Tag: Beto O’Rourke

Unusually, it also included a slap from some Republicans who have been loath to challenge their leader in the first two years of his presidency. He made outrageous boasts about his own success and hinted at his acute sense of human nature and feral appreciation of weakness and discomfort in a political opponent. Trump also showed his indifference, or rude disregard for the political plights of allied leaders, indulged his willingness to trade in falsehoods, and betrayed his obsessions with his predecessor President Barack Obama. "Well, I think he's got a lot of hand movement. At one point in the meeting Tump, said he wasn't going to "comment on Brexit," but characteristically unable to constrain himself, could barely leave the topic alone. Then Trump claimed -- wrongly -- that the EU was unwilling to "negotiate with the Obama administration" about trade. Trump's own talks on trade with Europe have been inconclusive, after he threatened to spark a trade war. He also repeated the untruth that he predicted the result of the British referendum when he flew into his Turnberry golf course in 2016. Trump also put Varadkar on the spot -- asking him to comment on Brexit, threatening to expose their differences on the issue. One Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, made an 11th hour switch of his vote on the declaration of national emergency, falling into line behind the President.

EL PASO, TX—Revealing plans to “put his own spin” on beloved stump speeches and talking points, Beto O’Rourke announced Thursday that he was starting a Barack Obama cover campaign. “I’ve always loved Barack’s early stuff from back in ’08, even ’04, and I think diehard fans will go crazy when I cover all his greatest hits,” said the 46-year-old White House hopeful, clarifying that he and his campaign aides had spent several months “just going through Barack’s catalog” to memorize the former president’s platform. “Obama’s style always really resonated with me, and honestly, what’s the point in struggling to come up with something new when you can just give people what they want. I’m going to cover some of Barack’s most well-known campaign speeches, putting my own small twists on prison reform and healthcare—they’ll be way heavier, faster, and louder.” At press time, O’Rourke revealed that he had just finished working on a stripped-down version of “Change We Can Believe In” that went directly into a fiery rendition of “Yes, We Can!”

Vanity Fair is has a new cover story to accompany Beto O'Rourke on his first trip to Iowa on what already seems like a presidential campaign. Joe Hagan joins Lawrence to discuss his interview with Beto O'Rourke. » Subscribe to…

Nati Harnik/Associated Press Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Bernie Sanders lead a new poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers released this weekend, underscoring how the nomination process for the Democratic Party has, to this early point, been defined by the two figures with the largest national profiles. The poll, which was conducted by The Des Moines Register and CNN, had Mr. Biden as the top choice for 27 percent of respondents, leading all candidates. Though Mr. Biden’s advisers have signaled that he intends to run for president, he has yet to announce his candidacy. Mr. Sanders, who kicked off his campaign recently in New York City, was the top choice for 25 percent of those asked. Only 5 percent of likely caucusgoers now call him their first choice for president — down from 11 percent in December. [Join the conversation around the 2020 race with our politics newsletter.] It remains to be seen if that will translate to hardened support, particularly in one of the largest, most wide-open and diverse Democratic primary fields in history. The next closest figure to Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders, according to the poll, was Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who was among the first to announce her presidential candidacy. Ms. Warren was the top choice for 9 percent of respondents, followed by Senator Kamala Harris of California, who was favored by 7 percent of respondents and had soaring favorability ratings. Other candidates — including Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — have struggled to make an imprint, the poll found.

When political consultants were scouring the state’s 2016 election results two years ago, they found three Texas congressional districts where voters had kept Republican incumbents in office while also favoring Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Now there are new results to pore over, courtesy of the Texas Legislative Council, and a new list of possible targets for the next election. On the other side, Cruz didn’t prevail in any of the districts won by Democratic congressional candidates. CD-7, a Houston district now represented by U.S. Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, a Democrat, was the third district on the previous election cycle’s target list — a district held by a Republican incumbent but won by Clinton. But that district’s voters, on average, remained just on the Republican side of the partisan line last year: The average Republican beat the average Democrat in statewide races by 0.2 percentage points. All three of those districts will be on anyone’s preliminary 2020 list — and would be there no matter which party’s candidate won the last election. Statewide Republicans won in that district by 4 percentage points, on average. Trump won by about 6, but O’Rourke won by 3.5 percentage points. One big difference between the 2016 and the 2018 elections in Texas was the overall strength of Democratic candidates. Republicans won every statewide race in both of those years, but the margins were very different: In 2016, the Republican candidate beat the Democratic candidate by an average of 14.1 percentage points.

