- Why Trump’s courts power grab is more than just a political win
- AOC on supreme court battle: ‘This is not the time to give up’
- US Covid death total stands at 199,844 according to Johns Hopkins University
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11.29am BST
The focus this week is very much on the supreme court seat vacated by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but as Tom McCarthy writes for us, Donald Trump’s success at appointing more than 200 conservative judges already in his first term amounts to a towering legacy.
“I’m going to be up to 280 judges very soon,” Trump bragged to the journalist Bob Woodward in remarks that Woodward captured on tape and released Sunday. “Nobody’s ever had that. Two hundred and eighty. You know? Nobody’s ever had that.”
Trump’s number was characteristically inflated: the number of judges he has placed on district- and circuit-court benches and the supreme court totals 214 (out of 865 total); a Ginsburg replacement would make 215.
Related: ‘Fill that seat’: why Trump’s courts power grab is more than just a political win
11.25am BST
Speaking of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, Adrian Horton has written for us about Agents of Chaos. It is a two-part series from Alex Gibney attempts to definitively explain Russian interference, from troll factories to hacking to a mutual ‘seduction’ of greed.
Agents of Chaos, a two-part investigative HBO series on Russian interference in the 2016 election, confirms some of the most damning findings of the Senate report – for one, extensive contacts between the Trump campaign, particularly former manager Paul Manafort, and “a cadre of individuals ostensibly operating outside of the Russian government but who nonetheless implement Kremlin-directed influence operations.” But the series, from Oscar-winning film-maker Alex Gibney, also visualizes, with first-person interviews from some of the major figures, what the rare bipartisan consensus (on facts, not narrative) cannot: the diffuse, dubiously quantifiable efforts by the Russian government – sometimes tightly organized, sometimes slapdash – to sow chaos in Ukraine and then America, the profit motives which compelled bumbling Trump figures into a “collusion” of mutual interest, and the head-spinning vertigo for average American consumers over what even happened four years ago.
Related: Agents of Chaos: a shocking look at what really happened in the 2016 election
Continue reading…Why Trump’s courts power grab is more than just a political winAOC on supreme court battle: ‘This is not the time to give up’US Covid death total stands at 199,844 according to Johns Hopkins UniversitySign up for our First Thing newsletter 11.29am BSTThe focus this week is very much on the supreme court seat vacated by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but as Tom McCarthy writes for us, Donald Trump’s success at appointing more than 200 conservative judges already in his first term amounts to a towering legacy.“I’m going to be up to 280 judges very soon,” Trump bragged to the journalist Bob Woodward in remarks that Woodward captured on tape and released Sunday. “Nobody’s ever had that. Two hundred and eighty. You know? Nobody’s ever had that.”Trump’s number was characteristically inflated: the number of judges he has placed on district- and circuit-court benches and the supreme court totals 214 (out of 865 total); a Ginsburg replacement would make 215. Related: ‘Fill that seat’: why Trump’s courts power grab is more than just a political win 11.25am BSTSpeaking of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, Adrian Horton has written for us about Agents of Chaos. It is a two-part series from Alex Gibney attempts to definitively explain Russian interference, from troll factories to hacking to a mutual ‘seduction’ of greed.Agents of Chaos, a two-part investigative HBO series on Russian interference in the 2016 election, confirms some of the most damning findings of the Senate report – for one, extensive contacts between the Trump campaign, particularly former manager Paul Manafort, and “a cadre of individuals ostensibly operating outside of the Russian government but who nonetheless implement Kremlin-directed influence operations.” But the series, from Oscar-winning film-maker Alex Gibney, also visualizes, with first-person interviews from some of the major figures, what the rare bipartisan consensus (on facts, not narrative) cannot: the diffuse, dubiously quantifiable efforts by the Russian government – sometimes tightly organized, sometimes slapdash – to sow chaos in Ukraine and then America, the profit motives which compelled bumbling Trump figures into a “collusion” of mutual interest, and the head-spinning vertigo for average American consumers over what even happened four years ago. Related: Agents of Chaos: a shocking look at what really happened in the 2016 election Continue reading…