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September 27, 2017

28 posts · Wednesday

← September 26, 2017September 28, 2017 →

Twitter Was Used By Russia More Than Facebook

September 27, 2017 at 8:41 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “For three weeks, a harsh spotlight has been trained on Facebook over its disclosure that Russians used fake pages and ads, designed to look like the work of American activists, to spread inflammatory messages during and since the presidential campaign.”

“But there is evidence that Twitter may have been used even more extensively than Facebook in the Russian influence campaign last year. In addition to Russia-linked Twitter accounts that posed as Americans, the platform was also used for large-scale automated messaging, using ‘bot’ accounts to spread false stories and promote news articles about emails from Democratic operatives that had been obtained by Russian hackers.”

Filed Under: Technology

Pruitt Took Expensive Charter Flights

September 27, 2017 at 8:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt “has taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, costing taxpayers more than $58,000 to fly him to various parts of the country,” the Washington Post reports.

Filed Under: White House

The GOP Identity Crisis

September 27, 2017 at 7:15 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rich Lowry: “The Republican Party can’t pass Obamacare repeal but it can nominate Roy Moore.”

“This is the state of the GOP in a nutshell. It is a party locked in mortal combat between an establishment that is ineffectual and unimaginative and a populist wing that is ineffectual and inflamed. It is rare for a governing coalition to have a bitter factional fight—usually the party out of power deploys the circular firing squads — although, on the other hand, this particular coalition isn’t doing much governing.”

“By the hard numbers, Republicans are in robust good health. They have unified control of the federal government and the most governorships and state legislative seats since the 1920s. Conservatives control the Supreme Court. Yet, Trump’s ascendance created an identity crisis in the party that hasn’t been resolved, and the hope it could be papered over with legislative accomplishments and signing ceremonies has come a cropper.”

Filed Under: Republicans

Why Tax Reform Isn’t Going Anywhere

September 27, 2017 at 5:55 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

The reason tax reform is so difficult is that changing the tax code creates winners and losers. And the distribution of losers is rarely optimized politically for a plan to pass Congress.

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Filed Under: Budget & Taxes, Members

California Moves Presidential Primary to March 2020

September 27, 2017 at 5:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Backing an effort for California to claim a bigger share of the attention from presidential candidates, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill moving the state’s primary elections to early March,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“Brown’s decision, announced without fanfare on Wednesday, means the state will hold its presidential primary on March 3, 2020. It’s a reversal from a decision he and Democratic lawmakers made in 2011 to push the state’s primary elections back until June, after years of trying — and failing — to entice major candidates to bring their campaigns to California instead of smaller, more rural states.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: California

Roy Moore Only Makes Trump Stronger

September 27, 2017 at 2:55 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Frank Rich: “As the news of Moore’s victory hit last night, the Times tweeted that the results had delivered “a blow to President Trump.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Both of the GOP primary candidates were far to the right, and both were full-throated Trump supporters. Yes, Trump, acting impulsively on sloppy political intelligence, had endorsed the loser, Strange, but the Moore victory only adds to Trump’s power over the GOP.”

“Moore was a Trumpist before Trump was: a nativist, homophobic, law-disdaining, white supremacist, theocratic Dixie judge — a Bible-thumping regional variant on Joe Arpaio. He will be a vocal Trump ally in trying to drive what’s left of the GOP Establishment in Washington out of power.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Roy Moore

Americans Say Trump Is ‘Not Fit to Serve’

September 27, 2017 at 2:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Quinnipiac poll finds that American voters believe President Trump is not “fit to serve as president,” by a 56% to 42% margin. They are embarrassed to have him as president by a 51% to 27% margin.

Trump’s approval rating is a dismal, 36% to 57%.

Said pollster Tim Malloy: “A divider, responsible for the deepening chasm of racial discord. That is the inescapable characterization of President Trump from voters who see race relations deteriorating on his watch.”

Filed Under: White House

Trump Says He’s Not Happy with Tom Price

September 27, 2017 at 1:20 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump refused to rule out the possibility of firing Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, saying he’s “not happy” with his use of a private plane, The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “I’m looking into it. I’m not happy about it.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Tom Price

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

September 27, 2017 at 12:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I thought they were voting for libertarian Republicans. But after some soul-searching, I realized when they voted for Rand and Ron [Paul] and me in these primaries, they weren’t voting for libertarian ideas. They were voting for the craziest son of a bitch in the race. And Donald Trump won best in class.”

— Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), quoted by the Washington Examiner., explaining what motivates Tea Party voters.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Thomas Massie

Kushner Registered to Vote as a Female

September 27, 2017 at 12:03 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Jared Kushner is registered as a female voter in New York,” The Hill reports.

