Open Thread For Night Owls: Would A Nat'l Medicare-for-all March Be A Good Use Of Activists' Time?

NPR: “On the campaign trail, former President Donald Trump has made many promises about what he’d do on his first day in office, should he win again. Some are more realistic than others.”

Sen. J. D. Vance (R-OH) made it clear Thursday that he didn’t appreciate Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) criticizing his appearance at former President Trump’s trial as “embarrassing” and advised his colleague from Utah to focus more on his legislative work than passing judgment on fellow Republican senators, The Hill reports. Said Vance: “Mitt Romney of all people is probably the least equipped to criticize how people have conducted themselves vis-a-vis Donald Trump,” He added: “He attacked him and then he begged him for a job, and then he attacked them again and begged him for endorsement.”

“Donald Trump’s allies are drawing up detailed proposals to implement the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s plans for an unprecedented immigration crackdown, including an effort that would deport asylum seekers to other countries,“ the Wall Street Journal reports. “A cadre of former Trump administration officials, Trump supporters and conservative immigration wonks are writing executive orders, policy memos and other documents in a bid to transform campaign rhetoric into policy.

“President Biden is courting Black voters this weekend in a flurry of high-profile events, in a bid to reclaim support among a once-reliable voting bloc now showing a lack of enthusiasm,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The marquee event is delivering the commencement address at Morehouse College, the prestigious, all-male historically Black college and the alma mater of Dr.

“The contest to succeed Gavin Newsom in the nation’s biggest, bluest state is already turning bitter. And it’s still more than two years away,” Politico reports. “California’s gubernatorial sweepstakes are well underway in a stampede for early blessings from powerful insiders, scheming among the growing field of contenders and hushed conversations with major donors.” “The tortuous path to 2026 — when Newsom’s term ends — started last year and is among the longest-running electoral battles in America given the immense challenge of nurturing a statewide profile.

“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opened a new front in his battle to shape the Trump-era GOP this week when he torched Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and called out Republicans who have sought to boost the far-right strongman,” Punchbowl News reports. “Fresh off his victory on Ukraine aid, McConnell is making clear he isn’t finished trying to blunt what he sees as a dangerous foreign policy doctrine taking hold in the Republican Party under Donald Trump.”