“The son of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi appeared for nearly the first time in a decade on Sunday to register as a presidential candidate for a December vote planned to help end the years of chaos since his father was toppled,” Reuters reports.
GOP Roared Back to Life In Philadelphia Suburbs
Politico: “Largely overlooked amid the party’s dismal suburban results in Virginia and New Jersey last week, Republicans regained ground in the vote-rich Philly suburbs after years of losses under Trump. The GOP flipped multiple row offices in populous Bucks County, carried a state Supreme Court race there, and even came close to winning seats on the county council in Delaware County, where Biden romped by nearly 30 points in 2020.”
“Pennsylvania will be home to highly competitive House, Senate and gubernatorial races in next year’s midterm elections — and the GOP’s local comeback here shows that Democrats’ newfound shakiness among suburban voters reaches far deeper than one or two states.”
How Covid Broke the Way We Respond to Crises
Daily Beast: “In a time of crisis, people tend to come together. It frequently happens after natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, and during times of national strife like WWII and the months after 9/11. Regardless of their differences, people typically try to do what they can to help others when they’re facing dire circumstances.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic has not, however, been a time of national healing and unity in the U.S. Debates over lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccination only exacerbated divisions. Polarized politics maimed the public health response to Covid. The pandemic brightened the spotlight on how tribal America has become.”
Few Republicans to Attend Infrastructure Bill Signing
Playbook: “Biden will hold a big, splashy BIF-signing ceremony Monday, his first opportunity to begin to turn these numbers around. But despite the bill’s bipartisan support, it looks like it will be an overwhelmingly Democratic affair.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump escalated his hostilities against Republican officials who do not do as he wishes in a statement Saturday night, calling on “good and smart America First Republican patriots to run primary campaigns” against GOP House members who voted for the BIF.
Republicans Struggle Over Senate Candidates
“The national environment could hardly look more favorable to Republicans one year before the midterm elections, with declining approval for President Biden, growing pessimism in the country and spiking prices for essentials like gasoline and milk,” the Washington Post reports.
But Republican struggles to settle on candidates have left some wondering whether the party will blow its big chance to retake the U.S. Senate.”
Republicans Take the Lead on Congressional Ballot
A new Washington Post-ABC poll finds that, if midterm elections were held today, 46% of adults overall would back the Republican candidate for Congress and 43% would support the Democratic candidate.
Among registered voters, the GOP advantage goes to 51% vs. 41% for Democrats, a historically strong result for Republicans on this measure.
Majority of Americans Sour on the Economy
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showcases Americans’ current pessimism: Despite a mix of economic signals — falling unemployment and rising prices — 70% rate the economy negatively, including 38% who say it is in “poor” condition.
About half of Americans overall and political independents blame Biden for fast-rising inflation, and more than 6 in 10 Americans say he has not accomplished much after 10 months in office, including 71% of independents.
Jonathan Allen: Inflation threatens Biden agenda and Democratic majorities.
Americans Think Biden Is Failing on Pandemic
Washington Post-ABC News Poll: “Americans are roughly divided on Biden’s handling of the pandemic (47% approve, while 49% disapprove). Two months ago, 52% approved of his handling of the pandemic compared with 41% who disapproved. In June and in April, he was in positive territory by a 2-to-1 margin.”
Trump Would Beat Biden In Iowa by Double-Digits
In a hypothetical 2024 rematch, former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in Iowa by 11 percentage points, 51% to 40%, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows.
In 2020, Trump defeated Biden by about 8 percentage points, carrying the state 53% to 45%.
Michael Flynn Says U.S. Should Have One Religion
Michael Flynn, former national security advisor for President Donald Trump, suggested that the United States should have just one religion.
Said Flynn: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.”
When Chris Christie Was Sick with Covid-19
Former Gov. Chris Christie (R) reveals in his new book “how worried he and others were for his survival when he became infected with the coronavirus after being at the White House around the same time that Mr. Trump and several other aides contracted Covid-19. Mr. Christie writes that his priest arrived in the hospital and rubbed oils on his forehead in the sign of the cross, praying over him,” the New York Times reports.
