New York Times: “And if other potential Republican Senate recruits are daunted by the forbidding political environment, it could hamper their ability to win some of the Democratic-controlled seats they have been eyeing for months. In Florida, for example, advisers to Gov. Rick Scott (R) said he was mindful of the midterm climate and was not yet sold on challenging Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL).”
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Omarosa Says She Saw ‘Very Uncomfortable’ Things
Outgoing White House aide Omarosa Manigault told ABC News that she observed things in the White House during her tenure that made her uncomfortable and that upset her.
Said Manigault: “I’m not going to expand on it because I still have to go back and work with these individuals, but when I have a chance to tell my story, Michael, quite a story to tell as the only African-American woman in this White House as a senior staff and assistant to the president, I have seen things that made me uncomfortable, that have upset me, that have affected me deeply and emotionally, that has affected my community and my people. And when I can tell my story, it is a profound story that I know the world will want to hear.”
Farenthold Drops Re-Election Bid
Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) will not run for re-election, an ABC News affiliate reports.
However, the congressman does plan on finishing out his term despite allegations of sexual harassment against him.
Most Think Trump Should Resign
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that 53% of voters think President Trump should resign because of the allegations of sexual harassment against him, while 42% think he should remain in office.
Trump’s approval rate is 41% to 56%, which leads to this interesting point: “Much has been made of Trump’s numbers being so poor despite an improving economy, but only 32% of voters actually say their economic situation has improved in the last year. 22% think it’s gotten worse, and 42% say it’s just stayed the same.”
Looking ahead to the 2018 midterm elections, voters prefer Democrats on the generic congressional ballot by a 51% to 40% margin.
A Troubling Number for Iowa Republicans
One more number to highlight in the new Des Moines Register poll: Iowans favor electing Democrats to Congress over Republicans by 40% to 34%.
“The finding is notable because Republicans hold three of Iowa’s four congressional seats, including two seen as among the most competitive in the country in 2018. The results are starkest in Iowa’s 1st congressional district, which encompasses 20 northeast Iowa counties and is currently held by two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Rod Blum. Despite the GOP incumbent, 47% of poll respondents in the district say they would vote for a Democrat, while just 29% say they’ll vote Republican.”
‘The Anti-Suburban Tax Bill’
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says the Republican tax proposal is “an anti-suburban tax bill” because it would reduce how much homeowners can deduct in state and local taxes, the Washington Post reports.
Said Schumer: “The suburbs are swinging back to us.”
He warned that if Republicans move ahead with their plans to rush the taxbill, “there will be many more Alabamas in 2018.”
More Surprising Than Doug Jones Winning In Alabama
Alan Abramowitz: “When Alabama voters were asked which party they would prefer to control the Senate, 50% chose Republicans while 45% chose Democrats. That is a stunning result — perhaps even more stunning than Jones’s victory. Moreover, only 43% had a favorable opinion of the Republican Party while 47% had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party.”
How Trump Refuses to Acknowledge the Putin Threat
“In the final days before Donald Trump was sworn in as president, members of his inner circle pleaded with him to acknowledge publicly what U.S. intelligence agencies had already concluded — that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was real.” the Washington Post reports.
“But as aides persisted, Trump became agitated. He railed that the intelligence couldn’t be trusted and scoffed at the suggestion that his candidacy had been propelled by forces other than his own strategy, message and charisma.”
“Told that members of his incoming Cabinet had already publicly backed the intelligence report on Russia, Trump shot back, ‘So what?’ Admitting that the Kremlin had hacked Democratic Party emails, he said, was a ‘trap.'”
Special Elections Point to a Democratic Wave
FiveThirtyEight: “There have been more than 70 special elections for state and federal legislative seats in 2017 so far…. The Democratic margin has been 12 percentage points better, on average, than the partisan lean in each race.”
Pence Delays Israel Trip Ahead of Tax Bill Vote
Vice President Mike Pence is delaying his visit to Israel due to tax reform issues in Congress, the Jerusalem Post reports.
“He is now scheduled to arrive in Israel on Wednesday, three days later than originally planned so that he can be in the U.S. to participate if necessary in Senate votes on tax reform.”
