Crooked Media - What A Day: On the shutdown-low

- Donald Trump Jr. taking after his father in describing a completely fictional scenario to the public

Because Republicans have even a sliver of legislative power, we once again find ourselves facing a possible government shutdown. 
 

• House Republicans, who are drunk with what little power they possess, have repeatedly loaded up their government funding bills with so many unworkable hyper-partisan policy mandates that it’s clear they have no real interest in actually doing their jobs. Those doomed, tangential demands range from further restricting abortion medication to preventing the Department of Veterans Affairs from flagging veterans deemed mentally incompetent in federal gun background checks. 
   

• Now we’re just four days away from running out of funding for roughly one-quarter of the government. As the deadline draws nearer, Republicans are doubling down on their anti-abortion and pro-gun policy demands, and objecting to proposed budget increases for federal programs aimed at providing food and nutrition assistance for low-income families, women, and infants. Because for the GOP, life begins at conception and ends at needing any government assistance.
   

• GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson made his way to the Oval Office on Tuesday, and appeared to be close to hammering out a deal with Democrats that could keep the government open past the weekend. But lawmakers seem no closer to a larger spending bill that would fund the government long-term. Johnson said both parties in Congress were “optimistic” about preventing the partial shutdown. But he also said several times that the Republican priority is the border. Hmm, Mike, if that were the case, it seems like you wouldn’t have killed the bipartisan border deal just because Daddy Trump told you to!

Republicans will likely take us to the edge of an even larger cliff in a few weeks, when funding for the rest of the government will also expire without congressional intervention. 
 

• Those of us who were around oh, say, this time last year, remember that former GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy also played with fire and almost let the most far-right, unhinged members of his caucus bring the government to a screeching halt. He paid the price for working with President Biden and Democrats to avoid the catastrophe that would have been a government shutdown. Mike Johnson might be headed for the same collision. 
   

• Also not great: the aforementioned unhinged far-right loonies are becoming more numerous in the House. The House GOP is facing a growing exodus of experienced, more-moderate (all things being relative) members, who are being replaced by younger firebrands who want to burn the whole government down. It seems that the caucus’ Matt Gaetzes and Marjorie Taylor Greenes are multiplying every election cycle. Definitely not the people you want driving the bus. These far-right members have no fear of political blowback from shutting down the government, because they often come from districts where their greatest challenge would be a primary by someone even further to their right. No wonder 21 percent of Americans believe “political extremism or threats to democracy” is the biggest problem facing the U.S. today, according to a new Reuters poll. 

Are we going to have to endure being driven to the brink of a government shutdown every time Republicans have even the slimmest control of one house of Congress? Seems that way!

Alexei Navalny. If you didn’t know his name before, now is a great time to pay attention. On the latest Pod Save The World’s bonus episode, Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes discuss the sudden death of Russia’s most prominent opposition figure. For more on why the entire world blames Putin, Biden’s response, and what this means for Russia going forward, listen in only on the Pod Save The World feed.

Disgraced former President Donald Trump appears close to cementing even greater control over the already-subservient Republican National Committee. As most of us know by now, Ronna McDaniel is out as the head of the RNC. She announced plans on Monday to officially step down on March 8. It’s highly unusual for a party chair to resign during an election year, and while Trump hasn’t made a habit of targeting McDaniel publicly, the circumstances that led to her resignation are becoming increasingly clear. According to a new report from the New York Times, McDaniel has been a target of many of Trump’s most vocal allies in right-wing news media, who blamed her for the party’s performance in the 2022 midterm elections (as opposed to all of the certifiably deranged candidates Trump backed). Even more striking, Trump himself repeatedly pressured McDaniel to cancel not only primary debates, but the primary contests themselves. (Party chairs do not have the power to cancel caucuses and primaries, which are run by the states and their parties.) Would you believe that the guy who tried to steal the 2020 presidential election also tried to steal the 2024 primary? Even when he didn’t have to? I, for one, am shocked. The forthcoming RNC election is set to demonstrate the degree to which the party is controlled by Trump, as the successor to McDaniel he picked, North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley, is a clear favorite to win. As if that weren’t enough, Trump also wants his daughter-in-law Laura Trump to be named co-chair. It looks like Trump’s about to make the RNC his new family business.

Israel and Hamas both threw cold water on President Biden’s expressed hope that a ceasefire deal was imminent. Okay sometimes Biden just says stuff, they should know that!

Republicans in Arizona introduced a bill that would allow ranchers to legally shoot and kill undocumented immigrants who cross their property. Cool! Normal, sane people!

The United States and key NATO allies said on Tuesday they have no plans to send ground troops to Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Western allies should exclude no options of support for Kyiv. 

Results in Michigan’s presidential primary are expected after polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern. Activists are urging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” to protest Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.

TikTok began removing Universal Music Publishing Group songs from the app on Tuesday after it failed to reach a new licensing agreement with the music label. Now the teens will have to choreograph viral dances to copyright-free technical assistance hold music. 

Florida lawmakers halted a bill that would have provided protections to an “unborn child” possibly opening up the state’s in vitro fertilization clinics to lawsuits following the Alabama State Supreme Court ruling that effectively shut down IVF in the state. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has introduced a federal abortion ban bill to Congress every year since 2013. This year, he hasn’t yet, and has expressed no intent to do so. This likely isn’t a change of heart, and maybe not even a tacit acknowledgement of the political toxicity of the policy, but probably a worse, third thing. 

An Australian photographer accused Taylor Swift’s father of punching him in the face. Baby now we’ve got Bad Blood!

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Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced a bill to federally protect IVF and is now demanding a vote on it in the wake of the Alabama state Supreme Court ruling.