@mitchellepner.bsky.social
Attorney, former AUSA, father, husband, former JBLC, long-time Knicks fan and occasional talking head https://mitchellepner.substack.com/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/mitchell-epner
There are only two options. Getting old is the better one.
04.03.2026 20:15 — 👍 65 🔁 1 💬 3 📌 0
[ISWYDT]
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
Kristi Noem should be impeached, indicted, convicted and jailed for her many crimes, including (but not limited to) corruption.
04.03.2026 13:31 — 👍 79 🔁 18 💬 2 📌 0
NEW: Rep. Jasmine Crockett has officially conceded the Texas Senate primary to James Talerico. In a statement Crockett says
"With the primary behind us, Democrats must rally around our nominee. I'm committed to doing my part and will continue working to elect Democrats up and down the ballot."
The Texas Senate primary results provide the Dems a great chance to flip a seat that has been GOP since 1961.
Incumbent John Cornyn and AG Ken Paxton will have a ten-week runoff for the GOP nomination while Democratic nominee James Talarico will have a running start towards the general election.
Song for the Day: Shia LaBeouf - Rob Cantor
youtu.be/o0u4M6vppCI?...
No matter who wins the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat in Texas, I will work my hardest to support the nominee.
I devoutly hope that no GOP candidate clears 50% in the primary, so that they are locked into another 10 weeks of in-fighting while the Dem nominee seeks votes in the general.
A thorn in Trump's side his first term were senators at the end of their careers who couldn't be pressured -- McCain, Corker, even Flake.
I think we're about to see a new wave of those folks, and whatever the motive -- true repentance or shameless ass-covering -- they'll help erode his standing
He unfortunately was a lead in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (which, like Godfather 3, never happened in my preferred timeline).
03.03.2026 11:38 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Spoken like a man who would not have voted for Otto Wels.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_19...
Two things that are simultaneously true:
1. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a horrible repressive regime that kills civilians at home and would kill my family & me if given the chance.
2. Trump’s war of choice against Iran is a horrible, evil response that is likely to make the situation worse.
Amen
03.03.2026 08:39 — 👍 55 🔁 15 💬 0 📌 0
I cannot imagine any circumstance where I would intentionally watch Shia Labeouf act.
www.usatoday.com/story/entert...
Song for the Day: Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival
youtu.be/3RmQTYLD398?...
GIFT LINK
The firms that fought Trump likely paid a steep economic price. They’ve been vindicated, but are unlikely to ever recover that money.
The firms that turned Quisling, like Paul Weiss, lost something that cannot be quantified & can’t be taken to the bank.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...
The few Dems voted for impeachment, which gave a majority in the House as a whole.
02.03.2026 15:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Yeah, I screwed that up. Like I usually do.
02.03.2026 15:37 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0My bad.
02.03.2026 15:22 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
8/8 Democrats have fruitlessly tried to flip a Texas Senate seat for decades, but this might be the best chance. Trump is underwater in Texas right now (45% approval vs. 49% disapproval).
I'm hoping for a GOP runoff.
An extra ten weeks of GOP civil war might create a schism that won't heal.
7/ Right now, the general election polls show either Democrat running neck-and-neck with any GOP nominee.
www.realclearpolling.com/elections/se...
6/ On the Democratic side, it is a two-person race between Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and Texas House Rep. James Talarico. The polling on the race is close, but it seems highly likely someone gets over 50%.
www.realclearpolling.com/polls/senate...
5/ Sen. Conryn, on the other hand, is demonized by Paxton and his supporters as being "wishy-washy" and a "RINO". Sen. Conryn is a remnant of the GOP that was built in Texas by George HW Bush and John Tower, which dominated Texas politics from 1960 until Ted Cruz won his Senate seat.
02.03.2026 14:49 — 👍 11 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 04/ The Texas House impeached Paxton, with a plurality of Republican representatives joining the Democrats to impeach. Paxton held on in the Texas State Senate, but he is widely portrayed in the general press (which is right-leaning in TX) as corrupt, power hungry and a bad person.
02.03.2026 14:49 — 👍 11 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
3/ Under Texas law, if no candidate clears 50%, there will be a runoff ten weeks later on May 26.
That would mean 10 more weeks of the top-two Republicans (likely Paxton and Conryn) bashing each other. The two parts of the TX GOP hate each other.
www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/new...
2/ On the Republican side, Sen. John Conryn faces challengers Ken Paxton (currently Texas AG) and Rep. Wesley Hunt (currently TX-38's congressman). The polls show Paxton with a narrow lead over Conryn, with Hunt taking about 16% of the vote. It appears that no one will get >50%. That's important.
02.03.2026 14:49 — 👍 7 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
1/ Some thoughts about tomorrow's Texas Senate primaries:
The contested primaries for both Republicans and Democrats conclude voting tomorrow, with a real opportunity for the Democrats to flip a seat that's been Republican since John Tower won it in 1961 to take the seat LBJ vacatyd to become VP.
The idea that the US military could keep the Straits of Hormuz open if Iran is determined to close the passage is astounding stupidity, given that we could not keep the Red Sea open when under attack from the much-weaker Houthi militia.
02.03.2026 14:25 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Even if this were true, the espoused goal of the Trump Regime would be to turn Iran into a failed state, à la Somalia.
But it’s not true. The goal is regime change in a country of over 80m and a size larger than Iraq or Afghanistan by a multiple.
Presidential pardons have no effect on prosecutions under state law.
02.03.2026 13:53 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0If you assume that they learned their grammar and capitalization rules from a 1943 German primer, it all makes more sense.
02.03.2026 13:42 — 👍 28 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0