US Politics

Don’t blame Joe Biden for high inflationSteven GreenhouseFor any American who is thinking of voting Republican out of anger about inflation, here’s some advice: look before you leap Voters are angry. America’s 8.2% inflation rate sucks and has taken a big bite out of their paycheck. And $4-a-gallon gas hurts, too.Democrats need to address economic fears now – or risk losing their majorities | Robert ReichRead moreMany Americans are angry and blame Joe Biden for today’s high inflation. Indeed, polls show that many people plan to vote for Republicans in November because they’re upset with Biden over the economy. (Unfortunately, many Americans forget that there’s been more job growth – 10 million jobs – during Biden’s first 20 months in office than during any previous president’s first 20 months.)For any American who is thinking of voting Republican out of anger about inflation, here’s some advice: look before you leap. Republicans won’t do anything more than Biden has done to slow inflation. Indeed, they’ll probably do less. Despite the flood of GOP ads attacking Biden over inflation, Republicans haven’t put forward any proposals about how they would slow inflation. They talk of their plan to make Trump’s tax cuts permanent for the rich and big corporations, but that won’t do anything to reduce inflation. (By the way, inflation has been higher in many other countries – in Britain, it’s 8.8%, and in Germany, it’s 10.0% – so it’s ridiculous to suggest inflation is all Joe Biden’s fault.)There’s another reason voters should look before they leap. Republican lawmakers actually support several policies that will increase inflation. Republicans have vowed to repeal the Biden-backed law that lets Medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices, a law that will reduce inflation for nearly 63 million Americans on Medicare. Congressional Republicans were so eager to help big pharma instead of inflation-battered Americans that they blocked Biden from setting a $35-a-month price cap on insulin. That means higher prices – and inflation – for Americans with diabetes. Republicans are also intent on repealing Obamacare, which would push up healthcare prices for many Americans.Republicans have vowed to take numerous other steps that would make it harder for tens of millions of Americans to cope with inflation. Republicans are threatening to create a debt ceiling crisis to shut down the government unless Biden surrenders to GOP demands to cut social security and Medicare. Many Republicans say social security and Medicare are far too generous, and their plans to cut those programs will further squeeze millions of older Americans who are already badly squeezed by inflation.Republicans are also pushing an idea that will make it harder for millions of young Americans to deal with inflation. Through lawsuits and other means, GOP lawmakers to pushing to overturn Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, which will forgive $10,000 or $20,000 in student debt for 40 million Americans. Not only that, Republicans have hurt many parents’ ability to cope with inflation by blocking Biden’s plan to expand childcare subsidies for families with young children.Biden has also taken on the oil industry giants, calling on them to roll back gasoline prices as they make obscenely high profits, even as inflation pummels consumers. It’s hard to imagine that Republicans, with their big donations from big oil, would criticize their fossil fuel friends about their exorbitant profits.Many angry voters will argue that we should of course blame Biden for today’s inflation because, as Harry Truman said, “the buck stops here,” meaning the Oval Office. But let’s be honest, Biden is hardly to blame for inflation. Despite what Republicans say, if any president should be blamed for high inflation, it’s President Putin. Putin’s war against Ukraine, a major agricultural exporter, has pushed up prices for wheat and many other foods worldwide. Putin’s war has also caused oil and gas prices to soar.The pandemic has caused huge supply chain disruptions that are a second big factor behind inflation. China has locked down thousands of factories, causing shortages of furniture, appliances and many other products, and that has pushed up prices. China’s lockdowns have caused a severe shortage of computer chips that American automakers rely on – that has reduced car production and jacked up auto prices. These supply chain problems aren’t Biden’s fault.There’s a third major, often unappreciated factor fueling inflation: many US corporations have exploited the inflationary environment by aggressively increasing their prices and profit margins. Exxon’s second-quarter profits soared to $17.9bn, more than triple what it earned in last year’s second quarter, while Chevron’s earnings also more than tripled, to $11.6bn. The Economic Policy Institute, a progressive thinktank, found that roughly 40% of the recent inflation in the US can be attributed to fatter corporate profit margins. Maybe Republican TV ads should be attacking corporate greed rather than Joe Biden.I’m not saying Biden is blameless. Like Donald Trump, he sponsored a badly needed program of checks to US households to help Americans get through the pandemic. Those checks increased consumer demand and pushed up prices somewhat, but not nearly as much as Putin’s war against Ukraine, supply chain disruptions or corporations fattening their profit margins.Americans who plan to vote Republican because they’re angry about inflation are deluding themselves if they think Republicans will do anything to reduce inflation. For the past four decades, the Republican party’s economic policy has focused on one thing and one thing alone: cutting taxes on corporations and the wealthy. If you care about cutting taxes on the rich, then vote Republican, but if you seriously care about fighting inflation, Republicans will do zilch about that – other than saying you should blame Biden and the Democrats.People who vote Republican out of anger about inflation could end up hurting themselves economically. With Republicans in power, there will be cuts in social security and Medicare, higher drug prices, higher healthcare prices, no student loan forgiveness, and less government aid for childcare. Moreover, Republicans oppose increasing the minimum wage and want to weaken labor unions.With the Federal Reserve aggressively raising interest rates, inflation will no doubt be tamed in a year or two, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power. But with many Republican candidates indicating that they won’t honor election results – and majority rule – if Democrats win, our democracy could be fatally weakened if Republicans prevail in November. High inflation will be gone in a year or two, but if we lose our democracy, we won’t get it back anytime soon.
Steven Greenhouse, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, is a longtime American labor and workplace journalist and writer. He is author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor
TopicsUS politicsOpinionInflationJoe BidencommentReuse this content More

