Daily Archives
33 posts · Tuesday
“As Steve Bannon casts about for a new gig after being given the boot from Breitbart News, one place he will certainly not be heading is Fox News,” The Wrap reports.
“Mere hours after his departure from the conservative website, the network moved to swiftly slam the door on any talk that the newly unemployed Bannon may be signed as a contributor.”
“A panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina’s congressional map on Tuesday, declaring it unconstitutionally gerrymandered and demanding that the Republican-controlled General Assembly redraw district lines before this year’s midterm elections,” the New York Times reports.
“The ruling was the first time that a federal court had blocked a congressional map because the judges believed it to be a partisan gerrymander, and it deepened the political chaos that has enveloped North Carolina in recent years.”
Washington Post: “The ruling marks the second time this decade that the GOP’s congressional boundaries in North Carolina have been thrown out by a three-judge panel.”
“A senior National Security Council official proposed withdrawing some U.S. military forces from Eastern Europe as an overture to Vladimir Putin during the early days of the Trump administration,” the Daily Beast reports.
“While the proposal was ultimately not adopted, it is the first known case of senior aides to Donald Trump seeking to reposition U.S. military forces to please Putin—something that smelled, to a colleague, like a return on Russia’s election-time investment in President Trump.”
Former Idaho state Rep. Brandon Hixon (R), who was facing a sexual abuse investigation, has shot and killed himself, the AP reports.
“Officials have released no details about the criminal investigation into Hixon, 36, except that it was related to possible sexual abuse. Records obtained by The Associated Press show that he was previously the focus of a separate police investigation in 2014 after being accused of inappropriate touching.”
“Most fascinating meeting I’ve been involved with in twenty plus years in politics.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), on Twitter, while complimenting President Trump for his “attitude, demeanor, and desire to get something done.”
Jonathan Chait: “In the hope of proving he is not the semiliterate ignoramus numerous media have depicted him to be, Donald Trump held a televised meeting with members of Congress to discuss immigration. It was, the White House told a friendly reporter, the president’s very own idea.”
“In some, very superficial aspects, the stunt fulfilled Trump’s goals. He was depicted at a table, meeting with important people and talking politics while wearing a tie, as opposed to in bed with a cheeseburger watching cable-news hits. But looking even slightly below the surface imagery, the meeting instead confirmed the very idea Trump had set out to refute.”
Axios has highlights from the meeting.
Stephen Bannon is stepping down from his post as executive chairman of Breitbart News, the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Bannon’s departure, which was forced by a onetime financial patron, Rebekah Mercer, comes as Mr. Bannon remained unable to quell the furor over remarks attributed to him in a new book in which he questions President Trump’s mental fitness and disparages his elder son, Donald Trump Jr.”
Washington Post: “It leaves him with no evident platform to promote his views and no financial basis for his preferred candidates.”
A source close to the White House to Jonathan Swan: “God, I can’t believe the whole movement just collapsed on this guy. He’s done.”
Daniel Donner: “Historically, special elections for state legislatures have tended to fly under the radar except among the more dedicated elections geeks, such as reside here at Daily Kos Elections. But as is our wont, we’ve been paying close attention to them, and we’ve seen a clear trend of Democratic overperformance this cycle.”
President Trump told lawmakers that Congress could benefit from returning to the days of earmarks, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I hear so much about earmarks and how there was a great friendliness when you had earmarks. Of course they had other problems, but maybe all of you should start thinking about going back to a form of earmarks.”
“Republicans in Congress, including several powerful committee chairmen, are rushing to retire rather than face re-election in the fall, a clear recognition that President Trump’s low approval rating will be a heavy weight on the party even with an improving economy,” the New York Times reports.
“While the president’s party almost always drops seats in a midterm election, the losses have averaged 40 seats since 1962 when the president’s approval rating is under 50 percent. Mr. Trump’s numbers are below 40 percent in most polls, the worst of any president at this point in his term in the history of polling. His ratings are also far worse than any first-term president when the unemployment rate is under 5 percent.”
Nate Cohn: GOP House retirements are surging, but not as much in competitive races
“The British ex-spy who authored a dossier of allegations against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was told the FBI had someone inside Trump’s network providing agents with information,” the Washington Post reports.
“Glenn Simpson, founder of research firm Fusion GPS, spoke to investigators with the Senate Judiciary Committee for 10 hours in August. As the partisan fight over Russian interference in the 2016 election has intensified, Simpson has urged that his testimony be released, and a copy of the transcript was made public Tuesday.”
“It was released by the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). That decision marks the most serious break yet in the once cooperative relationship she has had with the Republican chairman of the committee, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-IA).”
“Yeah, I’ll beat Oprah. Oprah will be lots of fun. I know her very well. I did one of her last shows… I like Oprah. I don’t think she’s going to run.”
— President Trump, quoted by NBC News.
President Trump declared he wants Congress to pass a “bill of love” to protect younger undocumented immigrants from deportation, but he reiterated his demands for a border wall and cuts to legal immigration that Democrats have opposed, the Washington Post reports.
When asked if the wall has to be part of any agreement, Trump said, “Yes, it has to be.”
“North Korea said after its first talks with South Korea in more than two years that it would not discuss its nuclear weapons with Seoul because they were aimed only at the United States, not its ‘brethren’ in South Korea,” Reuters reports.
President Trump is expected to attend the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, in the coming weeks, the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s planned appearance at an event that is synonymous with wealth and elite prestige comes as he enters the second year of a term he won on a message of economic populism. Presidents have rarely attended the forum in Davos, in part out of a concern that it would send the wrong message to be rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s richest individuals.”
A new Rutgers-Eagleton Poll finds that just 5% of New Jersey residents said they are going to miss Gov. Chris Christie (R) when he leaves office later this month.
The margin of error is +/- 3%.
“Christie will end his second term as the most disapproved and disliked since Eagleton began surveying the public almost five decades ago. Thirteen percent have a favorable impression of him (a new low for this
final measurement of his likability), compared to 68% who are unfavorable.”
New York Times: “One person familiar with the discussions said Mr. Mueller appeared most interested in asking questions about the former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, and the firing of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey — not the broader question of possible collusion with Russia. Those topics signal an interest in whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct justice.”
Greg Sargent: “It will be perilous terrain for Trump to face tough questioning about obstruction of justice… Trump would be pressed to explain, in his own words, his motives for all of those actions. In the cases where he denies them, he would be pressed on those denials. And if he again denied them to Mueller, those denials would be held up against the testimony of people like Comey, and of other officials to whom Comey may have confirmed his account at the time.”
“This would be a minefield for Trump, one demanding great care and precision in his answers.”
Joe Arpaio (R), “a close ally of President Trump and former sheriff known for his provocative approach to combating illegal immigration, is running for Senate in Arizona,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“The 85-year-old Arpaio could shake up the late August Republican primary in a critical open-seat race to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ).”
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.