Tag: Tom Steyer

2020 Presidential candidate Tom Steyer joins The Beat to discuss missing the September debate by one poll. Steyer slams the DNC for their decision to block a virtual caucus, arguing it was ‘a terrible decision,’ claiming it does not help…

Billionaire Tom Steyer, the latest Democratic presidential candidate, unveils his climate plan and talks Trump impeachment with Chris Hayes. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives.…

Suddenly, the term “spying” was declared as categorically exclusive of any intelligence surveillance. He explained that he did not just get the conclusions of Robert Mueller but that the basic findings had been disclosed weeks earlier. It did not matter that Rosenstein described the questioning of the intentions of Barr or the necessity for redactions as “completely bizarre” and that, in his view, Barr has been “as forthcoming as he can.” The narrative has continued unabated, and billionaire Tom Steyer has even funded a national commercial repeating how ridiculous it is that Barr could have determined the conclusions of the special counsel report in just two days. Senator Jeanne Shaheen asked why the attorney general was evidently looking into the basis for the secret investigation into the 2016 campaign. Barr explained that he was concerned about any kind of spying, foreign or domestic, on our political process. Indeed, Democrats and the media have used the terms interchangeably, until another language change was spontaneously declared this week. “Wiretapping” was previously often used as a generality for surveillance. The media discussed whether Trump was guilty of collusion, despite there being no such crime in the federal code. Speech codes are now common and the meaning of terms is based on how language is received rather than intended. In the same way, it does not matter that what Barr meant was reasonable or that he immediately clarified “wiretapping” as “improper surveillance.” It was important to portray as an absurdity any suggestion of the Obama administration spying on a Republican campaign, even though two key officials were targeted during the campaign.

Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington, has announced he is running for president, declaring himself the “only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation’s number one priority”. “And we’re the last who can do something about it.” Inslee, 68, is the first sitting governor to join the 2020 race, which has thus far been dominated by US senators. His announcement followed months of speculation over Inslee’s intentions and marks yet another entry into what is already a sprawling Democratic field. “Our country’s next mission must be to rise up to the most urgent challenge of our time – defeating climate change,” he says in the launch video, which features old footage of him raising the issue on the floor if the House, where he served as a congressman for seven terms. “This crisis isn’t just a chart or graph any more. The impacts are being felt everywhere.” Climate change has become an increasingly galvanizing force for Democrats, with grassroots groups and figures such as congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly elected democratic socialist from New York, calling for a “Green New Deal”. Washington also joined a coalition of left-leaning states to sue the Trump administration over its family separation policy and, more recently, to block the president’s emergency declaration to build a border wall without permission from Congress. As the chair of the Democratic Governors Association last year, Inslee traveled the country campaigning and raising money for his party’s gubernatorial candidates during the 2018 midterm elections. It proved a fruitful endeavor: Democrats flipped seven governors’ mansions in the November midterms, including high-profile victories in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Kansas. The US representative from Hawaii Tulsi Gabbard, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor, Pete Buttigieg, and the former San Antonio mayor Julián Castro are also vying for the top of the party’s 2020 ticket; and the former vice-president Joe Biden and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke are being closely watched for possible announcements in the coming days or weeks.

Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, has ended months of speculation by announcing that he will not run for the US presidency in 2020. “I have decided not to throw my hat into the ring to run for president in 2020,” the mayor told reporters on Tuesday outside Los Angeles city hall. “This was not an easy decision, given the extraordinary times that we live in.” But explaining his decision to remain in his current job, the 57-year-old added: “I realised that this is what I am meant to do and this is where I want to be.” The announcement came days after Garcetti helped negotiate an end to a teachers’ strike in Los Angeles public schools. It may represent good news for Senator Kamala Harris of California, who could have faced competition from Garcetti for the state’s donors and in the California primary, planned for March 2020. His $2.5m-plus in party fundraising included $100,000 each for the state parties in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina – which happen to be the first four nominating states in the Democratic primary. But Garcetti would have faced significant hurdles on the way to the White House. At rallies, Republican leaders have increasingly whipped up hostility towards California liberals in general and Hollywood in particular. They would have been likely to accuse Garcetti of presiding over a homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. Senators Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have all entered the race, along with Congressman John Delaney of Maryland, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and the tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang. Many more candidates are expected to join.

Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, was the biggest outside spender aiding Democratic House candidates. Cheryl Senter/Associated Press A week before the Nov. 6 election, Kendra Horn, a Democratic House candidate in Oklahoma, received unexpected good news from her television consultant: Michael R. Bloomberg’s political action committee, a leading supporter of Democratic candidates, had purchased more than $400,000 in advertising on Oklahoma City television. Mr. Bloomberg’s organization in many ways mirrors the Senate and House majority PACs that raise and spend money to support individual candidates, focusing on close and winnable races. When the final reports are filed next month, Mr. Bloomberg’s organization says they will show that the former mayor and his organizations spent $44 million on television ads and another $12 million on digital advertising in support of House candidates. Records show that more than $30 million of Mr. Bloomberg’s spending on House races came after Oct. 22. “I had a budget,’’ Mr. Wolfson said. Ten days before the election, polling commissioned by Mr. Bloomberg’s organization showed Ms. Horn trailing by five points. There had been little outside spending in the campaign. Advertising in the Oklahoma City market is relatively inexpensive. Using those metrics, Mr. Bloomberg’s operation was able to identify successful digital ads that they could move to television.

As odd as it sounds, political parties in democracies have an important anti-democratic function. Long before voters decided anything in the primary or general elections, party bosses worked to groom good candidates, weed out bad ones, organize interests, and frame issues. We’ve only taken the parties out of politics.” Outside groups — the National Rifle Association, Planned Parenthood, unions, etc. “Until the 1960s, the national convention was a communications medium,” Barone writes. Today, political conventions are little more than infomercials for presidential candidates. Opinion websites and TV and radio hosts now do more to shape issues and select candidates than the parties do. McConnell’s point about money in politics is analogous to the larger trend. When you take political power out of the parties, other actors seize it. It’s why the cable-news networks spend so much of their time rallying voters in one direction or another. There are other, larger forces at work.

Written by Olivia Paschal (@oliviacpaschal) and Madeleine Carlisle (@maddiecarlisle2) Today in 5 Lines The Trump administration announced that the United States will reinstate sanctions on Iran that had previously been lifted under the Obama administration. Eight countries will receive temporary waivers allowing them to keep importing some oil from Iran. In a reversal from his comments Thursday, Trump said that U.S. troops will not shoot at migrants heading to the southern border if they throw rocks. The U.S. economy added 250,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent, a near 50-year low. Today on The Atlantic Mothers for Medicaid: In Georgia, where the mortality rate for black mothers and babies is one of the highest in the country, gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is promising to expand Medicaid. Her embrace of the issue could make the difference in the governor's race. (Vann R. Newkirk II) What Voters Want: Health care is the single most important issue in the midterm elections, writes Annie Lowrey. How the Midterms Could Change North Carolina: The state’s Republican-controlled legislature is trying to change the constitution. (Susie Armitage, ProPublica) An Endless War: Earlier this week, the Trump administration called for a ceasefire in Yemen’s civil war. See which are likely to go Republican and which are likely to go Democratic.

The Democratic donor Tom Steyer on Sunday denounced as antisemitic a now-deleted tweet from Kevin McCarthy, the No2 Republican in the House of Representatives, that said Steyer and two other wealthy donors were trying to buy the November midterm elections. Then Pittsburgh happened | Cas Mudde Read more McCarthy’s tweet, posted on Tuesday and deleted the next day, was captured in images on media sites. “We cannot allow Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg to BUY this election! #MAGA,” McCarthy wrote. “I think that there – that is a classic attempt to separate Americans. I think that absolutely falls into the category of what I’m describing as political violence.“ Steyer spoke a day after a gunman killed 11 Jewish worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in what the Anti-Defamation League said was the deadliest attack ever on the Jewish community in the US. The suspect made antisemitic remarks to police. Trump condemned the attack and antisemitism. Steyer, who is well known for his ads calling for Trump’s impeachment, said he did not blame Trump for the shooting, “but I’m absolutely associating and blaming him for creating the atmosphere that exists”. Cesar Sayoc: details of pipe bomb suspect's past emerge before court date Read more He said the Republican party has created a politically violent atmosphere and accused Trump himself of lawlessness.

Law enforcement source says authorities are investigating two packages in California, one sent to Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, the other addressed to billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer; Jonathan Hunt reports from Los Angeles. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour…