A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
As the Senate returned Monday evening from the holiday recess, Republican senators voiced little to no concern over Donald Trump’s corrupt plan to fire FBI Director Chris Wray and showed no signs of being ready to torpedo Kash Patel’s presumptive nomination as Wray’s replacement.
Even GOP senators who might be expected to sound some feeble caution – Thom Tillis (R-NC), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Susan Collins (R-ME) – offered no reservations and expressed confidence in Patel’s prospects for confirmation.
Patel’s Particulars
- “The Patel Paradox can be stated as follows: the only reason to nominate someone like Patel to run the FBI is to commit impeachable abuses of power. Trump makes no secret that this is, in fact, his purpose. Patel is similarly explicit on the point.”–Benjamin Wittes
- Roger Parloff offers a glimpse of Kash Patel from a witness in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
- “To understand the full scope of the damage Mr. Patel could inflict, you have to understand how unique, powerful and dangerous the F.B.I. can be — and why a Patel directorship would likely corrupt and bend the institution for decades, even if he only served a few years.”–Garrett Graff
Making A List And Checking It Twice
Who’s been naughty or nice to Kash Patel:
Here’s Kash Patel’s full Deep State enemies list, which by my count includes 17 Trump administration political appointees from his first term
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— Eric Columbus (@ericcolumbus.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 2:35 PM
Quote Of The Day
“He’s absolutely unqualified for this job. He’s untrustworthy. It’s an absolute disgrace to American citizens to even consider an individual of this nature.”–Charles Kupperman, Trump’s first-term deputy national security adviser, on Kash Patel’s presumptive nomination as FBI director
Hegseth Nomination Watch: ‘Wild Childs’ Edition
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s embattled nominee for secretary of defense, was on the Hill meeting with senators Monday amid allegations of sexual misconduct, public drunkenness on the job, and financial mismanagement.
The excuse of the day belonged to Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY): “Are soldiers sometimes wild childs? Yeah, that can happen.”
- NBC News: Republican senators brush aside Pete Hegseth misconduct allegations after meeting with him
- The Daily Beast: Pete Hegseth Faces Reporters on Capitol Hill Asking if He Has A Drinking Problem
- CNN: Fox News ignores misconduct allegations against former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as concerns over Trump pick mount
Trump II Clown Show
- Mother Jones: Trump’s New Press Secretary Was Paid for Articles Praising a Con Man
- NYT: Project 2025, Mar-a-Lago and Fox News: What Connects Trump’s New Staff Picks
- WSJ: How RFK Jr. Transformed From Green Hero to Vaccine Skeptic
- NYT: How Kennedy Has Worked Abroad to Weaken Global Public Health Policy
Trump’s Future Transgressions Will Be Biden’s Fault
The Hunter Biden pardon has uncorked another round of excusing Donald Trump for his own transgressions – including yet-to-be-committed future transgressions:
- WaPo: Biden pardon will “provide ammunition” to Trump.
- Politico: The Hunter Biden pardon gives Donald Trump powerful new political cover
- The Guardian: Trump uses Hunter Biden pardon to hint potential clemency for January 6 insurrectionists
The Hunter Biden pardon can be reasonably criticized, but the idea that Trump needs political cover, fresh ideas for transgressions, or new precedents from Biden fails to grasp Trump. It’s fear-based analysis that anticipates what the bully will do and blames the victim for bringing it on himself.
Trump has already abused the pardon power in unprecedented ways to protect himself, plans to abuse it again in the future, and promised throughout his campaign to undermine the rule of law by wrecking the Justice Department and federal law enforcement.
Detect A Pattern?
The notion of “legacy” is one of the conventional tropes of political journalism that lets reporters judge some presidents against an imaginary and illusory standard:
- WSJ: Biden Pardon Threatens His Legacy—and Democrats’ Fight Against Trump
- NYT: Pardoning Hunter Complicates the Legacy That Biden Envisioned
- Politico: Biden risks sullying his legacy to protect Hunter
“Legacy” is a classic second-day analysis piece, the subtext of which is the president’s hypocrisy for failing to meet their own standards. By not having any standards, Trump often escapes this trope.
Inside SCOTUS’ Failed Effort To Hold Itself Accountable
The NYT draws on internal Supreme Court memos and interviews to piece together the desultory effort to adopt an unenforceable ethics code for the justices:
Justice Gorsuch was especially vocal in opposing any enforcement mechanism beyond voluntary compliance, arguing that additional measures could undermine the court. The justices’ strength was their independence, he said, and he vowed to have no part in diminishing it.
In the private exchanges, Justice Clarence Thomas, whose decision not to disclose decades of gifts and luxury vacations from wealthy benefactors had sparked the ethics controversy, and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote off the court’s critics as politically motivated and unappeasable.
The three liberal justices insisted that the rules needed to be more than lofty promises. But their argument never had a chance.
Trump’s Looming Deregulation Fiesta
TPM’s Kate Riga: “Monday’s oral arguments on the Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of a new flavored vape was, and felt like, a lame-duck exercise — a challenge against an agency regulation that may well evaporate as soon as President-elect Donald Trump takes power.”
In The States …
- North Carolina: The GOP-controlled state Senate voted to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of their big lame duck power grab. The GOP-controlled House will vote on the veto override later this month.
- Wisconsin: “Wisconsin public worker and teachers unions scored a major legal victory Monday with a ruling that restores collective bargaining rights they lost under a 2011 state law that sparked weeks of protests and made the state the center of the national battle over union rights.”–AP
- WSJ: Blue States Are Bracing for Legal Clashes With Trump
For The Record
The Army general who was last American soldier to leave Afghanistan was given a fourth star after Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) lifted a hold on his promotion.
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