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      Inside Steve Bannon’s ‘disturbing’ quest to radically rewrite the US constitution

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      Inside Steve Bannon’s ‘disturbing’ quest to radically rewrite the US constitution By taking over state legislatures, Republicans hope to pass conservative amendments that cannot be electorally challengedSteve Bannon, the former chief strategist in the Trump White House who is at the forefront of the Republican march toward hard-right populism, is throwing his weight behind a movement to radically rewrite the US constitution.Bannon has devoted recent episodes of his online show the War Room to a well-funded operation which has stealthily gained ground over the past two years. Backed by billionaire donors and corporate interests, it aims to persuade state legislatures to call a constitutional convention in the hope of baking far-right conservative values into the supreme law of the land.The goal is, in essence, to turn the country into a permanent conservative nation irrespective of the will of the American people. The convention would promote policies that would limit the size and scope of the federal government, set ceilings on or even abolish taxes, free corporations from regulations, and impose restrictions on government action in areas such as abortion, guns and immigration.“This is another line of attack strategically,” Bannon told his viewers last month. “You now have a political movement that understands we need to go after the administrative state.”By “administrative state”, Bannon was referring to the involvement of the federal government and Congress in central aspects of modern American life. That includes combating the climate crisis, setting educational standards and fighting health inequities.Mark Meckler, a founder of the Tea Party who now leads one of the largest groups advocating for the tactic, the Convention of States Action (Cosa), spelled out some of the prime objectives on Bannon’s show. “We need to say constitutionally, ‘No, the federal government cannot be involved in education, or healthcare, or energy, or the environment’,” he said.Meckler went on to divulge the anti-democratic nature of the state convention movement when he said a main aim was to prevent progressive policies being advanced through presidential elections. “The problem is, any time the administration swings back to Democrat – or radical progressive, or Marxist which is what they are – we are going to lose the gains. So you do the structural fix.”The “structural fix” involves Republican state legislatures pushing conservative amendments to America’s foundational document. By cementing the policies into the US constitution, they would become largely immune to electoral challenge.Were a convention achieved, it would mark the zenith of conservative state power in American politics. Over the past 12 years, since the eruption of the Tea Party, Republicans have extended their grip to more than half of the states in the country, imposing an increasingly far-right agenda on the heartlands.Now the plan is to take that dominance nationwide.Article V of the constitution lays out two distinct ways in which America’s core document, ratified in 1788, can be revised. In practice, all 27 amendments that have been added over the past 244 years have come through the first route – a Congress-led process whereby two-thirds of both the US House and Senate have to approve changes followed by ratification by three-quarters of the states. Meckler, working alongside other powerful interest groups and wealthy rightwing megadonors, is gunning for Article V’s second route – one that has never been tried before. It gives state legislatures the power to call a constitutional convention of their own, should two-thirds of all 50 states agree.A bar chart of party control of state legislatures since 1978.The state-based model for rewriting the US constitution is perhaps the most audacious attempt yet by hard-right Republicans to secure what amounts to conservative minority rule in which a minority of lawmakers representing less-populated rural states dictate terms to the majority of Americans. Russ Feingold, a former Democratic US senator from Wisconsin, told the Guardian that “they want to rewrite the constitution in a fundamental way that is not just conservative, it is minoritarian. It will prevent the will of ‘we the people’ being heard.”Feingold has co-authored with Peter Prindiville of the Stanford constitutional law center The Constitution in Jeopardy, a new book that sounds the alarm on the states-based convention movement. “Our goal is not to scare people, but to alert them that there is a movement on the far right that is quietly getting itself to a point where it will be almost impossible to stop a convention being called,” he said.His urgency is underlined by how active the movement has become. A convention resolution framed by Cosa has passed so far this year in four states – Wisconsin, Nebraska, West Virginia and South Carolina.The group has also been busy around November’s midterm elections, using its muscle and some $600,000 (£528,252) of its reserves to support candidates amenable to the idea. “We have built the largest grassroots activist army in American history,” Meckler told Bannon, probably hyperbolically.Bannon’s other guest on the War Room, Rick Santorum, a former Republican US senator from Pennsylvania who advises Cosa, told Bannon: “This is something that can happen very quickly. We are a lot further along than people think.”They are also much better funded than people might think. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), which monitors the constitutional convention movement, estimates that it pulled in $25m (£22m) in 2020, the last year for which figures are known. The funds were split between Cosa and other influential groups on the right. They include the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), a network of state politicians and corporate lobbyists which has taken up the cry for a constitutional amendment to force balanced budget restrictions on Washington.Much of the income is dark money, with the origins hidden. CMD has managed to identify some key donors – among them the Mercer Family Foundation set up by reclusive hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, and a couple of groups run by Leonard Leo, the mastermind behind the rightwing land grab in the federal courts.More than $1m (£880,265) has also been donated in the form of Bitcoin.The attraction to these groups and donors of pursuing a states route to rewriting the US constitution is easily explained. Over the past 12 years, since the eruption of the Tea Party in 2010, Republican activists have deployed extreme partisan gerrymandering to pull off an extraordinary takeover of state legislatures.Bannon is not finished: his ‘precinct strategy’ could alter US elections for yearsRead moreIn 2010, Republicans controlled both chambers of just 14 state legislatures. Today, that number stands at 31. “Republicans are near the high watermark in terms of their political control in the states, and that’s why the pro-Trump rightwing of the party is increasingly embracing the constitutional convention strategy,” said Arn Pearson, CMD’s executive director.Should a convention be achieved, the plan would be to give states one vote each. There is no legal or historical basis for such an arrangement but its appeal is self-evident.One vote per state would give small rural conservative states like Wyoming (population 580,000) equal leverage to large urbanized progressive states like California (39.5 million). Collectively, small states would be in the majority and control would tip to the Republicans.Last December Santorum spelled out this minoritarian vision at a private ALEC meeting. In an audio recording obtained by CMD, Santorum said: “We have the opportunity, as a result, to have a supermajority, even though we may not even be in an absolute majority when it comes to the people who agree with us.”Pearson decried such thinking as “a profoundly anti-majoritarian and anti-democratic strategy that gives small rural states most control”.With the counting system skewed towards the conservative heartlands, the list of amendments that might be pursued is disconcertingly large. Though Meckler and his allies largely avoid talking about culture war issues, it is quite conceivable that a nationwide ban on abortion and a rescinding of gay marriage would be on the table.More openly, advocates have talked about imposing balanced budget requirements on the US government that would dramatically shrink federal resources. Some have even proposed making income tax unconstitutional.One of the more popular ideas circulating within rightwing constitutional convention circles, initially floated by the talk show host Mark Levin, is that states should grant themselves the ability to override federal statutes and supreme court rulings. It is hard to see how the federal rule of law could be sustained under such an arrangement with its unmistakable civil war undertones.Under Article V, 34 states would have to call for a constitutional convention to reach the two-thirds requirement. Cosa has so far succeeded in getting 19 states to sign up, with a further six in active consideration.ALEC, which sets a narrower remit for a convention focused on its balanced budget amendment, has gone further with 28 states on board.Either way, there is a shortfall. To address it, constitutional convention leaders have invented increasingly exotic mathematical formulas for attaining the magic number, 34. “We used to call it fuzzy math, now we call it wacky math,” Pearson said.Advocates filed a lawsuit in Texas in February that tried to get the courts to force a constitutional convention on grounds that they had reached 34 states already – they cobbled together unrelated state convention calls, including some dating back to the 1800s. In July two bills were also introduced to the US House requiring Congress to call a convention immediately.David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University, said the willingness to adopt outlandish logic should sound further alarm bells. It raised the stakes even higher for the November elections.“The midterms are crucial,” Super said. “Changes at state-level matter, but will not get them to 34 states. If they can take control of Congress, they could bridge the gap.”Paradoxically, what happens to Congress in the midterms could have the biggest impact on the future prospects of a states-based constitutional convention. Should the Republicans take back control of the US House and Senate they would be in a position to advance radical Republicans’ demands.“We’ve already seen a willingness to play fast and loose with the math on all sorts of things in Congress,” Super said. “I would not be surprised if they were to make a serious attempt to adopt one of these bizarre accounting theories should they take control of both chambers in November.”That could mean a rapid dash for a convention before most Americans would have woken up to the danger.“If the Republicans prevail in Congress, they could try to call a convention right away,” Feingold said. “People should know that when they go to vote in November – this could fundamentally undermine their rights in a way that is both disturbing and permanent.”TopicsSteve BannonUS politicsUS constitution and civil libertiesRepublicansfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Biden pledges to codify abortion rights if Democrats win midterms: ‘I’ll sign it in January’ – as it happened

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      There it is. Biden has officially announced that if Democrats gain control of Congress, his first move will be to send a bill codifying Roe v Wade and sign such legislation ahead of the 50th anniversary of the 1973 decision.“I believe Congress should codify Roe, once and for all,” said Biden as the crowd cheered.Biden added: “The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v Wade … and if Congress passes it, I’ll sign it in January.“Together, we’ll restore the right to choose to every woman, in every state in America,” said Biden, emphasizing that the crowd needed to vote to ensure such protections.That’s it for the US live politics blog today! Here’s a summary of what we covered today:
      Biden promised to codify Roe v wade in his first post-midterms legislation if Democrats keep control of Congress, saying “I’ll sign it in January” during a speech at a DNC event in Washington DC.
