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Ben Riley-Smith
@benrileysmith
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
**5 takeaways from the debates**

1) Biden’s age problem isn’t going away. Verbals slips renew qu about suitability. He’d be oldest president ever elected.

2) Obamacare no longer radical enough for Dems. Bernie/Warren/Harris hammered idea of incremental change. Big change to 16
3) Elizabeth Warren in the ascendancy. 3rd place polling solidified w/ confident performance. Energy + intelligence + conviction.

4) Minnows haven’t done enough. Cluster of candidates on 1% polling haven’t broken through after 2 debates now. Time running out.

....
5) Dems echo Trump on trade and wars. Biden among those criticising past trade deals. Many calls to bring back US troops from Middle East ASAP. Ground shifting the president’s way here.

Fuller thoughts a click away!👇👇
telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/0…
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More from @benrileysmith see all

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Ben Riley-Smith
@benrileysmith
Washington DC feels in limbo right now. Little meaningful legislation. White House agenda sparse. All eyes on 2020 but too soon for full campaign mode. A strange time.
Mueller is done. Congress is divided. Trump’s habits now familiar. Impeachment dead in water.

The biggest open questions for the first term are on foreign policy - will Afghan troops come home? Will a China trade deal happen? Will Iran negotiate? Will N Korea deteriorate?
All of which is underpinned by one big unknown - how desperate is Trump for ‘wins’ on the world stage that he can tout in the campaign?

....
Read 4 tweets
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Ben Riley-Smith
@benrileysmith
NEW: James Comey, FBI director turned arch Trump critic, just got reprimanded over how he handled memos on chats with the president.

Watchdog found the memos were FBI records + Comey set a 'dangerous' precedent. [One was leaked to press]

Our write-up:
telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/2…
The memo he leaked to NY Times claimed Trump urged him to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn, then national security adviser. [Trump denied]

Memo leaked on May 16 2017 in the hope a special counsel would take over Russia probe. The next day Robert Mueller was appointed.
Would Mueller ever have been appointed if Comey did not violate FBI rules to leak the memo? Quite the counterfactual to ponder...
Read 3 tweets
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Ben Riley-Smith
@benrileysmith
Are the 3rd Democrat debate qualifying rules too tough? 130k donors. 2% in four polls. Seen a flurry of drop outs already and the first votes are still more than 5 months away. Do wonder if it's narrowing the field too early...
There was a good Daily podcast unpacking this, wondering whether Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter would have made it through this setup.

(Argument - the high donor/polling demands mean it is v hard for candidates without an established progressive support base to break through.)
It’s this one - nytimes.com/2019/08/02/pod…
Read 3 tweets

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Victoria Brownworth 🏳️‍🌈
@VABVOX
THREAD 📌📌📌
What a total reframing of what actually happened to try to damage @KamalaHarris.
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As I first wrote several weeks ago would happen, the Democratic debates have restructured the polling, putting, as I predicted, @KamalaHarris and @ewarren within striking distance of @JoeBiden.

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Victoria Brownworth
@VABVOX
#BREAKING
And then there were a bazillion.
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🔴 Conferència "Catalonia and the trial on the referendum: a challenge for the EU" dels Presidents @QuimTorraiPla i @KRLS. La podeu seguir en directe a:
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@mynameiszach16
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