January 1, 2020: The Race for the White House

Sen. Kamala Harris Draws 20,000 People at Oakland Rally

Sen. Harris told the crowd, estimated to be larger than President Obama’s campaign launch rally, “We are at an inflection point in the history of our nation. We are here because the American Dream and our American democracy are under attack and on the line like never before.”

Democrats Balk at Fmr. Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz White House Bid

Howard Shultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, announced on CBS’s 60 Minutes that he is “seriously thinking of running for president” as “a centrist independent candidate.”

According to the Atlantic, “Democratic operatives working for presidential candidates and beyond say they’re worried that the only thing he’ll accomplish is making sure Donald Trump gets reelected.”

Tina Podlodowski, the Democratic Party chairwoman in Washington state, told the USA Today, “I think to be running as in independent in this particular cycle is not a wise thing to do,” Podlodowski said.

Hillary Won’t Rule Out Another Run

Hillary Clinton apparently hasn’t given up on her dream of working in the Oval Office. According to CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, “Clinton is telling people that she’s not closing the doors to the idea of running in 2020.” Zeleny added that he’s been “told by three people that as recently as this week, she was telling people that look, given all this news from the indictments, particularly the Roger Stone indictment, she talked to several people, saying ‘look, I’m not closing the doors to this.’”

Open and Shut ?

Federal workers and contractors head back to their jobs today for the first time in more than a month. But the president’s standoff with Democrats on Capitol Hill is far from over. The spending bill Trump signed on Friday to temporarily end the partial government shutdown expires on Feb. 15.  And there’s very little optimism that anything will get done over the next three weeks.

Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he doesn’t think the negotiators will strike a deal that he’d accept. He pledged to build a wall anyway using his executive powers to declare a national emergency if necessary.

“I personally think it’s less than 50-50, but you have a lot of very good people on that board,” Trump said in an interview with the Journal.

This as 63% of American say the country is on the ‘wrong track’ according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll.

“The poll — conducted before a deal was reached Friday to temporarily reopen the government — also finds President Donald Trump continuing to receive poor marks from the public as he begins his third year in office, with a majority disapproving of his job and just a third having confidence in his policies and personal characteristics.”

Brokaw Apologizes for “Brown Grandbabies” Comment

During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, Brokaw and the show’s panel discussed some of the more uncomfortable aspects of the immigration debate. Deadline Hollywood quoted Brokaw: “Well, I don’t know whether I want brown grand-babies.’ That’s also a part of it, the intermarriage that’s going on and the cultures that are conflicting with each other. I also happen to believe that the Hispanics should work harder at assimilation. … You know, they ought not to be just codified in their communities but make sure that all their kids are learning to speak English and that they feel comfortable in the communities. And that’s going to take outreach on both sides, frankly.”

Brokaw apologized on Twitter, saying, “I feel terrible a part of my comments on Hispanics offended some members of that proud culture.”

U.S. Military Options for Venezuela?

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told Axios Sunday, “that as recently as a couple of weeks ago Trump mused about the possibility of using military force in Venezuela, where the U.S. government is currently pushing for regime change using diplomatic and economic pressures.”

“Graham, recalling his conversation with Trump a couple weeks ago, said: “

He  (Trump)  said, ‘What do you think about using military force?’ and I said, ‘Well, you need to go slow on that, that could be problematic.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m surprised, you want to invade everybody.'”

Graham laughed. “And I said, ‘I don’t want to invade everybody, I only want to use the military when our national security interests are threatened.'”
“Trump’s really hawkish” on Venezuela, the hawkish Graham added in a phone interview on Sunday afternoon, adding that Trump was even more hawkish than he was on Venezuela.”

The Washington Times, published a statement from Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel that said, ”I urge the administration to take an approach that supports the Venezuelan people, protects American lives, helps ease the humanitarian crisis, respects human rights, and avoids violence.”

Polar Vortex Brings Deadly Cold to Heartland

The Chicago Tribune reports that “by Tuesday night, temperatures are expected to take another plunge, to 23 below zero, flirting with Chicago’s coldest temperature ever: minus 27 on Jan. 20, 1985.”