U.S. elections 2020 week ahead: a moment of “panic keys” for Senate Republicans
5. 48-ish days to VP:
Former Vice President Joe Biden said he would like to pick up his racing colleague by August 1 – which isn’t that long now!
Biden himself pulled back a little from his earlier armchair about armchairs about who was thinking and who wasn’t.
While she still occasionally offers praise to most of the aforementioned candidates – and his campaign holds virtual fundraising with politicians like New Mexico’s government Michelle Lujan Grisham – the former vice president is resisting a major political handicap these days.
Which means things are getting more serious.
4. How do Democrats dance around “Defund Police”?
What Democrats in Congress want to spend this week discussing a package of laws they introduced last week aimed at reforming the police – from banning government conflicts to building a national database on police negligence.
“No one is going to define the police. We can restructure the police force. Restructure, imagine the police. We will do that. The fact is that the police have a role to play.”
Which, politically speaking, is the right place for it. Many people support law enforcement reform. A much smaller back completely defends it.
The question before the Congressional Democrats is whether Clyburn’s stance on Sunday is enough for their party’s activist wing.
3. Trump and ramp:
Twitter went bananas, suggesting Trump looks old and fragile. Which, of course, is what Twitter does.
But then Trump decided to drastically boost the profile of the moment – and make it a MORE bigger story.
It’s hard to overestimate Trump’s miscalculations here. Without his tweet, the video of him walking down the ramp might be a small Sunday story. With a tweet, it’s a BIG story on Sunday, with the potential to penetrate the week that the president wants to be focused on relaunching his re-election campaign.
It is a catastrophic political instinct.
2. Restarting the Trump campaign:
It has been disastrous the last few weeks for Trump and his party. (See below). The president hopes that everything will change this week, and everything points to Saturday’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Although it has already been discovered (The rally was originally scheduled for Friday, June 19, known as June 19, the day that celebrates the end of slavery) Trump and his closest allies see a return to the campaign trail as perhaps something that can heal what damages the president’s political wealth.
But with the rise of the coronavirus – especially in the west and southwest – the news is likely to focus, at least in part, on weekly news that Trump will be holding a big rally at all.
However, there are no current plans to implement social distancing at rallies or mandate masks.
Well yes, Trump will probably get what he wants – a big crowd celebrating the “transition of the country to greatness”. But at what cost?
1. Press the panic button:
Late Saturday, the Des Moines Register released a poll on the Senate race in Iowa. And it was a shock.
And that’s a t-r-o-u-b-l-e for Senate Republicans hoping to retain its narrow majority this fall.
Why? Because there are a whole host of seats that independent handicaps consider the least vulnerable like Iowa.
Do the math: it’s nine places. In contrast, Cook rates only two Democratic cities – Alabama and Michigan – as competitive. And when you consider that Democrats only need to win three seats to get a majority if Biden wins the presidential race (and four if not), you can see why Republicans had very bad Saturday nights (and Sundays).
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