NBC News announced the candidate positions on the stage for the two-night event on June 26 and 27, and it will feature the contenders who’ve been leading in the polls in the middle of the stage.
That means on Night One, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Beto O’Rourke will be in the middle, while Night Two will feature Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he does not support reparations for descendants of slaves, The Hill reports.
Said McConnell: “I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none us currently living are responsible is a good idea. We’ve tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We elected an African American president.”
Orlando Sentinel editorial: “Donald Trump is in Orlando to announce the kickoff of his re-election campaign. We’re here to announce our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we’re not endorsing: Donald Trump.”
“Some readers will wonder how we could possibly eliminate a candidate so far before an election, and before knowing the identity of his opponent. Because there’s no point pretending we would ever recommend that readers vote for Trump. After 2½ years we’ve seen enough.”
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“President Trump’s political advisers wanted to keep the president off of Twitter during the Democratic debates next week, arguing that there was an advantage in letting potential challengers attack one another without distraction,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Now, there’s a new strategy. The president, who has spent years embracing social media for his political advantage, is tentatively planning to live-tweet the debates on June 26-27.”
“The White House explored the legality of demoting Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in February, soon after President Trump talked about firing him,” Bloomberg reports.
“The White House counsel’s office weighed the legal implications of stripping Powell of his chairmanship and leaving him as a Fed governor, the people said, in what would be an unprecedented move. A replacement would have to be nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate.”
A new Quinnipiac poll in Florida finds Joe Biden leading President Trump in a presidential race, 50% to 41%.
Other match ups:
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Florida Republicans have won the last five major statewide elections, all by very close margins, but Sunshine State Democrats see these very early numbers as a sign that their losing streak might be coming to an end.”
Trump’s approval rating in Florida is underwater, 44% to 51%.
President Trump “pulled the nomination of Patrick M. Shanahan to be the permanent defense secretary, saying on Twitter that Mr. Shanahan would devote more time to his family,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump named Mark T. Esper, the secretary of the Army and a former Raytheon executive, to take over as acting secretary of defense. He did not say whether Mr. Esper would be nominated for the permanent position.”
Washington Post: “In the months that he has served as President Trump’s acting secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan has worked to keep domestic violence incidents within his family private. His wife was arrested after punching him in the face, and his son was arrested after a separate incident in which he hit his mother with a baseball bat. Public disclosure of the nearly decade-old episodes would re-traumatize his young adult children.”
President Trump has lost the financial support of one of his biggest backers in 2016: the Mercers, Vanity Fair reports.
“With their ties to Steve Bannon, Breitbart, and Cambridge Analytica, Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah were superstars last cycle. According to half a dozen sources familiar with the reclusive family’s political activities, the Mercers have drastically curtailed their political donations in recent months and will likely not play a significant role in 2020.”
Said one insider: “It’s like they’ve disappeared.”
Said another: “Crickets. They’re gone.”
A special adviser to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini blamed the United States for a rise in tensions between Iran and the West, Politico reports.
Said Nathalie Tocci: “This is happening for one reason that has not been cited so far, which is the fact that the United States has violated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, meaning the Iran deal. You’re not living up to your side of the bargain.”
Aaron Blake: “There is one poll question I keep coming back to when I think about President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. It’s the one in which pollsters ask whether people would definitely not vote for him.”
“This is an especially bad number for Trump. National polls generally show a majority of people (51-56 percent) say they wouldn’t — with Fox News polls being the exception. And now a poll also shows that number is remarkably bad for Trump in a surprising place: Texas. The University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll shows 43 percent say they’d never back Trump, and another 7 percent say they’re inclined to vote against him. That’s half the state intending not to vote for a Republican president … in Texas.”
President Trump predicted that the official launch of his reelection campaign tonight will be “wild,” adding that GOP enthusiasm is “at an all time high.”
Said Trump: “The Fake News doesn’t report it, but Republican enthusiasm is at an all time high.”
Ron Brownstein: “McConnell has been the immovable object: He’s frustrated House Democrats by systematically blocking Senate votes so far on the lengthening list of bills they have passed, from gun control to additional protections for patients with preexisting health problems.”
“But McConnell’s blockade faces a new challenge as the House turns to a series of bills meant to fight foreign interference in the 2020 election. Those measures, aimed at defending fundamental American institutions from foreign subversion, may be tougher for the Kentucky Republican to portray as partisan overreach than the bills the House has passed so far. And that could make them an irresistible force that strains his overall strategy of preventing action on any House legislation.”
“Joe Biden told supporters at a Manhattan fundraiser Monday night that his presidential campaign has raised money from 360,000 donors, with an average contribution of $55 — figures that suggest he has amassed nearly $20 million so far,” the Washington Post reports.
“If so, the former vice president’s haul would eclipse that of any of the other Democratic White House hopefuls in the first quarter of the year, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who reported taking in $18.2 million from about 500,000 donors.”
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to draw attention away from the politically explosive topic of impeaching President Trump by putting health care back at center stage for Democrats,” Bloomberg reports.
“Pelosi said more than 140 House Democrats held home-district events on health care over the weekend. This focus is especially important for moderate Democrats eager show voters they’re trying to deliver on their campaign promises even as some of their colleagues push ahead with investigations of Trump’s business, associates and administration.”
Facing twin challenges in the Persian Gulf, President Trump told Time that he might take military action to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but cast doubt on going to war to protect international oil supplies.
Said Trump: “I would certainly go over nuclear weapons and I would keep the other a question mark.”
Trump described recent attacks on oil tankers as “very minor.”
President Trump tweeted last night that the State Department’s identification of “multiple security incidents” surrounding the handling of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails is “really big.”
Said Trump: “Wow! The State Department said it has identified 30 Security Incidents involving current or former employees and their handling of Crooked Hillary Clinton’s Emails.”
He added: “This is really big. Never admitted before. Highly Classified Material. Will the Dems investigate this?”
Indiana State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon (D) and three other named statehouse employees will fill a new federal lawsuit against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill (R) on Tuesday morning, the Daily Beast reports.
“The 11-count complaint against Hill and the state of Indiana alleges sexual harassment, retaliation, gender discrimination, battery, defamation, and invasion of privacy.”
“Jamaal Bowman, a middle school principal from the Bronx, will announce on Tuesday his plans to challenge Rep. Eliot Engel, the New York Democrat who leads the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, in the 2020 race,” the New York Times reports.
“The contest could serve as a key test of whether liberal insurgent groups can convert a surge of energy on the left into successful challenges of members of the Democratic Party establishment.”
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.
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