Politico: “Weeks before the 2020 election, a secret 87-page document outlined in matter-of-fact language the threat posed by Donald Trump’s still-to-come campaign of election denial.”
“The private paper — the existence of which has not been reported before — forecast with chilling confidence the likelihood of violence during the presidential handover and proposed a far-reaching set of political reforms to thwart Trumpism in the future.”
Rich Lowry: “Trump wants to tempt DeSantis to try follow him in his ‘Maga More Than Ever’ messaging, but the governor can only go so far down this path. He’s not going to peel off enough Trump voters to beat Trump. To win the nomination, DeSantis is going to need to win over a segment of Trump populists at the same time he locks down Republican voters who like Reagan more than Trump.”
“The Trump forces are going to try to make DeSantis’ roots in the party of Reagan disqualifying. Instead, played correctly, it can be a strength.”
“President Joe Biden is proposing a series of new tax increases on billionaires, rich investors and corporations in his latest proposal for how Congress should prioritize taxes and spending,” Bloomberg reports.
“Biden’s budget request to Congress, which is slated to be released Thursday, calls for a 25% minimum tax on billionaires… The plan would also nearly double the capital gains tax rate for investment to 39.6% from 20% and raise income levies on corporations and wealthy Americans.”
“The introduction of President Biden’s budget on Capitol Hill on Thursday is the ‘starter’s gun’ in the negotiations with Republicans over raising the debt limit, ratcheting up pressure on Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to unveil his own detailed budget plan, which he has not yet done,” The Hill reports.
Playbook: “No one in the White House seriously believes that Congress will adopt it in its current form. In private, administration officials readily admit that they know it’s not going anywhere.”
“So why does it matter? Beyond the obvious implications for governing, we’re told it’ll constitute the crux of Biden’s pitch as he’s expected to launch his reelection campaign in the near future.”
New York Times: Biden will release dead-on-arrival budget, picking fight with GOP.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “The calendar year before the presidential primary voting begins is often defined by winnowing, as contenders emerge and then fade.”
“But Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are taking up so much oxygen that we may already have the top contenders, with everyone else who runs essentially an afterthought.”
“DeSantis is polling well for a non-candidate, but we need to see how he actually performs before assuming that his support is solid.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been hospitalized following a fall at a hotel in Washington, the Washington Post reports.
Punchbowl News: “The 81-year-old McConnell was at the Waldorf Astoria DC when the fall occurred… We don’t have any more information at this time on the extent of McConnell’s injuries or his prognosis.”
“Widespread missile attacks and explosions were reported across Ukraine early Thursday, with air raid sirens sounding throughout the country in predawn hours, according to local officials,” the New York Times reports.
“Explosions were reported in the southern city of Odesa, where the regional military administrator said energy infrastructure and residential buildings were hit, and explosions in the northeastern city of Kharkiv caused power outages, according to the mayor.”
“Air raid alarms rang out in more than a dozen regions across the country, including in the capital, Kyiv, where the regional military administration said on its Telegram channel that air defense systems were working.”
“Congress on Wednesday voted to overturn local D.C. legislation for the first time in more than 30 years, as some Senate Democrats joined Republicans in blocking a major overhaul of the city’s criminal sentencing laws,” the Washington Post reports.
“President Biden already has indicated he will sign the disapproval resolution, which will keep D.C. from enacting the most comprehensive revision of its criminal code in a century.”
“Mere hours after Tucker Carlson’s latest segment minimizing the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, House Republicans were eager to change the subject from the Fox News host’s riot revisionism,” Politico reports.
“While Carlson continued to roil Washington, many GOP lawmakers who gathered Wednesday morning were celebrating their unexpected win on a bill rolling back progressive D.C. crime laws and plotting their response to Thursday’s White House budget.”
“A Senate committee voted in favor of former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination to be US ambassador to India, clearing the way for Senate action despite questions over his handling of a sexual harassment case,” Bloomberg reports.
“Garcetti’s nomination advanced from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a 13-8 vote, with Republicans Todd Young and Bill Hagerty joining Democrats in favor. Their support means he’s likely to get enough votes when the nomination goes before the full Senate.”
A new USA Today/Ipsos poll finds that by a 56% to 39% margin, Americans say the term “woke” means awareness of social injustices, not excessive political correctness.
“The findings raise questions about whether Republican campaign promises to ban policies at schools and workplaces they denounce as ‘woke’ could boost a contender in the party’s primaries but put them at odds with broader public opinion in the general election.”
“President Joe Biden’s upcoming budget proposal aims to cut deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade,” the AP reports.
“That deficit reduction goal is significantly higher than the $2 trillion that Biden had promised in his State of the Union address last month. It also is a sharp contrast with House Republicans, who have called for a path to a balanced budget but have yet to offer a blueprint.”
Meanwhile, CNN reports Republicans aren’t likely to have their own proposal until mid-May.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) “insists he’ll win if he runs for reelection,” Bloomberg reports.
“That ‘if’ is one of the biggest uncertainties in U.S. politics, one that could determine Senate control and the role of centrists in an increasingly polarized country.”
“While other Democratic incumbents in Trump-friendly states — Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana — have announced reelection campaigns, Manchin is in no hurry. He had $9.5 million in his campaign account at the end of 2022, but says he won’t make any announcements until the end of the year, and laments a perennial focus on politics.”
A new U.S. intelligence community report found Russia conducted malign influence operations in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections and is using increasingly clandestine means to “penetrate the Western information environment,” CNBC reports.
Former Trump National Security Advisor and retired US. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is suing the U.S. government on grounds of wrongful prosecution, Rolling Stone reports.
He is seeking $50 million in damages.
“Republicans on the House Oversight Committee said Wednesday they are planning a visit with some defendants who are being held in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol,” ABC News reports.
“In his latest clash with the White House, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) sharply criticized the Biden administration Wednesday for delays on a new federal offshore drilling plan that the Interior Department says it needs until December to put into effect,” the Washington Post reports.
“Manchin, who remains a key swing vote in the Senate, has recently pushed back against the administration for its appointments and its implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, including on how it affects oil and natural gas leasing in Alaska.”
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.