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Greg Sargent Profile picture
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Jan 20 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Mitch McConnell told us exactly how his strategy works: Make government look dysfunctional and get the media to blast the Dem president for failing to secure "unity."

It's working. Three new polls show Biden slipping badly with core Dem groups and indys:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
This devious Mitch McConnell quote from 2011 lays out the entire playbook. Every Democrat should carry around a copy of it in their pocket:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Mitch McConnell's strategy also successfully exploits flawed conventions of political reporting.

McConnell surely chortled with glee during Biden's presser, where Biden was hammered for failing to achieve "unity" while GOP conduct was erased as a factor:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
This from a Dem pollster:

“Voters don’t pay deep attention to how things don’t get done. They just see that things don’t get done.”

Today's polls are brutal: Double-digit slippage with Blacks and Latinos. And Biden is *underwater* with young voters:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…

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More from @ThePlumLineGS

Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 19
The crowning insult: Joe Manchin finally makes it clear that the real reason he favors the filibuster is it preserves minority rule.

In some underappreciated new comments, he reveals he wants the filibuster to provide a "check" on majorities.

My latest:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Note this:

Here Joe Manchin explicitly declares that the filibuster is an affirmative good *precisely because* it allows the minority to prevent the majority from passing laws:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
"This has been a long-standing critique of the filibuster, that it allows the minority to block a majority from passing legislation. Manchin essentially acknowledged that.”

Smart comments from Senate expert @jiwallner on what Manchin has revealed here:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 13
Let's be clear: Kevin McCarthy's refusal to testify to the 1/6 committee may be helping cover up possible Trump crimes.

McCarthy can likely detail whether Trump saw the riot as a means to obstruct the electoral count -- an official proceeding.

New piece:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
“There’s no doubt that McCarthy is a material witness to a possible crime by the former president. His conversation with Trump during the height of the riot could provide direct evidence of Trump’s mindset and scheme.”

@rgoodlaw, to me, in this piece:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… ImageImage
@rgoodlaw Did Trump indicate to McCarthy that calling off the rioters was in some way contingent on Republicans doing more to subvert the electoral count?

That is only marginally different from what Trump did reportedly say.

McCarthy may be keeping this buried:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 10
A big deal: The coal miners' union just ratcheted up pressure on Manchin to support BBB. This is a seminal moment: The divergence in interests between workers and mine owners who oppose BBB has been exposed. Manchin must choose one or the other. My latest:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Really telling:

Mine owners are now attacking the mine workers for supporting BBB. The owners explicitly argue that BBB would transition to clean energy too quickly!

This perfectly shows that BBB is in workers' interests and against owners' interests:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Remember when Hillary committed the "gaffe" of saying we'd have to transition coal workers to renewable jobs?

Now the mine workers' union supports BBB in large part because it would aid that transition, blowing up years of mythologizing about all this:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 5
Big news from the gerrymandering wars: Dems still have a shot at holding the House.

A new Cook Political Report analysis finds the map is somewhat better for Dems than expected, though Rs are favored.

Don't miss my talk with Dave Wasserman about this:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Key point:

Republicans opted to shore up safe seats rather than gerrymander as aggressively as possible.

Why? They had no choice. Demographic change forced them to protect more incumbents.

This interview is full of great insights from Dave Wasserman:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Here's another fascinating point from Wasserman:

Because Republicans opted to shore up safe seats rather than gerrymander as aggressively as possible, the tradeoff is as follows:

A somewhat better map for Dems, but Rs are freer to go full MAGA:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 5 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 4
Check this out:

The 1/6 committee will likely recommend reforms that make it clearer that disrupting the electoral count in Congress is a crime.

What happens when Rs filibuster this? Will Dems allow *that*?

I've got new intel on this front for you here:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Liz Cheney told ABC the 1/6 committee may recommend "enhanced penalties" for the kind of "dereliction of duty" that Trump engaged in.

I asked a Cheney spox for clarification. I think I've gotten to the bottom of what the committee is up to here:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
This is a good idea:

The 1/6 committee may well recommend reform making it even clearer that obstructing the congressional count of electors is a federal crime with stiff penalties.

We should get behind this right now. Here's some new reporting on it:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 5 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Dec 23, 2021
Dark and unsettling: The 1/6 committee is homing in on whether Trump and his co-conspirators fully understood the attack as an instrumental weapon to help carry out his procedural coup. Seeking Jim Jordan's testimony is key to this. I laid this out here:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Jim Jordan may be able to shed light on:

*Trump's conduct while the mob attack unfolded -- did Trump indicate he wanted it to continue?

*How Trump and his co-conspirators sought to use fake fraud claims as a deliberate pretext for the procedural coup:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Note:

While the violence unfolded, Trump and Rudy pressed at least one GOP senator to try to delay the electoral count.

It's clear the committee is looking at whether the attack became key to securing that delay.

Recall Pence refused to be evacuated:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Read 4 tweets

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