Good morning,

The main political news of the day, of course, is Joe Biden’s speech on voting rights in Atlanta, which he’ll deliver this afternoon. Punchbowl News lists the numerous elected officials and roughly 15 or so civil rights leaders who are attending the speech, but the news will be dominated by who isn’t going to be there: major Georgia civil rights groups and most notably Stacey Abrams, who cited a “scheduling conflict.”

Biden will say that he supports a carve-out of the filibuster for voting rights issues so they don’t need 60 votes to pass. But let’s face it—this won’t make any difference. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, and a small number of other Democrats who’ve been more quiet about it, won’t budge. And that’s that. 

Some civil rights leaders are angry that Biden didn’t say this months ago. They’re right. The delay here is hard to understand. But the question is, would it have made any difference? You could argue, I guess, that it would have built pressure on Manchin and Sinema, but really, they’re both the type who don’t seem to respond very well to that kind of pressure. And remember, they aren’t the only two. So what we’re left with is this bleak reality: The party that is at risk of getting wiped out in these next two elections because of the other party’s voter-suppression efforts can’t unite to do anything about it, because of a small handful of senators (but really two, because I suspect if Manchin and Sinema changed their position, the other senators would, too).

The Covid situation is simply terrifying. The country is poised to break the record for hospitalizations, and things are expected to get far worse before they get better. If you look at that Times hot-spots map, more than half the counties in the country are beet red or purple. Hospitals are asking doctors and nurses who have the virus to come to work, the staffing issues are so dire. And schools are closing again because too many teachers, administrators, and bus drivers are sick. A supervisor of school superintendents told NPR Tuesday morning that he’s fielding calls from people who are saying they’re contemplating suicide.

A narrative has emerged on redistricting that the maps so far aren’t as bad for Democrats as feared. That may be so, writes the Brennan Center’s Michael Li at The Washington Post, but it’s nothing to celebrate: “It’s important to remember that gerrymandering isn’t just about gaining new seats—it can also be about insulating the seats you already have from competition. And one of the biggest redistricting stories this decade is how competition is being sucked out of our elections, especially in Republican-controlled states.” More and more districts will just never be competitive again, probably.

At NewRepublic.com, start with Tim Noah’s read on why Biden fighting corporate greed and corporate concentration is fine, but they are not the reasons for inflation. Molly Osberg examines new New York Mayor Eric Adams’s first big test—how he handles the tragic Bronx fire. And Daniel Strauss explains why Jim Jordan’s rebuff of the January 6 committee has consequences both for the investigation and beyond it.

Thanks for reading,

Every day, our journalists are exposing the right’s assaults on our democracy—and pushing the Democrats to go bold to preserve the republic. Here’s a special offer from The New Republic so you won’t miss their scoops and sharp analysis.

Yesterday’s (non)political college football question: Tonight brings the national championship game between Georgia and Alabama (yawn). Both of these schools fielded their first Black players the same year. What year was it?

Answer: It was 1971. In contrast, Michigan integrated in 1932 (or maybe way back in 1890, although that was just one guy and he was the only one until 1932); UCLA in 1947; Notre Dame in 1952.

Today’s political history question: Back in 1965, the Senate passed the original Voting Rights Act. What was the vote margin, and how did the members of each party vote? (It was quite the contrast to today’s partisan divisions.)