Talking Points Memo

Last week Donald Trump became the first United States president to be convicted of a felony. Thirty-four of them, actually. So now what?

As Josh Marshall pointed out in today's Backchannel (which is his member-only newsletter), the Trump sycophants quickly got to work doing Trumpish things like suggesting the members of the jury owe the public an explanation for their verdict — that they should identify themselves and explain themselves (and, in so doing, expose themselves to threats). As Marshall points out, this is a perfect example of the "disingenuousness and predation that is at the heart of Trumpism."

Meanwhile, as David Kurtz writes in the Morning Memo, President Biden in a speech Monday laid out in the clearest possible terms the stakes of the upcoming election: A convicted felon who regularly assaults America's democratic institutions and democracy itself is the Republican nominee.

So what now? As we sit about five months out from the election, we at TPM mostly will continue to do what we always do: Cover the most important news events that threaten or undermine democracy in the United States of America. These sorts of things don't just happen overnight, they fester and putrefy until the mainstream press realizes the issues can no longer be ignored.

Take the day's news in Wisconsin. Fresh off covering the Trump trial, Josh Kovensky was the first to report that ol' TPM standard Kenneth Chesebro, along with some other Trump cronies, was charged with conspiracy to commit forgery as a part of the fake elector scheme. 

Meanwhile, as (some) of Trump's minions face accountability for efforts to steal the last election, the Republican Party has thrown itself fully into helping lay the groundwork to delegitimize the next one. As Khaya Himmelman writes, state-level Republicans' obsession with the myth that there are legions of non-citizens voting threatens to undermine confidence in elections while actually disenfranchising eligible voters.

People often say that TPM isn't for everyone — it's for political news junkies. And that's true as far as it goes. But another way to think about it is that TPM is for people who want to be aware of threats to democracy before it's too late. They want to know about the extremism before it's taken root and spread to such an extent that cable networks and huge newsrooms with thousands of people decide to pay attention. So maybe you have never thought of yourself as a news junkie, just someone who cares about democracy. If so, maybe give us a chance and support our work.