14:49
Manchin opposes voting rights bill, defends filibuster
In case you missed it, Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin took out a column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Sunday to say that he would be opposing the For the People Act.
“I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy,” wrote Manchin, who was considered a key vote to counter efforts by Republicans in state government to restrict voting rights.
Jemele Hill
(@jemelehill)This is so on brand for this country. Record number of black voters show up to save this democracy, only for white supremacy to be upheld by a cowardly, power-hungry white dude. @Sen_JoeManchin is a clown. https://t.co/fCMuyoLer3
Mondaire Jones
(@MondaireJones)Manchin’s op-ed might as well be titled, “Why I’ll vote to preserve Jim Crow.” https://t.co/pS1xEvkwEz
He also used the column to reiterate his support of the filibuster, which gives 41 of 100 senators the ability to block action by the majority.
Democrats have argued that Republicans have repeated used the filibuster to support minority positions – last month, they used it to block the creation of a bipartisan, 9/11-style investigatory commission on the attack on the US capitol.
A study by the Center for American Progres found that Republicans used filibusters roughly twice as much as Democrats to prevent the other party from passing legislation.
David Weissman
(@davidmweissman)Everything that I learned about what a Democrat stood for, makes me wonder why Joe Manchin is a member of our party? Why can’t he understand that Republicans do not want bipartisanship, they want to control and he continues to give them what they want?
14:43
For a hot second this weekend, the Internet united as everyone lost their minds over a possible theory that Donald Trump may have worn his pants backwards at the North Carolina Republican Party’s state convention on Saturday night.
Images and video from his speech that appeared to show a lack of a fly at the front, as well as some odd wrinkling, had Internet sleuths questioning Trump’s fashion’s choices – and #TrumpPants trending on Twitter.
Brandon Friedman
(@BFriedmanDC)Others are noting this, but it can’t be shared enough: Donald Trump gave his big speech today with his pants on backwards. Look close and tell me I’m wrong.pic.twitter.com/sRsoJVfyf8
But after reviewing 90 minutes of footage, Snopes declared that the theory was false.
snopes.com
(@snopes)The rally in question was a GOP convention in North Carolina. https://t.co/erf1sxGhEm
14:21
Biden preps for first foreign trip
Greetings, live blog readers.
We kick off the week with Joe Biden gearing up for the first overseas trip of his administration. Leaders are scheduled to begin arriving in Cornwall for the G7 summit on 11 June.
In addition to having discussions about the global health system, the climate crisis, trade and tax havens at the 47th summit, Biden is expected to meet with Boris Johnson to affirm the US’s “special relationship” with Britain.
He, accompanied by Jill Biden, will then go on to meet the Queen at Windsor Castle on 13 June.
Biden will meet Vladimir Putin in Geneva on 16 June, the first meeting after a cyber-attack, believed to have originated from Russia, took out meat-processing factories across the US. Secretary of State Tony Blinken told Axios that the meeting is “not in spite of” the cyber-attacks, but “because of them.”
Meanwhile, vice president Kamala Harris is in Guatemala for her first foreign trip as well, where she’s expected to focus on economic development, climate and food insecurity and women’s issues. She’s scheduled to fly to Mexico on 8 June.