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Gallego Peels Off Sinema’s Silicon Valley Donors

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Tara Palmeri: “Chuck Schumer has likely been up all night with desert-hued nightmares of the 2024 Arizona Senate race—in particular, how the current murder-suicide pact between Ruben Gallego and Kyrsten Sinema could deliver the seat to the election-results denying Kari Lake, essentially a more telegenic Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

“As that showdown looms in the distant-but-not-too-distant future, Gallego has peeled off much of Sinema’s Silicon Valley donor base, the same crew of influential female philanthropists who paved the way for her 2018 election in the name of girl power and turning purple Arizona blue. Critically, Gallego has won over rising mega-donor Karla Jurvetson, who famously gave Elizabeth Warren’s super PAC a $15 million check when her 2020 campaign was low on cash.”

“Winning over Jurvetson was a coup for Gallego—not just because of her deep pockets, but also on account of her status among the Silicon Valley set as an alpha fundraiser who wealthy women in the Bay Area looked to for guidance.”

The Fever of Trumpism Isn’t Breaking

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Molly Jong-Fast: “Trumpism isn’t just a series of slogans; it’s also a bit of a fever dream. Since 2015, Never Trump Republicans and more mainstream pundits have predicted it would break. But so far, despite candidates like Kari Lake, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Herschel Walker, and Don Bolduc getting shellacked in the midterms, there’s still a fantasy that somehow Trumpism is a scalable phenomenon. If we’ve learned anything since 2015, it’s that Trumpism generally only works for Trump. I could see, theoretically, Donald Trump Jr. being able to pick up the Trump mantle, but the idea that some unrelated party would be able to take over seems less likely.”

“As for the non-Trump lane of this GOP primary, I just don’t understand how these more normal candidates break the fever that is Trumpism.”

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First Republican Debate Will Be in Milwaukee

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“The Republican National Committee will hold its first presidential primary debate in Milwaukee in August, its debates committee decided in a vote on Thursday,” the New York Times reports.

“The committee is seeking to have all candidates sign a loyalty pledge vowing to support the eventual nominee in order to be part of the debates.”

GOP Lawmaker Will Never Vote to Raise Debt Limit

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Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told Semafor that he doesn’t see a circumstance in which he casts a vote to lift the U.S. debt limit in order to reauthorize the federal government’s ability to pay its bills.

He’s opposed raising it since first elected to the House in 2018.

Said Burchett: “I’ve made commitments and I’ve run on fiscal responsibility. I didn’t fold the last time under Trump and I don’t expect to fold under Biden.”

Judge Orders Deposition of Trump

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“A federal judge has agreed to permit former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page to take sworn testimony from former President Donald Trump for two hours as part of their long-running lawsuits related to Strzok’s firing in 2018 after Trump repeatedly and publicly pilloried the pair,” Politico reports.

“U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled on Thursday that Strzok and Page — whose text messages disparaging then-candidate Trump cast a pall over the FBI’s investigation of links between the Trump campaign and Russia — would also be allowed to depose FBI Director Christopher Wray for a similar two-hour period on a limited set of topics.”

Putin Gave Biden $12,000 Pen Set

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“Russian President Vladimir Putin gave Joe Biden a $12,000 pen and decorative writing set at their first presidential summit in Geneva in 2021 during a momentary thaw in relations that ended with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine eight months later,” Bloomberg reports.

“The writing set was the most expensive gift Biden received from a foreign leader that year.”

Appeals Court Weighs Search of Scott Perry’s Phone

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“A three-judge federal appeals court panel wrestled Thursday with tangled questions about Congress’ immunity from criminal inquiries — and whether it might apply to efforts by Rep. Scott Perry to aid Donald Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election,” Politico reports.

“Two of the three D.C. Circuit judges hearing the case appeared highly skeptical of the Justice Department’s narrow view of the Constitution’s ‘speech or debate’ protection for lawmakers, but it was unclear whether that disagreement would translate into a ruling that denies investigators access to the contents of a cell phone they seized from the Republican congressman in August.”

