Future Timeline

(CNN) Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie laid into Donald Trump in a CNN town hall Monday night, calling the former president “angry” and “vengeful” and accusing him of “vanity run amok” within the event’s opening minutes.

His comments set the tone for the night and made clear that Christie – who leaned into his own record as a former federal prosecutor – sees his role in the 2024 Republican presidential primary as being the chief Trump critic, willing to take on the front-runner while most other contenders duck confrontation.

Christie warned that if Trump wins another term, he would spend those four years focused on “settling scores” with his political enemies.

“He has shown himself, particularly in his post-presidency,” Christie said, “to be completely self-centered, completely self-consumed and doesn’t give a damn about the American people, in my point of view.”

He called Trump a “loser” and a “child,” comparing the former president’s refusal to accept his defeat for reelection in 2020 to a blame-deflecting tantrum from a child who had failed a test at school.

“President Biden is expected to be endorsed by the AFL-CIO this week ahead of a Saturday union rally in Philadelphia, according to people familiar with the process, marking the earliest presidential endorsement in the labor federation’s history as the two major parties battle over working-class voters,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The AFL-CIO, which includes 60 unions representing more than 12.5 million workers across a host of industries and the public sector, has long supported Democratic presidents and presidential nominees. While its support of Biden has been widely anticipated, the endorsement will land more than 16 months before the 2024 election, and at the start of the Republican presidential primaries.”

A new Morning Consult poll finds that in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s federal criminal indictment, his lead in the Republican presidential primary is now the largest to date — more than tripling Ron DeSantis’s support, 59% to 19%.

(Other Words) As Scottish literary giant Robert Burns wrote, “The best-laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry.”

His 1785 poem, titled “To A Mouse,” could be directed today at the right-wing sloganeers who’ve been scheming so furiously to turn their hokey “woke” snobbery into a winning political stratagem.

“Your local librarian is woke!” they screech. “So is Disney, Inc.! Some of your churches, too, plus all Democrats, and — OMG — even Bud Light!” Wokeism is the Red Scare, Welfare Queen, and Willy Horton rolled into one, forming the main “issue” of Republicans now running for president, Congress, and dogcatcher.

But rather than getting defensive, insisting you are not woke, consider firing back by saying, “Of course I’m woke!”

For the great majority of Americans, being “woke” is a very positive characteristic — it means simply that you’re awake, attentive to what’s going on. Indeed, in Black communities, “stay woke” has long meant staying alert to racial and social injustices.

Two Tennessee state lawmakers who were expelled from the state legislature earlier this year for protesting gun violence on the House floor easily won their special primary elections on Thursday.

State Rep. Justin Jones ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination in his Nashville-area district, while state Rep. Justin Pearson sailed to victory over challenger David Page in the Democratic special primary for his Memphis-area district.

Pearson garnered more than 94 percent of the votes, according to Decision Desk HQ.

“The first wave of votes are in and WE WON!!!” Pearson tweeted. “We are now officially the Democratic candidate for the General Election in District 86!! #PeoplePower did this!! Let’s keep going!!!”

The Tennessee House of Representatives, which is controlled by a Republican supermajority, voted to expel Jones and Pearson from the chamber in early April.