President Joe Biden's son Hunter has cut a deal to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses, while a third charge of illegally possessing a weapon (after lying about his drug use on a form) has also been filed but will be withdrawn if Hunter successfully completes two years of probation. Hunter Biden will likely avoid any prison sentence as a result of the plea deal.

Republicans reacted predictably, decrying it as a "sweetheart deal," while there were zero Democrats out there screaming about Hunter being charged as part of a "witch-hunt" or swearing up and down that it was fully legal for Hunter to do these things. That's the difference between the parties in a nutshell: Democrats support the rule of law even when one of their own is caught, while Republicans want the book thrown at all Democrats while giving a free pass to all Republicans for all crimes.

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Donald Trump was interviewed on Fox News last night by Bret Baier, and to say it did not go well for Trump is a vast understatement. It was so bad it left me actually feeling sorry for his defense lawyers. It is, after all, pretty hard to present a coherent legal defense in a court of law when your client essentially goes on national television and admits that the worst charge against him is true. No wonder Trump's lawyers keep quitting, to put this another way.

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Since it is a holiday (Happy Juneteenth!), I considered taking the day off. But rather than totally punt today, I thought I'd just run large excerpts from the official CBS transcript of this week's Face The Nation, since it was a rather extraordinary show.

I'm not usually a big fan of Face The Nation, in terms of the Sunday morning political chatfest lineup, but occasionally they manage to do a good job. This week we had Robert Costa guest-hosting, but it wasn't his presence so much as the guest list itself that made the program notable. The first two segments might have been subtitled: "Republicans Explaining Why Trump Is So Screwed" (if you'll forgive the language).

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President Joe Biden got some good economic news this week, as the official inflation rate fell to only 4.0 percent. This is down from last year's high of 9.1 percent, and is a significant achievement. Most economists will tell you that's still a bit too high and that 2.0 percent is the goal they're shooting for, but 4.0 percent is getting pretty close to that goal, you have to admit.

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I have to admit, in an otherwise rather extraordinary week in the presidential campaign, I learned an interesting factoid: there is already a convicted felon running for president from the inside of a jail cell. Amusingly, this is happening over on the Democratic side of things. The so-called "Tiger King," a.k.a. "Joe Exotic," is currently serving a 21-year sentence in a federal prison for a murder-for-hire scheme (as well as other lesser charges). He is currently also a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. He's run for president before, in 2016 and 2020, but this is his first time running as a Democrat. Amusingly enough, an article about his campaign launch prominently featured one campaign promise from the Tiger King: "First of all, as soon as I'm sworn in, I have the right to pardon myself."

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The flag is back in the news, also in a fairly minor way. The conservative fake-rage machine cranked up into high dudgeon mode this week over a celebration of Pride Month at the White House, which included a display of the current iteration of the "rainbow flag" that has long been a symbol of the struggle for L.G.B.T.Q. rights. They complained about the pride flag being displayed at all, and a subset of them got fake-irate over a "violation of the U.S. Flag Code" (which it actually wasn't, as there was another U.S. flag being flown above, on the roof of the White House).

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Scene Two of the "Donald Trump Indictment Circus" happened today, and things just keep getting more and more surreal. For instance, on the way from the courthouse to the airport, Trump made a quick campaign stop. You just can't make this stuff up, folks.

I must confess that I'm somewhat at a loss for words today, as I sit waiting to see whether the networks will cover Trump's "indictment party" speech live, when he gets back to his New Jersey golf club. He's not just going to give what he will see as a triumphant speech, he's also holding a fundraiser. Because Trump never misses a chance at grifting his rubes one more time.

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Donald Trump will be tried in two places. I am not speaking of the fact that he's now been indicted on two sets of felony criminal charges, one in New York and one in a federal court down in Florida, but rather of the two arenas where he will be making his own case: in a court of law and in the court of public opinion.

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For the first time in American history, a former president of the United States has been indicted on federal charges -- 37 individual felonies. That is an extraordinary statement to make, but that's not surprising, since nothing about Donald Trump can ever be called "ordinary."

At first glance, it sounds like a James Bond story: classified top-secret documents, information on nuclear secrets, a Pentagon attack plan against a foreign country. But when you dig a little deeper, it sounds not like Bond but rather Mr. Bean... or perhaps even the Three Stooges.

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There were two notable deaths in the world of politics today, both of which inspire such strong negative feelings within me that I have to step outside the norm of: "De mortuis nihil nisi bonum." Both of these men were odious creatures in their own right, with one of them far more odious than the other. But the more odious one -- Pat Robertson -- is being adequately vilified elsewhere today, and I had a column all ready to go for the other one anyway, so this (repeat) column is dedicated to the memory of President Ronald Reagan's secretary of the Interior, James Watt. This column was published eight years ago, and thankfully the nation has made great progress since then. It was written to celebrate only the third state (Alaska, after Colorado and Washington) and Washington D.C. legalizing the recreational usage of marijuana. Today, that tally stands at 23 states plus D.C.

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