Michael Bloomberg’s latest campaign ad features footage of several former presidents along with President Trump, but it does not show the candidate actually paying for the ad.
Merkel Takes Reins After Fallen Protege Quits
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand-picked successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has abruptly announced her intention to quit as party leader, Bloomberg reports.
Germany’s ruling party, the Christian Democratic Union, has been scandalized after some of its local politicians in the state of Thuringia voted with the far-right Alternative for Germany party to install a regional leader. Kramp-Karrenbauer had given clear orders not to collaborate with the AfD at any level.
Four Members of China’s Military Indicted for Hacking
“Four members of China’s military have been indicted by the U.S. government on charges of hacking into the credit-reporting agency Equifax Inc. and plundering sensitive data on nearly 150 million Americans,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A federal grand jury in Atlanta returned a nine-count indictment last week that accused members of China’s People’s Liberation Army of conspiring to steal reams of data as part of a sophisticated hacking operation that exploited a major vulnerability in the software used by Equifax’s online dispute portal.”
Sanders Asks for ‘Partial Recanvass’ of Iowa
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign plans to ask for a “partial recanvass” of the results of last week’s Iowa caucuses, the AP reports.
“A recanvass is not a recount, but a check of the vote count against paper records to ensure the counts were reported accurately.”
Watch the Independents In New Hampshire
First Read: “In 2016, Bernie Sanders won a whopping 73 percent of these independent voters. But in our NBC News/Marist poll we released on Friday, Sanders was getting just 22 percent of them — compared with Buttigieg at 25 percent and Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren at 10 percent apiece.”
“What’s going on here? Well, because there isn’t a competitive GOP primary this year, you not only have pro-Bernie indies, you also have the GOP-leaning independents who backed John Kasich and Jeb Bush in 2016.”
“If Buttigieg is going to pull off the upset on Tuesday against Sanders — or at least make it close — it will be due to those independents. Ditto if Amy Klobuchar continues her momentum, especially after Friday night’s debate.”
Traveling with Bloomberg
Jonathan Swan: “Mike Bloomberg’s campaign feels corporate. It’s calm, orderly and punctual. His audiences clap politely, and you can’t walk two steps without running into a paid staffer with talking points. Nobody whoops or yells. Nothing is left to chance. No expense is spared. The candidate is self-consciously low-key.”
“After being immersed in Donald Trump’s freewheeling White House and campaign for more than four years, I found the day I spent flying around with Bloomberg’s campaign last week in California to be a foreign experience.”
“The scale of Bloomberg’s staff buildup and national advertising spend is unprecedented in modern American politics. His operation is coming to resemble his own personal political party.”
Quote of the Day
“He got 44.8% in 2018. He suffered the worst electoral defeat in the House ever… but yet, the media is going, ‘Oh, he’s so strong, he’s so powerful, he’s so this.’ No he’s not!”
— James Carville, in an interview on MSNBC, on President Trump.
Trump Doesn’t Want Another North Korea Summit
“President Trump has told top foreign policy advisers that he does not want another summit with Kim Jong Un before the presidential election in November,” CNN reports.
“Trump’s last meeting with the North Korean dictator took place almost exactly a year ago, and both leaders walked away empty-handed. Since then diplomacy — aimed at achieving the denuclearization of North Korea — has floundered, and as Trump focuses on his re-election campaign his appetite to engage on the issue has waned.”
Schumer Asks for Whistleblower Retaliation Probe
“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is asking that every agency inspector general investigate retaliation against whistleblowers who report presidential misconduct, after the firing of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council,” Politico reports.
The Evolution of Trump’s Muslim Ban
“Donald Trump’s campaign call for all Muslims to be barred from entering the United States has morphed over the past three years into a complex web of travel and immigration restrictions placed, to varying degrees, on 7% of the world’s population,” Axios reports.
“While most eyes were on impeachment and Iowa, President Trump recently extended restrictions to six additional countries — widening the ban and ignoring the massive outcry it has created.
Bloomberg Waits
Rachel Bitecofer: “Ultimately, it may be Bloomberg, not Biden that subverts Buttigieg’s already historic bid for the Democratic nomination. Bloomberg, like Buttigieg, has a complicated relationship with voters of color. But unlike Buttigieg, he has experience and a campaign war chest the likes of which we’ve never seen. At the end of the day, what voters are looking for the most in their nominee is reassurance that their long national nightmare will end and that is the message Bloomberg is selling. And he has all the money in the world to bankroll the effort.”
