Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Keeping Up The Fight Against The Nra

CNN's Daniel Dale fact-checks Donald Trump's speech a day after jurors found him guilty of 34 felony counts for falsifying business documents. Dale clarifies Trump's claims about Biden's involvement in the case, his inability to use an election expert during the trial, and New York crime statistics.

In H. G. Wells’ science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds, aliens from Mars invade Earth. The military resists, but human technology is no match for Martian tripods and death rays. Within weeks, the aliens have routed the defenders and seem poised to conquer the planet. And then, mysteriously, they die.

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Friday he has registered as an independent, raising questions about his future political plans. Manchin, who would have faced a tough reelection in November if he had chosen to run, has long been an outspoken critic of the Democratic Party and an obstacle to many of President Joe Biden’s legislative priorities. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Manchin has served in the Senate since 2010.

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and JILL COLVIN (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump attacked the judge and the star witness in his criminal hush money trial and again tried to undermine New York’s criminal justice system on Friday while seeking to turn his conviction on 34 felony charges into fuel — and not an impediment — to his bid to return to the White House. Trump addressed reporters at his namesake tower in Manhattan Friday, returning to campaigning a day after he was convicted of trying to illegally influence the 2016 election by falsifying business records to hide money paid to a porn actor who claimed they had sex. The Republican ex-president, as defiant as ever, argued the verdict was illegitimate and driven by politics and sought to downplay the facts underlying the case. “It’s not hush money.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, slumped before the opening bell Friday after former President Donald Trump was convicted in his hush money trial. A New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Shares fell 9% immediately Thursday in after-hours trading as news of the verdict emerged, and were down 5% early Friday. The stock, which trades under the ticker symbol “DJT,” has been extraordinarily volatile since its debut in late March, joining the group of meme stocks that are prone to ricochet from highs to lows as small-pocketed investors attempt to catch an upward momentum swing at the right time. The stock has tripled this year, in the process frequently making double-digit percentage moves either higher or lower on a single day.

Are Democrats starting to feel a little queasy about their banana-republic lawfare campaign to knock out a political opponent?