Open Thread time

More on the slush-fund settlement and audit-immunity amendment.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/20/tax-world-gawks-at-trump-audit-agreement-never-seen-anything-like-this-00929576

But the leak actually happened in 2019, during Trump’s first term in office, and Littlejohn was prosecuted by Biden’s Justice Department. The Times used the information to produce a blockbuster report in September 2020 showing Trump frequently paid little or nothing in taxes. Littlejohn also leaked tax records of numerous other prominent wealthy people, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Michael Bloomberg, to ProPublica.

Experts noted Trump’s suit over the leak was never likely to succeed, in part because he missed the two-year statute of limitations to file a civil suit over the unauthorized disclosure of tax information. And there were major questions about whether there was a legitimate dispute for a court to referee since Trump was effectively both plaintiff and defendant. Trump pulled the suit in favor of the settlement shortly before a judge could weigh in.

The leak under tRump and the prosecution of the leaker under Biden – resulting in a 5-year prison sentence, mind you. How this results in a fund to compensate people prosecuted under Biden is a logical mystery. Biden prosecuted the guy who harmed tRump so tRump gets to hand out money to people Biden prosecuted.

At least there’s this:

https://www.natesilver.net/p/trump-approval-ratings-nate-silver-bulletin

Net approval: -20.6%
Approval: 38%
Disapproval: 58.6%

It seemed for a while, just based on my checking the numbers fairly regularly, that 40% approval and -15% net approval were floors that tRump would never go under. Not anymore, particularly as concerns net approval.

Thanks lj, if I can come up with something coherent that folks here might actually want to read and seems in any way useful I will be in touch. I was thinking about getting in touch with the people doing the Running in the Red series at Balloon Juice, they are probably better situated to handle Chris’s circumstances. Anything I put together would be more personal, though including regional political history and demographics for context. The one line summary is Chris Harden is precisely the kind of person/candidate that Democrats need running in “lost cause” districts (60/40 R in this case) to provide a genuine, humane alternative should a political earthquake create a window of opportunity.

To fill the vacuum…

Chris Harden seems like one of the better political animals. But, if elected, can he survive DC intact?

“Overall Assessment
As of May 2026, shortly after his primary victory, Chris Harden’s reputation is that of an authentic, pragmatic, hometown moderate Democrat with a compelling personal story of overcoming humble beginnings. Democrats and his campaign materials portray him positively as empathetic, hardworking, honest, and results-oriented—an attorney and father who “gets it” and prioritizes practical help for families over national culture-war noise. Criticisms appear limited to intra-primary questions about the sincerity or timing of his Democratic affiliation. He does not appear to have accumulated significant negative baggage or a polarizing reputation. Coverage remains limited because he is a relatively new figure on the broader political stage in a long-shot race.”

Chris Harden Reputation

“The site is effective at what campaign websites are designed to do: build an emotional connection, articulate broad values, drive donations and volunteers, and define the candidate favorably against an implied extremist opponent. It contains no glaring misrepresentations but relies on platitudes, personal storytelling, and partisan framing typical of such materials. Specific policy depth is limited, as is common in early/general-audience campaign communication.”

Campaign Website Fact Check Analysis