Financial Times: “The decision to invade was taken after consulting only a tiny circle. The Russian leader has since become even more isolated.”
Tennessee Moves to Restrict Drag Shows
“Tennessee lawmakers will debate on Thursday whether to restrict drag performances in public or in front of children, one of more than a dozen bills limiting drag advanced by Republican politicians in at least 15 states in recent months,” Reuters reports.
New Charges Filed Against Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with four new criminal charges on Thursday in a superseding indictment in New York federal court, CNBC reports.
A source familar with the new counts said that SBF, as he is popularly known, could face an additional 40 years in prison if convicted in the case.
Republicans Are Headed for an Epic Primary Battle
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China’s Claim to Neutrality Fades with Moscow Visit
“Vladimir Putin loves a really long table. Images of his meetings are famous, with the Russian leader at one end and the person he is speaking to so far away that you wonder if it is hard for them to hear one another,” the BBC reports.
“It was not like that when he met China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi. There they were, sitting within handshake distance, with an oval-shaped table in the middle…”
“When the footage was released, it appeared to be a deliberately symbolic move to show that he felt safe enough to be that close to the representative of such an important friend.”
Trump Is Still Trump
New York Times: “It was evocative of the former president’s time in office: an at-times meandering address, punctated by self-promotion — his brand-name Trump Water — and an undercurrent of grievance…. He still appeared to struggle with showing empathy in public.”
U.S. to Expand Troop Presence in Taiwan
“The U.S. is markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan, more than quadrupling the current number to bolster a training program for the island’s military amid a rising threat from China,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The U.S. plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the island in the coming months, up from roughly 30 there a year ago, according to U.S. officials. The larger force will expand a training program the Pentagon has taken pains not to publicize as the U.S. works to provide Taipei with the capabilities it needs to defend itself without provoking Beijing.”
New Poll Shows Big Lead for DeSantis Over Trump
A new WPA Intelligence poll finds Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of Donald Trump nationally among Republican voters, 40% to 31%, even when a long line of other Republicans such as Mike Pence were included.
That lead for the GOP governor jumps dramatically to 55% to 37% in a direct DeSantis-Trump matchup.
Tesla Is Returning to California
“Elon Musk announced during a joint press conference with California Gov. Gavin Newsom that Tesla would be returning its global engineering headquarters to California, two years after a dramatic exit that saw the electric car company leave the Golden State for a facility in Austin, Texas,” The Hill reports.
Schiff and Porter Locked In Tight Race for Senate
A new Los Angeles Times poll in California finds Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Katie Porter (D-CA) are nearly tied in the race for U.S. Senate and hold a strong early lead ahead of two other hopefuls, Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Ro Khanna (D-CA).
Schiff has the support of 22%, with 20% backing Porter, 6% for Lee and 4% for Khanna.
“Under the state’s top-two primary system, voters can choose among candidates of any party, with the two who get the most votes advancing to the November election. In 2016 and 2018, two Democrats faced off in general election Senate races.”
“Because no prominent Republican has gotten into the 2024 race — or even publicly discussed entering it — this poll questioned only Democrats and nonpartisan voters about the contest.”
Trump Is Effectively Banned from Fox News
The Spectator: “It’s by now well-established that Fox News, the American media behemoth, is no longer on the Trump Train. Trumpworld’s union with Foxworld was never altogether easy and, ever since that fateful election in November 2020, it has fallen apart. Trumpists despise Fox for, as many see it, helping Joe Biden steal the election. And the top brass at Fox News have sought to distance themselves from the Trump movement and what they regard as its increasingly toxic politics. Rupert Murdoch has had enough of the Orange One, by all accounts.”
“What hasn’t been made entirely clear is the extent of the break-up. One senior Fox figure has let slip, however, that Donald Trump is effectively ‘banned’ from appearing on Fox News at present. He hasn’t been seen on the main channel since he declared his candidacy for the 2024 presidential in November and other Fox sources have confirmed that there’s a reason Donald is not appearing on their network.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“It turns out we were completely unprepared. The army is a mess. Our industry is a mess. But it’s good that we found out about it this way, rather than when NATO invades us.”
— Russian President Vladimir Putin, to friends, as quoted by the Financial Times.
Tim Scott Takes His Message to Iowa
“As U.S. Sen. Tim Scott inches closer to an expected 2024 presidential run, he called for a revival of American hope through conservative ideals in a pair of Des Moines-area speeches Wednesday, urging Iowans to support a vision he said will help bring people into the party and help Republicans win elections,” the Des Moines Register reports.
Associated Press: Scott speaks of “new American sunrise” as he mulls White House bid.
Death Toll from Turkey-Syria Earthquake Tops 47,000
“The death toll from the massive earthquake that hit parts of Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 continues to rise as more bodies are retrieved from the rubble of demolished buildings,” the AP reports.
“A magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the already battered province of Hatay this week damaged or demolished more buildings, compounding the devastation.”
House GOP Delegation Visits Ukraine
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) traveled to Kyiv Tuesday with a congressional delegation to see “first-hand” what is happening on the ground in Ukraine and conduct oversight to gain better insight on the Russia-Ukraine war, Fox News reports.
Trump’s Grip on the GOP Base Is Slipping
Washington Post: “The MAGA vs. RINO dichotomy that defined the GOP for much of the last eight years is increasingly obsolete. In its place, a new dynamic emerged from interviews with more than 150 Trump supporters across five pivotal electoral states. In between Republicans who remain firmly committed or opposed to the former president, there’s now a broad range of Trump supporters who, however much they still like him, aren’t sure they want him as the party’s next nominee.”
“The foremost reason is electability. Even Republicans who said they still supported Trump and believed his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen acknowledged doubts on whether he could defeat President Biden or another Democrat in 2024…”
“It’s not the first time that Trump supporters have admitted their misgivings. But during his presidency, the only choices were to be with him or against him, so they stuck with him.”
“Now there is a new option — a way to still support Trump as the 45th president without being sold on him as the party’s best shot at becoming the 47th. Not anti-Trump, or even non-Trump — just post-Trump.”
4 Criminal Inquiries Into Trump Nearing End
New York Times: “No former president has ever confronted the barrage of legal threats that Mr. Trump now faces, all of which appear to be heading toward decision points by the authorities in coming months. Heightening the stakes, the inquiries have intensified just as Mr. Trump has started ramping up his third campaign for the White House.”
Quote of the Day
“He’s a proven loser. I think his unelectability is his Achilles’ heel, and that in and of itself is going to be a unifying argument to move on from Trump.”
— Former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), in an interview with the Washington Post.
