#I will show bias ONCE vote for bob

[acvillagerdeathmatch]

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

President Trump’s quest to win a second term is not in good shape. He entered Tuesday night’s debate with roughly a 7- or 8-point deficit in national polls, putting him further behind at this stage of the race than any other candidate since Bob Dole in 1996.1

If we look at potential tipping-point states, the race is a bit closer, but not that much closer. After a couple of strong polls for Joe Biden earlier this week in Pennsylvania — the state that’s currently most likely to decide the election — Trump now trails there by 5 to 6 points. He’s down by about 7 points in Michigan and Wisconsin, meanwhile. Those states, along with Minnesota, Maine and New Hampshire — where Biden has also polled strongly lately — suggest that Biden is winning back some of the Obama-Trump white working-class voters who flocked to Trump four years ago. Indeed, Biden is as close to winning South Carolina or Alaska as Trump is to winning Michigan and Wisconsin, based on recent polls of those states.

At a time when Trump desperately needed a boost, the debate probably didn’t help him either — it may have hurt him. Every scientific poll we’ve seen had Trump losing the debate, some by narrow margins and some by wide ones.

That includes the poll FiveThirtyEight conducted with Ipsos, which surveyed the same group of voters before and after the debate. While the poll didn’t show a massive swing — most voters stuck to their initial preferences — more voters did rate Biden’s performance favorably, and Biden gained ground relative to Trump based on the number of voters who said they were certain to vote for him, roughly tantamount to a 3-point swing toward Biden in head-to-head polls.

Now, I’m not predicting this will happen, but if Biden’s national lead were to expand to 9 or 10 points, which is consistent with the sorts of polling bounces we’ve seen in the past for candidates who were perceived to win debates — especially challengers debating an incumbent for the first time — Trump’s situation could become quite desperate.

To be clear, none of this means that Trump’s chances are kaput. As of this writing, our forecast still gives him around a 21 percent chance of winning the Electoral College. That’s not great, but it’s a lot better than zero.

But it’s possible Trump’s chances may decline further after post-debate polling begins to roll into our forecast. Furthermore, the mere passage of time helps Biden in our model, because every day that Trump doesn’t gain ground is a day when his fate becomes slightly more sealed. (Lots of people have already voted!) Case in point: In an election held today — Trump has no more time to make up ground — his chances would be 9 percent, not 21 percent, according to our forecast.

Then again, there are some possibilities that our model doesn’t account for, and they have become more pertinent after Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and declined to commit to respecting the election results. As we wrote when launching the forecast:

We assume that there are reasonable efforts to allow eligible citizens to vote and to count all legal ballots, and that electors are awarded to the popular-vote winner in each state. The model also does not account for the possibility of extraconstitutional shenanigans by Trump or by anyone else, such as trying to prevent mail ballots from being counted.

Let’s back up for a second. This is FiveThirtyEight’s fourth presidential election campaign. And in the previous three, there was at least some question about who was ahead in the stretch run of the race. John McCain, for instance, briefly pulled ahead of Barack Obama following the 2008 Republican convention, and Obama didn’t really solidify his lead until early October. In 2012, national polls were very tight between Obama and Mitt Romney following the first presidential debate, and remained fairly tight thereafter (although Obama always maintained an Electoral College edge). And people forget how close the 2016 race was for stretches of the campaign; it was not such a huge upset. In fact, Hillary Clinton led by only 1.4 points in our national polling average heading into the first debate that year.

But there isn’t any of that ambiguity this time. Since we launched our general election polling averages on June 18, Biden has never led by less than 6.6 points nationally. Literally only one national poll — a Rasmussen Reports poll that put Trump ahead by less than a full percentage point — has shown Trump leading by any margin during that period. It’s been an exceptionally stable race.

But, amazingly, that hasn’t really shaken people’s confidence in Trump’s ability to win. In our own poll with Ipsos, we found respondents thought Biden and Trump had roughly equally likely chances of winning. And maybe that boils down to three perpetual sources of anxiety I hear in conversation with liberal friends or liberal readers:

Trump could win the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote by a wide margin.

There could be a large polling error in Trump’s favor.

Trump could somehow steal the election.

All three are legitimate sources of concern for Biden backers. The first two are relatively easy to quantify, however. Indeed, the whole purpose of a model like FiveThirtyEight’s presidential forecast is to answer questions like those. The third one, however, is harder to get a handle on, so let’s talk about No. 1 and 2 first..

The Electoral College could still help Trump, but it only goes so far

The possibility of an Electoral College, popular vote split remains a point in Trump’s favor. In fact, there’s an 11 percent chance that Trump wins the Electoral College but not the popular vote in our forecast (but less than a 1 percent chance the other way around). At the same time, Biden’s strength in the Upper Midwest relative to Clinton’s — at least, if polls are correct there — potentially mitigates this disadvantage to some extent. The table below shows Biden’s probability of winning the Electoral College given various popular vote margins, according to our forecast as of Wednesday afternoon. And as you can see, Biden is only truly safe to win the Electoral College once he has a popular vote margin of 5 points or more! But, he’s a fairly heavy favorite with a 3- to 5-point margin, and has roughly break-even odds with a 2- to 3-point margin.

Biden’s favored, if he wins the popular vote by +2 to +3 points

Chances of Biden winning the Electoral College under different popular vote scenarios, according to the FiveThirtyEight presidential forecast, as of Sept. 30

POPULAR VOTE MARGIN scenarios Biden’s chances of winning the ELECTORAL COLLEGE Biden +6 to Biden +7 >99% Biden +5 to Biden +6 98 Biden +4 to Biden +5 93 Biden +3 to Biden +4 77 Biden +2 to Biden +3 54 Biden +1 to Biden +2 29 TIE to Biden +1 11 Trump +1 to TIE 3 Trump +2 to Trump +1 <1

So, for practical purposes, you can take Biden’s lead in national polls and subtract 2 or 2.5 points from it to infer his margin in tipping-point states. In other words, if he’s ahead by around 7.5 points in national polls, that’s more like the equivalent of a 5-point lead in the Electoral College. That’s still a reasonably large advantage; empirically, it’s not that easy to overcome a 5-point deficit at this stage of the race.

A big polling error could help Trump … or Biden

One of the misconceptions I hear about FiveThirtyEight’s forecast is that “it assumes that polls are right.” Actually, in some sense the whole purpose of the forecast is to estimate the chance that the polls are wrong. In 2016, the polls did show Clinton ahead, but between tight margins in tipping-point states and the large number of undecided voters, there was a fairly high probability — around 30 percent, according to our forecast — that Trump was going to win anyway.

So while a polling error is possible — indeed, our forecast assumes there’s likely additional error this year because of an uptick in mail voting — it would still take a bigger error than in 2016 for Trump to win.

Assume that current polls hold until Election Day, and subtract 3 points from Biden’s margin in every state (roughly the average error in swing state polls in 2016) … Biden still wins Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin fairly comfortably, and therefore, the Electoral College; he’d also be a slight favorite in Arizona. And as our friends at the Upshot have calculated, even if you had a polling error of the exact same magnitude in the exact same states as in 2016, Biden would still win, albeit narrowly.

Of course, nothing intrinsically rules out a larger polling error. We had one in 1948 — when Dewey didn’t defeat Truman, after all — and in 1980, when Ronald Reagan won in an epic landslide instead of the narrow margin that polls predicted.

But there’s no guarantee such an error would favor Trump. Historically, the direction of polling bias has not been predictable from cycle to cycle; the same polls that underestimated Trump in 2016 tended to underestimate Obama and Democrats in 2012, for instance. If anything, to the extent there are polling errors, they sometimes come in the opposite direction of what the conventional wisdom expects.

I want to spend more time on this topic in the coming days, so I won’t go on at too much length here. But for now, know that a 7-point Biden lead on Election Day could, indeed, turn into a 2-point Biden popular vote win where Trump narrowly wins the Electoral College.

As I wrote earlier in the piece, our forecast gives Trump about a 9 percent chance of winning an election held today despite his current deficit in polls — not bad when you’re 7 points down! But it’s about equally likely that a 7-point Biden lead could translate into a 12-point Biden win, in which he’d not only carry states like Georgia and Texas, but would also have a shot in South Carolina, Alaska and Montana.

Trump’s comments on respecting the election outcome are deeply worrisome, but it’s hard to estimate his chances of overturning the result

Hoo, boy. At some point I’m going to have to write a column about this too, I suppose. As I said at the outset, our forecast assumes that the election is free and fair — at least to the extent that past elections that we used to train the model were free and fair. (Throughout American history, there has always been plenty of voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement.)

But for now, let me advance a few propositions:

Even a small probability that the U.S. could become a failed or manifestly undemocratic state is worth taking seriously.

There are a wide range of things that Trump could attempt to do, many of which would be quite damaging to the country, but they are not necessarily equally likely to succeed.

Trump’s actions are much more likely to actually change the result of the election if the outcome is close, and right now, the most likely scenario is that Biden wins by a not-so-close margin.

Beyond that, it’s hard to estimate the probability that Trump could steal the election to any degree of precision. It requires, at a minimum, some knowledge of the probabilities in a free and fair election plus some knowledge of election law and how many votes could realistically come under dispute plus some theory of the institutional incentives of the Supreme Court and various other courts plus some opinions on how Congress might interpret the Constitution in the event of a disputed election. Maybe a panel of experts could get together and try to put together some reasonable bounds on the probability of various scenarios, but I don’t know that any individual could — certainly not me.

After Trump’s actions over the past few weeks, though, I wonder if there’s some tradeoff between Trump’s chances of winning legitimately and his willingness to engage in authoritarian rhetoric and behavior, even if it probably wouldn’t succeed at stealing the election. It’s not like this is coming entirely out of left field; Trump also said in 2016 that he wouldn’t necessarily respect the election results. But his recent statements have come at a moment of increasing peril for his campaign. It’s hard to know for sure, but I think Trump’s comments might be more tempered if he were 2 points ahead in Wisconsin instead of 7 points down.

It’s not easy to see which cards Trump has left to play or which contingencies could work in his favor enough for him to win — other than if the polls have been wrong all along.

Consider that Trump’s convention produced, at best, a very meager bounce in his favor. His attempt to pivot the campaign to a “law and order” theme fell completely flat in polls of the upper Midwest. He’s thrown the kitchen sink at Biden and not really been able to pull down Biden’s favorables. His hopes that we’d turn the corner on COVID-19 before the election are diminishing after cases have begun to rise again in many states. His campaign, somehow, is struggling to hold on to enough cash to run ads in the places it most needs to run them. The New York Times and other news organizations are likely to continue publishing damaging stories on his taxes and personal finances from now until the election. And now he’s seemingly lost the first debate.

If Trump intuits that he’s unlikely to win legitimately — it’s not hard to imagine him escalating his anti-democratic rhetoric and behavior. It’s also not hard to imagine this rhetoric further eroding his position in polls. It’s highly unpopular in focus groups (yes, take those with a huge grain of salt) and Trump’s polling over the past several days has been particularly bad (although there’s been a lot of other news, too).

So we could be headed for a vicious cycle where Trump increasingly gives up on trying to persuade or turn out voters and voters increasingly give up on him. But from a polling standpoint, this is one of the clearer elections to diagnose: Biden isn’t home-free, but he’s in a strong position. Nonetheless, the outlook for what’s actually in store for America has rarely been more cloudy.

[otisadams]

Bankrupt: The Story of Donald Trump

Below is an excerpt from Presidential: America’s Great Non Sequitur by Otis Adams.  The paperback is available at Amazon.com.  E-mail pithbooks@gmail.com to be notified when the audio book is available.

Buy Presidential by Otis Adams here.

Bankrupt By Otis Adams

 President Trump’s ascendance to the White House as a Republican is truly baffling.  He is a middling businessman whose success came from inherited wealth, a reprobate by Christian standards, admires the Republican hobgoblin Vladimir Putin, champions the use of tariffs that are typically a tool used by Democrats…and he became the Republican nominee for President of the United States?

         The Republican Party is both the party of business and the party of Jesus.  This is a peculiar and conflicted marriage on a normal day, but how did Donald Trump become the choice for either group?  

 God’s Man

         Let us begin our two-part investigation into the Trump mystery with those among us who are most prone to singing with closed eyes.

         Christians have embraced Trump.  If this were not so, he would not be the president.  Many seem to do so with the childlike faith that God will excuse their votes if they were cast with a held nose.  Others, those with that boundless talent for belief, have elevated Trump to the cast of God-chosen biblical leaders.  

         Trump has not only reformed the philosophy of the Republican Party, but has done some remodeling work for American protestant Christianity.  For instance, President Donald J. Trump has rekindled a bit of the interest Christians once had in the Bible by autographing a few.  You too can own your own Trump autographed Bible for $325.

I have written and said for years that we are in the midst of a Second Reformation. Protestants, whose forefathers rebuked the authority of the clergy in favor of the infallible authority of the Bible, are now altogether adrift as they are no longer tethered to the Bible either.  Authority now resides with each individual’s interpretation of their own emotions.

This, I am certain, adds to the agility of the historically adaptable faith as there is no way to debate a believer’s beliefs if they don’t know what they are.  

The modern Christian’s ignorance of Christianity is not a hindrance to church attendance as an abundance of professed believers can be found serenading the Lord in every American town and city on Sunday mornings.    

This newish breed of dingbat is however doing damage to democracy and traditional American ideals and aspirations.  The most obvious evidence of this is that Christians elected former game show host and WWE Hall of Famer Donald J. Trump to preside over the United States of America…and afterward shifted blame by claiming this was God’s will.

If Christians are playing by the (Good) book, they are not allowed to be dazzled by the wealth of the wealthy.  Their concern is to be the teachings of Jesus. Jesus, who turned over the money changing tables.  Jesus, who told the rich man to sell all that he has, give it to the poor, and follow him. Jesus, who said a camel can more easily pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man can enter the gates of Heaven.

Trump’s cupidity, for centuries a disgusting sin in the eyes of Christians, is now a virtue. That the Bible says this love of money is the root of all evil is of no consequence.  The Bible is of little concern to the modern confused Christian. Neither do traditional elements of good character cross the mind.    

Christians are supposed to favor truth over lies.  Yet, they nominated and then voted in the millions for the most prolific liar in the history of the American presidency.  His demonstrable lie tally since becoming President recently rocketed past the 13,400 mark.

Christians are meant to be concerned with integrity but deflect any responsibility for handing the reins of power to a scoundrel who repeatedly cheated on his wives with pornographic actresses and nude models.  

Instead, they twist and contort their own beliefs in order to make room for Trump.  They pervert the New Testament teachings on forgiveness as a free pass to avoid any effort at attempting a virtuous life.  They draw tortured equivalencies between Paul of Tarsus and Donald Trump, pretending that infrequent mentions of God in speeches to religious groups is not bald pandering, but a sinner striving to repent and get right with his maker.  They circulate false equivalencies with Trump playing the role of King David and Stormy Daniels being a breast-augmented version of Bathsheba, apparently substituting Trump’s lies and cover up of the affair for David’s repentance and dead son.

I was shocked when I first heard a variation of the argument that the President of the United States needn’t be a Boy Scout to get the job done. I have since heard this a couple dozen times from Christians I went to church with growing up, who now divorce integrity, accountability, and moral fortitude from the list of qualifications for leadership.

In another vertigo-inducing example my 60-year-old mother, who has gone to church for 60 of her 60 years, describes herself as a “Trump girl”.  I tried to tell her some of the scandalous things Trump has said and she scolded me for using that language in her house.  I showed her the nude photos America’s First Lady posed for and she said, “Well, she is a really pretty lady.”

I keep waiting to hear a Rod Serling voiceover emanating from the heavens as he explains my plight in the Twilight Zone.

In an effort to lend a hand to those confused Christians I find using social media, I’ll review the story in which Jesus said the one without sin could cast the first stone.  This was the scene in which Jesus was writing in the dirt, deep in thought about something else as I recall.  The neighborhood watch dragged a woman over to Jesus and accused her of adultery and asked something along the lines of, “Hey, you want us to start throwing rocks at her?” Jesus then somewhat encouraged the Socratic tenet of living an examined life by requiring the rock hurlers be sinless.

The point Jesus was trying to get across was that throwing rocks at an adulteress until she’s dead was not an equitable response to her actions.  We might intuit that violence is a poor answer to another’s mistakes.  It is also fair to glean, from this and other New Testament scenes, that Jesus wanted us to look at our own motivations and actions before examining others.

However, he absolutely was not suggesting that a person’s character is meaningless and we should make the adulteress the leader of the free world.  

         The cognitive shenanigans American Christians are willing to engage in to scoot their belief in God aside to make room enough for Trump causes me to wonder if they actually buy into those claimed beliefs. If they truly think they will stand before God one day and explain why they granted power to this man, twisting Biblical teachings to do so, and making him an example for an entire generation of children.  

Surely arguments of ending abortion would fall short before such a judge as all the other Republican candidates were pro-life. Winning the Supreme Court for conservatives is another whimpering effort as Marco Rubio is unlikely to have nominated Bob Dillon and Gloria Steinem as replacement justices if he had won the Presidency.  

