Harry Enten: “Based on my analysis of every governor’s lowest poll since 1958, Christie currently ranks fourth on the list of most of most unpopular governors in the modern era.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Unlike others, I’d tell him to tweet more, to be on Facebook more, to get the message out more, but to be focused.”
— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), offering advice to President Trump in an interview on Fox News.
Investigators Focus on Collusion with Pro-Trump Sites
“The spread of Russian-made fake news stories aimed at discrediting Hillary Clinton on social media is emerging as an important line of inquiry in multiple investigations into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow,” the Guardian reports.
“Investigators are looking into whether Trump supporters and far-right websites coordinated with Moscow over the release of fake news, including stories implicating Clinton in murder or pedophilia, or paid to boost those stories on Facebook.”
Auschwitz Condemns Lawmaker’s Gas Chamber Video
Officials at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum have criticized Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) for narrating part of a five-minute video from inside a former gas chamber at the Nazi concentration camp in Poland, the AP reports.
“A post on the Auschwitz Memorial’s official Twitter account said Tuesday that a former gas chamber is not a stage but a place where there should be respectful silence. Later Tuesday, it posted a photo of the entrance sign to that building, asking visitors to ‘maintain silence here.'”
Why Trump Will Never Be Able to End the Russia Probe
David Kendall, who has represented former president Bill Clinton for years, writes in the Washington Post that Justice Department regulations “will make it difficult, legally as well as politically” for President Trump to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
“Any of those steps would almost certainly result in the resignation of Rosenstein, and likely other Justice Department officials, reminiscent of the ‘Saturday Night Massacre,’ when President Richard Nixon ordered the firing of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox… As with the Saturday Night Massacre, any move to fire Mueller would likely not be the end of the matter — or of the criminal investigation. In the uproar that ensued after Cox’s firing, the remaining prosecutors in the office continued their work and a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, was selected.”
All the President’s Lawyers
New York Times: “There may never be enough Trump Lawyers to get the job done. The work is hard, sometimes even humiliating. In fact, the one irreducible character trait of a Trump Lawyer is that he or she is willing to take on Trump as a client, one who often either doesn’t solicit their advice or simply ignores it; who subverts their legal strategy on national television; who requires them to deny facts that he has confirmed and confirm facts that he has denied; who won’t stop tweeting inflammatory, threatening and clearly false statements. It’s a lot to ask of a professional.”
“Washington lawyers have defended spies, embezzlers, strongmen, torturers. But the prospect of defending Trump has apparently given them pause. Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly, who represented Oliver North, and Ted Olson of Gibson, Dunn, who represented the Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, are among the veterans of Washington scandals who have reportedly rejected overtures to join Trump’s legal defense team.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Most people don’t ask, ‘For or against?’ They just say, ‘Make sure you’re taking care of our interests.’ In fairness for those that do the ‘for or against,’ everybody is pretty much saying they don’t think this is good for us.”
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), quoted by the Alaska Dispatch News, on the GOP health care bill.
2018 Could Have Fewest Senate Retirements Ever
A Smart Politics analysis finds that there have been at least two U.S. Senators who did not seek another term in each of the 52 election cycles since the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913, but almost all of the 33 lawmakers up for reelection in 2018 have already confirmed they are running (excepting Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democrats Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Tom Carper of Delaware, and Ben Cardin of Maryland).
Trump Boxed In Ahead of Putin Meeting
“President Trump promised voters that he would strike ‘a great deal’ with Russia and its autocratic president, Vladimir Putin. He has repeatedly labeled an investigation of Russian meddling in the U.S. election as ‘a hoax,’ and he even bragged to Russian officials about firing the FBI director leading the probe,” the Washington Post reports.
“Now nearly six months into his presidency, Trump is set to finally meet Putin at a summit this week in Hamburg after a stop here in Warsaw — severely constrained and facing few good options that would leave him politically unscathed.”
“If Trump attempts to loosen sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine or its interference in the 2016 U.S. election, Congress could defy him by pursuing even stronger penalties. And if he offers platitudes for Putin without addressing Russia’s election meddling, it will renew questions about whether Trump accepts the findings of his own intelligence officials that Russia intended to disrupt the democratic process on his behalf.”
