A new University of Virginia/Ipsos poll find that by a 77% to 16% margin, respondents did not think that the 2020 election should be delayed and President Trump given an extra two years in office.
“This question was based on a recent tweet by Liberty University President Jerry Falwell suggesting that because of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the president’s term should be extended two years (Trump retweeted Falwell).”
“Missouri’s Republican-led Senate has now passed a bill to ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy,” the AP reports.
“Senators approved the legislation 24-10 early Thursday with just hours left before a Friday deadline to pass bills. It needs at least one more vote of approval in the GOP-led House before it can go to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who voiced support for it on Wednesday.”
New York Times: “Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a White House adviser, spent months working on the plan, which will serve as a central part of Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign message. Working with him was Stephen Miller, the president’s top immigration adviser, but the plan falls short of the more extreme measures that Mr. Miller has long pressed the president to adopt and that have long been opposed by Democrats in Congress.”
Playbook: “Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last few years, you’d know that Democrats would summarily dismiss any immigration proposal that doesn’t include language to provide some sort of legal status for Dreamers. Kushner’s proposal does not include that. So, he’s lost Democrats. And this doesn’t bring down immigration into the U.S. — which many Republicans have demanded.”
“This thing is deader than a doornail. The White House keeps saying it’s supposed to be a conversation-starter. The only conversation this will start in the Capitol is one about how goofy it is to believe this plan was even released in the first place.”
“Attorney General William Barr denied he is standing in the way of special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress, after the chairman of the House panel seeking his appearance accused the Justice Department of being unwilling to set a date,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Barr: “It’s Bob’s call whether he wants to testify.”
“Joe Biden will base his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, setting up in a city where he has deep ties and in a state that is central to his strategy,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Michigan state Rep. Larry Inman (R) has been indicted by a federal grand jury, “accused of trying to sell his vote on a measure to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage law,” the Detroit Free Press reports.
“Inman is charged with attempted extortion, soliciting a bribe, and making a false statement to the FBI and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge.”
The Washington Post reports one of Inman’s text messages, which allegedly offered up a lawmaker’s vote in exchange for cash, ended with a famous five-word phrase: “We never had this discussion.”
“President Trump gave a full pardon to a longtime friend who last year wrote a glowing book about Trump’s successes,” the Washington Post reports.
“Conrad Black was convicted in 2007 on fraud charges, including alleged embezzlement, and obstruction of justice. He served more than three years in prison and was deported to his native Canada after he was released in 2012. He was barred from returning to the United States for 30 years.”
“President Trump is frustrated with some of his top advisers, who he thinks could rush the United States into a military confrontation with Iran and shatter his long-standing pledge to withdraw from costly foreign wars,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump prefers a diplomatic approach to resolving tensions and wants to speak directly with Iran’s leaders.”
“Trump grew angry last week and over the weekend about what he sees as warlike planning that is getting ahead of his own thinking.”
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the Trump administration “could make as much as $20 billion available to farmers in a second round of assistance designed to help offset losses from China’s latest retaliatory tariffs,” Politico reports.
“The second installment of trade aid is being modeled after the one last year. USDA pledged up to $12 billion in assistance for 2018 production, mostly in the form of direct payments to farmers stung by retaliatory duties, as well as commodity purchases.”
“Abortion rights are at risk at the Supreme Court, but the short-term threat may not come from extreme measures like the one passed by Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday,” the New York Times reports..
“The court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is more likely to chip away at the constitutional right to abortion established in 1973 in Roe v. Wade than to overturn it outright. It will have plenty of opportunities to do so.”
Politico: How 12 court cases could challenge abortion access under Roe vs. Wade.
“President Trump, who is refusing to cooperate with more than 20 congressional investigations, instructed current and former aides Wednesday to ignore a House committee’s request for documents in the latest act of defiance that has prompted Democrats to declare the nation is facing a constitutional crisis,” the Washington Post reports.
“But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Democrats in a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday morning to stick to their policy agenda ahead of the 2020 election rather than initiate impeachment proceedings. And not a single lawmaker challenged her.”
“The White House on Wednesday escalated its war against social media when it announced an unprecedented campaign asking Internet users to share stories of when they thought they were censored by Facebook, Google’s YouTube and Twitter, tapping into President Trump’s long-running claim that tech giants are biased against conservatives,” the Washington Post reports.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed a law banning abortion in almost all cases, including rape and incest, the AP reports.
From her statement: “To the bill’s many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God.”
“President Trump will make a fresh bid Thursday to remake U.S. immigration policy, proposing an expansion of skills-based visas offset by new restrictions on refugees and family members—a proposal likely to ignite a dispute over issues that divide political parties and the country,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Washington Post: “The proposal, previewed by Kushner and other Trump aides in private briefings on Capitol Hill over the past two weeks, already is facing skepticism from lawmakers in both political parties, and there appears to be no clear path toward advancing the plan through Congress.”
A new Gallup survey found that 55% of Americans favor eliminating the Electoral College and going with the popular vote, while just 43% opposed the idea.
“Arguments against the Electoral College have been around for decades, but became louder in 2000 when Al Gore lost to George W. Bush despite winning the national popular vote by more than 500,000 ballots. The arguments again ramped up when Donald Trump was elected in 2016, but lost the national vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million ballots.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) will declare his bid for the presidency on Thursday morning, NBC News reports.
De Blasio will make the formal announcement and then travel to Iowa and South Carolina for multiple stops over four days.
Pat Robertson called the Alabama bill to outlaw abortion “an extreme law” and said that it will most likely be overturned at the Supreme Court.
Said Robertson: “I think Alabama has gone too far, they’ve passed a law that would give a 99-year prison sentence to those who commit abortions. There’s no exception for rape or incest. It’s an extreme law and they want to challenge Roe v. Wade, but my humble view is that this is not the case we want to bring to the Supreme Court because I think this one’ll lose.”
Taegan 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.