David Drucker: “With Biden’s poor showing in Iowa and his New Hampshire support diminishing, Bloomberg is beginning to intrigue Democratic officials.”
Is It Bernie’s Party Now?
Michael Kruse: “Nearly half a century has passed since Sanders started running for office, bumming money from friends to put gas in his beat-up blue VW bug, and now here he is, the often dour, oddly charismatic, undeniably indefatigable, 79-in-September Vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist—heading into Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire as at least the co-favorite to win. He won the most votes in Iowa a week ago, a result that seems clear in spite of the botched and still unresolved caucuses.”
“He’s leading in more and more polls, at times trailing only Joe Biden, whose campaign seems to be wheezing. And he has become nothing short of a grassroots fundraising colossus, the possessor of a reservoir of resources that could let him run forever. In this panicky, high-stakes race to take on an emboldened Donald Trump in November, Sanders is positioned as well as, if not better than, any of his many competitors to be the Democratic nominee.”
Trump’s Dream Scenario Unfolds
Politico: “Inside Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, Joe Biden is a shadow of the past. Once his chief rival in the 2020 Democratic presidential field, and the cause of so much presidential angst that Trump mounted a pressure campaign against Ukraine to damage him, the former vice president’s name is now hardly mentioned in conversations with the president’s aides — that is, unless they’re mocking him.”
“With Biden increasingly struggling … the Trump campaign is now salivating at the thought of what could unfold next.”
Sanders Glides Towards Primary as Moderates Fight
Politico: “Bernie Sanders was battered in Iowa with more than $800,000 in TV attack ads that labeled him a socialist and argued he couldn’t beat President Trump. Here in New Hampshire, the opposite has happened: The airwaves are free of anti-Sanders spots in the days before the first-in-the-nation-primary, and he’s watching the moderates shank each other.”
“Tom Steyer is largely training his advertising firepower onto Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden. The former vice president is mocking Buttigieg’s experience and targeting him in a digital spot. Fighting back against Biden, the ex-mayor says he’s tired of being a punchline. The strength of the Vermont senator — who is polling first in the state with Buttigieg closely behind him — and the sudden lack of resistance to him on the airwaves is sparking anxiety among some moderate Democratic leaders.”
Trump Seeks Massive Cuts In Budget
“As with his previous budget proposals, Trump is once again seeking deep and unrealistic cuts to most federal agency budgets, according to the budget summary tables. The cuts are unlikely to be embraced by Congress,” Politico reports.
“For example, the administration is seeking an 8 percent cut to USDA’s budget over current funding levels. Trump’s plan would cut the Commerce Department by 37 percent, the Education Department by 8 percent, the Energy Department by 8 percent, the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 15 percent, and the Department of Health and Human Services by 9 percent.
Sanders Widens Lead In New Hampshire
A new Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/Suffolk University poll in New Hampshire finds Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic primary with 27%, followed by Pete Buttigieg at 19%, Amy Klobuchar at 14%, Elizabeth Warren at 12% and Joe Biden at 12%
A new 7 News/ Emerson College tracking poll finds Sanders leading with 30%, followed by Buttigieg at 23%, Klobuchar at 14%, Warren at 11% and Biden at 10%.
Buttigieg Edges Sanders for Delegates in Iowa
“Pete Buttigieg has narrowly edged out Bernie Sanders for delegates from last week’s Iowa caucuses,” Politico reports.
“According to the state Democratic Party, Buttigieg is projected to win 14 delegates to the national convention this summer in Milwaukee, while Sanders will get 12 delegates. Warren will receive eight delegates, Joe Biden will get six, and Amy Klobuchar will receive a single delegate.”
Bloomberg’s Theory of Trump
“Others have tried this tactic without success — remember Hillary Clinton? — but Mike Bloomberg plans to attack President Trump on his business record,” Axios reports.
“One difference: Trump’s pre-White House career can now be linked with his decisions as president. Another difference: Bloomberg will be making this argument as a multibillionaire who built a multinational company.”
“The crux of Bloomberg’s argument is that Trump has only ever had to think about crushing his next adversary in a deal rather than building a long-term customer relationship — and that this short-term, win-at-all-costs mindset defines how Trump operates as president, and with allies.”