TOP STORY

Republican hypocrisy hits new heights

What started as a simple Instagram post has turned into a stunning display of hypocrisy from Republicans—and a dire warning about free speech in this country.

DRIVING THE NEWS: On Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey posted a photo of seashells spelling out "8647,” with the caption, “cool shell formation on my beach walk."

• “86” is a slang term that means to get rid of, and the “47” ostensibly means Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States.

THE REACTION: Shameless Republicans—never ones to miss an opportunity—pounced. They claimed it was an explicit call for the president’s murder.

• Donald Trump Jr. accused him of "calling for my dad to be murdered."

• Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard went on Fox News and said Comey should be put behind bars for the post.

Even the president himself took aim at Comey—whom Trump had fired in his first term for investigating his ties to Russia.

"He knew exactly what that meant,” Trump told Fox News, “that meant assassination.”

Comey took the post down within hours and apologized that some took it the wrong way—but it was too late—and Comey reportedly got a visit from the Secret Service. 

THE HYPOCRISY: There are two major problems with Republicans’ faux outrage.

First, rarely does “86” mean “to kill.” The term, which probably started in the restaurant industry, means to “throw out” or “get rid of.”

• Merriam Webster’s Dictionary notes that it can mean “to kill,” but does not officially define the word that way, given that definition’s “relative recency and sparseness of use.”

Second, a number of conservative commenters wanted to “8646” (i.e. Joe Biden)—including Trump’s first pick to run the Justice Department, accused pedophile Matt Gaetz.

• Amazon is even still selling “8646” merch—and conservatives claim it only meant impeach Biden.

And that’s to say nothing of the disgusting depiction of Biden Trump himself tweeted—that almost surely would get you a visit from the Secret Service today if you did the same to him.

BOTTOM LINE: We aren't living in a free country when you can tweet or even buy a t-shirt with “8646” on it—but you get investigated for saying “8647.”

This is a new level of hypocrisy—even for Republicans.

🗞️ Making News

Joe Biden diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer

The former president’s office announced the news Sunday—amid a wave of accusations that Biden covered up the state of his health before dropping out of the race last year. His office says the cancer was diagnosed last week, and has already spread to his bones. Full story from the AP.

Fertility clinic bomber thought no one should have children

Police say the suspect alleged to have detonated a car bomb outside a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, Saturday held “anti-natalist” views. Anti-natalism can be far right or far left, but police say they are still investigating. The suspect was the only person killed in the bombing. Full story from NBC News. 

Trump orders the government to stop enforcing rules he doesn’t like

A Washington Post investigation has found that Donald Trump has ordered the executive branch to take this dramatic step to reduce the cost of business. Besides being unconstitutional, in making across-the-board decisions not to enforce whole categories of standards, Trump is also sacrificing the safety of the public (not that billionaires care about that). Full story from the Washington Post.

Israel launches a new ground operation in its ethnic cleansing of Gaza

Over the weekend Israel began a massive new aerial bombardment and ground operation in what’s left of Gaza. The UN and aid groups say civilians are taking the brunt of this assault, with over 300 people killed in the past few days alone. Entire families were killed while sleeping together, according to the health ministry. Your tax dollars at work. Full story from CNN.

Oklahoma high schools to teach 2020 election conspiracy theories as fact

As part of the latest Republican push to indoctrinate the next generation of the MAGA cult, Oklahoma’s new social studies curriculum will order high school students to identify “discrepancies” in the 2020 election results. The new curriculum is being designed by—wait for it—the Heritage Foundation, the people who came up with Project 2025. Full story from The Guardian.

➡️ Question of the Day

On Thursday we asked, should ICE be abolished? Your response was overwhelming.

One Fast Bird summed up a lot of people’s feelings: “When I read about the "work" that ICE does I am hoping against hope that ICE is abolished and never heard from again. ICE enforcers, and that is what they are, are incompetent, hurt people for no good reason, and have no concern for the human people that are under their ‘care.’ Fuck ICE assholes!”

DD said ICE should be abolished but added, “We NEED a fair immigration policy passed by Congress & approved by the President & enforced. Why hasn’t Congress been able to accomplish this? Those qualified should have a logical path to citizenship! It would benefit our workforce as well as giving immigrants a way to improve their lives!”

Still, DK voted no and made a good point: “I think it’s ICE in its current form that we object to. Under previous administrations that kept them in check, they served an important purpose.”

TODAY’S QUESTION: Should billionaires exist? Tell us why or why not after you vote!

IN DEPTH

One BIG thing saving Trump right now

Donald Trump is off to an historic start. He’s notched the lowest 100-day job approval rating of any president in the past 80 years.

• Only 39% of Americans approve of Trump’s job so far—while 55% disapprove.

But with people being disappeared and tortured, the world economy teetering on collapse, and corruption reaching new heights, you may be asking—who are the 39 percent who approve? 

A new poll released yesterday may shed some light on that—a lot of them just aren’t paying attention.

DRIVING THE NEWS: The New York Times found that Trump’s approval was significantly higher among voters who hadn’t heard about some of the biggest scandals, deportations, and disasters of his second term.

• For example, among those who had heard about Kilmar Abrego Garcia—the man wrongly deported and tortured in El Salvador—only 46% approved of Trump’s immigration policies.

• Among those who hadn’t heard about it—55% approved.

Same with the economy. Of those aware of the recent market volatility, only 41% approved of Trump’s handling of the economy. Those not aware—55% approved.

BIG PICTURE: This isn’t just a fluke—it’s the result of a strategy.

• Trump and his allies have long counted on what Steve Bannon once proudly called “flooding the zone with shit.” 

The idea: overwhelm the public with so much chaos, corruption, and cruelty that people simply tune out. And it’s working—at least for now.

BUT BUT BUT: Some Americans may be able to tune Trump out right now—but that won’t be true once his trade war hits Amazon and Walmart.

• Walmart’s CFO warned over the weekend that prices will soon be going up, thanks to Trump’s 10% across-the-board tariff and 30% tariff on goods from China.

They may be able to avoid Trump’s tweets—but they won’t be able to avoid the tariffs. And that’s good news for the midterms.

Since you made it this far…

Fascists are trying to criminalize protest, speech, and dissent—and journalism is on their hit list.

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👀 Kept Out of Your Feed

Here are some stories the algorithms may be keeping out of your feed.

• Why the internet rejoiced when a plantation "resort" went up in flames Thursday

• Here’s the net worth and income it takes to be considered wealthy

• Trump’s acceptance of Qatar jet gift is the ‘definition of corruption,’ one Senator says

• ‘SNL’ roasted Trump’s Middle East trip and the jet in their 50th season finale

• Trump is looking to meddle in the sports world like no president before…

• … as he demands investigations into these celebrities

• Why do they keep this guy on? CNN anchor trounces conservative co-host: “backing down is not leverage”

• John Oliver tackled Trump’s war on the press last night (and that ‘HBO Max’ rebrand)

• Are we hardwired to fall for autocrats?

• These experts in fascism are leaving the U.S. Here’s why

• Pedro Pascal showed us again what courage looks like

• One of our heroes in Congress has filed new articles of impeachment against Trump