The smoking texts?

There was a time in our not-so-distant past when Americans planted gardens during war time to both replenish crops and show solidarity for troops fighting overseas. Americans can show our solidarity for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine by planting sunflowers this spring in a sunflower victory garden. Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine, which has been harvesting sunflowers since the 1700s. Ukraine is responsible for about 46% of the world’s sunflower crop and, until Russia’s invasion, was a major world supplier of sunflower oil. The 2021 sunflower crop has already been harvested and is being held waiting to be processed into oil. Most sunflower oil production plants are completely closed. Some of the heaviest fighting and worst destruction is taking place in the Ukrainian towns where that processing takes place, and farmers have had to abandon their harvest and flee for safety or stay and fight. There will likely be no planting this spring. As Americans begin to plan their gardens, hopefully we can all make space for these giants of hope, democracy, and courage. The Burpee seed company is donating all of its sunflower seed sales to the Red Cross and International Rescue Committee to aid in Ukraine relief efforts. Once again, Americans are being asked to sow the seeds of hope, freedom, and of victory. Victory over authoritarianism, oppression, and tyranny. —Lynn Schmidt, Renew America Movement Fellow

• Biden’s Poland visit spotlights weapons, humanitarian aid for Ukraine —The Wall Street Journal

• Manchin will support Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination, likely ensuring her confirmation —NBC News

• DeSantis signs law changing curriculum transparency, graphic library books, school board term limits —Yahoo! News

• Verdict is in for Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry's federal trial —ABC News

• Donald Trump sues Hillary Clinton over 2016 Russian collusion allegations —Reuters

Ginning things up

Renewer Rep. Liz Cheney said last weekend that the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol would reveal to the American public new information about the attack. Who knew it would happen so quickly? The panel is currently in possession of 29 text messages between Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. 

Between November 2020 and January 2021, Ginni Thomas passionately encouraged Meadows to push claims of voter fraud and work to prevent the election from being certified. In one message, she wrote, “Sounds like Sidney [Powell] and her team are getting inundated with evidence of fraud. Make a plan. Release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down." Meadows reassured her, "I will stand firm. We will fight until there is no fight left. Our country is too precious to give up on. Thanks for all you do." Hmmm. —CNN

• Ginni isn't the only Thomas on the bubble. Her husband, Justice Thomas, who was just released from the hospital today after spending a week recovering from an illness, is facing questions about his knowledge of and/or sympathy for the plans. Sen. Ron Wyden said his conduct “looks increasingly corrupt,” and that he should recuse himself from any case related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and to the 2024 election should Trump seek the presidency again. —CNBC

• And Mark isn't the only Meadows under scrutiny. His wife, Debra, signed at least two forms in 2020—a voter registration form and a one-stop application—that warned of legal consequences if falsely completed and signed. And yet, those signed forms do appear to have been falsely completed, as Debra Meadows claimed she resided at a 14-by-62-foot mountaintop mobile home for at least 30 days, even though she did not. Will legal consequences follow? That remains to be seen. —The Washington Post

• “President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency.” After losing Trump’s endorsement for U.S. Senate in humiliating fashion this week, Rep. Mo Brooks—who spoke at Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 and was involved in efforts to block the certification of election results that day—hit back. In a statement, Brooks suggested that Trump asked for his involvement in overturning Biden’s victory, even after the attack on the Capitol. Stay tuned. —The Hill

MORE: Trump is guilty of ‘numerous’ felonies, prosecutor who resigned says —The New York Times

Lowry: Seriously, Republicans? Again?

“If Trump’s back-and-forth over [Rep. Mo] Brooks is notably sophomoric, it’s not uncharacteristic. Indeed, the party will continue to be subjected to such spectacles as long as Trump is its dominant figure, which will be for quite some time if Donald J. Trump has anything to say about it. As everyone knows, he’s seriously considering running in 2024. It’s understandable that he’d want to try to ascend once again to the most powerful office in the land, and once again bestride the nation’s news cycle like a colossus. The question for Republicans to consider over the next two years is, why would they want to go along for this ride one more time?” —Rich Lowry in Politico

Rich Lowry is editor of National Review and a contributing editor with Politico Magazine.

MORE: Georgia races testing Trump’s influence —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Disinformation’s biggest offenders

China might say it’s not taking sides in Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine, but its action say otherwise. Beijing-affiliated media outlets have been spreading Kremlin propaganda, even as European Union countries and social media platforms have banned Russian state media. A CNN analysis shows that almost half of the most-shared posts on Weibo from 14 Chinese state media outlets are strongly pro-Russia. Further, Chinese state media is actively paying to spread pro-Russia misinformation on Western social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok. —Foreign Policy

• Russia's head start in Ukraine. The tanks didn't start rolling into Ukraine until last month, but the spread of disinformation in the country started long before that. A sociologist from the University of Connecticut says the Kremlin implemented a media campaign to spread doubt about the COVID-19 vaccine and Ukraine’s pandemic response at least a year earlier. The pandemic disinfo campaign “was designed to weaken public health institutions…and medical development, undermine trust in the public health responses, and disrupt delivery of medical care and vaccines,” says Darrell Irwin, who conducted the study. —UConn Today

