Future Speaker Jeffries

 

Once again, Democrats demonstrate that we're the only serious party in Washington when it comes to governing. We cats will have more to say on today's shenanigans, but in the meantime, we can only urge us all to target those winnable Congressional districts and get the House back next year. We only need five, and it's the only way to avoid the crap that we're all so sick of. Plus it would make us cats PURR.

Cake!

By Hubie and Bertie

The potential Republican government shutdown, which will take effect tomorrow night if it happens, has forced The Carter Center in Atlanta to move its 99th-birthday celebrations from Sunday — President Jimmy Carter's actual birthday — to tomorrow.

This is annoying to any of us who like Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and who believe in the good that government can do. But The Carter Center staff seem to have handled the logistics without a hitch. That's unsurprising, since for 40 years now, they've managed with skill, dedication and savvy to eradicate horrible tropical diseases and monitor elections around the globe.

And never fear — the White House is doing its bit, too. This cute sign, topped by 39 birthday candles (JEC3 was the 39th President, don'tcha know), will be on display on the North Lawn all weekend.

The young Joe Biden was the first Senator to endorse Carter in the 1976 Presidential race, snd they've been good friends ever since. We cats think this is swell, and we PURR.

Trailblazer, 1933-2023

 

By Miss Kubelik

We cats always refrained from hopping on the "Dianne-Feinstein-has-to-quit" bandwagon, even when she was absent from the Senate for long periods. First, because we didn't really know what was going on, PHI-wise. And second, because she always came back to approve those Biden-nominated judges. Maybe she knew she was terminal but just kept casting those votes? Clearly she understood that the judiciary was the last bulwark against Trump fascism. We cats salute her for a lifetime of public service, and we PURR.

Crockett Flushes The MAGAts

House Democrats really shone in today's "impeachment inquiry" (which, as everyone knows, is not actually an impeachment, but a sop the hapless Kevin McCarthy threw to the crazies in his caucus). Gerry Connolly, Maxwell Frost, Jared Moskowitz, Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez all turned clown-car Republican TV into a must-watch. But when it came to owning the day, no one could touch Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas. We adore her, and we PURR.

A Nobles Effort

By Zamboni

The state of journalism today is not good — in fact, kinda terrible — but every now and then some intrepid reporter pops up and gives us hope.

For example: It's pretty clear to all of us outside the Beltway, i.e., in Normalsville, that Republicans in Washington are desperately trying to gin up scandal about President Biden to distract from their many idiocies and failures. Thanks to them, the government is about to shut down in three days — and their potential 2024 nominee, Benedict Donald, just had his ass handed to him by a New York judge, who called him exactly what he is: a fraud.

But hey, they're not giving up just because they're a mess. Enter Ryan Nobles from NBC, who today questioned the hapless MAGA Congressman from Missouri, Jason Smith, on the so-called "evidence" against Biden that Republicans keep yammering about. The stuff they're presenting makes no sense, as Nobles's questions clearly show and Smith's awkward meltdown confirms. This encounter is truly making the rounds.

And young journalists! Please take notes: This is how it's done. Nobles didn't even let Smith get away with that "You're from NBC so you'll never believe us" crap. It sure would be great if other NBC "stars" (ahem, "Meet the Press" hosts, past and present) would follow their colleague Nobles's lead. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

They Did Nazi This Coming

By Baxter

The Speaker of the House has resigned. 

No, not our Speaker — the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons. Sorry, didn't mean to get your hopes all up there. But goodness, what a mess (and a mystery) they have up in Ottawa.

A quick recap: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visited the capital last week to a rapturous reception (well, maybe from everyone except the Conservatives). During the festivities in the House, a 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian, a guest of the Speaker, was introduced as a hero who fought the Russians in World War II. Big ovation. Nobody seemed to have heard of him before, but if he fought the Russians, then...

Wait a minute. If he fought Russians, who had he been fighting for? Apparently the Speaker's office never thought to ask, but it came out over the weekend that the House had cheered a 98-year-old former Nazi. Or, at least, a former member of the First Ukrainian Division, a.k.a. the Nazis' SS 14th Waffen Division. Awkward!

