The Madman Theory
This looks interesting: The Madman Theory: Trump Takes on the World by Jim Sciutto.
“From praising dictators to alienating allies, Trump has made chaos his calling card, and the world has suffered for it. Trump’s foreign policy is hurting the very people who have been on our side for more than seventy years, which leaves them, in turn, isolated and vulnerable without American support.”
Buttigieg Will Endorse Biden
Pete Buttigieg plans to endorse Joe Biden in the Democratic presidential race, shortly after ending his own bid for the White House, Reuters reports.
Why Biden Won South Carolina
Jonathan Bernstein: “The results in Nevada provided the structure for the nomination contest that everyone had been waiting for all along. By finishing second, Biden became the Sanders alternative — and by winning big, Sanders made it necessary for those who didn’t want him to be the nominee to settle for whatever alternative was available. That theory is consistent with the polling, which shows Biden improving immediately after Nevada. If it’s correct, then we can think of Clyburn’s endorsement as an effect of Nevada as much as it may have been a cause of what happened in South Carolina.”
“This is consistent with reporting from on-the-trail journalists such as the Washington Post’s David Weigel. It’s also consistent with what the political science literature says about most voters in primaries: They often don’t focus on the contest until right at the end, and they don’t really want to consider all of the candidates who have been running — they just want some signal about which ones are the serious contenders.”
A Message from Rod Blagojevich
A Tale of Two Mayors
Tim Miller: “Before the Sunday night split screen with Pete Buttigieg I didn’t think it was possible for Mike Bloomberg to look any smaller. But he found a way.”
“Last night, Mayor Pete made a painstaking and selfless decision to step away from the Democratic primary, despite having won the Iowa Caucus, despite his unfathomably groundbreaking campaign as the first credible openly gay presidential candidate, despite the fact that a number of contenders who had performed far worse than him at the ballot box are stubbornly pressing forward.”
“And meanwhile, across the country Mayor Mike Bloomberg was spending another $1.5 million on a prime time infomercial in his vainglorious attempt to salvage some Super Tuesday delegates, despite having not yet having earned a single vote, despite face-planting in the debates, and despite running a campaign that was only groundbreaking in the sense of the spending levels from an individual candidate.”
“The contrast between the probity of these two men’s actions and the political ramifications for each couldn’t be more stark.”
Supreme Court Will Again Consider Fate of Obamacare
“The Supreme Court will hear a third challenge to the Affordable Care Act, this time at the request of Democratic-controlled states that are fighting a lower court decision that challenged the constitutionality of the law,” the Washington Post reports.
“The court’s review will probably come in the term that begins in October, which would not leave time for a decision before the November election. The law remains in effect.”
Biden’s Super Tuesday Test
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Realistically, the question for Super Tuesday is not whether Sanders will come out of Super Tuesday leading — he will — but rather by how much. MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki suggested some ranges on Sunday: A great scenario for Biden, Kornacki estimated, would have him coming out of Super Tuesday just about 60 delegates behind Sanders; a great one for Sanders would have him up by 400 delegates over Biden.”
FiveThirtyEight has a really good simulation that let’s you pick the winners in each Super Tuesday state so you can see how it changes the forecast.
Trump Is Winning His War on Democracy
George Packer: “The political class were too sophisticated to see Trump’s special political talents—his instinct for every adversary’s weakness, his fanatical devotion to himself, his knack for imposing his will, his sheer staying power…”
“They didn’t grasp the readiness of large numbers of Americans to accept, even relish, Trump’s contempt for democratic norms and basic decency. It took the arrival of such a leader to reveal how many things that had always seemed engraved in monumental stone turned out to depend on those flimsy norms, and how much the norms depended on public opinion. Their vanishing exposed the real power of the presidency.”
‘We Must Vote Like We Never, Ever Voted Before’
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) made a surprise appearance at this year’s “Bloody Sunday” commemorative march in Selma, Alabama, where he delivered an impassioned plea to voters, CNN reports.
Said Lewis: “Fifty-five years ago, a few of our children attempted to march… across this bridge. We were beaten, we were tear-gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and some way, God almighty helped me here. We must go out and vote like we never, ever voted before.”
He added: “I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to give in. We’re going to continue to fight. We need your prayers now more than ever before. We must use the vote as a nonviolent instrument or tool to redeem the soul of America.”
Trump Insider Embeds Climate Denial in Research
“An official at the Interior Department embarked on a campaign that has inserted misleading language about climate change — including debunked claims that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is beneficial — into the agency’s scientific reports,” according to documents reviewed by the New York Times.
“The misleading language appears in at least nine reports, including environmental studies and impact statements on major watersheds in the American West that could be used to justify allocating increasingly scarce water to farmers at the expense of wildlife conservation and fisheries.”
Turning Populist Rage Into Political Power
Washington Post: “Four years after Trump seized control of the Republican Party with a right-wing populist movement, a new populist crusade has risen on the left, fueled similarly by grievance and anxiety and powered by Sanders’s remarkable drive to dispatch Trump from the White House.”
“Each is powered by a disdain for elites they perceive as having flourished while other Americans suffered, a rejection of the establishment and the figures who have controlled it, and a contempt for the institutions that over the decades have blunted, as they see it, the success of efforts like theirs.”
“Their collision in November would be unprecedented in modern American politics, a signal not only of the persuasive powers of the two men at the center of the movements but also of economic and cultural forces that have bent the American political landscape to their benefit.”
Sanders Way Ahead in California
A new USA Today/Suffolk poll in California finds Bernie Sanders way ahead in the Democratic primary with 35%, followed by Mike Bloomberg at 16%, Joe Biden at 14%, Elizabeth Warren at 12%, Pete Buttigieg at 7% and Amy Klobuchar at 5%.
Bill Kristol Endorses Joe Biden for President
Bill Kristol: “Though the situation is complex, the answer actually is simple. Whatever the substantive case for either Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, and despite the flashes of electoral strength each has shown, neither is going to be the nominee. And despite what once seemed a possible, though unconventional, path to the nomination, it’s not going to be Mike Bloomberg either. So it’s Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden. Which means, if you’re inclined toward American constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and a free economic order–as well as a liberal world order anchored by the United States–it’s Joe Biden.”
Bloomberg Apologizes ‘If I Annoyed Somebody’
Mike Bloomberg apologized on 60 Minutes for sexist language he’s used in the past.
Said Bloomberg: “If I annoyed somebody or hurt somebody, I apologize. I can’t go rewrite history; I can only tell you now it is a different world.”
Quote of the Day
“He feels that he’s singularly positioned to help unify the party at the end of this. And if he were try to put his thumb on the scale now, it would take away his ability to do so when it’s most needed — the general election.”
— An confidant to Barack Obama, telling CNN why the former president isn’t endorsing yet in the Democratic presidential primary.
Kennedy Leads Markey In Senate Primary Fight
A new Boston Globe/Suffolk poll in Massachusetts finds Rep. Joseph Kennedy is leading Sen. Edward Markey in the Democratic contest for Senate, 42% to 36%.
House Democrats Begin Plotting How to Run with Bernie
“Congressional Democrats are starting to figure out how to share the ticket with Bernie Sanders in November — if they have to. With party leaders preaching unity and Sanders a frontrunner for the presidential nomination, Democrats are working to craft a version of his platform that has a bit less socialism but is still something they could present to their own voters, even in swing districts,” Politico reports.
“But even as some Democrats privately test-drive rhetoric for sharing a Sanders ticket — like how to talk up expanded health care, rural broadband or new workforce programs — there are others who say they could have to strongly distance themselves from the Vermont independent if he wins the party’s nod.”