[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

The newly convicted felon wasted no time:

Moments after a jury handed down a guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records, Trump’s campaign flipped his website to a verdict-themed fundraising funnel. Trump followed it up by putting out a siren on his Truth Social account calling himself a “POLITICAL PRISONER” and sending a fresh fundraising appeal to his list of supporters. And he is set to appeal to high rollers at a fundraiser in New York City tonight.

“I was just convicted in a RIGGED political Witch Hunt trial: I DID NOTHING WRONG!” read one post-verdict campaign fundraising email. “But with your support at this moment in history, WE WILL WIN BACK THE WHITE HOUSE AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

And a financial windfall isn’t the only tactic in play:

As the former president is about to officially become the GOP’s nominee for the third consecutive election, Trump “is going to wrap himself in the robe of a martyr,” said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party.

“He is going to have more fire on the stump and probably even larger crowds at his rallies, and I think this is going to give him an incredible amount of momentum going forward,” Roe said.

P.S. According to reports today, the hoped-for small-donor windfall happened, although it is the Trump campaign reporting the numbers:

The Trump campaign announced via a statement “a record shattering small dollar fundraising haul following the sham Biden Trial verdict totaling $34.8 million —nearly double the biggest day ever recorded for the Trump campaign on the WinRed platform.”

Second news item

President Biden’s campaign in trouble:

Prominent Black officials are warning the Biden campaign that the president’s efforts to keep Black voters firmly and enthusiastically in his electoral coalition aren’t working — and that time is running out to get his message across.

The publicly voiced concern from these Black Democrats isn’t that the White House lacks policy achievements — it’s that Black voters aren’t hearing about them. Worse, they fear that the Biden campaign has not fully grasped the severity of the information gap at hand, particularly in key battleground states.

“I’m in a battleground state. I know what has and hasn’t been done. I felt a level of disconnection earlier on the message, on the messengers and on mobilization,” said Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He said he has brought this issue directly to the campaign.

Third news item

Adapting and adjusting: New policy for Ukraine:

President Biden has partially lifted a ban on Ukraine using U.S.-provided weapons for strikes inside Russia, three U.S. officials tell CBS News.

Ukraine may use the weapons on the Russian side of the border near the besieged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, against concentrations of Russian troops and Russian artillery pieces, one U.S. official said. Asked whether that includes Russian airplanes this official said, “We’ve never told them they can’t shoot down a Russian airplane over Russian soil that’s coming to attack them.”

Don’t miss Mick Ryan’s analysis of the decision here.

This:

“By betraying its fear of escalation and suggesting that the nuclear threat brandished by the Kremlin dissuades it from going further, the US is undermining some of its allies’ trust in its reliability.”

Strategic blindness.

Fourth news item

This may seem a cynical take, but many have seen this happen in person:

So, the aspiring, narcissist pastor, who has little interest in serving people, gets trained by a church planting group like the Association of Related Churches (ARC). There, he learns to “launch large,” or essentially, build a megachurch overnight.

Then, he leverages his large congregation to build a big social media platform online. This enables him to get a book contract with a major evangelical publishing house.

After publishing his book, Christian radio stations feature the pastor on their programs, enabling him to sell his book and build his platform. This enriches both the preacher and the publishing house. And it gives the Christian radio program free content.

Then, the preacher raises enough money to launch a broadcast ministry and buys airtime on networks like the Salem Radio Network and the Moody Radio Network.

This gives the preacher a huge platform from which he can raise even more money. Plus, he gets an additional, six-figure salary for essentially doing nothing. (An editor simply repackages his Sunday sermons into radio format.) The radio network also benefits from hundreds of thousands in revenue from the broadcast ministry.

The pastor’s megachurch then grows larger and larger as his sermons become increasingly popular. This raises the prominence of his church, along with his salary.

This enables the church to attract hundreds, or even thousands, to conferences, bringing in even more revenue. The pastor then launches cohorts for other pastors, training them to be like him, while charging them $1,500-$3,000 per person.

The pastor gets more book deals.

He gets richer and richer. His head gets bigger and bigger. And then, he begins abusing his staff and begins taking liberty with women.

But now, his brand has become critical to the survival of his empire. Plus, his board is stacked with men who have their own ministries, which the pastor has the power to make or break. Or, some board members simply love the perks that proximity to the pastor bestows.

So, the board and the staff look the other way.

So *not* what Jesus had in mind…

Fifth news item

If you disagree with the verdict in the Trump hush money case, consider this:

I did follow the trial. The verdict was right. The most strident critics of the verdict are driven by some mixture of partisanship and ignorance, which often go hand in hand. For example, witness Marco Rubio’s moronic tweet comparing this to a Soviet show trial. 🙄 https://t.co/7EjmPyAh8A

— Patterico (@Patterico) May 31, 2024

You can find prominent Republicans who also agree with the decision here.

Sixth news item

Student protesters get big support from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei:

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has lavished praise on American students for protesting US-backed Israel’s war on Hamas.

Khamenei, in an open letter and social media posts, told student protesters they were standing on the “right side of history” by opposing the US and Israeli governments.

If you think that this would cause protesters to take a giant step back and reconsider their actions, you’d be wrong. Badge of honor.

Have a good weekend.

—Dana