— Don’t expect to hear much debate about guns in the 2020 Democratic primary. — The Iowa Democratic Party is proposing allowing absentee voting in the 2020 Democratic caucuses. Days until the 2019 election: 266 Days until the 2020 election: 630 TO THE LEFT — Gun control is a good indicator of the Democratic Party’s leftward drift in recent years, and a leading advocacy group expects all the 2020 candidates to be on the same page. In 2007 and 2008, then-candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama largely avoided talking about guns on the campaign trail, and they proceeded carefully when they did (in an April 2008 debate, ABC News’ Charlie Gibson pushed the candidates on why they didn’t emphasize their beliefs on gun control). Meanwhile, Harris supported a policy that turned over undocumented juvenile immigrants to ICE while she was San Francisco’s district attorney, CNN’s Nathan McDermott and Andrew Kaczynski reported. Justin Fairfax is citing due process in his refusal to step aside amid sexual assault allegations, and he presided over the the Virginia Senate on Monday. FIRST IN SCORE — ON THE AIRWAVES — The pro-Trump nonprofit America First Policies is going up with an ad in PA-08 pushing Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright to support funding for Trump’s proposed southern border wall. NC-09, CONTINUED — Mark Harris, the Republican in the still uncalled election in NC-09, said he didn’t know about previous allegations against Leslie McCrae Dowless, the independent contractor at the center of the election fraud allegations. “The NRCC has sent out thousands of emails trying to tie vulnerable Democrats to Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Omar,” POLITICO’s John Bresnahan, Laura Barrón-López and Heather Caygle reported. She later apologized: "We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity," Omar said in her follow-up statement.

From the border wall fight to conflict with Iran, it’s been a busy week in American politics. ___________________ Trump declares national emergency to build border wall House and Senate negotiators agreed “in principle” on Monday to provide $1.375 billion for physical barriers at the southwestern border. The deal provided much less funding than the proposal President Trump rejected in December, and his border wall took a back seat in Congress’s budget negotiations, which instead focused on the record number of immigrants in detention. (Here are five takeaways from the deal.) On the Republican end, former Gov. Bill Weld of Massachusetts announced on Friday his intention to challenge Mr. Trump for the Republican Party’s 2020 nomination. There are six women in the 2020 race, but Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is the only one who has been making feminism the central theme of her candidacy. While the United States and Israel have accused Iran of instigating terrorism in the Middle East, Iran itself has also been the target of terrorist attacks. Ms. Witt was charged with spying for Iran; ex-officials say her defection severely damaged United States intelligence efforts. Additional Reading • Trump Pushes Iraq to Stop Buying Energy From Iran • Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq • Mike Pence Lashes European Allies for Their Stance on Iran Here’s what else happened this week: • Federal prosecutors recommended Friday that Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, serve up to 25 years in prison and pay up to $25 million in fines for a fraud scheme.

A friend in a very blue part of the country recently sent me an email describing his experience with much younger progressives singing the praises of rising political stars Beto O’Rourke and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. What matters is who they are — young, hip, fresh, unencumbered – and how they talk. Reminds me of a dinner party my wife and I attended in 2008 after Barack Obama announced his presidential candidacy. I listened to them and then asked if anyone had actually met Obama or dealt with him. I had known Obama, though, for many years and had helped conduct a training course that he attended before he began a short, uninspired few years in organizing. I said that he was smart, reflective, and skilled at speaking, just as he appeared to be. I described to my dinner companions how several of my colleagues from Chicago met with then-Sen. Obama in Washington about local issues and asked if he would consider returning and running for mayor. The left’s tendency to latch on to the next charismatic persona, even if he or she has little or no track record of accomplishment, is again in full bloom. When I’m asked who I prefer for president, I always say “Lincoln” and then explain that I want someone like Lincoln, who has proven that he or she can succeed in something other than politics and has demonstrated effective action in politics. She responded by affording them “an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.” We don’t need another charismatic Democrat or plutocratic Republican or politically naïve corporate titan to run for president.

Did Trump's competing rally with Beto O'Rourke help the upstart Democrat's 2020 changes? We talk to Todd Gilman and Garrett Haake. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines, as well as informed…

Good Tuesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. The deal, which would stave off another partial government shutdown, appears to be a significant victory for Democrats. It still must pass the House and Senate, and secure the president’s signature. In a bit of political theater, Beto O’Rourke was holding his own rally less than a mile away. • Critics called Hillary Clinton “shrill” and “unlikable” in 2016. It’s no coincidence that the same words are being used against Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris as they campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Here’s how sexism plays out on the campaign trail. • Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota apologized for insinuating that American support for Israel is fueled by money from a pro-Israel lobby group — a comment that drew condemnation from fellow Democrats. • Cliff Sims, the former White House communications aide who wrote an insider account about working for Mr. Trump, is suing the president in his official capacity, alleging that he used his campaign organization to keep former employees from invoking their First Amendment rights.