“Registration records show that when Kushner, who is married to first daughter Ivanka Ivanka, registered to vote in 2009, he apparently checked a box classifying his gender as a female.”

“Prior to 2009, his New Jersey voter registration noted his gender as ‘unknown.'”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Trump Infuriated After Backing Loser

September 27, 2017 at 11:58 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Returning from a high-dollar fundraiser in Manhattan on Tuesday evening, an infuriated President Trump watched aboard Air Force One as Fox News called the Alabama Senate primary for Roy Moore against Trump’s favored candidate, Luther Strange,” CNN reports.

“What ensued was a barrage of angry venting at his political team and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had consolidated establishment GOP support behind Strange.”

“He went to bed ’embarrassed and pissed’ following the election loss, according to a person familiar with his mindset. Trump, multiple sources said, is furious with McConnell, and feels outdone by his former aide Bannon.”

Filed Under: 2017 Campaign, White House Tagged With: AL-Sen

Bonus Quote of the Day

September 27, 2017 at 11:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Tax reform is going to make health care look like a piece of cake.”

— Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), quoted by ABC News.

Filed Under: Budget & Taxes

Northam Maintains Lead In Virginia

September 27, 2017 at 11:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Christopher Newport University survey in Virginia finds Ralph Northam (D) leading Ed Gillespie (R) in the governor’s race, 47% to 41%.

Filed Under: 2017 Campaign Tagged With: VA-Gov

‘Worth Every Penny’

September 27, 2017 at 10:55 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

From an email I received this morning with that subject line:

Political Wire has become my go-to political news source. I check your page several times a day, eager to see the latest updates. Your ability to quickly glean the most meaningful information from a wide variety of publications and distill it to its essence saves me valuable time, and your members-only analysis is excellent. Thank you.

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Filed Under: Administrative

Republicans Choose Authoritarianism Again

September 27, 2017 at 10:44 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Chait: “The Republican Establishment has suffered through the Trump presidency, filling the news with a constant stream of caustic, mordant, off-the-record comments attesting to their sense of regret. The presidency is exactly the chaotic shambles the Trump campaign was, and the legislative results are much less than his party hoped to win when it made its pact with the devil. The nomination in Alabama of Roy Moore for U.S. Senate offered the party a chance to reconsider whether the prospect of supporting the team, and the incrementally higher prospects of enacting some tax cuts and social spending rollbacks, is worth the cost of elevating a dangerously unhinged demagogue for public office. The entire party, without any apparent hesitation, is leaping at the chance to make the same deal again.”

“Moore is hardly a carbon copy of Trump. He is religious where Trump is secular, fanatical where Trump is cynical. But he shares the president’s two most pertinent attributes. First, Moore is a purveyor of paranoid conspiracy theories, such as the belief that Sharia law has taken hold in American communities, or that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Second, and more distinctly, he is not a small-d democrat.”

Filed Under: 2017 Campaign Tagged With: AL-Sen, Roy Moore

GOP Tax Plan Leaves Out Key Details

September 27, 2017 at 10:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republicans on Wednesday will propose slashing tax rates for the wealthy, middle class and businesses, while also preserving popular tax deductions that encourage buying homes and giving to charity,” according to a 9-page document obtained by the Washington Post.

“But the document… leaves many key questions unanswered. In it, the White House and Republican congressional leaders do not identify the numerous tax breaks that they say will be removed in order to offset some of the trillions of dollars in revenue lost by cutting tax rates.”

For members: Who Knew Tax Reform Could Be So Complicated?

Filed Under: Budget & Taxes

Huge Majority Wants a New Congress

September 27, 2017 at 10:25 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new CNN poll finds that only 20% of registered voters want most members re-elected while 70% would rather the majority of members not return to Congress.

Also interesting: Just 30% of Republican voters say they want to see most members reelected.

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign

Will Republicans Finally Fear Trump Less?

September 27, 2017 at 9:27 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Bernstein: “Sure, Trump is the least popular president of the polling era in terms of his first 250 days. But Republicans were always going to be hesitant to dismiss the president’s popularity — especially in Republican primaries — in part because Trump’s nomination and election was such a surprise, and in part because Trump did it with awful poll numbers.”

“Trump’s utter inability to move the polls despite being very visible in his support for Strange will remove some, and perhaps quite a bit, of the belief among Republican elites that Trump has some sort of special connection with their constituents. Indeed, Moore won by a larger margin in the runoff than he did in the first-round election. Which means they’ll be less likely to give him the benefit of the doubt when deciding whether to do what he wants.”

Filed Under: White House

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About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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