Hillary Clinton was the most beatable Democratic nominee in my lifetime and American Christians had several candidates to choose from to go and do it.  Without Christian support, Trump could not have won the nomination.  After getting him nominated, Christians then maneuvered to the position that it was a choice between two evils and Trump was the lesser of them, clumsily trying to shed responsibility for making him the nominee.

         Instead of acting as armor, the faith of American Christians was somehow transmuted into a religious faith in Trump.  It is almost as though being people of faith made them vulnerable to Trump, priming them to believe in the unbelievable.  They support Trump with disembodied faith that is no longer coupled with the traditional morality of the religion in which it was born.

         There is a growing bit of data to support this notion that the faithful are more gullible than the faithless, though the report card doesn’t look great for either class.

The number of Americans who can’t discern fact from opinion or something that’s known from something believed is staggering.  Millions of people who grew up going to American schools and living in towns and cities with public libraries have opted not to gather any of the logic skills that have been within arm’s reach their entire lives.  Instead, knowing something has become the finish line for belief rather than an entirely separate category. Regardless, knowing something does not mean believing it a whole lot.

         Pew Research Center findings suggest that American adults would benefit a great deal from asking a second grade teacher for a few of those worksheets where you circle facts and underline opinions. Only about a quarter of American adults could successfully identify the five factual statements among the list of ten they were asked to look at.  For those who do not trust the media’s honesty, the number falls to 18%.  

         The confusion Americans have over the definitions of fact and opinion were brought into the light by the research.  It shows, with overwhelming clarity, that believers are ravaged by the disease of the brain called Confirmation Bias.  They set up their conclusion first, then they call information they find supportive of that conclusion a fact while counterevidence is, at best, an opinion.

         This perversion of faith is evident among most of the Christians I know and even the preachers who are televised on Sunday mornings. Never mind the small scolding Jesus gave Thomas for seeking evidence, or the Bible’s repeated dismissal of knowledge and exaltation of faith.  Never mind that if something is knowable there is no option for belief, only acknowledgment.  These Second Reformation Christians have broken away from the authority of the Bible as Protestants broke with the clergy. They instead give their own interpretation of their own emotions at any given moment the dizzying authority of the true word and will of God.  As the Bible falls out of fashion for American Christians, so too does the value of faith – or even the understanding of what the word means.  Instead, they will say, without hesitation, that they know this or that about God and his will.

The faith a third of American’s have in Donald Trump is akin to deity worship in some ways.  Anything Trump does is good by virtue of Trump having been the one to do it.  Any reporting of his misdeeds is viewed as the enemy of the deity trying to confuse his loyal followers, as Satan confused Eve, and should be met with plugged ears and closed eyes.  The faithful await word from the deity’s spokesperson, Pope Sarah Huckabee Sanders so that they can hear and memorize the words of the deity and go forth and multiply, repeating Trump’s teachings throughout the day to non-believers.  If he says something that sounds bad, the flock will work together to explain what he meant by what he said, and it’s sure to be something good.  If a longtime Republican politician opposes Trump, they’re RINO heretics.  Anyone who disagrees with Trumpians are guilty of persecuting the flock.

         Republican leadership has discovered that repurposed Christian faith is a useful leash for millions of voters.  While some of these faithful are only people of average intelligence with a talent for willful self-delusion, it is also evident that there must be many millions of Americans with a genuine inability to distinguish truth from lie, fact from opinion, or reliable source from unreliable.  Nothing is gained from, and there’s something vicious about, mocking this latter group.  While the willfully self-deluded earn the bruising quips sent their way, a person without the ability to do the job should be offered patience and sympathy.

         Let’s run through a few examples of how faith has been used as a tool for manipulating voters.

         In 2012 the Associated Press conducted a survey that revealed that more than 40% of Americans believed the new health care bill included death panels.  The basis for this belief was a claim made by Reverend Sarah Palin, who invented an Orwellian Democratic scheme to create a panel of folks who would be in charge of whether to kill elderly parents or children with developmental disabilities in order to save on medical costs.

Before becoming President, Trump himself made enormous political headway by yanking on that faith leash as he championed the lie that President Obama is not a citizen of the United States.  In the lie’s heyday, about three-quarters of Republicans either agreed or weren’t sure. Over 40% of Republicans still believed Obama was secretly a Muslim in 2015.  

         Millions of Republican voters believe that Hillary Clinton had a side-gig of running a child sex ring out of a pizzeria basement in Washington D.C.  Trump, as the conspiracy theory goes, quietly began the heroic work of taking down these sex rings and bringing the celebrities and democrats responsible to justice immediately after taking office!

         These are good examples of believing on faith alone as twenty minutes of research, supposing common sense did not dismiss the absurd claims immediately, would reveal facts dispelling the lies above. Instead, they take their preacher’s word on it and see evidence to the contrary as stumbling blocks placed in their paths by the great deceiver, the mainstream media.

         Christians have butted heads with science for centuries, since evidence-based discoveries began disproving elements of papal teachings. This became another handy vulnerability for the Christian’s party mates, the businessmen, to exploit.  As the leadership in corporations that make money off things that cause harmful emissions started to get nervous, they found the solution of sending out Christian soldiers to roll their eyes at Global Warming any time it snows.  Beleaguered climate scientists, aware that this misunderstanding was more likely mischief than ignorance, began using the term Climate Change.

         When I was in high school their position was that Global Warming was not taking place at all.  Christians, with their marching orders, repeated this wholeheartedly in their daily lives.  A few years later this argument began sounding so absurd that the pundits shifted to the idea that maybe Global Warming was happening but it wasn’t any more caused by mankind than the last ice age.  Christians broke into new denominations.  Some held the line while others fell back to the new trench and pretended they had been there all along.  

The new position that’s popular today is that Global Warming is probably taking place, and maybe human activity has slightly contributed, but we have passed the tipping point and should not do anything that risks the economy in the name of a problem that needed action twenty years ago… back when they said it wasn’t real.

         The eager faith of American Christians and their predilection for opposing scientific discoveries when they move too closely to things that are believed made them a useful tool for the business side of the party.  When the decision was to either acknowledge the findings of a staggering number of scientific studies or believe a few conservative radio and TV talk show hosts, they chose the latter without hesitation.  They were well prepared to believe in often ridiculous lies about the opposing party while ignoring glaring truths about Trump.      

Those Christians who want to collapse the separation of Church and State should recognize this separation is not in place only to protect the state. American Christianity could not even survive, in any recognizable form, after mingling with a single political party. Instead, they lost themselves.

         Christians are mandated to have compassion for the poor, though they have become sycophants of the rich.  Christians ought to feel an empathic pain when they see a toddler pulled from his mother’s arms at the border as an added deterrent for illegal immigration, though they shrug and call them criminals.  Christians are meant to insist that leaders be devoted husbands, free of the filth of greed, not prideful, above reproach, honest, good tempered, patient, kind, and charitable.

Unfortunately, American Christians have abandoned their post.

 A Modern-Day Vanderbilt

As we rang in the New Year, 2019, the stock market was plummeting. The American government entered a shutdown for the third time in a year, a feat that had not been accomplished for decades.  The national debt reached its highest mark in the history of the nation.  Trump had been President for 24 months.

         Trump’s reputation as a self-made billionaire who rose to the top thanks to the buoyancy of his business genius is mostly a fiction manufactured by him.  Donald Trump has reportedly been the longtime clown prince of America’s wealthy since the 1980’s, often the butt of jokes at parties on yachts where I imagine women smoke cigarettes in those Cruella de Vil cigarette things and men exchange tips on how to improve their croquet games.  Among America’s top businessmen, Trump was a punchline.

         Trump’s business acumen is only impressive to those who are ignorant of his record beyond what they have read on magazine covers. Often, he made it into those magazines through self-promotion and a bit of trickery.

         John Barron is one of the characters Trump would play to promote himself in telephone calls to reporters and columnists. (Trump’s alias John Miller was in charge of calling gossip magazines.)  This alter-ego can be heard in taped recordings talking to Forbes reporter John Greenberg in an effort to get Trump on the magazine’s list of richest Americans.  Trump had been lobbying to get on the list since its inception a few years before and winced as it reported his wealth as being a fraction of what he had been boasting publicly.  Even so, Trump’s smoke and mirrors apparently benefitted him as the magazine determined he had $100 million.  Greenberg says that he now regrets the mistake as new research proves that at the time Trump had about $5 million.

         On a side note, the choice of creating an alter-ego named Barron gives some insight on Trump’s psyche.  Perhaps he sees himself as a baron from feudal times in Europe or a cattle baron from the 19th century American West.  In any event, he likes the name well enough to give it to himself when prank calling magazines and he gave the name to his youngest son as well.

         Trump wanted to be thought of as an American billionaire, regardless of having $5 million.  “Fake it until you make it,” might be a good credo for the Donald. The tactic he used was to try and confuse reporters as to how much of his father’s wealth now belonged to him. While Trump privately tried to convince magazines that he owned what belonged to his father, he publicly pushed the idea that his father gave him a small loan to get him started, but the rest of his success was well-earned.  

         By the 1990’s Trump was in fact extremely rich. He gained an enormous amount of wealth by joining with his siblings to create a fake corporation, its purpose being to, “disguise millions of dollars in gifts from their parents,” The New York Times reported.  He also helped dear old Dad evade millions of dollars in taxes by lying about the value of assets they held and advising the old man to take deductions illegally.  The tax fraud saved the Trumps more than $500 million.

         Donald Trump deftly played this shell game, wanting the public to think he was a self-made billionaire due to his swashbuckling brilliance in crafting deals, trying to convince magazines he was super-rich because he inherited daddy’s real estate empire, and telling the IRS he was living paycheck to paycheck.

         His mischief paid off though.  In today’s dollars, Trump was able to leach off over $400 million from his father’s empire to keep for himself.

         While Trump has had business successes, his numerous failures keep him off the list of the great businessmen he wants the public to believe he is the champion of.

         Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney provided a damning list of failures in his famous speech urging his party to choose a more qualified nominee in 2016.  He said, “But you say, wait.  Isn’t he a huge business success?  Doesn’t he know what he’s talking about?  No, he isn’t and no he doesn’t.  His bankruptcies have crushed small businesses and the men and women who work for them.  He inherited his business.  He didn’t create it.  And whatever happened to Trump Airlines?  How about Trump University?  And then there’s Trump Magazine, and Trump Vodka, and Trump Steaks, and Trump Mortgage. A business genius he is not.”  

         How the Republicans morphed from the party that nominated the upright Romney in 2012 into the one who nominated the degenerate Trump in 2016 is baffling, but the former champion of the GOP was swiftly villainized by Republicans for truthfully reciting Trump’s resume.  His loyalty to Republican policies and commitment to ideals of at least attempting to have strong character were rewarded with accusations of being a traitor.

Trump’s philosophy in life is that reality is the story he presents and truth does not exist.  Trump acolyte Kellyanne Conway revealed these teachings as she told Meet the Press’s Chuck Todd about, “alternative facts”. That Trump successfully sold himself as a modern day Vanderbilt, Carnegie, or Rockefeller to those voters enamored by the rich might unfortunately prove his philosophy of deceit as a workable path to success.  He was awarded the nomination over far more qualified Republican candidates.

It is part of Trump’s standard operating procedures to boast, even about failures.  His loss of the popular vote to Hillary Clinton is an example.  There he claimed voter fraud, without any evidence. Without this imaginary voter fraud, he would have won with record-breaking numbers.  His approach to business is much the same as he describes his bankruptcies as just smart business decisions that are commonly made by high rollers such as himself.  To support my claim that he is nothing more than a middling businessman whose success relied upon inheriting much of his father’s vast wealth, let’s look more closely at these bankruptcies.  

Tax records revealed in 2019 that Trump took a billion dollar loss between 1985 and 1994.  From 1990 to 1991 he was number one in the country in losses, more than doubling the hit taken by the nation’s second biggest loser.  As with the bankruptcies, Trump dismissed the story as smart business decisions that common people would not understand.

What is a bit more difficult to dismiss is that in 1990 Trump’s hotels, casinos, and airline were performing so poorly that they could not even cover the interest owed to the dozens of banks who loaned the future president money.  For Trump this could have meant bankruptcy.  Lucky for Trump though, it also would have meant heavy losses for those banks.  The banks decided to loan him another $65 million to keep him from missing his payment deadlines.  One cost of the loan was that Trump had to surrender managing control of his companies to the banks, who expected that Trump would spend the time they bought him to sell enough of his properties to pay them back.

Even after all this, Trump’s three casinos filed for bankruptcy. The Plaza Hotel had to do the same in 1992 and the banks took many of his remaining assets.  Trump would have had to file personal bankruptcy, damaging the fiction he was presenting to the public during these years, but the banks worked with him and his father gave him money to prevent it.

         It was because of these enormous failures that Trump was locked out of the big business deals he had been attempting. Instead, he began selling his name. The lie he had been telling about his legendary business genius somehow endured these setbacks that would have been crippling had his father not saved him.  He has been selling that lie ever since.

RINO

         The typical routine for candidates in both parties used to be to drift toward the extreme side of your party to get the nomination because that is where those eager enough to vote in primaries lived. Then the job for running for president was truly a race back toward the center, where most Americans lived, before the election.  

         When I was a kid, my neighbors had a two-party household.  My father, raised by a democrat mother and republican father, was a republican and my mother went along with it without having any real partisan convictions I can recall at that time.  Even so, we frequently got visits from my mother’s democrat friend and her pro-union husband.  My dad would grumble, “Those people are idiots,” before they arrived, and then for the next three hours I would watch television while they played cards at the kitchen table.  In those days, my home state earned its nickname as the Show-Me State because neither political party had Missouri in its pocket.  The nominees had to prove themselves.

         Those days have gone, though I hope not forever.

         Today, the parties have moved so far apart that the distance naturally creates more distance.  It used to be that a president could expect his fellow party mates in Congress to support him 60-70% of the time.  By the time of Obama’s presidency that party loyalty was closer to 90%, and has topped 90% with Trump.  The once commonplace pro-life Democrat, for example, is now seen as repugnant by both parties and is quickly shamed into compliance or shunned – as religious communities often deal with heretics.

         Being in the political center is now mocked by newcomers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who frames having centrist views as a symptom of having no convictions about America’s future.  

         The right also pushes this fiction that the greatness of your patriotism will be shown by how extreme your political views are. Conservatives shame people away from the center in many ways, but one of them is with the term RINO.  This stands for republican in name only.  

         Once some tipping point in recent decades was reached, the widening of the partisan divide took on some characteristics of a perpetual motion machine.  If Republicans took a step to the right, Democrats took a step to the left.  Each time one party moved farther from the center, the other party responded in kind.  

Center-left and center-right voters find few options. If you considered yourself a Democrat but voted for Ronald Reagan, you still voted for someone who agreed with you on about 80% of the issues.  To cross over now might mean voting for someone who disagrees with you on 80% of the issues that are important to you because politicians are fleeing from the center.  

         This divide and team sports mentality means that voters are no longer considering the character of the person running for office as they once did.  Instead, they are more and more voting for their team, regardless of the individual wearing the jersey.  The party leads the people.

         There are several popular explanations for how the Republican Party went against its own established principles to nominate Trump, and then how the nation went on to elect him.  They range from angry voters trying to teach Washington D.C. a lesson to angry voters trying to tell Democrats to get back to helping the working person.  These are not robust enough explanations to satisfy, and I am afraid I will not be offering my own guess.  

I will say, however, that in 2016 the Republican Party chose a RINO as their nominee.  This indicates to me that it is not only agreement with a nominee that leads to their winning the White House, but that voters’ revulsion toward that nominee’s opponent that motivates.  To put it more directly, voters have become so saturated with the poison of partisan loyalty that they were going to the polls to vote against Clinton, which they would have done no matter who her opponent was.

         My calling Trump a RINO does not mean that I consider him a centrist.  He is not genuinely left, center, or right politically – and at the same time he has been each of these things over the course of his life.  He is whatever works.  If Trump had seen a clearer path to becoming president as a Stalin Communist, he would have told his people to find Ivan Drago and talk him into being his running mate.  

By calling him a RINO, I am just saying that he won the Republican nomination, but does not keep with long held Republican ideals.  By this point, it would likely be more accurate to say that the party itself has shifted to meet Trump, transforming its claimed ideals so that it can fit around the president.

There was a movement of a sort when it began to look as if Trump might be the nominee.  These Republicans called themselves Never Trumpers.  This amounted to an enormous portion of established Republican politicians when it seemed like a safe bet that he would never become president. After he became president, the Never Trump movement lost a lot of momentum, but many soldier on in defense of what the GOP was before Trump.

From time to time a petition or letter signed by a few dozen preachers standing up to Trump will make the news, but they have little lasting impact.  Christians who are not moved by immigrants having their children taken away from them and held in detention centers are not likely to feel their spirits stirred by a petition.

One effort from a Christian magazine did hold a spot in the headlines for a few days.  Christianity Today, held in high regard by some believers because of its ties to the late Billy Graham, published a very clear rebuke of Trump concerning his impeachment.

