Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: MAGA nativism on display as the debate draws closer

[Brexiter]

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

Paul Glastris/Washington Monthly:

NATO Joe

Biden wields Reagan-like power abroad, while dismantling Reagan’s policies at home.

An aging world-historic leader, to be sure. Joke: How old is Joe Biden? He’s so old that when NATO leaders gather at their July summit in Washington, Biden will be the only one born before the organization was founded 75 years ago.

But as Biden’s age has advanced, so too has his clout and respect within the alliance. It was Biden who warned European leaders in early 2022 that Vladimir Putin was going to send his military into Ukraine, a warning many of them initially refused to believe. When the invasion happened as predicted, it was Biden who rallied Western and other allied countries to Ukraine’s defense. It was also Biden who authorized a dramatic increase in U.S. natural gas exports to Europe as Russia cut off supplies. It was Biden who picked up the phone and called the heads of Finland and Sweden with a quiet suggestion that they join NATO. And it was Biden and his team who overcame the resistance of Turkey and Hungary to make NATO expansion a reality, thus turning Putin’s military quagmire into a geo-strategic disaster for Russia.

Experience matters on the world stage.

Agreed, blood in the water attracts sharks https://t.co/ecgJZcSoLH pic.twitter.com/KtnVKQhDw9

— Jonathan Robinson ??? (@jon_m_rob) June 25, 2024

And sure enough, Rep. Bowman lost.

Jill Lawrence/The Bulwark:

Trump Wants Immigrants to Fight

Biden wants them to thrive.

Immigration policy is one tightrope of the many Biden has to walk this year, and his paired executive orders might work. Most Americans support their goals, according to new Equis Research polling of seven swing states and four that lean Democratic. “Americans prefer a both/and approach to immigration,” Equis cofounder Carlos Odio told journalists last week. “They want to see order at the border, but they also want to see something done for those who have been here a long time, like the families that we are talking about today.”

AXIOS: “.. Mr. Trump continues to suffer from the lowest level of corporate support in the history of the Republican Party," writes Sonnenfeld.”@felixsalmon @axios https://t.co/irpujxFnMM pic.twitter.com/UXG9HUhoGJ

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) June 25, 2024

Brian Beutler/”Off Message” on Substack:

Trump's 'Bumfights For Migrants' Plan Exposes The Toxic Rot Of MAGA Nativism

Just because anti-immigration ideas can be made to poll well doesn't mean Democrats should assume the country is overrun by hatred.

Today, Dr. Phil is a supporter of Donald Trump. He no longer hosts his network television program, but he did lob Trump some softball questions on his internet show, Dr. Phil Primetime, including a pained and failed effort to get Trump to disclaim both his antipathy to immigrants, and his lusty vindictiveness.

Well, Donald Trump isn’t feeling Dr. Phil’s yearning for magnanimity and immigration.

During a speech to right-wing Christians in Philadelphia on Saturday, Trump channeled Dr. Phil’s old nemesis Ty Beeson: “Did anyone ever hear of [Ultimate Fighting Championship President] Dana White?” Trump asked. “I said, ‘Dana, I have an idea. Why don’t you set up a migrant league of fighters and have your regular league of fighters, and then you have the champion of your league—these are the greatest fighters in the world—fight the champion of the migrants.’ I think the migrant guy might win; that’s how tough they are.”

If forcing migrants facing expulsion to fistfight champion martial artists were a winning idea, surely Trump and White could get it done. But according to Trump, White “didn’t like that idea too much.” White himself was at pains to insist that Trump was merely joking. And Dr. Phil, once so righteously appalled by the idea of luring vulnerable people into pit fights, has disappeared. My requests for comment went unanswered.

Nearly half of all likely Georgia voters say they approve of the New York jury’s May verdict that found Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, including a slim majority of independent voters — a group that has long voted reliably Republican. #gapol https://t.co/0f8UVQM4B7

— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) June 25, 2024

Forbes:

Israeli Supreme Court Rules Ultra-Orthodox Jews Must Face Military Draft—Here’s How It Endangers Netanyahu’s Government

The Israeli Supreme Court Tuesday ordered the country’s government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students into the country’s military, dealing a major political blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whose coalition government relies on support from ultra-orthodox parties.

[…]

The ruling is a major blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, as they have pushed for the exemptions to remain in effect. If the draft progresses, Netanyahu risks alienating two key allied Haredi parties—Shas and United Torah Judaism—and causing his government to collapse. While Netanyahu is keen on maintaining the status quo, his defense minister Gallant has called for an end to the special exemptions, saying: “The army is in need of manpower now. It’s not a matter of politics, it’s a matter of mathematics.” Gallant’s views align with a large majority of his country, as a poll published in March showed 70% of Israeli Jews supported scrapping the exemptions.