“He got a call from a hospitalized Mr. Trump, who had one main concern: ‘Are you gonna say you got it from me?’”
Trump Rips McConnell Again Over Infrastructure
Former President Donald Trump slammed Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a statement, saying the Senate minority leader should attend the White House signing ceremony for the bipartisan infrastructure package passed by the House on Nov. 5, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “Based on the fact that the Old Crow convinced many Republican Senators to vote for the Bill, greatly jeopardizing their chance of winning re-election, and that he led the way, he should go to the signing and put up with the scorn from Great Republican Patriots that are already lambasting him.”
U.S. Hid an Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians
“In the last days of the battle against the Islamic State in Syria, when members of the once-fierce caliphate were cornered in a dirt field next to a town called Baghuz, a U.S. military drone circled high overhead, hunting for military targets. But it saw only a large crowd of women and children huddled against a river bank,” the New York Times reports.
“Without warning, an American F-15E attack jet streaked across the drone’s high-definition field of vision and dropped a 500-pound bomb on the crowd, swallowing it in a shuddering blast. As the smoke cleared, a few people stumbled away in search of cover. Then a jet tracking them dropped one 2,000-pound bomb, then another, killing most of the survivors.”
Climate Deal Calls for Shift from Fossil Fuels
“Exhausted negotiators from nearly 200 nations struck a deal Saturday intended to propel the world toward more urgent climate action, but without offering the transformative breakthrough scientists say must happen if humanity is to avert disastrous planetary warming,” the Washington Post reports.
Axios: “However, the talks fell short of meeting developing countries’ demands for access to funding to compensate them for climate-related losses.”
Americans Need to Live More Like Europeans
Bloomberg: “It’s become the conventional wisdom that the U.S. economy is built on Americans’ endless appetite to buy lots and lots of stuff. Household consumption makes up about 67% of GDP. When the economy falters, we’re told spending is our patriotic duty.”
“But suddenly, Americans can’t spend like they used to. Store shelves are emptying, and it can take months to find a car, refrigerator or sofa. If this continues, we may need to learn to do without — and, horrors, live more like the Europeans. That actually might not be a bad thing, because the U.S. economy could be healthier if it were less reliant on consumption.”
“After all, Americans haven’t always acted like this. We’ve entered an age of overabundance. We consume much more than we used to and more than other countries. Consumption per capita grew about 65% from 1990 to 2015, compared with about 35% growth in Europe. Household consumption makes up only about 50% of GDP in Germany.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I’m hoping the president runs for re-election, but for whatever reason that might not be the case, it’s hard to believe there would be a short list without Kamala’s name on it. She’s the vice president of the United States.”
— Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), quoted by the New York Times.
Republicans Would Prefer Life In the 1950s
A new PPRI/Brookings Institution poll found that only 29% of Republicans say that American culture and way of life have changed for the better since the 1950s.
The number is a leap down from 2020 when 46% of Republicans said American culture and way of life had changed for the better since the 1950s, but is only two points off from what Republicans said in 2016, before Donald Trump was elected President.
Harris and Buttigieg Under the Spotlight
Washington Post: “For now, at least, Harris and Buttigieg, barrier-breaking Democrats who failed in their initial White House bids, are the highest-profile prospects to succeed Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in 2024 or 2028, although other promising candidates are all but certain to emerge. Biden has said he plans to run for reelection, but as he nears his 79th birthday, even some of his allies are not sure he will.”
“Many Democrats see Harris’s and Buttigieg’s political fortunes as diverging in the first 10 months of Biden’s presidency. While Buttigieg has become a visible advocate for the administration’s top legislative achievement, Harris often has been associated with its biggest trouble areas, including immigration and voting rights — and, in the past week, U.S.-French relations.”
