Biden mocks Trump as ‘the great MAGA King’ in speech on economy
As the row over the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v Wade continues, hardline Republican Senators are demanding that anti-abortion protesters should be arrested if they demonstrate outside justices’ homes.
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who infamously called on the government to “send in the troops” during the 2020 anti-racism protests, said that “any protesting a judge’s home should be arrested on the spot by federal law enforcement”. His colleague Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, meanwhile, said that officers “should haul all of these people down to the police headquarters”.
In making their arguments, both senators cited a law passed during the Red Scare of the 1950s.
Meanwhile, the Trump Organization has announced the sale of a long-term lease of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, which has been picked up by the CGI Merchant Group of Miami for $375m.
The Pennsylvania Avenue hotel had served as a symbol of Donald Trump’s clout with politicians and other figures who gathered there, but had also attracted multiple accusations of corruption, from questions over its use during the 2017 inauguration to concerns that bills paid by foreign delegations staying there could violate the Constitution’s emoluments clauses.
Ron DeSantis’s redistricting map thrown out by judge
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, generally considered the party’s second most popular leader after Donald Trump, has suffered a setback in his efforts to redistrict his state’s congressional districts. A judge has thrown out the map drawn up by his administration on the basis that it “diminishes African Americans’ ability to elect candidates of their choice” in Florida’s 5th District, which spans Jacksonville to Tallahassee.
The ruling calls on the state to adopt a map that restores the boundaries of the district – currently represented by Democratic US Rep Al Lawson – to represent a near majority-Black voting age population.
Alex Woodward has the story.
Andrew Naughtie12 May 2022 16:57
Biden ramps up warnings on Republican radicalisation
The shape of the Democrats’ midterm elections campaign is coming into view, and it seems the party is going with the expected gambit of putting Joe Biden front and centre to make the case against the other side. With the draft Roe v Wade opinion now out in the open, Mr Biden is going hard on the attack against Republicans in general – and at a DNC fundraiser last night, he pulled no punches.
“Did you ever think we’d be in a position in the year 2022 – we’d be talking about banning books in schools?” the president said on 11 May, referring to a growing campaign from conservative activists and Republican legislators to restrict speech in schools, including “bans” on certain books in libraries.
“I mean, you know, the idea that you cannot mention – you cannot mention to the school. What’s going to happen to a gay child, an L[G]BTQ child in school?” he said. “I mean, this thing – it’s one thing to take on Disney World. They’re going to storm Cinderella’s castle before this is over.”
Andrew Naughtie12 May 2022 16:10
Senators round on Supreme Court protesters
While many Republicans are staying away from the row over protests outside Supreme Court justices’ homes, citing the First Amendment’s protection of the right to protest, some the more hardline members are jumping in with both feet.
Among them is Marsha Blackburn, who told far-right network Newsmax that the protesters should be arrested for breaching section 1507 of the US criminal code, which makes it a crime for anyone to “picket or parade in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by” judges or justices.
“They should haul all of these people down to the police headquarters. They should…
Read More: Trump news today: GOP senators target abortion protesters as ex-president sells DC hotel