Freshman Senator Ron Johnson looks to be one of the most vulnerable and, by most accounts, dumbest senators up for reelection this year. I caught wind of some Republican lobbyist/donors basically washing their hands of him a few months ago after hearing his plan to run hard on the SCOTUS blockade in his battle for reelection. It’s debatable how much harm the blockade will do Republicans in November (I think a fair amount); but no one who’s not an imbecile thinks it’s going to be a help in a blue or purple state election.
I mentioned last week that Donald Trump’s pledge to deport all undocumented immigrants in the country – 11 million people or about 3% of the population – in 18 months has largely dropped out of the national news narrative even though we still hear about the Muslim ban and the border wall almost every day. That doesn’t mean no one is talking about it, of course. I know people are. But I’m talking about the elite news media narrative, what’s getting asked and discussed and so forth.
I want to find out more about where Members of Congress, Governors and major candidates for those offices stand on this issue. As I wrote last week, in immediate terms, it’s the most consequential of Trump’s major policy proposals in terms of human suffering, economic consequences, constitutional violations. So where do people stand? If you see press references to anyone in the group noted above getting asked about this question, answering in support or opposition, please drop us a line at our main comments address which is linked just below the TPM logo at the top of the page.
A GOP consultant tells Lauren Fox that Trump is worse for down ballot Republicans than Obama was for down ballot Dems in 2014: “Honestly, we are in such uncharted waters. We have never had anyone like this before ever. I cannot think of anything that is even remotely close to this. Everyone has to feel this thing out on their own.”
More from Lauren on how Senate Republicans up for re-election are feeling their way forward in the new Trump terrain.
There’s been a lot of anti-Semitism hovering around the Trump campaign, if not necessarily from Trump himself. So I guess it was no surprise to see weirdness bubbling up from Trump’s house organ, Breitbart.com. But I confess even I surprised by this headline “Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew“.
Renegade Jew?
Supreme Court issues surprise opinion in big Obamacare contraceptive mandate case.
News comes today that Donald Trump is digging in his heels on not releasing his tax returns ever, telling George Stephanopoulos “it’s none of your business” how much tax he pays or at what rate. But last night TPM Reader JJ sent in a link to a … well, it’s just a harrowing revelation that makes me think that actually releasing his tax returns could be like heading to the ego guillotine for Trump.
Some clever sleuthing by Crain’s New York Business reveals that Mr Trump, as members of the entourage call him, qualified for a tax break that requires your income be less than $500,000 a year. Yes, if you make more than half a million dollars a year, you can’t qualify. But Trump did qualify.
I’m looking for a new member of the TPM team to work directly with me on a new project we’re launching. I don’t want to go into great detail about the project in this post. But I can give you a pretty good sense of the sort of person we are looking for, the kind of knowledge and professional experience required. Are you a DC based journalist or a congressional staffer interested in a cool new opportunity? If so, join me after the jump for some more details. And if you’re intrigued, drop me a line to discuss.
Muslim-smashin’, Mexican-bashin’ tough guy Donald Trump seems to have been caught red-handed denying that he impersonated a non-existent spokesman to tell reporters how awesome he is. (Meet Trump Organization spokesman John Miller, who you can’t meet because he doesn’t exist.) Trump denied this notwithstanding the fact that he admitted to doing this in a legal deposition years ago. The story was bubbling all day. But when The Washington Post (attack organ run by Trump Arch-Nemesis Jeff Bezos) confronted him with the deception on the phone, he first went silent on the reporters and then hung up.
Katherine Krueger put together a list of the biggest extremists and freaks on Trump’s various state delegates lists. We’ve heard a lot about the California white nationalist leader. But there’s another Trump delegate – officially an alternate – currently in jail awaiting trial in February 2017 on various charges of conspiring against the US government, assaulting a federal officer and more. The judge in the case has denied him bail. So if he’s going to be in Cleveland it’ll probably have to be by teleconference from the federal jail cell. Who’s your favorite Trump delegate extremist? Here’s our list.
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