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Congress Ends with Trump Fighting, GOP Leaders Hiding

December 28, 2018 at 8:45 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republicans are ending the 115th Congress in an all-too-familiar spot: standing on the sidelines while President Trump picks a fight they wanted to avoid as he ignores what they consider major conservative accomplishments,” the Washington Post reports.

“On back-to-back days last week, Trump hosted large bipartisan gatherings that were meant to be valedictory, year-end statements of success with an $867 billion farm bill and a sweeping overhaul of federal prison laws. For a Congress that struggled to find significant legislation with sweeping Democratic and Republican support, these bills provided a road map for how things might work in the next two years of divided government.”

“Instead, Trump used each ceremony as an opportunity to denounce Democrats for opposing his multibillion-dollar demands for U.S. taxpayer money to fund a southern border wall, launching Washington into its third partial shutdown this year… Republican lawmakers, unable to deliver the president’s top priority despite all-GOP control of government for two years, mostly hid from the spotlight.”

Can Democrats Resist Using Super PACs In the Primaries?

December 28, 2018 at 7:57 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Walter Shapiro: “Democrats, unlike Republicans, have never firebombed each other with unlimited Super PAC money in presidential primaries. That Democratic record of restraint owes as much to a quirk of timing as it does to party-wide opposition to whatever-it-takes fundraising.”

“Barack Obama ran unopposed for the nomination in 2012, the first election cycle after the Citizens United decision. And in 2016, Hillary Clinton, a frontrunner with a shaky commitment to campaign reform, decided for strategic reasons not to attack the small-donor-powered Bernie Sanders.”

“But as more than a dozen serious Democratic candidates game out their potential 2020 presidential races over the holidays, thoughts turn to sugar plums and, sadly, to Super PACs. A recent front-page New York Times story, augmented by my own reporting, suggests that 2020 is likely to be the year when ambition leads some Democratic candidates to try to follow the Super PAC route to the nomination.”

Flake Says Trump Won’t Follow Through on Border Threat

December 28, 2018 at 7:34 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told CNN it was “highly unlikely” that President Trump would follow through on his threat to close the southern border if Democrats do not fund his proposed border wall.

Said Flake: “It’s highly unlikely – gratefully – that he would do that. It’s not likely to happen. It would stifle commerce, significant commerce, between our two countries that benefits both of us. So I don’t think he will follow through, I hope not.”

Gohmert Says Shutdown Should Last ‘Until Hell Freezes’

December 28, 2018 at 7:20 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told Fox News that he thinks the government shutdown should continue “until hell freezes over” if funding doesn’t come through for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

He also suggested that a wall would somehow be beneficial to nations south of the U.S. border.

Said Gohmert: “And the best thing we could do compassionately for Mexico and Central America is not give them money that ends up in the hands of drug cartels. It’s to secure the border so the drugs quit coming and we don’t lose 70,000 more lives a year and Mexico becomes the top 10 economy because we get out the corruption. That’s compassion.”

White House Tries to Shift Blame for Shutdown

December 28, 2018 at 7:14 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News that Nancy Pelosi can’t support border wall funding because of the Jan. 3 floor vote for House Speaker.

Said Mulvaney: “She cannot be seen by her party as being weak on negotiating with Donald Trump.”

He added: “The vice president and I met with Leader Schumer last Saturday, the last time we sat down face-to-face, and my gut was that he was really interested in doing a deal and coming to some sort of compromise. But the more we’re hearing this week is that it’s Nancy Pelosi who’s preventing that from happening.”

LePage Certifies Election He Calls ‘Stolen’

December 28, 2018 at 6:13 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Outgoing Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) finally certified the victory of Rep.-elect Jared Golden (D) in the state’s 2nd Congressional District on Friday, nearly two months after the Nov. 6 election — but not without taking one last dig at the state’s new ranked-choice voting process, which he and other state Republicans have long refused to accept,” the HuffPost reports.

“In the photo of his certification, the governor appears to have written ‘stolen election’ next to his signature, referring to his complaints about ranked-choice voting.”

