Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) won’t say if he’ll endorse in governor’s race, or if he even likes GOP nominee Bill Schuette (R), the Detroit News reports.
Said Snyder: “I’m sticking to governing and less politics at this time.”
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Judge Threatens to Hold Sessions in Contempt
“A federal judge in Washington halted a deportation in progress Thursday and threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt after learning that the Trump administration started to remove a woman and her daughter while a court hearing appealing their deportations was underway,” the Washington Post reports.
Said U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan: “This is pretty outrageous. That someone seeking justice in U.S. court is spirited away while her attorneys are arguing for justice for her?”
Avenatti Says He’s Exploring White House Bid
Des Moines Register: “After three canceled flights and a 700-mile road trip, the lawyer known for representing adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, in her case against Republican President Trump, is ready to put his stake in the ground in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.”
Said Michael Avenatti: “I’m exploring a run for the presidency of the United States, and I wanted to come to Iowa and listen to people and learn about some issues that are facing the citizens of Iowa and do my homework.”
Judge Rides Mueller’s Team Hard at Manafort Trial
“The federal judge overseeing the Paul Manafort trial took another shot at special counsel Robert Mueller’s team Thursday afternoon, even after conceding earlier in the day that a criticism he leveled at prosecutors on Wednesday was erroneous,” Politico reports.
“The prosecution spent about 40 minutes Thursday afternoon questioning a bank employee about Manafort’s unsuccessful effort to get a $5.5 million construction loan on a Brooklyn brownstone, only to have Judge T.S. Ellis III suggest that the issue was unworthy of such extensive discussion at the trial. Notably, Ellis made the remark with the jury present.”
Appeals Court Orders EPA to Ban Pesticide
“A federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration Thursday to revoke approval for a widely used pesticide that studies show can harm the brains of children,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 60 days to ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide initially developed as a nerve gas during World War II.”
U.S. Officials Scrambled to Shield NATO Deal from Trump
“Senior American national security officials, seeking to prevent President Trump from upending a formal policy agreement at last month’s NATO meeting, pushed the military alliance’s ambassadors to complete it before the forum even began,” the New York Times reports.
“The work to preserve the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreement… came just weeks after Mr. Trump refused to sign off on a communiqué from the June meeting of the Group of 7 in Canada.”
“The rushed machinations to get the policy done, as demanded by John Bolton, the national security adviser, have not been previously reported… The efforts are a sign of the lengths to which the president’s top advisers will go to protect a key and longstanding international alliance from Mr. Trump’s unpredictable antipathy.”
New Votes Found In Kansas GOP Primary
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s (R) lead over Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) in the Republican primary has shrunk to only 91 votes after election officials discovered a mistake in the listing for one county’s results in the state’s tally of votes, the Kansas City Star reports.
Associated Press: “The lead is minuscule when compared with the 311,000 votes cast.”
Women Form Insurgency to Topple Dave Brat
New York Times: “For Republicans, Mr. Brat’s race is a bulwark in their defensive perimeter, the kind of district they must win to keep control of the House. The area’s mix of affluent suburbs and conservative rural stretches resembles the Ohio district where a Republican candidate in a House special election on Tuesday, Troy Balderson, clings to a narrow lead.”
“For Democrats, Abigail Spanberger’s candidacy represents a test of the breadth and effectiveness of their coalition of newly emboldened female voters aghast at President Trump’s White House tenure — and the ability of fed-up women to build an insurgency of their own.”
Ohio County Finds Hundreds of Uncounted Votes
“The tight race between Danny O’Connor (D) and Troy Balderson (R) just got tighter,” USA Today reports.
“Election officials in Franklin County found 588 previously uncounted votes in a Columbus suburb. The result: O’Connor had a net gain of 190 votes, bringing the race’s margin down to 1,564.”
Melania Trump’s Parents Are Now U.S. Citizens
“First lady Melania Trump’s parents have been sworn in as U.S. citizens,” the AP reports.
“A lawyer for Viktor and Amalija Knavs says the Slovenian couple took the citizenship oath on Thursday in New York City. They had been living in the U.S. as permanent residents.”
Florida Candidate Caught Removing Rival’s Flyers
“The tussle between two Republicans vying for a chance to capture the House District 69 seat has taken an unpleasant turn,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.
