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A Mad Scramble In the Early States

December 12, 2018 at 7:26 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Local phones are buzzing with personal phone calls from national politicians. Emissaries are on the ground recruiting operatives. Potential candidates are vying to land prized speaking slots at holiday parties,” Politico reports.

“It’s a mad, end-of-the-year rush of political traffic in the early presidential states, where prospective 2020 contenders are scrambling to hire top-flight talent before it’s picked clean, and hoping to make an impression before an expected explosion of campaign announcements in January.”

Barr Has Given More Than $500K In Political Donations

December 12, 2018 at 7:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump has” repeatedly derided prosecutors investigating potential coordination between his presidential campaign and Russia as ‘angry Democrats,’ pointing to their past political donations as proof of bias,” the Washington Post reports.

“But William P. Barr, Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Departmentand oversee the Russia investigation, would be by far the most prolific political donor to step into the country’s top law enforcement post in at least a quarter-century.”

“Barr has donated more than $567,000 in the past two decades, nearly all to GOP candidates and groups, federal records show. His wife, Christine Barr, gave more than $220,000 over that time, records show. Before he was nominated to be attorney general, Barr criticized past donations by prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller.”

What Needs to Happen on Government Funding

December 12, 2018 at 7:05 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “The House is planning — at the moment — to take up a $5 billion wall funding bill. GOP leadership believes they’ll be able to get 218 on their own — Democrats are obviously not going to chip in to pass this. Republicans say rebuking Nancy Pelosi — who said the House can’t pass it — is enough to snap their crowd into action. We are a bit more skeptical they’ll be able to get this through. For example: 44 lawmakers were out yesterday. Twenty of them are people who will not be returning next Congress.”

“If the House somehow manages to pass it, the Senate will then fail to get 60 votes on that bill, which could — in theory — reset this process by the end of this week.”

“A shutdown remains very likely . It just doesn’t seem like a deal is in the works, or close to being thought about.”

“There are 13 days between the funding deadline and when Democrats take over the House. Pelosio could begin the 116th Congress by passing a stopgap to end a partial shutdown. At that point, it would fly through the Senate and Trump would have to sign it. There are plenty of Democrats and Republicans who think this is the most likely scenario at this moment.”


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Theresa May Faces No Confidence Vote

December 12, 2018 at 6:42 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Conservative MPs have triggered a vote of no confidence in Theresa May, plunging the Brexit process into chaos as Tory colleagues indicated they no longer had faith in the prime minister to deliver the deal,” the Guardian reports.

New York Times: “A defiant Mrs. May appeared Wednesday morning outside 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence, to argue that the only beneficiaries of a vote of no confidence would be the opposition Labour Party.”

Said May: “I will contest that vote with everything I’ve got.”

Cohen to Be Sentenced for Hush Money Payments

December 12, 2018 at 6:35 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Michael Cohen will be sentenced on Wednesday for his role in the payment of hush money to women who said they had affairs with Trump and for lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia that was discussed during the 2016 election campaign,” Reuters reports.

Trump Says He’s Got 12 Candidates for Chief of Staff

December 11, 2018 at 11:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump told Reuters he’s considering a dozen people to be his next chief of staff.

Said Trump: “I have at least 10, 12 – 12 people that want it badly. I’m making a decision. Great people. I could do it immediately. I’m in no rush. A lot of people want it.”

Trump Stands By Saudi Crown Prince

December 11, 2018 at 9:16 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump told Reuters that “he stood by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince despite a CIA assessment that he ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and pleas from U.S. senators for Trump to condemn the kingdom’s de facto ruler.”

“Trump refused to comment on whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was complicit in the murder, but he provided perhaps his most explicit show of support for the prince since Khashoggi’s death more than two months ago.”

Said Trump: “He’s the leader of Saudi Arabia. They’ve been a very good ally.”

Pelosi Near Deal to Reclaim Speakership

December 11, 2018 at 9:02 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “is on the verge of a deal with Democratic rebels once intent on denying her the speakership, an accord that could deliver her the decisive votes needed to reclaim the gavel,” Politico reports.

“The California Democrat and some of her fiercest party critics have tentatively agreed to limit her speakership to four years at most… In return, several lawmakers who had vowed publicly to vote against Pelosi on the House floor in a critical Jan. 3 roll call, will instead back her ascent to the position she held eight years ago.”

Said one source: “It’s pretty much done. The issue is how do we wrap this up. What are the procedural steps that we need to get this done?”

‘He Stormed Out of the Oval’

December 11, 2018 at 8:09 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Los Angeles Times White House correspondent Eli Stokols told MSNBC that President Trump “stormed out” of the Oval Office after his contentious meeting with Democratic leaders.

Said Stokols: “He stormed out of the Oval, walked into an anteroom just off the Oval Office and had in his hand a folder of briefing papers. And he just scattered them out of frustration — threw them across the room.”

Trump Says He’s Not Worried About Impeachment

December 11, 2018 at 8:02 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump told Reuters that he’s not concerned about being impeached, adding that he thinks “the people would revolt if that happened.”