“The typical Christianity Today approach is to stay above the fray and allow Christians with different political convictions to make their arguments in the public square… (We want to be) a place that welcomes Christians from across the political spectrum, and remind everyone that politics is not the end and purpose of our being… But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.  The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration.  He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals.  He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationships with women, about which he remains proud.  His Twitter feed alone – with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders – is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.”

It did not take long for most Christians to forget the article, though it was an overdue stance from a significant Christian periodical and the magazine should be proud to have taken it.  

         The National Review is the conservative magazine that taught Ronald Reagan Reaganomics. It is safe to say that when they took their early stance against Trump being nominated to lead the party, they believed they still held a good deal of influence over voters.  As they tried to draw comparisons between Trump and Obama, it seems that not many were listening.

         The rise of Trump also marks the moment the main body of Republican voters broke with Republican intellectuals.  This could hardly have come as a surprise to those intellectuals.  The growing disdain for experts on the far right as well as the spreading virus of baseless hubris among those voters had been obvious to anyone paying attention. These are the voters who know more about current events than the press.  They understand climate science better than climate scientists.  Their Google-powered research makes their conclusions about vaccines more valid than that of the world’s community of medical doctors.  Their opinions are stronger than facts and their beliefs can withstand any evidence. What use could such a group as the far right have for conservative thinkers like George Will when they have emotion and intuition to guide them?

         Susan B. Glasser wrote an interesting article for the New Yorker in March, 2020 following the efforts of Never Trump Republican Sarah Longwell.  In part, the article describes some of the organized groups attempting to hold to traditional Republican principles, and how their disobedience infuriates the president who warns, “Watch out for them, they are human scum!”  Longwell’s hope is to build a coalition of the center and she hopes that Joe Biden can represent this.  Her hope beyond this is that, as after the Nixon debacle, the Republican Party can take the following four years to redefine itself.

         After Trump was the nominee, Longwell began feeling very lonely as her allies hopped over the line to join the New Republican Party. As the 2020 Presidential Election grows near, Longwell has found allies like George Conway and the Lincoln Project, and continues trying to make her case to likely voters.

         The aroma of petrichor is in the air as signs of a rejuvenating rain begin to mount. The avalanche of Trump’s scandals and embarrassments seem to vex reasonable Republicans who ignored them two years ago.  The very early polls suggest that Joe Biden could win comfortably against Trump in November, in part because he is not reviled by the right in the way Hillary Clinton is, and so his nomination may not ignite the same fire in Republicans.

         If the historical mistake of Donald Trump is corrected in November, we should keep in mind that the 30% of Americans who make up his base will remain.  They are the ones who showed themselves in a poll released yesterday, in which 70% of Americans were in favor of mail-in voting for November’s Presidential Election in order to protect lives from Covid-19.  The remaining 30% are not moved by the elderly poll workers who are distressed by the idea of risking their lives.  Instead, they either understand that the fewer people allowed to vote, the better Trump’s chances for re-election, or else they are so gullible that they can be manipulated by claims of mail-in ballots leading to a rigged election absent any evidence.

         People who are happy to undermine American Democracy, whether it be through the meddling of a foreign government or homespun ways to keep people from voting, have likely always been around but were too weakly organized to derail America.  Supposing Biden does win over the financially and morally bankrupt Trump, we will still have to wait to see if the reasonable center has been restored well enough to dominate the extremes in a lasting way.

         The checks and balances built into the foundations of our government by our Founding Fathers have remained intact, though they have been damaged in the Trump years.  It is naïve to take for granted that American Democracy will endure no matter how irresponsible the American people.  We have been reminded many times throughout our history that America is an experiment that can either succeed or fail.  America can only continue unbroken if each generation keeps it until passing it to the next.  

         The adults in the center must regain control of the children on the edges or our future might read like Lord of the Flies.

[husberttee]

A Long Ass Guide To VAV

VAV – Very Awesome Voice

Soooo since there were some people who did like my idea of making a guide like this I thought ‘cool let’s do it!‘ I hope this can help people finde out about them and maybe motivate some of you do give them a listen and some love!

Ok so first some general facts;

They had their debut in 2015 with 6 members under AQ Entertainment, which is now A-Team Entertainment. I’d like to point out here, that this company provides ENGLISH SUBTITLES for us (!!!!) which is pretty damn awesome.The group underwent (is that a word) a couple of lineup changes which I will explain further when I come to the members individually. A Fun facts: they have a pretty big spanish following and were guests on a shit ton of youtube channels

Fanclub: Vampz (debut concept was vampires and werewolves and priests and. Yeeeh.Their debut was actually on Halloween. Supposedly there even was a whole ass webcomic but I never saw any of that, sadly.)

We’ll get to the number one most important part now

THE MEMBERS (in order of age)

1.       St. Van – The Leader

Real Name: Lee Geumhyuk

91 liner

Main vocal (POWER vocal) / Leader

A father

Probably speaks better Mandarin than Jacob / lived more than 10 years in China

Loves Jacob; votes Jacob by default

tries hard and gets dragged for it by the younger members

it was revealed that he likes to watch girl group dances (he said it’s because he needs to learn them to be able to show something at fanmeetings and such. Yeah sure bro me too.)

hear someone laughing in the back? That’s him.

roommates with Baron

embarrassed. Generally.

Completely demolished ACE birthday cake with the help of ZeHan once

Likes cars

can drink a lot of water??

Has sleeve-like tattoo on his shoulder/upper arm

2.       Baron

Real Name: Choi Chunghyeob

92 liner

Vocal

Fake Maknae 0.1 // he’s very cute

somewhat speaks english

Known for serenading a male fan with ‘I need a boy’

Super pretty // sweet voice // very good and underrated dancer // funny --> Real idol material right here

Apparently has ‘apple hips’ which are ‘popular’ among the members. Whatever that may mean…

Likes photography and making films

Plays games first thing in the morning

Talkative

A sunshine // scammed the company into giving him an extra allowance of 1000won in a game and spend it to buy fruit for the members

there’s a 26 second long video of him brushing his teeth on A-Teams official youtube channel (these hoes deleted it)

3.       ACE

Real Name: Jang Wooyoung

92 liner

Vocal

A Mom // currently raising Ayno and Jacob

Probably dating Ziu atm

asks members for reactions when he does things

Practices phonation /articulation in his sleep (super noisy, even people in nearby rooms can hear him)

Talks a lot

Wears sunglasses in the pool aka. will fight you in the pool while wearing sunglasses (swag is better than actually seeing your surroundings)

‘I look thinner with my clothes on’ kinda person // he’s ripped

Really likes sport and working out

The groups elected MC

He always seems to know what he’s doing

Covered Winners ‘Fool’ and it’s amazing his vocals are super beautiful

Mullet

4.       Ayno

Real Name: Noh Yoonho

 96 liner

rapper

Participated in the survival show No.Mercy in which Monsta X was formed, but got eliminated in the final rounds

Joined the group as a new member early 2017

Voted to be the cutest by VAV

Fake Maknae 0.2

Part time grill master (Roasts his members)

*Looks at the camera like he is on the office*

Skilled dancer

Writes his own rap

First reaction after seeing Jacob cry was to lie himself horizontal on his lap as a form of comfort or idk that’s the kinda friend he is

in charge of meme

his ideal type is ACE, apparentely

released a mixtape

5.       Jacob

Real Name: Zhang Peng

96 liner

Sub-Rapper / sub-vocal

Chinese

Quite introverted // worries his members cause they want to share his hard times but they feel like they can’t. What a family T-T

Manly manTM

Had a complete mental breakdown once with ugly sobbing and all after receiving a video letter from VAV

Voted himself visual of the group

Nickname ‘Cob’

Sassy af since he’s started to talk more

Idk but I think he’s rich he always wears expensive looking clothes

In charge of abs and keeping a straight face at all times // has super cute smile actually

‘I stream ‘Venus’ as soon as I get up in the morning’

Accidentally made out with ZeHan at pops in seoul

Got featured in the song ‘Trouble’ by former member XIAO

6.       Lou

Real Name: Kim Hosung

96 liner

rapper

member since 2017

Very confident

Super deep voice

Can speak english

Not having any of anyone’s shit (pls let ur members live)

Maybe a bit mean

Pretends to be manly

Majors in acting

Finds  lot of Joy in making fun of Ziu

Gets lots of affection in return that he absolutely really DOESN’T WANT

His most precious possession is the refrigerator

According to him his closest celebrity friend is James Bond

‘which place would you like to visit where you have never been?’ ‘my house’

7.       Ziu

Real Name: Park Heejun

97 liner

Vocal // I love his vocals byE

joined together with Ayno and Lou in 2017

No homo? Yes homo. (no video goes by without him trying to kiss at least ONE of his members)

King of being fake touched and overreaction

Always gets exposed

Raids the dorm refrigerator at around 5/6AM

Eats while being asleep

Suffers a lot from the maknae position

Ended up being my bias somehow

Cucumber anti

a cheerful fella

_______________________________________

Former / Members on hiatus under the cut further down ~ ____________________________________

That was it so far, but...!

They also have a kind of reality show which is called What’S Up? VAV and it’s very fun so I defintely recomment watching it!! Here is a season 2 playlist

Sadly A-Team deleted / put most videos pre-Venus era on private. Their newer Malaysia Videos are really funny though!!!

______________________________________________

MVs

At first I’d like to point out that their earlier songs had quite low production and it’s noticable sometimes. People found that parts of the songs sounded ‘off’. However, they improved every comeback a lot and as they changed producers for Venus they seriously stepped up their game. They have improved SO MUCH, are still getting better and really work hard!!

Debut - Under The Moonlight

Brotherhood (this mv was so fanfiction worthy actually)

No Doubt

Recollection (the FeelsTM)

Here I Am (winter song jacob no lines still good)

Venus / Dance With Me

Flower (this one is my favourite look at that aesthetic and the song was so good wow)

Middle Of The Night / ABC (a bob)

She’s Mine (a super bob)

Spotlight & Gorgeous (two MVs but kind of a package deal cause they’re basically one comeback)

Give it to me

Senorita

So In Love

Thrilla Killa (this one? slaps.)

I’m Sorry

Give me more' (Feat. De La Ghetto & Play-N-Skillz) (I sometimes watch this ONLY for St.Vans sleeve tattoo)

POISON (MOST RECENT!!! WATCH DIS!! ITS AWESOME!!)

Thanks for making it until here and Please stan VAV

Former Members / Hiatus

I will keep these short since the post is already long AS FUCK and while these members DO appear in many of their past videos (Ateam deleted most of the videos :/), ‘advertising’ them here wouldn’t do much good since you’re not going to see them with the group from now on

Xiao

Chen Xiao

Rapper

89 liner

Went on hiatus in 2016 (it was said he has to take care of his sick father)

He once appeared in a VAV video after he left and spend a day with them; the reunion was very heart warming

he made his solo debut with

Bubblegum

and

Share Ya

his song

Trouble

feat. Jacob

ZeHan

Lee Seungmin

Vocal

94 liner

Left to pursue a career as an actor

Was my bias why must u do dis to me

GyeoUl

Jung Un

Vocal

95 liner

Left to pursue a career as producer

[uk-news-talking-politics]

'Despair' the greatest obstacle to a Biden presidency

By Dorian Lynskey

Last month, a Politico reporter attended a brunch for around 40 affluent black professionals in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe Woods and spent six hours talking about the presidential election. Every single person there expected Donald Trump to win in November because Republicans would turn out and Democrats wouldn’t, even though all of them personally planned to show up for Joe Biden. “I’m going to vote,” said one woman. “But Trump’s getting back in office either way.”

On 24 June, a few days after the brunch, a New York Times Upshot poll gave Biden an extraordinary 14-point lead over Donald Trump, with gains in every demographic, turning red states purple and purple states blue while endangering the Republicans’ Senate majority. There hasn’t been a summer polling margin this wide since 1996, when Bill Clinton eventually thumped Bob Dole by carrying 31 states, and no candidate has hit 50% since Ronald Reagan in 1984, prior to his 49-state demolition of Walter Mondale. In the latest credible polls, Biden’s lead ranges from 5-17 points.

On paper, this seems obvious. Biden is facing a weak and erratic President who has bungled his response to both coronavirus and the Black Lives Matter protests, lost the strong economy that he inherited from Barack Obama, and never seen his approval rating exceed 50%, even during the initial rally-around-the-flag phase of the pandemic that favoured incumbents around the world. So why do so many people find it so hard to accept that Trump is exceedingly likely to lose?

Well, for the same reason that I just replaced “will” with “overwhelmingly likely to”. Britain has just marked the fourth anniversary of the EU referendum, which saw nationalist populism drive a horse and cart through liberal orthodoxies. Trump’s much more shocking victory in November completed 2016’s double whammy and the liberal left has not yet recovered from that compound trauma. By trampling long-held assumptions about political behaviour into the dirt, it created a terrible new form of received wisdom: What’s the worst that can happen? Bet on that. I’ve seen numerous friends confidently predict that Trump will either win or refuse to accept defeat, offering no evidence except their pessimism.

Writing in the New Statesman recently, Andrew Marr warned against “the ‘now-next illusion’ — the trap of thinking that today’s vivid headlines are a good guide to the near future”. Criticising the American intellectual James Burnham 74 years earlier, George Orwell noted the same tendency among political “prophets” who believed that whatever was happening at the time of writing would continue to happen, only moreso: “Burnham sees the trend [towards oligarchy] and assumes that it is irresistible, rather as a rabbit fascinated by a boa constrictor might assume that a boa constrictor is the strongest thing in the world.” Since 2016, right-wing populism has been our boa constrictor and its face is that of Donald Trump. This strong bias towards pessimism has survived even the Democrats’ impressive gains in the 2018 midterms, when the Trump playbook demonstrably failed. For Britons, watching the campaign in the aftermath of a Tory landslide and exit from the EU, it is even harder to think positive. Psychologically, we are still fighting the last war.

Let us look at the evidence. Trump is exactly the President that his fiercest critics said he would be: unstable, incurious, petty, vindictive, paranoid, ignorant and inept. Whenever a major test has come along, he has flunked it. While his base remains fanatically loyal (though apparently incapable of filling an arena in Oklahoma), this historically unpopular president has shown no ability to expand it, nor even retain his winning coalition, because he is utterly incapable of not doing the things that alienate people. Millions of Americans hate him like they have never hated anyone before, while many of the voters who took a punt on him despite their reservations, because they hated Hillary Clinton, or hoped that he would rise to the occasion, are tired of him turning the country into 24/7 rolling chaos. They know what another four years of Trump would look like. One plank of his campaign, the economy, has been snatched away by Covid-19 while another, racial grievance wrapped in the tissue paper of law and order, has proved limited in the face of Black Lives Matter’s popularity. Lest we forget, even though it feels like several years ago, he is one of only four presidents ever to be impeached.

His opponent, meanwhile, is perennially underrated. As Bernie Sanders discovered, Biden’s hold on key demographics, notably older black voters, is ultimately undiminished by his low-key campaigning style and occasional blunders. That’s how he went from clear favourite to underdog to comeback kid. If Biden does not generate great excitement, then nor does he inspire intense hatred, as Hillary Clinton did. He made few enemies as Barack Obama’s genial vice president; Sanders himself is personally fond of the man. Neither his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine, nor former staffer Tara Reade’s sexual harassment allegations, have damaged him. Claims that Biden is suffering from cognitive decline (as opposed to continuing a tradition of gaffes that goes back to the 1980s) backfired in his final debate with Sanders by setting the bar too low. The more people say that he is sleepy and doddery (a risky line of attack for the increasingly incoherent Trump), the less he has to do to appear impressive. His responses to Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter have struck the right tone of compassion and competence at a time when the White House offers neither.

Now, only a fool would say that it’s impossible for Trump to win. Perhaps Biden isn’t Clinton in ’96 but Michael Dukakis in ’88, whose substantial lead in early summer evaporated by the autumn. The polls will inevitably narrow. Perhaps he will make a truly disastrous mistake, or fall foul of a scandal that we cannot foresee. Perhaps disillusioned members of the Democratic base will be unpersuaded that the difference between Biden and Trump is substantial enough to get them to the polling booth. Beyond the standard electoral potholes, there are valid concerns about Trump using voter suppression, mass disinformation, and, if the election result comes down to the wire, legal challenges in order to remain in office, although it is worth reassuring anxious friends that constitutionally he cannot simply cancel the election, nor refuse to step down if he is defeated. He may have the instincts of a tyrant but not the power.

Complacency duly guarded against, the smart money is on Trump losing in November, but this is where the trauma of 2016 raises its head. The polls weren’t wrong: it really was extremely unlikely that he would win, and Hillary Clinton really did win the popular vote, and yet 77,774 votes in the right districts of the right three states gave Trump the presidency. But just because an improbable thing has happened once, it doesn’t mean that an even more improbable thing will happen next time. Remember everything that had to go wrong for a much more divisive Democratic candidate, with a narrower lead and a more hostile media, to lose in 2016. If populism’s opponents used to be far too complacent, then we are now too neurotic – prone to seeing a flailing mess of a political project as an unstoppable force. Fear should inspire Trump’s opponents to vote, campaign and fundraise with electric urgency but despair will not. Despair is the greatest obstacle that Biden needs to overcome.

