Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet. We begin today with Elizabeth Spiers of The New York Times noting the irony of the return of a certain native New Yorker to the city he now claims to despise. With jury selection underway in Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Lower Manhattan, the former president’s chickens have finally come home to roost. It feels uniquely appropriate that Mr. Trump will have to endure the scrutiny on his old home turf. New York City resi ..read more

A cartoon by Clay Bennett. Campaign Action ..read more

Poor Donald Trump. It seems he isn’t selling enough $399 high-tops or $60 Bibles, and his Truth Social stock is in the toilet, so it’s time for a new, new, new, new grift: charging his fellow Republicans for uttering his name. The Trump campaign announced in a letter Politico obtained that Republican candidates and committees are now expected to pay “a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations to Trump National Committee JFC” for using his “name, image, and likeness in fundraising solicitations.”  Yes, a minimum. But Republicans who give more than the mandatory mi ..read more

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has been using “yabba dabba doofus” Donald Trump as a comedic punching bag for a long time. On Tuesday night, Kimmel continued this routine, poking fun at Trump Media & Technology Group’s plummeting stock prices. "If you bought Trump stock two weeks ago, and shame on you if you did, you lost half your money,” Kimmel said. “But if you hold on just a little bit longer, you might be able to lose all of it."  He buttoned up the joke with a clip of President Joe Biden making fun of Trump’s financial situation during a speech in Pennsylvania earlier th ..read more

A new Civiqs poll for Daily Kos shows why the issue of abortion is so perilous for the Republican Party, with voters viewing themselves as significantly more aligned with Democrats on the matter. By 15 points, registered voters say their opinion on abortion is closer to that of Democrats in their states than Republicans, at 48% to 33%, according to the poll released Wednesday. President Joe Biden also fares 8 points better than Donald Trump on the question of how voters think the candidates' abortion views track with their own, with 44% choosing Biden compared to 36% picking Trump. Democrati ..read more

House Republicans really wanted an impeachment of … someone. President Joe Biden, preferably, or his son Hunter, or maybe Hunter’s laptop, or perhaps Hunter’s dog walker. They decided on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who didn’t commit any high crimes or misdemeanors but did attempt to execute the policies of the administration in which he serves.  On Wednesday, the Senate took one look at the articles of impeachment oh-so-solemnly delivered by a hard-right House faction just the day before and said, “Nope. Hard pass.” Senators voted to toss the case without was ..read more

Republicans’ frustration with House Speaker Mike Johnson over aid to Ukraine is giving steam to Democrats’ efforts to force the Senate aid bill to a vote. What was previously a procedural long shot is looking more probable by the day, as Johnson muddies the waters with a likely doomed and convoluted process. House Republicans are now talking openly about signing on to Democrats’ discharge petition, a procedural move that would allow Ukraine backers to bypass House leadership and force a vote on the bill. It’s always been a stretch because it needs 218 signatures, which means that a handful of ..read more

President Joe Biden appears poised to benefit from a reverse enthusiasm gap, with Democrats being more motivated than Republicans to vote against the opposing candidate. A new Civiqs poll for Daily Kos posited: Regardless of who you are voting for for president, how motivated are you by voting against the other candidate? Overall, nearly 8 in 10 registered voters said they were "extremely" motivated by voting against the rival candidate, with Democratic voters besting Republican voters by 7 points, 85% to 77%. By contrast, just 63% of voters said they were "extremely" motivated to vote "in sup ..read more

"Colin Allred’s fundraising for U.S. Senate race surpasses O’Rourke’s early 2018 pace" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. By Matthew Choi, The Texas Tribune U.S. Rep. Colin Allred raised over $9.5 million for his U.S. Senate campaign in this year’s first quarter, surpassing the campaign of his rival Sen. Ted Cruz. Notably, Allred has also raised more money than Beto O’Rourke did by this point in his own history-making run against Cruz ..read more

Without question, defeating Donald Trump this year is job one—because if we don’t do that, job two will likely involve tossing deep-fried Soylent Green to the free-range Trump clones waiting for OG Don’s consciousness to upload into their brains for yet another go at infrastructure week. That said, if we want government to function properly, and for President Joe Biden to have a Congress he can actually work with to achieve popular legislative goals, like restoring abortion rights nationwide, Democrats need to take back the House and keep the Senate. And while that’s c ..read more