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Happy Monday! It is that time of year again: The annual Morning Dispatch March Madness bracket pool is back and better than ever!
To enter, click here (you will need a free ESPN account) and select “Join Group.” The password is “TMD2K24!” and your bracket must be submitted by Thursday morning before the first game’s tip-off. Anyone is invited to participate, but if you want to be eligible for prizes—including a Lifetime Membership to The Dispatch, a TMD mug, or a gift card to The Dispatch’s merch store—you must a) be an active paying Dispatch member on or before March 21, 2024, and b) fill out this form so we can connect you with your ESPN entry.
We’ll keep you updated on the leaderboard over the next few weeks. Let’s get even more entries than we did last year!
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in his country’s pseudo-election on Sunday, paving the way to a fifth term. The final day of the three-day process was marked by protests inspired by late dissident Alexei Navalny, who died in a Siberian prison in February. Lines formed suddenly outside polling stations at noon on Sunday as Russians gathered to cast protest votes, just as Navalny had advocated before he died.
- Meanwhile, Ukraine launched drone strikes deep inside Russian territory on Sunday, which the governor of Belgorod Oblast claimed killed a teenage girl and injured her father. The Ukrainian strikes followed Russian missile attacks on Friday, which Ukrainian officials said killed at least 20 people in the port city of Odesa; the first missile, which hit several homes, was quickly followed by another, presumably targeting rescue workers.
- The first sea-borne aid delivery to Gaza, provided by nonprofit World Central Kitchen via a new maritime humanitarian corridor, arrived on Friday. A second aid ship, sailing from Cyprus, is preparing to sail across the Mediterranean to the enclave. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that “130 pallets of humanitarian aid and 115 pallets of food and water” had been transferred to trucks operated by World Central Kitchen to distribute the goods in northern Gaza.
- Niger’s military junta said Saturday that the U.S. military presence in the country was no longer justified, revoking the military accord that allowed for American boots on the ground. The U.S. and Niger have long been partners in counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel region, and Niger hosts somewhere between 600 and 1,000 U.S. troops and a drone base—though the U.S. suspended military aid to the country following a coup in July. The announcement followed a visit by a U.S. delegation that included Molly Phee, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and Gen. Michael E. Langley, who leads U.S. military operations in Africa.
- The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Friday that it had settled with groups of homesellers accusing NAR—and brokerages requiring their Realtors be members of NAR—of violating antitrust laws by setting inflated commissions for real estate agents and artificially increasing home prices. The NAR agreed to pay $418 million in damages to the plaintiffs, eliminate the industry-standard 6 percent commission, and curtail rules that required the seller’s agent to make an offer of payment to the buyer’s agent. Without a standard commission, Realtors will likely have to lower their commission to compete, which could lower home prices overall since sellers often priced-in the cost of those fees. The NAR denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
- At a campaign rally in Ohio on Saturday, former President Donald Trump suggested illegal immigrants with criminal records are “not people” during his speech. “I don’t know if you call them people,” he said. “In some cases they’re not people, in my opinion. But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.” The former president also raised his hand in a salute during an alternative version of the national anthem honoring January 6 “hostages,” whom he praised as “unbelievable patriots.”
- Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that he could not “in good conscience” endorse his former running mate’s third bid for the presidency. Pence argued Trump is “pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years.” He also said he would not vote for President Joe Biden or run himself as a third-party candidate.
- Judge Scott McAfee of Georgia’s Fulton Superior Court—overseeing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ racketeering case against Trump and more than a dozen other defendants—ruled Friday that Willis could remain as a prosecutor provided Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor on the case and Willis’ former romantic partner, resigned. Wade swiftly resigned the same day, the culmination of a weeks-long effort by defendants to have Willis removed from the case over an alleged conflict of interest. McAfee called Willis’ decision to date Wade a “tremendous lapse in judgment.” Meanwhile, a New York judge ruled Friday that Trump’s trial in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case regarding hush-money payments to an adult film star would be delayed until at least mid-April. The additional time will allow the defense to review evidence recently turned over.
A So-Called ‘Landslide’ in Russia
When it comes to election reporting, we at TMD are usually up quite late, waiting to bring you the most accurate numbers possible in contests potentially decided by razor-thin margins.