There are countless reasons to want Biden to decisively rout Trump in November. The one that matters whether or not you live in the US is the opportunity to finally provide catharsis for the trauma of 2016. It wouldn’t instantly heal America or purge the poison of white nationalism. I don’t even know what kind of president Biden would be, except a better one. Still, a result that proved that anger, resentment and race-baiting aren’t enough, that flagrant lying can only go so far, that populism is not unbeatable, that the laws of political gravity haven’t been permanently suspended, would go a long way to rescuing us all from the nightmare land of anything-can-happen in which we have been living for the past four years. We’ve spent too long feeling like Orwell’s rabbit, hypnotised by the boa constrictor. If nothing else, a Trump defeat would break the spell.

Dorian Lynskey writes about politics and culture for titles including the Guardian, Observer, GQ and New Statesman. He is the author of 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs and The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell's 1984. He co-hosts the Remainiacs and Bunker podcasts. You can follow him on Twitter here.

[weeklybreakdown-blog]

This Week: Nullifying Mueller, Alabama Votes, and Susan Collins?

Happy Tuesday, Homies!

The News: A Haiku

Fox News gets louder

when Mueller gets closer

the dumpster fire rages

Continuing the haiku theme Vicky brought you last week, here's my own representation of the news of the week and we have lots to unpack. A full assault by conservative media outlets against the integrity of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Today’s special election in Alabama between alleged-child molester, Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones. Finally, Susan Collins, the U.S. Senator from Maine who may be wavering on her support of the Republican Tax plan.

Please share this newsletter if you like our breakdowns, and let us know what we could do better!

Special Counsel Scrutiny

We’ve seen Robert Mueller act swiftly and decisively in tackling the Russian interference in the 2016 election. He is a disciplined patriot who is following where the evidence leads. Yet, if you listen to conservative media outlines, you would think something else entirely. This past weekend, Fox News’ Gregg Jarret wrote a piece detailing the partisan plot of Bob Mueller and his witch hunt. In it, Jarret lashes out at the credibility of the investigation, citing democratic donations from people around the Special Counsel, his bias for ‘abusive tactics’, and the recent firing of an FBI agent over anti-Trump texts. It’s worth a read simply because it shows how facts in America have been completely destroyed when self-serving, (and dangerous) narratives can be created out of any opinion. Don’t forget Jeanine Pirro's insane rant about “cleansing” the FBI. This is the stuff of tin-pot dictators. The numbers show this too. Only 56% of Americans believe Bob Mueller will conduct the investigation fairly. That number increases when polled with Democrats and decreasing among Republicans. Even when news breaks from the latest indictments, Fox News doesn’t even bother to cover the issue; leaving viewers uninformed of what is happening. Fox, partially led by de-facto leader Sean Hannity, is doing a full court press on Mueller’s credibility. The reason? Solidifying and preserving Trump’s base as a method of insulating the 45th President. If Trump is properly insulated from any potential crimes Mueller digs up, it’s up to the Republicans in the House to decide on impeachment. And if there’s no pressure from their constituents since they have been spoon-fed an alternate reality, then, voila - Mr. Trump gets to keep his job. My guess is that the louder the calls get on Fox for removing Mueller, the closer Mueller is to closing in on the President. Let’s see what Mueller might bring us for Christmas. I'll Have Allegations for $200 please, Trebek Today is a big day for Alabamians. They will decide who will succeed Jeff Sessions’s old Senate seat. There are two current contenders, Democrat Doug Jones, who successfully prosecuted members of the KKK back in the 1970s, or Republican Roy Moore - former judge battling allegations of child molestation. On Sunday, Richard Shelby, the state’s senior senator, explained that he would not be voting for Roy Moore, opting to write-in a candidate of his choosing. The senator went further, claiming “I think the women are believable. I have no reason not to believe them. I didn’t vote for Roy Moore. I wouldn’t vote for Roy Moore. I think the Republican party can do better.” This might be too little, too late. Moore currently holds a lead in the polls, though FiveThirtyEight notes Jones is within the margin of error and stands a decent chance. Results will be coming in tonight as soon as polls close at 8pm EST. I’m pessimistic on this one.  You would hope that in this day and age, an alleged child molester would pay the political price. However, it seems that Alabamians cannot stomach sending a Democrat to represent them. It shows the deep hatred for the Democratic brand in 2017. While I would be happy to be proved wrong on this call, I wish that the seriousness of the allegations would affect the certainty of the outcome that much more.

The Susan Collins Game Changer?

"I would consider changing my vote..." Those words, spoken from Maine’s senior senator, highlighted the peril the Trump tax plan could face. Susan Collins, a Republican, wants to see how the tax plan will turn out once reconciled in conference committee.  Why would the senator consider changing her vote? Well, a few weeks ago when the Republicans rammed through unpopular, unwanted, and unneeded legislation for tax “reform,” she apparently got a verbal deal with majority leader Mitch McConnell. That deal? “...That the Senate would pass two bipartisan pieces of health-care legislation, the Alexander-Murray and Nelson-Collins bills, which would stabilize insurance markets.”

Even if given that concession, Speaker Paul Ryan shows no interest in pursuing any reform related to saving the Affordable Care Act. So ends another sad story of integrity that could have been there, but was sadly missed. Count Collins in the yes column for her vote since the probability of this happening is quite low. If you’re looking for another tale of horse-trading during the GOP rush of legislation, check out Jeff Flake. He traded his vote away for a measly promise of a meeting with leadership on DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Jerusalem

Incompetency wins again. Here’s a quick rundown on what the president did and why it’s poorly thought out.

Jerusalem is supposed to be the capital of both Israel and Palestine. Or in legalese, corpus separatum. The city would be recognized as international territory and administered by the United Nations. Please note it says this on Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website.

Trump gave it away for nothing. Well, not nothing, it might win with voters in Alabama and his religious base, but really!? Get something out of the Israelis on settlement building to sweeten the deal. A great deal maker, the Donald is not.

Discord among our allies - make America great? How about make America small. Small and alone on the world stage where no one else seems to even understand what or why the United States is pursuing policies that only sow discord and hate.

My advice? The next president, if they have any sense in them, should recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state. Effectively nullifying Trump’s recognition. Sure, it forces the U.S. to accept Palestine, but what else can we do now that we’ve angered most of the world? It could even jump start a new peace process to resolve the issue once and for all.

What to watch:

More accusers coming out in full force against the President now that the #metoo campaign has really taken off. Expect their voices to add to the cacophony of deceit and lies surrounding his administration.  

More information coming out from the bombing at New York’s Port Authority. Granted we are happy the suspect was caught and no one was seriously injured. But the real inconvenience to New Yorkers were the subway delays. Shows how resilient NYC is when facing cowardly acts.

Finally, a Happy Hanukkah to everyone celebrating tonight!

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Joan Swirsky Explains 🔥 Obama’s Bunker Festers in The Swamp

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Obama’s Bunker Festers in The Swamp

By Joan Swirsky —— Bio and Archives—February 4, 2018

Once upon a time, a seasoned political operative ran for President of the United States against a candidate who had virtually no political experience.

She––Democrat Ms. Hillary Clinton––former First Lady of Arkansas, former First Lady of the United States, former U.S. Senator from New York, former Secretary of State under the faux “president” Barack Obama, was clearly the favorite.

Her opponent––Republican Mr. Donald J. Trump––the billionaire builder who lived in the American version of the Palace of Versailles in Manhattan and in several other resplendent homes around the country and the world, who hosted two wildly successful TV shows, who owned casinos and built golf courses and was a favorite of tabloid magazines, and who had been lionized and courted by the Hollywood crowd, the media whores, and both Democrats and Republicans for his generous contributions, was the clear loser.

Ha ha ha sputtered the political experts. The idea that this neophyte, this (pardon the expression) capitalist could go up against a representative of the outgoing Big Government regime––which brought us socialized medicine (Obamacare) and socialized education (Common Core) and 94-million unemployed Americans and strangulating regulations and horrific trade deals and a foreign policy that bowed deeply to our enemies and spit in the faces of our faithful allies––well that just struck the experts as preposterous.

With the powerful Clinton Machine behind her, the endorsement of the outgoing faux “president,” the immense help of rigged-election experts like ACORN, the incalculable assistance of a bought-and-paid-for leftwing media, and with the good-old-reliable votes of feminists and blacks and Hispanics and gays and all the other groups that stupidly believe Democrats have helped them over the past 60 years, Hillary had no competition at all.

THE BEST-KEPT SECRET      

The cocky Hillary supporters believed that millions of deplorable Americans failed to notice their candidate’s frequent coughing fits, the help she needed simply to ascend three stairs, her peculiar head-bobbing spasms, the cringe-producing effect of her strident voice, and her frequent absences from the campaign trail, not to mention her promising more of the same socialist-cum-communist policies that had failed so miserably for the previous eight years..

They also failed to realize that her opponent had hired an extremely savvy pollster.

That pollster told candidate Trump, on a daily and sometimes hourly basis, how Americans throughout the country were responding to his America First message. And it was all good. And it was a secret that the entire Trump Team kept to themselves.

Or so they thought. But the information that was so damning for Hillary’s candidacy apparently reached the corrupt upper echelons of Obama’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ), and scared them enough to hatch an illegal, seditious, unconstitutional plot to derail the Trump candidacy and, failing that, the Trump presidency.

For months on end, fake polls, as reported by fake news shills, told us that Hillary was a slam-dunk. Right up to 8 p.m. on the night of November 8, 2016, when the entire leftwing media started to wipe the avalanche of egg yolks dripping down their faces.

TRYING TO BRING DOWN A PRESIDENT

To those of us who supported Mr. Trump from the beginning––I wrote an article back in 2011 entitled “Trump is Already Running the Country”––it was clear that every now and then in American history, someone comes along to save our country from those who hate it.

FDR is in this category, bolstering America’s spirits through the worst Depression in our history and a devastating World War (although I personally revile Roosevelt for condemning six-million Jews to annihilation when he could and should have bombed the concentration camps in Germany and Poland to which Hitler condemned his defenseless victims).

Abraham Lincoln is in this category, miraculously uniting our country after the ferocious Civil War that almost tore it apart.

President Trump belongs in this category, accomplishing more that is good for America in one year in office than any chief executive in our history––all while the clinically hysterical liberals in the media and among the populace continued to beleaguer, hound, protest, vilify, insult and harass him, and when ill-intentioned actors from Obama’s DOJ and FBI put their malevolent plot into action, a plot that accused both candidate and President Trump of colluding with Russians to swing the election his way.

To this malicious end, they did the following:

Hired British spy Christopher Steele (who admitted in writing that he “hated” candidate Trump) to create a phony story about the Republican candidate being in a Russian hotel engaging is raunchy acts with a prostitute;

Hired the political opposition-research group Fusion GPS to distribute the phony info.

Paid for this sham scenario with multimillions of dollars from both Hillary’s campaign coffers and the Democratic National Committee’s monies;

Went to the judges of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to apply for a search warrant without informing the judges about (1) the Trump-loathing spy’s bias, and (2) who paid for the warrant. By the way, who are these judges and exactly who appointed them???

Obtained the warrant which allowed the partisan hacks from Obama’s DOJ and FBI to conduct a more than year-long collusion investigation which produced NOTHING!

Oops… make that something. It produced hard, cold, concrete, irrefutable, and to my mind indictable evidence that the people who were in collusion were––ta da––the corrupt upper echelon of the DOJ and FBI who lied to the FISA judges, as well as Hillary Clinton who as Sec. of State gave 20 percent of U.S. uranium to the Russians (similar to her husband Bill giving nukes to North Korea and their ideological clone Barack Obama giving nukes to Iran!).

WHAT’S MISSING FROM THIS PICTURE?

For well over a year, we’ve had the fishy FISA memo, former FBI director James Comey being accused of covering up Hillary’s crimes, the witch hunt of President Trump by another former FBI director Robert Mueller, CA Democrat Adam Schiff’s manic attempts to impeach the president, the media’s narcotizing anti-Trump talking points, and the few lone voices––vox clamantis en deserto––in the conservative media, but what do they all have in common? What is missing?

Not outrage…they are all outraged.

Not accusations…the right blames the left and the left blames the right.

Not plain talk…conservative Sean Hannity has been clear as a bell, as are the leftist bought-and-paid-for shills on every leftwing news outlet, both electronic and print.

While all of them pointed fingers, cast blame, railed against the “system” they thought was crooked or biased or partisan, the elephant in the room––the subject they never raised, the person they never mentioned as the arch architect of the entire illegal corrupt plan to derail the Trump presidency––BARACK OBAMA!

Does anyone really believe that FISA warrants can be submitted or obtained by any underling in the American government? Of course not! That request has to come––or at least be approved––directly from the Oval Office.

Does anyone really believe that the anti-Trump talking points, rallies, vigils, disparaging articles, and orchestrated hatred is spontaneous? Of course not! They come directly from groups like Organizing For America, which was formed by the former community organizer Barack Obama with the express intent of dismantling traditional American institutions and converting them into the socialist and communist regimes they most admire.

According to journalist and author Paul Sperry, Obama sent a message to his “troops” saying that he “was heartened by anti-Trump protests. Yes,” says Sperry, “Obama has an army of agitators — numbering more than 30,000— who will fight his Republican successor at every turn of his historic presidency. And Obama will command them from a bunker less than two miles from the White House.”

Ah… the bitterness.

A FEW EXCEPTIONS

To their credit, a few people––so far––have cited Obama as a central player––probably the central player––in the Russian-collusion fiasco. As CanadaFreePress.com editor Judi McLeod has written, “One day after the release of the Memo, we should all be asking, `Where is Obama?’ Why is he so stonily silent…? The answer is that the scurrilous Obama, just like Steele, went into hiding. The Memo proves that the FBI is not just part of a USA intelligence apparatus that systematically spies on its own American citizenry, it paid…for filth completely made up by a foreign agent with whom they were in tight ‘Hate Donald Trump’ league.”

Daniel Greenfield, in an article entitled The Memo Reveals the Coup against America, writes that “the Democrats and the media spent a week lying to the American people about the `memo’”…claiming its release would be damaging to America’s spying and even treasonous. But “they didn’t mean American spying methods––they meant Obama’s spying methods.”

“The memo isn’t treasonous,” Greenfield continues. “It reveals a treasonous effort by the Democrats to use our intelligence agencies to rig an election and overturn the will of the voters. Today, the media and Dems switched from claiming that the memo was full of `classified information’ that might get CIA agents killed by insisting that it was a dud and didn’t matter. Oh, what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

And the other night the Fox News moderator Jesse Watters called out Obama for his significant role in this orgy of corruption.

But where are the other voices to identify the virulence––and jealousy––of the anti-Trump minions? And particularly Barack Obama’s role?

As I wrote in a former article, “James Comey and the Stinking Fish Factor”––“Whether it’s in industry or the military or sports or show business, if a failure occurs, it’s always the top dog who is accountable. Not the assembly line worker or the buck private or the third baseman who calls the shots, but the one who occupies the ultimate seat of power. Look at what happened at the Democratic National Committee…the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief of Communications, and Chairwoman all resigned because of the hacking that proved the DNC to be both crooked and racist.”

So it is with the putative head of the Democrat Party, Barack Obama. And it’s not just jealousy or ideology that drives his obsession––it’s fear! All the honchos under Obama––John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, John Podesta, Obama himself, the list is long––quake with dread that their own scandals, acts of malfeasance, controversies, and possible illegalities will be unearthed and come to light during the Trump years and they will all be frog-marched straight into Leavenworth…hence the mad quest to frame the president and get him out of office.

They should be afraid. And they should be remorseful for their shabby tactics and constitutional violations. But if Hillary Clinton is an example of the left’s craven sociopathy––and I think she is the prime example––the American public can expect no apologies and no regrets but rather the same evasions, deceptions and lies that the Obama gang raised to an art form during his ignominious eight years in office.

In fact, not only is Hillary credited with creating the Russian-collusion fakery but as writer Mark Tapscott so thoroughly documents, the Clintons have been using the FBI against their enemies for years.

It is doubtful that when candidate Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” he had even an inkling of the vast number of slithering, predatory, reptilian creatures who inhabited that toxic environment. But being the smartest guy in the room, and a quick study at that, you can bet that he will decontaminate the place as swiftly as he pushed through the biggest tax and jobs bill in history.

For that, he will gain the eternal gratitude of the American people, a huge majority of the candidates he endorses in the midterms, and a thunderous reelection in 2020.

Joan Swirsky Explains 🔥 Obama’s Bunker Festers in The Swamp Joan Swirsky Explains 🔥 Obama’s Bunker Festers in The Swamp Joan Swirsky

[placetobenation]

“The revolutionary force for over 50 years in sports entertainment” was a clever tag line used in the mid 90s before every WWF show. For most United States wrestling fans that are still alive, it is a way of life. Greater by the day is the lack of variance in the answer of what wrestling an individual grew up on. For better or worse, WWE has been the standard bearer. Throughout that rich history, performers ranging from Nature Boys to Undertakers have graced the squared circle. Foreign legends have had extended runs and some of the most iconic figures in pro wrestling history have been aces of the promotion reaching unequivocal mainstream pop culture heights in the world of wrestling.

