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Senior Management Team at State Department Quits

January 26, 2017 at 12:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s job running the State Department just got considerably more difficult. The entire senior level of management officials resigned Wednesday, part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior foreign service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era,” the Washington Post reports.

“Several senior foreign service officers in the State Department’s regional bureaus have also left their posts or resigned since the election. But the emptying of leadership in the management bureaus is more disruptive because those offices need to be led by people who know the department and have experience running its complicated bureaucracies.”

Hatch Very Vulnerable in Utah

January 26, 2017 at 11:59 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Salt Lake Tribune poll in Utah shows Jon Huntsman (R) would beat Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in a GOP Senate primary, 62% to 21%.

Key finding: 78% of voters survey say Hatch should “definitely not” or “probably not” run for re-election in 2018.

Tiffany Trump Registered to Vote in Two States

January 26, 2017 at 11:56 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Kellyanne Conway claimed it was “flatly false” that Tiffany Trump was registered to vote in two states, but election records in both Pennsylvania and New York show she is still registered as an “active” voter in both as of Thursday morning, NBC News reports.

Conway cited a conversation with Trump’s youngest daughter as evidence.

For members: Why Do Trump’s Aides Lie So Much?


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Doomsday Clock Is Now 30 Seconds Closer to Midnight

January 26, 2017 at 11:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The minute hand on the Doomsday Clock ticked closer to midnight Wednesday, as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said it’s seeing an increase in dangers to humanity, from climate change to nuclear warfare,” NPR reports.

“The group took the ‘unprecedented’ step of moving the clock 30 seconds closer to midnight, to leave it at 2 1/2 minutes away. The setting is the closest the clock has come to midnight since 1953, when scientists moved it to two minutes from midnight after seeing both the U.S. and the Soviet Union test hydrogen bombs. It remained at that mark until 1960.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

January 26, 2017 at 11:10 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Of those votes cast, none of ’em come to me. None of ’em come to me. They would all be for the other side. None of ’em come to me. Those were Hillary votes.”

— President Trump, in an interview with ABC News, on the 3 to 5 million votes he falsely claims were cast illegally.

Parties Flip Flop on States Rights

January 26, 2017 at 10:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Reuters: “Now, as Trump looks to undo Obama’s legacy and begin constructing his own, Pruitt and other administration Republicans are showing little interest in protecting states’ rights. Instead, they are embracing sweeping new environmental, healthcare and immigration policies that are to be imposed on all states.”

“At the same time Democrats, who over the last half-century have zealously defended sacrosanct federal laws – such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that tackled segregation – against arguments that states should be allowed to chart their own way, are now making plans to employ some of those very states’ rights positions to fend off Trump administration policies they disagree with.”

“The two parties’ switching of sides is evident across a range of issues, including so-called sanctuary cities, the environment and healthcare.”

Trump’s Ideology

January 26, 2017 at 9:32 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Joe Klein: “In addition to a loaded slogan — ‘America First’ — and a questionable demeanor, it is now apparent that President Donald J. Trump actually has a governing ideology. His Inaugural Address, the strongest and most coherent speech he’s ever delivered, was a clear statement of that philosophy. It may change the shape of domestic politics. It may overturn the international order that has existed for 70 years. It certainly deserves more than the “divisive” dismissal it received from liberals–and more than the puerile crowd-size diversion that its perpetrator stumbled into during the days after he delivered it.”

Here’s the crucial paragraph: “For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; subsidized the armies of other countries, while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military. We’ve defended other nations’ borders while refusing to defend our own; and spent trillions of dollars overseas while America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.”

“The amazing thing about this litany is that most of the policies Trump criticizes had been peripheral to our recent political battles, at least until he came along.”

Why Do Trump’s Aides Lie So Much?

January 26, 2017 at 8:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

Nearly every politician tries to mislead the public at one time or another. But President Trump has taken lying to a new level. His ABC News interview last night was filled with so many falsehoods and distortions that it’s hard to understand what he was trying to accomplish.

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Quote of the Day

January 26, 2017 at 7:10 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I got a standing ovation. In fact, they said it was the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl and they said it was equal. I got a standing ovation. It lasted for a long period of time. What you do is take — take out your tape — you probably ran it live. I know when I do good speeches. I know when I do bad speeches. That speech was a total home run. They loved it… People loved it. They loved it. They gave me a standing ovation for a long period of time. They never even sat down, most of them, during the speech. There was love in the room.”

— President Trump, in an interview on ABC News, on his speech at the CIA last weekend.

Trump’s Surreal Interview

January 26, 2017 at 7:07 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

If you missed President Trump’s interview on ABC News, it was remarkable.

