“Do you really want to know what I think about those jerks? I think they’re a waste of time. They’re guys who can’t get a real job, ethics watchdog? Who gets a job — ethics watchdog? Give me a break.”
— Charles Kushner, in an interview with The Real Deal, about his son’s ethics problems in the White House.
Steve Bannon told CNN that he thinks President Trump will force another government shutdown this fall.
Said Bannon: “I believe that what he’s going to do is, as we come up on September 30, if that appropriations bill does not include spending to fully build his wall — not some $1.6 billion for prototypes, I mean to build the southern wall — I believe he will shut down the government.”
He added: “The wall is not just totemic. The wall is absolutely central to his program.”
“Barack Obama is set to help Democrats gear up for the 2018 midterm elections, which supporters hope could see the party take control of at least the House this year,” NBC News reports.
“Obama will appear at a Democratic National Committee Gala Dinner in Los Angeles on June 28, organizers said in an emailed invitation.“
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) “is already working to line up support behind the scenes. But his ascension is unlikely to be smooth,” Time reports.
“These Republicans expect a challenger to emerge from the right-wing Freedom Caucus. More intriguingly, they believe that divisions among the GOP’s Establishment bloc may create an opening for a compromise candidate such as Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, or Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.”
Washington Post: “At an island resort off the coast of Singapore, U.S. event planners are working day and night with their North Korean counterparts to set up a summit designed to bring an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. But a particularly awkward logistical issue remains unresolved… Who’s going to pay for Kim Jong Un’s hotel stay?”
“The prideful but cash-poor pariah state requires that a foreign country foot the bill at its preferred lodging: The Fullerton, a magnificent neoclassical hotel near the mouth of the Singapore River where just one presidential suite costs more than $6,000 per night.”
“When it comes to paying for lodging at North Korea’s preferred 5-star luxury hotel, the United States is open to covering the costs, the two people said, but it’s mindful that Pyongyang may view a U.S. payment as insulting. As a result, U.S. planners are considering asking the host country of Singapore to pay for the North Korean delegation’s bill.”
President Trump told reporters that a letter he received today from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he called “very interesting” and a “very nice letter,” ABC News reports.
Minutes later, Trump claimed he hadn’t read the letter yet: “I may be in for a big surprise, folks!”
Richard Cohen: “As the November election approaches, forecasts of the outcome in the House have evolved. No doubt, the uncertainties will continue. But little attention has been given to the implications of the growing possibility that the House majority could be razor-thin, for one party or the other. That, in turn, could result in a chaotic handling of the House’s customary first decision and vote—the selection of the Speaker.”
“Given statements that have been made by renegade Democrats and Republicans—including both incumbents and prospective freshmen in each party—who oppose their party’s current leadership, there is a real risk that when the 116th Congress convenes next January nobody will receive the requisite majority for Speaker from those present and voting, as required by House rules.”
A new Fallon Research poll in Ohio shows Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) leading challenger Jim Renacci (R) by 14 percentage points, 48% to 34%.
In the governor’s race, Mike DeWine (R) leads Richard Cordray(D) by single digits, 40% to 34%.
“President Trump announced on Friday that the summit meeting he had canceled with North Korea’s leader will be held after all, the latest twist in a nuclear-edged diplomatic drama that has captivated and confused much of the world,” the New York Times reports.
“The reversal followed an Oval Office meeting on Friday afternoon with a high-ranking North Korean envoy who delivered a personal letter from Mr. Kim to Mr. Trump.”
Rhonda Hart, whose 14-year-old daughter was killed at a Houston-area school, told the Associated Press that during her meeting with President Trump he repeatedly used the word “wacky” to describe the shooter and the trench coat he wore.
She said she told Trump, “Maybe if everyone had access to mental health care, we wouldn’t be in the situation.”
Hart, an Army veteran, said she also suggested employing veterans as sentinels in schools. She said Trump responded, “And arm them?” She replied, “No,” but said Trump “kept mentioning” arming classroom teachers.
Said Hart: “It was like talking to a toddler.”
President Trump will go to Camp David this weekend but First Lady Melania Trump will not go with him, CNN reports.
It’s been 22 days since she was last seen in public.
If you know Bill Browder’s story already, you surely won’t mind hearing his conversation with Chris Riback. It’s extraordinary.
If you haven’t heard it before, listen here:
Sign up for Chris’s free newsletter for great back stories from the podcast.
Subscribe via iTunes or Google Play to get new episodes automatically downloaded to your phone.
Thanks to the Cook Political Report for sponsoring this episode.
“The 16-candidate free-for-all to replace Congress’ wealthiest member, retiring Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), has become the most expensive House of Representatives race in the nation, with a combined $14.9 million spent by candidates and outside groups,” the Orange County Register reports.
“The sedate race for Kansas attorney general took a turn toward the bizarre Thursday with an announcement by political performance artist Vermin Supreme of plans to launch a campaign to become the state’s No. 1 prosecutor,” the Topeka Capital-Journal reports.
“Supreme, who appears in public dressed as a twisted wizard, has campaigned in the past on a platform that included mandatory dental hygiene and government distribution of free ponies. On the stump, he has worn a boot as a hat and carried a large toothbrush.”
Bill Clinton told CBS News that he “disagrees with” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) “position that he should have resigned” following his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Said Clinton: “You have to– really ignore what the context was. But, you know, she’s living in a different context. And she did it for different reasons. So, I – but I just disagree with her.”
David Frum: “If you take seriously that the Trump presidency is a threat to American democracy, you’ll want also to take seriously the weapons that threat deploys. Donald Trump and his people will violate the decencies of ordinary life, no matter what Bee (or any other hate target of opportunity) may say or do. But by violating those decencies herself, Bee greatly eased the Trump people’s task of obfuscating their own such violations.”
“Here’s something to bear in mind: During Soviet times, the communist authorities expressed themselves in operatically vehement language. Non-communists were denigrated as hyenas, jackals, vultures, and other disgusting animals; as bandits, fascists, Nazis, and other enemies of humanity.”
“In response, Soviet dissenters developed their own language: factually precise, emotionally restrained.”
“There’s a lesson here. Donald Trump and the political movement behind him are empowered by ugly talk. Their own talk stands out less sharply in contrast…. Let Trump be Trump. Let decent people be decent.”
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) “will be going into the congressional midterm elections knowing that she’s received support for at least one piece of legislation by the unlikeliest of groups: the Koch political network,” CNBC reports.
“Americans for Prosperity, an arm of the influential network supported by conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, is unleashing a digital advertising campaign on Friday thanking Heitkamp for cosponsoring the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protect Act, a bill that rolls back Dodd Frank regulations mainly on community banks, or those with less than $100 billion in assets.”
This piece is only available to Political Wire members.
Democrats have overperformed by an average of nine points in each of the eight federal special elections that have taken place since President Trump took office. Although Democrats won only two of them, they’ve overperformed in all of them.
Axios suggests this gives us a sense of what a blue wave might look like in November. A 9-point swing would be on par with the Republican waves in 1994 and 2010.
They have a cool interactive map that shows the scenarios for the House races if the Democratic voter turnout resembled the special elections. (Click thru for the interactive version.)
It’s pretty clear that Democrats will make big gains in November matches their overperformance in special elections. However, it’s important to note that special election are open seats that don’t have effects of incumbency so these gains are likely overstated.
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.