‘Obscene.’ That’s Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s assessment of the Trump administration’s proposed $1.776 billion fund to pay individuals who believe they were targeted politically—for, among other things, the Jan. 6, 2021, riot …
■ … part of a plan that would also leave the government “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from subjecting Trump, his family and his businesses to tax audits, back taxes and tax penalties.
■ Update, 10:18 a.m.: Jan. 6 police officers are suing to block the scheme.
■ Talking Points Memo: “Trump’s blatantly corrupt slush fund” has forced his acolytes, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, “to sorta publicly eat shit.”
■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst: “Todd was lying to Congress.”
■ Blanche suggested the initiative could mean cash for anyone ever prosecuted for assaulting law enforcers.
■ The Washington Post (gift link): Trump “will have ultimate authority over appointing a five-member panel deciding how much to dole out and to whom.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “The insistence of Trump cronies that the Department of Justice and federal judges ‘weaponized’ the law against them … is another example of regime officials blaming others for what they, themselves, are doing.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Chicago-born journalist Terry Moran—fired from ABC after a tweet critical of Trump—calls it plunder: “They are not hiding it. They are not ashamed of it. They want us to … accommodate ourselves to the new order of things.”
■ Former AP D.C. bureau chief Ron Fournier calls it “the latest step toward institutionalizing corruption for all future presidents. Where is MAGA’s outrage?”
‘FAJITA: Forget About Jurisprudence If Trump’s Around.’ Borowitz Report satirist Carlos Greaves adds more acronyms to Trumpwatchers’ vocabulary.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich analyzes the president’s “hastily-thrown-together, unscheduled presser” to “listen to him blither incoherently about the construction of his beloved Epstein Dance Hall.”
‘Everyone thinks Trump won last night. They’re wrong.’ Pod Save America cohost Dan Pfeiffer says the president’s run of Republican primary successes is stacking November’s ballots with candidates unable “to show some independence from the deeply unpopular president.”
■ A Senate Republican operative tells Politico: “Those so-called victories … are just a mirage. They are self-owns.”
■ Democratic strategist David Axelrod says Republicans “can’t live in the Republican Party without Donald Trump, and they can’t live outside of the Republican Party with Donald Trump because he’s an epically unpopular president.”
■ The AP: Results from Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania leave no doubt about Trump’s sway over the party.
■ With the support of a Republican that Trump successfully campaigned against, the Senate voted last night to advance a measure curbing the president’s war on Iran.
‘Being formed by Christians does not a Christian nation make.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg says those who organized Sunday’s America-is-Christian rally in D.C. “are the same people who … claim to feel bad if minor details like slavery or labor strife or mass immigration manage to nudge themselves into a textbook.”
■ The FBI says two teens who shot and killed three people at a California mosque—before killing themselves—met and shared racist tropes online.
An ‘ugly’ turn. Politico’s Shia Kapos maps the political battle brewing in the unfolding campaigns for Chicago’s first fully elected school board.
■ Block Club: A shortage of Chicago Public Library drivers has slowed the delivery of books from one branch to another.
‘Intelligent search box.’ Google’s unveiled what it calls its biggest search upgrade in a quarter century: A visit to Google.com activates a box that’ll expand to accommodate longer, conversational queries and help users compose ’em.
■ The Neuron: AI agent Gemini “is becoming the layer underneath the apps people already use.”
■ CNN’s Lisa Eadicicco: “Google wants to help you google less.”
■ A.V. Club: “It’s time to google Google replacement.”
■ In the spotlight at this week’s National Restaurant Association show in Chicago: Robots that make sushi and mix drinks.
Comcast/Xfinity may owe you $50—or more. The company’s notifying customers whose personal information was breached in October 2023 that they can claim cash under a class action settlement.
■ Scour your email for the plaintiff’s name, Hasson.
■ Tech columnist Kim Komando: Returning too many purchases can get you banned from Amazon.
‘Did I violate news ethics?’ Chicago news veteran—and former Better Government Association chief—Andy Shaw says he’s “feeling a bit guilty” about giving a pass to the late Billy Goat Tavern owner Sam Sianis in a 2004 scandal.
■ The owner of Gene & Georgetti’s restaurant accuses Midway Airport’s concessions overseer of abusing its name and compromising its reputation.
‘You’re gonna enjoy watching Matlock in this motherfucker.’ Jon Stewart last night gifted the soon-to-be canceled Stephen Colbert with … a recliner.
■ Colbert’s guests for this evening’s penultimate episode include Bruce Springsteen.
■ A Penn State literature professor declares Colbert “one of the most important satirists in American history.”
■ Rupert Murdoch’s more progressive son is buying half of Vox Media, parent to New York magazine.
