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IMPEACHMENT UPDATE … Donald J. Trump is still President of the United States.
DEMS TRY TO BEAT MIDNIGHT MITCH AT HIS OWN GAME … "Steyer, Soros-Funded Groups Part of New Coalition Launched to Attack McConnell," by WFB’s Joe Schoffstall: Despite their focus on "inequality," the groups behind Fix Our Senate are themselves fueled by some of the wealthiest and most powerful donors to the Democratic party … It also indicates that these groups see [Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell—who has repeatedly frustrated the left's agenda in the Senate—as a prime target in November …
Fix Our Senate will be registered as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which will allow it to hide the identity of its donors.
AGAINST IT BEFORE THEY WERE FOR IT … "Majority Of Top 2020 Democrats Backed By Outside Groups As Early Primaries Near," via OPEN SECRETS: Democratic presidential candidates started their race to the White House with the promise to reject support from outside groups.
But with just a few days left till the early primaries, yet another TV ad campaign by an outside group––this time in support of former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg––indicates the 2020 Democrats are opening up to outside money. Three of the top five candidates are refusing to disavow outside groups spending on their behalf.
HOW SAY IRONY IN CHEROKEE? … "Elizabeth Warren proposes criminal penalties for spreading voting disinformation online," via CNBC: "Disinformation and online foreign interference erode our democracy, and Donald Trump has invited both," Warren said in a Tweet Wednesday. "Anyone who seeks to challenge and defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 election must be fully prepared to take this on—and I’ve got a plan to do it."
Warren proposed to combat disinformation by holding big tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google responsible for spreading misinformation designed to suppress voters from turning out.
SWAMPSPEAK … "Schumer on the likelihood of witnesses: ‘Probably no.’," via NYT: [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer] maintained he held out hope that enough Republican senators would agree.
"Is it more likely than not?" he said. "Probably no. But is it a decent, good chance? Yes."
YOU KNOW WHAT’S COOL? A SECOND TERM … "Trump’s Digital Advantage Is Freaking Out Democratic Strategists," via NYT: Republicans "have a big advantage this time," Ben Nuckels, a Democratic media consultant said in a phone interview. "They not only have all the data from 2016 but they have been building this operation into a nonstop juggernaut." …
Tara McGowan, executive director of the recently created pro-Democratic group Acronym … replied to my questions by email: "There’s no digital dark magic being deployed by Brad Parscale and the Trump campaign. They just have near unlimited resources and are spending them wisely to reach their voters where they are—online, and especially on platforms like Facebook."
YOU’LL GET ‘EM NEXT TIME, OR THE NEXT TIME, OR THE NEXT TIME …"The Humbling of Texas Democrats," via THE ATLANTIC: Republicans [Tuesday] swamped Democrats in what one progressive group had hyped as "the most important special election since the midterms," winning by 16 points a key state legislative race that both parties had viewed as a test run for the much bigger campaign this fall …
Former representative Beto O’Rourke, who nearly carried the district in his close Senate race in 2018, campaigned aggressively for [Eliz] Markowitz after dropping his own White House bid in the fall. Yet she not only failed to match O’Rourke’s performance two years ago against Senator Ted Cruz, she fell short of the 43 percent of the vote that Hillary Clinton earned in the district in 2016.
FAILED EXEC TO GET GOLDEN PARACHUTE … "The DNC Approved And Kept Private A Generous Exit Package For Tom Perez And Two Top Deputies," via BUZZFEED: Outside the party’s budget and finance committee, DNC leadership who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they were astounded to learn that on the eve of the presidential primary, and at a time when the Democratic Party is facing a tremendous fundraising deficit, plans were being made to propose a generous compensation package for Perez and such a select group of his top deputies.
"I think it is completely short-sighted and really stupid," one senior official said.
CHAI TIMES … "Russian President Putin signed decree to pardon Naama Issachar," via JERUSALEM POST: Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday to pardon Naama Issachar, who was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for possession and smuggling of drugs, the Kremlin [said] in a statement …
Issachar, 26, is an Israeli-American who was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in Russia after 9.5 grams of cannabis were found in [her] suitcase during a stopover in Moscow en route home to Israel from a trip to India.
CNN MAKES IN-KIND CONTRIBUTION TO TRUMP VICTORY … "RNC Releases Ad Showing CNN Panel Mocking Trump Voters as ‘Rubes’: ‘They Think You’re a Joke’," via NRO: The Republican National Committee released an ad on Tuesday using footage of a CNN contributor mocking Trump voters as "credulous rubes." …
In the CNN segment, contributor Rick Wilson says the Trump administration is "defined by ignorance of the world" and referred to the "credulous boomer rube demo that backs Donald Trump." Anchor Don Lemon bends over laughing in response to Wilson’s jibes.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER … "Tlaib Donor Praised Terror Backer Who Called for New Holocaust," by WFB’s Camerone Cawthorne: Salah Sarsour, an alleged Hamas sympathizer who once boasted about meeting a Muslim Brotherhood leader known for advocating violence against Jews, donated $1,000 to Tlaib's reelection campaign on Dec. 12, the Federal Election Commission's website shows …
In 2016, Sarsour posted a clip on his personal Facebook page of al-Qaradawi speaking … During a 2009 speech that aired on Al Jazeera, al-Qaradawi said he wants Muslims to be responsible for the next Holocaust, adding he "will shoot Allah’s enemies, the Jews, and they will throw a bomb at me, and thus I will seal my life with martyrdom."
DOZENS OF VOTES AT STAKE … "Supporting Sanders a Bridge Too Far for (Some) Never Trump Republicans," by WFB’s Andrew Stiles: The Lincoln Project, launched recently by a group of failed Republican strategists and Kellyanne Conway's husband, stated explicitly that its goal was to "ensure a victory in the Electoral College" for the Democratic presidential candidate.
They hoped that candidate would be former vice president Joe Biden, who still has a shot at winning, but a Sanders nomination is looking increasingly likely. Trump has already caused many of his former-Republican opponents—Max Boot, Jennifer Rubin, and Matthew Dowd, among others—to lose their minds. There would be a certain poetry to watching them become shills for a socialist who spent his honeymoon in the Soviet Union.
DAYS SINCE JOE BIDEN DID A SUNDAY SHOW: 1,145. Come back, Joe!
"You know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden." —Former President Barack Obama
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