With such a large history to play with, discovering the beauty of Bob Backlund’s charisma or the connection of Bruno Sammartino to the MSG crowd was a new development throughout this project similar to rewatching The Godfather and On the Waterfront to rediscover the genius of Marlon Brando. WWE may not have always been YOUR promotion but for the better part of 50 years, it was THE promotion in the United States and transformed the pro wrestling landscape. This project serves to praise the individuals that best helped shape the vision of Vince McMahon Sr. and Jr. Place to be Nation is proud to present to you a ranking of the Greatest WWE Wrestlers Ever.

– Chad Campbell

Note: Results of this list are based on 118 ballots received between May and December 2017. Voters were asked to submit their list of the 100 Greatest WWE Wrestlers of all time and consider only their WWWF/WWF/WWE career. Ties were broken based on 1) number of ballots a wrestler appeared on and 2) high vote. 

Every wrestler who received at least one vote will be recognized in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned to Place to Be Nation as we reveal all of the honorable mentions right through the cream of the crop. Read the other installments, both written and audio, of this project here.

174. Wendi Richter Total Points: 309 Total Ballots: 10 Average Rank: 70.1 High Vote: 28 Low Vote:  89 High Voter: El Groino

Key Matches & Moments: Was a hugely over babyface during the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling era; Cindy Lauper’s surrogate at the inaugural WrestleMania; Defeated Leilani Kai for the Women’s Title at that same WrestleMania; Wendi then screwed Wendi at the inaugural MSG screwjob

Staff Thoughts: Wendi Richter will forever be an iconic character of the 80s due to her involvement in the legendary Cindy Lauper angle. To this day she probably screams “SCREW YOU SPIDER!” as she smashes every arachnid around her lavish, swimsuit filled home.

From the Voters: “Second only to Hulk as the most over babyface of the Rock & Wrestling Connection. Needed a better foil than Moolah or Leilani Kai. Sensational Sherri would’ve been a great feud.” – Tim Tetreault, June 3, 2017

“Much like Hillbilly Jim, she was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Lousy in the ring and on the mic. No chance of making it on my list.” – Brian Bayless, June 3, 2017

173. Barbarian Total Points: 319 Total Ballots: 15 Average Rank: 79.7 High Vote: 57 Low Vote:  98 High Voter: David Carli

Key Matches & Moments: Debuted alongside the Warlord as the Powers of Pain; CRUSHED communism at SummerSlam 1988; Showed their bias towards imperialist Japan at Survivor Series that year; Unsuccessfully challenged Demolition for the Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania V; Sold to Bobby Heenan and to celebrate the occasion killed many deer to make a sick half coat; Gave Tito Santana the sweetest top rope clothesline at WrestleMania VI; Fun romp with the Big Boss Man at Royal Rumble 1991; With Haku had a hell of an opener at WrestleMania VII against the Rockers; Changed his name to Sionne…

Staff Thoughts: An underrated big man from the age of the giants. Barbarian could move in there for a guy his size. Sure his promos sounded like random grunting but that’s why Bobby Heenan was there to tell us he wasn’t a hairdresser on his day off. Had he been given a push to match his talent we’re probably talking about someone who finishes much higher. The true shame is that he wasn’t the one paired with Slick; with the way Barbarian rolled his shoulders he would have made a perfect dance partner for the Doctor of Style rather than that stiff-ass Warlord.

From the Voters: “Would’ve loved him and Haku tagging more in the WWF. And am I the only one who thought the fur and antlers look was cool? Very few guys could’ve pulled that off without looking ridiculous (I’m looking at you, Mantaur!)” – Tim Tetreault, June 3, 2017

“Underrated in the ring, no promos to speak of. He was a fine middle-of-the-card heel who didn’t seem to have any ambitions to go further than that.” – Ben Morse, June 9, 2017

172. Koko B. Ware Total Points: 319 Total Ballots: 18 Average Rank: 83.8 High Vote: 40 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Vince Male

Key Matches & Moments: “The Birdman” was a favorite among 80s WWF fans especially kids who liked his colorful outfits and Frankie, The macaw that accompanied Koko B. Ware to the ring; Defeated Nikolai Volkoff on the November 1986 Saturday Night’s Main Event; Sang the title track on the Piledriver album; Appeared at WrestleMania III losing to Butch Reed; First wrestler to fall victim to both the PefectPlex and the Undertaker’s Tombstone piledriver; Teamed with Owen Hart as High Energy, blazing a trail in the baggy pants genre of this industry; Appeared in the first match on the first Monday Night Raw where he was squashed by Yokozuna

Staff Thoughts: Koko B. Ware doesn’t have a signature match or promo to make his case, but I would wager most fans who grew up in the 80s remember him, for whatever that’s worth. Between flapping his arms and bringing Frankie to the ring to the suspenders and pants that looked like parachutes (not parachute pants those were different) you couldn’t forget Koko. He also seemed to pop-up in a lot of significant spots like taking the first PerfectPlex, Tombstone Piledriver and in the first match on Raw. He never WON any of those, but since Koko was really enhancement talent he wasn’t supposed to, and a win over a memorable jobber likely got more mileage than a win over a forgettable one.

From the Voters: “I want to give Koko some credit – he was great in his role, and he’s one of those guys that anyone who watched from that time period remembers. Koko (and George Steele) really trailbazed in the WWF for creating the “kid friendly” role on the main men’s roster. Guys like The Hurricane, Eugene, The Bushwhackers, etc really followed where he helped to lead.” – James Proffitt, May 31, 2017

“I can’t see him making my list BUT he was a very beloved character in his era. Probably one of the most rootable guys in the business during his WWF stint despite never getting a break. I’ve always wondered if there are any High Energy hidden gems.” – Dylan Hales, July 7, 2017

171. Beth Phoenix Total Points: 323 Total Ballots: 15 Average Rank: 79.5 High Vote: 52 Low Vote: 96 High Voter: Eric Miller

Key Matches & Moments: Debuted as an ally of Trish Stratus in her feud with Mickie James; Returned from injury as The Glamazon heel character defeating Candice Michelle for the WWE Women’s Championship at No Mercy 2007; Had a two-out-of-three falls match with Michelle that was touted in the Facebook comments; Teamed with Melina to win the Playboy Bunnymania Lumberjack match at WrestleMania XXiV; Defeated Melina in the first women’s I Quit match in WWE history; Was one-half of power couple Glamerella, playing the straight woman to Santino Marella’s wacky antics; Glamerella defeated Kofi Kingston and Mickie James at SummerSlam 2008 resulting in Phoenix winning James’ Women’s title and Santino winning Kingston’s IC title; At WrestleMania XXV Phoenix competed in the Miss WrestleMania battle royal eliminating 12 divas before being eliminated by “Santina;” causing the split of Glamerella; Became just the second woman to enter the Royal Rumble in 2010, eliminating Great Kahli by kissing him out of the ring; Defeated Michelle McCool in an Extreme Makeover match at Extreme Rules 2010 for her third Women’s Championship; Teamed with Natalya to defeat LayCool in the first Divas Tables match at TLC 2010; Formed the Divas of Doom with Natalya feuding with the “perky bimbos” that made up the rest of the division; Defeated Kelly Kelly at Hell in a Cell 2011 to win the Divas Championship; Lost a tag team match with Eve Torres to Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos at WrestleMania XXVIII

Staff Thoughts: Beth Phoenix was the highlight of the Women’s Division during a dark period for the division, making her the equivalent of the tallest midget or, as Steve Williams put it on one of the FYC podcasts, “the prettiest waitress at Denny’s” (this naturally led to Good Ol’ Will telling about the Denny’s waitress he once dated.) Anyway, Phoenix stood out from the other divas of the time with her power offense and was real good in her role as straight woman to Santino Marella in Glamerella. She was also the second woman to compete in the Royal Rumble.

From the Voters: “I think she could have done way more than what she was restricted to. I’ve seen her cut a decent promo. She could be funny or serious. Not a great worker, but she could be fun throwing girls around. I liked her as the ‘straight man’ with Santino, and liked her team with Nattie too. She had that killer submission match with Melina. There’s 4 or 5 women ahead of her though, and I don’t think she has enough to make it.” -Adam Russell, July 13, 2017

“She stood out during a dark period of women’s wrestling. I’m not going to hold that against her so she’s probably going to make my list. Would love to see here against the current roster.” – Brian Meyer, May 31, 2017

170. Road Warrior Animal Total Points: 342 Total Ballots: 14 Average Rank: 76.6 High Vote: 47 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Ray Miller

Key Matches & Moments: At SummerSlam 1990 helped The Hart Foundation defeat those no-good copycats Demolition; Part of the awesome WARRIORS team at Survivor Series 1990; Finally won the WWF Tag Team Championships from the Nasty Boys in a fun match at SummerSlam 1991 making The LOD the first team to hold each of the WWF, NWA and AWA Tag Team Titles; Began attending strategy sessions from a wooden 1950s greaser dummy that seems to have perpetuated the decline of the LOD’s WWF career; Returned to the WWF in 1997 and had an endless feud with two pig farmers, but then went on to help make the New Age Outlaws; Were part of the uber-fun Chicago Street fight at WrestleMania 13.

Staff Thoughts: The Legion of Doom is still one of the most popular teams in company history, but when you strip it down their accomplishments, while decent, they don’t really amount to an all time great team. Perhaps it’s because they never were given that huge blowoff with Demolition, or maybe because they were never fed the Rockers but you’re hard pressed to find a GREAT LOD match in the WWF. All the same people will forever remember Animal as the glue that held the team together, a solid in-ring performer and the best “TELL EM HAWK” guy in the business. The less said about his partnership with Heidenreich and his complicity in the rape of Michael Cole the better.

From the Voters: “I’ve tried to wait to comment on Animal seeing as how I’m very biased because they are myself and my fathers favorite tag team of all time. I wish they would have had a longer stay in the WWE or just had gotten there sooner. They are multiple time WWE champions but I think the only way they make the list is very low and they would have to be together. Fingers crossed” – Eric Boyd, May 28, 2017

“If this was a NWA/ WCW list, Animal and Hawk for that matter would be locks. But it’s not so they are not.” – Matt Souza, May 28, 2017

169. Tony Garea Total Points: 347 Total Ballots: 16 Average Rank: 79.3 High Vote: 42 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Scott Herrin

Key Matches & Moments: Teamed with Haystacks Calhoun to defeat Mr. Fuji and Professor Tanaka to win his first WWWF Tag Team title; Continued feuding with Fuji and Tanaka and won his second Tag Team title from that pair teaming with Dean Ho; After a three year singles run, Garea formed one of his more well-known tag teams with Larry Zbyzsko eventually defeating the Yukon Lumberjacks for Garea’s third Tag Team title; In 1980 Garea formed his most popular and successful tag team with Rick Martel, winning the titles from the Wild Samoans for Garea’s fourth Tag Team reign; Garea and Martel had a hot feud with the Moondogs eventually dropping the titles in March 1981; In July 1981 Martle and Garea recaptured the belts from the Moondogs for Garea’s fifth and final Tag Team Championship; The team continued to have great matches with teams like Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito, who they eventually dropped the titles to after Martel took salt to the eyes; After Martel left the WWF in 1982, Garea teamed with Eddie Gilbert and B. Brian Blair before sliding down to enhancement talent and retiring from in-ring duty in 1986

Staff Thoughts: With that luxurious head of hair, Tony Garea would’ve been right at home guest starring on C.H.i.P.S., but luckily for us, he used his genetically gifted follicles in the squared circle. A true tag-team specialist, Garea won the tag titles five times and had very good notable runs with Larry Z. and Rick Martel. The team with Martel was especially good in the ring having excellent matches with the Moondogs and The Misters (Fuji and Saito, and did WWF miss the boat not calling that team Mister Mister? No, probably not.) The guys talk about Garea’s resume and his tag teams on this episode of FYC.

From the Voters: “Runaway winner for best hair – he has quite the tag resume when you look at his entire run and the number of titles he was given . His stuff with Larry and Martel is really good but I don’t think you could ever say he was the best guy on the team. Did his job well though.” – Brad Warren, June 4, 2017

“Underrated talent, and was pretty relevant for a surprisingly long time. And just a fantastic head of hair!” – Tim Tetreault

168. Val Venis Total Points: 347 Total Ballots: 18 Average Rank: 81.7 High Vote: 41 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: Blaise Perrone

Key Matches & Moments: The wrestling porn star was introduced in a series of vignettes featuring real porn star Jenna Jameson; First feud with Kai En Tai resulted in the “choppy choppy your pee-pee” angle, so Val Venis was memorable from the start; Starred in one of his movies with Terri Runnels prompting a feud with Goldust; Made another film with Ryan Shamrock, kayfabe sister or Ken Shamrock, prompting their feud, with Venis winning the Intercontinental title from Shamrock; Lost his title to Road Dogg, but challenged for the IC belt at WrestleMania XV in a mess of an angle and four-way match; Won the European Title from the British Bulldog and lost it to Kurt Angle; Won his second IC title from Rikishi and successfully defended it in a good cage match at Fully Loaded 2000; Joined the Right to Censor, dropping the porn star gimmick; Lost a six-man tag match with RTC against the APA and Tazz at WrestleMania X-7; Returned from injury at Royal Rumble 2002 under his old gimmick and calling himself the Big Valbowski; In late 2002 began using his real name of Sean Morley and was appointed Raw Chief of Staff, becoming Chief Morley; Appointed himself Lance Storm’s tag team partner when William Regal was unable to compete, making him a Tag Team Champion; Continued with the company is reduced roles until 2009

Staff Thoughts: Helloooo Ladies! (and gentlemen we don’t want to exclude anyone in our audience) Val Venis (rhymes with penis) owned the wrestling porn star gimmick, from his fantastic entrance videos featuring trains heading into tunnels and hot dogs being mass produced to his double-entendre laden promos and towel-twirling pre-match routine. Was the biggest beneficiary of a case of shrinkage in history during the “choppy-choppy your pee-pee” angle with Kaientai. And the star of such notable flicks as Saving Ryan’s Privates was not just a Russo created gimmick only wrestler, he was a solid hand in the ring. The master of the Money Shot’s cage match against Rikishi at Fully Loaded 2000 is a bit of a hidden gem on a fairly loaded card. Unfortunately, the gimmick had a relatively short shelf life and the Big Valbowski was type-cast as every subsequent character from repentant Val in the RTC to Chief Morley delivered less bang for the buck than Venis (which rhymes with penis.)

From the Voters: “He is making my list. I don’t care… I enjoyed the choppy choppy angle. Loved the Goldust feud. Liked the Rikishi match. He will be likely in the bottom 10 but I finding a place for him on my list.” – Good Ol’ Will From Texas, June 3, 2017

I appreciate the work in the tail end of his run, when the pornstar gimmick was done and he was just a solid hand busting his ass as enhancement talent. Could work face or heel, modified the character a few times, and had a reasonable amount of success. I think he has a shot at the back end, I’m certainly not saying no chance just yet.” – Jeremy Ray, June 4, 2017

167. Luke Harper Total Points: 348 Total Ballots: 15 Average Rank: 77.8 High Vote: 51 Low Vote: 96 High Voter: Microstatistics

Key Matches & Moments: Won the NXT Tag Team Championship with Erick Rowan; Debuted with the Wyatt Family feuding with Goldust & Cody Rhodes and CM Punk & Daniel Bryan; The Wyatt Family feuded with The Shield in early 2014 and had an incredible six-man match at Elimination Chamber; Teaming with Rowan he challenged WWE Tag Team Champions the Usos at Money in the Bank and in a two-out-of-three-falls match at Battleground; After dissolution of the Wyatt Family Harper joined Team Authority at Survivor Series 2014; Won the Intercontinental Title from Dolph Ziggler; Lost the title back to Dolph Ziggler in a very good ladder match at TLC 2014; Challenged for the IC title in the seven-man ladder match at WrestleMania 31; Reunited with the Wyatt Family tagging with Wyatt against Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam 2015; Wyatt and Randy Orton won the SmackDown Tag Team titles at TLC 2016 and Harper was recognized as a champion under Freebird Rules; Was a co-winner of a battle royal to name a number one contender for the WWE Championship, setting up a singles match with A.J. Styles to name the number one contender; Reformed his tag team with Rowan currently competing as the Bludgeon Brothers

Staff Thoughts: The matches with The Shield are fantastic and Luke Harper is a big reason why. He’s got a strong list of very good matches, but is one of the more underutilized members of the roster, and has also been unlucky with some injuries. Hopefully, he and Rowan can get a solid tag run as the Bludgeon Brothers despite the dumb team name.