We could have written this item on Russia’s “elections” weeks ago.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s projected reelection victory ...
As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. Our full 1,322-word story on Vladimir Putin’s reelection in Russia is available in the members-only version of TMD.
Worth Your Time
- Since the events of January 6, 2021, many politicians and media personalities have tried to rewrite history—sometimes successfully—to downplay the severity of the violence or obscure the reality of former President Donald Trump’s non-response to the violence as it was happening. As longtime Dispatch contributor and former staffer to the select House committee investigating January 6 Thomas Joscelyn wrote in Just Security, this revisionist history isn’t accurate. “Former President Donald Trump and his loyalists have long claimed that he ‘ordered’ the National Guard to be ready for deployment on Jan. 6, 2021,” Joscelyn wrote. “The implication was clear: President Trump did not deserve blame for the violence that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol because he wanted the National Guard to keep the peace. There’s just one problem: The claim is not true. The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol thoroughly investigated this issue—questioning multiple witnesses about it and reviewing countless documents. The committee could not find any evidence to support [former White House Chief of Staff Mark] Meadows’ claim. Indeed, Trump’s Acting Secretary of Defense at the time, Chris Miller, directly refuted it in his testimony under oath—explaining that the president did not issue any such order. In its final report, the committee summarized the testimony of witnesses who claimed that Trump had floated the idea of deploying 10,000 National Guardsmen—mainly to protect him and his supporters [emphasis Joscelyn’s] as they marched together to the U.S. Capitol. And, as the committee explained in the executive summary to its final report, the investigation uncovered ‘no evidence’ that ‘President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th.’ More than one year after the committee disbanded, there is still no reason to think Trump ordered the National Guard to be ready on [January] 6, 2021.”
Presented Without Comment
New York Times: If Nvidia Keeps Rising Like This, It Will Be Bigger Than the Global Economy
Also Presented Without Comment
Axios: Trump Says Israel Should Quickly End the Gaza War, ‘We Need Peace’
“You have to finish it up and do it quickly and get back to the world of peace. We need peace in the world … we need peace in the Middle East,” Trump said when asked by MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz what he would tell Netanyahu about the war in Gaza.
Also Trump: “The Democrats are very bad for Israel. Israel sticks with them. I guess Israel is loyal, maybe to a fault, because they stick with these guys. Biden is so bad for Israel.”
Also Also Presented Without Comment
CBS News: Former Vice President Mike Pence Calls Trump’s Jan. 6 Hostage Rhetoric ‘Unacceptable’
Toeing the Company Line
- In the newsletters: The Dispatch Politics crew covered the mass layoffs at the RNC, Nick explored (🔒) what could happen if Democrats actively encouraged likely Trump voters to support the anti-vax RFK Jr., and Chris discussed (🔒) the pitfalls of lumping all non-white voters together in political analysis.
- On the podcasts: Jonah overcame illness to ruminate on a potential TikTok ban and Chuck Schumer’s call for new elections in Israel, Victoria discussed the situation at the border with Bishop Mark Seitz on the Dispatch Podcast, and former Trump administration official Dan Negrea and national security strategist Matt Kroenig joined Jamie on the Dispatch Podcast to discuss their book We Win, They Lose.
- On the site over the weekend: Sean Keeley reviewed Dune: Part Two, Luis responded to the arguments in Coleman Hughes’ book The End of Race Politics, and Hannah Anderson encouraged the edifying practice of formally joining a group—whether it’s a church choir or a bird watching group.
- On the site today: Charlotte details the effort to get humanitarian aid to Gaza.
James Scimecca is the editorial partnerships manager at The Dispatch, and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he served as the director of communications at the Empire Center for Public Policy. When James is not busy generating shareholder revenue, he can usually be found running along the Potomac River, cooking up a new recipe, or scoping out a new karaoke bar.
Mary Trimble is a former editor of The Morning Dispatch.
Grayson Logue is a staff writer for The Dispatch and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he worked in political risk consulting, helping advise Fortune 50 companies. He was also an assistant editor at Providence Magazine and is a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh, pursuing a Master’s degree in history. When Grayson is not writing pieces for the website, he is probably working hard to reduce the number of balls he loses on the golf course.
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