Alvin Bragg’s busted flush
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s indictment of former president Donald Trump was finally unsealed yesterday and the near-universal reaction was… really? That’s it?
The charges are so weak that prominent Trump critics Senator Mitt Romney and former national security advisor John Bolton are scoffing. Bolton even predicted the case would easily be dismissed.
Bragg claims Trump allegedly falsified business records in order to cover up a crime. What crime? We don’t know, because Bragg won’t tell us.
So, a Soros-backed DA is dragging his political opponents into court for bookkeeping errors while downgrading half of NYC’s other crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. What a sane world we live in!
–Amber Athey
On our radar
LET’S GO… BRANDON? Far-left Democrat Brandon Johnson will be the new mayor of Chicago after defeating Paul Vallas on Tuesday. Johnson was endorsed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, while his fellow Democrat Vallas had the support of Illinois senator Dick Durbin.
WISCO INFERNO In Tuesday’s other significant election, Janet Protasiewicz was elected to Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court, flipping the majority to the Democrats, which could prove crucial when it comes to redistricting ahead of 2024.
WISE GUY Oliver is off at an alpine bolthole in Europe this week — but will return for Monday’s Diary.
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KMac set for Taiwan meet-and-greet
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen are meeting today at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. Tsai, a staunch opponent of Beijing, is in Los Angeles after visiting her country’s last two diplomatic friends in Central America: Belize and Guatemala. Members of Congress, both Democratic and Republican and including China Committee chair Mike Gallagher, will also be in attendance.
China, meanwhile, in a show of force, is sending one of its aircraft carriers to pass through waters south of the island democracy. Beijing has previously expressed its consternation at the Taiwanese president’s visit. When former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan last August, the CCP initiated massive military drills and a dry run of a blockade. It is part and parcel of China’s tactics to throw a fit as a means of getting what it wants — whether that means severing trade with Lithuania after Vilnius opened a Taiwan office, cutting off Australian exports after Canberra criticized Beijing’s Covid response, or punishing the NBA when the Houston Rockets’ Daryl Morey stood up for Hong Kong.
As Taiwan loses formal diplomatic allies — most recently Honduras — its other, informal relationships grow in importance. The island democracy has seen closer ties develop with countries around the world who share its values, particularly as China’s belligerent behavior has unsettled Western countries.
In any case, the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy is another important indication of the bipartisanship surrounding the threat from China. Both sides of the aisle recognize that America’s greatest foreign policy challenge of the twenty-first century is the People’s Republic — and Taiwan is on the frontlines.
–John Pietro
Dr. Jill heading across the Pond for coronation
Widespread backlash followed reports that Joe Biden would not be attending the coronation of King Charles III. But the White House has seemingly backed down, as it announced that Jill Biden will attend in his place to represent the United States.
In what appears to be a major bit of damage control, the White House claimed that Biden spoke on the phone with King Charles yesterday, offering his (groveling) congratulations to the King.
“The president congratulated the king on his upcoming Coronation and informed him that First Lady Jill Biden looks forward to attending on behalf of the United States,” a White House transcript of the call said.
Is the first lady’s attendance an attempt to mitigate any fallout after the reports of Biden’s absence first surfaced?
–Kara Kennedy
From the site
Ben Domenech: The indictment that broke the country
J. Scott Gordon: The National Audubon Society weighs canceling itself
Poll watch
PRESIDENT BIDEN JOB APPROVAL
Approve 43.6% | Disapprove 53.3% | Net Approval -9.7 (RCP average)
2024 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY NEW HAMPSHIRE
Donald Trump 42%
Ron DeSantis 29%
Chris Sununu 14%
Nikki Haley 4%
Vivek Ramaswamy 3%
Liz Cheney 2% (St. Anselm)
Best of the rest
Ian Millhiser, Vox: The dubious legal theory at the heart of the Trump indictment
Drew Hinshaw, Joe Parkinson and Brett Forrest, Wall Street Journal: Inside the infamous Russian prison holding Evan Gershkovich
Rich Miller, Bloomberg: Americans are working less than they were before the pandemic
Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: Klaus Teuber, creator of Catan, dies at seventy
Jake Eberts, Reason: I gave myself severe diarrhea for science. Don’t tax me for it
Andrew Stiles, Free Beacon: NERD ALERT: Democrat Senate candidate likes Magic the Gathering, was first male cheerleader at Yale