Regardless of whether they live in a red state or a blue state, identify as Democrats or Republicans, or claim to be ideologically liberal or conservative, Americans have one thing in common.

They are angry – especially about this year’s midterm elections.

Americans’ anger is driven by contemporary political events.

Republicans are enraged by troubling economic indicators and perceived spikes in crime. Democrats, meanwhile, are angry about the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned abortion rights enshrined by Roe v. Wade.

Politicians on both the left and the right are eager to capitalize on this anger. In fact, Democratic and Republican politicians alike deliberately and repeatedly seek to elicit voters’ anger. And, predictably, this anger leaves voters in a sour mood.

Recent polls reflect this reality.

Whipped into an emotional frenzy, Americans are likely to believe that things in the country have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track. So, too, do Americans believe that their preferred political party loses more often than not in legislative disputes.

Why, then, do politicians provoke anger if this emotional state leads to such pessimism? As a scholar who studies American politics and the author of “American Rage: How Anger Shapes Our Politics,” I believe the reason for this is quite simple: Anger provides ample benefits to those politicians who are able to use it most skillfully.

Angry voters, loyal voters

To begin, anger encourages Americans to vote.

Across a range of political settings, angry people are more likely to participate than those who are not angry. With elections increasingly being determined by which side can best motivate its base into showing up to vote, anger has become a powerful tool in a politician’s arsenal.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a ‘Save America’ rally on Oct. 22, 2022, in Robstown, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

In addition to its propensity to boost participation, anger has been shown to play a role in shaping individuals’ decisions at the ballot box.

The angrier voters are at the opposing political party, the more likely they are to vote for their own party. Guided by the mantra that an angry voter is a loyal voter, politicians have a strong incentive to agitate the American public – incumbents and challengers alike.

Anger and negativity, rather than adoration and optimism, drive contemporary American political behavior.

Political anger and social consequences

Though politicians’ strategy of appealing to the public’s anger brings them electoral benefits, this anger is not without costs. In fact, anger can cause Americans to lose trust in the government and alter their views about the opposing political party’s legitimacy.

Alarmingly, political anger has consequences that extend beyond how Americans view their governing institutions or the opposing political party.

When American voters are angry about politics, they are inclined to avoid social interactions or social events where they are likely to come into contact with those whose political leanings differ from their own.

I have found that anger leads Americans to avoid assisting neighbors with various chores, such as watering houseplants or watching over property when the neighbor is out of town, if the neighbor supports the opposing political party.

In this illustration, two angry politicians from opposing sides are screaming at each other.
Alashi

Political anger also can lead Americans to refuse requests to go on a date with those whose political leanings are opposed to their own.

Most concerning, political anger has the ability to alter Americans’ friendships and familial ties.

When angry about politics, Americans are more likely to express a desire to end friendships with those who support the other political party. So, too, do angry individuals express a desire to reduce – or completely eliminate – contact with family members whose political preferences deviate from their own.

Wither democracy?

Anger’s ability to cause individuals to socially polarize has potentially drastic ramifications for the health of American democracy. Crucially, social polarization precludes opportunities to form ties and build relationships with people from diverse backgrounds.

In societies divided along many lines, these interactions and relationships are essential to a healthy and functioning democracy. Among other things, such relationships forge bonds of mutual understanding and facilitate a climate in which good-faith cooperation is possible.