Sam Bankman-Fried Charged with 300 Illegal Donations

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“Embattled cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried directed tens of millions of dollars of illegal campaign contributions to elected officials, prosecutors alleged in a new superseding indictment unsealed Thursday in a Manhattan federal court,” NBC News reports.

“Bankman-Fried became one of the biggest Democratic donors in the country during last year’s midterm elections, with a net worth estimated at one point to be greater than $20 billion and dreams of spending up to $1 billion on the 2024 presidential contest.”

“But Bankman-Fried’s political giving was not all it seemed… The indictment accuses Bankman-Fried of directing at least 300 illegal campaign donations, totaling up to $100 million, to both Democrats and Republicans through two other unnamed FTX executives that acted as ‘straw donors‘ to hide the true source of the funds.”

The Culture War the Right Might Win

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Charlie Sykes: “By now, we know that the GOP is losing the culture war over abortion. Polls continue to show strong opposition to the kind of sweeping bans that are passing in red state legislatures.”

“But what about the trans issue? Why is Donald Trump doubling down on draconian proposals which would prohibit federal agencies from promoting ‘the concept of sex and gender transition at any age’ and mandate that the government recognize “male and female,” as assigned at birth, as the only genders…”

“Trump knows that the trans issue excites his base — especially the Christian Right.”

David Byler: “And some of his anti-trans positions might prove popular with elements of the wider electorate, which has recently become less open to transgender rights.”

Feds Probing Herschel Walker’s Fundraising

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“It wasn’t enough that Herschel Walker’s ill-fated Senate campaign in Georgia had a rough run,” the Daily Beast reports.

“Now the feds want to know more about financial moves the campaign made after Walker lost—including tens of thousands of dollars stashed in a ‘recount’ fund long after Walker had conceded defeat.”

One campaign finance expert said it looked like a “dumping ground for excess contributions.”

Special Counsel Asks Judge to Compel Pence to Testify

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“Federal prosecutors have asked the chief judge in Washington, D.C.’s federal court to compel former Vice President Mike Pence to comply with a grand jury subpoena and testify as a witness in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol,” CBS News reports.

“The motion to compel Pence’s testimony — filed in secret to Chief Judge Beryl Howell in recent days — came after lawyers for former President Donald Trump asserted executive privilege in response to Pence’s subpoena.”

House GOP Can’t Agree on Border Security Bill

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“House Republicans had hoped to pass a narrow border security bill within the first two weeks of their new majority, notching an easy win and delivering on a key campaign promise in the process,” CNN reports.

“But a three-page bill from conservative Texas Rep. Chip Roy has run into fierce opposition from moderates, forcing GOP leaders back to the drawing board and exposing deep divisions in the party along the way.”

Steve Bannon’s Cryptocurrency Implodes

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ABC News: “Within weeks, the currency’s value soared. Bannon and Epshteyn, two original architects of Donald Trump’s political operation, promoted it relentlessly on social media and on Bannon’s hit podcast, positioning it as a rejection of President Joe Biden and an alternative currency for conservatives that would support job creation and regularly donate to charities.”

“The name of the coin itself sought to capitalize on political divisions; dubbed $FJB, the currency takes its name from the shorthand version of the vulgar MAGA expression ‘Fuck Joe Biden.'”

“But now, thirteen months on, the cryptocurrency has fallen on hard times. $FJB, now officially said to stand for Freedom Jobs Business, has lost 95% of its value.”

Big Majority Favors Legal Abortion

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A new PRRI national poll finds 64% of Americans say that abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while 34% say it should be illegal in most or all cases.

More granularly, 30% say abortion should be legal in all cases, 34% say it should be legal in most cases, 25% say it should be illegal in most cases, and just 9% say it should be illegal in all cases.

About Political Wire

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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