Crooked Media - What A Day: Rick, rolled.

State of the Union addresses usually come and go without aftershocks, but the exchange between President Biden and his congressional Republican hecklers has allowed larger questions about GOP plans for Social Security and Medicare to linger. 
 

• GOP pearl-clutching over Biden’s (factually correct) claim that some Republicans want to phase out Social Security and Medicare doesn’t seem to be convincing anyone. To the contrary, the raucous exchange between them and Biden during the State of the Union has created real problems in their ranks. We love to see it. As he travels the country, Biden has redoubled his focus on Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), whose plan would require Congress to reauthorize Social Security and Medicare every five years just to keep them operating. 
   

• Scott’s plan is so politically suicidal that even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has tried to pin it all on one rogue Republican—(a Republican McConnell just happened to put in charge of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm purely by accident.)  “That’s not a Republican plan. That’s a Rick Scott plan,” McConnell said. Biden has rightly gone after similar plans proposed by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) who have disparaged and proposed cutting and even eliminating major entitlement programs. Accurately portraying Republicans as extremist (they are) is a smart play by Democrats, and Republicans are basically helping them do it. On Thursday, Johnson reiterated his attacks on the massively-popular entitlement programs, calling Social Security a “ponzi scheme.” Good luck with that, my man!
   

• Democrats should not stand in the way of Republicans saying the quiet part of their heinous policy views out loud, because they have an election to win in 2024 and an extremely difficult Senate map in front of them. The fact that so many high-ranking Republicans can’t see the idiocy of running on sunsetting Social Security and Medicare when seniors are maybe the most reliable voting block? Great! Let them cook. It’s no surprise that Scott ran the National Republican Senatorial Committee during such an embarrassing midterm election cycle.

If Republicans want to express their support for wildly-unpopular proposals, loudly and on repeat, we should let them.
 

• The SOTU fallout has undermined the GOP’s false presentation as a working man’s party. (That, and a proposal to completely eliminate federal income tax and replace it with a 30 percent national sales tax, a plan that would almost solely benefit the wealthy.) In fact, year after year, polls indicate that most Americans say that Social Security receives too little funding. In recent years, older Republicans have become much more likely to view Social Security as underfunded than ever before, but there are also more older Republicans than ever, with nearly one-third Republican voters aged 65 and older. 
   

• It’s especially smart that Biden has taken this road show to Rick Scott’s (and Ron DeSantis’s) Florida, where more than one in five residents is 65 or older, and he can squarely pit the Republican Party against its own supporters. Democrats would do well to find a way to finesse this kind of messaging with a wide array of Republican-supported policy proposals, because it’s clear that not enough of the voting public understands Republicans want to make their lives materially worse. 

Republican support for deeply unpopular proposals that would cause direct harm to the majority of Americans is something Democrats should keep front and center going into 2024. More than that, they should heighten the contrast by not just saying “We oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare,” but rather “We support making these systems more generous.”

The 65th Grammys were a night of great performances and hilarious moments. But if you were too busy dancing to Bad Bunny and maybe missed a few things listen to Keep It! Ira and Louis, your favorite pop culture duo, are breaking down everything Grammy related. From the legendary wins to Ben Affleck looking in desperate need of Dunkin’ coffee. You don't want to miss it! 
 

Listen to Keep It every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.

The FBI conducted a consensual search of former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home Friday after his aides discovered classified documents there last month. Agents reportedly turned up one additional classified document. 

Meta restored Donald Trump’s access to Facebook and Instagram. 

Freshmen Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has built her relatively new political reputation around a dramatic against-all-odds origin story. Many of her former friends and colleagues are calling her biographical self-mythology into question. More like Georgina Santos, amirite?

President Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met at the White House today about their respective country’s fights against attempted right-wing coups.

Iran released hunger-striking prisoner Farhad Meysami today after his supporters warned that he might die protesting the compulsory wearing of the hijab for Iranian women. He has been in jail since 2018. 

Fascist girl boss/Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused France of jeopardizing the European Union’s unified support of Ukraine by organizing a dinner with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that excluded allied European leaders. 

Bill Gates said flying on private jets does not make him “part of the problem” because he spends billions of dollars fighting climate change. Whatever helps you sleep at night, sweetie!!

Russia announced plans to cut its oil production by 500,000 barrels a day starting next month in retaliation for the price caps the United States and Europe have imposed on its fuel exports. 

Thirty-three members of Congress have urged Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to seek swift penalties against parties responsible for child labor in Alabama automotive plants making parts for Hyundai and Kia.

Continuing their attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid, Russian missiles hit power facilities across the country today, just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned from a tour of European Union countries and the United Kingdom asking for additional military support and armaments. Now, a long-awaited Russian offensive is underway in eastern Ukraine. The country’s air force said that 61 of 71 Russian missiles had been shot down, but Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Russia had hit power facilities in six regions with missiles and drones, causing blackouts across most of Ukraine. The White House said that President Biden will travel to Poland in late February to show support for Kyiv ahead of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, and make it clear that the United States is committed to providing the country with additional security assistance and aid.

AND - for a limited time, WAD readers can get an exclusive 15% off your pair of Cariuma sneakers with code WAD.

One year after the 2022 Super Bowl was flooded with commercials for cryptocurrency, there will be no such ads this Sunday after the entire industry basically collapsed. 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was discharged from the hospital today, after testing ruled out a stroke and other potential, high-risks explanations for the light-headedness he experienced earlier this week. He plans to return to the Senate on Monday. 

The IRS can now answer nearly 90 percent of taxpayer phone calls, up from just 13 percent a few years ago. So you’re telling me that when you give a government agency proper funding, it works???

The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday guaranteeing free lunch and breakfast to all Minnesota students, regardless of income requirements set by federal programs as part of an effort to reduce child hunger and ensure no students fall through the cracks. 

Working with the National Labor Relations Board, union organizers at the Union Kitchen restaurant franchise in Washington, DC, have reached a settlement requiring the restaurant to pay nearly $25,000 in back-pay and front-pay to five workers who were fired or faced retaliatory discipline for their participation in the union drive.