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Is this the beginning of the end for Trumpism or the GOP?


Today we're leading the newsletter with two columns on former President Trump and the Republican party, one from Jill Lawrence and one from Kurt Bardella. Happy reading.

Is this the beginning of the end for Trumpism or the GOP?

By Jill Lawrence

It was a Republican National Committee meeting that will live in infamy, and perhaps in history. The RNC’s decision Friday to rebrand deadly mob violence at the U.S. Capitol as “legitimate political discourse” and censure two GOP House members investigating the attack has exposed a party so divided against itself that, as Abraham Lincoln told his fellow Republicans in 1858, it cannot stand. 

Back then he presented the existential choice as preserving slavery or preserving the Union. Today, the choice is between preserving Trumpism or preserving the Republican Party.

There is increasing evidence that they cannot co-exist. The resolution adopted by the RNC in Salt Lake City has unleashed a torrent of protest from Republicans and former Republicans including, as of Tuesday, sharp comments from Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. 

Today's Editorial Cartoon

The 'but Hillary’s emails' crowd goes silent about Trump’s document destruction

By Kurt Bardella

Let’s play a game. When did the following headlines run?

“Documents Improperly Taken from White House to Archives.”

“National Archives had to retrieve White House records” from private property.

If you didn’t know any better, you might think they were from the 2016 presidential campaign.

Remember when, in October 2016, House Republicans launched a series of hearings attacking the then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over her emails?

Women, kids of Afghanistan we abandoned need international help

By Natalie Gonnella-Platts

Nearly six months since the completion of the international withdrawal from Afghanistan, Afghan women and girls have seen a steady elimination of their rights and status within society.

The news cycle has moved on. Taliban oppression has not.

As the crisis in Ukraine and the Beijing Olympics divert attention from the ongoing circumstances in Afghanistan, global solidarity for Afghan women is critical. The situation, while dire, is not hopeless if the international community acts quickly.

Other columns to read today

Columns on qualified immunity

We are doing a series examining the issue of qualified immunity. For more on the series read here. 

This newsletter was compiled by Jaden Amos.