Welcome to the Washington Free Beacon’s morning newsletter, your comprehensive briefing on the Enemies of Freedom. To get this newsletter sent straight to your inbox every morning, sign up here.
HILLARY DIDN’T HAVE THESE PROBLEMS … "High anxiety: Jittery Democrats fear their candidate won't beat Trump," via NBC NEWS: The offer: A $1 million check from a major Democratic donor to a major Democratic group. The one condition: The money would be refunded if Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren becomes the party's nominee.
That offer was rejected, according to an official familiar with it, but it was indicative of the larger anxiety felt by many in the Democratic Party's elite circles about the state of the 2020 Democratic presidential field. "Ninety to 95 percent of our donor base is terrified about Warren," said a prominent Democratic official.
#METOO … "Dem Voter: When I Hear Warren Talk, ‘I Want to Slap Her’," by WFB’s Andrew Kugle: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) should keep her distance from Democratic voter Janice Williamson.
"When I hear her talk, I want to slap her, even if I agree with her," Williamson, a Massachusetts resident, told FiveThirtyEight.
Williamson was attending a campaign event for South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg when FiveThirtyEight asked her about several 2020 Democratic candidates. She expressed interest in Buttigieg because she considers him electable.
SOME STAFFERS DID SOMETHING … "Ilhan Omar calls out Buttigieg campaign for Douglass Plan stock photo: 'Not ok or necessary'," via THE HILL: "This is not ok or necessary," Omar tweeted, linking to a tweet by The Intercept D.C. bureau chief Ryan Grim, who first highlighted the use of the photo, saying the unnamed woman had "reached out to me very confused." …
Omar has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
SAY CHEESE … "Mayor Pete Was Totally ‘That Guy’ Posing At Holocaust Memorial," via FORWARD: Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg was criticized on social media on Sunday after a 2017 photo was resurfaced that showed him posing at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial.
THE YOUNG JERK … "LA County Democratic Party Says Cenk Uygur ‘Does Not Belong in Congress’," via THE WRAP: In the LA County Democratic Party’s statement, the group pointed to Uygur’s comments on incest; derogatory statements about the Jewish, Muslim, and LGBTQ communities; and sexist statements he’s made toward women that were first uncovered by the Wrap.
In a 2017 interview with the Wrap, Uygur had apologized for his past graphic remarks about women, which included a claim that women were genetically "flawed" because they don’t want to have sex frequently enough.
HIGHER TAXES - JOBS = 2020 DEMOCRATS … "Study: 2020 Dem Tax Hikes Could Eliminate 413,000 Jobs," by WFB’s Yuichiro Kakutani: Former vice president Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), and other 2020 Democratic hopefuls have pledged to reverse President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and hike corporate tax rates to as high as 35 percent to fund expensive government programs. Such policies will discourage corporate investment, thereby limiting growth in wages, employment, and productivity, according to an analysis from the Tax Foundation.
WINDBAG BREAKS WIND … "Eric Swalwell Denies Ripping An Absolutely Enormous Fart On National Television," via BUZZFEED: The Democrat, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, appeared to react to the fart with a brief pause, while attempting not to smile.
As the clip of Swalwell quickly circulated on the internet, some began to speculate that the California representative was the one behind the loud flatulence.
But in a text to BuzzFeed News on Monday night, Swalwell denied having anything to do with it.
SIGNS OF WEAKNESS … "‘Maximum Pressure’ against Iran Shows Results," via NATIONAL REVIEW: Clearly Iran is not doing "just fine," as the headline of an article in Foreign Affairs put it two weeks ago. President Trump’s economic warfare campaign has divided the Iranian regime from an Iranian population tired of stagnation and proxy war.
That has made Iran increasingly desperate—violating the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to bully Europe into economic relief while lashing out against oil tankers, drones, and the Abqaiq oil facility in Saudi Arabia. So far, Trump has resisted military action in favor of cyberattacks and tightening sanctions. Iran is destabilized. It is also more dangerous.
RETORT DELIVERED … "FedEx blasts New York Times tax cut article, challenges publisher to debate," via CNBC: In a statement posted on the FedEx website, [FedEx CEO Frederick] Smith fumed that the Times article was a "factually incorrect story," and an "outrageous distortion of the truth" without pointing to specific inaccuracies.
Smith also took the Times to task for its own federal income tax payments, saying that that "unlike FedEx, the New York Times paid zero federal income tax in 2017 on earnings of $111 million, and only $30 million in 2018—18% of their pretax book income."
LIBERAL NEWS OUTLET ERASES ASIAN-AMERICAN FACE … "MSNBC Apologizes After Yet Again Ignoring Andrew Yang," by WFB’s David Rutz: This latest slip-up is not an isolated incident of media dismissal of Yang, whose signature policy idea is giving all American adults $1,000 a month.
In September, MSNBC referred to him in a graphic as "John Yang" before correcting. At the time, Yang tweeted out other examples of MSNBC graphics leaving him out in favor of lower-polling candidates.
DEMS FEAR SKILLED REPORTER COULD MODERATE DEBATE … "Politico, DNC at odds over Democratic debate moderator," via NBC NEWS: Politico’s decision to push for [chief political correspondent Tim] Alberta has rankled officials at the DNC, as well as some journalists at PBS and even Politico, the sources said. The reason: Alberta previously wrote for National Review, a conservative magazine, and has spent the bulk of his recent career chronicling the Republican party.
WOKE ‘CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ GOES BROKE … "Elizabeth Banks Says ‘Captain Marvel,’ ‘Wonder Woman’ Were Hits Because They Belong to ‘Male Genre’," via INDIEWIRE: Earlier this year, the Brie Larson-starring "Captain Marvel" grossed $426 million in the U.S. and over $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office. "Wonder Women" ended its summer 2017 run with $821 million worldwide. But Banks says these female-fronted comic book films are still tied to a large male genre.
"They’ll go and see a comic book movie with Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel because that’s a male genre," Banks told the Sun. "So even though those are movies about women, they put them in the context of feeding the larger comic book world, so it’s all about, yes, you’re watching a Wonder Woman movie but we’re setting up three other characters or we’re setting up ‘Justice League.’"
SLUSH FUND DRIES UP … "Clinton Foundation Reports $16.8 Million Loss in 2018," by WFB’s Andrew Stiles: In total, the organization has lost a staggering $32.9 million since Hillary Clinton's lifelong quest for the presidency crumbled to dust in November 2016.
Shockingly, the foundation's revenues have plummeted compared to the massive figures reported during Hillary's tenure as secretary of state (2009 to 2013), and during her campaign as the Democratic Party's essentially unchallenged presidential nominee in 2016.
DAYS SINCE JOE BIDEN DID A SUNDAY SHOW: 1,073. Come back, Joe!
"They have him in the candidate-protection program." —Fmr. Obama Chief Strategist David Axelrod
Thanks for reading! Send tips to rutz@freebeacon.com.