Trouble, as you imagine, ensued. The Speaker, who serves independently and answers only to the House, apologized. But he couldn't outrun the calls to step down, which he did today. (He was also supposed to host a garden party for MPs at his official residence tonight. Little surprise that it was canceled at the last minute.)

The Tories decided to try to yoke Canada's Liberal government to the Speaker's woes, with leader Pierre Poilievre calling him "the Liberal Speaker" and even claiming that Prime Minister Trudeau had met with the Nazi privately during the Zelenskyy visit. (This was a lie.) But the questions still abound: How had the guy been invited in the first place? Why hadn't he been appropriately checked out? After all, Zelenskyy must top every Russian list of assassination targets, so why be so lax about whom they were letting in the same room with him?

As it turns out, the Speaker's office says the Nazi's son requested the invitation. Which starts a whole new round of questions.

We'll keep tabs on this bizarre story — especially now that Poland is mulling extraditing the guy, provided they can prove he committed war crimes there as a Waffenmeister. But the whole thing is awfully fishy, isn't it? We cats like fish, but not when it smells. So we HISS.

The Nutcase Caucus

By Sniffles

Lots of nonsense has been floating around and posing as news over the last several days. One example is a recent ABC-Washington Post poll, with numbers so embarrassingly off that pollster Larry Sabato of Sabato's Crystal Ball said ignore it, it's trash.

Nevertheless, Real Clear Politics adjusted its Presidential polling averages, and included the ABC-WaPo poll but ignored a Reuters-Ipsos poll that had Joe Biden leading Benedict Donald by five points. So, yes, polling is broken. It's surely impossible to be accurate these days when only old people with landlines answer their phones.

Meanwhile, Washington is bracing for a shutdown this week — and once again, it'll be the Republicans' fault. But the "This is why it's bad for Biden" meme just won't die: Pundits are already predicting how terrible a shutdown will be for the White House. It won't help anybody, but we think people really will understand that any shutdown in 2023 will be a MAGA-inspired misery.

That's because in normal times, casual news consumers can't identify individual members of Congress. The legislative branch is like a faceless monolith to them — while the executive, obviously, is a person. But now, the Republican caucus is so extreme that they're breaking that mold.

Crazies like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who calls everyone a pedophile and talks about Jewish space lasers, Matt Gaetz, who's trailed by underage-sex accusations, Lauren Boebert, who gropes her boyfriend in a theater, Jim Jordan, who never wears a suit jacket, and Paul Gosar, who wants to kill the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tend to get people's attention. The MAGA caucus has been so purposely outrageous that average voters know who a lot of them are — which means they'll know whom to blame when the Social Security checks don't arrive.

It's up to Kevin McCarthy. He can easily do a budget deal with Democrats, but that would probably cost him his job. Does Kev think his Speakership is more important than America? If so, he'll probably lose his majority, too. We cats are sick of all of them, and we HISS.

VZ v. PP (Spoiler: VZ Wins)

By Hubie and Bertie

Lots of bites of the news apple are tempting us today, but we just can't ignore Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Canada, which immediately followed his trip to Washington this week.

Zelenskyy started in Ottawa, with an address to Parliament. (Handy reminder that Kevin McCarthy denied him a speech to Congress when he was in DC.) He also shook hands on a rope line of Canadian leaders, including the head of the so-called Progressive Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre.

PeePee, as he's known, is cut from the same MAGA cloth as the Trumpsters here in the US, which means he's not an especially strong supporter of Ukraine. (Uncle Vlad might get mad, ya know.) Anyway, he had some trouble looking Zelenskyy in the eye. He also clapped very half-heartedly before the speech to Parliament. Canadian tweeps noticed his lack of enthusiasm.

There are 1.36 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent in Canada. They're 4 percent of the population, and the largest Slavic group in the country. Yes, the next election isn't for another couple of years, but a picture tells a thousand words, and doesn't get old. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

MTG Blows It — Or, Just Blows

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene really messed up her Yom Kippur message, but no worries — Twitter wags put her in her place. We cats PURR.

"Casual Presidents" ("A Series Inspired By John Fetterman")

 

Pals

 

"Speaker" Kevin McCarthy was too busy imploding (or too much in thrall to his unruly MAGA caucus) to offer Ukrainian President Zelenskyy an address to Congress, but no worries — Joe and Jill had him and Olena over to the White House. We think all the Presidents in the picture frames would approve. And we PURR.

