was as cool as he did.

You’ve likely seen from Kate Riga’s reporting that things were trending in this direction. But over the weekend, Dave Wasserman of The Cook Report announced that according to his analysis the Democrats are now the net winners of the 2020–22 redistricting process nationwide.

Take a moment to let that sink in. For much of last year people were assuming that Republican state legislatures were going to use redistricting to engineer a gerrymander that might put the House and thus functional control of the federal government out of the reach of Democrats for the next decade. But that’s not how it’s turned out. Wasserman now thinks Democrats are on track for a net 2–3 seat gain.

Before we go any further there are critical caveats to understand here.

“Were you struck, as was I, by the absence of an ad hominem attack on Pence in Trump’s responsive statement? Trump attacks ‘Old Crow Mitch McConnell’ but nary a word against Pence. Looks to me like an invitation for a quid pro quo — I won’t attack you if you are circumspect with the Jan 6 Committee.  He knows that Pence has the goods but he is offering a non-aggression pact.”

There’s a fascinating passage in these new Trump election lawyer memos from the pre-January 6th period. One particularly jumped out at me in which Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro casually runs down the relative difficulty of stealing the election in each of the key states.

“In conclusion, it appears that voting by an alternative slate of electors is unproblematic in Arizona and Wisconsin; slightly problematic in Michigan (requiring access to the senate chamber); somewhat dicey in Georgia and Pennsylvania in the event that one or more electors don’t attend (require gubernatorial ratification of alternates); and very problematic in Nevada (given the role accorded to the Secretary of State).”

Perhaps I’m just so dispirited after a year of being forced to analyze and discuss Joe Manchin on a daily basis. But I find myself compelled to resort to media criticism for the second time in a week. I read this morning that Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended for two weeks from The View for her earlier comments about the Holocaust. This whole episode is a testament to the general insipidness of our public culture.

Goldberg’s comments were clearly rooted in ignorance rather than malevolence. She not only issued a genuine apology rather than a half-assed ‘I’m sorry if anyone was offended’ type apology. She also spoke to people, privately and publicly, and seemingly learned why her comments were wrongheaded and corrected herself. ABC’s suspension was needless and stupid. It will be derided as “cancel culture.” But it’s really more the kind of corporate ass-covering that only discredits the values it purports to serve. It’s a consequence that, as far as I can tell, basically no one was asking for.