      Biden also promised to veto any federal abortion ban that comes across his desk, as Republicans push for a federal ban following the overturn of Roe v wade in June.
      Biden pledged to ban assault weapons during the DNC speech. Biden said, “I did it once, I’ll do it again”, in reference to a ban he helped negotiate as a senator.
      Candidates across key races in Utah, Georgia, and Ohio had heated debates yesterday, with November midterms less than a month away.
      Thank you for reading; see you tomorrow!Could Kathy Hochul be in trouble in New YorkNew York is not a state that too many Democrats have been worried about in recent years. But a couple of recent polls have shown governor Kathy Hochul with only a relatively narrow lead over her Republican opponent. Politico has the details: Two polls Tuesday showed the race for New York governor getting closer than perhaps many had initially expected in the deep-blue state.A Siena College Research Institute poll early Tuesday found Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul held an 11-percentage-point edge over Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin in a state where Democrats have won every statewide race over the past two decades. That was down from a 17-point lead a month ago.Then an even closer poll came out in the afternoon: A Quinnipiac University survey found Hochul with a razor-thin 50 percent to 46 percent lead over Zeldin — putting Zeldin within striking distance of a potentially major upset.“In the blue state of New York, the race for governor is competitive,” Quinnipiac polling analyst Mary Snow said in a statement.Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward announced today that he will be releasing a new audiobook entitled “The Trump Tapes,” which features eight hours of raw interviews with former president Donald Trump. Here’s more background on the book from CNN: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The interviews offer unvarnished insights into the former president’s worldview and are the most extensive recordings of Trump speaking about his presidency — including explaining his rationale for meeting Kim, his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Trump’s detailed views of the US nuclear arsenal. The audio also shows how Trump decided to share with Woodward the letters Kim wrote to him – the letters that helped spark the DOJ investigation into classified documents Trump took to Mar-a-Lago…
      Woodward said in the book’s introduction that he is releasing the recordings in part because “hearing Trump speak is a completely different experience to reading the transcripts or listening to snatches of interviews on television or the internet.”
      He describes Trump as “raw, profane, divisive and deceptive. His language is often retaliatory.”
      “Yet, you will also hear him engaging and entertaining, laughing, ever the host. He is trying to win me over, sell his presidency to me. The full-time salesman,” Woodward said. “I wanted to put as much of Trump’s voice, his own words, out there for the historical record and so people could hear and judge and make their own assessments.”Jean-Pierre also mentioned student loan forgiveness applications that opened on Monday, as lawsuits are still being waged against Biden’s proposal. Jean-Pierre on student debt relief: The president wanted to keep a campaign promise. We’re talking about 40 million borrowers who are going to benefit from this policy.— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) October 18, 2022
      Jean-Pierre has been asked several questions about the economy, specifically about gas prices and inflation. One question centered on the strength of the economy, as Bloomberg economists predict a “100% chance” of a recession, but Jean-Pierre contended that the economy is resilient given economic policies put forth by Biden. Jean-Pierre: “Let’s not forget what the president has done the past 19 months. He has made the economy his top priority.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) October 18, 2022
      On oil, Jean-Pierre said that the oil production under Biden has increased, a seeming conflict given Biden’s past comments about transitioning towards cleaner energy options. Jean-Pierre: “There is no shortage of opportunity or incentive for oil companies to ramp up production… The United States has produced more oil in President Biden’s first year than under President Trump’s first year.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) October 18, 2022
      A reporter asked a question about Brittney Griner, who turned 32 years old today. Jean-Pierre has said that it is a priority of Biden to get Griner home, as well as Paul Whelan, a former US marine who has been incarcerated in Russia since 2018. Jean-Pierre on Brittney Griner: “Getting Brittney home, getting Paul Whelan home is a priority for this administration… We’re going to continue working through our channels that we have with Russia.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) October 18, 2022
      Jean-Pierre would not provide information on Griner’s condition, what access to the WNBA star looks like, or other questions. Jean-Pierre was just asked what Biden’s plan is if Democrats do not keep control in the midterm elections come November. Jean-Pierre responded with: “The way that we make Roe into law is to make sure we have legislation and we codify it. That is the best way to protect women’s rights.”Jean-Pierre: “The way that we make Roe into law is to make sure we have legislation and we codify it. That is the best way to protect women’s rights.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) October 18, 2022
      Jean-Pierre added that the president believes that it’s important for people to “make their voices heard”. Jean-Pierre: “He’s always said that what people need to do is make their voices heard.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) October 18, 2022
      Jean-Pierre also refused to give a specific number of how many more votes would be enough for Biden to codify Roe. Press briefing is now underway.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre opened up the conference about the overturning of Roe v wade.Jean-Pierre confirmed again that Biden plans on making Roe v wade the “law of the land” around the 50th anniversary of the Roe v wade’s decision next year.At White House briefing. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: “President Biden is continuing to fight to restore reproductive rights for millions of American women… President Biden believes that Roe was rightly decided nearly 50 years ago.” pic.twitter.com/fRXJeH6XnU— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) October 18, 2022
      The White house press briefing should be happening shortly, scheduled for 1:45 pm eastern time. Stay tuned!Biden will be speaking on gas prices tomorrow, said White house chief of staff on Twitter. In a response to comments from Hill reporter Hanna Trudo about Biden’s speech on abortion, Ronald Klain responded that Biden will be speaking about gas prices tomorrow. Abortion as a closing pitch was always going to be a really risky proposition. But up against the economy? It makes it look almost fringe. Of course many people will disagree with this, but the cost of gas is *extremely* important to nearly everyone, abortion is simply not— Hanna Trudo (@HCTrudo) October 18, 2022
      Not an either / or. @POTUS spoke about abortion today, will speak about gas prices tomorrow. https://t.co/pPg6TLGdUX— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 18, 2022
      Biden also pledged to veto any federal abortion ban, warning that Republicans have made efforts to push such legislation. Biden claims Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would push a national abortion ban if the GOP wins the House:“If Republicans get their way with a national ban, it won’t matter where you live … If such a bill were to pass in the next several years, *whispers* I’ll veto it.” pic.twitter.com/n3dd1FXsNz— The Recount (@therecount) October 18, 2022
      Biden also touched on gun control, promising that if Democrats kept control of Congress in January, he would sign a ban on assault weapons. “And by the way if you give me a Democratic congress we’re going to ban assault weapons again”, said Biden. Biden added: “I did it once, I’ll do it again”, referring to a 10-year ban he negotiated as a senator in 1994. There it is. Biden has officially announced that if Democrats gain control of Congress, his first move will be to send a bill codifying Roe v Wade and sign such legislation ahead of the 50th anniversary of the 1973 decision.“I believe Congress should codify Roe, once and for all,” said Biden as the crowd cheered.Biden added: “The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v Wade … and if Congress passes it, I’ll sign it in January.“Together, we’ll restore the right to choose to every woman, in every state in America,” said Biden, emphasizing that the crowd needed to vote to ensure such protections.Biden is currently speaking at a DNC event at Howard Theatre. So far, Biden has mentioned that 16 states have passed bans on abortions since the overturning of Roe v Wade in June. .@POTUS says 16 states have enacted abortion bans since Dobbs. “There is so much confusion and uncertainty” for doctors and nurses who just want to do their jobs pic.twitter.com/QuCL1Gkmwo— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) October 18, 2022
