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What Kamala Harris Could Learn from George H.W. Bush

November 21, 2021 at 5:07 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Tevi Troy: “There’s been a lot of noise lately about tensions between Vice President Kamala Harris’s staff and Joe Biden’s. Both teams have grumbled about each other to the press, with the Biden folks complaining about her poor political skills, and the Harris team complaining that she’s not being used appropriately.”

“Such tensions aren’t unusual when a vice president is working for a former campaign rival. It may seem that presidential nominees routinely choose rivals as their running mates. In fact, it happens relatively rarely, and only four times in the modern era have such tickets prevailed: John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1960, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in 1980, Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2008 and Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris in 2020.”

Troy is the author of Fight House: Rivalries In the White House from Truman to Trump.

Sununu Suggests House GOP Is ‘Ruining America’

November 21, 2021 at 3:06 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said the Republican party’s vilification of members of Congress who have criticized Donald Trump or supported bipartisan legislation is “ruining America,” The Guardian reports.

Said Sununu: “That’s kind of that social media mob mentality that’s built up in this country where we don’t agree with one issue so we’re going to attack them, we’re going to vilify one person or one individual. We’ve got to get beyond that, because culturally, it’s really, really ruining America.”

He also specifically noted that House Republicans “have their priorities screwed up.”

Top GOP Senator Slams Party’s Blockade of Nominees

November 21, 2021 at 12:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Saturday pushed back against his party’s blockade of President Joe Biden’s picks to top diplomatic posts,” Politico reports.

“With more than 50 foreign-policy nominations stalling on the Senate floor, Idaho Sen. Jim Risch said he has been ‘as energetic as I can about getting these through’ the upper chamber.”

Cruz Says U.S. Athletes Need to ‘Kick Their Commie Asses’

November 21, 2021 at 12:16 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that he hoped U.S. athletes “go over there and kick their commie asses” at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, The Hill reports.

Biden Nears Endgame on Fed Chair Decision

November 21, 2021 at 12:11 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Biden faces one of the most important economic policy decisions of his presidency, which is expected this week, when deciding who should lead the Federal Reserve when Chairman Jerome Powell’s term expires in February,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Biden has signaled he is looking for continuity in Fed policy because he is considering whether to reappoint Mr. Powell for a second four-year term or elevate governor Lael Brainard, who has strongly backed the central bank’s interest rate policy over the past four years.”

“Instead, the president’s choice may turn on politics rather than economics, because Mr. Powell’s candidacy has divided progressive Democrats and led to competing views inside the Biden administration.”

Conflict Over Abortion Laws Won’t Abate

November 21, 2021 at 12:08 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“On both sides of America’s abortion debate, activists are convinced that Roe v. Wade — the 1973 Supreme Court ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion — is imperiled as never before,” the AP reports.

“Yet no matter how the current conservative-dominated court handles pending high-profile abortion cases — perhaps weakening Roe, perhaps gutting it completely — there will be no monolithic, nationwide change. Fractious state-by-state battles over abortion access will continue.”

“Roe’s demise would likely prompt at least 20 Republican-governed states to impose sweeping bans; perhaps 15 Democratic-governed states would reaffirm support for abortion access.”

Weed Legalization Goes Bipartisan

November 21, 2021 at 12:06 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Nearly half of Republican voters support federally decriminalizing cannabis, and GOP lawmakers are now beginning to reflect their constituents’ view by increasingly supporting broad legalization at the state and federal level,” Politico reports.

“Stronger Republican involvement could hasten a snowball effect on Capitol Hill, where Democrats lead the charge on decriminalization but lack results.”

Ocasio-Cortez Warns Democrats Must Follow Through

November 21, 2021 at 12:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) warned in a New York Times interview that if the Build Back Better Act doesn’t pass soon, don’t expect the progressive caucus to back Democratic leadership on anything else.

Said Ocasio-Cortez: “So if those promises don’t follow through, it’s going to be very, very difficult for them to get votes on anything moving forward. Because the trust that was already so delicate will have been broken.”

She called the whole negotiating process “demoralizing” and predicted that it will affect Democratic turnout.

Marine Corps Vaccine Compliance Just 94%

November 21, 2021 at 11:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Up to 10,000 active-duty Marines will not be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus when their deadline arrives in coming days, a trajectory expected to yield the U.S. military’s worst immunization rate,” the Washington Post reports.

