Month: February 2020
After Iowa, Sanders Is Ascendant
37%
The FiveThirtyEight forecast now shows Bernie Sanders with a 37% chance at winning the Democratic nomination, followed by Joe Biden at 21%, Elizabeth Warren at 10% and Pete Buttigieg at 6%. There is also a 27% chance no one will receive a majority of delegates, which would mean a contested convention.
What the Acquitters Admit in Private
“In private, many of my colleagues agree that the president is reckless and unfit. They admit his lies. And they acknowledge what he did was wrong. They know this president has done things Richard Nixon never did. And they know that more damning evidence is likely to come out. … I have asked some of them, ‘If the Senate votes to acquit, what will you do to keep this president from getting worse?’ Their responses have been shrugs and sheepish looks.”
— Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Trump’s SOTU a Ratings Disaster
-25%
President Trump’s State of the Union address drew a considerably smaller audience on the broadcast networks — down about 25% from the comparable figure last year, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
At Least 138 Deported from the U.S. to El Salvador Were Murdered
138
Associated Press: “At least 138 people deported to El Salvador from the U.S. in recent years were subsequently killed, Human Rights Watch says in a new report that comes as the Trump administration makes it harder for Central Americans to seek refuge here. … The organization also confirmed at least 70 cases of sexual assault or other violence following their arrival in the country.”
An Exoneration Without Representation
18 million
Ari Berman: “The 48 Senators who voted to convict President Trump represent 18 million more Americans than 52 Republicans who voted to acquit.”
Buttigieg’s Previous Vote Support Eclipses Biden’s
You know what bothers me about the Biden electability argument? Numbers.
The last time Biden was on a ballot by himself was his 2008 Senate re-election campaign. Biden was running in Delaware, the country’s 46th state in population, against Christine O’Donnell. You remember Christine O’Donnell:
Biden triumphed over O’Donnell with 65 percent of the vote. You could not be blamed for wondering, what with people’s witch lineage in question, why that percentage wasn’t even higher. He was an entrenched incumbent running for his sixth term and 35 percent of Delawarians voted against Biden in favor of someone who paid for an ad to tell them she wasn’t a witch but was in fact them.*
Off His Pace
The Senate has acquitted him of misdemeanors and high crimes,
But Donald Trump still has us watching closely for dementia signs.
In his State of the Union
We detected some confusion —
During the whole 78 minutes of speaking, he only lied 31 times.
