January 1, Trump Slammed for Taliban Meeting | Ex-SC Gov Starts 2020 Primary Challenge | Trump Family Planning Political Dynasty

This Day in History | 1776

Congress officially changes the name of the nation from the United Colonies to the United States of America

Good morning Middle Americans. 

Try as we might, sometimes you just can’t avoid Donald Trump in your newsletter. Today we have three stories for you. All of them are focused on the president or his family in one way or another.   He is the leader of the free world after all.  But his planned meeting with the Taliban on the week of 9/11 is getting some heat from Republicans as well as Democrats.  Also today, the president has another primary challenge in former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. And Trump’s current campaign manager is taking about a political “dynasty” for decades to come. Are you on board with that? Read all about it below.

Fraser Dixon

Trump Criticized by Both Sides for Planned Taliban Meeting

(LA Times) – “Camp David is where America’s leaders met to plan our response after al Qaeda, supported by the Taliban, killed 3000 Americans on 9/11. No member of the Taliban should set foot there. Ever,” tweeted Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who is third-ranking in GOP House leadership and the eldest daughter of Dick Cheney, who was vice president during the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Never should leaders of a terrorist organization that has not renounced 9/11 and continues in evil be allowed in our great country. Never. Full stop,” agreed Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), an Air Force veteran who served in Afghanistan.

Read more from the LA Times here

Ex-SC Gov. Mark Sanford to Challenge Trump in Primary

(Fox News) – “I am here to tell you now that I am going to get in,” Sanford said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

When asked why he was taking on an incumbent who’s popular within the party, Sanford said: “I think we need to have a conversation on what it means to be a Republican. I think that as the Republican Party, we have lost our way.”

Find out more from Fox News here

Campaign Manager: Trump Family Building Political ‘Dynasty’ for Decades to Come

(AP) – “The Trumps will be a dynasty that will last for decades, propelling the Republican Party into a new party,” he said. “One that will adapt to changing cultures. One must continue to adapt while keeping the conservative values that we believe in, ” said Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale. 

Parscale’s speech was a highlight of the weekend GOP conclave, in which party delegates sought to map out an election strategy in an increasingly Democratic state that Trump lost by over 4 million votes in 2016. Polls show the president remains widely unpopular outside California’s depleted GOP ranks.

Read more from the Associated Press here