House Will Not Seat North Carolina Republican

December 28, 2018 at 5:58 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Friday that Democrats next week will not seat a North Carolina Republican amid allegations of election fraud in the state’s 9th Congressional District, the Washington Post reports.

Said Hoyer: “Given the now well-documented election fraud that took place in NC-9, Democrats would object to any attempt by Mark Harris to be seated on January 3. In this instance, the integrity of our democratic process outweighs concerns about the seat being vacant at the start of the new Congress.”

Raleigh News & Observer: “A surprise court order triggered a last-minute move Friday by Gov. Roy Cooper to continue the state election board’s probe of fraud allegations in the 9th District congressional race, even as Harris demanded to be named the winner.”

Trump Thinks He’s Winning Shutdown Fight

December 28, 2018 at 10:26 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Daily Beast: “Days into a partial government shutdown that has left tens of thousands of federal workers furloughed, President Donald Trump and his close allies have begun feeling more confident about the political perch they occupy.”

“In their eyes, a prolonged stalemate will likely fracture voters along traditional partisan lines, and the ultimate outcome will be a debate waged largely on the president’s terms. Increasingly, they see an upside in forcing likely incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi to have to spend the first days, if not weeks, of the next Congress engaged in an argument over border wall funding rather than her preferred agenda: a mix of sweeping ethics and election reforms and congressional oversight. And they continue to believe that a conversation around immigration and border security is in the president’s best political interests.”

The Democrats Republicans Most Fear In 2020

December 28, 2018 at 10:23 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Drucker: “Without naming names, I asked several senior Republican insiders which Democrat, or Democrats, at the top of the opposition ticket would most reassure them about 2020. Without exception, Elizabeth Warren, the 69-year-old progressive senator from Massachusetts, topped every wish list.”

Said one GOP insider: “There’s a lot of Hillary Clinton in her.”

“As often as Warren and her like-styled cohorts were mentioned as easy Trump foils, former Vice President Joe Biden was cited as among the few Democrats who many Republicans believe might dispatch the incumbent with relative ease. Is Biden progressive? Absolutely. Gaffe-prone? Duh. But he is the antithesis of Trump, with the added benefit that he’s been vetted before, and passed muster.”

The other two Democrats that Republicans don’t want to face: Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Postcard from Cambodia

December 28, 2018 at 9:59 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

We’ve been touring the amazing temples in Siem Reap — including Angkor Wat below — but the biggest takeaway from our visit is how difficult it’s been for Cambodia to overcome decades of war and genocide.

The United States played a major part in this history when President Nixon authorized secret bombing of the country in 1969. This ultimately led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the killing of more than two million Cambodians during the brutal regime.

It’s distressing to be reminded of such a tragic blunder by your country. But as one man told me when we discussed the challenge Cambodia still has in clearing land mines: “We cannot change the past but we can influence the future.”

We’re off to the airport tomorrow for the next leg of our journey.

Trump Threatens to Close Southern Border

December 28, 2018 at 9:12 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump “threatened on Friday to close the nation’s southern border if Congress doesn’t fund his border wall,” NBC News reports.

Said Trump: “We build the wall or close the southern border.”

“Trump also said he would cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, where violence and crime have motivated thousands of people to flee and seek asylum in the United States. He also said another migrant caravan is heading toward the U.S.”

The Inevitability of Impeachment

December 28, 2018 at 9:08 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Elizabeth Drew: “An impeachment process against President Trump now seems inescapable. Unless the president resigns, the pressure by the public on the Democratic leaders to begin an impeachment process next year will only increase. Too many people think in terms of stasis: How things are is how they will remain. They don’t take into account that opinion moves with events.”

“Whether or not there’s already enough evidence to impeach Mr. Trump — I think there is — we will learn what the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has found, even if his investigation is cut short. A significant number of Republican candidates didn’t want to run with Mr. Trump in the midterms, and the results of those elections didn’t exactly strengthen his standing within his party. His political status, weak for some time, is now hurtling downhill.”

