Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is offering to buy Rep. Ilhan Omar a ticket to Somalia so she will “appreciate America more,” echoing President Trump’s racist statement that the Minnesota Democrat and three other congresswomen should “go back” to the “totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” the Washington Post reports.
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It Was Third Parties That Sunk Clinton
Stuart Rothenberg: “For all the talk about why Donald Trump was elected president while losing the popular vote and how he could win again, one of the least discussed results of the 2016 election offers valuable lessons for Democrats.”
“An astounding 7.8 million voters cast their presidential ballots for someone other than Trump or Hillary Clinton. The two biggest third-party vote-getters were Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson (almost 4.5 million votes) and the Green Party’s Jill Stein (1.5 million voters). But others received almost another 1.9 million votes as well.”
“Libertarians and Greens may try to convince you that this reflects growing support for their parties. It doesn’t. Their strong showing was due to the unpopularity of the two major-party nominees.”
Senate Fails to Override Trump Veto
The Senate lost a bid to override President Trump’s veto and block arms sales to Saudi Arabia to punish the kingdom for the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Bloomberg reports.
Mnuchin Claims October Vote on Trade Pact
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has been telling colleagues that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has privately assured him she would allow a vote on the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement by October, Axios reports.
Pelosi’s office unequivocally denies that she gave Mnuchin any assurances on timing for a USMCA vote.
Andrew Yang Qualifies for Next Debates
White House hopeful Andrew Yang announced Monday that he has reached the thresholds to qualify for the third and fourth Democratic primary debates, The Hill reports.
Candidates have to amass 130,000 unique donors and receive the support of at least 2% of respondents in four qualifying polls to appear in the third debate on Sept. 12 and Sept. 13.
McConnell Defends Blocking Election Security Bills
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), under fire for blocking two election security bills, hit back on Monday comparing the attacks against him to “modern-day McCarthyism,” The Hill reports.
Said McConnell: “I was called unpatriotic, un-American and essentially treasonous by a couple of left-wing pundits on the basis of bold-faced lies. I was accused of aiding and abetting the very man I’ve singled out as an adversary and opposed for nearly 20 years, Vladimir Putin.”
He added: “These theatrical requests happen all the time here on the Senate. I promise that nobody involved, including my friend the Democratic Leader who made the request, actually thought he’d get a Republican Senate to instantly unanimously pass a bill that got one Republican vote over in the House It doesn’t make Republicans traitors or un-American. It makes us policymakers with a different opinion.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I was down there also, but I’m not considering myself a first responder. But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you.”
— President Trump, quoted by CNN, in a speech to first responders and others impacted by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Trump’s Choice of Intelligence Chief Rattles Critics
“For what is supposed to be perhaps the most nonpartisan job in Washington — the director of national intelligence — President Trump has selected one of the fiercest political warriors in the capital,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s choice, Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), has established himself during his nearly five years in Congress as a tough partisan… A relentless critic of the Russia investigation, Mr. Ratcliffe has shared some of Mr. Trump’s views and earned praise from critics of the so-called deep state of government bureaucrats.”
“Democrats have said he is unqualified and too overtly political, and even some Republicans privately said they thought Mr. Ratcliffe was the wrong choice, according to people familiar with their thinking. Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, waited nearly a day to publicly congratulate Mr. Ratcliffe, a subtle sign of discontent with the shake-up. But Republicans on the committee, which will vote on whether to send the nomination to the full Senate, are highly unlikely to buck Mr. Trump.”
Bloomberg: Trump’s polarizing pick for spy chief has tough path in Senate.
CNN Chief Once Backed Kamala Harris
“CNN’s president, a media titan at the helm of a global news organization intensely covering the 2020 presidential election, has a longstanding personal rule against supporting politicians,” McClatchy reports.
“He’s broken it once — for Kamala Harris when she ran to become the first woman of color to hold the office of California attorney general a decade ago.”
How Saudi Arabia Makes Dissidents Disappear
“The assassination of Jamal Khashoggi was no aberration. A Vanity Fair investigation reveals how Saudi Arabia attempts to abduct, repatriate—and sometimes murder—citizens it regards as enemies of the state. On these pages are the stories of eight recent abductees—and those of four others who managed to elude capture—part of a systematic program that goes far beyond the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.”
