This was the week that the rich and highly effective bent the knee to Donald Trump. Tech CEOs together with Apple’s Tim Cook dinner, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took their turns at Mar-a-Lago wining, eating, and dropping off million-dollar checks for Trump’s slush fund of an inaugural committee.
The media additionally accelerated its personal give up to Trump’s authoritarian future. On Saturday, ABC Information introduced its weird determination to settle a defamation swimsuit filed by Trump to the tune of a $15 million payout and a proper apology. The choice was even stranger given the truth that Trump has failed in all of his earlier media defamation lawsuits—main critics to argue that ABC Information prematurely surrendered in an effort to keep away from Trump’s presidential wrath.
Most of that information flew proper by the cable information media this weekend, which devoted extra air time to Elon Musk’s mother than to the creeping autocracy down at Mar-a-Lago. Right here’s what you may need missed should you tuned into the networks this weekend.
In Texas, the battle on abortion intensifies
In the course of the presidential marketing campaign, Republicans went out of their method to distance themselves from the nightmarish outcomes of their nationwide battle on abortion. Not anymore. This week Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton reignited the abortion wars after he sued New York physician Margaret Carpenter for prescribing abortion medication to a Texan girl—which, although authorized in New York, is now against the law in Texas.
Paxton’s lawsuit is anticipated to turn into a mannequin for different purple states, the place Republican legislatures and attorneys common are doing their finest to ban ladies from accessing abortion assets even in states the place abortion stays authorized. New York has legal guidelines defending the physician that Paxton sued, however different states don’t have such sturdy protections for well being care practitioners and the sufferers they serve. That would tee up a nasty federal authorized battle over how a lot management states have over ladies’s our bodies.
For Dr. Carpenter, the case is extra acute: Violations of Texas’ ban on offering abortion providers comes with a most sentence of life in jail and a $100,000 positive for every infraction. If Carpenter ever visits Texas, Paxton and anti-choice Republicans have vowed to detain her for violating the legislation. A lot for that entire “small government” factor!
Florida’s very Trumpy showdown
Ron DeSantis isn’t a person recognized for his braveness. In reality, the Florida governor spent a lot of the presidential marketing campaign being gleefully humiliated by Donald Trump. However which will all change subsequent month, when Sen. Marco Rubio is anticipated to be confirmed as the following secretary of state. Trump needs his daughter-in-law and newly retired RNC co-chair Lara to fill Rubio’s senate emptiness. DeSantis might produce other concepts.
DeSantis is raring to shore up his place in Florida after a botched presidential run and declining assist amongst voters. A technique he’s trying to try this is by appointing a private loyalist with a historical past of holding elected workplace. In the meantime, DeSantis can also be resentful on the variety of instances Trump has publicly demanded he grovel earlier than the Mar-a-Lago crowd, elevating the likelihood that DeSantis might, lastly, develop some spine and stand as much as the Boss. He hinted that the wannabe popstar-in-law may get not a seat within the higher chamber final month. DeSantis has pledged to call a successor in early January, in response to a publish on X.
This huge determination is shortly turning into one other litmus check for simply how highly effective Trump has turn into inside the Republican Social gathering. With eyes to 2028, Meatball Ron can be well-served with a buddy within the Senate. Now he has to determine if that play is price alienating the authoritarian within the White Home.
Kash Patel: Trump’s Terminator
The company media’s concern round Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, lasted barely every week earlier than the circus moved on. That calm could also be untimely, as ex-FBI officers now fear that Patel is poised to train “unlimited power” in his potential new position. That features putting in new authorized workers on the FBI who would willingly log off on even blatantly unconstitutional raids and focused harassment of Trump’s many enemies.
Patel’s more and more open fantasizing about utilizing the FBI as a device for Trumpian revenge comes as journalists have began poking severe holes in his massively inflated CV. Because it seems, not solely has Patel by no means carried out significant work inside the FBI, he additionally grossly exaggerated his personal position within the Division of Justice’s Benghazi investigation. That shouldn’t shock anybody who is aware of something about Patel. It’s additionally fueling his already white-hot resentment on the media—a lot of whom he’s already singled out for future prosecution.
In the meantime, the percentages of Patel truly turning into FBI director are rising by the day as senate Republicans bend the knee to Trump’s political whims. Even former skeptics together with Sens. Thom Tillis and Joni Ernst are actually saying they’ll doubtless assist Patel, regardless of the problems along with his resume and his blatant guarantees to make use of the FBI as a device for attacking Democrats. It’s going to be a completely insane January on Capitol Hill, people. Get loads of relaxation now, as a result of we’re about to kick the doomscrolling into overdrive.
Attain out!
Hold the dialog going all week by sharing tales you assume the media missed with me at @themaxburns on Bluesky! And bear in mind: If you happen to’re tuned to cable information, you aren’t even getting half of the story.
Till subsequent week, maintain your eyes peeled and keep inquisitive, associates.