As American politics becomes increasingly fragmented along racial, religious and ideological lines, the need to form these cross-partisan social ties will become more pressing.

Anger’s ability to induce social polarization, combined with politicians’ overwhelming incentives to appeal to our emotional fury, means that this will be no easy task.

This story incorporates material from a story originally published on Sept. 10, 2020. More

Proliferation of new legislation comes in response to false claims about the 2020 electionby More

Democrats on the defensive as economy becomes primary concern over abortionPolls indicate tide shifting toward Republicans with high inflation rates and gas prices working in their favor With less than two weeks to go until election day, Democrats’ hopes of defying political history and keeping their narrow majorities in the House and Senate appear to be fading, as many of the party’s candidates go on the defensive in the final days of campaigning.Over the summer, many election forecasters wondered if Democrats could avoid the widespread losses typically seen by the president’s party in the midterms. With voters expressing outrage over the supreme court’s decision to end federal protections for abortion access and gas prices falling, Democrats had been hopeful that their endangered incumbents could win reelection.DeSantis’s old law firm received millions in Florida state funds, investigation findsRead moreIn August, Democrats took the lead on the generic congressional ballot, according to FiveThirtyEight. They held onto that lead for two and a half months – until last week.The national political environment now seems to have moved in Republicans’ favor, and Democrats are running out time to turn the tide. Gas prices started to rise again this month, although they have since started to moderate. With inflation at near record levels, the share of voters who name the economy as their top priority has increased since the summer.A New York Times/Siena College poll taken this month found that 44% of likely voters say economic concerns are the most important problem facing the country, compared to 36% who said the same in July. Just 5% of likely voters identified abortion as the most important issue right now. Voters’ renewed focus on inflation and gas prices could hurt Democrats’ chances in some key congressional races, given that Republicans consistently score better on surveys asking which party is better equipped to manage the economy.The shifting winds have prompted some Democrats to question whether they made a tactical error by focusing heavily on abortion rights in their campaign messaging. Just last week, Joe Biden promised to send a bill codifying Roe v Wade to Congress if Democrats fortify their majorities in the midterms.“I want to remind us all how we felt that day when 50 years of constitutional precedent was overturned,” Biden said last Tuesday. “If you care about the right to choose, then you got to vote.”With surveys indicating abortion rights are not top of mind for most voters, some progressive lawmakers are urging their colleagues to instead emphasize economic proposals like raising the minimum wage and creating a federal paid family leave program as they campaign for reelection.“In my view, while the abortion issue must remain on the front burner, it would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions to go unanswered,” progressive senator Bernie Sanders wrote in a Guardian op-ed earlier this month.Sanders added: “Now is the time for Democrats to take the fight to the reactionary Republican party and expose their anti-worker views on the most important issues facing ordinary Americans. That is both the right thing to do from a policy perspective and good politics.”Democrats worry that the strategy pivot may be coming too late for some candidates, as alarm bells go off in battleground states across the country.In Florida, a state that Donald Trump won by just three points in 2020, Republican governor Ron DeSantis appears likely to defeat his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, by double digits. DeSantis, a Trump-like figure who is widely expected to run for president in 2024, has already raised at least $177m this election cycle, setting a record for a gubernatorial campaign. DeSantis’ fundraising haul and Democrats’ bleak polling numbers have led many of the party’s national organizations and donors to abandon Florida candidates, effectively declaring a preemptive defeat.In the battle for the House, Republicans are poised to recapture the majority, as districts that Biden easily won less than two years ago now appear to be up for grabs. According to Politico, a recent internal poll conducted by the campaign of Julia Brownley, whose California district went for Biden by 20 points in 2020, showed the Democratic incumbent leading her Republican opponent by just 1 point.Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who is overseeing the party’s efforts to maintain control of the House, now faces the risk of being ousted himself. Earlier this week, the Cook Political Report changed the rating of Maloney’s race from “lean Democrat” to “toss-up”. If Maloney cannot hold his seat, the defeat would mark the first time since 1992 that a sitting House campaign committee chair lost reelection. Republicans are gleeful at the prospect of toppling the DCCC chair, dumping several million dollars into Maloney’s district.Maloney has remained optimistic about his chances, telling CBS News, “I’m going to win this election, and when I do, they’re going to wish they had that $9 million back.”But if the national environment is as dire as it appears for Democrats, a Republican wave could soon sweep Maloney and many of his colleagues out of office.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022DemocratsRepublicansHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressJoe BidenAbortionnewsReuse this content More

