“The federal agency that issues green cards and grants citizenship to people from foreign countries has stopped characterizing the United States as ‘a nation of immigrants,'” the New York Times reports.
“The director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services informed employees in a letter on Thursday that its mission statement had been revised to ‘guide us in the years ahead.’ Gone was the phrase that described the agency as securing ‘America’s promise as a nation of immigrants.'”
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) called for raising minimum age to buy firearms from 18 to 21, a break from National Rifle Association, the Washington Post reports.
Scott also called for a ban on “the purchase or sale of bump stocks.”
President Trump mocked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — without using his name — for his no vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act, Axios reports.
Said Trump: “Remember, one person walked into a room when he was supposed to go this way (Trump enthusiastically gives a thumbs up) and he said he was going this way, and he walked in and he went this way (Trump throws his thumb down) and everyone said what happened? What was that all about? … I don’t want to be controversial so I won’t use his name. What a mess!”
Just two weeks ago, Meghan McCain told Politico that Trump had called her to say he would “back off” her cancer-stricken father.
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In the letter obtained by ABC News, former Trump adviser Rick Gates writes to family and friends “despite my initial desire to vigorously defend myself, I have had a change of heart. The reality of how long this legal process will likely take, the cost, and the circus-like atmosphere of an anticipated trial are too much. I will better serve my family moving forward by exiting this process.”
He added: “The consequence is the public humiliation, which at this moment seems like a small price to pay for what our children would have to endure otherwise.”
“I think now we’ve proved that I’m a conservative.”
— President Trump, quoted by CBS News, speaking to CPAC.
A new Public Policy Polling survey in the Kansas third congressional district finds Brent Welder (D) leading Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) by seven points, 49% to 42%.
Former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates is expected to plead guilty as soon as Friday afternoon, “a move that signals he is cooperating with the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election,” the New York Times reports.
“The plea deal could be a significant development in the investigation — a sign that Mr. Gates plans to offer incriminating information against his longtime associate and the former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, or other members of the Trump campaign in exchange for a lighter punishment.”
David French: “Unlike the stupid hysterics over net neutrality, tax policy, or regulatory reform, the gun debate really is — at its heart — about life and death. It’s about different ways of life, different ways of perceiving your role in a nation and a community. Given these immense stakes, extra degrees of charity and empathy are necessary in public discussion and debate. At the moment, what we have instead are extra degrees of anger and contempt. The stakes are high. Emotions are high. Ignorance abounds. Why bother to learn anything new when you know the other side is evil?”
“It takes more than a constitution or a government to hold a nation together. The ties that bind us as Americans are strong and durable, but the great challenges that formed them are receding into the past. Geographic differences create cultural differences, and cultural differences hasten ever-greater geographic change. Like clusters with like, and it results in the fury we saw last night, when one of the bluest communities in America vented its rage at the red emissaries in their midst.”
“A nation cannot endure forever when its people are consumed with such hate.”
“Talking to the president, I’ve never been so unimpressed by a person in my life. He didn’t make me feel better in the slightest.”
— Samantha Fuentes, who was shot in both legs during the Parkland assault, recounting her phone call with President Trump to the New York Times,
James Hohmann: “President Trump’s promises to take meaningful action on guns after Florida look increasingly hollow. His moves to get right with the National Rifle Association on Thursday reflect how much the contours of the debate have shifted and the degree to which the Republican Party has radicalized in recent years.”
“So it should not be surprising that the president’s comments at the White House yesterday afternoon closely mimicked a speech that LaPierre delivered earlier in the day at the Conservative Political Action Conference.”
The Hill quotes Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY): “Not surprised the NRA reeled President Trump back in. Just amazed at how fast it happened.”
Earlier for members: Why Trump Won’t Buck the NRA
First Read: “The felony indictment of Republican Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens — for allegedly taking a compromising photo of a woman with whom he was having an affair — could have a ripple effect well beyond the governor’s mansion.”
