Politics

Has Bill de Blasio become Bill de Blasé? Details regarding the former New York City mayor’s so-called “non-divorce” from Chirlane McCray, his lesbian wife of twenty-seven years, seem weird. For instance, their “trial separation” involves them continuing to live in the same house while they date other people. Still, compared to the headline-grabbing track record of de Blasio’s life, this latest revelation made Cockburn yawn. Even the way the couple arrived at the decision, “after another stale Saturday night of binge-watching television at their Brooklyn home,” is disappointingly run-of-the-mill.

You can take the girl out of high society but you can’t take the high society out of the girl — even if you throw her in a Tallahassee prison. According to a report in the Daily Mail, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has filed a whopping 400 complaints since arriving at the federal prison in July. "Max is the prison Karen. She can file a grievance over anything — she has over 400 of them," a source told the Mail. "She complains about the food, the bedding, when they cancel temple because of bad weather or are late setting up her legal calls." It was also reported that the prison's vegan menu was “insufficient” for Maxwell’s needs.

Joe Biden’s best days may be behind him, but the president’s talent for feigning moral outrage is undiminished. That much was clear from the president’s reaction to Supreme Court decisions in the last few days, in particular his remarks in response to the court’s rulings on affirmative action and his administration’s student debt forgiveness program.  This week has served as a reminder that Biden is a president who knows his survival depends on drawing the most demagogic caricature of his opponents he can get away with.

Hunter Biden has settled his long-running child support case in Arkansas. The president’s son has reached an agreement with Lunden Roberts, the mother of his illegitimate daughter Navy, that involves giving some of his own paintings to her. This makes Cockburn ask, hasn’t that child been through enough? Per the settlement: "Defendant additionally agrees that he shall assign to the child [redacted] of his paintings over the next [redacted] which shall vary in size with a minimum size of 24x24. The child shall select the painting which shall either be sent to the child or sent to a gallery designated by Lunden Roberts. The child shall select the painting which shall either be sent to the child or sent to a gallery designated by Lunden Roberts.

Miles Taylor, CNN’s favorite mid-management White House bureaucrat, is back with hot new gossip on Donald Trump. The "Anonymous" author of the scathing 2018 New York Times op-ed about the former president is releasing his second book next month that promises to be both his juiciest work yet and an action novel — yep, you heard that right. Cockburn readily admits that Taylor is not a reliable source nor is he a real-life spy, but heck, the book will be too entertaining to pass up.  Among the most shocking bombshells in Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump is the former president’s allegedly sexist behavior toward female staff, including lewd comments made about his eldest daughter.

It’s fun to conspire about the mysterious death of Jeffrey Epstein — or, at least, Cockburn has whiled away several hours doing so. Was it ordered by the Queen? Bill Gates? The Clintons? Did Ghislaine Maxwell stick a pin straight through the heart of an Epstein-shaped voodoo doll? It’s almost a shame that we now know the fault lies with something as mundane as negligent prison guards.  The Justice Department’s watchdog announced Tuesday that a “combination of negligence, misconduct and outright job performance failures” by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and workers at its New York City jail allowed for the disgraced financier to take his own life in August 2019, finding no evidence of foul play.

The president is hitting the road this week to kickstart a big push to sell his economic track record. The nation, barely recovered from the excitement of the first “Investing in America” tour earlier this year, will be treated to another few weeks of cabinet members in hardhats talking about green jobs. A memo from White House advisors Anita Dunn and Mike Donilon warns that Biden, cabinet members and other administrators “will continue fanning out across the country to take the case for Bidenomics and the president’s Investing in America agenda directly to the American people.” (Take shelter!) On Wednesday Biden will give what the White House is billing as a “major speech” touting his economic policies.

There was an evangelical beauty pageant in Washington, DC today. At Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference, a major gathering of religious conservatives and campaigners, a procession of presidential candidates strutted their stuff in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton. Keen to see the contenders in action, I went along (Cockburn in tow).     Ron DeSantis delivered a battle report from his ongoing “war on woke.” Vivek Ramaswamy offered a characteristically caffeinated spiel and touted his status as “the first millennial to run for president as a Republican.” Mike Pence walked out to Kid Rock’s “Born Free.” Miami mayor Francis X. Suarez told attendees, “I would say bienvenidos a Miami but we’re not in Miami!

The gloves were off in the House of Representatives this week after Georgia congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene called her Colorado colleague Lauren Boebert “a little bitch.” The gruesome twosome used to be thick as thieves. What happened?  The fight erupted over impeachment articles that Boebert introduced Tuesday and tried unsuccessfully to force a vote on. Greene, who drafted her impeachment articles in 2021 and again this May, publicly accused Boebert of copying. On Wednesday, Boebert again tried unsuccessfully to force a vote on her impeachment resolution.  During the vote, Boebert confronted Greene over comments the congresswoman had made to the press. C-SPAN’s camera’s caught part of the exchange in a center aisle of the House floor.