Republican senator Tom Cotton brags about ignoring Trump impeachment evidence in new bookThe Arkansas senator, a Republican presidential hopeful, also suggests president did not know military procedures In January 2020, the rightwing Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton said he would vote to acquit Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial because despite senators having “heard from 17 witnesses … and received more than 28,000 pages of documents”, Democrats had not presented their case correctly.Trump bragged about new US nuclear weapons, Woodward tape showsRead moreAccording to Cotton, the senators who sat through so much evidence would “perform the role intended for us by the founders, of providing the ‘cool and deliberate sense of the community’, as it says in Federalist 63.”In a new book, however, Cotton boasts that he spent his time refusing to pay attention – pretending to read materials relevant to the president’s trial – but hiding his real reading matter under a fake cover.He writes: “My aides delivered a steady flow of papers and photocopied books, hidden underneath a fancy cover sheet labeled ‘Supplementary Impeachment Materials’, so nosy reporters sitting above us in the Senate gallery couldn’t see what I was reading.”“They probably would’ve reported that I wasn’t paying attention to the trial.”Reporters did report that Republicans were not paying attention. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee named the book she chose to read instead of participating in only the third presidential trial in history: “It was Resistance (At All Costs) by Kim Strassel.”Other Republicans fidgeted or doodled. But reporters noted that Blackburn violated decorum guidelines on relevant reading: “Reading materials should be confined to only those readings which pertain to the matter before the Senate.”Admitting the same infraction, Cotton – a leading China hawk – says he was reading “about the science of coronaviruses, the methods of vaccine development and the history of pandemics”.He adds: “I was paying attention – to the story that mattered most. The outcome of the impeachment trial was a foregone conclusion, and it wouldn’t impact the daily lives of normal Americans.”Cotton’s book, Only the Strong: Reversing the Left’s Plot to Sabotage American Power, will be published next Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy.Cotton is now among senators, governors and former members of the Trump administration jostling for position in the developing contest for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Publishing a book is a traditional preparatory step.The senator, 45, is a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and at Arlington Cemetery before entering politics as a foreign policy hawk. His book takes aim at Joe Biden and Barack Obama – and equally persistently, from the prologue to the note on sources, Woodrow Wilson, the president who took office in 1913, took the US into the first world war in 1917, left office in 1921 and died in 1924.Trump is the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination 100 years later, despite facing legal jeopardy for inciting the Capitol attack, trying to overturn the 2020 election, retaining classified records and being the subject of criminal and civil suits over his business affairs and an allegation of rape.Cotton voted to acquit Trump at both his impeachment trials, the second for inciting the Capitol riot, but he was not among the eight Republican senators who supported Trump’s attempts to overturn election results in key states.In his book, however, the Arkansan skips over domestic concerns, including his own advocacy of using the military against “Antifa terrorists” during protests for racial justice in summer 2020, a position which stoked huge controversy and brought down an editor at the New York Times.Cotton is largely careful to target only Democratic presidents. Hitting Bill Clinton and Barack Obama for not serving in the military before running for the White House, he omits mention of George W Bush’s avoidance of service in Vietnam by securing a post in the Texas air national guard, to which he did not always show up.Unchecked review: how Trump dodged two impeachments … and the January 6 committee?Read moreBut Cotton does risk angering Trump, by criticising him for “waiting too long to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal” and by dishing on a private call in which the then president professed ignorance of military protocol.Early in Trump’s term in power, Cotton writes, the president called him about a potential nominee – common Senate business.But Trump then said: “The other night, they called me and asked for approval to kill some terrorist. I never heard of the guy.”Cotton asked if Trump approved the strike.“Trump replied, ‘Oh yeah, but I asked why they called me in the first place. Didn’t they have some captain or major or someone who knew more about this guy? I mean, I’d never heard of him.’”With nudging, Cotton says, Trump worked out that the military was working according to protocols laid down by Obama, who he accuses of “impos[ing] needless layers of bureaucratic and legal review” on strikes on terrorist targets.TopicsBooksDonald TrumpTrump administrationTrump impeachment (2019)RepublicansUS elections 2024ArkansasReuse this content More

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With less than two weeks to go before the November midterm elections, analysts are working overtime to try to predict the outcome. Will Republicans manage to take both the House and the Senate from the Democrats? Will the overturning of Roe v Wade be the catalyst that brings new Democrats to the polls? Is Donald Trump really as influential in the GOP as he thinks he is?
This week, Jonathan Freedland and Joan E Greve bring us the latest on the races to watch, the candidates to pay attention to and the issues dominating the campaigns