“For one thing, Missouri is holding one of the most competitive Senate races in the country between incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and likely GOP opponent Josh Hawley, who just happens to be the state’s top law-enforcement official as state attorney general. Additionally, the Greitens matter isn’t going away anytime soon, because Greitens is fighting the charge, and because the state House is investigating it.”
“The McCaskill-Hawley race, right now, is viewed as a 50-50 contest, with control of the U.S. Senate possibly on the line for whichever party wins it. And this felony indictment will be in the background. Possibly for months.”
Washington Post: “To date, Mueller’s team has brought more than 100 criminal counts against 19 different individuals. In four cases, the individuals pleaded guilty before the charges were made public. Thirteen of the individuals are Russian nationals involved in efforts to influence the 2016 election through social media. Four of the individuals facing or pleading to charges worked for or with Trump’s campaign team.”
Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch indicted last week by special counsel Robert Mueller, is believed “to control the Russian mercenaries who attacked U.S. troops and their allies in Syria this month” and “was in close touch with Kremlin and Syrian officials in the days and weeks before and after the assault,” the Washington Post reports.
Mike Allen: “The episodic drama is almost impossible to cover accurately, because the views reflected in the press often depend partly on which characters in the drama are most aggrieved at the moment, and which faction they belong to. Remember that President Trump thinks of each day as a new episode in a reality show, with him as the star, writer, producer and critic.”
“West Wing aides privately admit they have no earthly idea what Trump will do about anything — whether it be guns, immigration, their own careers, or the fate of Chief of Staff John Kelly.”
A new CBS News poll finds 65% of Americans “now say laws covering the sale of guns should be stricter – an eight-point increase from December. It is the highest number recorded in this poll for stricter gun sale laws.”
“The rise has been primarily among Republicans and independents, with a large increase among Republicans from last December. Democrats remain in favor. “
Amy Walter: “One of the most enduring and predictable answers is that the NRA squelches any and all forward movement on the issue of gun legislation. Many point to the power of the gun lobby as the most insidious and powerful force in all of politics.”
“However, pointing the finger at the gun lobby misses the underlying values that define the owning of a gun in the first place — the values of safety and freedom. In the American version of the ‘hierarchy of needs,’ these two values are at the top. According to Pew Research polling, 67 percent of gun owners own a weapon for ‘protection.’ Guns = safety and security. Those who want more gun restrictions argue that guns are often used to harm not protect. That even the most conscientious gun owners can cause accidents. But, gun owners don’t see things that way. That may not make sense to many of us who don’t own one, but it does to them.”
“Successful politicians and political movements meet people where they are, not where they believe they should be. Portraying the NRA as an all-powerful manipulator of gullible gun owners not only insults gun owners but only further deepens the cultural divide on the issue.”
The DCCC posted negative research on Laura Moser (D), a Houston journalist vying among six other Democrats in the March 6 primary to unseat Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), the Texas Tribune reports.
“Democrats locally and nationally have worried that Moser is too liberal to carry a race that has emerged in recent months as one of the most competitive races in the country. The DCCC posting, which features the kind of research that is often reserved for Republicans, notes that Moser only recently moved back to her hometown of Houston and that much of her campaign fundraising money has gone to her husband’s political consulting firm. It also calls her a ‘Washington insider.’
Gov. John Kasich’s (R) inner circle “is gearing up for a possible presidential run in 2020 — actively weighing the prospect of a Republican primary challenge to President Donald Trump against the feasibility of a long-shot general election campaign as an independent,” Politico reports.
“And there’s one consideration driving their thinking perhaps more than any other: what some of his advisers consider the very real, maybe even likely, possibility that Trump doesn’t run again — by choice or not — or that the president becomes so politically hobbled by late next year that the political landscape fundamentally shifts in Kasich’s favor. That’s one reason Kasich has yet to decide whether to pursue an independent bid or a primary challenge.”
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.
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