Politico: “While most polls show the former vice president hovering around 30 percent of the Democratic primary vote, well ahead of second-place Sen. Bernie Sanders, two recent surveys paint a starkly different picture — raising the question of whether Biden is a real front-runner or just has big name-recognition. Those polls show far more Democratic voters undecided about which candidate to support, and they pegged Biden’s backing at a much less intimidating 9 to 12 percent.”
Most Americans Would Fail Citizenship Test
“A majority of Americans in every state except Vermont would fail a test based on the questions in the U.S. citizenship test, according to Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation survey.
“It suggests most Americans can’t live up to the standards we set for people applying to be U.S. citizens — and we set those standards because we expect Americans to be informed and engaged. Only four out of 10 Americans would have passed the test, and just 27% of those under age 45.”
Remote Option Would Increase Iowa Caucus Turnout
“A new effort to let Iowans virtually caucus for president could expand participation in the 2020 Democratic caucuses by almost a third,” a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows.
“The results show that 21 percent of Iowans say they will definitely or probably participate in the 2020 Democratic caucuses. Eight percent initially said they were unlikely to caucus for Democrats in person, but also say they would definitely or probably participate if they had the option to do so remotely.”
Abe Won’t Confirm Trump Nobel Prize Nomination
“Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wouldn’t say Monday whether he nominated President Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating with North Korea, even though local media reports suggest that he did,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump said Friday that Abe had personally given him ‘the most beautiful copy’ of a five-page nomination letter recommending him for the prize for opening talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and lowering tensions.”
“But Abe wouldn’t confirm that Monday.”
7 Lawmakers Resign from British Labour Party
Seven British members of parliament resigned from the Labour Party in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit and anti-Semitism, the BBC reports.
Obama Quietly Gives Advice to 2020 Hopefuls
“A secret meeting of former President Barack Obama’s financial backers convened in Washington early this month: Organized by David Jacobson and John Phillips, Mr. Obama’s former ambassadors to Canada and Italy, the group interviewed an array of 2020 presidential candidates and debated whether to throw their wealth behind one or two of them,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Obama had no role in the event, but it unfolded in his political shadow: As presidential hopefuls like Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Sherrod Brown auditioned before them, the donors wondered aloud whether Mr. Obama might signal a preference in the race.”
McCabe Hints At ‘Inappropriate’ Relationship with Russia
“Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe hinted at an “inappropriate relationship” between President Trump and Russia during a wide-ranging interview on CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ that has already sparked calls for a congressional investigation,” USA Today reports.
“McCabe said the FBI had reasonable cause to open a counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s connection with the Russian government, a potential national security threat, following the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey in May 2017.”
Graham Says Border Wall More Important than Schools
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told CBS News that middle school children in Kentucky would be better off if funds that would otherwise have gone to building new schools were used for a border wall.
Said Graham: “It’s better for the middle school kids in Kentucky to have a secure border. We’ll get them the school they need, but right now we’ve got a national emergency.”
Governing to the Brink
A senior government official who was involved in the spending negotiations over the past few weeks told Jonathan Swan the experience taught them something disturbing.
Said the official: “We’re going to go to the edge on everything.”
“The White House has just gotten through a spending fight that pushed Congress — and the federal workforce affected by the shutdown — to the brink. But even uglier skirmishes are imminent, including whether to raise the federal government’s debt limit and break Congress’ self-imposed budget caps.”
The Go-It-Alone Presidency
Jonathan Swan: “Shortly after becoming President Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney conveyed a blunt message to several Cabinet secretaries. According to a senior White House official with direct knowledge and another source briefed on the private conversations, Mulvaney told the Cabinet officials that their ‘highest priority’ over the next year would be deregulation.”
Said one senior official: “We knew there was one thing we could do without legislation… Dereg is going to be top of the list.”
Stephen Miller Grilled on Emergency Declaration
“Fox News host Chris Wallace relentlessly pushed Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller on Donald Trump‘s declaration of a national emergency on Sunday, and nailed him particularly hard by repeatedly asking for a single example of another president who has done what Trump has done,” Mediate reports.
“Wallace was all over Miller, challenging him to provide some explanation for how Trump’s national emergency is a national emergency, when Trump himself essentially admitted it wasn’t a national emergency. And when Miller tried to fend off the questions with talking points, Wallace peppered him with followups.”
Anthony Weiner Released from Prison
“Convicted ex-congressman Anthony Weiner has been sprung from prison — and is now part of a federal re-entry program in New York,” the New York Post reports.
TMZ: “Weiner’s now in pre-release status, which inmates often get as they approach the end of their federal sentence. The purpose is to prepare them to transition back into society.”
Rift Between Trump and Europe Now Open and Angry
“European leaders have long been alarmed that President Trump’s words and Twitter messages could undo a trans-Atlantic alliance that had grown stronger over seven decades. They had clung to the hope that those ties would bear up under the strain,” the New York Times reports.
“But in the last few days of a prestigious annual security conference in Munich, the rift between Europe and the Trump administration became open, angry and concrete, diplomats and analysts say.”
Quote of the Day
“It’s going to be a real test for my GOP colleagues in Congress and their devotion to this institution… It will not be a separation of powers any more, just a separation of parties. So this is going to be a moment of truth for my GOP colleagues.”
— Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), in a CNN interview, on whether Republicans will oppose President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to bypass Congress to build a border wall.
How the Border Wall Turned Into a National Emergency
“President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build a wall on the U.S. southern border comes after two years of political neglect of his signature campaign promise, lost amid competing priorities and divisions within his administration,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Timothy O’Brien: “Trump and his team neither prioritized building a border wall nor assigned someone to be the White House’s point person on the project for most of the president’s first two years in office… It was only after Trump recognized in January that he was being consumed by a government shutdown he set in motion — and that he had been politically emasculated by a woman to his left (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) and to his right (pundit and firebrand Ann Coulter) — that he fully embraced a border wall as his last stand.”
Doubling Down on Failed Strategy Might Be About Survival
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Mueller Subpoenas Cambridge Analytica Director
“A director of the controversial data company Cambridge Analytica, who appeared with Arron Banks at the launch of the Leave.EU campaign, has been subpoenaed by the US investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government,” the Guardian reports.
Trump Hopes to Turn Border Wall Failure Into Rallying Cry
“President Trump and his political team plan to make his years-long quest for a border wall one of the driving themes of his reelection effort — attempting to turn his failure to build such a project into a combative sales pitch that pits him against the political establishment on immigration,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump has declared a national emergency to secure the funds Congress has repeatedly denied him despite his own admission that the move is likely to get tied up in court. This move has galvanized many of his supporters even as others on the right remain dubious and disappointed.”
“His campaign is fundraising off his showdown with congressional Democrats over the border — portraying the opposition party as more interested in political games than the public’s safety. And faced with the fact that he has yet to build an inch of the concrete or steel wall he promised, Trump and his campaign have started relying on a rhetorical sleight of hand: speaking the wall into existence.”
