Jamal Khashoggi, China, Boston Red Sox: Your Thursday Briefing

Mark Levin just made a bossy, egotistical, and absurd demand to Donald Trump. If a prospective VP candidate won't come on my RADIO SHOW, Donald, don't pick them! Transcript via Media Matters: MARK LEVIN (HOST): You know, America, we have a little test here. We have 14 and half million listeners on this program every week.

Donald Trump complained to the media after Judge Juan Merchan told him he will be put in jail if he continues to break his gag orders. Trump has no idea what his constitutional rights which is evident if he believes he can spew hatred, and threats against the prosecution, the judge, and jurors during his election interference trial. As you know, they've taken away my constitutional rights, so I'm not allowed to answer that question. This has never happened in this country before. It's a ridiculous thing.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem did what every Republican does when things don't go well for them during a television interview -- attack the "fake news" and play the conservative victim card. As we already discussed here, Noem made an appearance on this Sunday's Face the Nation, and the interview was a disaster, to put it mildly. She tap danced around the lie in her upcoming memoir that she supposedly met with North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Un, and also suggested that Biden's dog Commander should be shot. Here's Noem's attack of CBS and Margaret Brennan on Xitter: This morning in our 15-minute interview, Margaret Brennan interrupted me 36 times — once every 25 seconds on average.

Four years ago today, things were NOT better off. And also Trump had some medical professionals in his office to talk about Covid and he was a JERK TO THEM. As we posted: ____________________ On top of everything else and his utter failure in this crisis, Donald Trump is a jerk. In an Oval Office ceremony designed to HONOR NURSES on National Nurses Day, Donald Trump got huffy when one of the nurses attending mentioned that, yeah, PPE is important and she needs more of it.

The New Hampshire state legislature was debating a bill which would ban teen marriage by raising the minimum age to be married to 18 years old. It was during this debate when State Representative Jess Edwards gave a most disturbing comment: Rep. Jess Edwards argued that taking away the possibility of marriage could lead more 16- and 17-year-olds to abortion. “… If we continually restrict the freedom of marriage as a legitimate social option, when we do this to people who are a ripe, fertile age and may have a pregnancy and a baby involved, are we not in fact making abortion a much more desirable alternative, when marriage might be the right solution for some freedom-loving couples?” he said. Hey, Jess!

Democratic strategist Jim Kessler predicted to Fox News that former President Donald Trump would commit perjury if he testifies in his hush money trial. During a Sunday panel discussion, Kessler told host Mike Emanuel that it would be a mistake for Trump to pick his vice presidential running mate based on who defends him the best against criminal charges. "I think if Trump is making his VP choice on who defends him best in a trial, it's a dumb way to go about it," Kessler explained.