Said Trump: “It’s hard to impeach somebody who hasn’t done anything wrong and who’s created the greatest economy in the history of our country.”

When asked about the Russia investigation, Trump said: “The stuff you’re talking about is peanut stuff.”

Trump Shows Weakness In Confrontation with Democrats

December 11, 2018 at 7:37 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

John Harwood: “In today’s extraordinarily-fractious, on-camera Oval Office session with Congressional Democratic leaders, Trump highlighted his own vulnerability. First, he repeated his false claim in early morning tweets that his long-sought U.S-Mexico border wall has largely been built, with the Pentagon poised to complete it even if Congress won’t provide financing.”

“That telegraphed his expectation that lawmakers won’t include wall funding in the year-end spending bill needed to keep government open. Anticipating defeat undercuts Republican leaders who’ve demanded that funding on Trump’s behalf.”

“Trump hobbled his own cause further by trying to strike an unyielding pose.”

Washington Post: “For Trump, who once boasted he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose supporters, the fight over the wall has reached a moment of truth as he confronts the reality that, with Democrats poised to control the House in January, this could be his last chance to make good on a promise that has become an existential part of his presidency.”

Trump Doubles Down on Shutdown Threat

December 11, 2018 at 6:56 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Just hours after an explosive meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, President Trump said that he would happily shut down the government over his desired border wall because he believes it is an issue that he will “win… every single time,” the Daily Beast reports.

Said Trump: “Chuck’s problem is that, you know, when we last closed down, that was his idea. Honestly, he got killed. He doesn’t want to own it. I said rather than us debating who is owning it, I’ll take it.”

He added: “If we close down the country, I’ll take it because we’re closing it down for border security and I think I win that every single time.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

December 11, 2018 at 6:38 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If you Google the word ‘idiot’ under images, a picture of Donald Trump comes up. How would that happen? How does search work so that that would occur?”

— Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), quoted by the Washington Post, in a question to Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.

Instability Is the New World Order

December 11, 2018 at 6:34 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dan Balz: “The particulars might be different, but the upheavals playing out in Britain and France this week have familiar and common undercurrents, born of the same forces — rebellion against globalization, fear of immigrants and distrust of traditional leaders — that have stoked discontent in Germany and other European countries and that are roiling politics in the United States.”

“Instability appears to be the order of the day, whether in the United States or in Europe. Traditional politics, of the kind practiced in Western democracies for decades after World War II, is on shaky ground nearly everywhere, struggling to find the point of equilibrium that can satisfy populations fractured by economic, cultural and social changes.”

The Trump Coalition Is Cracking

December 11, 2018 at 4:20 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ron Brownstein: “Cracks have emerged in Donald Trump’s hold on his core constituency of white working class voters, new data from the 2018 election reveal.”

“Though Republican candidates almost everywhere registered large margins among white voters without a college degree, Democrats ran much more competitively among the roughly half of that group who are not evangelical Christians.”

“Democrats, the analysis found, ran particularly well this year among white working-class women who are not evangelicals, a group that also displayed substantial disenchantment in the exit poll with Trump’s performance. Those women could be a key constituency for Democrats in 2020 in pivotal Rust Belt states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where relatively fewer blue-collar whites are also evangelical Christians.”

Manafort Might Not Fight Claims He Lied to Mueller

December 11, 2018 at 4:17 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Defense attorneys for Paul Manafort indicated Tuesday they might not contest special counsel Robert Mueller’s allegations that President Trump’s one-time campaign chairman lied to federal prosecutors,” The Hill reports.

Politico: “Manafort’s lawyers last week argued in a court filing that their client had done his best to provide useful and truthful answers to prosecutors’ questions over a dozen debriefing sessions held after the former lobbyist pleaded guilty in mid-September. But Manafort’s lead attorney said his team is now reviewing materials that the special counsel has shared spelling out its evidence, adding that his team would spend time talking with Manafort before determining its next move.”

North Carolina Republicans Call for New Election

December 11, 2018 at 3:46 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The North Carolina Republican Party said Tuesday that a new election should be held in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District if a new allegation regarding the leak of early-voting results before Election Day is proven,” Politico reports.

The Charlotte Observer reported that early voting totals from Bladen County may have been leaked. A witness who signed that vote tabulation wrote in a sworn affidavit that the totals were “viewed by officials at the one-stop site who were not judges.”

Pelosi Disses Trump’s ‘Manhood’

December 11, 2018 at 3:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Minutes after a very public showdown with President Trump over his border wall with Mexico, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi returned to the Capitol and railed against the president in a private meeting with House Democrats, Politico reports.

Said Pelosi: “It goes to show you: you get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you.”

And then, Pelosi went for the most sensitive part of Trump’s ego: “It’s like a manhood thing with him — as if manhood can be associated with him. This wall thing.”

She used a similar line in October during an event at Harvard, where she said the border wall “happens to be like a manhood issue for the president, and I’m not interested in that.”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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