First, some housekeeping: The January 6 panel has a “deal” for an interview with Pat A. Cipollone, which seems to be that he will testify only behind closed doors. Better than nothing.

The next hearing will be televised Tuesday morning, July 12.

The Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating Trump’s election fraud has subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, and Lindsay Graham. I hope they have a witness waiting room with padded walls. Graham is fighting the subpoena. And see What Lindsey Graham Did In Georgia To Keep Trump In Power at TPM.

Now on to new news — in 2020, I believe a lot of people voted for Joe Biden for POTUS because they were exhausted with the endless Trump drama and just wanted some normal. That’s very understandable. However, we don’t live in a normal country or in normal times. And even Joe Biden cannot provide enough warmth, comfort, and reasonableness to make it so.

Today’s links:

From Politico, ‘Be absolutely furious’: Dems want more from Biden after Highland Park. The takeaway: Biden is not rising to the moment. He’s not reflecting the mood of Democrats, which is angry. Very angry. People don’t want to hear the Preisdnet console them by saying we did just pass a gun bill. They want fire and brimstone.

Ashley Parker and Matt Viser write at WaPo, As some Democrats grow impatient with Biden, alternative voices emerge. In contrast to Biden, they write,

J.B. Pritzker, Illinois’ Democratic governor, delivered a fiery response that took direct aim at those blocking gun control legislation. “If you are angry today, I’m here to tell you to be angry,” he said, seething while Biden was consoling. “I’m furious. I’m furious that yet more innocent lives were taken by gun violence.”

There are multiple headlines right now about how Democrats are angry, about guns, about abortion, about Republicans, and President Biden is just not reflecting what they feel.

Of course, it’s also the case that (in some quarters) Democrats are not among the group privileged to be angry. The Daily Beast is running an article headlined Democrats Abroad Slammed for ‘Kavanaugh’s a C*nt’ July 4 Party, in which a bunch of American abroad gathered to express their anger in front of the Place du Trocadéro, the monument to the dead of World War I, in Paris. I’m not sure what Justice Kavanaugh’s many character flaws have to do with World War I, but naturally righties are making a Big Deal out of it, like they would never, ever associate some vulgarity with a politician they don’t like. Right?

Anyway — I do wish we had someone able to fight fire with fire. The Republic is under attack. The usual political processes no longer work. A lot of voters don’t get how Dems could hold the House, Senate, and White House and still be blocked from accomplishing much. In a normal world Joe Manchin wouldn’t have veto power over his own party.

But, yes, I think Democrats need to own their anger again.