• The podcast problem. Meanwhile, the Russian state media-developed piece of disinfo that has been used by the Kremlin to justify the invasion—that the U.S. is funding the development of biological weapons in biolabs in Ukraine—was proliferated in the West by prominent American podcasters. Over a 10-day period, 13 popular political podcasters devoted segments in 30 podcast episodes to the falsehood. —Brookings Institute

• “Like planting a conspiracy theory in a good way.” Ukraine and its allies, including the U.S., are doing their best to fight fire with fire. The Kremlin has shut down Russia's last three independent media outlets, barred major social media platforms, created new laws against journalists who defy its propaganda, and insisted on calling the war a “special military operation.” So the West is exploiting internet tools to reach ordinary Russians with independent voices still operating in Russia and direct pleas from Ukrainians to convince them that they’re being lied to by their government about the war. —Fortune

MORE: Fight the disinformation that threatens our democracy: Think like a fact-checker —Star-Ledger

Mancuso: Another way to energy independence 

“Americans are already fatigued, and now their wallets are taking a beating, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Likewise, the outdated rally cry ‘drill, baby, drill’ is not the answer. More nuclear power, more renewable energy, better battery storage, a modernized grid, and less oil and gas (foreign or domestic) is the way to go. While the federal government is throwing money at problems, greater credits for Electric Vehicle purchases could help the long game. If Biden wants his party to have a shot at maintaining control of Congress come November, he will channel his inner Theodore Roosevelt and seize the moment to create an energy-independent America. The time has come, and as my Ukrainian grandfather used to say, ‘Opportunity doesn’t knock twice.’” —Mary Anna Mancuso on RealClearEnergy

Mary Anna Mancuso is a spokesperson for RepublicEn.org.

MORE: Renewer Rep. Susan Wild talks Ukraine, gas prices, and energy at Bethlehem town hall —Lehigh Valley Live

Focus on voting and elections 

It was a mixed bag of SCOTUS rulings for Wisconsin this week. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday turned away an effort by Republican federal lawmakers from Wisconsin to challenge the state’s new congressional voting map. The ruling leaves intact the map drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and approved by Wisconsin’s top court. But Republican state lawmakers got a win of their own, when the high court took issue with the Wisconsin court’s approval of a Democratic-drawn map that created new districts for state legislators. The separate ruling returns the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, arguing that the creation of an additional majority-Black assembly district may not have been required under the Voting Rights Act. —The Hill

• Kansas. The Kansas House voted Wednesday to approve a new set of district lines for the House in a show of bipartisan unity. The new lines are expected to largely preserve the current partisan breakdown of the House. The map now goes to the Kansas Senate for what will likely be a rubber stamp of approval. But not everyone was happy. Far-right Rep. Tatum Lee, who has raised eyebrows for promoting conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic, got drawn into a more competitive district. “What happened today was pure political retaliation. Dictators don't like dissenters,” she said. Hoo-boy. —The Topeka Capital-Journal

• Maryland. It’s back to the drawing board in Maryland. After a four-day trial, Maryland Court of Appeals Judge Lynne Battaglia ruled today that the General Assembly's newly drawn congressional district map violates the state’s Free Election Clause of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Gov. Larry Hogan applauded the ruling. “For nearly eight years, we have been fighting to end the gerrymandering monopoly that has for too long been a shameful legacy of our state. This ruling is a monumental victory for every Marylander who cares about protecting our democracy, bringing fairness to our elections, and putting the people back in charge,” he said. —NBC News

• Maine. The Maine House of Representatives has approved a bill that would allow, but not require, all cities and towns in Maine to use ranked-choice voting in local elections. The bill now heads to the Maine Senate. The cities of Portland and Westbrook have both amended their charters to use RCV in municipal elections, but elections in municipalities that do not have their own charters are dictated by state law. Maine already uses RCV for state primary elections and in federal elections. —CBS News

MORE: Amendment proposes ranked-choice voting for Missouri elections —ABC News

Bacon: Biden needs the same energy at home

“I’m really glad that President Biden is trying to stop the 44 million people in Ukraine from having their country taken over by a regime that they didn’t vote for and that threatens their rights and freedoms. But more than 28 million of the people who voted for Biden, including me, live in America’s red states, where a more gradual, less visible effort to take away our rights is well underway. A majority of the nation’s Black voters, nearly all of whom voted for Biden, live in the GOP-dominated South. The Biden Administration should bring the same kind of passion to its defense of these Americans as it is bringing to aiding the Ukrainians.” —Perry Bacon, Jr. in The Washington Post

Perry Bacon, Jr., is a Washington Post columnist covering government and elections.

MORE: Justice Department files third lawsuit in Texas over election laws —ABC News

I just loved the article “The Choice: Power or Democracy.” George Washington is my hero. I have never heard that story, and I can so picture President Washington giving that very powerful speech. How far down have we the people sunk to vote in such a despicable man as Trump? I voted for McMullin! Thanks for the work you do. —Pat S.

Thank you to Steve and Cindy Fogleman for the inspiring history lesson. —Tim P., New Mexico

What a great story about the Cause and the Choice, comparing Washington and Trump in moments of crisis for our democracy. It's heartening to read something both inspiring and hopeful, as well as different from the other news and opinions. As a former Republican, now registered as a Democrat, but really an independent, I say yea for bipartisanship from both sides! —Suzanne L., Florida

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff, the Renew America Movement, or the Renew America Foundation.