“Republican presidential hopefuls are firing up crowds with attacks on President Biden’s age, his spending and border policies, and ‘wokeness’ writ large. But one go-to applause line from the last several campaigns has gone missing: Obamacare,” Semafor reports.
“The 2024 Republican primary is likely to be the first in which the Affordable Care Act is treated as settled law over a decade into its embattled existence.”
Politico: “Hannity and Carlson tried to get Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich fired for fact-checking a Trump tweet about Dominion and noting that there was no evidence of votes being destroyed.”
Texted Carlson to Hannity and Ingraham: “Please get her fired. Seriously… What the fuck? It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.
Walter Shapiro: “It may be moot if Joe Biden runs for the Democratic nomination unopposed, but, at the moment, the 2024 primary schedule is poised to be a complete mess.”
“And if the president decides at the last minute that he is not seeking a second term, the calendar chaos threatens to confuse voters and disadvantage the Democrats at a time when the Republicans are anointing their 2024 nominee.”
“Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is so concerned that party disunity will sink GOP hopes in the 2024 presidential election that she plans to require all candidates on the official primary debate stages to first pledge their support to the party’s eventual nominee,” the Washington Post reports.
“But many of the likely contenders are pushing back.”
“A lawyer for former President Donald Trump retained an attorney to represent himself as prosecutors step up their inquiry into the handling of sensitive documents at Trump’s Florida residence,” Reuters reports.
“Evan Corcoran, who has represented Trump in interactions with the government over presidential records taken to his Mar-a-Lago resort, has turned to Michael Levy, a prominent white-collar lawyer in Washington.”
“Fox News Chairman Rupert Murdoch emailed CEO Suzanne Scott in November 2020 to say then-President Donald Trump was toast, and that the network should focus on boosting Republican U.S. Senate candidates in Georgia,” Mediaite reports.
Wrote Murdoch: “These people should be watched, if skeptically. Trump will concede eventually and we should concentrate on Georgia, helping any way we can. We don’t want to antagonize Trump further, but Giuliani taken with a large grain of salt. Everything at stake here.”
“Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is coming under pressure from conservatives on his panel and outside Congress to slow down consideration of President Biden’s judicial nominees,” The Hill reports.
“Graham has voted for more of Biden’s nominees than any other Republican on the Judiciary Committee, something that is coming under scrutiny from conservatives after Democrats this week celebrated the 100th successful confirmation of a Biden judicial nominee.”
“A wave of proposed legislation pushed by Republicans across the US at the state level is aimed at outlawing aspects of sexuality that could have a huge impact on Americans’ private lives and businesses,” The Guardian reports.
“Opponents to the laws before legislatures in various states say the planned new legislation could spawn prosecution of breast-pump companies in Texas for nipples on advertising, or a bookstore might be banned from selling romance novels in West Virginia, or South Carolina could imprison standup comics if a risque joke is heard by a young person.”
“The bills are part of a post-Roe nationwide strategy by the religious wing of the Republican party, now that federal abortion rights have fallen. They range from banning all businesses that sell sex-related goods to anti-drag queen bills.”
“Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) has amended his 12-point Rescue America plan to say that his proposal to sunset all federal legislation in five years does not apply to Social Security, Medicare or the U.S. Navy,” The Hill reports.
“The Georgia GOP spent more than $200,000 last year to bankroll the legal fees of phony Republican electors who could face criminal charges amid Fulton County’s probe of whether Donald Trump and his allies committed crimes while trying to overturn his election defeat,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“A small circle of intelligence officials at the Pentagon during the Trump administration monitored a series of mysterious objects—now suspected to be balloons—but the incidents were never reported to the White House because it wasn’t clear what they were,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has filed for bankruptcy but has nearly $10 million in assets and spends almost $100,000 a month, according to court filings., the BBC reports.
Associated Press: “After four years in Washington, Republican Mitt Romney has established himself as a rare senator willing to publicly rebuke members of his own party.”
“But the Utah senator’s outspoken stances, along with his willingness to work with Democrats, have angered some Republicans in the deep-red state he represents and led them to cast about for someone to try to dethrone him a primary race next year.”
“The 75-year-old said that he hasn’t made a decision on whether to run for reelection in 2024 and doesn’t expect to until the start of summer.”
Politico: “Several colleagues and those in Florida Republican circles anticipate Gaetz could run for governor of the Sunshine State in 2026 after Gov. Ron DeSantis leaves office. DeSantis is expected to run for the White House in 2024.”
Politico: “The complicated reality is that intervening in primaries can appear heavy-handed and even provide ammo for candidates looking to rail against the D.C. establishment. But the alternative is watching as unpalatable nominees threaten the party’s general election odds — at a moment when thin margins in both the House and Senate mean the majorities could hinge on any seat.”
Peggy Noonan: “Ms. Haley, later that night on Hannity, said the answer is for the Republican Party to talk in a way that ‘brings people in.’ This was the language of the famous GOP ‘autopsy’ in 2013: The GOP must do a better job ‘messaging.’ But what does that even mean? That there are magic words and they must find them? There are no magic words.”
“This is communicating about the need to communicate. It is empty, circular, goes nowhere. The only thing in politics is strong, clear, honest stands on issues of great import. The American people know what they are, and declare them every four years.”
“The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency got a first-hand look Thursday at the toll left by a freight train derailment in Ohio, where toxic chemicals spilled or were burned off, leaving the stench of fresh paint nearly two weeks later,” the AP reports.
“EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who walked along a creek that still reeks of chemicals, sought to reassure skeptical residents that the water is fit for drinking and the air safe to breathe around East Palestine, where just under 5,000 people live near the Pennsylvania state line.”
Said Regan: “I’m asking they trust the government.”
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.