Badlands News Brief
Biden Hemorrhages Already-Nonexistent Support
The News Cycle is almost impossible to track these days. At least, to do so fully.
That’s where we come in.
In the Badlands News Brief, the Badlands Media team hand pick news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community.
Many items feature original (and subjective) commentary. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see our writers’ Substack accounts and check out their other work.
Now, onto the news from Monday, February 12 …
Overwhelming majority of Americans think Biden is too old for another term: POLL
An overwhelming majority of Americans think President Joe Biden is too old to serve another term, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll.
According to the poll, conducted using Ipsos' Knowledge Panel, 86% of Americans think Biden, 81, is too old to serve another term as president. That figure includes 59% of Americans who think both he and former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, are too old and 27% who think only Biden is too old.
Sixty-two percent of Americans think Trump, who is 77, is too old to serve as president. There is a large difference in how partisans view their respective nominees -- 73% of Democrats think Biden is too old to serve but only 35% of Republicans think Trump is too old to serve. Ninety-one percent of independents think Biden is too old to serve, and 71% say the same about Trump.
Concerns about both candidates' ages have increased since September when an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 74% of Americans thought Biden -- the oldest commander in chief in U.S. history -- was too old to serve another term as president, and 49% said the same about Trump.
The new poll comes on the heels of last week's report from special counsel Robert Hur, which recommended that Biden should not face charges over his handling of classified documents while out of office but did cast doubt on his mental fitness. Vice President Kamala Harris called the report "politically motivated." — ABC News
Our Take: “Recently, a lot of my commentary and thinking has been guided by a 'take the win' mentality I believe is essential to program into the America First movement by deprogramming from the doomer's refrain, which is effecting something of an Overton's Goalpost pattern in and of itself.
For years, this community has railed against the Biden Admin, calling it an embarrassment on both a national and international stage, and fantasizing about the day the establishment that propped it up on marionette strings is forced to put it out to pasture, relegating Biden himself to Old Yeller status.
Now that the media turn on Biden is in full swing, many are finding ways to complain about it by lamenting the fact that said establishment is going to attempt to replace Biden with another Deep State scion.
This has been in the works for ages. The only question is, will ANY public mandate to lead remain after they've finished destroying their own?
Their own polls say otherwise.” —
Kamala Harris Says She Is Ready to Serve as Biden Faces Age Scrutiny
Vice President Kamala Harris was detailing her priorities for the campaign during a flight on Air Force Two early last week when she was asked a delicate question hanging over the Democratic ticket: Do voters’ concerns about President Biden’s age mean she must convince them she is ready to serve?
“I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that,” Harris responded bluntly. Everyone who sees her on the job, Harris said, “walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead.”
The response during an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday came two days before a special counsel report on Biden’s handling of classified documents amplified concerns about the 81-year-old incumbent’s mental acuity. The report said Biden displayed “diminished faculties” in interviews and called him an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
The findings have intensified the scrutiny on Harris, 59, the first woman and Black vice president, whose tenure has been marked by criticism of her political skills. What had been quiet talk of whether Harris could step into the presidency is now spilling into the open.
“There was always going to be a lot of scrutiny and pressure on her in the 2024 campaign, and that moment’s here now,” said Jennifer Palmieri, who worked in the Obama and Clinton administrations and for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “I think that the special counsel’s report has sort of accelerated that moment.” — The Wall Street Journal
Our Take: “The recent change in narrative from the establishment, which threatens to sacrifice Joe Biden, is composed of omissions as much as it is of misinformation and disinformation.
In this case, we're watching a particularly narrow interpretation of the Joe Biden dilemma. The one dimensional take, that the issue with Biden is simply ‘age,’ is to downplay the severity of the circumstance. Not only does it dance around the obvious struggles with mental illness and cognitive functioning, but it obscures the implications of a human puppet in the Office of the President.
The MSM and other government entities involved in building the moving parts of this story are carefully acknowledging just enough about Biden's incapacity to remove him, while trying their best to avoid the dark reality of a coup (Or an attempted coup, a la Devolution).
This was exemplified when Special Counsel Robert Hur described President Biden as a ‘sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’ Even at the superficial layer they are treading, this narrative ignores how incredibly dangerous it is that the power of the US presidency is in the hands of a man in cognitive decline.
However, it also covers the deeper darker truth: that Biden’s cognitive incapacity implies that there has been a takeover of the US presidency. It hides the dangerous idea that someone unknown to the people of America has control of the nation.
I would wager one more possible form of conditioning of the public mind Kamala Harris’s comments are contributing to: That the removal of Joe Biden from the office of the president or from being able to run for president will be used as a precedent to attack Trump for his age. The removal of Joe Biden, for simply being ‘an old man’ can be mirrored and projected onto Trump.
Is their cover up also the act of stocking narrative ammunition for the battles on the horizon?
Is Trump’s choice to cultivate a public closeness with Vivek Ramaswamy, the youngest major Republican candidate in history, an opportunity to show that he is injecting a youthful source of leadership into his campaign?
