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GOP Abandons Any Pretense of Fiscal Responsibility

October 7, 2017 at 9:41 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Republican Party has largely abandoned its platform of fiscal restraint, pivoting sharply in a way that could add trillions of dollars in federal debt over the next decade,” the Washington Post reports.

“Cutting spending to balance the budget was almost religion to the Republican Party for much of the past eight years. But all year long, despite their control of the White House and Congress, Republicans have not taken steps to balance the budget, to overhaul entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, or to arrest the growth of the country’s $20 trillion in debt.”

Trump Legal Team Eases Resistance to Inquiry

October 7, 2017 at 9:39 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “White House officials once debated a scorched-earth strategy of publicly criticizing and undercutting Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian efforts to disrupt last year’s election. Now, President Trump’s lawyers are pursuing a different course: cooperating with the special counsel in the hope that Mr. Mueller will declare in the coming months that Mr. Trump is not a target of the Russia inquiry.”

“The president’s legal team is working swiftly to respond to requests from Mr. Mueller for emails, documents and memos, and will make White House officials available for interviews. Once Mr. Mueller has combed through the evidence, Mr. Trump’s lawyers plan to ask him to affirm that Mr. Trump is not under investigation, either for colluding with Russian operatives or for trying to obstruct justice.”

Kelly Hasn’t Returned Ex-Chiefs of Staff’s Messages

October 7, 2017 at 9:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “In his first two frenetic months on the job, the retired four-star Marine general and former homeland security secretary has had minimal contact with the small club of people who have served as gatekeepers to a president before him.”

“That’s somewhat unusual. Most chiefs of staff — a position that has been described by people who have survived it as daily exercise in mimicking Edvard Munch’s painting ‘The Scream’ — have generally looked to others who have been through the fire as a resource.”

‘The Resistance’ Upends Democratic Politics

October 7, 2017 at 2:27 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “It started as a scrappy grass-roots protest movement against President Trump, but now the so-called resistance is attracting six- and seven-figure checks from major liberal donors, posing an insurgent challenge to some of the left’s most venerable institutions — and the Democratic Party itself.”

“The jockeying between groups, donors and operatives for cash and turf is occurring mostly behind the scenes. But it has grown acrimonious at times, with upstarts complaining they are being boxed out by a liberal establishment that they say enables the sort of Democratic timidity that paved the way for the Trump presidency.”

“The tug of war — more than the lingering squabbles between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — foreshadows a once-in-a-generation reorganization of the American left that could dictate the tactics and ideology of the Democratic Party for years to come.”

How to Win Justice Kennedy’s Vote

October 7, 2017 at 11:23 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jeffrey Toobin: “The secret to advocacy before the contemporary Supreme Court is no secret: it’s all about pandering to Justice Anthony Kennedy. With the other eight Justices evenly split between liberals and conservatives, lawyers in controversial cases spend most of their energy indulging the idiosyncratic passions of the rangy Californian who sits beside the Chief Justice.”

“That means, for the most part, talking about the First Amendment. In his thirty years on the bench, Kennedy has displayed an almost Pavlovian receptivity to claims of infringement on the freedom of speech.”

White House Staff Undermining Trump on Dreamers

October 7, 2017 at 10:33 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Congressional leaders fear President Trump’s staff are exploiting the president’s busy schedule to push their own agenda and undermine his pledge to protect Dreamers,” McClatchy reports.

“According to four political operatives working closely with Republicans, leaders in both the House and Senate characterized some of the White House’s demands, which have yet to go public, as ‘poison pills,’ saying they are impossible to achieve and that the White House staffers’ intent is to scuttle the deal for political gain.”

Trump Does Not Feel Your Pain

October 7, 2017 at 10:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Associated Press: “The anxious counsel from his aides as Trump prepared to react to the largest mass shooting in U.S. history was a reminder of Trump’s troubled track record in such moments. Trump has often had difficulty embracing a central role of the American presidency: consoling people dealing with intense grief, regardless of their political affiliation or support for the White House’s agenda. It’s a quality that is rarely debated or analyzed on the campaign trail, yet one that can shape the way Americans view the success of their president.”

“Trump’s challenges with empathy were on full display this week, as he responded to two disasters at once with very different results. Trump ultimately stuck to the script in Las Vegas, avoiding controversy and assuming the role of national healer. It was a measured response that stood in stark contrast to his uneven response to the hurricane in Puerto Rico, which saw Trump lash out at the mayor of San Juan, urge officials to say positive things about his administration and throw rolls of paper towels into the crowd at a relief center like he was tossing T-shirts at a sporting event.”

Trump’s Approval Rate Hits New Low

October 7, 2017 at 9:28 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new AP-NORC Center poll finds President Trump’s approval rating at 32% to 67%.

However, Trump’s job approval rating in this poll is lower than many released recently. He is around 40% in the current polling averages.

Are Those My Words Coming Out of Bannon’s Mouth?

October 7, 2017 at 9:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Thomas Frank: “There’s was a moment in Steve Bannon’s recent 60 Minutes interview when the former presidential advisor was asked what he’s done to drain ‘the swamp,’ the Trumpists’ favorite metaphor for everything they hate about Washington DC. Here was Bannon’s reply: ‘The swamp is 50 years in the making. Let’s talk about the swamp. The swamp is a business model. It’s a successful business model. It’s a donor, consultant, K Street lobbyist, politician … 7 of the 9 wealthiest counties in America ring Washington, DC.'”

