Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.
EJ Dionne/Washington Post:
Europeans seem to grasp the threat to U.S. democracy better than we do
Our friends are warning us about authoritarianism.
But it should not be viewed as partisan to describe what is at issue in an election, and in my conversations with Europeans over the past few weeks, I was struck that so many — of various political inclinations — were acutely aware of how different the world would look and how much trouble democracy would face if Trump were victorious. Outside the ranks of supporters of far-right parties, there are few Trumpists in Europe.
POLITICO:
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán stumbles in EU election
In a new rival Peter Magyar, the prime minister’s Fidesz party ‘has a real challenger.’
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party is on track to receive its worst ever result in a European Parliament election, after early results showed a new challenger took more than 30 percent of the vote Sunday.
Péter Magyar — a former ruling party insider-turned-rival — and his Tisza party scored 30.1 percent, with 84 percent of ballots counted. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz scored 44.2 percent, significantly lower than polls had predicted.
Bloomberg:
Marine Le Pen Set for Record Win, Exit Poll Shows
Macron calls a surprise parliamentary election after defeat
French president warns of ‘demagogues,’ Le Pen says ready for power
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy saw a significant jump as the far-right makes gains across EU
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz set for record defeat
EPP’s von der Leyen claims victory, while support for Greens falters
Dean Baker on X via Threadreader:
I was listening to a focus group sponsored by NPR of people who don’t like Biden or Trump. They asked one person who was leaning towards Trump about what she saw happening in a second Trump term. She answered, he would create jobs.
Given that we have created jobs at an incredible pace under Biden, this would be like saying that they want to see Trump in because he would nail Osama Bin Laden.
What an incredible indictment of the media that people literally have no idea of the basic facts on the economy. And don’t tell me this is based on their lived experience. They don’t know lots of people who are unemployed. They get this from what they hear, not from what they see
US says Russia’s advance on Kharkiv is ‘all but over’
The White House said Friday that Russia’s offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region has stalled and is unlikely to advance any further.
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, said the arrival of U.S. weapons has helped change the trajectory of the battle around Kharkiv, which Russian forces mounted a major attack on around the middle of May.
“They have been able to thwart Russian advances, particularly around Kharkiv,” Kirby said. “The Russians really have kind of stalled out up there [and] … their advance on Kharkiv is all but over because they ran into the first line of defenses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and basically stopped, if not pulled back, some units.”
Editorial/The Philadelphia Inquirer:
When it comes to the law, Donald Trump believes the rules don’t apply
The former president’s criminal conviction and broadsides aimed at the legal system further demonstrate why he is unfit for any office, let alone the Oval Office.
Trump is irredeemable. But the broader danger resides within the Republican Party, aided and abetted by the Fox News-led conservative media and his rabid followers who march in lockstep with Trump’s all-out war on the judicial system.
Several shameless GOP elected officials “dressed like their master” as they, too, undermined the rule of law. House Speaker Mike Johnson called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Trump’s guilty verdict — an extraordinary reach in a state court matter.
POLITICO:
Harris escalates criticism of Trump, calling conviction ‘disqualifying’
The remarks are expected at a Democratic Party event in Michigan, a state that’s key to President Joe Biden’s reelection.
Donald Trump’s behavior should disqualify him for the presidency, Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to tell a state Democratic Party dinner in Detroit on Saturday night, in one of her first campaign appearances since the former president’s historic criminal conviction.
In excerpts of planned remarks to attendees, Harris makes her most direct public criticism yet of Trump’s false claims of his New York trial being rigged — drawing a line between his “attacks” on the justice system and his attempts to discredit the 2020 election.