One-Third of Puerto Rico Still Has No Power
Bloomberg: “Today, nearly three months after the storm, more than one-third of the island is still without power, and in the areas where it has been restored the service is often unstable, with occasional outages. Thousands of businesses remain closed. Normality sporadically peeks out from it all—on a street with a string of working stoplights, in an air-conditioned hotel lobby—then quickly retreats, as if ungraspable.”
Iowans Sour on Trump
A new Des Moines Register poll in Iowa finds that 60% of voters disapprove of the way President Trump is doing his job as president while just 35% approve.
Said one voter surveyed: “It just seems like it’s one big mess.”
Speculation Grows that Paul Ryan Will Step Down
“As Republicans finish their long-sought rewrite of the tax code, some lawmakers are beginning to wonder just how much longer Rep. Paul Ryan intends to remain speaker,” the HuffPost reports.
Said one GOP member: “There’s a whole lot of rumors and speculation that the speaker may step aside.”
“The Wisconsin Republican has made no indication he’s quitting any time soon, but the possibility that Ryan finishes the tax bill and decides he no longer wants to continue in Congress has begun to loom over internal Republican conversations.”
Republicans Are Experiencing 2010 In Reverse
Politico: “A first-term president and unpopular congressional leaders are pushing a controversial legislative agenda that sparks a nationwide movement from the infuriated opposition. Retirements are suddenly putting the majority’s safe seats in play. Party leaders jam major legislation through Congress on a partisan vote, and are in such a hurry to pass it they’re rewriting it by hand hours before a vote. They lose control of their message and can’t find an easy way to get back on track. Then comes a stunning upset in a Senate special election for a seat the majority party had controlled for decades.”
“That year was 2010, when Republican Scott Brown’s upset win in the Massachusetts’ Senate race to succeed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy previewed a tea-party fueled Republican revolution that swept the GOP into power on Capitol Hill. But after Democrat Doug Jones’ upset in Alabama on Tuesday, it could also describe the political trajectory of 2017 – except with Democrats instead of Republicans on the winning side.”
McCain Admitted to Hospital
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “has been admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for recovery from the side effects of another round of treatment for brain cancer,” the Washington Post reports.
“McCain, who missed a third straight day of Senate votes Wednesday, has been undergoing rounds of chemotherapy and radiation to treat glioblastoma, the terminal form of brain cancer he was diagnosed with in July. McCain has been undergoing treatments since early September at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, next to Walter Reed.”
Senate Democrats Demand Delay on Tax Bill Vote
New York Times: “Senate Democrats, buoyed by their upset victory, demanded that Republicans delay the final vote on a large tax overhaul until Mr. Jones can be sworn in. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, called on Mr. McConnell to ‘hit pause’ on the tax vote. Mr. McConnell has no intention of doing so.”
“‘It would be wrong for Senate Republicans to jam through this tax bill without giving the newly elected senator from Alabama the opportunity to cast his vote,’ Mr. Schumer said. Mr. Schumer cited precedent: the 2010 election of Scott Brown, Republican of Massachusetts, to the seat that had been held for decades by Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The Senate was weighing President Barack Obama’s health care bill at the time, and Democrats delayed the final vote — even though Mr. Brown’s election cost them their 60-vote filibuster-proof majority.”
Republicans May Not Agree on Funding Bill
Playbook: “House Republicans had a tense internal meeting yesterday afternoon, in which they laid out their plan to fund the Pentagon for a year, while keeping the rest of the government on a short-term spending plan that runs to Jan. 18. House Republican leaders are facing pressure to pass that bill, and leave town — an attempt to force the Senate to swallow it.”
“But the Senate cannot pass this package — and most House Republicans recognize this. It’s a dangerous game of chicken. If they leave town, the government could shut down. Competing pressures abound: Texans want disaster money, hawks want defense money and some conservatives say they’re tired of kowtowing to the Senate.”
Trump and Bannon Still Talking
New York Times: “Behind the scenes, some advisers hoped the loss would persuade Mr. Trump to stop listening to Stephen K. Bannon, his former chief strategist who has vowed war against the Republican establishment. But Mr. Trump talked with Mr. Bannon for 15 minutes by phone on Tuesday, aides said, and seemed disinclined to cut the adviser from his circle.”