      Biden also warned about the decision having consequences on other issues, calling out justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion that same-sex marriage, contraception, and other issues should be re-examined.The DNC event has started, with abortion rights remaining in the spotlight. From journalist Kellie Meyer:Biden’s backdrop at the DC event today. Keeping abortion in the spotlight ahead of the midterms. The issue energized the base, esp. women voters, after SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade in June. New polling showing that energy faded in the fall. We discuss tonight on @NewsNation pic.twitter.com/VsdAtF7fKr— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) October 18, 2022 More

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      House Republicans divided over aid to Ukraine ahead of midterms

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      House Republicans divided over aid to Ukraine ahead of midtermsMcCarthy says Congress won’t ‘write a blank cheque’ while another senior Republicans says Ukrainians should ‘get what they need’ The Republican leader in the House of Representatives has said that Congress would not “write a blank cheque to Ukraine” if his party wins next month’s midterm elections, stoking fears in Kyiv that the flow of military equipment could be cut off.However, another senior Republican said that he thought that the Ukrainians should “get what they need”, including longer-range missiles than those the Biden administration has so far been prepared to supply. Analysts say the mixed messages reflect an internal debate between traditional national security conservatives and the Trumpist wing of the party, where pro-Russian sentiment is much stronger.Ukraine says 30% of its power plants destroyed in last eight daysRead moreKevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, told the Punchbowl News website on Tuesday: “I think people are going to be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank cheque to Ukraine.”“They just won’t do it,” McCarthy added. “It’s not a free blank cheque. And then there’s the things [the Biden administration] is not doing domestically: not doing the border and people begin to weigh that. Ukraine is important, but at the same time it can’t be the only thing they do, and it can’t be a blank cheque.”A few hours later, however, the ranking Republican on the House foreign affairs committee, Michael McCaul, who is likely to run the committee in the event of a Republican win in November, argued that arms supplies to Ukraine should be stepped up.“We’ve got to give them what they need. When we give them what they need, they win,” McCaul said on the Bloomberg television channel. In particular he referred to the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which has a longer range than the missiles the administration is currently providing.The Biden administration has withheld ATACMS so far for fear that if they were fired into Russian territory it might lead to a sharp escalation that could end up entangling Nato. McCaul argued that the missiles would be useful for striking Russian missile and drone launching sites in Crimea, adding: “Last time I checked, Crimea is occupied illegally by Russians.”McCaul did add a caveat on US spending on Ukrainian aid, however.“I think you’ll see if we get the majority, more oversight and accountability in terms of funding and where the money’s going, and I think the American taxpayer deserves that,” he said.Elisabeth Braw, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the difference in tone reflected internal foreign policy tensions.“This is a good illustration of the two factions within the Republican party,” Braw said. “You’ve got the Trumpian side and then the more traditional Republican side, and on the Ukrainian issue, this has been played out in a very clear fashion.”In another example of the internal friction, the Twitter account of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), which is close to the pro-Russian Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán, put up a post at the end of September asking when Biden and the Democrats would end the “gift-giving to Ukraine”. The tweet was accompanied by a graphic that mentioned the “official annexation” by Russia of four Ukrainian regions, which it described as “Ukrainian occupied”.The tweet was taken down a few hours later and replaced with another describing the original as an “unapproved” statement and one that “belittled the plight of the innocent Ukrainian people”.Who is Tucker Carlson really ‘rooting for’ in Ukraine? Read moreDonald Trump has a long record of admiration for Vladimir Putin and has suggested that the Ukrainians make a deal with him, highlighting the Kremlin’s nuclear threats.“We must demand the immediate negotiation of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine or we will end up in world war three,” the former president said at a rally this month. “There will be nothing left of our planet – all because stupid people didn’t have a clue … They don’t understand the power of nuclear.”Far-right Trumpist Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene have echoed Moscow talking points, suggesting that the Ukrainian government “only exists because the Obama state department helped to overthrow the previous regime”.Victoria Coates, Trump’s former deputy national security adviser, said that such views were held by only a minority in the party.“There is broad bipartisan support for assistance to Ukraine among the American people, so there will be broad bipartisan support in Congress,” Coates said. But she added: “It has just seemed to many of us on the Republican side that the administration is throwing money at the situation … I think we desperately need congressional oversight of additional funds that are appropriated for this purpose.”Coates, now senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, argued that the negotiations that Trump was calling for would not mean putting pressure on Ukraine to make territorial concessions.She said: “I think we have the advantage right now and he would, I assume, agree with that, and that we should, if we do enter into a negotiation, press hard for terms that are favourable to Kyiv and Washington.”TopicsUS foreign policyRepublicansUkraineHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      New January 6 video contradicts Republican’s claims about Nancy Pelosi

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      New January 6 video contradicts Republican’s claims about Nancy PelosiSteve Scalise questioned whether Democrats sought help on January 6, but video shows him standing near Pelosi as she called for national guard troops The second-highest ranking Republican in the US House, Steve Scalise, is facing criticism for questioning what Democrats did to halt the deadly January 6 Capitol attack on the day of the riots despite being shown on video standing beside chamber speaker Nancy Pelosi as she called for back-up from national guard troops.Scalise, whose Louisiana district includes a large suburban area outside New Orleans, at one point questioned the lengths to which top Democrats went to end the assault on the Capitol staged by a mob of Donald Trump supporters as the former president questioned the results of the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden.But a video released last week by the bipartisan House committee investigating the Capitol attack showed Scalise, the Republican whip in the chamber, got an up-close look at the Democratic majority’s leadership trying to summon troops who could help quell the insurrection.The video was timestamped at 3.46pm on the day of the attack. Part of it showed the House majority leader, Democratic Maryland representative Steny Hoyer, saying: “We need active duty national guard.”After some back and forth over whether or not such reinforcements were possible as well as calls by Senator Chuck Schumer to have the grounds evacuated, Pelosi – the House speaker and yet another Democrat – told the person on the phone: “Just pretend for a moment it were the Pentagon or the White House, or some other entity that was under siege. And let me say you can logistically get people there as you make the plan.”The video shows Scalise mere footsteps away from Pelosi, Schumer and Hoyer, listening to them engaging in the conversation about securing the building on speakerphone.Nonetheless, in a news conference held in June to discuss the Capitol attack, Republican Indiana congressman Jim Banks said: “Was Speaker Pelosi involved in the decision to delay National Guard assistance following January 6? Those are serious and real questions that this committee refuses to even ask.”Scalise at that session thanked Banks for those remarks and added: “Banks just raised some very serious questions that should be answered by the January 6 commission, but they’re not. And they’re not for a very specific reason. And that’s because Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want those questions to be answered.”MSNBC’s Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough has since fiercely denounced Scalise for “lying through [his] teeth.”