| We don't know whether the Justice Department is investigating former president Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack. But Trump is pretty unabashed about his role in it — in fact, he just said he wishes he'd done more. In an interview with The Post's Josh Dawsey, Trump said he wished he would have marched to the Capitol with the rioters trying to stop Congress's certification of Joe Biden's legitimate win. "Secret Service said I couldn't go. I would have gone there in a minute." It's a Trumpian thing to do — double down on controversy. But it's also remarkable for how coup-y it sounds. After months of trying to overturn his election loss, Trump encouraged his supporters to come on Jan. 6 — "will be wild," he promised in a tweet. He held a rally near the Capitol that day, predicated on baseless election fraud claims. During the attack, he rebuffed Republican calls from lawmakers to call off the rioters. And now he says he wishes he had done more. "Trump tried to hold power despite losing," The Post's Philip Bump writes. "He pines for having been able to be with the crowd at the Capitol on Jan. 6 as rioters fought to accomplish that goal. And he has clear designs on once again serving as the most powerful person in America. This should not yield shrugs." And if the Justice Department decides to investigate whether Trump corruptly intended to disrupt Congress's certification, Trump's own reflection about that day could certainly play into it. Why so many Republicans opposed Ketanji Brown Jackson President Biden congratulates Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday, moments after the Senate confirmed her. (Oliver Contreras for The Washington Post/for The Washington Post) | The Senate just confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. She'll replace retiring justice Stephen Breyer later this year. It's a major win for Biden and Democrats — of the four openings on the court in the past five years under three presidents, this is the first one they've been able to fill. They are also celebrating putting the first Black woman on the court. (In the court's 233-year history, she will be just the eighth justice not to be a White man.) "This is one of the great moments of American history," Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said shortly before she was confirmed. But her nomination was partisan. All but three Senate Republicans voted against Jackson. Here's why. - Politics: In seven months, Republicans will try to win control of Congress — the House and the Senate — from Democrats. They stand a good chance of succeeding. So why would they vote to confirm Biden's nominee to the Supreme Court and help Democrats with a historic win?
- An apparent lack of a "judicial philosophy": Jackson testified that she doesn't really have one. Instead, she said that her job was to clear her mind of bias and look at the facts of the case. That was an easy way for Republicans, who want their judges to lean conservative, to say they couldn't be sure how Jackson would rule. (Her rulings lean liberal.)
- Her sentencing of child porn offenders: This far-right attack made it into the mainstream of Republican opposition against her. As a judge, Jackson did sometimes sentence child porn offenders below the government's recommendation, but she was in line with the mainstream of all federal judges, including Republican ones. This attack against her appears more rooted in midterm politics and Republicans' attempt to characterize Democrats as soft on crime.
How Michigan could become the first state to vote on the next Democratic nominee for president The news: Democrats are rethinking which state gets to weigh in first on their presidential nominee. Iowa has traditionally held the role, but Democratic leaders seem ready to make a change soon because of Iowa's lack of racial diversity and its chaotic 2020 caucus — plus arguments that caucuses are overcomplicated and undemocratic. Michigan is the first state to make a play for Iowa's spot, The Post's Michael Scherer reports. Democrats from the state say they reflect the nation's diversity and political makeup. And they have a point, at least compared with Iowa. Iowa is nearly 86 percent White and 4 percent Black. Michigan is 74 percent White and 14 percent Black. The nation as a whole is about 62 percent White and 12 percent Black. And while Iowa has become increasingly Republican, Trump won Michigan narrowly in 2016. Biden won it, also narrowly, in 2020. Why does it matter which state goes first? Primaries can provide momentum, and candidates who win the first state often end up winning their party's nomination. But the early primaries would arguably be a better predictor of the way the nation would vote if the voting population more closely reflected America. In 2016, Pete Buttigieg was eventually declared the winner in mostly White Iowa, but he came in fourth in more diverse South Carolina and dropped out afterward. Republicans have their own primary rules. They seem just fine with Iowa going first. |