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SNEAK PEAK
LAURIOL PLAZA, DC (WWoN) – Greetings from the ultimate Inside-the-Beltway restaurant, where I am preparing to do my regular briefing before the weekly Gang of 500 brunch.
This is Amateur Weekend, where a throng of folks from in- and out-of-town try to party like this is a real city, rather than a place with all the glamour of Toledo – by which I mean no slight to Toledo whatsoever.
As is tradition, only two members of the Gang of 500 attended the official White House correspondents dinner, doing recon for the other 498 of us, who simply go the fanciest afterparties, including the secret ones that even Politico doesn’t know about.
I am not writing this suffering the effects of a hangover, having already effectively executed Jack Germond’s full-proof cure for over-imbibing (standing in a shower, running at full water pressure, alternating the water rapidly back and forth between scalding hot and freezing cold – works every time).
This is the DRAFT version of the remarks I will deliver in a few hours to the assembled group, as the queso and guac gets passed around.
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Greetings, everyone.
Thanks to Secretary Pompeo and Secretary Daley for going into the belly of the beast to represent our interests last night. What brave and dedicated souls you are.
There isn’t much in the news this morning, probably because many of our newsiest newsmakers and active chroniclers were busy trying to remember where their accessories were and convincing themselves that their outfits had in fact shrunk, somehow.
I’ve gathered up what few essential reads there are for your convenience in the hand-outs you will find under the plates containing the mixed grill fajitas.
Thank you for coming!
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Governor DeSantis ended his four-nation trip abroad with two seminal articles, putting forth very different perspectives.
* Politico has what can only be described as a devastating piece, using background quotes from attendees at one of the London meetings held by the Sunshine State topper:
Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis failed to impress British business chiefs at a high-profile London event Friday, in a tired performance described variously as “horrendous,” “low-wattage” and “like the end of an overseas trip….”
One U.K. business figure said DeSantis “looked bored” and “stared at his feet” as he met with titans of British industry in an event co-hosted by Lloyd’s of London — the world’s largest insurance marketplace.
“He had been to five different countries in five days and he definitely looked spent, but his message wasn’t presidential,” they told POLITICO. “He was horrendous.”
A second business figure who was in the room said it was a “low-wattage” performance and that “nobody in the room was left thinking, ‘this man’s going places’.”
They said: “It felt really a bit like we were watching a state-level politician. I wouldn’t be surprised if [people in attendance] came out thinking ‘that’s not the guy’.”
* A far more favorable review comes from the Telegraph’s Allister Heath, who got an exclusive interview with DeSantis, which Herr Heath turns into one of the longest and most favorable DeSantis pieces known to have been crafted, filled with quote upon quote, including ones speaking glowingly about Brexit and about the Special Relationship. Heath likes the cut of this man’s jib, clearly.
I suggest you read it all.
Here is Heath’s general take:
His intellectual and emotional affinity to the shared Anglo-American values of individualism, private property and government limited under the law were evident, and he speaks with passion when we reach the subject, his eyes lighting up….
At the start of the interview, held in a small room at a Park Lane hotel, Mr DeSantis looks at me with extraordinary intensity, but he soon relaxes and, contrary to what his critics allege, is personable and passionate in a one-to-one setting. He oozes competence and, as befits the CEO of a large US state, executive responsibility.
He is articulate and business-like, perfectly on top of his brief, his visit organised to the minute by his large staff.
Which view of Mr. DeSantis will prevail among Iowans come early 2024?
Only time will tell, but mark May 13 on your calendars, for on that day, some deep data points will be available to us all, per the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The competition between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis is intensifying as the former president is scheduling a return trip to Iowa on the same day that the Florida governor was already going to be in the state that will kick off the Republican contest for the White House.
A Trump campaign official said Saturday that the former president plans to be in Iowa on May 13 to headline an organizing rally at a sprawling park in downtown Des Moines. That’s when DeSantis was already slated to headline Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra’s annual summer fundraiser in northwest Iowa and speak at a party fundraiser later that evening in Cedar Rapids.
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RFK UPDATE
You can watch the Bobby Kennedy’s full illuminating interview with Michael Smerconish here.
I continue to be confused by those who suggest RFK’s anti-vax views mean he shouldn’t be covered or that he has no chance to break through.
Read the take of one well-informed Wide World of News reader in an email I received Saturday:
Mark, on your and Smerconish’s recommendation I watched RFK Jr’s announcement speech in full and to say I was blown away would be an understatement.
This guy believes everything I do on how protecting the environment and the economy can work together for mutual success, the military industrial complex and how we misuse our might all over the world, America’s never ending bungling of the most important things in our lives like war and public health, etc.
I have no idea how high his rise will be, but paying attention to the democrats just got a whole lot more interesting.
Thanks for the “essential reading” every day.
Much of the media (infused with and fueled by TDS) will try to squelch Kennedy, but if there’s one thing the Gang of 500 understands it is the Sanders-Trump-populist-grassroots unrest and disquiet that is the defining feature of our polity today. You can ask any McMahon or McLaughlin brother about this and they will explain what’s going on.
