New York Times: “The policy would affect 495 mayoral staff members, who would have to take an unpaid, weeklong furlough at some point between October and March 2021. The furloughs would apply to everyone from administrative assistants to Mr. de Blasio and the office of his wife, Chirlane McCray.”
“The mayor intends to work during his furlough without pay.”
Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, told the New York Post he is taking a hard look at running for mayor in 2021.
Said Giuliani: “I am certainly thinking about it. It’s something that a bunch of people that I trust have approached me with. It’s been terrible to see over the last few years how the city has spiraled. I am afraid if the right candidate doesn’t win in 2021, four more years of de Blasio’s policies will remind us of the 80s.”
Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu (D) called Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D) to tell him she would challenge him in a Democratic primary next year.
Walsh then called the Boston Globe to preempt her public announcement.
Ander Christensen went viral after calling on the city council in Lincoln, Nebraska to consider renaming boneless chicken wings.
Said Christensen: “Lincoln has the opportunity to be a social leader in this country. We have been casually ignoring a problem that has gotten so out of control that our children are throwing around names and words without even understanding their true meaning, treating things as though they’re normal.”
“President Trump has directed federal officials to find ways to cut funding to a string of cities controlled by Democrats, citing violence amid protests against systemic racism in policing, a move that threatens billions of dollars for many of the country’s largest urban hubs as the president makes the unrest a centerpiece of his re-election campaign,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump laid out the directive in a memo, released Wednesday, to Russell T. Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Attorney General William Barr. It accuses state and local officials of abdicating their duties.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo all but threatened President Trump’s safety if he returns to New York City in a rant responding to a story that Trump is looking to pull federal funds from “lawless” cities including New York, the New York Post reports.
Said Cuomo: “He better have an army if he thinks he’s gonna walk down the street in New York. New Yorkers don’t want to have anything to do with him.”
Joe Biden has a new ad which condemns recent rioting in several urban areas.
First Read: “According to our August NBC News/WSJ poll (conducted before the violence in Kenosha), Trump held a 4-point advantage over Biden when it comes to which candidate better handles crime, with 43% picking Trump and 39% Biden.”
“But on uniting the country, Biden’s edge over Trump was 23 points, 49% to 26%.”
“And on race relations, Biden’s lead over Trump is 24 points, 53% to 29%.”
“So despite the conventional wisdom, it’s not clear at all this issue is a winner for Trump.”
“President Trump has been throwing accelerant on the fire of the nation’s social unrest rather than trying to put it out, seeking confrontation rather than calm at a volatile moment his advisers hope will help salvage his campaign for a second term,” the New York Times reports.
“Other presidents in times of tumult tried to settle down communities convulsed by racial and cultural divisions, but Mr. Trump has encouraged one side against another. He has threatened to deploy federal forces, condoned freelance actions by his own armed supporters, conflated peaceful protesters with violent rioters and used the strife to undercut his political opponents.
President Trump will meet with Attorney General Bill Barr and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Monday ahead of his trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday, Bloomberg reports.
“Federal law enforcement personnel were deployed in Portland, Oregon, last month to try to suppress protests there, but Democratic state and city officials say the agents only heightened violence in the city’s streets and demanded they leave.”
“Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It’s you who have created the hate and division.”
— Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D), quoted by The Atlantic.
Axios: Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler reacted to President Trump’s tweets attacking Democratic officials in the wake of a fatal shooting Saturday night during clashes between Trump supporters and protesters: “I’d appreciate that either the president support us or stay the hell out of the way.”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows argued on NBC News that “most of Donald Trump’s America is peaceful” and that the violence that the Trump campaign has so frequently highlighted as part of its “law and order” message is in “Democrat cities.”
Asked whether Trump is only in charge of the places where he has supporters, Meadows responded: “Well, he does govern and lead the entire country. … These are local law enforcement efforts that can be supported by a federal backstop, whether it be National Guard or the FBI.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) “withdrew his lawsuit challenging the city of Atlanta’s mask mandate and coronavirus restrictions, ending a legal feud between the Republican governor and the Democratic leader of the state’s capital city over how to contain the pandemic,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
A video of anti-racism protesters in Portland appearing to intentionally burn a stack of bibles quickly went viral among conservatives.
But the New York Times reports that it was a misleading video deliberately spread by Russia as part of the country’s campaign to interfere in the upcoming U.S. election.
Chicago Tribune: “Hundreds of people swept through the Magnificent Mile and other parts of downtown Chicago early Monday, smashing windows, looting stores, confronting police and at one point exchanging gunfire with officers.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is calling on the wealthy to return to New York City from their weekend homes in the surrounding suburbs, fearing they may choose to stay and file taxes there, The Hill reports.
Said Cuomo: “I literally talk to people all day long who are now in their Hamptons house who also lived here, or in their Hudson Valley house or in their Connecticut weekend house, and I say, ‘You got to come back, when are you coming back?’”
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.
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