New polls from CBS News/YouGov:
Iowa: Trump 58%, DeSantis 22%, Haley 13%, Ramaswamy 4%, Christie 3%.
New Hampshire: Trump 44%, Haley 29%, DeSantis 11%, Christie 10%, Ramaswamy 5%.
Politico: “The idea that the GOP presidential field would consolidate and a lone non-Trump candidate would face off against him in the primary ‘has never looked more out of reach.’”
New York Times: “Roe had long ago aggravated Mr. DeSantis with unwanted headlines, among them a New York Times story about a memo narrating debate strategy for the candidate before the first primary debate that was posted on his company’s website, and then taken down after The Times learned of it. The campaign found the memo’s existence embarrassing.”
Donald Trump weighs in: “Jeff Roe is out — GAME OVER for DeSanctimonious.”
“The civilian toll in Gaza and the Israeli military’s accidental killing of three hostages have raised questions over Israel’s strategy in Gaza,” the New York Times reports.
“The U.S. defense secretary will visit Israel and plans to tell officials to change their approach within weeks.”
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“A Democrat congressional aide who was fired for filming a gay sex tape in the Senate is facing possible criminal charges after his X-rated clip swept the internet,” the Daily Mail reports.
“Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, was fired by Maryland Senator Ben Cardin Saturday afternoon, less than a day after a lewd video showing two men having sex in a Senate hearing room was exposed.”
Politico: “The evidence so far suggests the race might shift only slightly, by a few points. That could be important in another close election, but it’s not the kind of Trump collapse that Democrats may hope for — or Biden may need if his numbers don’t improve.”
“Trump’s legal peril is unprecedented, and the sentiment that a criminal conviction could be a mortal wound to his candidacy is mostly driven by political intuition right now. But we’re starting to get more data on how a conviction would affect Trump’s chances to defeat Biden, thanks to pollsters who’ve asked voters what they would do if a jury found Trump guilty.”
“Crime in the United States has declined significantly over the last year, according to new FBI data that contradicts a widespread national perception that law-breaking and violence are on the rise,” NBC News reports.
“A Gallup poll released this month found that 77% of Americans believe crime rates are worsening, but they are mistaken, the new FBI data and other statistics show.”
“Republican polling leader Donald Trump approvingly quoted autocrats Vladimir Putin of Russia and Viktor Orban of Hungary, part of an ongoing effort to deflect from his criminal prosecutions and spin alarms about eroding democracy against President Biden,” the Washington Post reports.
“His speech at a presidential campaign rally here on Saturday also reprised dehumanizing language targeting immigrants that historians have likened to past authoritarians, including a reference that some civil rights advocates and experts in extremism have compared to Adolf Hitler’s fixation on blood purity.”
“And he used the term ‘hostages’ to describe people charged with violent crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.”
“The White House’s answer is a hard no: President Joe Biden will not pardon his son Hunter,” NBC News reports.
“But the question isn’t going away, and the issue seems far from settled. Wouldn’t a loving father do what he could to spare his lone surviving son a possible jail term that might send him spiraling back into life-threatening addiction?”
Washington Post: “Under campaign finance rules, the two operations could not privately coordinate most of their spending. But they aimed to function as an integrated whole — built with the candidate’s approval, advised by a single law firm, overseen by a board that included DeSantis confidants and seeded with $82.5 million that DeSantis had raised for his gubernatorial reelection. It was the first time a major campaign ceded so much of its operations to an entity it could not legally control.”
“With just weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses, the experiment is now in tatters. The super PAC that funded almost all of the DeSantis advertising and field programs and much of the candidate’s travel and events has been sidelined by the people that created it.”
“On Saturday evening, about four hours after this story first published, Jeff Roe — a key architect of Never Back Down’s strategy — joined a string of departures, announcing he was resigning and further deepening the group’s tumult.”
“They’re poisoning the blood of the country… They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world not just in South America… but all over the world they’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia.”
— Donald Trump, at a campaign rally.
“Donald Trump’s upcoming court calendar is creating a logistical headache for his presidential campaign,” Politico reports.
Said adviser Susie Wiles: “It’s a scheduling nightmare. There’s no way to sugarcoat that.”
“Already ricocheting from the courtroom to the campaign trail, Trump’s bid for a second term is now on a collision course with court dates for the myriad legal challenges he’s facing.”
“Moms for Liberty, a national right-wing advocacy group, was born in Florida as a response to Covid-19 school closures and mask mandates. But it quickly became just as well known for pushing policies branded as anti-LGBTQ. by opponents,” the New York Times reports.
“So when one of its founders, Bridget Ziegler, recently told the police that she and her husband, who is under criminal investigation for sexual assault, had a consensual sexual encounter with another woman, the perceived disconnect between her public stances and private life fueled intense pressure for her to resign from the Sarasota County School Board.”
Washington Post: “In one alleged incident, during a fundraising trip to South Florida in early 2022, Matt Schlapp was accused of stripping to his underwear and rubbing against another person without his consent, according to the filing. In 2017, at a CPAC after-party, Schlapp attempted to kiss an employee against his wishes, the lawsuit claims.”
“In both cases, according to the suit, the alleged victims reported the unwanted advances to staffers at CPAC’s parent organization, the American Conservative Union, but no action was taken.”
Smithsonian Magazine: “Contrary to popular belief, the 1773 protest opposed a tax break, not a tax hike. And it didn’t immediately unify the colonies against the British.”
Portland Press Herald: “The eight-hour hearing was held at the State House and presided over by Secretary of State Shanna Bellows, who plans to rule on the validity of the challenges by Dec. 22. It focused largely on whether Bellows has the authority to decide whether Trump may appear on the ballot – or if that decision lies with federal authorities or courts – and the history of Section 3.”
The level of homeless people in the U.S. leapt 12% this year to the highest number ever recorded, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Politico: “Conservatives aren’t close to entertaining an effort to oust Johnson, given that McCarthy’s departure will soon shrink their majority to just two seats.”
“But GOP hard-liners are clearly displeased with his attempts to stay above the fray, and they’re poised to make real trouble for him if he doesn’t start making hard calls. Of course, even if he does start choosing sides, he risks blowback of a different kind.”
Former President Barack Obama “knows this is going to be a close race” and “feels that Democrats very well could lose’ the 2024 election,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
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.
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