From the Voters: “Tremendous stuff with the Wyatt Family vs. Shield and Usos, as mentioned, and what I felt was a great ladder match against Dolph Ziggler. Also had a good singles match at Fastlane against Randy Orton. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s enough to make my list. Love this guy though.” – Greg Phillips, June 1, 2017

“Makes it on the strength of being the best Wyatt in those awesome Shield vs Wyatt Family matches. Then having a super unheralded brutal violent classic ladder match with Dolph Ziggler of all people. yes underutilized but still good enough to make it for me.” – Martin Boulevard, November 19, 2017

166. Akeem Total Points: 353 Total Ballots: 23 Average Rank: 85.7 High Vote: 23 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Jason Drake

Key Matches & Moments: As the One Man Gang had a memorable house show feud with Hulk Hogan; Part of Andre the Giant’s winning team at Survivor Series 1987; Got to the semi-finals of the much beloved WrestleMania IV WWF Title Tournament; Returned to his roots in deepest darkest Africa; Formed the Twin Towers with Big Boss Man; Was involved in the feud and match in which the Mega Powers exploded; Fun match with the Rockers at WrestleMania V; Eventually was crushed by Big Boss Man after their partnership went awry

Staff Thoughts: Who could forget this big son of a bitch all dressed in blue getting funky like a monkey. Jim Johnson will no doubt tell you that the Ultimate Warrior had the most perfect entrance theme, but we’ll argue that no theme embodied a wrestler more than Jive Soul Bro embodied Akeem. Did he lie to his friends? Absolutely, otherwise why would the incorruptible Big Boss Man feel the need to kick his ass at WrestleMania VI? Did he never get nothing in the end? I don’t see a universe in which he was able to walk out of that company with one of those dashikis let alone one of those glorious hats. Akeem was pure fun: the deepest darkest Africa skit, twirling his hands in the air (as though he didn’t care) and the Akeem promos were hilarious as he attempted to channel Dusty Rhodes; all the while he had the size and ability to carry a more serious feud if needed. If anything we should commend this dude for learning a lesson and not messing with a woman that was seven feet tall.

From the Voters: “Akeem is one of my all time favorite characters. Just the mere sight of him makes me want to laugh. He really did a good job with it and it really showed how underrated he was as a performer with how well he did with it. Only problem that he was too goofy to be taken seriously which kind of hurt his value. I think they missed the boat not turning him face. It’s also too bad he left before his feud with Saba Simba over who the true African of the WWF was could get off the ground. Those matches would’ve been quite interesting to say the least.” – Wade Ferrari, May 28, 2017

“I hate the Akeem to a nearly irrational level. He is just so fucking annoying in every match with those shitty dance moves. Fuck Akeem! Demolition vs Twin Towers thats made for wrestling Hell.” – Martin Boulevard May, 29, 2017

165. Dick Murdoch Total Points: 368 Total Ballots: 11 Average Rank: 67.5 High Vote: 49 Low Vote: 95 High Voter: Richard Land

Key Matches & Moments: Won the WWF Tag Team Championship with partner Adrian Adonis in 1984; Carried Afa to a watchable match on the October 1984 MSG show; Had an excellent match with Barry Windham in February of 1985; Was called DICKIE Murdoch by Jim Ross during the 1995 Royal Rumble

Staff Thoughts: Dick Murdoch was an incredible worker who had his best stuff outside the WWF. His time in the promotion was as short as his son Trevor Murdoch’s. The WWF just doesn’t care for Murdochs. And before you get angry we know he’s not his son, but look at those foreheads for fuck’s sake!

From the Voters: “Match with Afa on 10/84 MSG show is greatest broomstick performance in history. It’s on the Network” – Kelly Nelson, May 31, 2017

“So much stuff elsewhere that doesn’t count in here (he was an easy overall GWE vote) – don’t see him making first pass” – Brad Warren, May 31, 2017

164. Jim Neidhart Total Points: 378 Total Ballots: 17 Average Rank: 78.8 High Vote: 48 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Vince Male

Key Matches & Moments: Was the second to last guy eliminated in the WrestleMania 2 battle royale; With partner Bret Hart defeated the British Bulldogs to become the WWF tag Team Champions; Check out ANY of the Hart Foundation/British Bulldog matches you can on the WWE Network; He and Bret had an excellent opener against the Brain Busters at SummerSlam 1989; Won the WWF Tag team Titles from Demolition at SummerSlam 1990; Was briefly proclaimed Mr. SummerSlam before Bret Hart whined and got Vince McMahon to hand HIM the sash; Got killed in one of Ric Flair’s first matches on Superstars in 1991; Wore shiny blue pants and formed a team with Owen Hart; Would later support Owen in the Hart feud of 1994; Part of 1997’s excellent Hart Foundation angle and participated in the EPIC 10 man tag at IYH Canadian Stampede

Staff Thoughts: If you’re a certain age and you have had a beard at some point you have looked at yourself in the mirror, pulled it down to a point and let out a huge “HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Bret Hart himself, possibly with tears in his eyes, credits the Anvil for helping him get out of the blocks of his WWF career. Jim Neidhart was a great part of one of the greatest teams of all time, but his lack of singles work hampers his ability to climb this list any further. He will forever be remembered for his laugh, his high impact moves, his big heart and that weird pink cap that we wore on his head a few times.

From the Voters: “Hart Foundation absolutely would not have worked without Anvil. Excellent character and promos, surprisingly athletic, knew where to be for Bret’s innovative tag ideas.” – Greg Phillips, May 31, 2017

“Who?” – Jeremy Ray, May 30, 2017

163. Stan Hansen Total Points: 379 Total Ballots: 14 Average Rank: 73.9 High Vote: 50 Low Vote: 97 High Voter: ElliottPWO

Key Matches & Moments: Feuded with Bruno Sammartino in 1976 breaking his neck and claiming it was from the power of his lariat; Upon Sammartino’s return challenged him for the WWWF Title before leaving the company; Returned for a run in 1980 challenging Andre the Giant and Pedro Morales as well as rekindling his feud with Bruno; Developed a rivalry with Bob Backlund challenging him for the WWF title in numerous very good matches, including a steel cage match at Madison Square Garden

Staff Thoughts: The Lariat was great pretty much everywhere he went, bringing intensity and hard-hitting action (possibly because he couldn’t see his opponent well enough to know if he was stiffing them.) His work in WWWF/WWF was brief compared to his runs elsewhere, but Stan Hansen still made an impact. He’s most known for breaking Bruno Sammartino’s neck and having intense brawls with the champ, including this steel cage match from 1976. He developed an intense rivalry with Bob Backlund, culminating in this cage match from MSG in 1981.

From the Voters: “I love Hansen, but he’s known from his work in Japan. Could be put on the list simply for breaking Bruno Sammartino’s neck.” – Boyce Antrim, June 2, 2017

“Broke bruno’s neck. And had a decent feud with Bob. He could get in the last few spots, if you are inclined.” – Will Olson, June 3, 2017

162. Dash Wilder Total Points: 398 Total Ballots: 16 Average Rank: 76.125 High Vote: 38 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: Sam Symonds

Key Matches & Moments: Began teaming with Scott Dawson as the Mechanics in 2014 in NXT though the name was later changed to Dash and Dawson and finally The Revival; Competed in the 2015 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic losing to Finn Balor and Samoa Joe at NXT Takeover: Respect; Won the NXT Tag Team Titles from the Vaudevillains on the November 11, 2015 episode of NXT; Defeated Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady at NXT Takeover London; Successfully defended their titles against Enzo and Cass at Roadblock in March 2016; Lost their titles at NXT Takeover Dallas to American Alpha before regaining them at NXT Takeover The End with both matches being stellar; Began a feud with #DIY, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa successfully defending their titles at NXT Takeover Brooklyn II in an excellent match, before dropping the titles to #DIY in a two-out-of-three falls match at NXT Takeover Toronto in a Match of the Year Contender; Challenged for the NXT Tag Team Titles at NXT Takeover Orlando in a three-way match with #DIY and the Authors of Pain; The Revival answered an open challenge and defeated the New Day on the Raw after WrestleMania 33, Faced Dustin Rhodes at Starcade live event in November

Staff Thoughts: Your mileage on Dash Wilder will depend on how much you value tag team wrestling as he doesn’t have much of a singles body of work. But The Revival can make a strong case as one of the best in-ring tag teams to ever compete under the WWE banner. Their work in NXT is some of the best tag team matches the company has ever put on. The two Takeover matches with #DIY are instant classics with the Toronto two-out-of-three falls match a strong contender for 2016 MOTY. The matches with American Alpha weren’t far behind. You can make a strong case their matches have been some of the best U.S. tag team matches since at least the late 80s or early 90s. The way the Revival cuts off the ring, their teamwork and timing and storytelling during a match is just superb. They’ve been unlucky lately, with both Wilder and Dawson suffering injuries after they were called up to the main roster. But if they can stay healthy and the company gives them the ball to run with both Wilder and Dawson may climb up the rankings in future lists. You can hear the guys talk more about the Revival on this episode of the FYC podcast.

From the Voters: “Revival are going to be tough for me to leave off just based on their output the past two years. They really don’t have a ton of matches that make tape but all of them at worst are entertaining and at best are some of if not the best US tag matches I have ever seen. Tough for me to leave someone like that off that peaks so high.” – Chad Campbell, May 29, 2017

“Too soon into his career to gauge his flexibility at all. We’ve seen him do one thing. Very, very well. He and Dawson carry themselves as main event talents though. They bring as sense of legitimacy to every thing they do. They embody old school.” – Aaron George, May 31, 2017

161. Freddie Blassie Total Points: 399 Total Ballots: 7 Average Rank: 44 High Vote: 9 Low Vote: 69 High Voter: TheBestThereNeverWas

Key Matches & Moments: Had runs with both Pedro Morales and Bruno Sammartino; earned the name Classy in a tournament that took place in Rio De Janeiro.

Staff Thoughts: Fred Blassie was a hell of a heel in the 50s, 60s and 70s but perhaps sadly most remember him as a manager. And WHAT a manager! His performance in the famed Land of a Thousand Dances is one for the ages.

From the Voters: “I don’t think he spent much time as a wrestler in the WWWF other than a run against Bruno in the mid sixties. He was primarily a west coast guy. I think his contributions as a manager and longevity earn him a spot along with the other two members of the trio of terror Albano and The Grand Wizard” – Todd Hall, May 30, 2017

160. Brian Kendrick Total Points: 404 Total Ballots: 19 Average Rank: 79.7 High Vote: 42 Low Vote: 97 High Voter: Microstatistics

Key Matches & Moments: Debuted by delivering a singing telegram to Undertaker and taking the Last Ride for his troubles; Pandered to Stephanie McMahon for a few weeks to earn a job (who doesn’t); Tagged with Paul London mostly on Velocity in 2003 before leaving the company; Reformed his team with London upon his return in 2005 winning the WWE Tag Team titles from MNM; Had a good and notable four-way ladder match best known for Joey Mercury’s graphic facial injury; Held the Tag Team titles for 331 days, a record that stood until surpassed by the New Day in 2016; Drafted to Raw along with London where they defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch for the World Tag Team titles before losing them back a few days later; Returned to SmackDown as THE Brian Kendrick with bodyguard Ezekiel Jackson; Participated in the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016 defeating Raul Mendoza and Tony Nese before losing to Kota Ibushi in the quarterfinals; Kendrick’s run in the Cruiserweight Classic told the story of a veteran trying to hold onto his career; Won a #1 contender four-way match to challenge Cruiserweight Champion T.J. Perkins at Clash of Champions 2016, losing the match and turning heel on Perkins afterwards; Won the title from Perkins at Hell in a Cell 2016; Lost the Cruiserweight title to Rich Swann on the first 205 Live; Challenged for the title with Swann and Perkins at Roadblock: End of the Line; Feuded with Akira Tozawa and Jack Gallagher

Staff Thoughts: The tag team with Paul London was really strong, but could have been even more notable if they’d had better teams to work with and that the tag team division was a higher priority at the time. The title run may have been a record, but London and Kendrick were forgotten about for long stretches even though they always delivered in the ring. Kendrick showed good character work when given the chance, as THE Brian Kendrick and particularly in the Cruiserweight Classic. Once the cruiserweight division was revived, the WWE could get back to ignoring the Cruiserweight Title, just like in glory days of the division (whenever that may have been.)

From the Voters: “Very likely he makes my list, but probably in the latter half because of how short his previous runs with the company were. That being said, the tag team with London was great, his brief “THE Brian Kendrick” run had some solid character work, and his run in the CWC and cruiser division has had some good matches. Hell, his comedy stuff as Spanky was entertaining.” – Greg Rossbach, July 7, 2017

“Y’know what? He could sneak in. Great tag team run with Paul London, nice character reinvention as a solo after that, and his Cruiserweight tenure has been a feel good story that have seen him do nicely as both face and heel. Also evolved his style to move from high flyer to technician rather seamlessly. Missing that blowaway singles match, though the stuff in the Cruiserweight Open may come close.” – Ben Morse, May 31, 2017

159. D’Lo Brown Total Points: 407 Total Ballots: 22 Average Rank: 82.5 High Vote: 44 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Blaise Perrone

Key Matches & Moments: Was a member of the Nation of Domination and eventually formed a tag team with Mark Henry; Began wearing a chest protector for a torn pectoral but it became a signature for D’Lo using the loaded chest protector for his Lo Down frog splash finisher; Feuded with X-Pac over the European Title in 1998 with the matches being highlights for the time and the European Title; Had a good match with Val Venis over the European title to open SummerSlam 1998; Held the European Title and the Intercontinental Title simultaneously, one of of only four wrestlers to do so; Tagged with Godfather dressing like a pimp before turning heel on Godfather; Formed the Lo Down tag team with Chaz, managed by Tiger Ali Singh coming to the ring in turbans; Was part of Theodore Long’s Thuggin’ and Buggin’ Enterprises stable before being replaced by Rodney Mack

Staff Thoughts: D’Lo Brown was a solid hand during the days of Crash TV when matches weren’t emphasized. He was known for his chest protector and head bobbing. His run with the European title and feud with X-Pac and match with Val Venis (rhymes with penis) at SummerSlam were highlights for the European title (for whatever that’s worth). Lo Down could’ve easily been named Lo Point, though being replaced by Rodney Mack is likely not anything D’Lo talks about either. Solid matches throughout his career but lacks memorable moments.

From the Voters: “Could sneak into the top 100, always entertaining and passable in the ring. One of the guys that, when the Radicalz, Y2J, Angle et al came along was exposed as not being on their level though.” – Mike Coxon, May 29, 2017

“I like D-Lo, but even in era that was more about “moments” than anything else, I struggle to think of any really memorable moments. Maybe I need to revisit? Doesn’t look like he’ll make it right now.” – Jacob Williams, June 12, 2017

158. Shinsuke Nakamura Total Points: 413 Total Ballots: 20 Average Rank: 80.4 High Vote: 35 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: Scott Herrin

Key Matches & Moments: Depending on your mileage had an all time classic with Sami Zayn in his first outing in the promotion; filled the rest of the with solid stuff with Samoa Joe and Finn Balor; excelent match against TJ Perkins on March 8th 2017; Debuted on the main roster to a MONSTER reaction; had a wonderful encounter with John Cena on the August 1st 2017 edition of Smackdown.

Staff Thoughts: His placing on your list really depends on which Nakamura you’re going to get. Are you going to get workhorse machine that killed it with Sami Zayn or the guy who sleepwalked his way through his feud with Jinder Mahal? I do think it’s possible that we’d be having a different conversation had AJ Styles spent 2017 as WWE champion but Nakamura certainly has to bear some of the load for not wrestling beyond deficiencies his opponents have. That being said his charisma is off the charts and every inch of him screams STAR. When he’s on his game he’s legit got a claim to being the best in the world; when unmotivated he makes you question what the big deal is.

From the Voters: “His New Japan stuff is about 5 zillion times better than everything he’s done here. Easy to blame WWE, but he’s not innocent of mailing in performances either.” – Jordan Duncan, June 3, 2017

“I’m not the biggest Nakamura fan; I just don’t “get” him. That said, he’s over like crazy, he’s fully locked in to his character, and he’s strung together a year of great matches. Is that enough to get him on the list? Probably not given his abbreviated tenure thus far.” – Ben Morse, June 9, 2017

157. Neville Total Points: 422 Total Ballots: 17 Average Rank: 76.2 High Vote: 44 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Sam Symonds

Key Matches & Moments: Carried NXT main events after winning the title in a decent ladder match with Bo Dallas at NXT Arrival; His bout with Sami Zayn where he lost the title at NXT Takeover R Evolution is an all timer; Excellent bout with John Cena in a US title open chalenge on May 11, 2015; Turned heel and carried the cruiserweight division until he left; Avoided being put into a Mighty Mouse costume

Staff Thoughts: The man that gravity forgot is an easy contender for greatest NXT superstar of all time. Every main event he carried was electric and helped elevate the guys in the ring with him. A gem to watch in the ring, Neville is only hurt by his longevity and the trust the company lacks in him. Yes they built the cruiserweight division around him and he excelled but it’s a crying shame they don’t see him as beyond said division. If they did, we’d be witnessing another Rey Mysterio-esque career.

