When USC canceled the main-stage commencement ceremony, Jewish leaders on campus saw an opportunity.

Before about 19,000 graduates walked across stages on Friday to receive their degrees in smaller school satellite ceremonies, USC’s Hillel hosted a graduation event for Jewish students and their families — a moment to gather in unity amid weeks of campus turmoil over Israel-Hamas war protests.

“A lot of people have been trying to take these joyful moments away from us,” said Mark Rayant, 26, who was earning his master’s degree in green technology. “We get to come together as a community in a safe environment, in a healing environment — something the university wasn’t able to provide.”

At USC’s Hillel center, a post-and-beam building next door to the university’s Catholic student center, more than 50 students attended in their black robes and red sashes along with 200 or so family, friends, professors and classmates......

Dave Cohn, executive director of USC Hillel, acknowledged that the year has ended under a “very, very dark cloud.”

“No matter how you view these issues — as a person of Jewish identity or as a person in general — there’s no denying this depleted and depressed the atmosphere,” Cohn said.

Donald Trump's Manhattan hush money trial began the afternoon session on Tuesday with cross-examination of Michael Cohen — and, right out of the gate, the defense lawyer wanted to ask about insults.

Todd Blanche, who has taken a back seat to Trump's other lawyer, Susan Necheles in recent days, began his questions by asking, "Mr. Cohen, my name is Todd Blanche and I have never met you. You went on TikTok and called me a crying little s--t."

Cohen said it sounded like something he would say.

"Blanche is coming in hot," said MSNBC co-host Chris Jansing. "This is an interesting strategy."

Andrew Weissmann, the top prosecutor for special counsel for former FBI director Robert Mueller, said that he disagreed with beginning the questioning that way because the case has nothing to do with Blanche personally.

"I'm not a fan of the choice that was made to open that way," Weissmann explained. "I think defense lawyers have — it's an honorable thing to be a criminal defense lawyer. It's an important role in our system. It's important to hold the state to its burden."

For Donald Trump’s critics, it’s become a frequent point of mockery: Members of the former president’s immediate family have, for the most part, failed to join him in New York City as his criminal trial has unfolded. While it’s not uncommon for defendants to receive moral support from loved ones — showing up at courthouses with a spouse, for example — Trump has seen far fewer allies show up at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse......

And this, in turn, appears to have inspired others in the party to do the same thing. NBC News reported:

Former President Donald Trump risks a trip to jail if he attacks witnesses in his New York hush money trial. But his allies aren’t covered by the gag order he has repeatedly violated, and they’re increasingly launching the broadsides that Trump can’t. On Monday, as former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen testified that Trump was directly involved in a scheme to kill negative stories about him during the 2016 election, Sens. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., ripped into Cohen.

The far-right senators were, incidentally, joined by other Republican officials, including Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.....

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1790053314127696234

Vance, for example, is in the mix to be Trump’s running mate, which likely helped inspire the Ohio senator to make the trip to New York. This came to the attention of other would-be vice presidential contenders: Vivek Ramaswamy will join Trump today, as will Gov. Doug Burgum and Rep. Byron Donalds. Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is reportedly eyeing a trip of his own.

It has the elements of a burgeoning litmus test: As the former president reviews his options for his 2024 ticket, it’s hardly outlandish to think he’ll consider who showed up in New York City and who did not.

Under the original model, Republicans were expected to travel to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump’s ring and satisfy his ego. Under the new model, Republicans are traveling to the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse to kiss Trump’s ring and satisfy his ego.

Two years ago, in an online statement that’s since been deleted, Donald Trump whined about his legal difficulties by complaining, “Never before has this happened to another President, and it is an absolute violation of my civil rights. ... I’ve been investigated by the Democrats more than Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Al Capone, combined.”....

Two years later, he’s still at it. Business Insider highlighted some of the former president’s rhetoric at his rally in New Jersey over the weekend.

The former president said he had been indicted “more than the great Alphonse Capone ... on bulls---, too.” It prompted members of the crowd to chant “Bulls---! Bulls---! Bulls---!” in response.

Seven days earlier, he told a Mar-a-Lago audience, “Once I got indicted, I said, ‘Holy s---, I just got indicted.’ Me, I got indicted. ... I got indicted like Alphonse and like all these people,” a reference to the notorious gangster.....
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1736540531826811289

......But in recent months, the message behind the comparison appears to have evolved.

Samuel Earle recently argued in a New York Times opinion piece, “Mr. Trump’s eagerness to invoke Capone reflects an important shift in the image he wants to project to the world. In 2016, Mr. Trump played the reality TV star and businessman who would shake up politics, shock and entertain. In 2020, Mr. Trump was the strongman, desperately trying to hold on to power by whatever means possible. In 2024, Mr. Trump is in his third act: the American gangster, heir to Al Capone — besieged by the authorities, charged with countless egregious felonies but surviving and thriving nonetheless, with an air of macho invincibility.”

Donald Trump hasn’t unveiled the details of his tax plan, but as Bloomberg News reported over the weekend, the former president is starting to let the public know about his intentions — and who’d benefit from his plans.

Donald Trump pledged to double down on tax cuts if he wins a second term as president, drawing a distinction with President Joe Biden who has called for tax hikes on businesses and the richest Americans. ... Trump’s comments on Saturday shed some more light on his emphasis on cutting taxes across the board, including for top earners and businesses.

At a rally in New Jersey, the presumptive Republican nominee boasted about an apparent across-the-board tax cut, which would include “big” new tax breaks for the “upper class” and the “business class.”
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1789431004148437444

.....The political landscape hasn’t changed much. About a year ago, a national Pew Research Center survey found that Americans’ top concern related to tax policy was “the feeling that some corporations and wealthy people do not pay their fair share in taxes.” The report on the findings added, “Majorities also say they would like taxes on these groups to be raised.”

Three months ago, a Navigator Research survey found that 79% of voters favored higher taxes for wealthy individuals and large corporations. As recently as March, a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found that 69% of voters in swing states want to see higher taxes on the wealthy.

Trump, in other words, isn’t just pushing a sequel to his own failed policy, and isn’t just boasting about an idea that would likely make inflation and the deficit considerably worse. He’s also exposing the fraud behind his alleged economic populism while touting tax breaks that most Americans oppose.

President Joe Biden isn’t winning any popularity contests, but when it comes to tax policy, there can be no doubt that the Democratic incumbent is on the right side of public opinion.