Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) has drawn four Republican primary challengers so far, the Daily Beast reports.
“But in today’s Republican Party, there might not be much space for challengers running against a MAGA hero’s divisive politics and national focus. That’s because Cawthorn might be performing the most important kind of constituent service there is: owning the libs.”
A conversation between then Vice President Mike Pence and former Vice President Dan Quayle on certifying the electoral vote, recounted in the new book, Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa (via Politico):
QUAYLE: Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away.
PENCE: You don’t know the position I’m in.
QUAYLE: I do know the position you’re in. I also know what the law is. You listen to the parliamentarian. That’s all you do. You have no power.
Aaron Blake: New details undermine Pence’s supposed ‘hero’ turn on Jan. 6.
“U.S. poverty fell overall in 2020, a surprising decline that is largely a result of the swift and large federal aid that Congress enacted at the start of the pandemic to try to prevent widespread financial hardship as the nation experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” the Washington Post reports.
“The U.S. Census reported that the official poverty rate rose slightly in 2020 to 11.4 percent, up from a record low 10.5 percent in 2019, but that figure leaves out much of the government aid. After accounting for all the federal relief payments, the so-called supplemental poverty measure declined to 9.1 percent in 2020 — the lowest on record and a significant decline from 11.8 percent in 2019.”
“Haiti’s chief prosecutor on Tuesday ordered the acting prime minister not to leave the country until he answers questions about the July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse,” the New York Times reports.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced he won’t consent to any Biden nominations until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan resign.
Hawley also unloaded on President Biden, calling him a “disgrace” and urging him to resign.
“Seven years ago, New Yorkers voted decisively to empower a new bipartisan commission to do what self-interested politicians could not: draw new congressional district lines that were not gerrymandered to favor a particular party,” the New York Times reports.
“But as the panel prepares to unveil its proposed maps for the first time on Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers in New York and Washington are already laying the groundwork to cast them aside — plotting to use their supermajorities in Albany to draw new district boundaries for the next decade that might eliminate as many as five Republican-held seats.”
“Under the most aggressive scenarios, Democrats could emerge from 2022’s midterm elections with control of as many as 23 of New York’s 26 House seats in an all-out effort to prop up their chances of retaining control of Congress.”
“Al Qaeda could rebuild inside Afghanistan in one to two years, top intelligence officials said Tuesday, noting that some members of the terrorist group had already returned to the country,” the New York Times reports.
“The new timeline is not a drastic shift, but reflects the reality that the Taliban have a limited ability to control the borders of Afghanistan.”
“Twice in the final months of the Trump administration, the country’s top military officer was so fearful that the president’s actions might spark a war with China that he moved urgently to avert armed conflict,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, that the United States would not strike, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward and national political reporter Robert Costa.”
“One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that unseated President Trump, and the other on Jan. 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol siege carried out by his supporters in a quest to cancel the vote.”
“I don’t think we’ve ever been at a point that’s been quite this tenuous for the democracy. I think it’s a huge danger because it’s the first time that I’ve seen it being undermined — our democracy being undermined from within.”
— Former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R), quoted by CNN.
Aaron Blake: “It’s recall day in California, and by just about all accounts — including their own — Republicans are headed for defeat.”
“Top GOP contender Larry Elder’s campaign is already bogusly blaming his loss (which hasn’t actually happened yet) on voter fraud. Former president Donald Trump has also preemptively and wrongly blamed the loss on fraud, apparently having learned no lessons from the Georgia Senate runoffs about what message that might send to would-be GOP voters.”
“The idea that Republicans would fall short in California, of course, isn’t terribly surprising. It’s a blue state. But it’s also a blue state in which they proactively picked this fight. And the margin by which they lose could wind up being historically significant (with the caveat that polls can be unreliable, especially in unusual races like this.)”
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) bizarrely asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about who in the White House has authority to “push the button” and cut off President Biden from speaking.
Blinken looked baffled, smiled and responded: “Senator, I really don’t know what you’re referring to.”
Emails show that senior advisers to President Trump in February 2020 privately discussed the government’s “critical mistakes” in preparing for the pandemic, countering the former president’s optimistic claims in public, the Washington Post reports.
Said adviser Steven Hatfill wrote to Peter Navarro on Feb. 29, 2020: “In truth we do not have a clue how many are infected in the USA. We are expecting the first wave to spread in the U.S. within the next 7 days. This will be accompanied by a massive loss of credibility and the Democratic accusations are just now beginning. This must be countered with frank honesty about the situation and decisive direct actions that are being taken and can be seen in the broadcast news.”
Even though Navarro warned the president in a private memo the next day, Trump continued to downplay the virus’s risks in public.
The Daily Beast reports that 18.4 million Facebook users have viewed ads promoting an unproven process to “reverse” abortion.
“The French far-right journalist and commentator Éric Zemmour has stepped down from his nightly TV show, heightening speculation that he could make an outsider bid to run in next year’s French presidential election,” The Guardian reports.
“The 63-year-old, who was a political journalist for Le Figaro, holds convictions for inciting hatred and is best known for his TV diatribes against immigration and Islam.”
Related from the Times of London: Socialists struggle to persuade French voters their voice should be heard again.
Bloomberg: “China locked down a city of 4.5 million people in the southeastern province of Fujian after detecting a dozen coronavirus cases, an attempt to once again halt a delta outbreak and maintain its strict zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19.”
“Americans’ expectations of future inflation hit a record high last month, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, potentially challenging the central bank’s confidence that inflation pressures will ebb over time,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Just five of the world’s largest meat and dairy companies, among them JBS, Tyson and Cargill, are responsible for more emissions than oil giants like Exxon and BP,” Green Queen reports.
Sara Goddard: How to fight climate change with climate-friendly food choices.
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.