“Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham will report raising $7.4 million in the second quarter of 2020, a figure that appears to be a record for Senate candidates from North Carolina in any quarter,” the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
DC Statehood Won’t Create Permanent Senate Majority
Inside Elections: “Any conversation about DC statehood will inevitably include Republicans predicting a permanent influx of Democrats on Capitol Hill. But history reveals that two additional Democratic senators would rarely have made a difference in control of the Senate over the last half century.”
“A hypothetical DC statehood would have turned a Republican majority into a Democratic majority for just four months over the past 60 years.”
Publication of Mary Trump’s Book Moved Up
Simon & Schuster announced it is moving up the publication date of Mary Trump’s book by two weeks, citing “high demand and extraordinary interest.”
They also released the back cover, which includes this nugget: “Today, Donald is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning, or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in and synthesize information.”
- Hardcover Book
- Trump Ph.D., Mary L. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 240 Pages - 07/14/2020 (Publication Date) - Simon & Schuster (Publisher)
‘Is the Statue Shit Going to Work?’
“Two individuals close to the president told the Daily Beast last week that they believe devoting so much time and energy to defending lifeless statues—a kick that started with sticking up for ones honoring racist dead Confederates—will likely fail to help rejuvenate his sagging 2020 campaign and close the wide polling deficits that former Vice President Biden has opened up.”
“Both sources independently said they intended to gently implore Trump to take a different approach. One of the sources said they had already told Trump in recent days that making statue fetishization a cornerstone of the re-election pitch amounted to a ‘distraction’ that wouldn’t help move the necessary votes into the president’s column by the election in November.”
Said one: “The question now is: Is the statue shit going to work?”
Speaking of Protecting Our History
Philip Rucker: “With Trump’s newfound determination to preserve and celebrate history, I can’t help but recall his 2017 visit to the USS Arizona Memorial. The president had to ask John Kelly what happened at Pearl Harbor and its significance, as Carol Leonnig and I report in A Very Stable Genius.”
Some Countries Have Nearly Halted Virus
“Some European nations are closing in on a milestone that to the U.S. seems distant: virtually stopping the new coronavirus from spreading within their territories,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Echoing the achievement of Asia-Pacific countries such as New Zealand, Vietnam and Taiwan, a handful of places in Europe are reporting only a smattering of new daily infections. Their success in containing the pandemic has allowed them to reopen their economies earlier, at a faster clip and with greater confidence than the stop-start efforts of U.S. states and hard-hit neighbors such as the U.K.”
Exchange of the Day
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) was interviewed on CNN by Dana Bash:
BASH: In your view, where does it end? Should statues, for example, of George Washington come down?”
DUCKWORTH: Well, let me just say we should start off by having a national dialogue on it at some point. But right now we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. And one of our countries that are opposed to us, Russia, has put a bounty on American troops’ heads. What really struck me about this speech that the president gave at Mount Rushmore was that he spent more time worried about honoring dead Confederates than he did talking about the lives of our 130,000 Americans who lost their lives to COVID-19, or by warning Russia off of the bounties they’re putting on Americans’ heads. His priorities are all wrong here. He should be talking about what we’re going to do to overcome this pandemic. What are we going to do to push Russia back? Instead, he had no time for that. He spent all his time talking about dead traitors.
BASH: That may be true, but George Washington, I don’t think anybody would call him a traitor and there are moves by some to remove statues of him. Is that a good idea?
DUCKWORTH: I think we should listen to everybody. I think we should listen to the argument there, but remember that the president at Mount Rushmore was standing on ground that was stolen from Native Americans who had actually been given that land during a treaty.
Charlie Sykes: “This was worse than a gaffe. It was political malpractice, because it threw Trump a lifeline at time when even Republicans are rattled by Trump’s dark and divisive message. Confederate statues are one thing, but George Washington? Mount Rushmore? Seriously?”
States Can Penalize Faithless Electors
The Supreme Court ruled that states can penalize faithless electors, the members of the Electoral College who do not support the winner of their state’s popular vote in a presidential election.