From the Voters: “In the case of 205 Live, he’s been outstanding and arguably the best heel in the company other than The Miz. I actually think he’s probably been better than everyone in the WWE this year on a match to match basis other than Pete Dunne, though AJ, Reigns, and Braun arguably have higher peaks. That said its being done on a largely irrelevant brand that already feels like a failure.” – Dylan Hales, July 6, 2017

“His current heel run has been great. The Cruiserweight Division would be completely in the shitter without him too. He can be a high flying babyface or a complete jerk heel. I think he makes my list.” – Brian Cullinane, June 1, 2017

156. Scott Dawson Total Points: 433 Total Ballots: 18 Average Rank: 76.944 High Vote: 39 Low Vote: 98 High Voter: Sam Symonds

Key Matches & Moments: Joined NXT in 2012 and teamed with Garrett Dylan and later Alexander Rusev managed by Sylvester Lefort; Upon his return from injury he began teaming with Dash Wilder as the Mechanics in 2014 in NXT though the name was later changed to Dash and Dawson and finally The Revival; Competed in the 2015 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic losing to Finn Balor and Samoa Joe at NXT Takeover: Respect; Won the NXT Tag Team Titles from the Vaudevillains on the November 11, 2015 episode of NXT; Defeated Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady at NXT Takeover London; Successfully defended their titles against Enzo and Cass at Roadblock in March 2016; Lost their titles at NXT Takeover Dallas to American Alpha before regaining them at NXT Takeover The End with both matches being stellar; Began a feud with #DIY, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa successfully defending their titles at NXT Takeover Brooklyn II in an excellent match, before dropping the titles to #DIY in a two-out-of-three falls match at NXT Takeover Toronto in a Match of the Year Contender; Challenged for the NXT Tag Team Titles at NXT Takeover Orlando in a three-way match with #DIY and the Authors of Pain; The Revival answered an open challenge and defeated the New Day on the Raw after WrestleMania 33

Staff Thoughts: Scott Dawson’s team with Dash Wilder has produced some of the greatest tag team matches held under the WWE banner. The top-end feuds with #DIY and American Alpha are classics, but The Revival have mastered southern style tag team matches, but revitalized it for the 21st century. The formula works adding interest, intrigue and crowd heat to most every match they have. The lack of a singles resume, a relatively short run and injuries and bad luck on the main roster hurt his placement, but the votes he received speak highly for the quality of the NXT tag feuds. With Dawson returning from injury I expect big things from The Revival going forward.

From the Voters: “He has a shot. The Revival are incredibly important in WWE history for bringing back great tag wrestling. Great character work in his matches. Hard hitting. Good offense. Good stooge. Good facial expressions. All-time classic feud with DIY. Great feud with American Alpha. It’s a long shot, but the quality is there.” – Devon Motivator Hales, June 2, 2017

‘I’m a big fan of his and he’s the glue of his team. Thought he was great live too. Lack of Longevity probably keeps him off of the list.” – Brian Cullinane, June 2, 2017

155. Alexa Bliss Total Points: 441 Total Ballots: 18 Average Rank: 76.5 High Vote: 38 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Ray Miller

Key Matches & Moments: Lost a memorable NXT women’s title match to Sasha Banks in her hometown of Columbus Ohio (March 25, 2015); Channeled her inner brat and began managing Blake and Murphy, becoming the best part of the team; Upon her ascent to main roster found her footing as a spectacular heel winning the Smackdown women’s title; Became the first woman to hold both the Raw and Smackdown women’s titles when she defeated Sasha Banks on Raw

Staff Thoughts: Alexa Bliss walks, talks and wrestles like a main event player. Her ascent to the top of the promotion has been a surprising, yet fun ride. With all the talk of Bayleys and Sasha Bankseseseses and the legend Nikki Bella, it’s Alexa Bliss who has been quietly running both women’s divisions for the last year. Her matches are solid and perpetually improving and her character is top notch. A couple more years and she may be a slam dunk in a top 100, as it stands she’s an excellent stalwart and far more than an evil Trish Stratus clone. Oh and that double jointed arm trick is phenomenal.

From the Voters: “Obviously there’s a longevity issue, and you can decide for yourself how much credit to give her for good matches when she’s been working with a lot of better wrestlers, but she has her character down pat and plays it perfectly. She’s also a testament to WWE’s occasional (you might say spotty) ability to develop, debut, and maintain a wrestler at a high level even when they’re not coming off of a long indie run.” – Glenn Butler, May 28, 2017

“After seeing it discussed on Twitter, I watched her “This is Your Life” segment on Raw. Thanks to that, she would not make my list even we expanded it to 1,000.” – Jordan Duncan, May 30, 2017

154. Road Warrior Hawk Total Points: 444 Total Ballots: 17 Average Rank: 74.9 High Vote: 34 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: TheBestThereNeverWas

Key Matches & Moments: At SummerSlam 1990 helped The Hart Foundation defeat those no-good copycats Demolition; Was part of the awesome WARRIORS team at Survivor Series 1990; Finally won the WWF Tag Team Championships from the Nasty Boys in a fun match at SummerSlam 1991 making The LOD the first team to hold each of the WWF, NWA and AWA Tag Team Titles; Began attending strategy sessions from a wooden 1950s greaser dummy that seems to have  perpetuated the decline of the LOD’s WWF career; Returned to the WWF in 1997 and had an endless feud with two pig farmers, but then went on to help make the New Age Outlaws; were part of the uber-fun Chicago Street fight at WrestleMania 13; Attempted to kill himself on an episode of Monday Night Raw; Miraculously survived a fall off the Titantron; Lost the court case to Darren Drozdov, the court decided that since Hawk was intoxicated he ultimately was responsible for his fall despite the clear footage of Mr. Drozdov shoving him, Hawk’s lawyer Clarence Mason was quoted as saying “This is a travesty of Justice. Yes Mr. Hawk assaulted some of my friends and purposefully broken Henry Godwinn’s neck in 1997, but that doesn’t mean he gets to be shoved from a Titantron like some kind of cattle.” When reached for comment Darren Drozdov’s attourney Clarence Mason declared, “We are very happy with the court’s decision and we stand by it.”

Staff Thoughts: Weeeeeeeeeeellllll!!!!! It seems to me, that is seems to be that Hawk fell juuuuuusssst short of the top 100 WWF wrestlers of all time. If this list were based on coolest face paint he would be a few notches below partner Animal but as it stands the voters have spoken and Hawk wins by 17 slots! He was more charismatic and had the better haircut but few would argue he was a better worker than Animal. Despite all that he looked great in those shoulder pads and his voice is STILL one of the more iconic in wrestling. Luckily we have the WWE network to go back and revisit all his highlights: the doomsday devices, the flagrant neck breaking, the time he exposed the business by talking about no-selling the piledriver on commentary. It’s all there. What a rush!

From the Voters: “The problem I am having with the LOD is that watching the matches gives me the warm fuzzys. The music, the look, the finisher, and the enthusiasm of the crowds brings me back. Objectively, the matches aren’t very good and their runs are largely disappointing in terms of the big matches vs high profile opponents” – Michael DeDamos, October 7, 2017

“Would have been interesting to see what Hawk could have gotten out of a singles run in WWF as he certainly had the look and intensity they liked, but alas.” – Ben Morse, June 7, 2017

153. Lex Luger Total Points: 451 Total Ballots: 21 Average Rank: 79.5 High Vote: 34 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: Taylor Keahey

Key Matches & Moments: Originally signed to participate in the World Bodybuilding Federation, Lex Luger debuted as The Narcissist after the WBF closed down; Defeated Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania IX; Became Made in the USA, flying in on a helicopter and body slamming WWF champion Yokozuna on the deck of the USS Intrepid on July 4, 1993; Traveled the country in the Lex Express to promote his title match with Yokozuna at SummerSlam 1993; Defeated Yokozuna at SummerSlam by countout and celebrated like he won the Super Bowl anyway; Fought for America against dastardly Finland and Ludvig Borga; Was “co-winner” of the 1994 Royal Rumble with Bret Hart, Challenged Yokozuna for the WWF title again at WrestleMania X and again was unsuccessful when he was DQ’d by referee Mr. Perfect; Did NOT sell out at SummerSlam 1994, but shockingly Tatanka did during their match; Formed the Allied Powers tag team with the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith defeating the Blu Twins at WrestleMania XI and challenging for the Tag team Titles at In Your House 2

Staff Thoughts: The Lex Express turned out to be a less popular mode of travel than the Ho Train for WWF fans. Despite flying Lex Luger in on a damn helicopter to bodyslam Yokozuna on the 4th of July and tour him all around the country, they didn’t feel the need to let him win the title in the blowoff at SummerSlam. Having the entire babyface locker room celebrate a countout win in his only title shot made everyone look dumb. Having him as a co-winner of the Rumble just showed how much more popular Hart was with fans. Lex was just the wrong guy at the wrong time, and while the company pushed him hard, they did it in such a way that did him no favors. Add in the motorcycle accident and ringwork that didn’t match what Luger showed elsewhere, and his WWF run was not what it could’ve been. Then he goes to Suncoast at the Mall of America for a copy of his thrilling countout victory at SummerSlam 1993, wanders out to see what all the fuss and TV cameras are about and gets forever banned from Vince’s Christmas card list. Rough luck.

From the Voters: “Another case of missed potential. His match against Yoko at Summerslam was good for what it was but that really was the high point of his WWF run.” – Dennis Nunez, May 31, 2017

“They did the slam on the USS Intrepid, then the summmer of Lex Express, and still no title run. Not Sure if it is all Lex Luger’s fault. Needless to say…unless something drastically changes, He is out of my list.” – Will Olson, June 1, 2017

152. Bobo Brazil Total Points: 462 Total Ballots: 11 Average Rank: 59 High Vote: 16 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: Timothy Drake

Key Matches & Moments: Was WWWF US Champion for 4,072 days; Was probably the number two face of the WWWF in the 1960’s behind Bruno; Inducted into the WWF Hall Of Fame in 1994

Staff Thoughts: Bobo Brazil was an incredibly important figure in the heyday of the WWWF. Always near the top of the card Brazil was a perpetual crowd favorite whose career spanned nearly four decades. His crowning achievement of becoming the first Afriacan American to win the NWA Championship happened outside of the WWWF which may explain his ranking in this WWF centric project.

From the Voters: “Huge star in 60s WWWF, probably #2 babyface draw to Bruno. Unfortunately most footage available is from the 70s where he was in full on phone it in mode” – Kelly Nelson, May 28, 2017

“New York wasn’t the center of the promotion at Bobo’s peak with the company though… He was doing flying head scissors in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Even his Japan matches in ’72 he is still agile and not the dinosaur he became in the final matches of his career during the 80’s.” – Lee Wes, November 28, 2017

151. Brian Pillman Total Points: 477 Total Ballots: 17 Average Rank: 72.9 High Vote: 24 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Taylor Keahey

Key Matches & Moments: First wrestler signed to a guaranteed contract by WWF; Began stint as a commentator while he was recovering from a broken ankle; Initially aligned himself with Steve Austin, before Austin attacked him, using a chair to break his ankle in a move now sometimes referred to as Pillmanizing; During the feud Austin traveled to Pillman’s home to do further damage while WWF interviewed (and PTBN Legend) Kevin Kelly was taping an interview, Austin entered Pillman’s home resulting in Pillman producing a gun and the camera feed fading as the sound of shots being fired could be heard; WWF and Pillman later apologized for the controversial angle; Joined forces with the Hart Foundation often serving as the mouthpiece for the group and taking part in the great main event of Canadian Stampede; Feuded with Goldust having matches at SummerSlam 1997 and Ground Zero over Marlena eventually winning her “services” and recording the XXX-Files; Was found dead in his hotel room the day of the Badd Blood PPV

Staff Thoughts: One of the most tragic cases on the list for many reasons. Gone before his time, and sadly was physically unable to perform in the ring at anywhere near his previous levels by the time he made it to the WWF. Still, his Loose Cannon character was revolutionary and cutting edge. In his sixteen months in the WWF he was involved in the Pillman’s Got a Gun home invasion angle, the Austin beating that created the term Pillmanizing, the Hart Foundation angle and the legendary main event of Canadian Stampede and the Goldust feud and XXX-Files. That is an incredible impact for such a short period of time. His character work and promo skills were top notch during his time with the company and fans are left to wonder how fantastic he could’ve been with the Loose Cannon character and Flyin’ Brian workrate. Even with just his character work there’s no telling how high he could’ve climbed on the list with more time.

From the Voters: “His in ring tenure was not even 5 months, but talk about peak moments. The red hot Hart Foundation and the Calgary Stampede tag match. And the iconic Pillman’s got a gun episode of Raw. Sadly, not enough to be in contention, but makes me really wonder what could have been.” – Eric Miller, June 6, 2017

“He’s killed here by his lack of longevity. Shame because the guy is pure intangible. He had a quality that NO ONE had; he lived that loose cannon gimmick. He had exactly the right look for the right time. He was attitude before attitude.” – Aaron George, June 3, 2017

150. AJ Lee Total Points: 485 Total Ballots: 21 Average Rank: 77.9 High Vote: 42 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Patrick Fenton

Key Matches & Moments: Teamed with Kaitlyn as part of the Chickbusters with Natalya as their mentor; Natalya turned on Lee and Katilyn forming the Divas of Doom with Beth Phoenix and the Chickbusters feuded with them; Had an on-screen romance with Daniel Bryan, who won the World Championship; Bryan began being verbally abusive to Lee; Lee gave Bryan a good luck kiss causing him to lose his World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds at WrestleMania XXVIII and Bryan blamed Lee for the loss; Lee began showing signs of being mentally unstable attacking Kaitlyn and Natalya; Interfered in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship between Bryan, CM Punk and Kane helping Punk retain his title; She focused her attentions on Punk but he was disinterested so she shoved both Punk and Bryan through a table; Later she proposed to Punk who refused and she slapped both Punk and Bryan; Later accepted Bryan’s proposal but left him at the altar to accept the role of Raw GM where she made life difficult for Punk and Bryan; Stepped down from her GM duties and became embroiled in a scandal storyline with John Cena, eventually forming a relationship with Cena before turning on him at TlC 2012 and forming an alliance with Dolph Ziggler and a debuting Big E Langston; Challenged Bryan and Kane to defend Tag Team TItles at WrestleMania 29 where they defeated Langston and Ziggler; Won a battle royal to become number one contender for WWE Divas title and defeated Kaitlyn for the belt at Payback 2013; Competed at SummerSlam 2013 with Langston against Ziggler and Kaitlyn; Feuded with the cast of Total Divas defending her title against cast members; Successfully defended her title at WrestleMania XXX in a 14-diva match; Had the longest reign with the Diva Championship ever at 295 days before losing to the debuting Paige; Regained title from Paige before losing it and regaining it again making her a record-tying three-time Divas Champion; Feuded with Nikki and Brie Bella teaming with Paige to defeat the twins at WrestleMania 31

Staff Thoughts: Known for her skipping and kissing, AJ Lee was heavily involved in the main event scene as a character and then later was the focal point of the Divas division. Showed good versatility and character development and was better in-ring than most of the divas of her time, before injury and being caught between CM Punk and the WWE led to her retiring.

From the Voters: “For my money, the most over woman wrestler for a 3 year stretch, and maybe the greatest, most fully developed and executed woman’s wrestling character of my 30 years of fandom. She was special for sure, and aside from Elizabeth, she’s the only woman I can think of who was the centerpiece of a WWE title angle for 3 or more months.” – James Proffitt, May 28, 2017

“I think she and Katilyn had a couple good PPV Matches in 2013. Payback and Money In The Bank. I also remember her & Natalya on a Main Event episode in that stretch thats very good.” – Jay Hinchey, June 7, 2017

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How Many Republicans Caucused In Iowa

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How Many Republicans Caucused In Iowa

Republican Party Of Iowa

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Republican Party of Iowa

The Republican Party of Iowa is the political party affiliate of the national Republican Party. The group is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa.

Iowa Republicans Back Trump In Caucuses Batting Away Two Gop Challengers

Regardless of an incumbent president from their party, Republicans still came out to show their support at the Iowa Caucuses on Monday night.

DES MOINES President Trump handily warded off two GOP challengers in Mondays Republican caucuses after Iowa Republicans turned out to pledge their support for the impeached president.

The Iowa Republican Party announced at 9:38 p.m. Monday that the party broke caucus turnout record set in similar caucus years when there was an incumbent president. With 94 percent reporting at 10:46 p.m., Trump had won all of the partys 37 delegates with 99 percent of caucusgoers support. The other two candidates former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh did not have enough supporters to be viable at any precinct. 

Des Moines resident Gary Propstein, 61, arrived at Perkins Elementary Schools library 45 minutes early and waited for the Republican caucus to start. He wore a Keep America Great hat and proudly voiced his support for Trump.

The Democrats just dont want to accept that he won the election, even though there was nothing wrong, Propstein said of the impeachment. Trumps impeachment trial regarding his alledged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress will come to a vote on Wednesday. Trumps an outsider and just proving theres corruption.

He said his support for Trump is based on more than party politics. Propstein said he supports Trump because hes not a traditional politician. 

