Speed Read
- The EPA announced it will begin a formal investigation into the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment.
- Former Vice President Mike Pence will be compelled by a U.S. district judge to testify before a court regarding Donald Trump’s attempts to nullify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
- A fire in a Mexican immigration detention facility near the U.S. border resulted in the tragic death of 39 migrants who were seeking asylum.
- New charges have been brought against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
- A conservative non-profit led by Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, reportedly received a $600,000 donation from an anonymous source.
The Lede
Influential right-wing think tank switches allegiance from Trump to DeSantis
The Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank with major sway in reactionary circles, appears to be aligning itself with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares for a likely 2024 presidential run. Such reorientation is striking considering the Institute was one of the first major right-wing institutions to support Donald Trump in the early days of his 2016 campaign.
“They’re [sic] quite a few [at the Claremont Institute] who personally prefer DeSantis as the next candidate. And I would count myself among that group,” Charles Kesler, a senior fellow at the Institute, explained to Cameron Joseph of VICE News
The think tank, according to The New York Times, has “helped shape the views of Clarence Thomas, Tom Cotton and the conservative activist Christopher Rufo.”
Is military engagement in Mexico the new hobby horse of the GOP?
Illinois Sen. and Majority Whip Dick Durbin has endorsed Paul Vallas in what is becoming a close, contentious Chicago mayoral race. Durbin reportedly referred to Vallas as “a lifelong Democrat” and said he would provide “support” to the much-maligned Chicago Police Department.
The former comment comes as Vallas’ statements surrounding his political ideology have come to light. Additionally, the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools has received vocal support from revanchist weirdos like conservative media figure Charlie Kirk, right-wing billionaire and hedge fund manager Ken Griffin and Fraternal Order of Police president John Catanzara.
Catanzara recently told The New York Times that if Vallas’ opponent, the progressive Brandon Johnson, were to win, there would be a mass resignation from the CPD and “blood in the streets.”
Vallas has also received support from other moderate Democrats outside of Durbin. Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan — who succeeded Vallas as CEO of CPS — both recently gave Vallas their endorsements.
Meanwhile, Johnson has fielded a large slate of prominent left-wing backers: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), U.S. Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman ever elected to the Senate, have all championed the former CPS teacher. Johnson will also hold a rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) this Thursday.
The latest polling suggests the race is incredibly competitive: Vallas is polling at 46% of the vote, and Johnson is polling at 44%. Close to 10% of voters polled are still undecided.
Policy Corner
California state government to begin producing insulin
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) declared that his state will officially enter into a 10-year partnership with the nonprofit drug manufacturer Civca Rx to produce low-cost insulin. The contract — worth $50 million — will be paid via a $100 million funding allocation from the state’s 2023 budget. Californians will be able to purchase state-produced insulin in 2024, and consumers should expect to pay $30 for a 10-milliliter vial.
The average price for a dose of insulin costs Americans $98.70 — an astronomically higher price compared to other industrial nations.
Newsom’s announcement comes several weeks after pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced it will slash insulin prices by 70%. And starting July 1, President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will cap insulin prices for Medicare recipients at $35 per dose.
Hopefully, these price limits will reduce the number of Americans that are forced to ration or forgo insulin injections due to high costs.
California will also consider funding for the production of its own supply of Naloxone, which is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Washington State bill could reform youth sentencing
Earlier this month, the Washington House of Representatives passed a comprehensive reform of the state’s sentencing standards which, in the late 1990s, increased penalties for minors and allowed Washington State to try children as adults.
Before the original bill passed, then-Gov. Gary Locke (D) proclaimed that such aggressive action was necessary because the juvenile justice system was letting “kids get away with too much” and that made communities “vulnerable to violent and dangerous young criminals.”
House Bill 3900 was signed into law in 1997 and undoubtedly played a role in the 337% rise in the Washington incarcerated population.
HB 1324 would remove the use of juvenile records that under current Washington law results in longer sentences for adults who were convicted of crimes later in life. Essentially, this meant individuals were being charged twice for the same crime. The passage of the bill would retroactively reduce sentences of those who are currently incarcerated and were sentenced under the original guidelines of HB 3900.
“Forty-one percent of Indigenous people and 39% of Black people currently incarcerated in the state’s adult prisons have at least one juvenile felony on their record, compared to just 26% of white people,” according to the incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell.
The bill will now make its way to the Washington Senate, which Democrats currently control by a nine-vote margin.
Person of Interest: Nate Hochman
As mentioned above, the nefarious Claremont Institute has shifted from being dyed-in-the-wool Trumpians to supporters of more “serious” politicians like Ron DeSantis. That transition is now more apparent with DeSantis’ hiring of former Claremont intern Nate Hochman.
Hochman, one of the right’s new enfant terribles, has gained traction in recent years for being a Gen Z conservative who has the political disposition of an internet-poisoned William F. Buckley. A look at his National Review bibliography — where he’s a staff writer — finds a committed culture warrior who essentially shares most of Tucker Carlson’s traditionalist nativism with a tinge more youthful insight and respectability.
But luckily for DeSantis, Hochman never hopped aboard the Trump train. “I’m still lukewarm on Trump, the man,” Hochman told The New Republic in a critical profile. “I think he’s a moronic boomer who tapped into something by accident.”
Yet that hasn’t stopped Hochman from associating himself with Trump’s most bigoted backers. The 25-year-old has shared onlines spaces with another youthful reactionary, but one who very much says the quiet part out loud. Hochamn has apparently laddled praise on Nick Fuentes, the internet’s most famous white nationalist.
Last fall, Trump hosted both Fuentes and rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) at Mar-a-Lago.
“We were just talking about your influence and we were saying, like, you’ve gotten a lot of kids ‘based’ and we respect that for sure,” Hochman said in a Twitter Space dialogue with Fuentes. “I literally said, I think Nick’s probably a better influence than Ben Shapiro on young men who might otherwise be conservative.”
Fuentes, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “insisted women are too emotional to make political decisions and that rape is ‘so not a big deal.’” He is also a Holocaust denier.
Hochman’s supposedly presentable, articulate conservatism is clearly a farce. But that’s how things have been playing out in right-wing circles over the past few years: It’s lipsticked pigs putting makeup on other hogs — all the way down.