Happy Day

By Miss Kubelik

Another not-great day for MAGA world, by the way:

Trumpy lawyer Lin Wood, who had his fingers in just about every election-overturning pie, is listed as a witness in Georgia DA Fani Willis's RICO case against Benedict Donald and his 18 co-defendants. Now we know why Wood wasn't indicted with the rest of them.

The Dark Merrick hearings didn't go so well for the GOP. It put all their nuttiness on full display, and gave Democrats like Eric Swalwell opportunities to destroy Jim Jordan (which Swalwell promptly did).

Cassidy Hutchinson says that Rudy Giuliani groped her on January 6. Did you think that that day could have gotten any worse?

The Senate confirmed Air Force General C.Q. Brown as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a lopsided vote that has observers predicting the Tommy Tuberville logjam might finally break. (Alabama voters, you really downgraded when you elected that clown.)

Project Veritas is shutting down. They're broke.

Ron DeSantis has fallen to fifth place in a New Hampshire poll of Republican voters, a drop of 13 points in just two months, and 32 points since January. In an Iowa poll, he's in second place, but he's still 37 points behind Benedict Donald. Sad!

Finally, Democratic candidates continue to overperform in special elections — the latest being yesterday's state house contests in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Think that state legislative district elections aren't important? Let's remember the nightmare that ensued when a zillion state capitals flipped red in 2010. We're still trying to crawl out of that one. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Canada Is All Right

By Zamboni

Wow, remember when Ottawa was just a charming little Western capital where nothing much really happened? That was before right wingers in Canada decided their would try to import MAGA-style politics to the True North. Last year's "trucker convoy" was one of their first shots across the bow, and now its organizers are on trial for terrorizing the city for three weeks.

Their latest ploy is a nationwide series of "parents' rights" protests against the LGBTQ community's supposed "indoctrination" of children in Canadian schools (They're super-worried about the "T" in LGBTQ, but there are lots of accusations of "grooming" going on, too.) This was started by a small bunch of religious parents who are allied with Focus on the Family. Surprised?

The good news, though, is that counter-protesters are outnumbering anti-LGBT demonstrators in cities across Canada. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has joined the pro-gay forces on the streets of Ottawa, and the city's mayor, among a zillion other politicians including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has tweeted his support for LGBTQ kids. School boards in Toronto, Ottawa, and other cities have also made statements of support for students and families wrestling with gender-identity issues. What most striking is how Trumpy these "parents' rights" people look — down to the red hats and everything.

Over the past several months, there have been plenty of disturbing images of Canadian children with their parents at right-wing events, giving the Nazi salute, waving swastikas, or stomping on Pride flags. You really have to wonder who's doing the indoctrinating here. We cats HISS.

The Best Andidote For Worry Is Action

 

By Baxter

Sometimes you just get tired of all the crazy, don't you? It's a little discouraging that even after 81 million voters kicked him out of office, Benedict Donald has not gone away. On the other hand, the reason he's still with us is that we're all finding out he is a criminal of the highest order, and if the fates allow, he'll be held to account for his utter despicableness. So there's that.

Revelations like the latest one (above) will keep coming as the layers of the onion are peeled back. And with the GOP-controlled House of Representatives in continued chaos, there seems to be nowhere a person can turn for a news respite. (Except for the heartening story that the historic banyan tree in Lahaina, Maui, damaged in last month's awful wildfires, is sprouting new leaves.)

So here's another suggestion. Today is National Voter Registration Day. Since the best way to keep our democracy safe and make sure Benedict Donald gets hauled off to the hoosegow where he belongs is to once again defeat him and the Republicans at the polls, take a second to register to vote. Or, if you're already registered, double-check that you're still on the rolls, especially if you're in a red state. You can also visit iwillvote.com to confirm your registration, sign up, or learn more about voting in your state.

Then, next year, think about manning a voter registration booth, working a phone bank, canvassing your neighborhood, or serving as a poll worker. And donate to your favorite Democrats. We cats PURR.