“With a shock of recognition I knew immediately what Bannon meant, because what he was talking about was the subject matter of my 2008 book, The Wrecking Crew – the interconnected eco-system of corruption that makes Washington, DC so rich.”

“My critique of Washington was distinctly from the left, and it astonished me to hear something very close to my argument coming from the mouth of one of the nation’s most prominent conservatives. But in fact, Bannon has a long history of reaching out to the left – you might say, of swiping its populist language and hijacking its causes.”

Trump Is On Track to Win Re-Election

October 7, 2017 at 8:49 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Doug Sosnik: “More than half of Americans don’t think Donald Trump is fit to serve as president, yet he has a clear path to winning reelection. If Trump isn’t removed from office and doesn’t lead the country into some form of global catastrophe, he could secure a second term simply by maintaining his current level of support with his political base.”

“The continued decline in support for both political parties works to Trump’s advantage. The lack of voters’ faith in both parties increases the probability that there will be a major third-party candidate on the 2020 ballot. It will also lead to other minor-party candidates joining the presidential race. The multi-candidate field will further divide the anti-Trump vote, making it possible for him to get reelected simply by holding on to his current level of support.”

“It would be as big a mistake to assume that Trump cannot win reelection in 2020 as it was for those of us who never thought that he could become president in the first place.”

Trump Mocks Puerto Rican Accent

October 7, 2017 at 8:47 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump used an exaggerated Spanish accent during a speech marking Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House, the HuffPost reports.

“We are also praying for the people of Puerto Rico,” he said, emphasizing the first two syllables of the word “Puerto.”

“We love Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico,” he added, before reverting to his normal accent to say, “We also love Puerto Rico.”

Remarkably Fast Liberalization of the Democratic Party

October 7, 2017 at 8:42 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Democrats have actually shifted more over the past two decades on many key social and philosophical issues, trending relatively quickly toward liberal positions as Republicans have changed more slightly. And the totality of it shows that Democratic voters are actually more polarized than Republicans are.”

“Pew has been running this study for years, and it’s the gold standard when it comes to documenting the nation’s political polarization. This chart, in particular, demonstrates why we can’t all just get along:

“But look closely at that third graph, and you’ll notice that Democrats are actually more clustered toward the far left than Republicans are to the far right. The median Democrat is also closer to the extreme than the median Republican.”

Dan Balz: Shifting attitudes among Democrats have big implications for 2020.

How Facebook Helped Elect Trump

October 6, 2017 at 10:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Trump campaign operative Brad Parscale told CBS News that Facebook was the crucial tool that helped elect Donald Trump: “Twitter is how Trump talked to the people, Facebook was going to be how he won.”

“Parscale says the campaign would average 50-60,000 different ad versions every day, some days peaking at 100,000 separate iterations – changing design, colors, backgrounds and words – all in an effort to refine ads and engage users.”

Also interesting: “Parscale received help utilizing Facebook’s technology from Facebook employees provided by the company who showed up for work to his office multiple days a week.”

Trump Wants to Work with Democrats on Health Care

October 6, 2017 at 10:25 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump telephoned Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in an effort to revive health-care legislation, Axios reports.

“Although it’s not known what Trump proposed or how Schumer responded, word traveled fast among Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The initial reaction among some Republicans was consternation, even though they didn’t know the upshot of the call.”

Said one well-wired Republican: “It codifies the Republicans’ failure on repeal/replace and shows the President can move without hesitation or ideological impediment to make a deal with the Democratss. It depresses the Republican base turnout in the midterms, as Trump voters are further disconnected from the Congressional wing.”

Exodus From Puerto Rico Could Remake Florida Politics

October 6, 2017 at 3:46 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Every day dozens of Puerto Ricans pour into the Orlando area, fleeing their homes and lives ravaged by Hurricane Maria. In the months to come, officials here said, that number could surge to more than 100,000. And those numbers could remake politics in Florida, a state where the last two presidential and governor’s races were decided by roughly one percentage point or less.”

“There are more than a million Puerto Ricans in Florida, a number that has doubled since 2001, driven largely until now by a faltering economy. But their political powers have evolved slowly in this state, and the wave of potential voters from the island could quickly change that calculus.”

Trump Made ‘Despicable’ Racist Comments on TV Show

October 6, 2017 at 2:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Bill Pruitt, a former producer on “The Apprentice,” said President Trump made “unfathomably despicable” racist comments while on the set of the show, Newsweek reports.

The comments, he said, were allegedly captured on videos that “are somewhere, in some warehouse.”

Quote of the Day

October 6, 2017 at 2:14 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“He’s dominated the media. But you can’t dominate a global context. To some degree, you’re riding the waves. You’re not creating the waves.”

— Gov. Jerry Brown (D), quoted by Rolling Stone, on President Trump.

Democrats Seek to Make Ryan a Villain

October 6, 2017 at 1:39 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Democrats are doubling down on their campaign trying to turn House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) into political villain in advance of next year’s midterm election, using themes that could hurt his image with staunch conservatives in addition to liberal activists,” the Washington Post reports.

“House Majority PAC, a super PAC affiliated with the leadership team of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is launching the new round of digital ads throughout the country highlighting the health-care fight. Additionally, the group is trying to brand Ryan with an elitist tag, through a new website that it is launching called ‘Fancy Paul Ryan.'”