Republicans may have their reality-TV star sitting in the White House, but Democrats now have one of their own: former wife-swap contestant Patty Schachtner stunned Wisconsin by winning a rural state Senate special election last night.
The election was precipitated by Scott Walker appointing the Republican senator to his administration, under the reasoning that the seat was so safe it could never go Democratic. Trump had carried it by 17 points, after all. Schachtner, despite facing hundreds of thousands in GOP spending, won it by 9 points. Wasn't even close.
Republicans who think showering Foxconn with taxpayer money is a popular project might want to explore those election results.
(What is it about Wisconsin? They also elected Real World star Sean Duffy to Congress.)
2. The Senate, meanwhile, found 60 votes to move forward with a bill to give Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions expanded surveillance authority, including the ability for Sessions and the FBI to have access to the NSA's data for any reason they see fit.
Only 41 Republicans voted for cloture, meaning the bill needed 19 Democrats to get over the line. How interesting that it got exactly 19. And, of course, Jeff Flake voted yes, knowing that he had already written a speech to deliver on the Senate floor comparing Trump to Stalin. Yes, Stalin, and he's delivering that speech right now, just hours after Flake voted to give him this authority.
All this raises a question that is uncomfortable for progressive activists. There has been a decision, in some cases conscious, in other cases not, that it is simply wrong to try to pressure Trump on policy. He is bad, and should not be normalized by the normal process of petitioning the government. Yet he is also the weakest, most pliable president we have probably ever had. Even his closest friends say that whoever talks to him last will be the one to persuade him, and he has a deep craving to be loved and admired. Liberals tried hard to sway Democrats on this surveillance vote, and they came up short. At some point, they may have to try pressuring Trump himself -- who, after all, even tweeted against this very bill! (Before flip-flopping an hour later when staff got ahold of him.)
Anyhow, here are the Democrats who voted to empower Jeff Sessions:
Carper
Casey
Cortez-Masto
Donnelly
Duckworth
Feinstein
Hassan
Heitkamp
Jones
King
Klobuchar
Manchin
McCaskill
Nelson
Peters
Reed
Shaheen
Warner
Whitehouse
3. The story I sent last week about Puerto Rico's power company hoarding relief supplies went viral on the island, with both the governor and the Senate minority leader calling for a criminal investigation. We have a follow up story, with the electric utility there charging that the federal government is also hoarding supplies at a different warehouse. Around the island, there are reports of these much-needed parts appearing on the blackmarket.
4. The guest on this week's Intercepted podcast is Tulsi Gabbard, congresswoman from Hawaii.
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