Washington Post: “Across the country, lawmakers took to cable television and Twitter to react to the mass shooting, with Republicans offering prayers and condemnations of the violence without mentioning guns and Democrats going a step further to decry yet another missed opportunity to address the nation’s gun laws. It was similar to what these lawmakers said less than a week ago, when a 19-year-old opened fire with an assault-style rifle at a food festival in Gilroy, Calif., killing three people and wounding 12 others.”
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Biden Mounts Fierce Defense of Obama Legacy
“Democratic presidential front-runner and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden mounted a fierce defense of Barack Obama’s legacy on Saturday after several of his White House rivals attacked that record in debates this week,” Reuters reports.
Said Biden: “I’m against any Democrat who wants to get rid of Obamacare.”
Trump Weighs September Rollout of Health Plan
“The Trump administration is considering releasing its long-promised health-care plan in the fall as part of a campaign strategy to offer an alternative to Democratic candidates who back Medicare for All,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“White House officials are discussing unveiling the proposal during a September speech in which President Trump would seek to draw a contrast with Democrats while reassuring voters the administration is prepared if the courts abolish the Affordable Care Act.”
“White House officials stressed that the plans haven’t been completed, and some close to the president have privately expressed skepticism. One former White House official raised the possibility that the plan may not materialize this fall if Mr. Trump second-guesses the effort. The administration is also still weighing how specific the plan should be.”
Russian Political Crisis Grows with More Arrests
“For the second consecutive weekend, Moscow police conducted mass arrests as Russia’s biggest political crisis in several years continued to escalate and pose a challenge to the Kremlin’s heavy-handed approach toward public dissent,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“More than 600 people were detained for participating in an unsanctioned rally in downtown Moscow, which opposition leaders had called to demand the inclusion of independent candidates in next month’s city council elections. At a mass rally on July 27, police took almost 1,400 people into custody and violently clashed with the thousands of protesters, beating some with truncheons.”
Avenatti Says He May Still Run for President
The firebrand attorney Michael Avenatti told CNBC that he is again considering a run for the Democratic nomination for president after he declared last year he wouldn’t take part in the contest.
Said Avenatti: “I don’t think I need to make a final decision for a number of months. I have the name ID and everyone knows I’m one of the few effective fighters that the Dems have.”
Still, Avenatti said he has a “number of things to deal with” before deciding whether he will jump into the race. He was arrested in New York in March for an alleged $20 million extortion scheme against Nike. A month later, federal prosecutors in California indicted Avenatti on three dozen counts including stealing money from clients and lying to regulators about his income.
Is the GOP Just a White Party?
Dan Balz: “Trump commands rank-and-file support in a remade Republican Party, but there are plenty of other indications suggesting that many Republican officials and strategists fear the effects of his disruptive behavior and tactics. Having attacked the four young House females, he spent last week attacking Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), who is African American, and running down the city of Baltimore.”
“Republican officials worry that, the longer the president continues down the path of nativism and of stoking racial division, the more the GOP is at risk of seeing its coalition shrink, eventually to become a party almost exclusively for and of white voters and particularly of older men.”
Leningrad Lindsey
The South Carolina Democratic Party is taunting Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) by selling “Leningrad Lindsey” gear.
GOP Anxiety Spikes In Texas
“Republicans have long idealized Texas as a deep-red frontier state, home to rural conservatives who love President Trump. But political turbulence in the sprawling suburbs and fast-growing cities are turning the Lone Star State into a possible 2020 battleground,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): “The president’s reelection campaign needs to take Texas seriously.”
“For a state that once elevated the Bush family and was forged into a Republican stronghold by Karl Rove, it is an increasingly uncertain time. Changing demographics and a wave of liberal activism have given new hope to Democrats, who have not won a statewide elective office since 1994 or Texas’s presidential vote since Jimmy Carter in 1976.”
