Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) once demanded “fiscal responsibility” as a 2012 presidential candidate, arguing that America needs a leader prepared to make “tough choices” on spending, Insider reports.
Ten years later, Santorum’s 2012 and 2016 presidential campaign committees both remain deep in debt, owing creditors a combined total of $1 million.
“This latest scandal, over a deputy whip in Parliament accused of sexual misconduct, is just one in a long, wearyingly similar series of self-inflicted troubles to befall Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government,” the New York Times reports.
“Mislead, omit, obfuscate, bluster, deny, deflect, attack — the prime minister’s blueprint for dealing with a crisis, his critics say, almost never begins, and rarely ends, with simply telling the truth. Instead, he tends to start with a denial, move through several interim admissions in which his previous falsehoods are recast as honorable efforts at transparency, and then end with a great show of remorse in which he appears to take responsibility for what happened while suggesting that it was not his fault.”
Tom McTague: “The events of the past 24 hours are a sordid and quite extraordinary almost-end to a sordid and quite extraordinary career, one that was profoundly inane in one respect and incontestably historic in another. He is perhaps the worst prime minister in modern British history but also the most consequential, leaving a legacy without an -ism or a following, but one that will outlast anything bequeathed by his recent predecessors.”
Jonathan Chait: “In the Trump era, a small slice of Republican elites has commanded an enormous share of political coverage. Those Republican officials have found themselves caught between their personal revulsion for Trump and their professional incentive to placate the barbaric champion selected by their party’s voters.”
“The obsessive attention paid to those Republican elites is fully warranted. As Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky’s How Democracies Die found, the key variable determining whether a democracy can fight off an authoritarian challenge is whether the aspiring dictator’s coalitional allies stay with him and exploit the fruits of power or defeat him to form a pro-democracy coalition with their ideological adversaries. As we now know, they have overwhelmingly placed their bets with Trump and the movement he has built, which refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of Democratic political success in any form.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “is planning a private fundraiser in Utah later this month that is expected to draw some of the country’s wealthiest Republican donors as he signals a possible run for president in 2024,” CNBC reports.
A must-read: Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell by Tim Miller.
If you’re still looking for some summer reading, this is the book.
“You need police. You need parents for sure…. But you know, you may need an exorcist, too. Before your audience shakes its head on that, if you look at these boys, these men, these young men, they have deeply spiritual problems.”
— Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett, explaining to Fox News about how to stop mass shootings.
“When Herschel Walker’s campaign aides approached him this winter to discuss whispers that Walker had a secret child, the Georgia GOP’s Senate candidate told his campaign the rumors were false,” the Daily Beast reports.
“Walker’s aides already knew he was lying.”
“They had expected him to lie, and had obtained documents in advance of that conversation verifying that Walker did indeed have another child… They handed the documents to him, and after some more back and forth, Walker finally admitted it was true. His aides asked if there were any other children they needed to know about. Walker insisted this was it.”
Said a campaign adviser: “He’s lied so much that we don’t know what’s true.”
As he announced his resignation, a new YouGov poll finds Boris Johnson’s favorability hit a new low of 19% to 72%.
“Boris Johnson wants to stay on as caretaker Tory leader in part to throw a big wedding party at Chequers later this month,” The Mirror reports.
“The Prime Minister and wife Carrie have planned a lavish bash at the grace-and-favour country home to mark their marriage.”
“The couple tied the knot in a secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral in front of just a handful of guests in May 2021. They then celebrated in the Downing Street garden but were only allowed 30 guests because of Covid restrictions in place at the time.”
This is priceless: Fox & Friends slammed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this morning for being untrustworthy, refusing to leave office, mishandling the pandemic and overall just creating chaos.
“U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner pleaded guilty in a Russian court on Thursday to drugs charges that could see her face 10 years in prison, a Reuters journalist reported from the courtroom, but said she had not deliberately broken the law,” Reuters reports.
Said Griner: “I’d like to plead guilty, your honour. But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law.”
A Reuters analysis of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) social media ads “shows he has dramatically expanded his out-of-state ads in recent months, an indicator, say some political analysts, that he may be laying the groundwork for a national campaign.”
David Frum: “Speaking of peaceful transition of power… whatever happens next for Boris Johnson, there is literally zero chance that he will organize a mob to sack Parliament or incite his supporters to try to hang the heir to the throne.”
George Conway: “It’s not like Boris sent a mob to Buckingham Palace to sack the Queen or something.“
“The herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.”
— British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, quoted by NPR, referring to the Conservative members of Parliament who turned against him and forced his resignation.
Washington Post: “In fact, the fees aren’t going to Trump’s political action committee, his $100 million war chest. This event was not a Trump rally, where attendance is free.”
“Instead, it was a for-profit show, more like a rock concert. The proceeds benefit Trump personally as part of a multimillion dollar deal to speak at the events.”
“The Biden administration on Thursday announced nearly $1 billion in spending to improve 85 airports across the country,” the Washington Post reports.
“The allocation taps funding authorized last year in the bipartisan infrastructure law in what administration officials say is a sorely needed infusion to upgrade terminals, baggage screening and air traffic control towers.”
“Democratic leaders are racing to finalize a revised proposal to tackle climate change and jump-start the nation’s transition to clean energy, part of a larger sprint to strike a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on their stalled spending bill this month,” the Washington Post reports.
“The frenzied deliberations reflect weeks of private talks between Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Manchin, a centrist who scuttled negotiations over the party’s last attempt at a broader spending package in December. A climate agreement would help the country meet President Biden’s ambitious clean-energy goals, even as Manchin pursues policies that would still promote fossil fuels.”
“While top Manchin aides say they are far from a deal, some Democrats are still hoping to finalize a retooled climate proposal as soon as next week, when lawmakers are set to return from recess.”
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.