Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. and South Korea have reached agreement on a new accord that would resolve a yearslong dispute on how to share the cost of American troops based on the Korean Peninsula, officials from the two countries said Sunday.”
“The new accord, which would last through 2025, would provide for a ‘meaningful increase’ in the South Korean contribution.”
Playbook: “The twin crises of disease and recession boosted support for government intervention well beyond what has been tolerated for decades; Donald Trump and the GOP’s own support for the last two bills depolarized the fight over this one; Biden’s opposition was distracted by internal divisions (Jan. 6, impeachment, McCarthy vs. Cheney, Trump vs. McConnell); and the conservative media was distracted by juicier fare than tax policy.”
“If you’ve watched Fox News every night during the Biden presidency (we have), it’s that last point that’s the most notable. We’ve learned a couple of things: 1) The MyPillow guy has really expanded beyond pillows, and 2) Fox’s most-watched hosts care a lot more about cancel culture, Dr. Seuss and antifa’s alleged (but, according to the FBI, nonexistent) role on Jan. 6 than they do about Biden’s American Rescue Plan.”
Last June, 60% in a USA Today/Ipsos Poll described George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police as murder; that percentage has now dropped by double digits to 36%.
In 25 years of running Political Wire, no computer has ever served me better than the latest MacBook Air.
It’s the rare machine that’s powerful enough to handle my entire workflow yet light enough to take everywhere — and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
It's on sale now for an astonishing 21% off.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told Axios that he’ll block President Joe Biden’s next big legislative package — $2 trillion to $4 trillion for climate and infrastructure — if Republicans aren’t included.
Said Manchin: “I’m not going to do it through reconciliation. I am not going to get on a bill that cuts them out completely before we start trying.”
Manchin added the infrastructure bill can be big as long as it’s paid for with tax increases. He said he’ll start his bargaining by requiring the package be 100% paid for.
“After 15 years allowing voters to cast absentee ballots without excuses, Georgia Republicans say the practice has got to go,” NBC News reports.
“The Republican-controlled state Senate votes Monday on a package of legislation that would, among other things, limit mail-in voting primarily to Georgians who are elderly, disabled or out of town on Election Day — one of dozens of restrictive election-related measures under consideration in state legislatures.”
CNN: “The bill comes as Georgia has become ground zero for election law changes in the wake of the 2020 election.”
Washington Post: “Everywhere, there are signs seen and unseen that Minneapolis is bracing for the landmark trial of the former police officer charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death. Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the case, which is poised to be a defining moment in the history of a nation that is grappling with a racial reckoning.”
“However, the judge is considering a last-minute addition of a third-degree murder charge that would give prosecutors another avenue for conviction, but with a shorter prison term. The addition — or a decision to not add the charge — could trigger an appeal from either side. The judge’s decision, which might not come until Monday morning, has injected even more uncertainty into the case, heightening tension in a city already on edge.”
Axios: Convicting police officers is rare, even when caught on video.
Washington Post: “The promise was clear and hopeful: With strong public health measures, then-President-elect Joe Biden declared in early December, ‘the majority of our schools can be open by the end of my first 100 days.’ The reality has been far more complicated.”
“Unlike many of his other vows and directives — pledging 100 million coronavirus vaccine doses in his first 100 days or mandating that all Americans wear masks on federal property — reopening schools is a daunting task over which the federal government has little authority. Local and district leaders, and sometimes state officials, control how and when schools reopen, with guidance from Biden and his team on the margins.”
“President Joe Biden is set to mark International Women’s Day Monday by signing two executive orders creating a Gender Policy Council and reviewing Trump-era changes to Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education,” USA Today reports.
Associated Press: “President Joe Biden is the first executive in four decades to reach this point in his term without holding a formal question and answer session. It reflects a White House media strategy meant both to reserve major media set-pieces for the celebration of a legislative victory and to limit unforced errors from a historically gaffe-prone politician.”
“Biden has opted to take questions about as often as most of his recent predecessors, but he tends to field just one or two informal inquiries at a time, usually in a hurried setting at the end of an event.”
“Former President Donald Trump was spotted outside Trump Tower Sunday night in his first visit back to the Big Apple since leaving office,” the New York Post reports.
“He was seated in a backseat of a black SUV. Upon his arrival, he waved to a lone Trump supporter who was across the street next to the media.”
“In his first public address since the end of the Trump administration, former Vice President Mike Pence is traveling to South Carolina, set to speak to a conservative Christian nonprofit in the state that plays a crucial role in the presidential nominating process,” the AP reports.
“Leaders of the effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Sunday they’ve collected 1.95 million signatures a little more than a week before the deadline, a number they believe will be more than enough to trigger a special recall election,” the Sacramento Bee reports.
“County and state elections officials still need to verify that nearly 1.5 million are valid signatures from registered California voters before the recall can qualify for the ballot. But recall supporters said Sunday that they’re confident they’ve collected enough.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Axios that Donald Trump has a “dark side” but he tries to “harness the magic” because he succeeded where Republican candidates like John McCain and Mitt Romney failed.
Said Graham: “To me, Donald Trump is sort of a cross between Jesse Helms, Ronald Reagan and P.T. Barnum.”
He added: “He could make the Republican Party something that nobody else I know can make it. He can make it bigger. He can make it stronger. He can make it more diverse. And he also could destroy it.”
“Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) effort to block certification of the 2020 election has been a fundraising boon — not just for himself but his party,” Axios reports.
“Corporate donors and establishment Republicans recoiled at the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol that followed efforts by Hawley and others to block President Biden’s Electoral College victory. But fundraising numbers show the GOP grassroots is still firmly in Hawley’s camp.”
President Biden nominated two female generals to oversee four-star commands on Saturday, after their promotions were delayed under former President Trump due to concerns that he “would reject the officers because they were women,” the New York Times reports.
“The two top Democrats in New York’s legislature withdrew their support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment and undercounting COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes,” the AP reports.
“Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins became the first senior Democrat in the state to say the three-term governor should resign.”
“Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) stopped short of demanding that Cuomo quit, but said in a statement that ‘it is time for the Governor to seriously consider whether he can effectively meet the needs of the people of New York.'”
New York Times: “Some people who have spoken to Mr. Cuomo in recent days have described him as shaken by the speed with which the political fallout arrived, with dueling scandals and reports of his bullying behavior all converging, very publicly, at once. Others have questioned whether he grasped the gravity of his circumstances.”
“But the rapidly unfurling crises, they said, have been especially challenging for a governor who has always sought to be in control. Now he is at the whims of often-fickle public opinion, fuming legislators and investigations. … People who have been in touch with Mr. Cuomo’s team described some staff members — in particular, younger ones — as demoralized and exhausted.”
The United States has administered 90.35 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Sunday morning, Reuters reports.
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.