Rhonda Takes It In The Shorts

 

Desperate to deflect attention from their own trouble, MAGA Republicans will grasp at any story and try to make it a scandal. The latest is the news that John Fetterman will be allowed to wear his hoodie, etc. on the Senate floor. Hey, the guy's got a brand, you know? And as you can see, one aspect of it is to rip people new assholes. Sorry, Rhonda! We cats PURR.

Incorrect Address

By Sniffles

Turns out you can teach an old cat new tricks. We're making an important note in our etiquette book for future reference.

Until this weekend, we honestly thought that once a person was President, he (or someday, it is to be hoped, she) would be addressed as such even after leaving office. So on the occasions we've had to be with him, we've always called Jimmy Carter "Mr. President" to his face, even though he left the White House more than 40 years ago.

As Casey Stengel said, you could look it up. So we did, and found a Miss Manners column that laid down the law. America only has one President at a time, she said, so you address a former POTUS as "Honorific/Last Name" — that is, Mr. Carter, Mr. Clinton, Mr. Smirky, Mr. Obama, Mr. Traitor Insurrectionist. Color us surprised!

Which means that the tweeps who were dragging Kristen Welker for calling Trump "Mr. President" in her detestable Meet the Press debut were right. (Bet he made it a condition of granting the interview.) It's another reason the whole thing makes us sick. We cats hack up multiple hairballs, and we HISS.

The Disconnect

 

By Hubie and Bertie

You'd never know it from the mainstream media, but the Republicans are self-destructing. Kevin McCarthy has no control over his GOP caucus in the House, and his MAGA wing members are at each other's throats. And somebody is leaking gossip about Kristi Noem to torpedo her as Benedict Donald's running mate. We haven't even gotten to Lauren Boebert yet.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden just keeps doing his job. Which he loves.

Our advice? Yes, the Republicans are an attractive train wreck. But the press needs to stop being fascinated with GOP performative nonsense, and recognize what Biden-Harris has done (and continues to do). We know that policy is boring, but Democrats are accomplishing things that actually have an impact on people's lives: the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Act, student loan debt cancellations, and more than 13 million jobs added to the economy. And that's just the start.

Problem is, so-called reporters prefer Trump, because he makes them money. It's incredibly disheartening to realize that they don't give a damn about democracy. We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Lest We Furr-get: Kim Davis Owes Some Money

By Miss Kubelik

Remember this good-lookin' li'l gal from Kaintuck? Yep, it's been eight years, but former Rowan County clerk Kim Davis finally has to pay up.

A federal jury has decreed that Davis, who denied a marriage license to a gay couple in spite of the SCOTUS decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, now has to write them a $100,000 check. "The case is about a government official that just refused to do her job," said the couple's lawyer. "It's a pretty simple case."

This is on top of Davis having lost her bid for re-election to her county clerk position back in 2018. Voters booted her out for violating people's constitutional rights. Now she's getting hit in the wallet.

MAGAts and other haters have probably already started a GoFundMe for her, but we don't care. It's deeply satisfying to see Davis become the latest poster girl for FAFO. We cats PURR.

They All Knew.

By Zamboni

We cats read the Romney excerpt in The Atlantic today so you wouldn't have to. You're welcome.

It's a trip down bad memory lane with the usual cast of unsavory Republican characters, plus a dash of gratuitous Willard adoration thrown in. (Ick.) But Mitch McConnell, Lady Lindsey, JD Vance, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and of course Benedict Donald must be all pretty steamed about the details. (Ryan in particular shows up as his old weaselly self, urging Willard to acquit Trump in the first impeachment.) Nobody comes off very well.

But probably unintentionally — since the writer, McKay Coppins, is a fellow Mormon and obvious Mitt fan — Willard doesn't, either. After all, there's no indication that Romney did anything after McConnell ignored his text about January 6.

So... you text McConnell that you're worried, and he doesn't reply? There are such things called telephones, which people can use to actually speak to one another. Or, failing that, Romney could have caught up with his leader in the hallway, or pulled him aside at a caucus meeting, or scheduled a one-on-one. Instead, the Capitol was indeed stormed, and cops were mauled within an inch of their lives. (Ironic since it was a Capitol Police officer, Eugene Goodman, who saved Romney's life by directing him away from the Trumpy mob.)

You can just imagine how Officers Goodman, Gonell, Fanone, Dunn and Hodges reacted to this when they heard. But then, Willard never fails to disappoint, does he? We cats HISS.

