-Fresh off a mass voting uprising that (despite winning more seats than in their history) successfully kept the far-right Fascist National Rally from reaching power and, in fact, placed them third, French President Emanuel Macron began the difficult work of attempting to assemble a ruling majority for the remainder of his term, which ends in 2027. The head of the leftist New Popular Front, Jean-Luc Melanchon, claimed his alliance's victory by demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal - a resignation Macron refused to accept pending the reorganization. It seems unlikely Melanchon will get that slot, as in some circles he is seen as a left equivalent of National Rally leaders Marnie LePen and Jordan Bardella, but given the massive voter turnout, discussions about France's state services and economy are likely to dominate the discussions, and the bitter LePen/Bardella being left to figure out how to come back or gum things up enough for another round of elections. The bottom line seems to be that Macron's gamble to keep French fascists away from power, in the end, worked (pending results on the local level).
-It is kind of impossible to look at the French results with the results in Britain, where the Tories were crushed after 14 years of austerity, economic stagnation, and a series of clownishly bad rulers and scandals, as symbols of Western Europe pushing back hard against the kinds of policies and leaders that are the embodiment of what we are battling here in the States. Even in Iran, conservatives took a hit, as Reform candidate Masoud Pezeshkian defeated the hardline conservative choice of the Mullahs on a platform of negotiating with the United States to end sanctions, potentially involving reviving the nuclear arms talks ended by Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) when Trump was in the White House. There is momentum against hardliners and against the exact kinds of policies Trump and the GOPMAGA Project 2025 minions are chomping at the bit to impose in this country.
-Before we pivot to American politics, we have to note the terrible night Ukraine just suffered through at the hands of Vladimir Putin and Russia. With the defeat of his close ally LePen burning in his skull and new reports estimating close to 700,000 Russian soldiers have died since the launching of war, last night Russia unleashed one of the worst missile attacks in the war at cities in country, with a direct hit being made on the largest children's hospital in Kyiv. At least 30 have died in the attack, and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has vowed revenge as he prepares to travel to Washington for a NATO conference this week.
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-Now, back to our 2024 election, where the American news media and punditocracy continues to hammer President Biden's debate performance into the obsession over wanting Biden to drop out of the race. Focus shifts back to Washington, where Congress reconvenes and, inevitably, the pelting of Democrats about whether Biden should drop out. And, while very, very tentative, there are signs that Biden's insistence that he is NOT dropping out may at least be getting through to his nervous Nellie parties. To wit ...
-Last night, a meeting that was reportedly being organized by VA Senator Mark Warner (who, as a reminder, was Barack Obama's second choice for Vice President behind Biden) to try to 'persuade' Biden to drop out had to be cancelled when no other Senator (except, reportedly, no longer Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema) replied yes to his Doodle invite. A set of five unverified House Democrats that were reported to have demanded Biden drop out did not verify they did so - and one, CA's Ted Lieu, verified that he was not at the call, forcing news services to retract his identification altogether.
-And, THIS JUST IN: Biden just sent a letter to every Congressional member that, AGAIN, reiterated that Biden is in the race and will not be dropping out - and, as this update is being drafted, is doing a surprise call-in interview on MSNBC.
-Will that stop the drive by some Democrats to try to oust Biden? Well, also this morning, the newsletter Semafor released a scheme being seriously pushed by what it calls "two well-connected Democrats" to try to 'resolve' the 'issue.' It is called a "blitz primary," and in the scenario, Biden would step aside as a candidate and six potential candidates (Vice President Kamala Harris would be allowed to 'throw her hat in the ring') would participate in weekly forums to gather 'votes' and then a ranked-choice final vote by delegates would choose a candidate that would unify the Democrats! And that's not even the craziest part of the plan - the craziest part of the plan seriously claims the aforementioned weekly forums would be hosted by VP Harris (yeah), Michelle Obama, and ... get ready for it ... TAYLOR SWIFT.
-Seriously. Taylor Swift.
-The effort has been dismissed by a pro-Biden PAC leader as "Fantasy politics played by people who binge too much West Wing," and it is the sort of thing that, one hopes, is the bottoming-out of the effort in order to pivot to, y'know, TRUMP.
-As for Trump, while Biden has made 16 live and televised campaign appearances since the debate, his opponent continues to waddle and stagger and shart himself around Mar-a-Lago, having made at most four such appearances. A rally is schedule for tomorrow ... at Mar-a-Lago ... as Trump apparently loads up on fish delight sandwiches as his preparation for the Republican MAGA National Convention in Milwaukee next week.
-Hurricane Beryl - which reorganized as a Category 1 storm after hitting Jamaica and the Yucatan Peninsula as the earliest recorded Category 5 hurricane in history - is now hitting south Texas (here's to folks living down there). And, again, a reminder: Project 2025 and Trump will eliminate the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration because they see the services as promoting what Project 2025 refers to as "climate alarmism."
-There is a NATO summit in Washington this week, and while we may see the New York Times ask Keir Starmer and Zelenskyy about whether they think BIDEN B OLD, we'll talk about it later this week.
-Taylor Swift. For the love of all things holy ...
-On this date in 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry became the first Westerner to land in Japan. On this date in 1896, William Jennings Bryan delivered his "Cross of Gold" speech, inspiring the Democratic Party to nominate him for President - and putting him on the path for four Presidential campaign defeats. On this date in 1947, reports of the remnants of a "flying saucer" near Roswell, NM, were refuted - and began decades of conspiracy theories and science fiction inspiration. On this date in 1950, Douglas MacArthur was placed in command of United Nations forces in Korea. On this date in 1959, the first American troop was killed in Vietnam. And on this date in 2011, the final space shuttle launch took place.
-Debuts on this date: Paris (250 B.C., give or take a year), The Wall Street Journal (1889), Elvis Presley on the radio (1954), a Gold Record (1958, for the OKLAHOMA! movie soundtrack), BEAUTY AND THE BEAT (1981), "Wannabe" (1996), INCEPTION (2010).
-Happy Birthday to Ferdinand von Zeppelin, George Romney, Louis Jordan, Walter Kerr, Billy Eckstine, Harrison Dillard, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, John Dingell, Jerry Vale, Roone Arledge, Marty Feldman, Steve Lawrence, Faye Wattleton, Jeffrey Tambor, Kim Darby, Raffi, Wolfgang Puck, Anjelica Huston, Kevin Bacon, Andy Fletcher, Joan Osborne, Rob Burnett, Billy Crudup, Beck, Virgil van Dijk, Son Heung-min, Jaden Smith, and Maya Hawke.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Vivien Leigh, Hyman Rickover, Howard Duff, James Franciscus, Dick Sargent, Pete Conrad, Ward Kimball, June Allyson, Betty Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Ken Stabler, Tab Hunter, Larry Storch, Shinzo Abe, and Tony Sirico.
-Feed the Worms: OG oligarch John D. Rockefeller, awful evil thug Yinzer Pittsburgh Squeeler Jack Lambert, spacy Presidential "candidate" Marianne Williamson and patriotism-humping musician Toby Keith entered Earth on this date. Kim Il-sung bought it on this date.
-Coca-Cola inventor John Pemberton and oligarch spawn Nelson Rockefeller were born on this date. You decide if they get a Happy Birthday or if they Feed the Worms.