“Retired astronaut Mark Kelly is taking steps toward a bid against Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) in 2020, identifying potential staffers and strategists and meeting with Democrats around Arizona — though his allies say no final decision has been made,” The Hill reports.
“Democratic sources said Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D), has been calling and meeting with top Democratic activists in Arizona since late last year.”
“If you’re a one-term Congress member, so what? You can make 10 years worth of change in one term if you’re not afraid.”
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), in a new video urging activists to run for office and challenge incumbent Democrats.
President Trump retaliated against Speaker Nancy Pelosi for threatening to cancel his planned State of the Union address on Jan. 29, writing in a letter that he, in turn, was postponing her planned trip abroad, calling it a “public relations event,” the New York Times reports.
Wrote Trump: “I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven day excursion when the shutdown is over.”
“Presumably, the president is refusing to provide military transport that is traditionally provided to the House speaker or congressional delegations. In the letter, tinged with sarcasm, he wrote that she could still take the trip if she chose to fly commercial.”
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Ron Brownstein: “Attracting and sustaining majority support has traditionally represented a North Star for American presidents. The showdown over the shutdown, perhaps more than any earlier decision, makes clear that Trump is setting his course by a very different compass. Trump has abandoned any pretense of seeking to represent majority opinion and is defining himself almost entirely as the leader of a minority faction.”
“That carries big long-term risks for the GOP, as the Democratic gains in the House last November demonstrated. But because the structure of the Senate and the Electoral College disproportionately favors the older, non-college-educated, evangelical, and rural white voters who comprise his faction, Trump’s approach could sustain itself for years. And that promises a steady escalation in political conflict and polarization as Republicans tilt their strategy toward the demands of an ardent minority—and lose the moderating influence of attempts to hold support from a majority of Americans.”
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds that voters are aware of the partial government shutdown, and have some concerns about it—but feel little impact from it.
“Nearly 3 of 4 voters (74%) say they understand the causes of the partial government shutdown either ‘very well’ (37%) or ‘somewhat well’ (37%). Roughly the same number of voters, 79%, categorize the ongoing shutdown as a ‘crisis’ or ‘problem,’ as reflected in last week’s poll. Despite this, when asked about the extent to which they are personally impacted by the shutdown, a majority of voters (66%) say there is ‘not much’ or “no” impact on them or their families.”
Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) announced that he is resigning from Congress to take a job in the private sector, The Hill reports.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that her rationale for seeking to reschedule the annual State of the Union address comes down to her and other Democrats not wanting to have security officials work the event without being paid, NBC News reports.
Said Pelosi: “Maybe he thinks it’s OK not to pay people who work,” in an apparent jab at the president over allegations that his businesses have stiffed contractors in the past.
She added: “I don’t. And my caucus doesn’t either.”
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) is recruiting Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a rising Democratic star in the House, to run for the Arizona Senate seat long held by John McCain, The Hill reports.
Rudy Giuliani “backtracked on Thursday from a surprising assertion he made a night earlier that left open the possibility that Trump campaign aides might have coordinated with Russia’s election interference in 2016,” the New York Times reports.
Said Giuliani: “There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form. Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.”
He added: “The only knowledge I have in this regard is the collusion of the Clinton campaign with Russia which has so far been ignored.”
Greg Sargent: Giuliani’s absurd walk back signals serious worry about Trump’s vulnerability.
The Trump administration separated thousands more migrant children from parents at border than previously known, the Washington Post reports.
“A report from Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general said the federal tracking system has been so poor that the precise number of migrant children separated from their parents is unclear.”
McClatchy: “Members of the House of Representatives who live in their Capitol Hill offices shouldn’t get too comfortable.”
“The practice is going under the knife from the new Democratic leadership. Top Democrats are considering making the live-in lawmakers pay for bunking in prime government real estate — or ending the practice altogether.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Democrats start the cycle favored to hold the House majority, but a GOP presidential victory would open the door to Republicans restoring total control of Washington.”
“Overall, roughly equal numbers of Democratic (47) and Republican (46) districts begin the cycle listed in our ratings in the Toss-up, Leans, and Likely categories. That means that more than three of every four House districts (79%) begin the cycle as rated Safe for the incumbent party.”
First Read: “Many of us in the political community have grown numb to how poll numbers about Trump rarely change — most Americans made up their minds about the president in his first few months in office, and those opinions have barely budged since then.”
“But don’t let that reality distract you from the clear evidence that this shutdown has chipped away at Trump’s numbers.”
“As we learned in 2018, an approval rating in the low 40s is a terrible place for a president and his party to be. And right now, it’s worse than that.”
The Atlantic, in its cover story: “The Founders worried about electing a president who lacked character or a sense of honor, but Americans have long since lost the moral vocabulary to articulate such concerns explicitly, preferring to look instead for demonstrable violations of rules that illuminate underlying character flaws. It is Trump’s unfitness for office that necessitates impeachment; his attacks on American democracy are plainly evident, and should be sufficient.”
“But some Republican senators may continue to dismiss the more sweeping claims against the president, particularly where no statutory crimes attach. And so the strength of the evidence supporting narrower charges such as obstruction of justice and campaign-finance violations may ultimately determine his fate. If the committee can substantiate these charges, it will place even the most reluctant senators in a bind. When the moment finally comes to cast their vote, and the world is watching, how many will acquit the president of things he has clearly done?”
“I don’t understand what the outcome is here, and I don’t understand where we’re going with it. I’m confused as to what the White House’s strategy is on this a little bit.”
— Former White House adviser Gary Cohn, quoted by the Boston Globe, saying the government shutdown “makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.”
President Trump’s former fixer and personal attorney Michael Cohen paid a technology expert to rig online polls in Trump’s favor, the Wall Street Journal reports.
John Gauger, the owner of Red Finch Solutions and chief information officer at Liberty University, said Cohen offered him $50,000 to rig two online polls. Cohen handed Gauger a Walmart bag loaded with about $12,000 in cash during a 2015 meeting at Cohen’s Trump Organization office, but he never paid him the remainder of the promised $50,000.
President Trump’s legal spokesman Rudy Giuliani “appeared to grant the possibility that members of Trump’s campaign did, in fact, collude with the Russians during the 2016 presidential election campaign,” the Washington Post reports.
“And in the process, he contradicted dozens of previous denials that both the Trump team (and Trump himself) have offered.”
“In fact, the Trump team has moved the goal posts on this question no fewer than 10 times after initially denying any contact at all with ‘foreign entities.’ Trump has said dozens of times that there was ‘no collusion,’ full stop. This appears to be the first time anyone has acknowledged the possibility that someone colluded without Trump’s knowledge.”
“Two years into his presidency, Donald Trump is fueling unprecedented uncertainty and anxiety inside the Pentagon. In private conversations over the past month, many of them unsolicited, more than a dozen key military officers, enlisted personnel and senior civilians have expressed worry and concern to CNN. None of the officials have spoken publicly about this, as military law prohibits active-duty personnel from criticizing a sitting president.”
“It’s not just Trump’s unpredictable decision making that has officials on edge, it’s also his penchant for politicizing the military— something that’s come into focus in recent months as he’s struggled to fulfill his campaign promise to crack down on immigration and build a border wall. His decision to draw down troops in Syria and his claims that ISIS is defeated have also rankled military commanders who felt it wasn’t well thought out.”
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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