Washington Post: “The lengthy interview, which aired late Wednesday night, provided a glimpse of the president and his state-of-mind on his fifth full day in office. It revealed a man who is obsessed with his own popularity and eager to provide evidence of his likability, even if that information doesn’t match reality.”

“Trump insisted that he could have ‘very, very easily’ won the popular vote in the election — which concluded more than 11 weeks ago — had he simply tried. He again suggested that Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote because of widespread voter fraud, of which there is no evidence. He hinted that he thinks voter fraud might have also helped elect former president Barack Obama, whose favorability ratings were higher than his on Inauguration Day. He justified some of his unsubstantiated claims by saying that millions of his supporters agree with him. He did acknowledge that his own approval rating is “pretty bad,” but he blamed that on the media.”

Trump Officials Stunned by ‘Black Sites’ Report

January 26, 2017 at 5:45 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Two of the officials who will be in charge of carrying out President Donald Trump’s terrorism detainee policies, Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, were ‘blindsided’ by reports of a draft executive order that would require the CIA to reconsider using interrogation techniques that some consider torture, according to sources with knowledge of their thinking,” Politico reports.

“It’s unclear who wrote the draft order or whether Trump will sign it, though members of Congress in both parties were taking that prospect seriously on Wednesday.”

Republicans Seek Answers from Trump

January 26, 2017 at 5:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republicans eagerly seeking answers from President Trump on how he plans to implement his agenda instead found themselves deflecting new questions Wednesday about the president’s latest controversial pronouncements,” the Washington Post reports.

“House and Senate Republicans began the week expecting specific guidance on what will replace the Affordable Care Act, how quickly taxes might get slashed and how the government will pay for a new border wall and infrastructure plan. But on Wednesday, Trump offered up a fresh set of distractions with a flurry of announcements and early-morning tweets.”

The Hill: GOP wants Trump to get in sync

Trump Is Obsessed with His Staff’s Attire

January 26, 2017 at 4:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Team Trump believes in the power of image. The new president believes that a single photograph, re-tweeted ad nauseam, can form the basis of a narrative. He believes the actors in his White House drama should look the part, whether patriotic or powerful. Fashion is costuming.”

Electricians Sue Trump’s Company Over Payment

January 26, 2017 at 1:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Electricians who rushed work on President Trump’s newly opened hotel in Washington, D.C., say they are owed more than $2 million, and the contractor has filed a lawsuit to force payment,” USA Today reports.

“Freestate Electrical filed the suit in D.C. Superior Court alleging Trump’s company asked for a rush order on the hotel before its soft opening in September and the grand opening shortly before Election Day to complete fire alarm and electrical work. Trump’s company paid $15 million on the contract, but withheld payment on the final installment, the lawsuit says.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

January 25, 2017 at 11:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I can be the most presidential person ever, other than possibly the great Abe Lincoln, all right?”

— President Donald Trump, in an interview with ABC News.

Ryan Backs Trump Investigation Into Voter Fraud

January 25, 2017 at 10:52 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

House Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed President Trump’s call to launch an investigation into voter fraud in the presidential election, Politico reports.

Said Ryan: “I think it’s fine.”

He added: “If he believes there’s a problem to be looked at, the right thing to do is get an investigation, to get the facts. I haven’t seen evidence of this kind of widespread numbers that we’ve been hearing about. The thing to do is to get an investigation to get the facts and then make a judgment based on the facts.”

However, election law expert Rick Hasen calls Trump’s claims “a ludicrous accusation.”

Big City Mayors Will Defy Trump Order on Sanctuary Cities

January 25, 2017 at 10:49 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Several big city mayors across the U.S. vowed on Wednesday to defy President Trump’s executive order that threatens to cut off federal funding to cities that offer some sort of protection to undocumented immigrants in their communities,” USA Today reports.

“But as Trump announced the order — as well as action to build a wall along the U.S-Mexico border and hire thousands of new border patrol agents and immigration officers — leaders of some of the nation’s biggest cities flatly stated they would not be cooperating with the president.”

Trump’s Impulses Now Carry the Force of the Presidency

January 25, 2017 at 10:27 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Impetuous and instinctive, convinced of broad but hidden plots to undermine him, eager to fight and prone to what an aide called ‘alternative facts,’ President Trump has shown in just days in office that he is like few if any occupants of the White House before him,” the New York Times reports.

“He sits in the White House at night, watching television or reading social media, and through Twitter issues instant judgments on what he sees. He channels fringe ideas and gives them as much weight as carefully researched reports. He denigrates the conclusions of intelligence professionals and then later denies having done so. He thrives on conflict and chaos.”

“For a capital that typically struggles to adjust to the ways of a new president every four or eight years, Mr. Trump has posed a singular challenge. Rarely if ever has a president been as reactive to random inputs as Mr. Trump.”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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