“Raymond Blacklidge (R) filed a report with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office accusing his rival, Jeremy Bailie (R), of stealing his campaign fliers from the doors of dozens of St. Pete Beach homes. And, Blacklidge said, his rival then replaced them with Bailie’s own campaign materials.”
Blacklidge’s wife posted a video to Facebook showing Bailie removing the flyers.
Gun Control Is the New Democratic Litmus Test
Wall Street Journal: “Democrats running for Congress in 2018 are pushing a muscular gun-control agenda that represents a wholesale repositioning on the hot-button issue. In this year’s midterm election, gun control has become a party litmus test from which few dissent, alongside abortion rights and support for same-sex marriage.”
“Six years ago, when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee advised candidates in rural districts to show themselves with guns in their TV ads, the National Rifle Association made campaign contributions to 30 Democratic House candidates. This year, the NRA is financially backing just three.”
Giuliani Gives 50-50 Odds Trump Will Talk to Mueller
Rudy Giuliani told CBS News that he’s “more optimistic” than he has been for weeks that a potential interview between President Trump and Special Counsel Robert Mueller might occur.
When asked what the odds were of an interview, Giuliani said: “I’d say 50-50.”
14-Year-Old Ethan Sonneborn Is Running for Governor
Washington Post: “Unlike most states, Vermont has no age requirement for gubernatorial candidates, only a residency requirement. Sonneborn, who has lived in Bristol for 14 years — his entire life — makes the cut.”
“With all those hurdles cleared, could Sonneborn… actually win the Democratic nomination on Aug. 14? Probably not. Age aside, he is hamstrung by very low name recognition, a problem that his adult Democratic opponents face as well. But hey, nobody thought a 14-year-old would actually run, let alone land himself on the ballot, let alone participate — and hold his own — against his adult competitors in several candidate forums.”
The Rise of Andrew Jackson
This looks interesting: The Rise of Andrew Jackson: Myth, Manipulation, and the Making of Modern Politics by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler.
“The story of Andrew Jackson’s improbable ascent to the White House, centered on the handlers and propagandists who made it possible.”
What Likely Voters Think of Trump’s Family Separation
Surveys show that the Trump Administration’s policy of separating families at the border has been very unpopular, with an average of 64% of registered voters opposing the policy. But sometimes asking people whether they “support” or “oppose” a policy doesn’t fully capture how they feel, so instead, we asked a national sample of likely voters:
What is the first word that comes to mind when you [read/hear] the following information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: In recent months the U.S. Government has placed many young children into custody after separating them from their migrant parents at the border.
The word cloud below summarizes the intense reactions likely voters had to separating migrant families. The larger the word, the more often it was said by our respondents: fully 24% of our sample said the first word that came to their mind was “sad” (108 respondents), “horrible” (75), “wrong” (72), or “disgusting” (71).
About the survey: A national sample of 1,379 likely voters interviewed online and by phone, July 3-12, 2018. The survey was funded by Cornell’s Center for the Study of Inequality.
Thanks to Peter K. Enns Associate Professor of Government and Executive Director of the Roper Center at Cornell University, Jonathon P. Schuldt Associate Professor of Communication at Cornell University and Adrienne Scott, Ph.D. Student in Government at Cornell University.
Collins Arrest Highlights the ‘Culture of Corruption’
James Hohmann: “Democrats see an opportunity to revive the ‘culture of corruption’ message that helped them win the House in 2006. Nancy Pelosi repeated almost the identical talking points on Wednesday that she used 12 years ago to link GOP candidates to Duke Cunningham, Jack Abramoff and Mark Foley.”
Said Pelosi: “The charges against Congressman Collins show the rampant culture of corruption and self-enrichment among Republicans in Washington today. The American people deserve better than the GOP’s corruption, cronyism and incompetence.”
Trump Voters Maintain ‘Warm’ Feelings Towards Him
Pew Research: “In March, 82% of those who reported voting for Trump – and whom researchers were able to verify through voting records as having voted in 2016 – said they felt ‘warmly’ toward Trump, with 62% saying they had ‘very warm’ feelings toward him. Their feelings were expressed on a 0-100 ‘feeling thermometer.’ A rating of 51 or higher is ‘warm,’ with 76 or higher indicating ‘very warm’ feelings.”
“The views of these same Trump voters had been quite similar in November 2016: At that time, 87% had warm feelings toward him, including 63% who had very warm feelings.”
Nate Cohn: How well do you understand the Trump coalition?