“He was in the room,” Scarborough said. “He was in the room where it happened. … I mean, come on.”The former chair of the Republican National Committee and now frequent critic of the GOP, Michael Steele, said: “Why are we surprised to see Scalise in the room, at the table, next to the phone that’s open for everybody to hear and then go out there and lie about it?”Scalise has not responded to the video released by the January 6 committee or the criticism. But in a statement provided to the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper’s website, a spokesperson for Scalise said the Republican whip’s comments at the June press conference referred to broader security failures at the Capitol days rather than singling out any Democrats.The video in question came just weeks ahead of the 8 November midterm. Scalise is expected to easily win another term as the House representative for Louisiana’s first congressional district, with his only real challenger being Democratic candidate Katie Darling.Darling did capture some national attention after a recent campaign ad featuring her pregnant and calling out the extremely restrictive Louisiana abortion laws that went into effect after the US supreme court in June voted to overturn the nationwide right to terminate a pregnancy that had been established by the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade case.The ad shows Darling going to the hospital in a wheelchair as she is about to give birth – then holding her infant baby.“We should be putting pregnant women at ease, not putting their lives at risk,” she says in the political spot.In the ad, Darling is seen going to a hospital by wheelchair as she is about to give birth. Then, while holding her newborn son in the hospital, she looks at the camera and declares, “I’m running for Congress … for him.”Scalise and his Republican colleagues hope to seize back control of both the House and the Senate, where the Democrats have razor-thin advantages going into the midterms.TopicsUS Capitol attackLouisianaUS midterm elections 2022RepublicansUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Obama admits Democrats can be a ‘buzzkill’ and urges better messaging

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      Obama admits Democrats can be a ‘buzzkill’ and urges better messagingPresident says he ‘used to get into trouble’ by being too policy-focused as Democrats brace for losing House majority Barack Obama acknowledged Democrats can be “a buzzkill” with their abstract campaign messaging and could better connect with voters by emphasizing what constituents feel in their day to day lives.During an interview on Pod Save America, released Friday, Obama acknowledged that he “used to get into trouble” when he appeared too professorial, including by standing behind a lectern and talking about policy in theoretical ways that didn’t directly connect with voters.‘Desperate and disgraceful’: candidates spar in heated debates as US midterms near – liveRead more“That’s not how people think about these issues,” Obama said, less than a month before his party tries to hang on to control of both congressional chambers during the 8 November midterms. “They think about them in terms of, you know, the life I’m leading day to day. How does politics … how is it even relevant to the things that I care most deeply about?“My family, my kids, work that gives me satisfaction, having fun, not being a buzzkill, right?”He added: “And sometimes Democrats are, right? You know, sometimes, people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells. And they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us at any given moment can say things the wrong way, make mistakes.”Obama went on to talk about his 86-year-old mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, whom he said was trying to learn “the right phraseology” to talk about issues. The former first lady Michelle Obama had said that was like “trying to learn Spanish” for her mother.“It doesn’t mean she shouldn’t try to learn Spanish, but it means that sometimes she’s not gonna get the words right,” the former president said. “And that’s OK, right?“And that attitude, I think, of just being a little more real and a little more grounded is something that I think goes a long way in counteracting what is the systematic propaganda that I think is being pumped out by Fox News and all these other outlets all the time.”Facing a slew of culture-war attack lines from Republicans, Democrats have sometimes become embroiled in their own debates over proper terminology, including the use of the term “Latinx” and “defund the police”. Democratic research from February found that voters could find the party “preachy”, “judgmental”, and “focused on the culture wars”, Politico reported.“Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it,” Democratic pundit James Carville, the former strategist for Bill Clinton, told Vox last year. “There’s nothing inherently wrong with these phrases. But this is not how people talk.“This stuff is harmless in one sense, but in another sense it’s not.”Obama’s comments came as Democrats are bracing to likely lose their majority in the US House while hoping that they can retain the Senate.A recent New York Times/Siena poll found that 49% of likely voters said they would cast their ballot for a Republican candidate, compared to 45% for Democrats in congressional races. One of the most alarming findings for Democrats in the poll was the swing to Republicans among women who identified as independents. Last month, independent women backed Democrats by 14%, but the October poll found they now backed Republicans by 18%.Overall, women were split 47% to 47% on whether they would support Democrats or Republican congressional candidates. Democrats had an 11-point advantage last month in the poll.“I’m shifting more towards Republican because I feel like they’re more geared towards business,” Robin Ackerman, a 37-year-old Democrat in New Castle, Delaware, told the New York Times.TopicsBarack ObamaUS midterm elections 2022US politicsDemocratsRepublicansReuse this content More

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      Why pro-Israel lobby group Aipac is backing election deniers and extremist Republicans

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      Why pro-Israel lobby group Aipac is backing election deniers and extremist RepublicansThe group places support for Israel over all over considerations, endorsing extreme rightwing candidates in the midterm elections The US’s largest pro-Israel lobby group is backing dozens of racists, homophobes and election deniers running for Congress next month because they have pledged to defend Israel against stiffening criticism of its oppression of the Palestinians.The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has justified endorsing Republicans with extremist views, including members of Congress with ties to white supremacist groups and representatives who attempted to block Joe Biden’s election victory, on the grounds that the singular issue of support for Israel trumps other considerations.But Aipac’s support for rightwing politicians has privately embarrassed some Democrats also endorsed by the powerful group and drawn accusations from more moderate pro-Israel organisations that it is attempting to stifle legitimate criticism of hardline Israeli policies.Pro-Israel lobbying group Aipac secretly pouring millions into defeating progressive DemocratsRead moreLogan Bayroff, a spokesman for J Street, a group campaigning for Washington to take a stronger stand to end the occupation of Palestinian territories, accused Aipac of attempting to impose a narrow definition of what it is to be pro-Israel amid shifting views in Democratic ranks.“Their actions have made clear that they view pro-Israel, pro-peace progressive Democrats as threats – and Trumpist Republicans as allies. That worldview could not be more out of touch with the vast majority of American Jews,” he said.“Aipac may hope to silence and intimidate political leaders who believe that settlement expansion, endless conflict and permanent occupation are harmful to Israel, the Palestinian people and US interests. Ultimately, however, these common-sense views are too popular, widespread and important to be suppressed, and will continue to gain strength within American politics and among the American Jewish community.”Aipac’s backing of extreme rightwing Republicans follows its $27m advertising campaign during the Democratic primaries to defeat candidates who spoke up for Palestinian rights, mostly with attacks over issues that had nothing to do with Israel.The campaign is part of push by more hawkish pro-Israel groups to shore up support in Congress in the face of rising advocacy for the Palestinian cause within the Democratic party and erosion of approval for Israeli actions among American Jews, particularly younger people.Earlier this year, the Israeli foreign ministry director general, Alon Ushpiz, said protecting bipartisan support for the Jewish state in the US was at the top of a list of Israel’s diplomatic priorities amid wider government concern about the impact of a series of international human rights reports that it is practicing a form of apartheid over the Palestinians.Among those candidates endorsed by Aipac is the New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist whose home town newspaper criticised her for “despicable” advertising and “hateful rhetoric” that promoted the racist and antisemitic “great replacement theory”, claiming the US is being flooded with immigrants to outvote white people. The Times Union accused Stefanik of “fear-based political tactics”.Another candidate backed by Aipac, the Pennsylvania congressman Scott Perry, pushed the same theory when he told a foreign affairs committee meeting “native-born” Americans are being replaced in order “to permanently transform the landscape of this very nation”.Aipac has also endorsed other candidates who have associated with QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory. Among them are the Georgia congressman Buddy Carter, who attended a QAnon-linked rally claiming links between Democrats and child sex rings, and a Florida congresswoman, Kat Cammack, who appeared on QAnon-related channels including Patriots’ Soapbox.Other Republicans backed by Aipac have appeared on Patriots’ Soapbox. They include the Utah congressman Burgess Owens, who has promoted claims by the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars website, including anti-migrant diatribes and false claims of election rigging. Owens distributed an Infowars article that smeared the bereaved Muslim father of a US soldier by pushing an unfounded suggestion that his legal work helped the 9/11 hijackers enter the US.Aipac has endorsed Rick Allen, a Georgia congressman who refused to debate a fellow Republican at an Islamic community centre, calling it a “suspect venue”.The hawkish lobby group is also backing candidates known for anti-LGBTQ+ views. They include Mark Green, a Tennessee congressman who once said “transgender is a disease”, as well as members of Congress who denounced the supreme court ruling making marriage equality a right.Aipac’s approved list includes Steve Scalise, who opposed the end of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in the military, and Randy Weber, who broke down in tears as he begged God to forgive the US for the supreme court judgement.