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Puerto Rico Governor Will Not Run for Re-Election

July 21, 2019 at 6:44 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The embattled governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló has announced that he will not seek reelection in November 2020 but will not resign,” ABC News reports.

Axios: “Protestors took to the streets last week to demand Rosselló resign over leaked Telegram messages between the governor and his top aides that were reported to include misogynistic, profane and homophobic comments. Some of the messages were reported to have mocked victims of Hurricane Maria, a disaster over which Rosselló’s administration has been criticized for mishandling.”

How Matt Gaetz Became Trump’s Favorite Congressman

July 21, 2019 at 1:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Mother Jones: “Like the president, the Florida Republican rode family connections, unorthodox real estate deals, and trolling to political fame.”

Trump Escalates Attacks on Lawmakers

July 21, 2019 at 12:54 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump is doubling down in his fight with the “The Squad” on Twitter.

Said Trump: “I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!”

Playbook: “Its hard to believe this is what Republican lawmakers who have urged Trump to tone down his rhetoric want.”

Cummings Says There’s ‘No Doubt’ Trump Is a Racist

July 21, 2019 at 10:58 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD) told ABC News there was “no doubt” President Trump was a racist amid fallout over Trump’s tweets attacking four congresswomen of color.

Said Cummings: “No doubt about it.”

He added: “I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt but when I think about what he said to these young ladies who are merely trying to bring excellence to government… when I hear those things it takes me back.”

Most Disagree with Trump’s Attacks on Lawmakers

July 21, 2019 at 10:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new CBS News poll finds 59% of Americans disagree with what President Trump said in his tweets last week about four Democratic congresswomen of color, including 44% who disagree strongly with what he said.

But 40% of the country agrees with what Trump said.

Nadler Says Trump Broke the Law

July 21, 2019 at 10:53 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) told Fox News that Donald Trump has “violated the law 6 ways from Sunday” and that he would be indicted if he were not president.

Said Nadler: “The president and the attorney general and others have spent the last few months systematically lying to the American people about what the investigation found. They’ve said that it found no collusion, that it found no obstruction, that it exonerated the president. All three of those statements are absolute lies.”

Four Democrats Move Into Top Tier

July 21, 2019 at 10:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new CBS News poll across the early primary and caucus states finds Joe Biden leading the Democratic field with 25%, followed by Elizabeth Warren at 20%, Kamala Harris at 16% and Bernie Sanders at 15%.

“If we consider a 15% threshold as the minimum support needed to win convention delegates, then across the early states, four candidates would meet that benchmark: Biden, Warren, Harris and Sanders.”

However, the contest “is tighter now among estimated delegates across early states, the true measure of the contest — delegates to the convention. By this measure, Warren is much closer to Biden due to stronger showings especially in very liberal areas.”

Trump Slams Report as ‘Presidential Harassment’

July 21, 2019 at 10:46 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump lashed out at the Washington Post over its reporting on his attacks against a group of minority congresswomen.

Said Trump: “The Washington Post Story, about my speech in North Carolina and tweet, with its phony sources who do not exist, is Fake News. The only thing people were talking about is the record setting crowd and the tremendous enthusiasm, far greater than the Democrats. You’ll see in 2020!”

He added in a separate tweet: “Presidential Harassment!”

Boris Johnson on Verge of Becoming UK Prime Minister

July 21, 2019 at 7:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Barring a surprise of historic proportions, Boris Johnson will be announced on Tuesday morning as leader of the U.K.’s Conservative Party, and the country’s next prime minister,” Axios reports.

“Polls suggest roughly three-quarters of the 160,000 Conservative Party members who’ll pick the next prime minister prefer him to Jeremy Hunt, the current foreign secretary and Johnson’s lone remaining rival.”

Bringing Back ‘Betomania’

July 21, 2019 at 7:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Beto O’Rourke has gone from phenom to front-runner to flailing in five months, and so he came home to this dusty border town last week to regroup, prepare for the next debate, and try to recast himself as the underdog in a Democratic presidential race in which many have already counted him out,” NBC News reports.

