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23
First Read: “Trump mentioned Obama, his wife and ‘Obamacare’ 23 times in his interview on Meet the Press — when he was asked only four direct questions that involved the former president. … And some of those mentions contained outright falsehoods.”
22%
A new Associated Press-NORC poll finds just 22% of Democrats registered to vote say they know a lot about the presidential candidates’ positions, while 62% say they know a little. And only 35% say they’re paying close attention to the campaign, with almost two-thirds saying they’re paying some or no attention.
3
First Read notes that in less than three weeks, President Trump has made three different retreats: Reaching a deal with Mexico to avert tariffs – a deal that largely consisted of actions that Mexico had already agreed to; backing down on military strikes against Iran for shooting down a U.S. drone; delaying his plan for nationwide raids to deport undocumented immigrants.
“It is not a tenable strategy… His message is that he’s the guy who can beat Donald Trump and he is viewed as the least risky choice. Over time, if the only interactions he has is around these screwups and gaffes, then he is going to start losing that message.”
— David Axelrod, quoted by the Daily Beast, saying Joe’s Biden’s media avoidance strategy isn’t viable.
100
Nearly 100 internal Trump transition vetting documents leaked to Axios identify a host of “red flags” about officials who went on to get some of the most powerful jobs in the U.S. government.
20%
A new Daily Beast/Ipsos poll finds 20% of Democratic and independent men who responded to the survey said they agreed with the sentiment that women are “less effective in politics than men.” And while 74% of respondents claimed they were personally comfortable with a female president, only 33% believed their neighbors would be comfortable with a woman in the Oval Office.
15
“President Trump is facing a hurdle no other president has — an unprecedented onslaught of investigations into almost every recent organization he has led,” Politico reports. “In total, Trump faces at least 15 criminal or civil inquiries by nine federal, state and city agencies into his business, his charity, his campaign, his inaugural committee and his personal finances.”
“Of course, it’s the effect of having been exposed to danger,.. I think, also, some moral pressure. Any time, in any way, you are even remotely involved in killing, it takes something out of you, and it takes a lot of work to process that.”
— Pete Buttigieg, quoted by Axios, on experiencing depression returning from Afghanistan after a 7-month deployment in 2014.
50%
A new Fox News poll finds half of American voters say the Trump administration has “gone too far” on immigration enforcement. The 50% who say enforcement of immigration laws has “gone too far” is more than double, 24%, those who say actions haven’t gone far enough. About one in five say the measures are about right. By a wide majority — 73% to 24% — Americans favor giving legal status to young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, so-called Dreamers.