“While 94% of Marine Corps personnel have met the vaccination requirement or are on a path to do so, for the remainder it is too late to begin a regimen and complete it by the service’s Nov. 28 deadline. Within an institution built upon the belief that orders are to be obeyed, and one that brands itself the nation’s premier crisis-response force, it is a vexing outcome.”

O’Rourke Stands By Gun Comments

November 21, 2021 at 11:19 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke (D) said he stands by his controversial 2019 comment that “we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” The Hill reports.

Said O’Rourke: “Look, we are a state that has a long, proud tradition of responsible gun ownership. And most of us here in Texas do not want to see our friends, our family members, our neighbors shot up with these weapons of war. So yes, I still hold this view.”

GOP Dark Money Group Backs White Supremacists

November 21, 2021 at 11:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Efforts to overturn the election. Jan. 6 organizers. White supremacist groups. And more than a dozen private and public universities,” the Daily Beast reports.

“They all have one thing in common: They received anonymous funding funneled through a single conservative dark money behemoth.”

“That’s the news in the latest IRS filing from Donors Trust—a conservative, Koch-aligned nonprofit which does not need to reveal the names of its donors and has been called the ‘dark money ATM of the right.’”

Allies Worried U.S. Won’t Pass Annual Defense Bill

November 21, 2021 at 11:11 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“U.S. allies expressed concerns to senators this weekend that Congress could break a 60-year streak and fail to pass an annual defense policy bill before the end of the year,” Politico reports.

“The extraordinary dynamic comes as the Senate is at a standstill on the legislation. Several Republicans have delayed the process as they push for votes on their amendments to the bill, and Democratic leaders didn’t begin the floor process for the bill until this week — far later than in past years.”

California Gas Prices Near $5 a Gallon

November 21, 2021 at 11:09 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“California currently has the highest gas prices in the nation, an average of $4.70 a gallon of regular unleaded,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

More Americans Not Planning to Have Children

November 21, 2021 at 11:07 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “More U.S. adults who do not already have children are saying they are unlikely to ever have them, a new Pew Research Center survey finds — findings that could draw renewed attention to the risks of declining birthrates for industrialized nations.”

GOP Donors Back Manchin and Sinema

November 21, 2021 at 11:04 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Even as Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin, both Democrats, have drawn fire from the left for their efforts to shrink and reshape Mr. Biden’s proposals, they have won growing financial support from conservative-leaning donors and business executives in a striking display of how party affiliation can prove secondary to special interests and ideological motivations when the stakes are high enough.”

“Ms. Sinema is winning more financial backing from Wall Street and constituencies on the right in large part for her opposition to raising personal and corporate income tax rates. Mr. Manchin has attracted new Republican-leaning donors as he has fought against much of his own party to scale back the size of Mr. Biden’s legislation and limit new social welfare components.”

How Companies Quietly Raise Prices

November 21, 2021 at 11:02 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal: “When a company raises prices directly, some vigilant customer is bound to notice and complain on social media, no matter how small the increase or valid the reason. A few complaints could then spiral into a firestorm of outrage, upturning even the most carefully orchestrated price increase.”

“The solution for many companies is to raise prices, but covertly. Companies hope that by making price increases hard to evaluate, they can then escape notice and avoid a customer backlash.”

A MAGA Squad of Trump Loyalists

November 21, 2021 at 7:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “The continuing turmoil in the House GOP conference over how and whether to punish members who back anything supported by Democrats shows how an emboldened group of far-right House members is gaining influence over the Republican Party in Congress. These representatives are positioning themselves to further purify the House GOP conference as a branch of Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ movement.”

If Trump Runs Again

November 21, 2021 at 7:28 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Atlantic: “If Donald Trump tries to run for president again, one of his former campaign advisers has a plan to dissuade him. Anticipating that Trump may not know who Adlai Stevenson was or that he lost two straight presidential elections in the 1950s, this ex-adviser figures he or someone else might need to explain the man’s unhappy fate. They’ll remind Trump that if he were beaten in 2024, he would join Stevenson as one of history’s serial losers.”

Said the person: “I think that would resonate. Trump hates losers.”

“Trump might not listen to his former campaign confidante. But the mere fact that someone who worked to elect Trump the first time is rehearsing arguments to stop a comeback suggests that the former president’s tight grip on the Republican Party may be slipping.”