Democrats navigate immigration, student debt relief, and gas prices with an eye on the midterms, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler joins to discuss the strategy behind some of the big wins in his state’s local elections this week, and the MAGA wing of the Republican Party has taken to calling everyone who doesn’t agree with them a pedophile.

Show Notes 

NEWS ROUNDUP 

• NYT: Biden White House Keeps Student Loan Payments at Bay Amid Inflation
• Politico: Biden to erase defaults for millions of federal student loan borrowers Senator Patty Murray tweet 
• Senator Chuck Schumer tweet 
• Playbook: The return of immigration politics 
• Slate: Why Is the U.S. Supposed to Care About Human Rights in Ukraine, but Not at the Border? 
• Reuters: U.S. lawmakers slam Big Oil for high gasoline prices 
• WaPo: House panel grills oil company executives on high gasoline prices 
• NYT: Blamed for high gas prices, oil executives defend themselves at a House hearing. 
• NYT: Pandemic Aid Bill Stalls Amid Dispute Over Immigration Restrictions 
• Politico: Covid deal hampered by GOP opposition to Biden immigration policy 
• Politico: ‘Terrible’ messaging on lifting of Trump-era border restriction alarms Dems CNN: Biden’s immigration move divides Democrats as GOP plots election-year strategy 
• Politico: Mark Kelly’s breaks with Biden pile up 
•  CNN: Why Biden hasn’t scored a political win from canceling $17
• NYT: C.D.C. Confirms It Will Lift Public Health Order Restricting Immigration 
• Roll Call: Sinema, Kelly want border plan ready before Title 42 ends 
• ABC: AP-NORC poll: Low marks for Biden on economy as prices rise 
• NYT: Biden Administration Fights in Court to Uphold Some Trump-Era Immigration Policies 
• IPSOS: Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Gas Prices 

WISCONSIN RESULTS WITH BEN WIKLER 

• MilwaukeeJournalSentinel: Cavalier Johnson becomes first African American elected mayor of Milwaukee, defeats Bob Donovan in the spring general election
• NBC15: GOP-backed school board candidates win in Milwaukee suburbs
• ProPublica: What increasingly partisan and venomous Wisconsin school board races reveal about American elections
• Politico: Wisconsin Democrats built a winning machine. Now comes its greatest test.

GOP PEDOPHILE ATTACKS 

• WaPo: The new red scare: The right leans into pedophilia accusations
• The Nation: The Smearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson Will Haunt Democrats
• Media Matters: Right-wing pundits absurdly smear Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s supporters as pedophiles
• MTG Tweet: Murkowski, Collins, and Romney are pro-pedophile. They just voted for #KBJ.
• Don Jr. Tweet: Democrats really doing their best to secure the pedophile vote for future elections this week.
• Slate: How Many Republican Leaders Believe Sens. Romney, Murkowski, and Collins are “Pro-Pedophile”?
• NYT: A Judge’s Tough Call Meets the Politics of a Supreme Court Confirmation
• Snopes: Was Ketanji Brown Jackson the Judge in the ‘Pizzagate’ Case?

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