‘He likes the crazies.’ That’s an ex-campaign aide’s assessment of Donald Trump in a text message shown yesterday to the House committee investigating the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
■ She elaborated: “He loved people who viciously defended him in public.”
■ White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson texted her boss, chief of staff Mark Meadows, during a December 2020 meeting in the Oval Office: “The West Wing is UNHINGED.”
■ A Twitter worker told the committee he went sleepless Jan. 5, 2021, worrying—appropriately, as it turned out—that people might die the next day.
■ One of the witnesses, a guy who said he regretted getting sucked into the insurrection, offered his apologies to officers present for the hearing—but some of them weren’t having it.
■ The AP rounds up takeaways from yesterday’s proceedings …
■ … including what’s become a staple: An end-of-session zinger—this time a suggestion that Trump’s been criminally tampering with at least one witness.
■ CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf: “The main lesson Tuesday may ultimately be that a far-right militia … marched on the U.S. Capitol believing it was doing so on behalf of the U.S. president.”
■ A Sun-Times editorial: After yesterday’s testimony, “no one can believe that Trump was ignorant of their dangerous plans.”
■ Read every word of the hearing in an NPR transcript.
‘He’s gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s a winner.’ Mother Jones has an hour-long recording from October 2020—days before the election—in which Trump whisperer Steve Bannon spelled out Trump’s plan to declare victory even if he lost.
■ Hear an excerpt here.
■ Charlie Pierce at Esquire: “The American courts have had quite enough of MAGA world’s bullsh*t.”
‘Our hearts are shattered.’ Mourners said farewell yesterday to Irina McCarthy, the mother of a 2-year-old boy orphaned in the attack on Highland Park’s 4th of July parade.
■ Services for her husband were pending.
■ An 8-year-old shot and paralyzed that day, Cooper Roberts, was back in critical condition after another round of surgery.
■ Three men were being held in the case of an off-duty Chicago police officer shot and paralyzed as prosecutors say he tried to break up a fight outside a bar.
■ Organizers of the North Coast Music Festival, set for Labor Day Weekend in Bridgeview, say they’re “taking seriously” a threat to artists and others involved.
■ A Bridgeview cop tells the Sun-Times: “Someone’s mad about one of the performers. … That’s all we have so far. We’re still trying to … make sure it doesn’t happen.”
■ Chicago’s about to send out the first reimbursements for residents and businesses that invested in security cameras and other safety equipment.
‘The sound of screaming children has been removed.’ That’s one of the disclaimers accompanying the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV’s publication of hallway surveillance video from inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, during a gunman’s rampage that left 21 students and teachers dead.
■ Uvalde’s mayor is angry victims’ families didn’t get a chance to see the video first.
■ The American-Statesman explains: “We have to bear witness to history, and transparency and unrelenting reporting is a way to bring change.”
■ See the video, which the paper flags as “disturbing,” here.
■ The Atlantic’s David A. Graham wonders why the nation’s not outraged over how police failed so badly.
Catholic cash against abortion. Popular Information reports that the Catholic Church is spending big—with tax-exempt funding—to support Kansas’ anti-abortion constitutional amendment.
■ With Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban back in play, a Wisconsin doc’s bought two Illinois buildings where he plans to offer his patients abortions and abortion pills.
‘The cancer … has spread places one would rather it did not.’ Going public with his multi-year fight against prostate cancer, WXRT DJ Lin Brehmer says he’s stepping away from the mic at the end of the week for “a long period of chemotherapy.”
■ Among those cheering him on: His predecessor in ’XRT’s morning DJ slot, Terri Hemmert, and his present successor, Marty Lennartz.
■ Brehmer’s former producer, Pete Crozier: “Lin is the smartest person I’ve ever known. Hell, he’s the smartest person you’ve ever known and I don’t even know you.”
5 against BA.5. Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina offers five ways to protect yourself from the hot new COVID-19 variant.
■ Axios Chicago makes the case for a return of masked hours in public places.
The CTA’s hiring. In an essay for the Tribune, the agency’s president spells out what it’s doing to address the unprecedented staffing challenges triggered by the pandemic.
■ Heading into the fall, schools across the country—including Illinois—face critical staff shortages.
■ Illinois is struggling to place high-needs kids who are in state care.
■ U.S. inflation last month hit a 40-year high.
‘The first lady’s comments … will be remembered among Latinos.’ Journalist Susanne Ramírez de Arellano says Jill Biden’s ill-advised comparison of Hispanic Americans to tacos couldn’t have come at a worse time for Democrats.
■ The Onion: “Biden Doubles Down By Comparing Armenians To Byorek.”
‘Liberal media’? Hah. Columnist Parker Molloy: “Mainstream news has embraced, employed and laundered conservative propaganda, and it shows no signs of letting up.”
■ Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner: “False equivalence should be banished from every newsroom.”
■ Axios: “Engagement with news content has plunged during the first half of this year compared to the first half of 2021 and in some cases has fallen below pre-pandemic levels.”
■ If you’re engaged with Chicago Public Square, you can help keep it coming for as little as $1—one time or recurring …
■ … or maybe one of these T-shirts will seem timely.