Political Wire

Trump Has No Understanding of Governing

August 17, 2019 at 12:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dan Balz: “After a week in which the threat of recession rocked global financial markets, his trade war with China showed no signs of progress and the government of Israel got into a nasty dispute with two members of Congress, President Trump went to bed Thursday night with other weighty issues on his mind.”

He tweeted: “Great news. Tonight we broke the all-time attendance record previously held by Elton John at #SNHUArena in Manchester!”

“This is the frivolous mindset of the president of the United States. His flurry of statements over the past few days have brought into focus once again something fundamental about the president: He has little understanding of what it means to govern. He would rather tweet from the bleachers.”

Biden and Harris Vie for Two Pockets of Black Support

August 17, 2019 at 10:41 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Daily Beast: “On one side, there’s the Congressional Black Caucus, the preeminent group of African-American power brokers representing their districts in Washington. On the other, rank-and-file black voters across the country. And in a field with nearly two dozen contenders, only two candidates are overwhelmingly leading in either camp.”

“Former Vice President Joe Biden is ahead by every conceivable national metric with black voters, a critical demographic essential to winning the Democratic nomination in 2020. But he has a direct competitor for support among Washington’s influential political class in Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), the only black woman competing for the White House who edged ahead of him this week with endorsements from the CBC.”

CNN: Black Democrats are split along generational lines.

How the Recession of 2020 Could Happen

August 17, 2019 at 10:26 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Neil Irwin: “So if there’s going to be a recession in 2020 — if the pessimistic signals in the financial markets prove correct — how would it happen? There are plenty of clues, in the details of recent economic reports, in signals from the markets, and in the recent history of recessions and near recessions.”

“President Trump’s on-again-off-again execution of the trade war with China and other countries has fed uncertainty into businesses’ decision-making. Corporate investment spending is softening, despite the big tax cut that Mr. Trump said would boost it. And the combination of central banks that are at the outer limits of their ability to stimulate growth, and an inward turn by many countries, could make governments less effective at responding to a downturn.”

The Hill: “Comedian Bill Maher on Friday continued his calls for another economic recession, claiming it would tank President Trump’s shot at reelection in 2020 and be ‘very worth’ ending his policies.”

How Aides Got Trump to Delay Tariffs

August 17, 2019 at 10:22 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“As President Trump’s trade advisers were searching last week for a strategy to forestall his threatened tariffs on China, they struck upon a novel approach: appeal to his Christmas cheer,” CNN reports.

“Under pressure from retailers to prevent a move that would likely have caused prices of popular consumer goods to spike, the President’s team came to him during a meeting last week with a warning. Applying new tariffs on all Chinese imports, they cautioned, could effectively ‘ruin Christmas,’ according to people familiar with the matter.”

“It was a tactic that worked: Trump announced the tariffs would be delayed until December 15.”

The Last Days of Jeffrey Epstein

August 17, 2019 at 10:18 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Jeffrey Epstein, inmate 76318-054, hated his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. It was cramped, dank and infested with vermin, so Mr. Epstein, long accustomed to using his wealth to play by his own rules, devised a way out. He paid numerous lawyers to visit the jail for as many as 12 hours a day, giving him the right to see them in a private meeting room. Mr. Epstein was there for so long that he often appeared bored, sitting in silence with his lawyers, according to people who saw the meetings. While they were there, he and his entourage regularly emptied the two vending machines of drinks and snacks.”

“Outside the meeting room, Mr. Epstein mounted a strategy to avoid being preyed upon by other inmates: He deposited money in their commissary accounts.”

“But in his final days, Mr. Epstein’s efforts to lessen the misery of incarceration seemed to be faltering. He was seldom bathing, his hair and beard were unkempt and he was sleeping on the floor of his cell instead of on his bunk bed, according to people at the jail.”

Trump’s Union Crowd Had to Show Up Or Not Get Paid

August 17, 2019 at 10:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “The choice for thousands of union workers at Royal Dutch Shell’s petrochemical plant in Beaver County was clear Tuesday: Either stand in a giant hall waiting for President Donald Trump to speak or take the day off with no pay.”

“That company and scores of other contractors on site and their labor employees all have their own contracts with Shell. Several said the contracts stipulate that to get paid, workers must be onsite. Those who decided not to come to the site for the event would have an excused but non-paid absence, the company said, and would not qualify for overtime pay on Friday.”

If You Think Trump Is Helping Israel, You’re a Fool

August 17, 2019 at 7:27 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Tom Friedman: “I am going to say this as simply and clearly as I can: If you’re an American Jew and you’re planning on voting for Donald Trump because you think he is pro-Israel, you’re a damn fool.”

“Trump’s way of — and motivation for — expressing his affection for Israel is guided by his political desire to improve his re-election chances by depicting the entire Republican Party as pro-Israel and the entire Democratic Party as anti-Israel.”