“Father, oh Father, please forgive us,” he pleaded.‘Morally bankrupt’: outrage after pro-Israel group backs insurrectionist RepublicansRead moreAipac support for far-right and homophobic candidates flies in the face of its routine defence of Israel as a liberal democracy surrounded by authoritarian Arab regimes.Pro-Israel groups routinely deflect criticism of what Israel’s leading human rights group, B’Tselem, called its “regime of Jewish supremacy” over Palestinians, systematic discrimination against Israel’s Arab citizens and the recent “nation-state” law that places Jewish identity over democracy, by emphasising Israel’s democratic credentials.Aipac has consistently pushed the message that Israel is “the only LGBTQ+-friendly country in the Middle East”.Last year, during one of Israel’s periodic assaults on Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians, the lobby group again resorted to what has become known as “pink washing” when it tweeted: “Do you support LGBTQ+ rights? Hamas doesn’t. Hamas discriminates against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.”Aipac caused upset among its supporters earlier this year when it endorsed more than 100 Republican members of Congress who refused to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory. The list again includes Scott, who voted against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to officers who defended the Capitol on January 6.Richard Haass, a former US diplomat and president of the Council on Foreign Relations, described the endorsement of politicians who “undermine democracy” as “morally bankrupt and short-sighted”. The former head of the strongly pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman, described the endorsement of election deniers as a “sad mistake” .Aipac has defended its backing of extremists on the grounds that support for Israel is more important that other issues.“This is no moment for the pro-Israel movement to become selective about its friends,” the group said in a message to supporters earlier this year.“The one thing that guarantees Israel’s ability to defend itself is the enduring support of the United States. When we launched our political action committee last year, we decided that we would base decisions about political contributions on only one thing: whether a political candidate supports the US-Israel relationship. Not on any other issue – just this one.”Although some Democrats have faced calls to reject Aipac’s endorsement, a senior staffer for one member of Congress said they were not prepared to get into a public confrontation with the lobby group.“Aipac is now an embarrassment but frankly it’s too powerful to go up against,” the staffer said. “We don’t need them pouring money in against us so we hold off on the public criticisms. But that doesn’t mean to say there are not some serious policy differences, particularly on Iran.”Aipac is not alone.The Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) was founded three years ago to bolster support for Israel within the party after polls showed younger supporters increasingly wanted to see Washington take a stronger stand in favour of the Palestinians.Differences within the party were thrown into sharp relief recently when a row blew up over comments by the Palestinian American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who said there was a contradiction between backing policies that oppress Palestinians and claiming to be progressive.“I want you all to know that among progressives, it becomes clear that you cannot claim to hold progressive values yet back Israel’s apartheid government,” she told an Americans for Justice in Palestine conference.Although Tlaib’s comments were directed at Israeli government actions, she was denounced by fellow Democrats who accused her of questioning Israel’s right to exist. They included Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee backed by Aipac and the DMFI.“The outrageous progressive litmus test on Israel by Rashida Tlaib is nothing short of antisemitic. Proud progressives do support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state. Suggesting otherwise is shameful and dangerous. Divisive rhetoric does not lead to peace,” she tweeted.Americans for Peace Now, a sister organisation to Israel’s Peace Now movement, backed Tlaib.“No part of what [Tlaib] said is antisemitic. Weaponizing accusations of antisemitism cheapens the real fight against antisemitism and does nothing to make Jews safer,” it said.Aipac responded to questions about its support of extremist candidates by saying their views on issues other than Israel were not relevant.“Our sole factor for supporting Democratic and Republican candidates is their support for strengthening the US-Israel relationship,” said a spokesman, Marshall Wittmann.“Indeed, our political action committee has supported scores of pro-Israel progressive candidates including over half of the Congressional Black Caucus and Hispanic Caucus and almost half of the Progressive Caucus. Our political involvement has shown that it is entirely consistent with progressive politics to support America’s alliance with our democratic ally, Israel.”TopicsUS political lobbyingUS midterm elections 2022LobbyingUS politicsRepublicansIsraelfeaturesReuse this content More

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      ‘Cold war narratives’: why Miami’s Cuban Americans remain staunch Republicans

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      ‘Cold war narratives’: why Miami’s Cuban Americans remain staunch Republicans Republican politics centering on opposition to Cuba’s late dictator Fidel Castro continue to resonate in Florida, even as they have faded in the rest of the USIt was a rainy Tuesday morning in South Florida, and two men in their 80s were deep into conversation and cafecito at the iconic Versailles Cuban Bakery in Miami.Born in Cuba and now retired, the pair – who would only give their first names Manuel and Juan – have lived in the area for more than 60 and 20 years, respectively. And when asked about their political stance, they shy away from the Republican label many of their neighbors proudly embrace and instead simply describe themselves as deeply anti-communist.“We believe the government should be small, everyone should have the right to work, and private companies are what make a country grow,” the more outspoken of the two, Manuel, said.He and Juan prefer to call themselves conservatives and haven’t considered backing a Democrat since the 70s, saying – without much evidence – that the party is full of the Marxist ideas embraced by the Cuban regime which they fled from and which took the belongings of many refugees’ families.Manuel said he and Juan supported the Donald Trump White House because he opposed communism, and his talk on the economy attracted them. “If we had the chance,” said Juan, who spent 10 years as a political prisoner in Cuba, they would send Ronald Reagan back to the Oval Office.For what seems to be countless election cycles now, Democrats and other Republican opponents have hoped that such staunch rightwing postures among south Florida’s key Cuban American electorate would die out – if not fade away – as younger generations from that community came of age, giving progressives an opening to more consistently win a perennial battleground state.But that hasn’t happened, and it doesn’t look like the stronghold and advantage that the Republican party enjoys in such a consequential part of Florida is weakening any time soon.A number of Cuban American Republican congressional candidates are up for re-election come November and the support of the Cuban American community will prove to be essential to secure positive outcomes. In the case of stalwart Republican senator Marco Rubio, who is up against Democratic challenger Val Demmings, some analysts predict “this could be the closest race of Rubio’s career”.Similarly, incumbent Republican House representative María Elvira Salazar could face a tight race in a district that is known for swinging in the past.Meanwhile, Republican House members Mario Diaz Balart and Carlos Gimenez, the former Miami-Dade mayor, are both expected to have favorable re-election results for the midterms.Still, with the Democratic party trying to cling on to razor-thin advantages in both congressional chambers in the looming 2022 midterms, conservative Cuban Americans remain the most influential bloc embedded within the 2.5 million Latinos that account for 17% of Florida’s registered voters.A Pew Research Center report from 2018, stated Cuban Americans make up 29% of registered Latino voters in the state of Florida, followed only by Puerto Ricans, who make up 27% of this demographic. The remaining 44% is composed of numerous origin nationalities, such as Mexicans, who account for 10% of this electorate, and Colombians, who account for 8%. NBC News exit polls for the 2020 election found that while 55% of Cuban American voters in Florida cast their ballot in favor of Trump, this was also the case for 30% of Puerto Rican voters and 48% of the remaining Latino electorate in the south-eastern state.In any case, Hispanics across the rest of the state preferred Joe Biden over Trump by a 2-to-1 margin during Biden’s successful run to the White House in 2020, according to a 2021 report by the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles.Yet Latinos in and around Miami supported Trump over the race’s Democratic victor 2-to-1, that same report showed. And the Democratic polling firm Catalist, which looked back at the 2020 election and estimated dips in leftwing support across presidential battleground states, found “the biggest drop by far was in Florida” despite Biden’s relative popularity.Both sets of data show that Reagan’s decision to align his Republican party with that populous region’s Cuban American majority is still paying dividends, said Northwestern University professor Geraldo Cadava, who teaches history as well as Latina and Latino studies.