“Federally indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) failed to earn the endorsement of his local Republican Party on Monday despite representing San Diego County in the House for more than 10 years,” Roll Call reports.
Quote of the Day
“We’re not going to beat Trump with pocket change.”
— Mayor Pete Buttigieg, in a Snapchat interview, on Elizabeth Warren’s small donor strategy.
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Shari Redstone Mulls Starting Fox News Competitor
“In the midst of closing a merger between CBS and Viacom, Shari Redstone is quietly exploring a plan to launch a conservative TV outlet meant to square off with the Fox News Channel,” sources tell the Hollywood Reporter.
“Redstone has approached current and former Fox News personalities about such a plan, sources say, and she has spoken with former NBC News host Megyn Kelly.”
Bonus Exchange of the Day
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was interviewed by Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC:
PAUL: If we’re going to investigate Rudy Giuliani, then we should investigate Hunter Biden.
RUHLE: Does that mean we should investigate how Jared Kushner’s family got foreign money? Ivanka’s Chinese trademarks?
PAUL: If we want to go down the road of self-destruction, we can do that.
Impeachment Could End Collins’ Career
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Maine shows Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has a dismal 35% to 50% approval rating.
Collins trails a generic Democrat for reelection 41% to 44%. That represents a big drop for Collins compared to a September poll when she led a generic Democrat by 6 points at 44% to 38%.
Also interesting is that 53% of Mainers support impeaching President Trump with 44% opposed. When asked who they would choose if Collins opposed impeachment, she goes from a 3-point deficit against a generic Democratic opponent for reelection to a 7-point deficit at 40% to 47%.
Trump’s Impeachment Barricade Crumbles
Politico: “The president’s former top Russia adviser, Fiona Hill — the first White House official to cooperate in Democrats’ investigation of the Ukraine scandal — has sketched for lawmakers a trail of alleged corruption that extends from Kiev to the West Wing. In dramatic testimony on Monday, she roped in some of Trump’s top advisers as witnesses to the unfolding controversy.”
“And on Tuesday, a senior State Department official, George Kent, appeared on Capitol Hill to testify about his knowledge of the episode despite an attempt by administration lawyers to block him… The House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena for his testimony Tuesday morning, and Kent complied.”
“It’s the latest evidence that the White House’s stonewalling against congressional requests for documents and testimony is crumbling — and Democrats are feeling a new sense of momentum.”
Model Shows Trump Headed for Easy Re-Election
A new Moody’s Analytics forecast shows President Trump looks likely to cruise to re-election next year under three different economic models.
“Moody’s based its projections on how consumers feel about their own financial situation, the gains the stock market has achieved during Trump’s tenure, and the prospects for unemployment, which has fallen to a 50-year low. Should those variables hold up, the president looks set to get another four-year term.”
“Three models show Trump getting at least 289 electoral votes and as many as 351, assuming average turnout. The Moody’s models have been backtested to 1980 and were correct each time — except in 2016, when it indicated Clinton would win a narrow victory.”
Most Americans Want a National Health Plan
A new CBS News poll finds 56% of Americans think providing access to affordable health care coverage for all Americans is the responsibility of the federal government, and 66% favor the creation of a national, government-administered health insurance plan similar to Medicare that would be available to all Americans.
White House Again Tries to Block Testimony
The State Department and White House tried to block George Kent from testifying in the impeachment inquiry today — so the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed him, Politico reports.
Kent is complying with the subpoena.
How to Prepare a Debate Zinger
New York Times: “Catchy debate lines alone rarely determine the outcome of a race. But there is a skill to landing the perfect zinger, the kind of quick remark that can reinvigorate a campaign, boost fund-raising, allay concerns about a candidate or even sink an opponent.”
“Ahead of the CNN/New York Times debate, here is a guide to the art of the zinger, from veterans of the practice.”
