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O’Rourke Says Trump Is a White Nationalist

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Beto O’Rourke told CNN that President Trump was responsible for shooting incidents yesterday added that he believes Trump is a white nationalist.

Said O’Rourke: “There is an environment of it in the United States. We see it on FOX News, we see it on the Internet. But we also see it from our commander in chief. He is encouraging this. He doesn’t just tolerate it; he encourages it, calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, warning of an invasion at our border, seeking to ban all people of one religion.”

He added: “Folks are responding to this. It doesn’t just offend us, it encourages the kind of violence that we’re seeing, including in my home town of El Paso yesterday.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

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“My question for is… we’re city number 250, how many cities have to go through mass shootings before somebody does something to change the law?”

— Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, quoted by NBC News, on a mass shooting in Dayton last night.


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Kentucky Governor Turns to Trump for Re-Election Rescue

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“President Trump’s reelection campaign is still a year away, but Kentucky is going to get a preview this fall,” Politico reports.

“Gov. Matt Bevin is clinging as tightly as he can to Trump — even borrowing some of his tactics — as he attempts to overcome rock-bottom approval ratings in a bid for a second term. The unpopular governor is counting on Trump’s appeal here — the president won Kentucky by 30 percentage points in 2016 — and conservative cultural positions to knock off his chief political rival, state Attorney General Andy Beshear, the son of Bevin’s predecessor.”

2020 Election Won’t Be Decided By 2019 Debates

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Walter Shapiro: “After covering the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, I better understand the value of inspiration and the danger of consultant-driven caution. Remember, it was just seven years ago when Joe Biden got ahead of Barack Obama by endorsing gay marriage. Should the Democrats really have stuck with the seemingly safe 2012 moderate position of backing civil unions?”

“Fifteen months before the 2020 election, it is nearly impossible to know the best way of wresting power from Donald Trump. But it is safe to predict that the race will not be decided by a few intemperate debate answers in the summer of 2019.”

Feds Probing Top Aide to Ocasio-Cortez

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“The Feds are looking into possible campaign finance misdeeds by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff and lead rainmaker, who suddenly resigned Friday,” federal sources told the New York Post.

“The inquiry centers on two political action committees founded by Saikat Chakrabarti, the top aide who quit along with Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent.”

Bush Denounces ‘White Terrorism’ After Shooting

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Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush (R) called on all Americans to stand against “white terrorism” after a gunman who espoused white supremacist views in a manifesto killed at least 18 in El Paso, The Hill reports.

Bush, son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), said Saturday evening that “white terrorism” was a “real and present threat that we must all denounce and defeat.”

He added: “I believe fighting terrorism remains a national priority. And that should include standing firm against white terrorism.”

Quote of the Day

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“America is under attack by lethal, violent, white nationalist terrorism. The President of the United States is condoning white nationalism. White nationalism is one of the evils that is motivating and inspiring at least some to go kill Americans.”

— Mayor Pete Buttigieg, quoted by the Daily Beast, in the wake of today’s deadly shooting in El Paso, Texas.

GOP Offers Prayers After Shooting, Democrats Want Action

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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.”

Biden Mounts Fierce Defense of Obama Legacy

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“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

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“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

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“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

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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?

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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.”

GOP Anxiety Spikes In Texas

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“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.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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.

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