The government spent $50 million on a state fair this weekend, and nobody could tell… or show up.
The fair delivered everything you’d expect — empty crowds, a Confederate flag, and a triumphal arch made of plywood and stapled vinyl that started peeling after one weekend of D.C. heat. The social media team deleted the posts showing nobody showed up but left up the promotional video featuring the guy who got arrested for indecent exposure while watching acrobats. Fox News spent the weekend airing footage trying to convince viewers the place was packed. The clips they chose did not help their case.
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, drew a line with Trump…but barely. Trump’s appeal in E. Jean Carroll’s sexual assault case was turned away, meaning the $5 million civil verdict against him stands. Dershowitz’s attempt to weaken New York Times v. Sullivan — the ruling that stops powerful people from bankrupting journalists over coverage they don’t like — went nowhere. And the Court upheld mail ballots postmarked by Election Day counting across 18 states, which Trump responded to by immediately demanding Congress pass the SAVE Act.
Additionally, the Court ruled that Trump could fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, with Chief Justice Roberts writing that he was overruling whatever remained of the precedent protecting independent agencies.
At the same time, they ruled he could not touch Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, a line five justices were willing to draw. Those two decisions sitting next to each other raise more questions than they answer, and former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade to help us wade through the mess.
Now Xander and I aren’t lawyers. But Barbara is! So make sure you check out her new book, “The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.” to get all of her law wisdom on this broken administration.