Moves and counter-moves?” —
Judge in Trump election case moves forward with misconduct hearing, saying DA's disqualification 'possible' if evidence warrants
The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's Georgia election interference case says that it's "possible" misconduct allegations leveled against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis "could result in disqualification" if evidence shows she financially benefited from the case, and that a hearing on the matter will proceed as scheduled on Thursday.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee made the remarks during a hearing Monday to determine whether Willis, prosecutor Nathan Wade, and others will have to testify Thursday during a hearing the judge had scheduled to hear arguments on the matter.
Wills and Wade, along with a number of employees in the DA's office, have been subpoenaed to testify Thursday by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, who last month filed a motion seeking to dismiss the election charges against him and disqualify Willis on the grounds that she allegedly engaged in a "personal, romantic relationship" with Wade, one of her top prosecutors in the election case, which allegedly resulted in financial gain for both of them. — ABC News
Our Take: “‘The state has admitted a relationship existed. And so what remains to be proven is the existence and extent of any financial benefit, again if there even was one. And so because I think it’s possible that the facts alleged by the defendant could result in disqualification, I think an evidentiary hearing must occur to establish the record on those core allegations.’
Judge Scott McAfee, the fact finder in Fani Willis’ very silly RICO case, has not ruled out that Nathan Wade or Ms. Willis herself will testify in Thursday’s hearing on Michael Roman’s motion to disqualify the prosecutor. And, according to McAfee, it’s not out of the question.
But hearing from the lovebirds is not a certainty, with the judge stating, ‘We're not talking about calling Ms. Willis as the first witness, and we need to get over a few procedural hurdles before we can get there.’
Still, the hearing promises to be popcorn worthy. The last hearing on defendant Harrison Floyd’s evidentiary questions raised real issues for the county on the veracity of their election procedures — which may be enough to debunk the ‘big lie’ as the intent of defendants’ actions—that is, may show that their actions had legitimate, lawful cause.
The hearing is scheduled for 9:30aET on Thursday. Stay tuned to Badlands at the end of the week for our analysis.” —
Could Trump Win By Simple Attrition Rather Than Vindication?
While Woody Allen once said that “80 percent of success is showing up,” former president Donald Trump proved this week that the same could be said about “just sticking around.” Trump had one of the best weeks as cases and critics seemed to implode from the disqualification effort in Washington to the scandal in Georgia.
Yet, Trump is not out of the woods and is facing significant threats in what is becoming a war of attrition.
In Washington, the Supreme Court gave a chilly reception to the disqualification effort that bordered on the glacial.
While law professors like Harvard’s Laurence Tribe insisted that the basis for barring Trump from office under the 14th Amendment was “unassailable,” the justices seemed utterly unconvinced and there is the possibility that the entire effort could now be defeated unanimously. Even liberal justice Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson called the effort anti-democratic.
In Georgia, the case against Trump is floundering as allegations mount against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her intimate relationship with her subordinate special prosecutor Nathan J. Wade.
[…]
There are also calls for the removal of Alvin Bragg in New York, who is accused of being lax on crime overall despite his determined effort to convict Trump. — Jonathan Turley
Our Take: “‘80 percent of success is showing up.’
Turley has been marked as something of a maverick according to the MSM, which is pretty funny, since he's considered rather tame by our standards.
That said, I like the way he's framing the ongoing fallout of the Trump Witch Hunt, a storyline that has reached a bit of a crescendoing failure cascade for the establishment over the course of the last week, even with reactionary takes about Biden skating by under the same system (that's more failure, if you're keeping track.)
Essentially, Turley posits that Trump doesn't necessarily have to 'win' his litany of cases, but more so just live to see them crumble under the weight of their own combinations of corruption and incompetence, to say nothing of the underlying lack of fundamental basis in, you know ... constitutional law.
When you add this 'attrition' mindset into the framing of 'narrowed definitions and authority' advanced by minds like
and , things get even comfier.” —Defense Secretary Austin transfers duties to deputy as he is hospitalized, Pentagon says
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin transferred his duties to his deputy as he is hospitalized for treatment for symptoms “suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” according to the Pentagon.
Austin has been admitted into the critical care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and it is “not clear how long Secretary Austin will remain hospitalized,” according to a statement released Sunday night from officials at the hospital.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks assumed the functions and duties of the top spot at the Pentagon shortly before 5 p.m., Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. The White House, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and Congress have been notified.
The rapid notification of Austin’s visit to the hospital – the first statement from the Pentagon was released within three hours – came after the defense secretary acknowledged failures in notifying the administration and the public about his previous hospitalization.
Lloyd was taken to Walter Reed around 2:20 p.m., Ryder said.
Austin traveled to the hospital with unclassified and classified communications systems that are required for his duties. — CNN
Our Take: “When Secretary Austin was having cancer treatment in December 2023, the White House was criticized for the secretive handling of the US Secretary of Defense being incapacitated while the world was (and still is) on the brink of global war. Austin addressed the matter on Feb 1, and suggested that the mistake would not be made again.