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Archive: Fox News, CNBC, CBS, MSNBC and ABC. Send your questions and feedback to [email protected] Help support the Guardian by going to theguardian.com/supportpodcasts More

Despite her fairly hard core conservative credentials, anti-Trump Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney has now endorsed a Democrat in the upcoming midterm elections.Having used her position on the January 6 committee to bludgeon Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection and for seeking to overturn the 2020 election result, Cheney clearly feels her split with her own party is nearly complete.Crossing America’s political divide and supporting a Democrat will infuriate the Trumpist-dominated Republican party.AP has the details:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed and plans to campaign for Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the first time that the critic of former President Donald Trump who lost her GOP primary has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat.
Cheney, of Wyoming, announced her support for the two-term House member from Holly, Michigan, in a statement by the Slotkin campaign that notes she plans to headline a campaign event with Slotkin in the Lansing-area district next Tuesday.
Slotkin is competing against Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Their race is considered a toss-up by both sides and one of the Republicans’ chief targets in their campaign to win the House majority on Nov. 8.And this is likely the crucial detail..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Both [Cheney and Slotkin] have been vocal critics of House Republicans who have sought to downplay the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.The pieces on the American political chess board continued moving today, with less than two weeks to go until the 8 November midterms. Donald Trump announced a slate of campaign rallies, including a visit to Florida, where he will not be joined by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. Meanwhile, Joe Biden traveled to a New York semiconductor factory to promote legislation boosting domestic technological competitiveness, with the greater goal of drumming up voter support for his handling of the economy. And Trump foe Liz Cheney bucked her hardcore Republican credentials to endorse a Democrat running for another term in the House.Here’s what else happened today:
A Capitol rioter was sentenced to seven-a-half years in prison for his part in the attack on Washington police officer Michael Fanone on January 6.
Democratic lawmakers want the enhanced child tax credit restored in year-end legislation. During 2021, the program was credited with lowering child poverty.
Democratic senator John Hickenlooper asked the Federal Reserve to hold off on increasing interest rates further. He is the second Democrat this week to urge the central bank exercise caution in its fight against inflation.
Once a swing state, Democrats in Florida worry they are being pushed decisively into the minority, and could lose ground even in their strongholds in the upcoming elections.
Call them the Arizona accords. A far-right Republican lawmaker invited the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to negotiate peace in the southwestern state. Don’t expect it to go anywhere.
Why are there always reporters following Joe Biden around? Because people tell him interesting things.Such as top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, who Fox News overheard giving Biden his assessment of how things are looking in two states crucial to determining Senate control:Schumer on hot mic talking to Biden about the midterms:“Looks like the debate didn’t hurt us too much in Pennsylvania and we’re picking up steam in Nevada.” pic.twitter.com/6KPjJ4YfMc— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 27, 2022
Despite Democrat John Fetterman’s rocky performance on Tuesday, Schumer said, “looks like the debate didn’t hurt us too much in Pennsylvania.” He can also be heard saying “we’re picking up steam in Nevada.” Polls in the western state have shown Democratic senator Catherine Cortez Masto in a very tight race against her Republican opponent, Adam Laxalt.Control of Congress isn’t the only thing voters will decide in the 8 November midterms. In five states, Americans will vote on whether or not to approve ballot measures removing laws that allow slavery and involuntary servitude for prisoners, the Associated Press reports.The measures won’t immediately change conditions in state prisons, but could form the basis for future legal challenges over how convict labor is treated.Here’s more from the AP’s report:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The effort is part of a national push to amend the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that banned enslavement or involuntary servitude except as a form of criminal punishment. That exception has long permitted the exploitation of labor by convicted felons.
“The idea that you could ever finish the sentence ‘slavery’s okay when … ’ has to rip out your soul, and I think it’s what makes this a fight that ignores political lines and brings us together, because it feels so clear,” said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, a criminal justice advocacy group pushing to remove the amendment’s convict labor clause.
Nearly 20 states have constitutions that include language permitting slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishments. In 2018, Colorado was the first to remove the language from its founding frameworks by ballot measure, followed by Nebraska and Utah two years later.
This November, versions of the question go before voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont.
Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Democrat from Memphis, was shocked when a fellow lawmaker told her about the slavery exception in the Tennessee Constitution and immediately began working to replace the language.
“When I found out that this exception existed, I thought, ‘We have got to fix this and we’ve got to fix this right away,’” she said. “Our constitution should reflect the values and the beliefs of our state.”A judge in Washington has sentenced a Tennessee man who participated in the January 6 insurrection to seven-and-a-half years in prison for attacking police officer Michael Fanone, The Wall Street Journal reports.Albuquerque Cosper Head, 43, was part of a group that overwhelmed Fanone as he tried to fend off the assault, dragging him into a mob and holding him down while he was tased by other rioters. Fanone, who resigned from the Washington police department last year, has become one of the most outspoken law enforcement figures who responded to the attack by supporters of Donald Trump.Here’s more from the Journal:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Calling him one of the “most serious offenders” during the Capitol riot, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson imposed the 90-month sentence on Albuquerque Cosper Head during an emotional court hearing Thursday in the District of Columbia.