“As a result, Trump — with the knowing help of Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu — is doing something no American president and Israeli prime minister have done before: They’re making support for Israel a wedge issue in American politics.”

Kennedy Mulls Primary Challenge of Markey

August 17, 2019 at 7:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA) is considering a primary challenge next year against Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA), the New York Times reports.

“Such a race could substantially alter the state’s political landscape and has the potential to elevate a fourth member of a Democratic dynasty to the Senate.”

“A contest between the two Massachusetts lawmakers could become the nation’s most high-profile primary race and would represent another test of the Democratic Party’s old guard. And while Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Markey are both committed progressives, the race would amount to a generational showdown between a scion of the state’s most famous family and a more than four-decade-long fixture of Massachusetts politics.”

Scaramucci Says Trump Will Drop Out

August 17, 2019 at 6:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Anthony Scaramucci predicted that President Trump will drop his re-election bid early next year, the HuffPost reports.

Said Scaramucci: “He’s gonna drop out of the race because it’s gonna become very clear. Okay, it’ll be March of 2020. He’ll likely drop out by March of 2020. It’s gonna become very clear that it’s impossible for him to win.”

Warren Closes ‘Electability’ Gap With Biden

August 17, 2019 at 6:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Economist/YouGov poll found 65% of Democratic voters said Joe Biden would “probably beat Donald Trump” — unchanged from June. But the number saying the same thing about Elizabeth Warren jumped 14 points since then, to 57%, the highest of any other candidate.

In the overall race, Biden led Warren by just 1 point among Democrats in a match-up with Trump. That’s after being 16 points ahead of her in June, according to the poll.

State Lawmaker Impersonated a Police Officer

August 17, 2019 at 6:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Indiana state Rep. Dan Forestal (D) was charged with drunken driving and impersonating an officer after he tried to buy cocaine “party favors” at a local bar, CNN reports.

How Trump Thought He Won Award When He Didn’t

August 17, 2019 at 6:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Rep. Dave Trott (R-MI) told CNN that he thinks he knows what President Trump is talking about when he says he won Michigan’s “Man of the Year” award.

“He had invited Trump in 2013 to be the keynote speaker at the Oakland County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner in Michigan. At the event, Trott presented Trump with a tie, a statuette of Abraham Lincoln and a framed copy of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. But Trott says there was no man of the year award.”

Trump gave a “rambling speech touching every topic under the sun” but didn’t receive any awards.

Pelosi Says U.S.-Israel Relationship Can Withstand Trump

August 16, 2019 at 9:05 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the U.S.-Israel relationship can withstand the “weakness” of President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who shook diplomatic norms this week in barring two members of Congress from visiting the country, the AP reports.

Said Pelosi: “We have a deep relationship and long-standing relationship with Israel that can withstand Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. We cannot let their weaknesses stand in the way of our ongoing relationship.”

How Rich Are the 2020 Presidential Candidates?

August 16, 2019 at 5:39 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Forbes dug into the details—examining financial disclosure statements, scouring local real estate records and calculating pension benefits—to figure out the finances of the 2020 candidates.”

What Early Polls Can Tell You

August 16, 2019 at 4:34 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Byler: “But we’re not completely in the dark about who is going to be the Democratic nominee. National primary polls taken at this point in the process don’t have a great track record of picking the eventual winner. But one of the candidates in the top three or four in the national polls often does become the nominee. And while true polling longshots — those polling at zero percent or close to it — do still have some chance of winning, the historical record doesn’t provide much reason for optimism.”

Autopsy Confirms Jeffrey Epstein Died by Suicide

August 16, 2019 at 4:20 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The official results of an autopsy showed that the financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell, the city’s medical examiner’s office said on Friday, determining that the cause of death was suicide by hanging,” the New York Times reports.

Obama Urged Biden to Include Younger Staffers

August 16, 2019 at 3:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “He has communicated his frustration that Mr. Biden’s closest advisers are too old and out of touch with the current political climate — urging him to include more younger aides.”

“In March, Mr. Obama took the unusual step of summoning Mr. Biden’s top campaign advisers, including the former White House communications director Anita Dunn and Mr. Biden’s longtime spokeswoman, Kate Bedingfield, to his Washington office for a briefing on the campaign’s digital and communications strategy with members of his own staff, including his senior adviser, Eric Schultz.”

“When they were done, Mr. Obama offered a pointed reminder: Win or lose, they needed to make sure Mr. Biden did not ’embarrass himself’ or ‘damage his legacy’ during the campaign.”

Trump Body Shamed His Own Supporter

August 16, 2019 at 3:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Sometimes the self-declared greatest counterpuncher in the world lands a blow on the wrong person,” the New York Times reports.

“That was the case on Thursday night, when President Trump fat-shamed a man who he thought was a protester being disruptive in the upper rungs of the stadium in Manchester, N.H., where the president was holding a campaign rally. Instead, the man turned out to be a supporter of the president who was trying to assist in removing the actual protesters.”

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