“Since the 1980s, Republicans have put boots on the ground [in Florida], they have organized Cuban Americans, they have supported Cuban American candidates, they have invested them, [and often] left the Democratic Party in the dust,” said Florida International University’s Guillermo Grenier, a professor of the college’s department of global and sociocultural studies.As Cadava sees it, Florida’s Cuban Americans remain loyal to Republican politics because of cold war-era narratives centering on opposition to Cuba’s late dictator Fidel Castro that continue to resonate here, even as they have faded in the rest of America. It’s why presidential candidates’ campaign stops in Florida have historically involved speeches on foreign policy, which is important to the many who either fled Castro’s regime themselves or have relatives who did.To this day, Cadava thinks many Cuban Americans in Florida are drawn to Republicans because this continues to be a group “driven by cold war narratives of opposition to Castro”. Similarly, Grenier points out, “when presidential candidates come to Florida, they give foreign policy speeches because they know there is a population that will respond to that”.A Cuban-born retiree who would only identify himself as Pablo said he gave up on even considering support for the Democratic party when the Barack Obama White House sought to thaw the US’s long hostile relationship with Cuba, including by easing restrictions on travel to the island of 11 million people for pursuits such as academics.Obama’s stance set the stage in 2016 for him to become the first US president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years despite the regime there being repeatedly cited for human rights violations. And Pablo, along with many of his neighbors, preferred it when Trump reimposed some of the sanctions that Obama spurned but which predecessors had left in place in hopes of pressuring the communist Caribbean island toward capitalism and democracy.“I vote with Cuba’s freedom in mind,” Pablo said during one of his frequent visits to the renowned Calle Ocho in Miami-Dade county. “Republicans are better at putting more pressure on Cuba, and that’s why I align with the party.”A poll on Cuba that Grenier helps helm for FIU found in 2020 that 60% of Cuban Americans in south Florida were like Pablo, favoring the embargo of trade against the island, which is a stance that is tough to adopt for any candidates seeking progressive support.Meanwhile, 79-year-old Cuban retiree Thelma Dominguez said: “I’ve been a Republican since I came to this country.” One of her first acts as a citizen was to vote for Richard Nixon before the Watergate scandal forced him to become the only president to resign from the Oval Office.Dominguez now says she is a fierce supporter of Trump and is quick to call him a patriot. She did not seem all that worried that his supporters staged the January 6 2021 US Capitol attack in a desperate, undemocratic attempt to prevent the congressional certification of his loss to Biden.She’s more concerned about keeping guns accessible to the public through the US constitution’s second amendment, and she likes that Republicans are devoted to that, saying Cubans lost the right to bear arms after Castro’s ascent.When at the polls, she said the economy is at her mind’s forefront. And she counts herself among the 80% of Cuban Americans in south Florida who, according to the FIU Cuba poll, support the economic agendas of Trump, Florida’s extreme rightwing governor Ron DeSantis, and their Republican allies.“I deeply hate communism, and Democrats today are complete communists,” Dominguez said. “They’re against rich people and millionaires who have companies. If a country goes against big companies – the ones who employ people – the country goes south like it happened in Cuba.”Dominguez is far from alone in her thoughts. Many of the Latinos in and around Miami, as well as throughout Florida, see the Republicans as the party of “prosperity”, Cadava said.“[The Republican party is seen as] the party that helps you get a good paying job, pay lower taxes and own a home,” Cadava added.Latino Republican loyalists in south Florida don’t necessarily feel a kinship with other immigrants who flee violent, impoverished and corrupt countries – but who then aren’t granted asylum automatically because their native nations aren’t run by dictatorial communist governments.That could explain why they aren’t put off when DeSantis does something like arrange to fly 50 Venezuelan migrants to the wealthy liberal island of Martha’s Vineyard, a move he carried out recently whose legality is in question amid allegations that the migrants were deceived about where they were going.Arisleidy Rodriguez, a 39-year-old mother of two who makes a living selling her husband’s art after coming to the US more than two decades ago, said ensuring that close loved ones prosper will always be more important to her and many of her neighbors than some of the social justice and equality issues which the Democratic party has built itself around.“When I vote, I think about my children’s wellbeing,” said Rodriguez, who noted that the news sources she trusts the most come from Facebook and the Cuban news site Cubanos por el Mundo.All of which leads Grenier to conclude that the Democrats have not implemented the organization necessary to overcome the anti-leftist narrative that Reagan began deeply ingraining in voters like Rodriguez as control of Washington DC’s levers of power hangs in the balance in November.“In Florida, you can’t just believe that your ideas are right,” Grenier said. “You have to actually get on the ground and organize. Otherwise, people will either not vote or vote Republican.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022FloridaUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      White House calls Trump’s remarks on American Jews ‘antisemitic and insulting’ – as it happened

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      The White House press briefing is underway, and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre began with a question about Donald Trump’s attack on American Jews.She called the former president’s comments “antisemitic, as you all know, and insulting both to Jews and to our Israeli allies.”“But let’s be clear, for years, for years now, Donald Trump has aligned with extremists and antisemitic figures and it should be called out,” she added. “We need to root out antisemitism everywhere it rears its ugly head. … With respect to Israel, our relationship is iron clad and it’s rooted in shared values and interests. Donald Trump clearly doesn’t understand that either.”She also condemned Ye’s antisemitic posts, but said she was not able to comment on the announcement this morning that he intends to purchase the far-right social media site, Parler.Good afternoon. We’re closing the liveblog for the day. Here’s a look back at what’s happened so far today.
      Georgia Republican senate candidate Herschel Walker admitted to writing $700 check to his ex-girlfriend but denies it was for abortion. Walker, who is running in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, has spent weeks dogged by reports that he sent the unnamed woman money to end her pregnancy. Running as a staunch conservative with Trump’s backing, Walker has publicly argued that abortion should be illegal nationwide without exceptions.
      The US Secret Service was made to pay as much as $1,185 a night to stay at properties belonging to former president Donald Trump, a congressional committee said on Monday as it released documents that appeared to show the former president profiting from his protection details in and out of office.
      Steve Bannon should be sentenced to six months in prison and a $200,000 fine for “his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress”, the justice department said in a legal filing on Monday. Bannon was found guilty on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress in July for ignoring a subpoena from the US House committee investigating the January 6 attack.
      White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned remarks by Donald Trump about American Jews as “antisemitic” and “insulting” to both Jewish people and Israelis. She also announced that Biden will host president Isaac Herzog of Israel at the White House on 26 October.