Mr. Head, a 43-year-old construction worker, pleaded guilty in May to participating in a group attack on Michael Fanone, a former Washington Metropolitan Police Officer. Mr. Fanone has spoken extensively about the attack and the injuries he sustained, including a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury.
According to a recent Justice Department court filing, Mr. Head “forcibly dragged Officer Fanone into the riotous mob” and “continued to restrain Officer Fanone while another rioter applied a Taser to the base of the officer’s skull.”
Judge Jackson called Mr. Head’s actions “some of the darkest acts committed on one of our nation’s darkest days,” adding that he went after the officer like he was “prey” and a “trophy.”
Mr. Head will receive credit for time spent in custody since his arrest in April 2021.
The Justice Department had asked Judge Jackson to impose the maximum potential sentence of 96 months, citing Mr. Head’s criminal history, which includes convictions for domestic violence and approximately 45 arrests.
Mr. Head’s lawyer, G. Nicholas Wallace, argued unsuccessfully for a 60-month sentence, saying his client was “embarrassed and remorseful” and has accepted responsibility for his actions.‘Devoid of shame’: January 6 cop Michael Fanone on Trump’s Republican partyRead moreRightwing Republican congressman Paul Gosar has invited Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Arizona to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.In a letter posted on Donald Trump’s Truth social network, Gosar, who was censured and stripped of his committee posts last year for tweeting a violent anime sequence depicting him killing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking Joe Biden, proposed talks in Phoenix to end a conflict he feared poses nuclear peril.He described Arizona’s capital as “far enough away from the conflict, and away from the entities that are currently encouraging more war, to be a productive location.”Here’s how he put it, on Twitter:The horrible reality is that western leaders do not want peace between Russia and Ukraine.Our political and military leaders are marching straight into nuclear war for the sake of ‘our democracy’.We need peacemakers, not death cultists.— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) October 27, 2022
The letter is unlikely to amount to anything more than a stunt for the Trump acolyte representing the southwestern state. But it does point to a larger reality: some Republicans are growing wary of Washington’s continued backing of Kyiv, saying it’s getting too expensive. Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy, who is poised to lead the chamber if the GOP wins a majority in the upcoming elections, said as much in an interview last week.‘The most dangerous man in Congress’: how Paul Gosar became a darling of the far rightRead moreDemocrat woes deepen in New YorkMuch has already been made of the unusually tight race in New York state for the governor’s mansion, where Kathy Hochul only has a relatively narrow lead over her Republican challenger.Now, adding to those New York woes, is evidence that other races are starting to look troublesome for Democrats, including the House Democratic campaigns chief Sean Patrick Maloney in the Hudson Valley.Once thought safe, the race there has tightened considerably.Politico has more: Republicans first targeted House Democratic campaigns chief Sean Patrick Maloney’s blue district here in the Hudson Valley as an act of trolling their arch-nemesis. Now they’re taking their prospects seriously.And so is Maloney. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair and his allies are answering the GOP’s escalation with millions of dollars from outside groups, while Maloney steps up his already grueling campaign schedule at home.Swooping in to rescue their own campaigns chief is the last place Democrats wanted to be in the final days of the midterms. His struggles have led some in the party to rethink their tendency to elect swing-seat DCCC leaders, but for the moment Maloney’s just looking to hang on.But also a note of optimism.“This is nothing new for me,” [Maloney] claimed of the GOP onslaught after a Wednesday town hall to promote his work on lowering prescription drug prices. Indeed, in 2016 he won reelection even as most voters in his then-district picked Donald Trump for presidentJoe Biden is undoing some of the Trump administration’s nuclear weapons policies, but critics want the White House to do more, The Guardian’s Julian Borger reports:The Biden administration has confirmed it will cancel a submarine-launched nuclear cruise missile programme begun by Donald Trump, as part of its review of nuclear policy.The administration will also retire a gravity bomb, the B63, from its arsenal as part of its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), but arms control advocates argued the changes from the Trump era did not go far enough.The administration is retaining another weapon variant introduced by Trump, a low-yield warhead called the W76-2, intended to deter an adversary like Russia using a low-yield weapon. The Democratic party manifesto in 2020 had called the W76-2 “unnecessary, wasteful, and indefensible”.The Biden NPR said that the “fundamental role of nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attack on the United States, our allies, and partners”. That declaratory policy stops sort of saying deterring nuclear attack is the sole purpose of the arsenal, which is what Biden promised in his election campaign. Instead, the NPR says that the US could strike back against “a narrow range of other high consequence, strategic-level attacks”.Biden to scrap Trump missile project but critics attack US ‘nuclear overkill’Read moreDespite her fairly hard core conservative credentials, anti-Trump Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney has now endorsed a Democrat in the upcoming midterm elections.Having used her position on the January 6 committee to bludgeon Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection and for seeking to overturn the 2020 election result, Cheney clearly feels her split with her own party is nearly complete.Crossing America’s political divide and supporting a Democrat will infuriate the Trumpist-dominated Republican party.AP has the details:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed and plans to campaign for Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the first time that the critic of former President Donald Trump who lost her GOP primary has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat.
Cheney, of Wyoming, announced her support for the two-term House member from Holly, Michigan, in a statement by the Slotkin campaign that notes she plans to headline a campaign event with Slotkin in the Lansing-area district next Tuesday.
