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71% Support Transgender People Serving in Military

June 20, 2019 at 4:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

As President Trump’s ban on most transgender military servicemembers continues to face legal challenges, a new Gallup poll finds 71% of Americans support allowing openly transgender men and women to serve in the military.

Key takeaway: “Majorities of Americans across nearly all key demographic groups, except for Republicans, support allowing transgender men and women to serve in the U.S. military. Republicans (43%) are far less likely than Democrats (88%) and independents (78%) to support allowing trans servicemembers.”

Felix Sater Pledges to Answer Every Question

June 20, 2019 at 3:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Congressional investigators looking into President Trump’s ties to Russia are scheduled to hear Friday from one of the most cooperative Trump associates yet: Felix Sater, a Russian-born real estate developer who said he plans to discuss previously undisclosed details about his efforts to get a Trump tower built in Moscow,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Sater: “I will answer every question without exception. I always have and always will cooperate with anything the U.S. government asks of me.”

The Biggest Obstacle to Trump’s Victory in 2020

June 20, 2019 at 2:29 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ron Brownstein: “Trump’s unrelenting emphasis on stoking that base—both in his rhetoric and through his policies—creates two distinct but interrelated problems for his reelection. One is that he’s providing the fuel for Democrats to mobilize their own core constituencies, particularly young people and non-white voters. The second problem is even more formidable and may represent the biggest obstacle to winning a second term: His polarizing approach to the presidency is alienating an unusually large number of voters satisfied with the economy.”

“That dynamic clearly wasn’t on his mind at his Tuesday rally in Orlando. He did dutifully tick off a list of economic accomplishments in his speech, but only after an hour of splenetic reliving of old grievances about the Robert Mueller investigation, the media, and Hillary Clinton. He demonized immigrants with sweeping condemnations. He raged, blustered, and summoned his supporters to a battle for survival against Democratic opponents, who he portrayed as not only misguided on policy but as fundamentally un-American in their aims.”

Said Trump: “They want to destroy you and they want to destroy our country as we know it.”

The Blue Wave

June 20, 2019 at 2:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A must-read: The Blue Wave: The 2018 Midterms and What They Mean for the 2020 Elections edited by Larry Sabato and Kyle Kondik.

GOP Lawmakers In Oregon Leave State

June 20, 2019 at 1:48 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Oregon Republican senators have left the Capitol and scattered in various directions outside the state in order to avoid being rounded up by troopers for a high-profile climate bill vote scheduled today,” the Oregonian reports.

“Democrats hold a supermajority in both chambers of the Oregon Legislature but they still need Republicans to achieve the quorum necessary to conduct business, which is 20 members in the Senate.”

Roy Moore Expected to Run for Senate

June 20, 2019 at 1:28 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Three people with direct knowledge of Roy Moore’s (R) thinking tell the Associated Press that they expect him to jump into the 2020 race for U.S. Senate in Alabama.

The Birmingham News confirms Moore is running.

It’s Johnson vs. Hunt for British Prime Minister

June 20, 2019 at 1:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jeremy Hunt will face Boris Johnson in the race to be the next British Prime Minister after Michael Gove was eliminated in the latest Tory leadership ballot, the BBC reports.

Johnson, considered the favorite in the race, and Hunt will now compete in a run-off of the party’s 160,000 or so members, and the winner will be announced in the week of July 22.

White House Will Brief Lawmakers on Iran

June 20, 2019 at 1:05 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal: “The White House has invited top congressional leaders for a briefing on Iran at 3 p.m., according to a person familiar with the matter. Others invited include the top members of the House and Senate intelligence and armed-services committees.”

Buttigieg Faces Challenge with Police Shooting

June 20, 2019 at 12:52 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Instead of showcasing Buttigieg’s ability to lead through a crisis, however, the shooting is exposing what has long been considered an Achilles’ heel of his candidacy: his frosty relationship with South Bend’s black residents. Since arriving on Sunday, Buttigieg has alienated the family of the dead man, Eric Logan, 54, skipped a vigil at the scene of the shooting, and sought advice from outsiders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York.”

“The shooting has handed Buttigieg the first significant challenge of his charmed campaign. To allies, his decision to leave the campaign trail and then hold two days of private meetings signals deliberate, considerate leadership. But to detractors, including many of South Bend’s black activists, his actions show that he still doesn’t get it.”

Politicians Say the Darndest Things at Fundraisers

June 20, 2019 at 12:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

James Hohmann: “Hillary Clinton called half of Donald Trump’s supporters ‘a basket of deplorables.’ Mitt Romney claimed 47 percent of the country would never vote for him because they are ‘dependent upon government.’ Barack Obama said ‘bitter’ working-class people in the Rust Belt ‘cling to guns or religion.'”

