The following article by Lorraine Woellert and Marianne Levine was posted on the Politico website July 31, 2018:
If businesses shift significant support away from Republicans, it could deal a blow to GOP fundraising. But some Democrats are skeptical that the talk will translate into cash for their campaigns.
Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips (left) said that the political network would not help Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) in his Senate race against Democratic incumbent Heidi Heitkamp, citing inconsistencies on a range of Koch priorities. Credit: Andrew Harnik, AP Photo
Business groups, at war with President Donald Trump over trade and immigration, say they’re taking steps to rebuild the political center — including taking fresh looks at moderate Democrats.
The American Bankers Association this month began airing ads in support of candidates for the first time, including Democrats Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Rep. Lou Correa of California. The International Franchise Association has more than doubled its support to Democrats this cycle, with 27 percent of its donations going to centrists in the party. TheU.S. Chamber of Commerce, which leans heavily Republican, endorsed Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey over Republican John McCann, who has the support of former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka.
Even the powerful Koch network appears to be withholding some support for the Republican Party, if not outright supporting Democrats. Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said at a donor retreat Monday that the political network would not help Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) in his Senate race against Democratic incumbent Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), citing inconsistencies on a range of Koch priorities.
The following article by Stuart Rothenberg was posted on the Roll Call website July 24, 2018:
From Fox News to NBC News & the Wall Street Journal, the numbers aren’t good for GOP
President Trump isn’t losing many of his base of support among Republicans, but Democrats don’t need them to win the majority. Credit: Sarah Silbiger, CQ Roll Call
Analysis — If you trust the July 9-11 Fox News poll and the July 15-18 NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey — and I have no reason not to — the GOP still looks headed for a difficult election and the likely loss of the House.
No, President Donald Trump’s voters are not fleeing him, and his personal poll numbers have not cratered even after his behavior at the NATO summit in Belgium and his Helsinki meeting with Vladimir Putin. So, maybe he really could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters. But that says something about Trump’s supporters, not the overall electorate.
Unfortunately for Republicans, the combination of national and state polling continues to show the party’s vulnerability as November approaches.
Americans trust Democrats over Republicans to address rising health care costs by a 14-point margin. It’s clear why: Half of Americans are already struggling to afford health care this year. Instead of working to reduce costs, Trump and Republican are enacting policies that are causing health care premiums to skyrocket, but Democrats are fighting back.
Democrats are fighting back against Trump’s efforts to take away protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
The Hill: “Dems pressure GOP to take legal action supporting pre-existing conditions”
The following article by Edward-Isaac Dovere was posted on the Politico.com website June 29, 2018:
In his first public comments in months, the former president talks about anger, regrets — and what the Republicans are doing right.
“All these people that are out here kvetching and wringing their hands and stressed and anxious and constantly watching cable TV and howling at the moon, ‘What are we going to do?,’ their hair’s falling out, they can’t sleep,” former President Barack Obama said Thursday. “The majority of the American people prefer a story of hope.” Credit: Hannah Peters/Getty Images
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Barack Obama’s message to Democrats: Stop dreaming of him.
Speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Thursday here in the lush backyard of two party megadonors, Obama warned of a country and world on the brink — “you are right to be concerned,” he told the crowd — but said they’d flub their chance to change that if they kept pining for a magical savior.
“Do not wait for the perfect message, don’t wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you’re expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, ‘OK, I’ll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote,’” Obama said in his first public comments in months, which only a few reporters and no cameras were allowed in for. “Because that’s part of what happened in the last election. I heard that too much.”
“Boil it down,” Obama said, reiterating an argument he made on the campaign trail for Ralph Northam in 2017 about the existential challenge Trump poses to America. “If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work.”
He almost accepted some of the blame for the state of the party, though he framed it less as the DNC atrophying from years of benign neglect while he was in the White House and being saddled with his reelection campaign debt and more as people making the mistake of falling too much in love with him. Continue reading “Obama: ‘You are right to be concerned’”
Recognizing that hundreds of thousands of sympathetic young immigrants could be deported under his watch, he’s on a tear to blame Democrats for a deal’s falling through. Trump has declared the deal dead and then blamed Democrats for it at least three times in the past 24 hours. Continue reading “Why Trump’s attempt to blame Democrats for ending DACA is falling flat”
The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website January 30, 2018:
Pair of Democrats attending ‘State of OUR Union’ with women’s rights activists instead
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., is slated to speak at an event of women activists Tuesday night instead of attending President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
At least 11 Democratic lawmakers will skip President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address Tuesday.
Instead, at least two of those absentees plan to take part in a separate event in Washington, the “State of OUR Union,” put on by leading women activists to “offer an alternative view and vision for the country” from Trump’s.
Rep. Judy Chu had been on the speakers list but is attending Trump’s State of the Union address, a spokesman confirmed.
The event planners hope to “address the persistent gender inequality and ‘crisis of leadership’” they believe is harming America, they said in a statement on Monday.
Jayapal and the 10 other lawmakers who have announced they will boycott Trump’s speech Tuesday night cited the president’s caustic and often controversial rhetoric — especially with regard to race — as the primary reason for their no-show.
Watch: Three Things to Look For During Trump’s First Official State of the Union
“This president has consistently indicated that he has no interest in leading a unified country,” Jayapal said in a statement earlier this month. “He has gone out of his way to play to a small and shrinking base of voters by using language that diminishes and demeans vast swaths of people in our own country and around the world. He does and says things that none of us, as parents, would condone for our children.”
Trump uses language that is “outright racist,” Jayapal added.
The “State of OUR Union” program at the National Press Club Tuesday is a gesture to “resist this racism and put forward our own progressive vision for our beloved country,” Jayapal said.
Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women. He has denied every such allegation against him.
Skipping the State of the Union address, while rare, is not without precedent.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas missed President Barack Obama’s final SOTU speech in January 2016 because he was campaigning for president in New Hampshire.
The following article by Scott Clement was posted on the Washington Post website January 19,2018:
Lawmakers have been busy pointing fingers at who’s to blame for the impasse. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
By a 20-point margin, more Americans blame President Trump and Republicans rather than Democrats for a potential government shutdown, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
A 48 percent plurality says Trump and congressional Republicans are mainly responsible for the situation resulting from disagreements over immigration laws and border security, while 28 percent fault Democrats. A sizable 18 percent volunteer that both parties are equally responsible. Political independents drive the lopsided margin of blame, saying by 46 to 25 percent margin that Republicans and Trump are responsible for the situation. Continue reading “More Americans blame Republicans than Democrats for potential government shutdown, Post-ABC poll finds”
