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McConnell Declares Victory Over GOP’s Isolationist Wing

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the bipartisan nature of the recent Ukraine aid vote marked a personal victory for him over the isolationist wing of the Republican Party skeptical of long-term military and economic support for Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said McConnell: “I am interested in diminishing the number of my members who believe that America somehow can exist alone in the world.”

He added: “I think the fact that only 11 in the end ended up voting against the package was indication of success in convincing a larger number of our members that no matter what was being said by some on the outside that those views were simply incorrect.”

Lunch with President Biden

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Tom Friedman had an off-the-record lunch with President Biden but had this observation:

“Biden didn’t say it in so many words, but he didn’t have to. I could hear it between the lines: He’s worried that while he has reunited the West, he may not be able to reunite America.”

The Two Parties Are Either ‘Weak’ or ‘Extreme’

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CBS News Poll: “For starters, the Democratic Party — which controls Congress and the presidency — is not seen by a majority as either ‘effective’ or ‘in touch,’ which are, no doubt, important measures for a party in power. The Democratic Party is more apt to be described as ‘weak,’ a label applied by a slight majority of Americans, than it is ‘strong.’”

“The Republican Party, for its part, is described by a slight majority as ‘extreme,’ a term Americans apply to the GOP more so than to Democrats, though neither really escapes the label. Independents are more likely to call the GOP extreme.”

America’s Mood Is Uneasy and Worried

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CBS News Poll: “Amid continued inflation and stock market declines, large majorities describe their mood as such, and the percentage who call the economy bad has hit highs for the Biden presidency. The number who say things in the country are going badly overall is at the highest level of President Biden’s tenure, too, as pessimism about the market, the economy and prices drives views looking forward — and outweighs optimism about both jobs and coronavirus, as we head into summer.”

Ten Years of Failure on Gun Control

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Washington Post: “Since Sandy Hook, the nation has experienced more than 3,500 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that tracks gun violence and defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are killed or injured.”

“The shootings have touched nearly every imaginable slice of American life: A Black church in Charleston, S.C. (2015). A government-funded nonprofit center in San Bernardino, Calif. (2015). A gay nightclub in Orlando (2016). A country music festival in Las Vegas (2017). A high school in Parkland, Fla. (2018). A synagogue in Pittsburgh (2018). A Walmart in majority-Hispanic El Paso, followed just hours later by a shooting in a popular nightlife corridor in Dayton, Ohio (2019). Asian American massage businesses in Atlanta (2021).”

“And just a week ago, a racist attack at a supermarket in a Black neighborhood of Buffalo left 10 dead and thrust mass shootings back into the news.”

Trump’s 2020 Election Lies Have Gripped State Legislatures

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“At least 357 sitting Republican legislators in closely contested battleground states have used the power of their office to discredit or try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,“ the New York Times reports.

“The tally accounts for 44 percent of the Republican legislators in the nine states where the presidential race was most narrowly decided. In each of those states, the election was conducted without any evidence of widespread fraud, leaving election officials from both parties in agreement on the victory of Joseph R. Biden Jr.”

‘Megadrought’ Threatens Millions in U.S.

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Financial Times: “The ‘megadrought’ gripping the southwestern US has driven water levels at the two largest reservoirs to record lows, forcing unprecedented government intervention to protect water and power supplies across seven states”

“Millions of Americans already contending with critical water shortages now face the prospect of black outs as energy demand grows during heatwaves just as hydroelectric power supply is strained. A US power regulator this week warned that a big swath of the US was at risk of blackouts, partly as a result of drought conditions curtailing hydroelectric supplies.”

“US government climate scientists have said more than half the country is enduring drought conditions, while a separate study estimated that the drought affecting southwestern states was the worst to hit the region for 1,200 years after being exacerbated by human activity.”

Tracing Hunter Biden’s Laptop

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CBS News: “What’s known about the chain of custody of the laptop in the photograph shared by Hunter Biden’s lawyer begins in February 2019, when Hunter Biden left it at the Boston office of a therapist he was seeing. The laptop was in the Newburyport, Massachusetts, office of Dr. Keith Ablow, when the office was raided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, an action unrelated to Biden.”

“But his laptop was also taken by the DEA. A source close to Ablow confirmed this to CBS News and said Ablow then sought to have the laptop returned to Hunter Biden.”

U.S. Exploring Monkeypox Vaccines

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“President Biden said Sunday that the United States is looking into what vaccines might be available to protect people against monkeypox — saying that ‘everybody’ should be concerned as an outbreak of the disease continues to spread around the world and some countries beef up their stockpiles of treatments,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Biden: “We’re working on it hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine if any might be available for it.”

Mo Brooks Makes an Unlikely Comeback

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“Two months ago, Rep. Mo Brooks, whose hard-right credentials were unblemished, seemed to be imploding in the Alabama Republican Senate race,” the New York Times reports.

“Under a rain of attack ads, polls showed him falling behind two rivals. Former President Donald J. Trump humiliated Mr. Brooks by rescinding an earlier endorsement.”

“But Mr. Brooks has staged a compelling comeback, with recent polling putting him in a statistical tie for the lead in a tight three-candidate race ahead of the primary on Tuesday.”

Herschel Walker Lied About His Work with Veterans

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“Herschel Walker, the football legend and leading Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, often boasts of his work helping service members and veterans struggling with mental health,” the AP reports.

“But corporate documents, court records and Senate disclosures reviewed by The Associated Press tell a more complicated story. Together they present a portrait of a celebrity spokesman who overstated his role in a for-profit program that is alleged to have preyed upon veterans and service members while defrauding the government.”

Russia Bans Nearly 1,000 Americans But Not Trump

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“Russia permanently banned nearly 1,000 Americans, including President Biden and Vice President Harris, from entering the country in response to the United States’ support of Ukraine and the historic sanctions facing Moscow nearly three months into its invasion,” the Washington Post reports.

“One prominent name missing from the list: former president Donald Trump. In fact, the only prominent Trump administration official included in the ban is former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.”

About Political Wire

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.

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