“The Saudi campaign is ruthless and relentless. And it has more similarities with, say, the codes of a crime syndicate than it does with those of a traditional, modern-era ally of the United States of America.”
Rules Force Billionaire to Plead for Small Donations
Politico: “Tom Steyer launched his 2020 campaign a little over two weeks ago and plans to self-fund his White House run with $100 million of his own money. But he still needs 130,000 people to donate to him by August 28 (and get at least 2 percent in four polls) to qualify for the third primary debate.”
“The bars imposed by the DNC pose a major test of whether Steyer’s message and his millions can actually attract enough support for a viable presidential campaign — and fast. Just days out of the gate, Steyer’s campaign has no grassroots fundraising base of its own and is competing for votes with candidates who have been in the race for months. So Steyer is flooding Facebook and Google with ads — at least $927,000 worth so far — trying to buy up new donors and airing over $4.3 million on TV spots that could give him a boost in the polls.”
Biden Bounces Back
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Joe Biden leads the Democratic presidential field with 34%, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 15%, Sen. Kamala Harris at 12% and Sen. Bernie Sanders at 11%.
Rounding out the Democratic field are Pete Buttigieg at 6%, and Beto O’Rourke and Andrew Yang at 2% each. There are four candidates with 1% each and 14 candidates at less than 1% each.
Last month, Biden had slipped to 22%, with Harris at 20%, Warren at 14% and Sanders at 13%.
Said pollster Mary Snow: “In the blink of an eye, the post-debate surge for Kamala Harris fades and Joe Biden regains his footing among Democratic presidential contenders Electability remains his strongest pull. Across the board, Biden remains by far the Democrat seen as having the best chance of defeating President Trump.”
GOP Lawmaker Bucks Party for Kentucky Governor
Kentucky state Sen. Dan Seum (R) announced he would cross party lines and endorse the gubernatorial campaign of Andy Beshear (D).
GOP Holds Massive Edge In 2020 Senate Races
“In 2016, every single Senate race went to the candidate of the same party that those states voted for in the presidential election,” Axios reports.
“That’s never happened before, since at least 1984. And the data shows that’s not great news for Democrats heading into the 2020 elections.”
“Because of their stronghold in rural areas, and based on previous presidential election results, the GOP has a 40-seat, ‘built-in base in the Senate.’ Compare that to just 26 Senate seats that Democrats are best positioned to win.”
Top DCCC Staffer Out Amid Diversity Uproar
“The executive director of House Democrats’ campaign arm is stepping down amid an outcry from Democratic lawmakers over the lack of diversity in the committee’s senior ranks,” Politico reports.
House GOP Plans Annual Retreat In Baltimore
“President Trump on Saturday called Baltimore a ‘very dangerous & filthy place’ and suggested that Democratic politicians, including Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), had made the city all but uninhabitable,” the Washington Post reports.
“Leaders of Trump’s party appear to disagree: House Republicans have scheduled their yearly policy retreat for a downtown Baltimore hotel in September… That could present an uncomfortable situation for Trump, as sitting presidents customarily speak each year at their party’s House retreat.”
There May Be Fewer GOP Women In Next Congress
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Memo to the 2020 Democratic Candidates
Rahm Emanuel: “Let’s start with the basics. If you’re going to evict Donald Trump from the White House and secure the country’s future, you have to replicate what the last two Democratic presidents did so successfully on their campaigns. You need to unite all primary voters.”
“There’s a reason Trump gleefully tweeted ‘That’s the end of that race!’ during the first debate: Too often, you succumbed to chasing plaudits on Twitter, which closed the door on swing voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. If you win the nomination in a way that forecloses a path to victory in the general election, we will lose, and your name will go down in infamy.”
“This time, don’t fall into the traps that had many of us shaking our heads during the debates in Miami. Before our party promises health care coverage to undocumented immigrants — a position not even Ted Kennedy took — let’s help the more than 30 million Americans who are a single illness away from financial ruin. Before we start worrying about whether the Boston Marathon bomber can vote, let’s stop states that are actively trying to curtail voting rights of citizens. And before we promise a guaranteed minimum income to healthy adults who prefer to stay home and play video games, let’s increase the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit to benefit the millions of people who work hard and still live near poverty.”