Enough Of This.

By Baxter

It appears that the pundit class and the Twitterverse need to get all this "Biden is old" crap out of the way early so that the pushback — see Mike Luckovich's cartoon above — can begin. Good.

Meanwhile, a few thoughts.

1. Joe Biden knows he's old. That's why he takes such good care of himself. Unlike some people we know, he lifts weights, cycles, doesn't drink, eats right, and — GASP! — gets enough sleep.

2. Journalism is clearly dead, since they're grasping for anything (between Trump indictments) to fill the void and gin up controversy, which means they're worrying this tired narrative like a dog on a bone. That includes, sadly, organs like The New York Times, which has been particularly embarrassing itself lately.

3. Any suggestions that Biden should step aside, or choose a new running mate — and we've heard it from some disappointing sources — are not only not based in reality, they smack of something else: Fear Of Harris. It's not a good look.

4. As Luckovich suggests, it's also terribly ungrateful. But most of all, this time-wasting claptrap is pissing off Black women. Fair warning: Biden was elected to catch the falling plane because of them. If they sit home next year, get ready for the Second Coming of Trump and the end of democracy. Think we're kidding? We're not. We cats HISS.

Over The Double Rainbow

So, yes, the awful AI image that's making the rounds of Benedict Donald as a 9/11 firefighter is sickening and fake — but on the other hand, this really happened today. Kind of spooky and swell. We cats PURR.

"Careful The Things You Do / Children Will See"

By Sniffles

It's jarring for some to realize that since 9/11 is now 22 years ago, there are plenty of folks in this country too young to remember it. Not much different, probably, from how people who experienced Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination felt — how could they possibly explain what life was like before?

In that vein, we cats worry that a whole generation of kids is growing up thinking that a President behaves like Donald Trump.

No, no, no! We all have to explain to them that no way in hell did a POTUS ever openly call people names, tweet garbage in the middle of the night, cage children at the border, deny a pandemic, refuse to concede or even have a Presidential transition, skip a successor's inauguration, stage an insurrection, and all the other horrible things that Trump has done. The big stuff is so overwhelming that sometimes even we can forget all the small violations of protocol that both Donald and his minions were guilty of.

Helpfully, we were reminded today that a true President does gracious and classy things. Joe Biden, in Hanoi, visited the John McCain Memorial there, spoke quietly to the servicemen guarding it, made the sign of the cross, and left a challenge coin behind.

We hope that youngsters who think a politician only hurls childish insults will see this video someday and realize that leaders from opposite parties, even those whose tickets run against each other in a Presidential year, can serve together and be friends. Firing Trump and hiring Biden took the country out of the grip of a malevolent mobster and put it in the hands of a decent and elegant man. We cats PURR.

Agree.

Benedict Donald was not universally warmly welcomed at the Iowa football game today. Neither was Ron DeSantis, just for the record. We cats continue to have hope for America, and we PURR.

Weekly Justice Recap, Courtesy Of @7Veritas4

Enrique Tarrio, 22 years

Alabama court strikes down gerrymandered district maps

Peter Navarro, Green Bay swept

Ken Paxton impeachment in Texas 

Mar-a-Lago documents case, Taveras flips

New York fraud case, Trump loses appeal to delay — sanctions pending

E. Jean Carroll wins her second defamation suit against the sex pest

DC Grand Jury back in session

Georgia RICO, Cheese and Kraken go together on October 23

John Eastman disbarment hearing

Fani Willis stuffs Jim Jordan in a locker

Fourteenth amendment disqualification vs. Trump filed in Colorado

Mark Meadows loses appeal to change jurisdiction

(Monday was a holiday.) We cats PURR.

Smackdown

 

By Hubie and Bertie

Fulton County DA Fani Willis is a goddess.

She's sent a blistering letter to Gym Jordan, telling him in no uncertain terms to back off his Congressional interference in her RICO case against Benedict Donald and his co-conspirators. She also insulted him throughout, and it was glorious to behold.

It's clear, she wrote, "that you lack a basic understanding of the law, its practice, and the ethical obligations of attorneys generally and prosecutors specifically."

