Year: 2020

Nancy Pelosi Is All In Against Trump

Buck Banks

“What is most striking about this moment in Pelosi’s career is that at the peak of power, she is not protecting her position but rather using it in aggressive, even risky ways. Impeaching Trump is a gamble for Pelosi. It has intensified Republicans’ fealty to the President, rallying his base and supercharging his campaign fundraising, potentially increasing his re-election chances. The polarizing effort could jeopardize Democrats who hold seats in Trump territory, and thereby endanger Pelosi’s House majority. With impeachment, Pelosi is betting her own place in history.”

— Molly Ball

GOP’s Lee: Iran Briefing was ‘Insulting’

Buck Banks

“It’s un-American, it’s unconstitutional, and it’s wrong.”

— Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) ripped the Trump administration for their briefing on why President Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassim Suleimani, CBS News reports. He added that it was “probably the worst briefing at least on a military issue I’ve seen” and said it was “insulting” to be told by administration officials not to debate merits of taking military action. Fox News cut away from Lee as he excoriated the administration.

The Rest of the World Doesn’t Trust Trump

Buck Banks

64%

A new Pew Research poll found 64% of countries surveyed said they do not have confidence that President Trump will do the “right thing” in world affairs. This sentiment is particularly strong in western Europe, where under 25% of people in Spain, France and Germany say they have confidence in Trump. The number is lowest in Mexico, where only 8% of people have confidence in Trump to do the “right thing” in world affairs.

The Trump Toadies’ Legacy

Buck Banks

“Whether these enablers joined his administration in earnest, or aided and abetted it from elite perches in politics, Congress, the media, or the private sector, they will be remembered for cheering on a leader whose record in government (thus far) includes splitting up immigrant families and incarcerating their children in cages; encouraging a spike in racist, xenophobic, and anti-Semitic vigilantes; leveraging American power to promote ethnic cleansing abroad and punish political opponents at home; actively inciting climate change and environmental wreckage; and surrendering America’s national security to an international rogue’s gallery of despots.”

— Frank Rich

Secret Silicon Valley Group Has Funneled $20 Million to Democrats

Buck Banks

$20 million

Recode: “A secretive group led by Stanford University academics has unleashed millions of dollars in political spending from Silicon Valley and is now convincing some of its biggest donors to spend millions more to back Democrats in 2020. … Mind the Gap, a network formed less than two years ago, has been quietly routing millions of dollars to Democratic candidates and groups across the country in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, emerging as a new power center in the Silicon Valley political scene.”