Trump’s Defenses Are Collapsing
Greg Sargent: “Donald Trump’s explicitly declared position in the scandal consuming his presidency is that pressuring a foreign power to ‘investigate’ a leading domestic political opponent absolutely falls within his rightfully exercised authority. Trump has said this, and so has his White House counsel, making this the White House’s official political, substantive and legal position.”
“But this defense is cracking up. That’s because we’re now learning, one after another, that all of the people around him knew that it was grievously wrong — that is, all except for those who were carrying out Trump’s corrupt scheme.”
“As this becomes more public, Trump’s position will grow increasingly unsustainable — not just as a rhetorical matter but also in terms of whether he’ll be able to keep the support of Senate Republicans, his final line of defense.”
How America’s Political Parties Change
Coming soon: How America’s Political Parties Change (and How They Don’t) by Michael Barone.
“We have the oldest and third oldest political parties in the world—the Democratic Party founded in 1832 to reelect Andrew Jackson, the Republican Party founded in 1854 to oppose slavery in the territories. They are older than almost every American business, most American colleges, and many American churches. Both have seemed to face extinction in the past, and have rebounded to be competitive again. How have they managed it?”
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Barone, Michael (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 122 Pages - 10/15/2019 (Publication Date) - Encounter Books (Publisher)
Warren Limits Donations From Some Bank, Tech Execs
“Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign will no longer accept contributions of more than $200 from executives at certain tech companies or financial firms, her latest move to keep big business at bay,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Her new pledge comes after she swore off big fundraisers. It adds to a debate among Democrats about whether the party’s White House nominee can take on President Trump with primarily small contributions.”
Exchange of the Day
Hunter Biden was interviewed by Amy Robach on ABC News:
ROBACH: If your last name wasn’t Biden do you think you would have been asked to be on the board of Burisma?
BIDEN: I don’t know. I don’t know. Probably not. But that’s – you know, I, I don’t think that there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden.
ROBACH: Why did you leave then board in April?”
BIDEN: It’s a five-year term. … And I chose not to.
ROBACH: Why?
BIDEN: I think it’s pretty obvious why.
ROBACH: This is your opportunity to say why.
BIDEN: Well because, I think it has become, this is what becomes a distraction. Because I have to sit here and answer these questions. That’s why I have committed that I won’t serve on any boards or I won’t work directly for any foreign entities when my dad becomes president?
When Trump Follows His Gut
James Hohmann: “President Trump tweeted last week about his own ‘great and unmatched wisdom’ as he defended his controversial conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was a window into his certitude and self-confidence that belies a lack of careful study or deep knowledge of the world.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump’s error, some aides concede in off-the-record conversations, was entering the Oct. 6 call underprepared, and then failing to spell out for Mr. Erdogan the potential consequences — from economic sanctions to a contraction of Turkey’s alliance with the United States and its standing in NATO. He has since threatened both, retroactively.”
“The horrors that have played out with lightning speed were clearly not anticipated by Mr. Trump, who has no fondness for briefing books and meetings in the Situation Room intended to game out events two or three moves ahead. Instead, he often talks about trusting his instincts. ‘My gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me,’ he said late last year.”
Kevin Drum: “It’s easy to pretend that a president doesn’t really need to know much. After all, that’s what aides are for. But it’s really not true. Everyone makes mistakes, as Obama did when he talked about a “red line” in Syria. But Trump’s unfathomable ignorance and bloated ego is light years beyond that. A lot of us figured from the start that Trump probably wouldn’t deliberately start a war, but that he might start one by accident. As it turns out, that was exactly right.”
The Ukraine Scandal In One Sentence
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Desperate Times for the Two Percenters
First Read: “Twelve candidates qualified for tonight’s debate, including new participant Tom Steyer. But that number is guaranteed to get smaller at next month’s debate, given the heightened qualification requirements. Four of tonight’s participants have NOT qualified for November’s debate — Beto O’Rourke, Julian Castro, Tulsi Gabbard and Amy Klobuchar — and they have every incentive to try to mix it up.”