Trump Fuels Racial Discord While Courting Blacks
New York Times: “The objectives are twofold: First, to try to win over a handful of black voters. The campaign intends to highlight low rates of African-American unemployment and the criminal justice overhaul the president signed, a measure that is already a subject of his campaign’s Facebook advertising.”
“But the more clandestine hope, and one privately acknowledged by Trump allies, is that the president can make black voters think twice about turning out for Democrats or expending energy on trying to change a system some African-Americans believe is unalterably stacked against them.”
Politico: Trump prepares push to woo black voters.
Warren Begins to Steal Sanders’s Network
Washington Post: “This shift comes as Warren is publicly projecting a friendly attitude toward the Vermont senator — backing him up on the debate stage, refusing to criticize him when reporters ask, restraining her staffers from posting tweets needling him.”
“That avoids alienating Sanders voters whom she may need later. But strategists for both candidates say there’s only room for one of them to survive far beyond the early primaries, making for a below-the-surface battle, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire.”
Gabbard Meets Donor Threshold for Next Debate
“Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (D-HI) White House campaign announced Friday it had reached the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) donor threshold to appear at the primary debate in September,” The Hill reports.
“Gabbard’s camp said it had garnered 130,000 unique donors, with more than 400 donors in at least 20 states. To qualify for September’s debate, candidates must hit 130,000 donors and get 2 percent support in at least four different polls.”
“Gabbard has yet to reach the polling threshold.”
Nigel Farage Praises Trump’s ‘Go Back’ Comments
Nigel Farage described President Trump’s “go back” comments aimed at four congresswomen of color as “genius,” The Guardian reports.
Said Farage: “You realise, 48 hours on, it was genius because what’s happened is the Democrats gather round the Squad, which allows him to say, ‘Oh look, the Squad are the centre of the Democratic party.'”
He added: “He’s remarkably good at what he does. He does things his way. But he is a remarkably effective operator.”
Warren Is Running a Brilliant Campaign
David Axelrod: “Elizabeth Warren is running a strategically brilliant campaign.”
“More than any other candidate, she has a clear, unambiguous message that is thoroughly integrated with her biography. That is essential to a successful campaign.”
“Her unsparing critique of corporate excess and her expansive — and expensive — agenda for change mirror those of the reigning left champion, Bernie Sanders, in places. But where Sanders sometimes seems like a parody of himself — or of Larry David’s parody of Sanders — Warren seems fresher, deeper and more precise in her execution.”
North Korea Confirms Yet Another Missile Launch
“North Korea said Saturday its leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test-firing of a new multiple rocket launcher system that could potentially enhance the country’s ability to strike targets in South Korea and U.S. military bases there,” the AP reports.
Fox News Host Tells Viewers Trump Is Wrong
“Immediately after President Trump boasted to White House reporters that the United States rakes in billions of dollars from China because of his tariffs, Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto issued an on-air fact-check of the president’s remarks, directly telling his viewers that Trump is wrong,” the Daily Beast reports.
Said Cavuto: “I don’t know where to begin here. Just to be clarifying, China isn’t paying these tariffs. You are. You know, indirectly and sometimes directly.”
Senator Held Up Nominee In Effort to Steer Contract
“A Republican senator held up the confirmation of a White House budget official this week in an attempt to obtain sensitive information about border wall contracts he has been trying to steer to a major donor,” according to emails obtained by the Washington Post.
“The emails show Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) blasting the ‘arrogance’ of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after senior military officials told him the contracts contained sensitive, proprietary information provided by the companies that could not be shared.”
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Trump Praises Bannon’s Analysis of the 2020 Election
President Trump embraced analysis of the 2020 Democratic field from former strategist Stephen Bannon, whom he previously derided as “sloppy” and a leaker, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “Nice to see that one of my best pupils is still a giant Trump fan. Steve joined me after I won the primaries, but I loved working with him!”
Trump shared a clip from Bannon on CNBC in which he dismissed the chances of the current field of Democrats against Trump in 2020.
