I want to note something about this open letter from conservative activists asking Mitch McConnell and his leadership team to resign. Clearly, this is getting on a bandwagon of sorts with Trump’s growing war with not just Bob Corker but the Senate GOP generally. It’s similarly jumping on board Steve Bannon’s promised effort recruit primary opponents for a raft of GOP incumbents. One of the two things Bannon’s recruits would have to pledge is to vote against McConnell as Majority Leader. It’s that and get rid of the filibuster.

But look at the signatories.  Read More

Don’t take Trump’s threat to NBC’s “license” lightly.

We’re looking for the third member of our TPM Investigations Desk. That’s where we do our core iterative investigative reporting. 2018 is going to be a big year for this kind of work on many fronts so we’re looking for the right person. Interested? We want to hear from you. See our listing after the jump … Read More

Last night on Chris Hayes’ show, Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman suggested retired Generals Mattis and Kelly were discussing what they would do if President Trump made a “lunge” for the nuclear football. Would they tackle him? Restrain him. Sherman said he’d met with a “very prominent” Republican. Read More

Even a crumb is a gift to the starving. I don’t want to be misinterpreted. But the seeming bipartisan rush to pass a ban on “bump stocks” is a joke. For clarity, “bump stocks” are the aftermarket devices which can be used to change a semi-automatic weapon into the functional equivalent of a machine gun.  Read More

Back in December 2012, the day after the Newtown school massacre I got an email from a reader (TPM Reader SS) who talked about the ‘tactical’ turn which had taken place from the gun culture he grew up with in the 1970s and 1980s to the one that started coming into view in the 1990s. It’s shaped a lot of my thinking about the issue. Give it a read.

Here’s the key concluding line from Charlie Cook’s article on the Corker meltdown: “Last week’s news reduced the odds of the GOP retaining its majority from a good bet to even money.”

So Cook, one of the best known election predictors, says it’s 50/50 who controls the Senate after the 2018 midterm. Read More

For the last nine months – in some way for the last 28 months – we’ve been told there was some breaking point coming where President Trump’s hold over the GOP, his supporters or some mix of the two was about to come undone. I flagged a few articles last night that suggested something like that might be coming. I’m not suggesting some major rupture is afoot. But for a few different reasons, I do think this blow up with Bob Corker may be something new and different.

This is for two specific reasons: the 2018 election and tax reform. Read More

A few key articles to read for tomorrow (sub req.)

Laura Cutilletta joined the Law Center in May 2003. She is a prominent expert on gun laws and policy nationwide, and, in 2009, established programs to track, analyze, and report on firearms legislation and trends in all 50 states. Laura has worked for more than a decade with activists across the country and legislators at all levels of government, providing legal expertise and advice on legislative solutions to gun violence.

Laura will be joining us here in The Hive to discuss gun violence and gun control. Post your questions and join us on Wednesday! If you’d like to participate but don’t have TPM Prime, sign up here.