According to recently-promoted John Kirby during the White House press conference Monday, the so-called President has not spoken to Austin since his hospitalization Sunday. When asked, Kirby said he was ‘not aware of any conversations.’ When asked if Biden was concerned about Austin’s ability to serve, Kirby replied, ‘not at all.’
No one asked if Austin was concerned about Biden’s ability to serve, which is an arguably more important question when it comes to matters of national security.
Watching this act play out, I have to wonder if the puppets are being removed such that the controllers are forced to be revealed. Let me give you an example:
With this recent news, Kathleen Hicks is currently the nation’s top official for Defense. Hicks was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of Defense on February 9, 2021. It’s notable that she has been presiding over multiple command changes in recent days, before the announcement of SecDef’s hospitalization: Defense Intelligence and Cyber Command on February 2, 2024, and Northern Command on February 5, 2024.
Northern command ‘plans, organizes and executes homeland defense and civil support missions.’
Cyber Command’s mission is to ‘Direct, Synchronize, and Coordinate Cyberspace Planning and Operations - to Defend and Advance National Interests - in Collaboration with Domestic and International Partners.’
Defense Intelligence Agency ‘provides intelligence on foreign militaries and their operating environments so the United States and its allies can prevent and decisively win wars.’
Now Kathleen Hicks is in charge of Defense, and discussions about cyber vulnerabilities in US critical infrastructure are ubiquitous. Last Tuesday, critical infrastructure vulnerabilities in our US water infrastructure were discussed in the House. Vulnerabilities in our communications infrastructure will be discussed this week. And an Ohio Sheriff raised flags over the weekend about alarming local risk indicators from the FBI.
That Ohio Sheriff said current indicators are worse than before 9/11, and the Department of Defense is replacing the heads of relevant commands.
I’m sure it’s nothing.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Trump attends closed-door hearing in Florida classified docs case
Former President Donald Trump was in federal court Monday to meet face-to-face with U.S District Judge Aileen Cannon for the first time.
Trump arrived at the courthouse with his motorcade at about 9 a.m. and was in the building for just over five hours. He left as supporters blasted his campaign song “God Bless the USA” over loudspeakers.
Trump didn’t speak to the media or his supporters gathered at the courthouse.
Cannon held two separate closed-door court sessions Monday as part of the process involving classified evidence related to Trump’s federal classified documents case in Florida.
Authorities accuse the former president of retaining documents containing national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home, after he left office and obstructing the federal investigation into how those records wound up outside of the strict channels for handling such information. — Politico
An Outburst by Trump on NATO May Push Europe to Go It Alone
Long before Donald J. Trump threatened over the weekend that he was willing to let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” against NATO allies that do not contribute sufficiently to collective defense, European leaders were quietly discussing how they might prepare for a world in which America removes itself as the centerpiece of the 75-year-old alliance.
Even allowing for the usual bombast of one of his campaign rallies, where he made his declaration on Saturday, Mr. Trump may now force Europe’s debate into a far more public phase.
So far the discussion in the European media has focused on whether the former president, if returned to office, would pull the United States out of NATO.
But the larger implication of his statement is that he might invite President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to pick off a NATO nation, as a warning and a lesson to the 30 or so others about heeding Mr. Trump’s demands.
His statement stunned many in Europe, especially after three years in which President Biden, attempting to restore the confidence in the alliance lost during Mr. Trump’s four years in office, has repeatedly said that the United States would “defend every inch of NATO territory.” And while a spokesman for the White House, Andrew Bates, denounced Mr. Trump’s comments as “unhinged,” by Sunday morning they had already resonated with those who have argued that Europe cannot depend on the United States to deter Russia. — The New York Times
Biden national security aide John Kirby gets expanded role
John Kirby, President Joe Biden's top national security spokesperson, is getting a promotion and an expanded role at the White House, a U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday.
Kirby, who in past years has served as the top spokesperson at both the Pentagon and the State Department, will have a new title - White House national security communications adviser - and will be elevated to an assistant to the president from deputy assistant.
He will be in charge of communications coordination for national security across a variety of agencies, the official said.
Kirby will preside over a separate team from the National Security Council's press office, which will continue its daily press operations as usual. It is headed by chief spokesperson Adrienne Watson.
Kirby has been one of the most visible faces of the Biden White House, frequently joining the podium for briefings alongside press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to brief on national security issues, particularly since the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel's subsequent attack on Gaza.
His appearances in the briefing room will continue, commensurate with when national security issues are dominant themes of the day, the official said. — Reuters
We hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the major news items you might have missed in this ever-escalating and ever-accelerating news cycle as the Information War continues to rage on around us.
As always, if you have any thoughts on these news items or the MANY others swirling in the digital ether, drop into the comments below to share them with your fellow Badlanders.
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The "too old" excuse is irrelevant - although it's more visible now, Biden's mental lapses can be found throughout his career; in fact, "That's just Joe" has been used repeatedly to excuse him for decades (a form of that is highlighted in the Hur Report). But more insidiously, by pointing to age instead of fitness for office the Left / DS is setting up a roadblock against Trump.
The level of absurdity gets higher every day. I swear I am watching Monty Python...
keep it coming.
God Wins!
God Bless!!