Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) “called for the legalization of marijuana at a federal level in a Monday morning interview, making her the latest 2020 contender to weigh in on an issue that has become front-and-center as the presidential campaign season begins,” Politico reports.
When asked if she opposed legalization, Harris said: “Half my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?”
She added: “Listen, I think it gives a lot of people joy. And we need more joy.”
“We’re starting in Wisconsin because, as you remember, there wasn’t a lot of campaigning in Wisconsin in 2016. With me, that changes… I’m going to be there a lot.”
— Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), quoted by the Washington Post, on her first presidential campaign stops.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) “directly confronted critics Monday who have questioned her black heritage, her record incarcerating minorities as a prosecutor and her decision to marry a white man,” CNN reports.
Said Harris: “So I was born in Oakland, and raised in the United States except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada. And look, this is the same thing they did to Barack. This is not new to us and so I think that we know what they are trying to do.”
She added: “They are trying to do what has been happening over the last two years, which is powerful voices trying to sow hate and division, and so we need to recognize when we’re being played.”
“After failing to advance last session, Republicans have again filed legislation to keep Tennessee from permitting same-sex marriages, a bill officials previously estimated could cost the state more than $9 billion in federal funding,” the Tennessean reports.
“The bill would prohibit government officials — presumably including clerks issuing marriage certificates — from giving recognizing any court ruling that affirms same-sex unions, and specifies they cannot be arrested for failing to comply with court orders that do so.”
First Read looks at the 2020 announcements of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) over the weekend and where news organizations first referred to each candidate’s negative narrative.
Warren and her Native American controversy:
Klobuchar and her staff controversy:
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) plans Monday to withdraw several hundred National Guard troops from the state’s southern border with Mexico in defiance of the Trump administration’s request for support from border states,” CBS News reports.
“Newsom’s move comes on the heels of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) pulling back her state’s troops from the U.S.-Mexico border.”
“Newsom’s and Grisham’s actions are a fresh, if symbolic, affront to President Trump’s description of an immigration crisis on the nation’s southern border.”
A new Pew Research poll finds 53% of Americans think it is generally unacceptable for a white person to use makeup to darken their skin to appear to be a different race as part of a Halloween costume, including 37% who say this is never acceptable.
Meanwhile, 34% say this is always or sometimes acceptable.
“I will not vote for Donald Trump. Ever.”
— Erick Erickson, writing for The Resurgent, February 22, 2016.
“I’ll be voting for President Trump and Vice President Pence in 2020”
— Erickson, writing for The Resurgent, February 11, 2019.
Washington Examiner: “Scandal is threatening to fell the top three Democrats in Virginia’s capital, Gov. Ralph Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, and Attorney General Mark Herring. The tumult could cost Democrats seats in the legislature this November in the off-year elections Virginia holds, while boosting Trump’s prospects across the commonwealth. Virginia has been trending blue for more than a decade, and Republicans had presumed it off the table for 2020.”
“The Republican Party isn’t immediately positioned to profit from its unexpected good fortune. The GOP’s state affiliate is in shambles, and the Trump campaign, although it has time to ramp up, isn’t entrenched on the ground. That could hinder Republican gains in upcoming elections, even as a Democratic meltdown loosens what appeared to be a liberal vise grip on Virginia voters.”
“Those who think the Mueller investigation will die out with a whimper are dreaming. This is a pretext to allow them to remove both Trump and Pence and replace them with Leather Face—I mean, Nancy Pelosi—and then she can appoint Hillary Clinton as V.P. That’s been the agenda from the beginning.”
— Roger Stone, in an interview with the New Yorker.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) told BuzzFeed News that he is thinking about running for president.
Said Moulton: “I’m not definitely running, but I’m going to take a very hard look at it. A very serious look at it. Because I believe it’s time for a new generation of leadership, and we gotta send Donald Trump packing.”
Playbook: “Negotiations between Republicans and Democrats have broken down, and they are on the brink of being beyond repair.”
“Democrats are pushing for a statutory cap of 16,500 detention beds for people detained in the U.S., which is what they believe is a mechanism to focus the Trump administration’s interior enforcement policies.”
“There is also disagreement on how much to spend on border barriers, and where such structures should go.”
“The is quickly becoming December all over again. Nothing has changed.”
“McClatchy interviewed 31 Democratic strategists — pollsters, opposition research experts, media consultants, ex-party officials, and communications specialists — from across the country about a potential Biden campaign. Nine agreed to speak on the record; all others quoted anonymously do not plan to be affiliated with any candidate running in the presidential primary.”
“Strikingly, these conversations yielded a similar view: The Democratic political community is more broadly and deeply pessimistic about Biden’s potential candidacy than is commonly known. While these strategists said they respect Biden, they cited significant disadvantages for his campaign — from the increasingly liberal and non-white Democratic electorate to policy baggage from his years in the Senate and a field of rivals that includes new, fresh-faced candidates.”
New York Times: “The Trump administration was moving on its own to fortify the southwestern border with thousands of active-duty military troops. The number of deployed troops on the Mexican border was set to exceed the high of 5,900 reached around the November elections, as about 3,700 active-duty troops were being sent to assist with the Department of Homeland Security’s border patrol efforts.”
“Senior officers are voicing greater worries that the deployed troops are not conducting the training needed for their regular missions, while other military units must now pick up the routine duties on behalf of their deployed colleagues.”
A draft resolution calling for the impeachment of Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) has been circulating among Virginia Democrats over allegations of sexual assault, and might be introduced as soon as Monday, Reuters reports.
Jonathan Swan: “If the talks are dead, Trump is so dug in he has only two options: shut down the government again or use his emergency powers to get the money.”
“Both options are horrible. The first would herald a return to chaos, depleted government services and federal workers being deprived of pay. The second would mean an instant court fight and a backlash from Congress.”
President Trump’s advisers have informally discussed holding a summit at his Mar-a-Lago resort next month with Chinese President Xi Jinping to try to end the U.S.-China trade war, Axios reports.
“It doesn’t appear that the U.S. and China have made much progress, so far, on the biggest structural issues that Trump has promised to conquer. These include China’s rampant theft of U.S. intellectual property, forced transfer of U.S. technology and trade abuses that China’s leaders have used to grow their economy at America’s expense.”
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.