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Biden Fared Well at Morehouse. So You Didn't Hear About It.

(The Nation) Trust me: If President Joe Biden had faced hecklers or worse when he gave the Morehouse College commencement speech on Sunday, you would know about it. It would have led every newscast and dominated headlines in every paper, another dire portent of his alleged troubles with Black voters coming in November. Instead, Biden faced a low-key protest, he clapped for and shook hands with the valedictorian who demanded a ceasefire in Gaza, and otherwise fared well. So you probably didn’t hear about it.

'Not Good Judgment': GOP Senators Ding Samuel Alito Over Upside-Down Flag

(Huff Post) Republican senators criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito over the flying of an upside-down American flag at his house following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building. “Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood but no, it’s not good judgment to do that,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told HuffPost on Monday. “I don’t know what role ― he said his wife was insulted and got mad ― I assume that be true, but he’s still a Supreme Court justice. And, you know, people have to realize that moments like that, to think it through.”

The Republican Party's man inside the Supreme Court

(Vox) The morning before the Times published its flag scoop, for example, Alito published a dissenting opinion claiming that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the brainchild of Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, was unconstitutional. The opinion was so poorly reasoned that Justice Clarence Thomas, ordinarily an ally of far-right causes, mocked Alito’s opinion for “winding its way through English, Colonial, and early American history” without ever connecting that history to anything that’s actually in the Constitution.

No, The Hush Money Trial Isn't Helping Donald Trump

(Off Message) Most ethical journalists who’ve covered the trial from the outset and understand the laws at issue wouldn’t venture to predict the verdict. But they would tell you that the prosecutors have ably painted a damning portrait of Trump—they’ve proven he falsified business records (a misdemeanor) and assembled strong evidence that he did so in an effort to cover up other illegal activity (making it a felony). As to the political question of whether the trial is making Trump more popular with the voting public, or engendering its sympathy, nobody has to predict anything: Before the trial, Trump was more popular (or less unpopular) than he had been in a long time; through the trial, those numbers have slowly deteriorated.

Tuesday TOONs

Donald Trump says he'd consider Ken Paxton for U.S. attorney general

(Texas Tribune) Former President Donald Trump said he would consider tapping Ken Paxton for U.S. attorney general if he wins a second term in the White House, calling his longtime ally “a very talented guy” and praising his tenure as Texas’ chief legal officer. “I would, actually,” Trump said Saturday when asked by a KDFW-TV reporter if he would consider Paxton for the national post. “He’s very, very talented. I mean, we have a lot of people that want that one and will be very good at it. But he’s a very talented guy.”

Trump Shares Video Touting 'Unified Reich'

(Political Wire) A video posted to Donald Trump’s account on his social media network Monday included references to a ‘unified Reich’ among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the election in November,” the AP reports. “The word ‘Reich’ is often largely associated with Nazi Germany’s Third Reich, though the references in the video Trump shared appear to be a reference to the formation of the modern pan-German nation, unifying smaller states into a single Reich, or empire, in 1871."

Democrats might flip a seat on Georgia's Supreme Court, thanks to abortion

(Daily Kos) Conservative Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson faces former Democratic Rep. John Barrow in an officially nonpartisan race that, because only two candidates are running, will serve as the general election. (A November runoff would have been possible in a multi-way contest.) Conservatives will still control the nine-member body no matter how the contest for this six-year term goes, but a victory would be another strong sign that the Peach State's shift to the left during the last few years isn't over.

The MAGA Memory Hole

(The Atlantic) Republicans who once claimed to be against Donald Trump, and ridiculed him, are now expending kilocalories of political energy to convince their constituents and the rest of the American public that they have always been faithful to Trump. Some of them, including Senators Lindsey Graham and J. D. Vance, have admitted to dramatic conversions, and like good members of any authoritarian party, they have come forward and sought mercy for their mistakes.

White House lauds PACT Act as it hits 1 million toxin claims granted to vets

(The Hill) The White House on Tuesday announced that more than 1 million claims have been granted through the PACT Act, a landmark law passed in 2022 that gave veterans expanded access to apply for compensation and relief related to toxic exposures during service. More than 880,000 veterans are receiving disability benefits through the PACT Act across the entire country and its territories, according to the White House.