Slotkin is competing against Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Their race is considered a toss-up by both sides and one of the Republicans’ chief targets in their campaign to win the House majority on Nov. 8.And this is likely the crucial detail..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Both [Cheney and Slotkin] have been vocal critics of House Republicans who have sought to downplay the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Could Donald Trump soon return to Twitter? With Elon Musk on course to meet a Friday deadline to finish his acquisition of the company, chances are rising that the former president will make a return to the social network he used as a megaphone in his presidency. Here’s the latest on the deal from The Guardian’s Alex Hern:Elon Musk has claimed he has “acquired Twitter” in a post to the social network reassuring advertisers it will stay a safe place for their brands, amid fears one of his first actions as chief executive will be to restore Donald Trump’s account.After months of uncertainty over whether or not his $44bn acquisition of the social media platform would go through, the Tesla chief executive’s post is the strongest acknowledgment yet that the deal is expected to be sealed before its deadline of 5pm in Delaware on Friday.Musk wrote in a statement attached to the tweet: “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”He added: “That is why I bought Twitter. I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love.”Elon Musk claims he has acquired Twitter ‘to help humanity’Read moreLiving in conservative-run states takes a toll on Americans, according to a new study that found a gap in life expectancies based on a state’s political orientation. Martin Pengelly reports:Americans die younger in conservative states than in those governed by liberals, a new study has found.The authors wrote: “Simulations indicate that changing all policy domains in all states to a fully liberal orientation might have saved 171,030 lives in 2019, while changing them to a fully conservative orientation might have cost 217,635 lives.”The study was published on Plos One, “an inclusive journal community working together to advance science for the benefit of society, now and in the future”.The authors were from Syracuse University in New York, Harvard in Massachusetts, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Washington, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Western Ontario, in Canada.They wrote: “Results show that the policy domains were associated with working-age mortality.”Americans die younger in states run by conservatives, study findsRead moreFrom its central role in the disputed 2000 election to its more recent rightward shift under governor Ron DeSantis, Florida has long been one of the most politically interesting states in the union.The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland traveled to the Sunshine State, seeking answers to one of the biggest questions of the upcoming midterms: will it keep trending Republican, or is a Democratic revival possible? Here’s what he found:12:41Donald Trump has announced a slate of campaign rallies in the last days before the 8 November midterm elections, including a visit to Florida, where he will not be joined by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. Meanwhile, Joe Biden will today travel to a semiconductor factory to promote legislation he supported to boost domestic technological competitiveness, with the greater goal of drumming up voter support for his handling of the economy.Here’s what else is happening today:
Democratic lawmakers want the enhanced child tax credit restored in year-end legislation. During 2021, the program was credited with lowering child poverty.
Democratic senator John Hickenlooper wants the Federal Reserve to hold off on increasing interest rates further. He is the second Democrat this week to ask the central bank to exercise caution in its fight against inflation.
Once a swing state, Democrats in Florida worry they are being pushed decisively into the minority, and could lose ground even in their strongholds in the upcoming elections.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain broke a federal law with a retweet from his official account, an investigation has found, according to the Associated Press.The AP reports that Klain violated the Hatch Act when he retweeted from his White House account a message from Democratic group STRIKE PAC. The tweet was about deliveries of baby formula, but also included the message, “Get your Democrats Deliver merch today!”That’s a violation of the act, which bars government officials from trying to influence elections in their official capacities, and Klain was issued a letter of warning, according to the AP.Here’s more from their report:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Klain removed the retweet as soon as he was notified of the complaint. No disciplinary action will be pursued and the office, an independent government watchdog that monitors violations of the Hatch Act, considers the matter closed. Klain was warned to be more careful in the future.
The conservative legal group America First Legal, led by Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, complained about the tweet and sought an investigation.
Miller and at least a dozen other former Trump administration officials repeatedly violated that same law, without consequence and with Trump’s approval, as part of a “willful disregard for the Hatch Act,” the Office of Special Counsel found in 2021. The office investigated comments by Trump officials leading into the 2020 presidential election, including at the Republican National Convention, which was held at the White House in a major break from historical norms.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre often cites the Hatch Act in deflecting political questions during news briefings. Earlier this week she was asked whether Biden was doing everything he can possibly do to get Democrats across the finish line in the Nov. 8 elections.
“I have to be careful of what I say, because we do respect the Hatch Act here in this administration,” she said.Pennsylvania’s Democratic candidate for Senate John Fetterman has meanwhile hit out at Shell for reporting massive profits, accusing the oil giant of gouging American consumers while raking in cash.Here’s the statement from the candidate’s communications director:NEW: Statement from Fetterman on Shell’s reported $9.45 billion in profits for the third quarter, their second-highest profit on record. pic.twitter.com/0l7cldq81K— Joe Calvello (@the_vello) October 27, 2022
The message that corporate profiteering is to blame for America’s ongoing inflation wave is one Democrats have pushed throughout this year, and polls indicate it has some resonance with voters.The House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has joined in on criticizing Democrat John Fetterman for his performance in Tuesday night’s Pennsylvania Senate debate. Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, is recovering from a stroke and at times spoke haltingly in his face-off against Republican Mehmet Oz. His performance raised concerns among Democrats that voters will view Fetterman as not fit for the job, depriving them of one of their best chances to win a Republican-controlled seat in Congress’ upper chamber this year.Here’s what McCarthy had to say, on Fox News:House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy goes after Pennsylvania Sen. nominee John Fetterman (D) after his debate against Dr. Oz (R):“Even those Democrats on CNN were embarrassed of who their nominee was and the capability of carrying out the job. This is a big job in the Senate.” pic.twitter.com/yIMFrJVW2n— The Recount (@therecount) October 27, 2022
‘A lens of empathy’: disability advocates on John Fetterman and leadershipRead more More