Bernie Sanders Is the Democratic Frontrunner for 2020
Matthew Yglesias: “Amid a swirl of speculation about Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, and practically everyone else under the sun as potential Democratic presidential contenders, most of the political class is ignoring the elephant in the room. Bernie Sanders is, by some measures the most popular politician in America, by far Democrats’ most in-demand public speaker, and the most prolific grassroots fundraiser in American history.”
“If he were 10 or 20 years younger, his absence from a 2020 cattle call held by the Center for American Progress back in May would have been glaring. As things stood, the whisper among everyone in the halls was simply that he’s too old and obviously won’t run.”
“But make no mistake: Sanders is the real 2020 Democratic frontrunner.”
Bannon Is Out of Trump’s Dog House
Mike Allen: “Events in this madcap West Wing have conspired to give Bannon back much of his mojo: He’s clearly going to stay, after being long rumored to be on the outs. He’s no longer in a hot war with Jared Kushner. He played a key role in developing the Russia response. And he’s back to pushing ideas the GOP establishment hates, including a tax hike on the rich and trade wars.”
“Bannon’s insurance policy is that he’s the keeper of the base. Trump understands he’s never going to be broadly popular, so he absolutely has to preserve his 46%.”
North Korea Vows to Never Negotiate Over Nukes
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un vowed his nation would “demonstrate its mettle to the U.S.” and never put its weapons programs up for negotiations a day after test-launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile, the AP reports.
“The hard line suggests more tests are being prepared as the country tries to perfect a nuclear missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States.”
New York Times: “The standoff over North Korea’s nuclear program has long been shaped by the view that the United States has no viable military option to destroy it. Any attempt to do so, many say, would provoke a brutal counterattack against South Korea too bloody and damaging to risk.”
Quote of the Day
“There was only one issue. That’s unusual. It’s usually a wide range of issues. I heard, over and over again, encouragement for my stand against the current version of the Senate and House health-care bills. People were thanking me, over and over again. ‘Thank you, Susan!’ ‘Stay strong, Susan!'”
— Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), quoted by the Washington Post.
Big Trump Donor Eyes Buying Time Magazine
“There is now more than one conservative booster of President Trump with a fancy for buying Time Inc. — and its 94-year-old flagship newsweekly, Time, the New York Post reports.
“Robert Mercer’s Renaissance Technologies bought nearly 2.5 million shares of Time Inc. in the first quarter, according to a recent regulatory filing — a 2.51 percent stake valued on March 31 at $48.1 million… Mercer and daughter Rebekah are big Trump supporters.”
“Mercer is also a backer of Breitbart News, which was headed by Steve Bannon until he left to become an adviser to Trump.”
There’s Serious Pain Ahead for Republicans
Join now to continue reading.
Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more.
Senate Republicans Lay Low on July 4th
New York Times: “It is a tough summer for Senate Republicans, who are trying to combine a long-promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act with a replacement that has, in legislation drafted so far, been as popular as sunburn. Protesters have held sit-ins at Senate offices, phone lines have been jammed and editorial writers have blasted their states’ congressional delegations. Planes have even flown admonitory, if occasionally poorly conceived, banners over state capitals.”
“Republican senators have had to decide whether public appearances would be fruitful or the crowds hostile. Many lawmakers seem to have given up on town hall-style meetings and parades. Others are still braving them, knowing they may get an earful on the health care bills.”
Few Good Options for Trump on North Korea
New York Times: “When President-elect Donald Trump said on Twitter in early January that a North Korean test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States ‘won’t happen!‘ there were two things he still did not fully appreciate: how close Kim Jong-un, the North’s leader, was to reaching that goal, and how limited any president’s options were to stop him.”
“The ensuing six months have been a brutal education for President Trump. With North Korea’s launch on Tuesday of what the administration confirmed was an intercontinental ballistic missile, the country has new reach. Experts said the North Koreans had crossed a threshold — if just barely — with a missile that potentially could strike Alaska.”
Washington Post: “North Korea missile launch marks a direct challenge to Trump administration.”
Americans Trust CNN More Than Trump
A new Survey Monkey poll finds that Americans trust CNN more than President Trump by 7 points, 50% to 42%.
However, this split is pretty remarkable: 89% of Republicans view Trump as more trustworthy than CNN, and 91% of Democrats think the opposite.