The U.S. has outgrown the G7 economies, while experiencing about the same inflation rate. pic.twitter.com/JZMUefY5XW

— David Doney (@David_Charts) June 23, 2024

The New York Times:

Abortion Debate Shifts as Election Nears: ‘Now It’s About Pregnancy’


Two years after Roe was struck down, the conversation has focused on the complications that can come with pregnancy and fertility, helping to drive more support for abortion rights.

The public conversation about abortion has grown into one about the complexities of pregnancy and reproduction, as the consequences of bans have played out in the news. The question is no longer just whether you can get an abortion, but also, Can you get one if pregnancy complications put you in septic shock? Can you find an obstetrician when so many are leaving states with bans? If you miscarry, will the hospital send you home to bleed? Can you and your partner do in vitro fertilization?

New from @MorningConsult's 2024 tracker: - Biden and Trump are tied, 44% each, among all voters - For 8th straight week, Biden has better net favs than Trump - 56% say abortion is "very important" to their vote, highest all cycle Link https://t.co/Jvl9uzIzBN

— Cameron Easley (@cameron_easley) June 25, 2024

POLITICO:

Playbook: The $100 million blitz to bring back Roe

But there are rising voices on both the left and the right challenging those consensus views, Alice Miranda Ollstein writes this morning.

Alice scoops that a new coalition of abortion-rights groups, including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and Reproductive Freedom for All, have created Abortion Access Now, which pledges “to spend $100 million to restore federal protections for the procedure and make it more accessible than ever before.”

But the group is facing resistance from abortion rights activists who say that just restoring Roe, which legalized abortion through viability, isn’t enough. PAMELA MERRITT of Medical Students for Choice called Roe “a very flawed framework” and accused the new coalition of “leading with compromise.” HAYDEE MORALES of the National Institute for Reproductive Health said the Roe standard is being prioritized “on the backs of Black, Indigenous, other people of color, and all marginalized communities.’”

As for the Republican Party, the right is growing agitated with its leaders’ lack of interest in any federal legislation. Many anti-abortion groups, Alice writes, “as well as close Trump allies who drafted a ‘Project 2025’ policy manifesto to guide Trump if he wins, are still pushing for federal restrictions, with the ultimate goal of a national abortion ban.”

Actual GOP/Trump position becoming clear: IVF shld be illegal. https://t.co/vUJQZbl9oy

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 25, 2024

The New York Times:

Democrats Lean on Abortion Rights Message for Anniversary of End of Roe

Across the country this week, Democrats are focusing on abortion issues and emphasizing Donald Trump’s role in nominating the justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.

As they seek to reinvigorate their voters, Democrats are embracing variations of arguments that have fueled other victories in the past two years: that the Republican Party is ever more extreme and infringing, to an extraordinary degree, on some of the most personal health care decisions Americans can make.

“Donald Trump hand-picked three members of the United States Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe v. Wade — and as he intended, they did,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at a campaign event on Monday in College Park, Md. “In the case of the stealing of reproductive freedom from the women of America, Donald Trump is guilty.”

She was also expected to speak in Phoenix to “remind voters that Donald Trump is responsible for overturning Roe and the chaos that has followed,” and to “highlight the threat a second Trump presidency would pose to reproductive freedom nationwide,” according to the Biden campaign.

The New York Times is addicted to presenting Biden’s case from weakness. But, in fact, reproductive rights are a political BFD. And they work in Biden’s favor because he’s where the public is.

Jonathan V. Last/The Bulwark:

What Is the Pro-Life Movement’s Reaction to the Rise in Infant Mortality in Texas?

It sure *looks* like it’s more about control than “life.”

So tell me: How upset do you think the “pro-life” Republicans will be at the jump in infant-mortality rates in Texas?

In the wake of Texas’ abortion ban, the state’s infant death rate increased and more died of birth defects, a study published Monday shows.

The analysis out of Johns Hopkins University is the latest research to find higher infant mortality rates in states with abortion restrictions.

The researchers looked at how many infants died before their first birthday after Texas adopted its abortion ban in September 2021. They compared infant deaths in Texas to those in 28 states — some also with restrictions. The researchers calculated that there were 216 more deaths in Texas than expected between March and December the next year.

In Texas, the 2022 mortality rate for infants went up 8% to 5.75 per 1,000 births, compared to a 2% increase in the rest of the U.S., according to the study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Among causes of deaths, birth defects showed a 23% increase, compared to a decrease of about 3% in the rest of the U.S. The Texas law blocks abortions after the detection of cardiac activity, usually five or six weeks into pregnancy, well before tests are done to detect fetal abnormalities.

Oops.

If you're ever confused about how political reporters treat Republicans, stop seeing the Republicans as grown men and women and start seeing them as 9-year-old boys and girls. Things will make a ton more sense.

— The Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) June 25, 2024

Cliff Schecter on character (it’s Trump’s minions that do policy):

YouTube Video