“Joe Biden’s paean to a bygone era — during which he spoke wistfully about working collegially and civilly with racists to find areas of common ground — seems destined to enter this pantheon of campaign-defining gaffes.”

“The latest donnybrook illustrates why Biden has been the least directly accessible to the press of all the 2020 candidates, including President Trump. Biden has been doing fewer public events than his top-tier rivals, preferring to focus on raising money from high-dollar donors. He’s given virtually no sit-down interviews and submitted to relatively few gaggles. “

Tweet of the Day

June 20, 2019 at 12:26 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I watched the whole thing last night. I know no one wants to waste that kind of time even looking at him, but not wanting to see the enormity of the fight ahead doesn’t make it go away. He hasn’t lost one inch of his fired-up insane base. Are u ready?”

— Michael Moore, on Twitter, commenting on President Trump’s campaign kickoff.

Senate Votes to Block Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

June 20, 2019 at 12:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Senate passed the first in a series of resolutions aimed at blocking 22 arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, dealing another symbolic blow to the Trump administration’s close ties to the Middle East allies,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

New York Times: “While the Democratic-controlled House is also expected to block the sales, Mr. Trump has pledged to veto the legislation, and it is unlikely that either chamber could muster enough support to override the president’s veto.”

McConnell Won’t Support Pay Increase for Lawmakers

June 20, 2019 at 12:05 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Bloomberg that “he doesn’t support a bipartisan House effort to increase pay for members of Congress for the first time in a decade, likely scuttling the effort.”

North Carolina Is Closely Divided on Trump

June 20, 2019 at 12:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Public Policy Polling survey in North Carolina finds President Trump with an upside down approval rating, 46% to 49%.

In hypothetical match ups with the five leading Democratic candidates for President, Trump ranges from trailing by 3 points to leading by 3 points. Trump gets 46 or 47% regardless of the Democrat he’s tested against, while the level of support for the Democrats fluctuates based on their name recognition.

The two Democrats with leads over Trump are the best known: Joe Biden is up 49% to 46% on him and Bernie Sanders is up 48% to 47%. Trump narrowly leads the lesser known Democrats: it’s a 47% to 46% edge over Kamala Harris, a 48% to 46% one over Elizabeth Warren, and a 47% to 44% one over Pete Buttigieg.

Graham Says Trump Should Bomb Iran

June 20, 2019 at 11:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News last night that President Trump should bomb Iran if the country does more to disrupt shipping activity.

Said Graham: “He should put the oil refineries on the target list and look at sinking the Iranian Navy if they attack shipping again. My red line is: If there’s any more disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz linked to Iran, take out their Navy and bomb their refineries.”

Michael Bennet Pledges to Remake Political System

June 20, 2019 at 11:53 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Bennet is calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, a lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists, a prohibition on political gerrymandering and a push for ranked choice voting. Bennet is also supporting a laundry list of long-desired Democratic reforms, including automatic voter registration, D.C. statehood and greater transparency around super PAC fundraising and spending.”

“Many of his proposals are already popular with other Democratic presidential candidates. But Bennet says he’s setting himself apart by putting these plans at the center of his campaign, arguing that reforming the American government is essential because ‘so much of what we want to get done, from climate to health care to changing the tax code, is going to require us to reform the way this democracy works/'”

Trump Bets That Lightning Will Strike America Again

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

Edward Luce: “The thing about freak accidents is that they do not keep happening. Donald Trump benefited from more than one lightning strike in 2016. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, offered a living, breathing picture of America’s reviled establishment. The director of the FBI, James Comey, was an unusually incompetent investigator. His last-minute intervention helped sway the election. The US electoral college managed to skew a popular defeat for Mr Trump into a victory. Finally, Facebook offered the ideal platform for Vladimir Putin’s fake news blitz.”

“None of these conditions is likely to recur in 2020 — or at least not in the same way. Yet Mr Trump is betting that history will repeat itself.”

Trump Slams Biden and Sanders as ‘Tired’

June 20, 2019 at 10:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump told Telemundo that Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden look “tired crazy” and “exhausted.”

Said Trump: “Bernie, Bernie looks like he’s had it. Bernie looks crazy, but he always did. But he looks like a tired crazy right now.”

On Biden, Trump said “he looks like he’s just exhausted. I don’t know what happened to him but he is exhausted and he doesn’t do any work, he’s not working. One thing I found out about this job, to do it right, and I’ve done it right — you have to work hard.”