“They’re animals actually… They’re scum, many of them are scum. You have some good reporters but not many.”
— President Trump, quoted by the New York Times, on the news media.
‘Management Bedlam’ at Fox News
Gabriel Sherman: “Trump’s final bulwark is liable to be his first one: Fox News. Fox controls the flow of information—what facts are, whether allegations are to be believed—to huge swaths of his base. And Republican senators, who will ultimately decide whether the president remains in office, are in turn exquisitely sensitive to the opinions of Trump’s base.”
“But even before the whistle-blower’s revelations, Fox was having something of a Trump identity crisis, and that bulwark has been wavering. In recent weeks, Trump has bashed Fox News on Twitter, taking particular issue lately with its polling, which, like other reputable polls, has shown the president under significant water. Meanwhile, Trump’s biggest booster seems to be having doubts of his own. This morning, Sean Hannity told friends the whistle-blower’s allegations are ‘really bad,’ a person briefed on Hannity’s conversations told me.”
“And according to four sources, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future… Inside Fox News, tensions over Trump are becoming harder to contain as a long-running cold war between the network’s news and opinion sides turns hot.”
Said one Fox staffer: “It’s management bedlam. This massive thing happened, and no one knows how to cover it.”
Most Freshman from Trump Districts Back Impeachment
“A majority of freshman Democrats who won House districts held by Republicans in 2018 now support an impeachment inquiry, spurred by the whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian president,” CBS News reports..
Carl Bernstein Says Trump Is ‘Unraveling’
Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein said President Trump was going through “an unraveling” because there is evidence of his “corruption” outlined in a whistleblower complaint about his call with the president of Ukraine, The Hill reports.
Said Bernsein: “We are seeing both in real time, with the President’s remarks and also through documentary evidence, his corruption. We’re watching, too, an unraveling in front of us, both factually and also temperamentally, in terms of the conduct of the President of the United States.”
Democrats Eye Quick Impeachment Probe
“House Democratic leaders are eyeing a fast-paced investigation into the possible impeachment of President Trump, instructing the committees handling the probe to wrap up their findings within weeks in hopes of concluding before the holiday season,” the Washington Post reports.
“Multiple Democratic lawmakers and congressional aides said there is no formal timeline for the inquiry, but the ‘need for speed,’ as one aide put it, comes as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is under pressure from vulnerable freshmen to keep the investigation narrowly focused and disciplined.”
Biden Says Trump Tried to Hijack Election
Joe Biden said that President Trump is trying to “hijack an election” by repeatedly pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the former vice president and his son, CNN reports.
Said Biden: “He’d like to get foreign help to win elections.”
Schiff Worried About Whistleblower’s Safety
“House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-C.A) said he is concerned about the safety of the whistleblower who raised the alarm about Trump’s call with Zelensky, citing ‘repugnant threats‘ made by the president earlier Thursday,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Schiff: “I’m deeply concerned about it. And obviously, we’re going to do everything we can … to protect the whistleblower’s identity. But given those real, repugnant threats coming from the president, I have a real concern about this.”
Trump Slashes Refugee Cap
“President Trump has decided to slash the American refugee program by almost half, greatly dimming the United States’ role in accepting persecuted refugees from most parts of the world,” the New York Times reports.
“The administration said it would accept 18,000 refugees during the next 12 months, down from the current limit of 30,000 and a fraction of the 110,000 President Barack Obama said should be allowed into the United States in 2016, his final year in office.”
What Trump Learned from the Mueller Investigation
James Risen: “Donald Trump just barely avoided prosecution earlier this year when special counsel Robert Mueller pulled his punches and refused to indict the president for either obstruction of justice or campaign finance violations in connection with the Trump-Russia investigation. Mueller’s decision not to indict Trump came despite overwhelming evidence in Mueller’s own final report that the president of the United States was guilty of a crime.”
“Most people who survive that kind of legal threat would lie low, at least for a while, and try to get back to some level of normalcy. But Trump is a habitual criminal, and his reaction to escaping Mueller’s investigation was to go on yet another crime spree.”
“In fact, Trump has been acting like a bank robber who beat one rap because of a technicality, and so decides to rob every bank in sight.”
Voter Support for Impeachment Grows
A new Morning Consult poll finds 43% of Americans support the start of an impeachment in inquiry, up 7 points from a weekend survey. Meanwhile, opposition to beginning an impeachment inquiry dropped 6 points, to 43%.
A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll finds 49% of Americans support an impeachment inquiry, while 46% disapprove.
However, Stuart Rothenberg warns: “Polling in the middle of a political hurricane is ridiculous.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“It was like applying for a job and getting 66 million letters of recommendation and losing to a corrupt human tornado.”
— Hillary Clinton, in an interview with CBS News, about the 2016 presidential election.
Tracking the Campaign Ads
This is pretty great: FiveThirtyEight is tracking 2020 presidential campaign ad buys.
You can even watch the ads.
Giuliani: ‘I Will Be the Hero’
Elaina Plott spoke to Rudy Giuliani following the release of the whistleblower report and “he was, put simply, very angry.”
Said Giuliani: “It is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and I’m not. And I will be the hero! These morons—when this is over, I will be the hero.”
He added: “I’m not acting as a lawyer. I’m acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government. Anything I did should be praised.”
“Giuliani then unleashed a rant about the Bidens, Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, Barack Obama, the media, and the ‘deep state.'”
The Risks of Impeachment Are Overblown
Ron Brownstein: “For months, the biggest hurdle for Democrats pushing the House to open impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump was the party leadership’s concern that such a process would politically endanger the members at the far edge of their majority, especially the 31 representing districts that voted for the president in 2016.”
“But there’s considerable evidence—both in contemporary polling and the experience of former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment—that impeaching Trump might not be nearly as risky as it’s been portrayed for them.”
Pelosi Wants Intelligence Committee to Take Lead
Although Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the House committees should continue their impeachment inquiry, she made clear that the Intelligence committee should be taking the lead given the narrow focus of the probe, CNN reports.
Wall Street Democratic Donors Warn Party
Several Democratic donors on Wall Street and in big business tell CNBC they “are preparing to sit out the presidential campaign fundraising cycle — or even back President Trump — if Sen. Elizabeth Warren wins the party’s nomination.”
“During the campaign, Warren has put out multiple plans intended to curb the influence of Wall Street, including a wealth tax. In July, she released a proposal that would make private equity firms responsible for debts and pension obligations of companies they buy.”
Whistleblower Is a CIA Officer
“The whistle-blower who revealed that President Trump sought foreign help for his re-election and that the White House sought to cover it up is a C.I.A. officer who was detailed to work at the White House at one point,” the New York Times reports.
“The man has since returned to the C.I.A., the people said. Little else is known about him. His complaint made public Thursday suggested he was an analyst by training and made clear he was steeped in details of American foreign policy toward Europe, demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of Ukrainian politics and at least some knowledge of the law.”
“Lawyers for the whistle-blower refused to confirm that he worked for the C.I.A. and said that publishing information about him was dangerous.”
For members: Key Takeaway from the Whistleblower Complaint
Running Against the Devil
A must-read: Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump–and Democrats from Themselves by Rick Wilson.
“As 2016 proved, Trump can’t win, but the Democrats can sure as hell lose. Only one thing can save Trump, and that’s a Democratic candidate who runs the race Trump wants them to run instead of the campaign they must run to win in 2020.”
Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump--and Democrats from Themselves
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Wilson, Rick (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 332 Pages - 01/14/2020 (Publication Date) - Forum Books (Publisher)
