The Brew: Dems Can’t Get on Same Page About Joe, While Jill Snaps at Reporters
Meanwhile, Nikki Haley has released her 97 delegates, urging them to support Donald Trump.
Happy Wednesday!
Our eyes turn this morning to Washington, D.C., where NATO is gathering for a summit celebrating the alliance’s 75th anniversary. But this party comes with a pooper: Is the American president still up to the job at hand? Joe Biden’s every word and move will be analyzed. His scheduled press conference tomorrow will be scrutinized like a fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Even supporters like Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Patty Murray (D-WA) are saying the burden is on Biden to “prove” his fitness for office. In Murray’s words, “I believe President Biden must do more to demonstrate he can campaign strong enough to beat Donald Trump.” (She adds that Biden should “seriously consider” whether to stay in the race — an urging that’s falling on deaf ears.)
Meanwhile, although the White House denies Biden has Parkinson’s disease, a Parkinson’s expert who happens to be a lifelong Democrat told NBC the signs are all there.
NEW: Parkinson's expert Dr. Tom Pitts tells NBC that Biden clearly has it. No debate.
He compares the coverup to the Soviets.
This is coming from a lifelong Democrat. pic.twitter.com/BcR0btWhja
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 9, 2024
Dour Dems Divided on Biden
As he left yesterday’s Democratic caucus meeting about Biden, The Wall Street Journal asked Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen whether the attendees are “on the same page.”
“We are not even reading from the same book,” he replied.
That’s the takeaway from the gathering of Congressional Democrats. Jake Sherman reported there’s “definitely no consensus” on what to do, with one Biden loyalist saying the atmosphere was “like a funeral.”
White House Visitor Logs Reveal Grim Reaper Visited Over 8 Times https://t.co/W71qAI3XWN pic.twitter.com/72uW8LXxfs
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 9, 2024
The divide is not over Biden’s state; that consensus is pretty close to unanimous. Heather Caygle of Punchbowl News tweeted, “I haven’t talked to one (Democrat) who privately says they think Biden is capable of running and beating Trump at this point.”
The division is over what to do about it.
What’s more, as Newsmax reports, Democrats worry Biden continuing in the race could cost both the House and Senate later on. Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) who is now running for the Senate, is among those sounding the alarm.
But that’s California. Why would Schiff be sweating it? Sherman reported that “Rep. Mark Takano (of California) said he saw a poll recently that had Biden losing in his district.” Biden won his district with 62% of the vote last time. Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times speculates that Trump could actually win Orange County.
Jill Biden: From Fanfare to Frantic
The heat’s even getting to Jill Biden now. On Monday, she was asked rather routine questions about the controversy surrounding her husband. Rather than answer or ignore them, she whined, “Don’t scream at me. Just let me talk!”
"Don’t scream at me": Jill Biden angered by reporters questions on President’s fitness for officehttps://t.co/Wl9KCTyL1X
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 9, 2024
And then she continued without answering.
The new focus on the First Lady and her need for power and status has brought a story from 2022 back to life. T. Becket Adams reported that Jill Biden asked the U.S. Marine Corps Band to compose an equivalent of “Hail to the Chief” for her. The entrance theme was called “Fanfare for the First Lady.”
Apparently Dr. Jill had her own entrance theme song called Fanfare for the First Lady.
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) July 9, 2024
The Marine Corps Band quietly stopped using the song along the way.
GOP Uniting? Nikki Haley Releases Delegates, Urges Them to Support Trump
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has released all 97 delegates she earned in the bitter Republican primary season, and is urging them now to support Donald Trump.
“The nominating convention is a time for Republican unity,” Haley said in a statement. “Joe Biden is not competent to serve a second term and Kamala Harris would be a disaster for America. We need a president who will hold our enemies to account, secure our border, cut our debt, and get our economy back on track. I encourage my delegates to support Donald Trump next week in Milwaukee.”
Currently, Haley is not scheduled to have a role at the convention.
Another “Conspiracy Theory” Takes a Hit
Whenever Donald Trump says the lawfare against him is coordinated by the White House, Biden and his media allies say that’s ridiculous — but the judge in Trump’s hush-money case won’t even let him mention Matthew Colangelo by name. Colangelo was the #3 DOJ official who suddenly quit (days after Biden declared he would stop Trump from ever taking office again by “constitutional means”) to “jump start” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump. Now the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has released documents showing just how cozy Colangelo was with the White House and DNC leadership, and how his moves were directly connected to ensuring Trump was convicted of a felony.
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Before joining the Justice Department, Colangelo worked for New York Attorney General Letitia James, helping to build her civil case against Trump. You remember the one where Trump was found guilty of defrauding nobody but fined half a billion dollars anyway? That was Colangelo’s baby. (Or was he just the midwife?)
When Colangelo applied for that job, he listed DNC chief Tom Perez (who now works at the White House) and Jeff Zients (who is now White House chief of staff) as references.
New document obtained by @JudiciaryGOP:
When Matthew Colangelo applied to work for Letitia James, guess who he listed as references.
-DNC Chair Tom Perez
-Now Biden White House Chief of Staff Jeff ZientsIt’s always been a political hit job. pic.twitter.com/YEmaU58ZJF
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 9, 2024
There’s more. An email the House Oversight Committee uncovered shows that when Colangelo left the DOJ, he got a hearty congratulations from James’s office, declaring “Matthew — glad to see you are back in NYC. Sounds like you and Mr. Trump’s paths will continue to intersect.”
Smoking guns? No. But further evidence of the cozy ties between the lawfare cases and the administration? Absolutely.
Along The Stream
Suzanne Bowdey of The Washington Stand writes “Led By Trump, 2024 GOP Platform Slashes Decades of Pro-Life Priorities.” It goes up at 9 a.m.
Jules Gomes’s latest is also up. “Rome Sends Mixed Signals as Eastern Orthodox Begins Ordaining Deaconesses.”
Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.