“O’Rourke says that he doesn’t plan to change his freewheeling style much, but that a top priority now is to raise the money to keep building his campaign organization so it will be ready to rebound.”

Said O’Rourke: “If you remember in Texas, it didn’t happen overnight. It was a really long process that was against the odds, very often counted down and out.”

Cruz Sees 50-50 Chance of Trump’s Re-Election

July 20, 2019 at 6:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told PBS’s Firing Line that he thinks President Trump could “absolutely” be defeated in the 2020 election and predicted there could be “staggering” Democratic voter turnout.

Said Cruz: “I personally handicap the 2020 election as a coin flip. I think it’s about 50-50.”

He added: “I think we are going to see staggering Democratic turnout in 2020. Anger is a powerful motivator. The far left is pissed. They are enraged by Donald Trump, and it means they’re going to show up, and the big open question is, does everybody else show up?”

Bonus Quote of the Day

July 20, 2019 at 5:26 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Donald Trump is more George Wallace than George Washington.”

— Joe Biden, quoted by Reuters.

Trump’s Long History of Using Race for Gain

July 20, 2019 at 4:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Over decades in business, entertainment and now politics, Mr. Trump has approached America’s racial, ethnic and religious divisions opportunistically, not as the nation’s wounds to be healed but as openings to achieve his goals, whether they be ratings, fame, money or power, without regard for adverse consequences.”

Warren Outpaces Biden to Build Iowa Ground Game

July 20, 2019 at 3:33 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Bloomberg: “An elected Democratic official in the state, speaking on condition of anonymity, complained that if Biden has a campaign in Iowa, he doesn’t know who’s working on it or how many.”

“In contrast, Elizabeth Warren, who jumped into the race four months before the former vice president, has built one of the most robust operations in the state, positioning her to capitalize on her surging national poll numbers and her steady rise in Iowa, Democratic operatives say.”

Inside the Crisis Caused by Trump’s Racist Tweets

July 20, 2019 at 3:30 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump’s own top aides didn’t think he fully understood what he had done last Sunday, when he fired off a trio of racist tweets before a trip to his golf course,” the Washington Post reports.

“As is often the case, Trump acted alone — impulsively following his gut to the dark side of American politics, and now the country would have to pick up the pieces. The day before, on the golf course, he hadn’t brought it up. Over the coming days, dozens of friends, advisers and political allies would work behind the scenes to try to fix the mess without any public admission of error, because that was not the Trump way.”

How Trump’s Re-Election Strategy Could Work

July 20, 2019 at 11:54 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Harry Enten: “The Trump strategy is pretty simple: 1. Drive up the unfavorable ratings of his Democratic rival as he did in 2016 in order to compensate for his own low ratings. 2. Bank on an electoral college/popular vote split as he did in 2016. 3. Use a campaign of racial resentment to drive up turnout even more among groups favorable toward the President.”

“Remember, Trump lost the popular vote in 2016. He won because he flipped a congressional district in Maine (good for one electoral vote) and the states of Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from blue in 2012 to red in 2016. If the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate wins all the states Hillary Clinton won, then she or he only needs to win the closest of those three Trump flipped (Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). It seems simple enough.”

“The potential problem for the Democratic candidate lies in Wisconsin.”

Test your own strategy on the interactive Electoral Vote Map.

Quote of the Day

July 20, 2019 at 11:48 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“We are going to reelect the president,”

— Rep. Matt Gaetz, quoted by the New York Times when asked about his goal for this week’s House hearing with special counsel Robert Mueller.

DNC Getting Smoked In Fundraising

July 20, 2019 at 11:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Democratic National Committee is getting smoked by its GOP counterpart in fundraising — and some major Democrats are panicked it could hurt their chances at defeating President Trump next year,” Vice News reports.

“The DNC brought in just $22.9 million over the last three months including $9.5 million in June, according to a campaign finance report filed Saturday night with the Federal Election Commission. That’s less than half the Republican National Committee’s haul over the same time period: $51 million.”