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Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 22
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is openly nullifying the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing the Biden administration to remove razor wire erected by the Texas National Guard. Furthermore, the only legal justification he cites is a non-precedential dissent in a prior Supreme Court case. Also, he falsely claims the Constitution is a compact between the states and not, as was settled in the Civil War, an act of a singular sovereign "We the People". Not multiple distinct peoples in different states, and certainly not between governments of states. This is straight up John Calhoun style antebellum constitutional theory.
I personally think this would be a great time for Biden to federalize the Texas National Guard, perhaps with some appropriate deadline beforehand for Texas to comply with the ruling. No doubt, however, this is exactly what Abbott and the GOP want — to cast Biden as some over reaching executive tyrant stopping the states from "securing the border". Nonetheless, I don't really see how the federal government can allow this type of thing to go unchecked.
I think this might deserve its own thread, because more and more states are coming out in support of Texas. We have politicians claiming the House of Representatives will support Texas, and Mike Johnson using this as further fodder to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. A friend shared a tweet reporting 15 states support it, then when I looked at the replies someone said the number had risen to 25, though I can't find any solid lists. Doesn't help most of the statements of support seem to be made on Twitter.
This is honestly getting scary. At this point this isn't about the border, the GOP is using this to create "genuine" grievances against the Biden administration and Democrats to justify impeachment and other things. They're trying to make out the federal government to be the enemy. The Rolling Stones article I linked (second link) included a quote from one representative (Clay Higgins, Louisiana) outright stating "My thoughts are that the feds are staging a civil war, and Texas should stand their ground."
If Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard (which he should), they can use that to turn Texas and Abbott into a "victim" and rile their supporters further. I can't see this deescalating peacefully.
Polls close in the New Hampshire primary. As of writing, unless something surprising happens, Trump is on track to win handily. Dave Wasserman has already called it for Trump. This was Haley's best shot at mounting a challenge, and it does not look like she managed to, which should not be surprising. Why this race was ever treated as competitive I have no idea — we have more than enough evidence at this point that a large swath of the Republican electorate want Trump, and want him badly. There is no such thing as an "anti-Trump" wing of the party anymore, if there has been since 2016.
Trump ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83 million in compensation and punitive damages
In other news, New Hampshire voting ended a couple days ago. This guy is finally getting some peace and quiet again. After dozens and dozens of political texts, calls, and mailers...it's done ...for a while.
Nikki Haley has been running to lead a Republican party that no longer exists (The Guardian)
New Hampshire's GOP electorate won't look like Iowa's (ABC News / 538)
GOP senators seethe as Trump blows up delicate immigration compromise