BIDEN’S PARTY FOUL

President Biden’s crackdown on the southern border has progressive Democrats fuming.

• The left flank of President Biden’s own party has been quick to denounce his decision to restrict asylum applications filed by migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) declared himself “beyond disappointed” in a sit-down with the What A Day podcast.

• “It’s not going to work,” Padilla said. “It’s a retread of failed Trump policies in many ways.” Padilla pointed out that the new policy makes it harder for those seeking refuge from rampant gang violence, repressive regimes, economic hardship, or conflict to find sanctuary or make legitimate claims of asylum. He called for increased resources to process those claims, instead of barring entry. “It is unconscionable to me that that is becoming the policy of the United States,” Padilla said.

• Moderate Democrats have hailed Biden’s move as a step in the right direction on a difficult issue. But Padilla’s hardly the only voice on the left comparing Biden’s election-year gambit move to Trump’s anti-immigration policies. Biden’s executive order bars migrants who fail to use the congested official entry pathways from seeking asylum when the number of unauthorized entries exceeds 2,500 per day, as it has pretty much throughout Biden’s presidency. The move relies on the same executive authority Trump once used to try to ban most asylum seekers in 2018, before he was brushed back by the courts. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), member of the progressive Squad, told CNN: “With all due respect Mr. President, we should not be unearthing policies from the last administration.” 

Biden’s already on shakier ground among more liberal voters and people of color than he was four years ago. The question becomes what he can do to win them back before November. 

NEWS NEWS NEWS 

Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to create a federal right to contraception access on Wednesday, as the Dems expected they would. Ahead of the vote, the Americans for Contraception group erected a giant 20-foot inflatable IUD in front of Union Station.

An appeals court froze Trump’s Georgia election interference case, while it reviews whether Fulton County DA Fani Willis can stay on. The order has the effect of pushing the trial past November’s election for sure, in case there’d been any doubt.

Rapper 50 Cent met with House leaders along with civil rights attorney Ben Crump to advocate for more opportunities for Black entrepreneurs, specifically in the luxury spirits industry. Rumor has it 50 Cent asked Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) 21 questions.

Reps. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) and Byron Donalds (R-FL) did Trump’s bidding and attempted to reach Black male voters in Philadelphia Tuesday at an event called — and we are not making this up — “Congress, Cognac and Cigars.” Donalds, a Trump VP hopeful, went on to say crazy shit like “during Jim Crow, the Black family was together,” according to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Suggesting that things were better for Black people under Jim Crow is a new low that not even we could have predicted.

Hunter Biden spent the day in court hearing witnesses recount his own dark, sad history of battling drug addiction. Prosecutors called his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend to testify about his cocaine and crack cocaine use, in an attempt to prove the President’s son lied about his drug use when buying a firearm.

Meanwhile, the GOP House Oversight Committee sent criminal referrals for Hunter and the President’s brother, James Biden, to the Justice Department recommending they be charged with allegedly lying to Congress during the committee’s failed impeachment inquiry.

Convicted felon and disgraced former President Trump was already being chased around the country by the zombie campaign of Nikki Haley, after she dropped out of the Republican primary but kept getting votes. Now, the campaign of former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) is also back from the dead. Haley and Christie split roughly 11 percent of Tuesday’s GOP primary vote in New Mexico. Some Republican voters just want ANYONE but Trump.

State Rep. Angela Moore (D-GA) is apologizing for pretending to be a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated — a historically Black sorority — after the organization released a statement saying she “is not and has not ever been” a member. If you know anything about historically Black fraternities and sororities or the Divine Nine, you know that faking membership is a really big deal! Apparently, Moore is also being accused of lying about being a veteran and working as an OBGYN.

Right-wing social media accounts are promoting an interview with former Black Panther member David Hilliard that appears to show him endorsing Trump for president. But according to a report from Phil Lewis’ What I’m Reading, Hilliard’s grandson is alleging that his grandfather suffers from dementia and didn’t understand the subject of the interview, and calling the incident “senior abuse.”