Good morning,

Today in Geneva, American and Russian negotiators are talking about the situation in Ukraine. Russia has 100,000 troops sitting near the border and has for some time. Vladimir Putin wants to remake the “sphere of influence” that Russia had back when it was the Soviet Union. The West opposes this. But are we really ready to go to war over Ukraine? That would be madness. The Senate will be voting on a sanctions bill later this week. Beyond that, there’s not a lot the United States and the West can—or should—do.

The Washington Post had an interesting piece over the weekend built around some text messages released by the January 6 select committee between the Trump White House and certain Fox News hosts, which showed just how regularly Trump consulted and listened to Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Laura Ingraham, and Jeanine Pirro. God help us. The money quote is from Michael Pillsbury, an informal Trump adviser. “It taught me the power of the young producers at Fox, and Fox Business especially,” Pillsbury said. “These young producers who are in their mid-20s. They come out of the conservative movement, they’ve never been in the government. They are presented with these reckless, fantastical accounts. And they believe them and put them on for ratings.” 

The Post also reports on division inside the Biden administration about how to push back against Republican attacks on inflation. The White House has begun framing inflation as a problem that stems from concentration of ownership and monopoly power in certain industries, such as meatpacking. I am quite pleased by this: I wrote late last year that going after monopoly power is the most important thing Biden can do in 2022. But there are people at the Treasury Department, evidently right up to Janet Yellen, who are against this. Apparently they’re hearing from corporate America, which doesn’t want to be picked on. Poor corporate America. I think this pollster has it exactly right: “What we said [to the White House] is, ‘You need a villain or an explanation for this. If you don’t provide one, voters will fill one in. The right is providing an explanation, which is that you’re spending too much. That point finally became convincing to people in the White House.”

AOC has Covid-19. Her spox told Politico (sorry, there’s no link) that she got both shots and the booster and is “experiencing symptoms and recovering at home.” Democratic Representative Jim Cooper of Tennessee also tested positive recently. The House is back in session this week, but the House physician’s office is telling members to spend as little time in the chamber as possible and “directs the use of N95 or KN95 masks by all individuals on the House Floor, regardless of vaccination status.” We’ll see how that goes over with Republicans. Stay safe, Grace Segers!

At NewRepublic.com today, we have a terrific piece from the new print issue by Katherine Stewart on how the Christian nationalist movement is preparing to help Trump steal the 2024 election. It’s all pretty sobering. Jordan Michael Smith has a timely and useful report on dangerously hawkish rhetoric on Ukraine emanating out of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. And Jason Linkins has an interesting take on why light sentences for most January 6 insurrectionists are probably fine.

Have a good Monday,

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.

Friday’s (non)political history question: Before they were known as the Grateful Dead, the San Francisco–based jam band pioneers were known as The Warlocks. But they changed their name after discovering the existence of another, Texas-based band with that name. Two of the three members of the other Warlocks would go on to form what legendary power trio? 

Answer: ZZ Top. Bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard.

Today’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?