The Hill’s 12:30 Report — Florida schools roll out ‘Don’t Say Gay’ policies

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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.* 

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically.

TALK OF THE MORNING 

It’s not Pride Month anymore: 

“Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law — known to its critics as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law — will officially take effect today.” 

Yes, but some of the effects have already been felt: “The measure has already had a chilling effect on public school educators, who in some cases have been instructed to remove LGBTQ+ Pride flags and photographs of same-sex partners from their classrooms to avoid violating the law.” 

What this new law means for Florida, via The Hill’s Brooke Migdon 

Here are the new LGBTQ restrictions and policies being rolled out in Florida schools, via NBC’s Matt Lavietes 

➤ ‘THE POLITICAL STRATEGY OF RON DESANTIS’S “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL: 

The New Yorker’s Benjamin Wallace-Wells writes, “In American politics, ideology is often a smoke screen for individual ambition.”The full New Yorker read 

➤ SPEAKING OF RON DESANTIS — HERE’S A NEW 2024 POLL: 
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is favored for the Republican presidential primary in 2024 if former President Trump doesn’t run, according to a new survey from Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll.

IT’S FRIDAY! I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here. 

PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Hill’s 12:30 Report will not publish next week. We will return on July 11. Happy Fourth, y’all!

🔎 Jan. 6 

Team Trump is paying the tab for witnesses: 

Via The New York Times’s Luke Broadwater, Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni and Alan Feuer, “Former President Donald J. Trump‘s political organization and his allies have paid for or promised to finance the legal fees of more than a dozen witnesses called in the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, raising legal and ethical questions about whether the former president may be influencing testimony with a direct bearing on him.”

Why this is particularly timely: Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson delivered eye-catching testimony this week about what happened at the White House on Jan. 6, 2021.

And Hutchinson testified after switching lawyers: “She did so after firing a lawyer who had been recommended to her by two of Mr. Trump’s former aides and paid for by his political action committee, and hiring new counsel. Under the representation of the new lawyer, Jody Hunt, Ms. Hutchinson sat for a fourth interview with the committee in which she divulged more revelations and agreed to come forward publicly to testify to them.” The full story

🌎 In Congress 

Back to the drawing board: 

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to drastically limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) power to regulate power plants’ greenhouse gas emission. 

Meaning: To salvage President Biden’s pledge to cut greenhouse gas pollution by 2030, Democrats need to reach an agreement with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for a climate change bill.

Keep in mind: “Many Democratic lawmakers have become pessimistic about getting Manchin to agree to any budget reconciliation deal that would include provisions to significantly reduce carbon emissions.” How this could play out, via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton

➤ HOW BIDEN TOOK THE NEWS OF THE EPA RULING: 
President Biden pledged to find ways to tackle climate change. 

He said in a statement: “The Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia vs. EPA is another devastating decision that aims to take our country backwards. … While this decision risks damaging our nation’s ability to keep our air clean and combat climate change, I will not relent in using my lawful authorities to protect public health and tackle the climate crisis.”  

I can’t believe this is a real discussion in 2022:

“Rep. Lauren Boebert’s recent comments calling the separation of church and state ‘junk’ have drawn both criticism and worry that the influence of conservative Christians — both in public office and on the Supreme Court — could upend constitutional precedent.”

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe and ruled in favor of school prayer: Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) referred to movement as the “Christian Taliban.”

What this could mean for the future: “Religious conservatism has long had a presence on the right, but some fear that Christian nationalism is rising. Right-wing Christians were a core part of the electoral continuance that helped former President Trump win the White House in 2016.”

^ If you missed Boebert’s comment last weekend, she said: “The reason we had so many overreaching regulations in our nation is because the church complied. The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church … And I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk. That’s not in the Constitution, it was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.”

What this could mean for the Republican Party, via The Hill’s Emily Brooks

🏛 In the Supreme Court 

‘The Real Reason Washington Ignored Kavanaugh’s Would-Be Killer’:

Politico’sMichael Schaffer writes, “Hint: It’s scarier than media bias.” 

Remember when a man showed up outside of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house with weapons last month? 

The right blames media bias for not treating this story as a major incident: “On the right, it’s become an article of faith that the story is being ignored by biased media.” 

But here’s a more depressing reason of why it hasn’t been covered: “Potential violence and intimidation in Washington’s political world has stopped seeming quite so newsy. Man-threatens-man has become the new dog-bites-man. Among the lesser effects of this cultural change is that, in newsrooms and greenrooms, the hurdle for attention has been raised.” 

Read the full Politico Magazine analysis of the incident and its coverage 

➤ NEW POLLING ON THE ABORTION RULING: 
55 percent of voters say they oppose the Supreme Court decision to remove federal abortion protections, according to a new survey from Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll. More from the poll

🦠 Latest with COVID 

➤ BY THE NUMBERS 

Cases to date: 87.2 million 

Death toll: 1,012,767 

Current hospitalizations: 27,711 

Shots administered: 596 million 

Fully vaccinated: 66.9 percent of Americans 

CDC data here.

🐥Notable tweets 

Rudy Giuliani, NYC mayor, Trump lawyer and now — influencer:

Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani tweeted a promotion for My Pillow sandals. “Great products at reasonable prices. Use code Rudy for additional savings,” he wrote. Photo of the sandals and #ad #sponsored promo

⏱On tap 

The House and Senate are out. President Biden is in Washington, D.C. Vice President Harris is in Los Angeles with no public events scheduled. 

• 9:45 a.m.: Biden received the President’s Daily Brief. 
• 1 p.m.: Biden convenes a virtual meeting with governors to discuss reproductive health care.
• 2:30 p.m.: Biden leaves for Camp David. 

All times Eastern.

📺What to watch 

• Yesterday: Wyoming’s House Republican primary debate, including Rep. Liz Cheney (R). Video

🍭 In lighter news 

Today is National Gingersnap Day, which tbh feels incredibly mistimed. 

This makes me hopeful for the future: 

Via The Washington Post’s Jonathan Edwards, 2-year-old Isla McNabb took an IQ test and scored in the 99th percentile. She’s able to decipher most words by sounding them out phonetically. Video of the toddler sounding out words 

And to leave you on an entertaining note, here’s a dog walking in adorable rain boots.