Republican and Trump critic Liz Cheney to campaign for Michigan DemocratWyoming congresswoman, who lost her Republican primary, endorses Elissa Slotkin in seventh congressional district Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and plans to campaign for her.It is the first time that Cheney, a critic of Donald Trump who lost her Republican primary, has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat.John Fetterman’s TV debate was disastrous – but he can still beat Dr Oz | Ross BarkanRead moreCheney, of Wyoming, announced her support for the two-term House member from Holly, Michigan, in a statement by the Slotkin campaign that notes she plans to headline a campaign event with Slotkin in the Lansing-area district next Tuesday.Slotkin is competing against Republican state senator Tom Barrett in Michigan’s seventh congressional district. Their race is considered a toss-up by both sides and one of the Republicans’ chief targets in their campaign to win the House majority on 8 November.Cheney and Slotkin serve on the House armed services committee, but their shared background in the federal government goes back further. Cheney worked in the state department before launching her political career, as did Slotkin, who worked in the CIA and the defense department as well.Both have been vocal critics of House Republicans who have sought to downplay the siege of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Cheney is vice-chair of the House January 6 committee, which recently issued a subpoena for Trump to testify.“I have come to know Elissa as a good and honorable public servant,” Cheney said in a statement included in the Slotkin campaign’s announcement.“While Elissa and I have our policy disagreements, at a time when our nation is facing threats at home and abroad, we need serious, responsible, substantive members like Elissa in Congress.”As of two weeks ago, Michigan’s seventh district was the most expensive House race in the country, according to AdImpact, a non-partisan political media tracking company. The two campaigns and outside groups had combined to spend $27m.Biden received more votes than Trump in the district in 2020 by less than 1 percentage point.TopicsRepublicansHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressUS midterm elections 2022US politicsnewsReuse this content More