      The White House formally unveiled its website for student loan forgiveness applications. “This is a game-changer for millions of Americans,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. He added that “it took an incredible amount of effort to get this website done in such a short time.”JUST IN: Pres. Biden unveils website for federal student loan debt relief application. “It takes less than five minutes…This is a game-changer for millions of Americans.” https://t.co/1SlS2LJ69i pic.twitter.com/zWAe1RUCjT— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 17, 2022
      A beta version of the website, studentaid.gov, launched on Friday. Biden said 8 million Americans used the website over the weekend to apply for student-loan forgiveness. This summer, under immense pressure from progressives, Biden announced that he would cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year or more for Pell grant recipients. Asked if Biden regretted his comment that British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ tax -cut plan was a mistake, Jean-Pierre responded simply: “No.”Commenting on another world leader’s domestic policies, especially those of a close ally, is usually seen as taboo. Biden, an institutionalist who usually adheres to the norms and codes of foreign relations, is also prone to blunt admissions that often send his aides scrambling to clarify.Pressed further about the remark – Biden said he wasn’t the only one who thought her economic policies were a mistake – Jean-Pierre said she had no further comment on who the president might have been referring to. The reporter said he was curious if Biden was referring to discussions with world leaders or if it was a reference to a staff member who viewed the move as a “mistake”.Liz Truss admits ‘mistakes have been made’ as Jeremy Hunt says ‘eye-watering’ decisions on tax and spending need to be made – liveRead moreThe plan, which sent financial markets into a tailspin and caused a sharp drop in the value of the pound, was widely criticized by economists and experts.Jean-Pierre also wouldn’t weigh in on the UK’s new finance minister, Jeremy Hunt nor his plans to drop much of Truss’ tax plan.“The UK is a close ally … and we work with them on a range of issues, including on strengthening the global economy,” she said.Joe Biden calls Liz Truss tax cuts a ‘mistake’ as political fallout continuesRead moreOn Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, Jean-Pierre said: “The United States strongly condemns Russia’s missile strikes today which continues to demonstrate Russia’s brutality.” She said the administration is in touch with Ukraine across the administration and noted that Biden spoke to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week when he addressed the leaders of the Group of 7 nations.Russia attacked Kyiv with nearly 30 “kamikaze” drones on Monday morning, killing at least four people, including a pregnant woman and her partner, the Guardian is reporting.“We are going to continue to work with our allies and partners, continue to impose costs on Russia to hold them accountable for their war crimes,” Jean-Pierre said. Jean-Pierre has fielded a few questions on the midterms and Biden’s travel schedule in the final weeks of the election cycle, particularly why he isn’t appearing at more campaign events.Jean-Pierre, caveating her response by saying she is prohibited from talking about politics from the podium, pushed back. She argued that he has been “traveling nonstop,” noting his recent swing through Colorado, Oregon and California. This week he’ll travel to the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Florida.Reporters kept pressing. The subtext of their questions is that Biden is unpopular and his presence in some states could do more harm than good for Democrats in contested races. Biden has long joked that he would campaign for or against a Democrat – whatever would help them more.She would not say whether Democrats in states like Arizona and Georgia are asking the White House for help, saying only: “He is going to go where he is needed the most.”In Pennsylvania, Biden will appear alongside the Democratic candidate for Senate, John Fetterman, whose health has been under scrutiny since he suffered a stroke earlier this summer. Asked whether Biden has any concerns about Fetterman’s health, Jean-Pierre said: “The president has found him to be an impressive individual who is just as capable as always.”The White House press briefing is underway, and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre began with a question about Donald Trump’s attack on American Jews.She called the former president’s comments “antisemitic, as you all know, and insulting both to Jews and to our Israeli allies.”“But let’s be clear, for years, for years now, Donald Trump has aligned with extremists and antisemitic figures and it should be called out,” she added. “We need to root out antisemitism everywhere it rears its ugly head. … With respect to Israel, our relationship is iron clad and it’s rooted in shared values and interests. Donald Trump clearly doesn’t understand that either.”She also condemned Ye’s antisemitic posts, but said she was not able to comment on the announcement this morning that he intends to purchase the far-right social media site, Parler.During Donald Trump’s presidency, hotels and properties owned by the former president charged the Secret Service “exorbitant” rates – as much as $1,185 per night at the Trump International Hotel in DC – according to new documents released on Monday by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.The secret service was tasked with protecting the safety of Trump and his family during his presidency, and therefore followed them on their travels.“The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents’ frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former president’s self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former president Trump’s struggling businesses,” the committee chair, the New York representative Carolyn Maloney, said in a statement.According to the Washington Post, which first reported on the payments, the new documents reveal, based on the committee’s review, that US taxpayers paid the president’s company at least $1.4m for Secret Service agents’ stays at Trump properties for his and his family’s protection.The analysis shows that the Secret Service received more than 40 waivers from the Secret Service to let the agency spend more than the recommended rates.In a new interview, Fiona Hill says Putin is adapting, not giving up and is using messengers like Elon Musk to propose an end to the conflict on his terms.“Putin plays the egos of big men, gives them a sense that they can play a role. But in reality, they’re just direct transmitters of messages from Vladimir Putin,” Hill told Politico.Hill, one of the nation’s foremost experts on Russia and Putin, argues that the west has been slow to realize that Putin is waging a world war, what she describes as a “great power conflict over territory which overturns the existing international order and where other states find themselves on different sides of the conflict.”“This is a great power conflict, the third great power conflict in the European space in a little over a century,” Hill said. “It’s the end of the existing world order. Our world is not going to be the same as it was before.”Read the full interview here.Donald Trump attacked US Jews on his social media platform last night, saying that they should “get their act together” and show more appreciation to Israel “before it’s too late.”“No President has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.“Those living in Israel, though, are a different story — Highest approval rating in the World, could easily be P.M.!” he added.It is not the first time Trump has flirted with the antisemitic trope that Jews hold “dual loyalty” or are more loyal to Israel than the US. As in this post, he suggested that American Jews, who traditionally favor Democrats, should be more supportive of him because of his policies toward Israel.Former US president warns US Jews to get their “act together,” be more like Israelis, and appreciate him more pic.twitter.com/taRYa53d74— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 16, 2022
      In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Dr Anthony Fauci warned about the dangers of long Covid, which he called an “insidious” if hard-to-diagnose public health emergency for millions of people.Speaking to the Guardian’s David Smith, the nation’s top infectious disease expert explained that the rates of long Covid are worrying, even if they receive far less attention than death and hospitalization rates.“It isn’t that you have people who are hospitalized or dying, but their function is being considerably impaired,” he said.One of the major challenges to diagnosing and treating long Covid is that relatively little is known about it. There is no test for long Covid, Smith writes, and its precise causes remain mysterious. Fauci said long Covid is likely more prominent among those with existing psychological issues, but he adds: “The one thing you don’t want to fall into the trap of saying is well, it’s all psychological, because it’s not, it’s real.”Fauci urged Congress to continue investing in efforts to combat the virus and long Covid..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We’ve hit a wall when it comes to further resources for Covid, including long Covid. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of resources that are waiting for us right now,” he said. “I hope that changes. If you declare victory, you’re declaring an imaginary victory because we haven’t won the battle yet.”Read the full interview here:Dr Anthony Fauci: long Covid is an ‘insidious’ public health emergency Read moreMajor retailers will begin selling hearing aids over the counter without a prescription and at a much lower cost, as part of a new Biden administration rule that take effect today.“Starting today, hearings aids are now on store shelves across the country — for thousands of dollars less than they previously cost,” the White House said in a fact sheet on Monday.The move comes as Democrats tout their efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs and ease the economic burden of high inflation and rising cost of living ahead of the midterms. According to the White House, several major retailers, Walgreens, CVS and Walmart among them, will begin selling the devices today. It estimates that the rule could lower average costs by as much as $3,000 per pair of hearing aids. Nearly 30 million Americans have hearing loss, according to the fact sheet, including nearly 10 million adults under age 60.Today the Guardian launched a four-part series on Latino voters – a fast-growing, incredibly diverse voting bloc with the collective power to sway the 2022 midterm elections. Though Latino voters have historically favored Democrats – and recent polling suggests that they still do – the party’s grip on these voters is slipping as economic forces provide an opening for Republicans. This year, due in part to population growth and redistricting, Latino voters make up a significant slice of the electorate in several of the most competitive House and Senate races. The stakes for both parties could not be higher. In the first installment, yours truly provides a very broad overview of the well-financed fight to engage and mobilize Latino voters this cycle. But look out for the rest of the series, with reports from Florida, Texas and the mountain west. Other pieces coming through Thursday look at why hopes that the south FL Latino vote would eventually turn aren’t materializing, what drives Latino voter turnout and changing patterns in south TX, and a profile of a Mtn. West community where Latino voters are unexpectedly mighty. https://t.co/F3Sf2VasDN— Ramon Antonio Vargas (@RVargasAdvocate) October 17, 2022