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BIDEN VERSUS TRUMP UPDATE
Those of you still in denial about the prospect that Trump could beat Biden one-on-one have as one of your talking points that there is no such thing as a person who voted for Biden in 2020 who would vote for Trump in 2024.
Given 1/6 and everything else that has happened since Trump lost the election, you argue that Trump can’t win, since he would need more votes than he got last time to triumph and all the movement would be away from Trump, not towards him, in a rematch.
Well, one voter does not proof make, but check out this anecdotal evidence, from a New York Times story about the tenuous support Joe Biden has in some quarters of the Black community:
Some Black voters said in interviews that their frustrations with the pace of change promised by Mr. Biden in 2020 had led them to question whether they would support him again, or perhaps sit out the next election.
Jennifer Roberts, 35, is a lifelong Democrat and was one of the Black Georgians who helped elect Mr. Biden and Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. She was confident in 2020 that Ms. Harris, the first woman of color to become vice president, would use her background to advance policies related to women of color, and “was praying for them to win.”
Three years later, Ms. Roberts’s view of Mr. Biden’s promises has changed. Her mother moved in with her because of rising rent costs in Metro Atlanta. Inflation has put an added strain on the tow-truck business she and her husband own.
Ms. Roberts now says she would support former President Donald J. Trump if he were the Republican nominee next year. What she wants, and has not yet received, is “tangible help” — and she believes Mr. Trump’s economic policies could possibly provide it.
“I understand he’s tried,” she said of Mr. Biden. “When you don’t address the things directly, when they don’t go according to what you said publicly they were going to, you can’t just kind of sweep it under the rug.”
Is Ms. Roberts so aberrational that some of all y’all can just continue to assert that Trump can’t beat Biden?
We will discuss that at bruch.
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Here, courtesy of the Washington Post, are what the paper calls Joe Biden’s “best” jokes from the dinner last night. I defer to each of you to decide how funny the jokester-in-chief was:
· “You say I’m ancient. I say I’m wise. You say I’m over the hill. Don Lemon would say that’s a man in his prime.”
· You might think I don’t like Rupert Murdoch. That’s simply not true. How could I dislike a guy that makes me look like Harry Styles?
· “Elon Musk tweeted [NPR] should be defunded. The best way to make NPR go away is for Elon to buy it.”
· “We really have a record to be proud of. We vaccinated the nation, transformed the economy, earned historic legislative victories and midterm results. But the job isn’t finished. I mean, it is finished for Tucker Carlson. What are you booing about, like you think that’s not reasonable? Give me a break.”
· “I had a lot of Ron DeSantis jokes ready, but Mickey Mouse beat the hell out of me and got to them first.”
· “I can’t be too rough on the guy. After his reelection as governor he was asked if he had a mandate. He said, ‘Hell no, I’m straight.’ I’ll give you time to think that one through. You got it?”
· “You all keep reporting my approval ratings as 42 percent. I think you don’t know this: Kevin McCarthy called me and asked, ‘Joe what the hell’s your secret?' I’m not even kidding about that one.”
· “It’s great the cable news networks are here tonight. MSNBC, owned by NBC Universal. Fox News, owned by Dominion Voting Systems.”
· Last year, your favorite Fox reporters were able to attend because they were fully vaccinated and boosted. This year, with that $787 million settlement, they’re here because they can’t say no to a free meal.”
· “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to turn us over to Roy [Wood Jr., the night’s featured comedian.] Roy, the podium is yours. I’m going to be fine with your jokes, but I’m not sure about Dark Brandon.” Biden then slipped on a pair of aviators and walked back to his seat.
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We will bat around the debt limit, with no one having any idea where it will end – and if we don’t know, no one does.
We will get a briefing from behind a screen, with voice altering technology disguising the identity of Mr/Ms. X, one of our colleagues who is bullish on disaster being averted because of her/his confidence in the old hands of the old-hand president:
Re debt limit: Timing of course will be last minute, according to the Treasury forecast of default time. It reminds me of the collapse of two entwined and co orbiting black holes, and the math to predict timing is probably as complicated and impossible to actually do.
As with the black holes, most interesting is the details of the dance just before fusion. Neither party must be threatened with humiliation, and there must be chosen by each party go-betweens signaling such an understanding. That will all have to go on in strictest secrecy. It is fully doabl…. But it will take skill on both sides to do it.
It is most important for Biden, the Alpha dog here, to signal to McCarthy his full respect for the institutional position the Speaker holds, and his understanding of the House’s role . Biden must indicate he really wishes to work thing out in good faith, within his own very real constraints. And he must signal this in a direct way with real meat, and not proforma via the press.
Obama failed at this. Biden will be better at it. I think he is.
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If you haven’t been paying attention to the NBA playoffs, today is the day, with a big Game Seven — and some marquee action coming up Monday as well.
Trust me, this is FANtastic stuff this year.
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Clarification: In some editions of Saturday’s WWoN, my words were formatted to suggest they were those of Andrew Sullivan’s. To be clear, I wrote this:
At this point, if RFK plays his cards right, I would be surprised if he doesn’t get to the mid-30s or higher in some polls. At which point, as I’ve written, watch New Hampshire, debate invitations, and online fundraising.
I regret the formatting error, which I attribute to technology, not human error.