But wait, there's more:

"Your attempt to invoke Congressional authority to intrude upon and interfere with an active criminal case in Georgia is flagrantly at odds with the Constitution...There is absolutely no support for Congress purporting to second-guess or somehow supervise an ongoing Georgia criminal investigation and prosecution."

Last but not least, she added this zinger:

"For a more thorough understanding of Georgia's RICO statute, its application and similar laws in other states, I encourage you to read RICO State-by-State. As a non-member of the bar, you can purchase a copy for $249." We cats PURR.

So Much Winning!

By Miss Kubelik

Benedict Donald's legal losing streak continued apace today. You may have heard that E. Jean Carroll won summary judgment in her second lawsuit against him. But that was just the beginning.

The biggest news was probably in the stolen classified documents case, because it looks like the IT guy who was asked to erase security tapes of the boxes being moved has flipped. He'll testify for the government and not be charged. That's a big "rut-roh" for Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira, and it makes you wonder if more Trumpy accomplices, left by Donald to twist slowly in the wind, will follow his example and cooperate.

Also today, the judge in Fulton County, Georgia, ruled that Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro will be tried together in Fani Willis's RICO case starting October 23. Speedy trial indeed! Surely this is not what Trump wants — the possibility of a guilty verdict for two co-defendants sooner rather than later.

In New York, the judge in state Attorney General Tish James's civil fraud lawsuit against the Trump Organization turned back Benedict Donald's latest attempt to delay. The trial will begin as planned on October 2.

And we didn't even get to Peter Navarro yet.

We keep seeing never-Trump Republican tweeps issue dire warnings that all this will just strengthen Donald with his base. So what. We don't care about the MAGAts, racists and traitors — they represent, at absolute best, 30 percent of the country. The rest of us are sane citizens who believe in truth, justice and the American way. We cats PURR.

22 Years In The Hoosegow

By Zamboni

We cats were hoping that Enrique Tarrio would get sentenced to more than 20 years in prison today, even though he wasn't physically at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. (He was barred from DC on January 5 for tearing down and burning a BLM banner from a Black church the month before. But if that judge hadn't banned him, you know he would have been leading the charge.)

And now, Tarrio is the "proud" (pun intended) owner of the longest January 6 sentence yet: 22 years. Yay! That'll teach him to try to cancel our vote (and 81 million others).

It's only Tuesday, and the day after Labor Day to boot, but the week is shaping up pretty well. With this sentence, Tarrio — who was mighty contrite in court this afternoon, by the way — won't see the light of day until he's in his 60s. Jury selection is underway for Peter Navarro, who, if he's convicted of contempt of Congress, could get locked up for a year. The Republicans' ridiculous redistricting map in Alabama was struck down. And in Texas, the Ken Paxton impeachment trial has begun. All great news.

Meanwhile, you have to wonder how the GOP would react if a whole bunch of Democrats had posed for selfies with a convicted felon and insurrectionist. The screaming would probably never stop — unless you take into account that their 2024 nominee for President will be one, too. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

If we cats don't post too often this weekend, it's because we're off sailing. And PURRING.

P.S. If you enjoy weekends, thank a union. We cats PURR again.

Mugs

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Recurring Nightmare

By Baxter

President Biden will visit Florida to view Idalia damage on Saturday, but Ron DeSantis will not be there to greet him. Guess he doesn't want a rerun of this devastating picture from post-Hurricane Ian.

'Cuz see, Joe is a real people person who connects with everyone he meets, while Ron is — not.

DeSantis is claiming the visit will impede recovery operations, but the White House countered that the two had spoken yesterday — and when Joe said he and Jill were coming down, Rhonda had no objections. Typical DeSantis hypocrisy and obfuscation. (Plain English: lying.)

The other possibility is that DeSantis doesn't want to get anywhere near the press in a non-scripted setting, because he's afraid they'll ask him about his Super PAC pulling out of the Super Tuesday states. Since he bristles whenever journalists rightly ask him stuff, a display of privileged petulance probably wouldn't go over well in the middle of Idalia destruction.

The additional bad news for Ron is that there are three full months left in the 2023 hurricane season — it doesn't end until November 30. And knowing how warm the oceans are these days, the chances that Florida will have another storm are probably pretty high. Which means that DeSantis should brace himself for more Democratic visits. Shall we send Vice President Harris next time? We cats PURR.