Day: June 15, 2017

GOP Risking 2018 on Trump Play

Buck Banks

“Scandals have typically operated as a cloud over a president’s agenda. But the Russia-related legal challenges swirling around President Trump are functioning more like a cloak for his joint agenda with congressional Republicans. That difference captures the GOP’s decision to govern in a manner aimed almost entirely at stoking their hard-core base—a critical calculation that could determine their fate in the 2018 election, and possibly the 2020 contest, as well.”

— Ron Brownstein

Australian PM Mock Trump

Buck Banks

“It was beautiful. It was the most beautiful putting-me-at-ease ever. The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much. We are winning like we have never won before.”

— Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in a leaked recording mocking President Trump, “the latest awkward episode between two allied leaders whose relationship had gotten off to a rocky start,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Two-Thirds Say Trump Doesn’t Respect Democratic Traditions

Buck Banks

65%

A new AP-NORC poll finds 65% of Americans think President Trump “doesn’t have much respect for the country’s democratic institutions and traditions or has none at all. Just a third of Americans, or 34%, thinks he has a great deal or even a fair amount of respect for them.” Overall, 64% disapprove and just 35% approve of his job performance.