| | | | |  | | By POLITICO MAGAZINE | | | |  | | 
| |  Former President Donald Trump arrives to address supporters at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., April 4, 2023. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | Former President Donald Trump may have avoided the embarrassment — or missed out on the potential marketing tool? — of a mugshot, but he couldn’t avoid his arraignment Tuesday afternoon, when an eight-car motorcade delivered him to the Manhattan DA’s office, breaking a 246-year streak in which zero former presidents were brought up on criminal charges. That’s Trump for you: If a river isn’t a river unless it’s running, Trump isn’t Trump unless he’s breaking a norm. Will it also break politics as we know it? To conservatives, it’s a politically motivated hit job. To liberals, it’s a long overdue triumph of the law. We asked eight of the sharpest legal and political minds — with experience ranging from the academy to the bench and the former president’s own administration — just what this will mean for a bitterly divided country as it breaks new historical ground. “Bragg has left himself open to criticism.” “Presidents are supposed to have the same status as everyone else.” “We shall see pro-Trump forces using the same corrosive tactics — or lose utterly.” “It’s impossible to separate law from politics entirely. …” Read their responses.
| | | | A message from Instagram: How can families create positive Instagram experiences together?
Family Center supervision tools allow parents to view who their teen follows and who follows them, manage daily time limits and be notified when their teen shares reported accounts, once Supervision is set up.
Explore 30+ tools. | | | | | | | 
| “If a petty HOA complaint were a person.” Can you guess who said this about Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
| | | |  | | 
Crossfire, a nightly debate program hosted by Paul Begala (center) and Tucker Carlson, was cancelled in 2005, within months of Jon Stewart's appearance on the program. | John Harrington/CNN | Sorry, Jon Stewart, America Needs Crossfire Again … Jon Stewart TOTALLY EVISCERATED CNN’s debate show, Crossfire, back in 2004, saying (to much adulation from Bush-era liberals) that the show’s pugilistic format pitting liberals against conservatives was “hurting America.” He wasn’t wrong, exactly — calling it a debate show was indeed “like saying pro wrestling is a show about athletic competition,” as Stewart put it. But what we have now is even worse: a “conflict-free opinion landscape … dominated by programming featuring like-minded people ginning one another up to even more rage,” writes Michael Schaffer in this week’s Capital City column. The solution: Bring real debating back!
| | | |  | | 
Illustration by Visbii for POLITICO | A Shocking Shmear Campaign … If there’s one thing conservatives and liberals used to be able to agree on, it was that the only way to get a decent bagel was to leave the beltway. But like just about everything else in our nation’s center of political power, that’s started to change. Thanks to a bevy of boutique shops and bakeries, Washington is having something of a bagel … well, not a renaissance, exactly. That would imply there was something worth renewing in the first place. Let’s call it a bagel boom. In this groundbreaking investigation, Sam Stein reports on the rise of the D.C. bagel, from the Congressional Bagel Caucus to the DNC’s #Bagel-Wednesday Slack channel to the White House’s weekly carbohydrate habit. (And yes, of course Stein sampled DC’s finest with a House rep. for New York. Verdict: “I mean, it’s pretty good.”)
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | | | | | 
| Were you too busy watching Trump on cable news to devote adequate attention to the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race on Tuesday? We forgive you — it isn't every day that a former president is hauled into court. But it might have been the most important election of the year, with liberal judge Janet Protasiewicz defeating conservative Daniel Kelly and flipping the ideological balance of the court. Use these talking points to sound in-the-know (from POLITICO’s Zach Montellaro): — Take your victory lap for labeling abortion as the biggest issue of the midterms. The state’s 19th century abortion ban, which is still on the books, was a major focus of Protasiewicz’s campaign, and it paid off. Tuesday’s election showed that abortion is still a huge animating factor to get voters to the polls — and getting them to vote for liberals. — Make sure to mention you were really impressed by how well Democrats did in Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. The three counties that surround Milwaukee have been the core of Republican victories in the state for years. Protasiewicz didn't win the WOW counties, but can you believe the blue-ing trendline there? — Marvel at how expensive state Supreme Court races have gotten. $45 million? That's practically half a Senate seat! — Support abortion rights? Send your regards to Dane County, the home of Madison and one of the fastest growing regions in the state. Voters there approached November midterm turnout in an off-year election — it’s rapidly becoming a mini-blue wall in the state. — Don't forget to drop how excited you are for the next big state Supreme Court race. (This November in Pennsylvania, of course.)
| | | |  | | | 
Tennessee Republicans voted to expel Democratic Reps. Justin Pearson of Memphis (left) and Justin Jones of Nashville (center). | Seth Herald/Getty Images | The Tennessee Expulsion … In a brazen use of supermajority power, the Tennessee GOP kicked two Black Democratic Representatives, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, out of office over their participation in a rowdy anti-gun protest. (The vote to expel Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, failed.) It was an explosive move for a statehouse — and could provide an example for lawmakers willing to use their power for political purposes. “In the coming weeks and months,” writes Jeff Greenfield, “the Nashville battle may well be just a footnote as legislatures exercise their powers over everything from the makeup and reach of the courts to the traditional powers of a governor, to the will of the voters who vote for ballot propositions.”
| | | | 
| | 
| The Art of the Mugshot … We didn’t get a Trump mugshot, but there are enough mugshots of other politicians to fill a small exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. From Gov. Rick Perry to Sen. John Edwards, politicians have made an art of the mugshot, perfecting an I’m-not-guilty grin. Calder McHugh takes us on a curated tour of political mugshots to see what patterns emerge. And considering the possibility of additional indictments, Trump might want to take notes.
| | | **Who Dissed answer: That would be Democratic Rep. for New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, responding on Twitter to a clip in which Greene, who had recently made an appearance at a pro-Trump protest in New York along with Rep. George Santos, tells Fox host Tucker Carlson that the city “was repulsive; it smells bad.” politicoweekend@email.politico.com
| | | | A message from Instagram: How can parents help teens manage the time they spend on Instagram?
Once Supervision is set up, parents can use daily time limits to manage the amount of time their teen spends on Instagram every day.
As a result, teens can be more intentional about the time they spend online.
Explore 30+ tools. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
.jpg "Two people look into the camera lens wearing minimal makeup")