How Pelosi Will Move to End the Shutdown

December 28, 2018 at 8:55 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Nancy Pelosi “will be speaker in six days, and she plans to do one of the following things to open the shuttered portion of the government,” Politico reports.

“OPTION 1) Pass a full-year CR for the portion of the government that’s shut. That would keep all government agencies at their current funding levels. OPTION 2) Pass a six-bill package, and a CR for Homeland Security until September. This would boost some government agencies’ money, but would keep DHS at its current levels. OPTION 3) Pass the stopgap that the Senate passed, which would fund all government agencies through Feb. 8 at their current levels.”

“Each one of those options would result in President Trump getting $1.3 billion for border security. No wall. Not $1.6 billion. No slush fund. Nada.”

“A smart Republican Hill hand makes this point: Trump can not get out of here without folding in some way, since he won’t be getting the $5 billion he’s asking for. Why isn’t he folding before the Dem majority takes over, and before it seems like he’s folding to Pelosi?”

Trump Has Changed the Presidency

December 28, 2018 at 8:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Associated Press: “In his first two years in office, President Donald Trump has rewritten the rules of the presidency and the norms of the nation’s capital, casting aside codes of conduct and traditions that have held for generations. In Trump’s Washington, facts are less relevant. Insults and highly personal attacks are increasingly employed by members of both parties. The White House press briefing is all but gone, international summits are optional, the arts are an afterthought and everything — including inherently nonpartisan institutions and investigations — is suddenly political.”

“Taking a wrecking ball to decorum and institutions, Trump has changed, in ways both subtle and profound, how Washington works and how it is viewed by the rest of the nation and world.”

Iraqi Politicians Demand U.S. Troops Leave Country

December 28, 2018 at 8:50 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Los Angeles Times: “The visit confirmed U.S. disregard for other nations’ sovereignty, said Hamdillah Kaabi, spokesman for nationalist Muqtada Sadr’s Sairoon party. Sadr, the Shiite Muslim cleric whose loyalists battled U.S. forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, now heads parliament’s largest bloc. He campaigned to limit the influence of both Washington and Tehran in Iraq’s affairs. Kaabi said Thursday the party had long sought to end Washington’s ‘arrogance and disrespect’ in its dealings with Iraq.”

Agency Offers Advice for Furloughed Federal Workers

December 28, 2018 at 2:25 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has offered federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown a guide for negotiating with creditors, landlords and mortgage companies while their income is cut off,” USA Today reports.

“Among the suggested strategies: A furloughed employee might offer to trade maintenance services such as painting or carpentry work in exchange for a reduction in rent.”

Democrats Upend Iowa Caucuses

December 28, 2018 at 2:21 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Walter Shapiro: “In prior years, the problem with handicapping the Iowa caucuses has been predicting who would show up in person to vote on a cold mid-winter Monday night. The assumption has always been that — unlike a primary — Iowa measures the enthusiasm of activists.”

“But party rules will now allow for absentee balloting at the caucuses. Does that argue that the participation will be even greater than the 240,000 Iowa Democrats who powered insurgent Barack Obama to victory in 2008? Does that mean that the caucus electorate will not tilt as far left (Bernie Sanders almost beat Hillary Clinton in 2016) as in prior years?”

Another change: “Until now, due to a quirk in caucus procedures, a Democratic candidate needed 15-percent support in any precinct to have his or her votes tallied at all. But in 2020, Iowa caucus votes will be counted just like they are in primaries. As a result, it is easy to envision a cluttered Iowa result with, say, a half-dozen candidates clustered around 8 percent.”

Parties Differ Wildly on Foreign Policy

December 28, 2018 at 2:20 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“With only a handful of exceptions, there are sizable differences between Republicans and Democrats on the 26 foreign policy goals in the survey by Pew Research Center… And on several foreign policy goals, particularly the importance of maintaining U.S. military superiority, there also are notable gaps between older and younger adults.”