A new CNN poll finds that 56% of respondents said they have little or no confidence that American elections reflect the will of the people, up from 52% who felt that way in September and 40% in January 2021.
The party breakdown of the skeptical: 74% of Republicans, 59% of independents, and 32% of Democrats.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell suggested that “we should get our cyber guys” to take over a broadcast of Fox News’s Hannity to air “evidence” of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Oklahoma Republicans have introduced a bill in the legislature to create a government-run database that tracks pregnant women considering abortions, the HuffPost reports.
“Three Republican senators are calling on the Archivist of the United States David Ferriero to commit to not certifying the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution, as ERA advocates demand Ferriero publish the amendment before he retires,” CNN reports.
“French President Emmanuel Macron refused a Kremlin request that he take a Russian COVID-19 test when he arrived to see President Vladimir Putin this week, and was therefore kept at a distance from the Russian leader,” Reuters reports.
Said a French source: “We knew very well that meant no handshake and that long table. But we could not accept that they get their hands on the president’s DNA.”
The day after Donald Trump endorsed her Republican primary challenger, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) released a bizarre video standing in front of Trump Tower in New York City.
That led challenger Katie Arrington (R) to respond: “Nancy — did you get lost on your way to the Fox News Studio? Or are you in NYC to fundraise with the progressives? What does NYC have to do with the Lowcountry?”
“I’ve been ringing the alarm bell for forever. I mean, for the last year about inflation. Nobody’s been listening. Now we’re seeing a basic threat. It’s a seven and a half percent tax on everybody, on every product you buy. It’s just unbelievable!”
— Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), in an interview with Hoppy Kercheval, calling on the Federal Reserve to stop “pussyfooting around” and raise interest rates.
“A supporter of former President Donald Trump who wanted to root out voter fraud is among five people who was charged Thursday with election fraud by a Republican district attorney who’s running for Wisconsin attorney general,” the AP reports.
Beto O’Rourke (D) backed away from his past assertions that assault weapons should be taken from gun owners, The Hill reports.
Said O’Rourke: “I’m not interested in taking anything from anyone.”
He added: “What I want to make sure that we do is defend the Second Amendment. I want to make sure that we protect our fellow Texans far better than we’re doing right now. And that we listen to law enforcement, which Greg Abbott refused to do.”
A deputy attorney general overseeing election issues in Virginia has resigned amid questions over posts she shared on Facebook praising the Capitol rioters and falsely claiming that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, the Washington Post reports.
Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon (R) released a Super Bowl ad depicting him in armed “showdown” with Democratic leaders including incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), The Hill reports.
The Associated Press obtained a heavily-redacted police report involving Hershel Walker (R), who is running for U.S. Senate in Georgia:
“One warm fall evening in 2001, police in Irving, Texas, received an alarming call from Herschel Walker’s therapist. The football legend and current Republican Senate candidate in Georgia was ‘volatile,’ the therapist said, armed with a gun and scaring his estranged wife at the suburban Dallas home they no longer shared.”
“Officers took cover outside, noting later that Walker had ‘talked about having a shoot-out with police.’ Then they ordered the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner and onetime Dallas Cowboy to step out of the home.”
“Hillary Clinton is expected to speak at next week’s New York State Democratic Party Convention,” CNBC reports.
“The development comes as Clinton, who also worked as secretary of State during the first half of President Barack Obama’s administration, works to maintain relevance in a party that could be headed for defeat in this year’s midterm elections.”
“It may also stoke speculation about a potential new Clinton bid for elected office.”
Former Trump communications director Alyssa Farah told The View that Donald Trump is “terrified” of a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
Said Farah: “There is quite a bit more to come.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) told The View that “we have to recognize” the possibility of a civil war, adding, “I don’t think it’s too far of a bridge to think that’s a possibility.”
He added: “We’re identifying now by our race, by our ethnic group, we’re separating ourselves and we live in different realities And I think we have to warn and talk about it so that we can recognize that and fight hard against it and put our country over our parties because our survival actually matters.”
“Fired up by sky-high inflation prices, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he has the political will to do the unpopular thing: lift the cap on income taxed for Social Security to $400,000 in order to sustain that program,” Politico reports.
Said Manchin: “You could raise it to $400,000 overnight… I’ve got the will to do it, that’s all I can tell you because I’ve got grandchildren. Ten grandchildren. We’ve got future generations depending on us to the right thing. I’m willing to do a lot of good things on climate too.”
A new CNN poll finds just 41% of voters approve of the way President Biden is handling his job while 58% disapprove.
This is striking: “When those who disapproved of Biden’s overall performance were asked to name a single thing he’d done that they did approved of, 56% had nothing positive to say.”
“Black female lawmakers are elated that President Biden will soon nominate the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court,” the Washington Post reports.
“But there are concerns that the early jockeying over whom he should choose will pit potential nominees against each other at a time when the party should be focused on celebrating a historic moment.”
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.