      Read more:Democrats and Republicans fight to make inroads with Latinos ahead of midtermsRead moreMy colleague Joan Greve recently published this report from Maine, where she assessed the state of Paul LePage’s political comeback. The state’s famously belligerent former governor – Trump before Trump, as he once claimed – announced his retirement from politics in 2018 and decamped to Florida. But now he’s back, challenging the state’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills. Now, in his campaign to return to the governor’s mansion, LePage is distancing himself from the former president. He believes Biden won the 2020 election, a fact few Republicans are willing to accept publicly. But has he really changed?Read the full report here.Paul LePage: is Maine ready to welcome back the ‘Trump before Trump’?Read moreKevin McCarthy expects to be the next speaker of the US House of Representatives.That is the takeaway from a frenetic two days on the campaign trail with the Republican leader, according to a new report in Punchbowl news. Along the way, McCarthy spoke candidly about his path to the speakership, how difficult it is for Republicans to keep the job and offered his view of why he thinks his party is on track to wrest the majority from Democrats.McCarthy tells donors and supporters that Republicans’ chances are improving by the day. He is blunt that August was a bad month for Republicans, but says the tide is turning and the election is increasingly being fought on issues that advantage Republicans, such as the economy, immigration and crime..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“What happened was all the issues came back on the front page. The cost of living continued to rise. Kids are going back to school and you’re concerned about what type of education you’re getting. And if you question your school board, somehow you’re a terrorist. The price of gas was up seven cents last week with no hope of America being energy independent. We watch crime rise every single day,” McCarthy said at a fundraising event in Chicago.Interestingly, McCarthy believes the tide began to turn sharply against Democrats after Biden’s Philadelphia speech, in which the president warned that Trumpism posed an acute threat to American democracy.“It all stops Sept. 1, the night that President Biden gave a speech in Philadelphia – an angry speech,” McCarthy added.He also believes he’ll be speaker no matter how big – or small – Republicans’ winning majority is, meaning he thinks he can unite his fractious party behind him.“If I’m even up for speaker, that means we won seats. I’ve been [the top House Republican for] two cycles. I’ve never lost seats, I’ve only won,” he tells Punchbowl.I was shocked by McCarthy’s candor about just how hard it is for Republicans to stay speaker. pic.twitter.com/4c1PLjtqnT— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 17, 2022
      McCarthy is also open about how hard it is for a Republican to keep the job, noting that his most recent predecessors left after only a few years. By contrast, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has led her party for decades.First lady Jill Biden sat down for an interview this weekend with Newsmax, the far-right news network that cast doubt on her husband’s election victory in 2020. According to a press release touting the 20-minute interview, Biden discussed her efforts to combat cancer and her meeting with Ukraine’s first lady. “There are things Americans disagree with, but fighting cancer is one thing that unites Americans; and we’re honored to have Dr. Biden talk of her efforts and President Biden’s to combat this deadly condition,” Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy said.The Newsmax host, Nancy Brinker, is the founder of the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The interview airs at 9pm. A new NYT/Siena poll looks glum for Democrats. After their fortunes appeared to reverse this summer, Republicans have regained their edge with voters just weeks left before election day.NEW: NYT/Siena poll shows Republicans opening up a 49-45 lead in race for Congress as the economy becomes dominant concern of 2022.The swing toward the GOP among women voters who identified as independent in the last month is striking.https://t.co/JPRgHo55iZ— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 17, 2022
      According to the poll, Republicans hold a 49-45 lead in the race for Congress, with the economy being a top priority for voters in 2022. The shift was driven by women who identified as independent voters.“In September, they favored Democrats by 14 points. Now, independent women backed Republicans by 18 points.”The poll found the share of voters who ranked the economy or inflation as a top issue climbed nearly 10%. Republicans have long held an advantage on the economy, a trend that is even more pronounced with inflation at a 40-year-high and Democrats in control in Washington. A far smaller share of voters prioritize issues that favor Democrats, such as abortion and guns. Moreover, voters are extremely dissatisfied with the president, a factor that further hurts Democrats. Read more here and play with the crosstabs here. Steve Bannon should be sentenced to six months in prison and a $200,000 fine for “his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress,” the justice department said in a legal filing on Monday..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Bannon, the former Donald Trump White House strategist, was found guilty on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress in July for ignoring a subpoena from the committee investigating the January 6 attack.
      The department submitted its recommendation for his punishment on Monday ahead of his scheduled sentencing on Friday.Steve Bannon: justice department urges six-month prison term in contempt caseRead moreSome early-breaking news: Ye, formerly Kanye West, is buying the rightwing social media network Parler for an undisclosed sum, the platform announced on Monday.The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, the Guardian reports. News of the purchase comes a week after Twitter and Instagram locked the rapper’s accounts over antisemitic posts.“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said in a statement.Last year, Parler was effectively forced offline for allowing violent videos of the January 6 Capitol attack to circulate on its platform.Kanye West to buy rightwing social network Parler Read moreThis is only the latest in a series of controversial moves by the artist. Over the weekend, Ye claimed in a podcast appearance that George Floyd died from a drug overdose. Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of Floyd’s murder in May 2020. Floyd’s family is considering taking legal action.Family of George Floyd considers legal action over Kanye West commentsRead moreAnd that was after Ye appeared wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt at Paris Fashion Week.Good morning, US politics blog readers. I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We’re in the heat of election season, with just a handful of weeks left before Americans go to the polls.Hours ago, Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with “kamikaze” drones, killing at least three people. For the latest, we encourage you to follow our Ukraine live blog.Here’s a look at what else is happening today in US politics:
      Last night, Georgia Senate GOP candidate Herschel Walker was a no-show for his second and final debate with Democratic senator Raphael Warnock, hosted by the Atlanta Press Club debate on Sunday. The race is among the most competitive in the country and polling suggests the candidates are effectively tied.
      We’re also watching an NBC interview with Walker set to air tonight. In a preview, Walker admits giving his ex-girlfriend a $700 check, but denies it was for an abortion after being “confronted with a receipt from an abortion clinic and a check dated days later and bearing his name”.
      ‘That’s my check’: Walker acknowledges giving $700 to his ex, but denies her claim he knew it was for an abortion https://t.co/uS1svxsGQI— Kristen Welker (@kwelkernbc) October 17, 2022

      This evening, candidates in battleground states will square off in a series of crucial debates. In Georgia, Republican Governor Brian Kemp will debate Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams. In Utah, Republican senator Mike Lee debates his independent challenger, Evan McMullin. The candidates for Ohio’s open senate seat – Democratic congressman Tim Ryan and Republican JD Vance – will hold their second debate this evening. While in Iowa, Republican governor Kim Reynolds faces her Democratic challenger, Deidre DeJear, in a debate.
      Meanwhile, Joe Biden is returning to the White House after spending the weekend in his home state of Delaware. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters at 1.30pm.
      The January 6 committee is expected to formally subpoena Donald Trump this week, in an attempt to compel the former president to answer questions about his role in the deadly insurrection at the Capitol. More