The decision was unanimous.
Axios: “The 2016 presidential election saw 10 electors vote for someone other than their state’s chosen candidate — highlighting how faithless electors could have the potential to swing an election.”
Trump Is Now Squarely With the Losers
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A Vicious Culture War Is All Trump Has Left
E.J. Dionne: “Trump’s vile speeches at Mount Rushmore on Friday and at the White House on the Fourth of July signal that he sees one and only one possible path to victory: He will tear an already riven nation to pieces.”
Trump’s Approval Keeps Sliding
A new Gallup poll finds President Trump’s approval rate at 38% to 57%.
Jonathan Bernstein: “Trump’s current approval numbers (as calculated by FiveThirtyEight) continue to grow more dismal by the month. His approval rating has gone from 45.8% on April 1, to 43.3% at the beginning of May, to 42.9% in early June, to 40.7% over the Fourth of July weekend. His disapproval has climbed steadily, from 49.7% on April 1 to 55.9% now. That’s a whopping 15.2 points underwater, and there’s just no way that a president is going to be re-elected with a solid majority thinking he has failed in office.”
The Stock Market Isn’t Everything
Quite the statement from JP Morgan:
“The consensus view is that a Democrat victory in November will be a negative for equities. However, we see this outcome as neutral to slight positive.”
Trump Defends Confederate Flag Again
President Trump on Twitter:
“Has Bubba Wallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers and officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, and were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That and Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!”
Quote of the Day
“He is who he is. People know who he is. You think he’s going to change?”
— Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), speaking about President Trump to the New York Times.
Democrats Smell a Chance to Control Redistricting
Politico: “Intent on not repeating the mistakes of 2010 under then-President Barack Obama, the party is seizing on a once-in-a-decade opportunity to drive the redistricting process — and reverse the built-in advantage Republicans amassed over House district lines after the last census.”
“From Pennsylvania to Texas to Minnesota, cash-flush Democrats are working to win back legislative chambers needed to take control of drawing congressional maps — or at least guarantee a seat at the table. If they succeed, it would correct an Obama-era down-ballot shellacking that handed Republicans House control and resulted in the loss of more than 900 Democratic legislative seats.”
Sara Giden Holds Small Lead Over Susan Collins
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Maine finds Sara Gideon leading Sen. Susan Collins in the U.S. Senate race by 4 points, 46% to 42%.
Brutal numbers for the incumbent: Just 36% of voters approving of the job Collins is doing, while 55% disapprove.
In the presidential race, Joe Biden leads Donald Trump, 53% to 42%.
GOP Powerbroker to Texas Governor: ‘Shoot to Kill’
“In the days after George Floyd’s killing in police custody in Minneapolis last month, as massive protests against police brutality spread across Texas and other states, conservative power broker Steve Hotze of Houston called Gov. Greg Abbott’s chief of staff to pass along a message,” the Texas Tribune reports.
Said Hotze: “I want you to give a message to the governor. I want to make sure that he has National Guard down here and they have the order to shoot to kill if any of these son-of-a-bitch people start rioting like they have in Dallas, start tearing down businesses — shoot to kill the son of a bitches. That’s the only way you restore order. Kill ’em. Thank you.”
The Last Dash Before the Election
Playbook: “Washington is about to begin a four-week sprint that will include the House Democratic leadership and the Senate GOP leadership wrestling over another coronavirus relief package. Republicans have laid their marker — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the next package needs to protect kids, protect jobs and reform liability laws so entities can’t get sued. Democrats have pushed for state and local government relief, additional unemployment insurance and direct payments and bolstering testing.
“Time is short, of course, and this will go down to the wire. Both sides agree that a package will get passed by the end of the month. With McConnell saying that liability reform is his red line, the question becomes: What does he have to give up to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to get it?
“President Trump and the White House are still making noises about a payroll tax cut — their only idea, it seems. Keep your eyes on chief of staff Mark Meadows. We expect he — not Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — will be the chief negotiator this time around.”