Ryan Adams

Meet Trumps Gop Opposition

Suffice it to say, neither Walsh nor Weld has much chance against Trump. Walsh has already announced that he will not be on the ballot in his home state of Illinois, citing a lack of resources and the need to focus on Iowa and New Hampshire. Ive contacted Weld and Walsh for comment and will update if and when I hear back.

Part of it is that we have to convince a lot of the Republican donors that there is a viable option and theyre going to want to see results before they put money into our organization, a spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times. And while Weld has polled well in New Hampshire, his numbers are far outmatched by Trumps.

But victory isnt necessarily the point of either mans long-shot bid for the White House. Rather, their campaigns are intended as signals to Trump-skeptical Republicans that theyre not alone in their opposition to the president.

For Weld, his focus is on restoring normalcy to the Republican Party as a real Republican. When I with the former governor back in August and asked him about Trumps considerable popularity with the GOP, he told me, Im not willing to concede your premise. I will concede that Im a normal Republican, and the implication of that is that Mr. Trump is a Republican in name only.

He believes Republican voters are looking for fiscal conservatism and a small-government ethos from a presidential candidate willing to stand up for the taxpayer.

Weld has a lengthy political history, as I detailed last year:

Relationship With The Press

Throughout his career, Trump has sought media attention, with a “lovehate” relationship with the press. Trump began promoting himself in the press in the 1970s. Fox News anchor and former House speaker have characterized Trump as a “” who makes controversial statements to see people’s “heads explode.”

In the 2016 campaign, Trump benefited from a record amount of free media coverage, elevating his standing in the Republican primaries.New York Times writer wrote in 2018 that Trump’s media dominance, which enthralls the public and creates “can’t miss” reality television-type coverage, was politically beneficial for him.

As a candidate and as president, Trump frequently accused the press of bias, calling it the “fake news media” and “the .” In 2018, journalist recounted Trump’s saying he intentionally demeaned and discredited the media “so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.”

As president, Trump deployed the legal system to intimidate the press. In early 2020, the Trump campaign sued The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN for alleged defamation in opinion pieces about Russian election interference. Legal experts said that the lawsuits lacked merit and were not likely to succeed. By March 2021, the lawsuits against The New York Times and CNN had been dismissed.

Once The Voting Is Over Its Time To Translate Those Results Into Delegates

Delegates, after all, are the point of presidential primaries and caucuses. Its delegates, not the sheer number of votes, that political parties count to determine who will be their nominee.

After the alignments, the viable candidates will be allocated whats called State Delegate Equivalents, according to their performance at that site.

These delegates, through a process involving Democratic Party math and the state convention, will eventually correlate to the number of national delegates a candidate gets at the national conventions.

The Iowa Democratic Party doesnt declare a winner, but historically the person with the most SDEs has been considered the winner. However, with the first- and second-round results being reported out this year, its conceivable candidates could have more opportunities to spin the results in their favor.

Registered Republican voters show up at their caucus site, hear some speeches and vote for their preferred candidate. The votes are counted and the delegates are elected to the county convention based on the proportion of support a candidate receives.

Despite several state Republican parties canceling their 2020 primaries because an incumbent is running for reelection, Iowa Republicans will hold their caucus on Feb. 3.

As Iowa Goes So Goes What Past Losers Still Won The Gop Nomination

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Ken Rudin

The next sounds you hear will be Iowa Republicans rendering their judgment for 2012. The road to the magic number of 1,145 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination begins Tuesday. The caucuses, all 1,774 of them, start at 7 pm Central time , and results may start to trickle in within the hour.

Here’s a look at the field, presented in order of their standing in the final Des Moines Register poll, which was released Saturday night:

Rick Santorum : If any candidate goes into Tuesday’s caucuses with momentum, according to the Des Moines Register poll, it’s Santorum. Until now, he had been the only candidate not to experience a day in the sun as a “frontrunner.” In fact, few were even talking about him. But his dogged determination in organizing in all 99 counties seems to have paid off, at least in the Register and CNN polls. If the evangelical vote coalesces around him he did get the backing of Bob Vander Plaats, a big deal with pro-family groups Santorum could be a factor. And even if it is only third place, that’s still much better than anyone could have imagined just a short time ago. But a strong finish on Tuesday needs to be followed by strong finishes elsewhere, in states where he has not put in the time and effort he has in Iowa, and he is hampered by a lack of organization and money.

History. Here’s a look at the results of contested GOP caucuses since 1980

1980:

Iowa winner George H.W. Bush

1979 straw poll winner Bush

1988:

1996:

How Many People Turn Out For The Caucuses

For a long time, that was a surprisingly difficult question to answer. Until recently, the parties didnt report attendance figures, only state delegate equivalents, using complex formulas to translate the caucus-night results into state convention delegates. Individual precincts didnt always keep close counts of how many people caucused, or if anyone left early. Add in that 17-year-olds can caucus if theyll turn 18 by Election Day, and the difficulties in reliably calculating turnout become clear.

In 2016, 186,874 Iowans participated in the Republican caucus and 171,109 participated in the Democratic caucus, both held on Feb. 1. On that date, according to the Iowa secretary of states office, there were 586,835 active registered Democratic voters and 615,763 active Republican registered voters. That works out to 30.3% of eligible Republicans and 29.2% of eligible Democrats participating in the caucuses, or 18.5% of the states total 1,937,317 active registered voters.

As of Jan. 2, 2020, according to the secretary of states office, there were 2,017,205 active register voters in Iowa. 614,519 were registered Democrats, 639,969 were registered Republicans, and the rest were independents or members of other parties.

Iowa Caucuses: Nine Unusual Things About Them

On Monday evening, tens of thousands of Democrats in Iowa will brave the cold and gather in schools, churches, gyms and libraries to decide on their favourite presidential candidates.

It’s the first stop in the race for the Democratic nomination – but it’s not a traditional vote as you know it.

Most US elections involve filling in a ballot paper in private. But in Iowa’s caucuses, Democrats will gather in noisy rooms, stand in different zones to show which candidate they support – and try to convince others to switch sides.

Here’s what’s unusual about one of the first key contests for Democrats who want to take on Donald Trump.

A Disappointment: Iowa Caucus Turnout Below Expectations

DES MOINES, Iowa Iowa Democrats are recovering from a number of disappointments after Mondays Iowa caucuses, though one has received less attention than the others.

About 176,000 Iowans attended their precinct caucuses, a slight uptick from 2016 but fewer than expected.

The number is certain to rattle Democrats who are banking on high turnout in battlegrounds across the country to win in November. And it raises doubts about whether Iowa is winnable by Democrats, after a recent shift toward Republicans.

The number was perhaps most disappointing to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose strategy in the primary and the general election hinges on bringing out young and infrequent voters. Asked about the turnout at a debate Friday night, Sanders acknowledged it was off the mark.

Thats a disappointment and I think all of us probably could have done a better job of bringing out our supporters, he said.

The parade of candidates, a Democratic base seething to unseat President Donald Trump and high participation in 2018 midterms had party insiders braced for a turnout could match or top the contests high-water mark.

But Monday came nowhere near the 2008 caucuses, when roughly 238,000 Iowans participated in the kickoff clash among Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, onetime Iowa favorite John Edwards and a handful of others. The 2020 caucuses did draw 5,000 more than 2016, when Clinton very narrowly beat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but went on to lose to Donald Trump.

Civil War And Reconstruction

American settlers began to establish cotton in north Florida, which required numerous laborers, which they supplied by buying slaves in the domestic market. By 1860, Florida had only 140,424 people, of whom 44% were enslaved. There were fewer than 1,000 free before the American Civil War.

On January 10, 1861, nearly all delegates in the Florida Legislature approved an ordinance of secession, declaring Florida to be “a sovereign and independent nation”an apparent reassertion to the preamble in Florida’s Constitution of 1838, in which Florida agreed with Congress to be a “Free and Independent State.” The ordinance declared Florida’s secession from the , allowing it to become one of the founding members of the .

The Confederacy received little military help from Florida; the 15,000 troops it offered were generally sent elsewhere. Instead of troops and manufactured goods, Florida did provide salt and, more importantly, beef to feed the Confederate armies. This was particularly important after 1864, when the Confederacy lost control of the Mississippi River, thereby losing access to Texas beef. The largest engagements in the state were the , on February 20, 1864, and the , on March 6, 1865. Both were Confederate victories. The war ended in 1865.

Iowa Caucuses: Steve Kornacki Explains How They Work

Another change: Only members of nonviable groups will be allowed to realign. In the past, candidates who had initially hit 15 percent could lose supporters in the realignment. But for this cycle, the initial 15 percent support gets locked in.

Unlike the Democrats, Republicans select their candidate via a simple secret ballot. There is no shuffling from one corner of the caucus site to the other. There is no 15 percent viability or realignment. And there’s no mathematical formula to determine delegates awarded at each caucus site.

With President Donald Trump receiving nominal GOP opposition, however, the Republican process in Iowa isn’t as important to follow this presidential cycle.

State Political Party Revenue

See also: State political party revenue and State political party revenue per capita

The Democratic Party and the Republican Party maintain state affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and select U.S. territories. The following maps display total state political party revenue per capita for the and state party affiliates from 2011 to 2016. The blue map displays Democratic state parties and the red map displays Republican state parties. Click on a state below to view the state party’s revenue per capita totals:

Total and state political party revenue per capita in the United States, 2011-2016

How Are Delegates Awarded

For candidates who make the 15% viability cut, 2,107 state delegate equivalents will be awarded proportionally by precinct on caucus night. Then, the party holds a series of conventions that eventually lead to the election and proportional allocation of the states 41 pledged national delegates who will head to the Democratic National Convention.

To win the nomination, a Democrat needs the backing of a majority of the 3,979 pledged national delegates at stake at the convention.

Why Does Iowa Vote First

Caucuses have been features of Iowa politics since the 19th century, but, as one historian wrote, they attracted no national attention before 1972: Generally, caucus attendance was poor, and often a handful of party regulars were the only persons present.

That changed after the national Democratic Party revamped its nominating process in the wake of its chaotic 1968 convention. As a consequence of those changes, the Iowa party moved its precinct caucuses which typically had been held in late March or early April to Jan. 24, somewhat inadvertently making them the first step on the long road to the national convention. In 1972, George McGovern campaigned in Iowa to raise his profile ahead of the New Hampshire primary; even though McGovern came in third in Iowa, he ultimately won the nomination. In 1976, the Republican and Democratic parties agreed to hold their caucuses on the same day, and both attracted substantial attention from candidates and the media. Since then, the state has zealously defended its first-in-the-nation status.

But this status has not come without opposition. Among registered voters who identify as Democrats or as independents who lean toward the Democratic Party, 26% say its a bad thing that Iowas caucuses go before other states, versus 9% who say its a good thing, according to a new Pew Research Center report. Opposition was strongest among liberals and those who said theyve thought a lot about the candidates.

Iowa Republican Presidential Caucuses

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The 2020 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses took place on Monday, February 3, 2020, as the first caucus or primary in the Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Iowa caucuses are a closed caucus, with Iowa awarding 40 pledged delegates to the Republican National Convention, allocated on the basis of the results of the caucuses. Incumbent president Donald Trump received about 97 percent of the vote to clinch 39 delegates, while Bill Weld received enough votes to clinch 1 delegate.

Iowa Caucuses Turnout: Entrance Poll Shows Dip In First

Daniel Arkin

Iowa’s presidential caucuses were expected to draw record turnout Monday, but early data from the NBC News entrance poll show a big dip in participants attending a Democratic caucus for the first time.

The entrance poll showed just about a third of voters 35 percent caucusing this year are first-timers, a lower level than in 2016, when first-timers made up 44 percent of the Hawkeye State’s Democratic caucusgoers.

And this year’s level of new participants is well shy of that in 2008, when a whopping 57 percent of Democrats said they had never caucused before.

In a statement addressing a delay in results, the Iowa Democratic Party said that early data indicate turnout could eventually match that of 2016.

“What we know right now is that around 25 percent of precincts have reported, and early data indicates turnout is on pace for 2016,” IDP communications director Mandy McClure said.

How Many Other States And Territories Use Caucuses

Not as many as used to. This year, besides Iowa, only two other states and four U.S. territories will pick their Democratic convention delegates through caucuses, 11 fewer states than in 2016. In 2018, the national Democratic Party adopted a package of changes to its nominating process, including a rule encouraging state parties to use government-run primaries whenever possible.

Caucuses have been on the decline for a long time. On the Democratic side in 1972, 33 states and territories used them to pick convention delegates, and, as late as 1984, 32 still did. By 2016, however, only 14 states and four territories were still using them.

The 2024 Iowa Caucus Campaign Has Already Begun

Trump’s preeminence in the Republican Party isn’t stopping would-be successors from campaigning and recruiting supporters in Iowa.

06/28/2021 04:30 AM EDT

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WEST DES MOINES, Iowa Former President Donald Trump would be the overwhelming frontrunner for the Republican Partys nomination should he wage a 2024 comeback bid. But thats not stopping his would-be GOP successors from barreling into Iowa.

Only months after Trumps election defeat, Republicans are laying the groundwork for the all-important, first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. Potential candidates are hopscotching across the state to fundraise, campaign for midterm hopefuls and appear at traditional party dinners that mark the start of caucus season.

And behind the scenes, Republicans are making overtures to influential activists, meeting with party leaders and hiring operatives with deep experience in Iowa, which is still expected to be the first 2024 contest for Republicans even though Democrats are grappling with whether to change their nominating calendar.

The burst of early activity which is set to accelerate over the summer months illustrates how Republicans are maneuvering with an eye toward succeeding Trump. A Trump bid would likely extinguish their hopes of becoming the partys nominee, and at least one candidate has said they won’t run if if Trump does. But would-be contenders are wasting no time preparing for the possibility of an open nominating contest.

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Trump Easily Wins Iowa Republican Caucuses

Trump will talk about economy, immigration, trade at SOTU: Dan Henninger

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page deputy editor and Fox News contributor Dan Henninger says President Trump ‘will rise above’ discussing the Democrats’ impeachment efforts during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

President Trump easily defeated his primary rivals in Mondays Iowa Republican caucuses, in the first indication that those attempting to take on the president inside his own party stand a slim chance of making headway against the incumbent.

Iowa results showed the president winning with roughly 97 percent of the vote over former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh. The primary challengers walked away with about 1 percent each.

2020 PRIMER: HOW THE IOWA CAUCUSES WORK

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel congratulated the president, vowing he’ll carry the state in November.

While the focus has been on the Democratic contest Monday, Iowa Republicans also caucused at precincts throughout the state.

The president has record support among Republican voters, Republican National Committee spokesman Rick Gorka told Fox News on Monday. I am not concerned with those embarked on a vanity project.

When asked how long he would stay in the Republican primary race after his defeat Monday night, Walsh campaign spokesman Charles Siler told Fox News on Monday that the former congressman “is keeping every option open.”

Statehood And Indian Removal

Defense of Florida’s northern border with the United States was minor during the second Spanish period. The region became a haven for escaped slaves and a base for Indian attacks against U.S. territories, and the U.S. pressed Spain for reform.

Americans of and began moving into northern Florida from the backwoods of and . Though technically not allowed by the Spanish authorities and the Floridan government, they were never able to effectively police the border region and the backwoods settlers from the United States would continue to immigrate into Florida unchecked. These migrants, mixing with the already present British settlers who had remained in Florida since the British period, would be the progenitors of the population known as .

These American settlers established a permanent foothold in the area and ignored Spanish authorities. The British settlers who had remained also resented Spanish rule, leading to a rebellion in 1810 and the establishment for ninety days of the so-called Free and Independent Republic of on September 23. After meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame the garrison at , and unfurled the flag of the new republic: a single white star on a blue field. This flag would later become known as the “”.

Some Seminoles remained, and the U.S. Army arrived in Florida, leading to the . Following the war, approximately 3,000 Seminole and 800 Black Seminole were removed to . A few hundred Seminole remained in Florida in the .

What Exactly Are The Iowa Caucuses

The Iowa caucuses are essentially neighborhood meetings of those political parties which were able to garner a set amount of votes in the previous general election.

Caucuses are not elections. They are run by the state parties and not state government. They are the mechanism through which individuals show their support for a candidate, and tell the parties what issues matter to them.

Every two years, the two major political parties hold these caucus meetings to discuss their platform and upcoming events. But every four years, during the presidential elections, the caucuses are also used to determine who the parties presidential nominee should be.

Since Iowa is the first state in the nation to hold a caucus or primary, during Februaries of presidential election years, all eyes are in Iowa to see who the early leaders will be in the presidential race.

The caucus system, rightly, has come under criticism in recent years. Other states, like New Hampshire, hold primaries where people simply cast a vote to conduct similar party business. Unlike casting a vote, which you can do in minutes over a period of a day, the caucuses require people to be physically present for a few hours. That makes participation difficult for people who can’t get or afford child care, people living with disabilities or mobility issues, people who lack transportation, and people who work evenings. 

Caucus Turnout: Robust Record

Iowas 2016 caucus attendance was a doozy.

Republicans counted more than 180,000 caucusgoers, topping their 2012 attendance record of 121,503 by an estimated 60,000 people.

And while Democratic numbers werent completely tallied at the time of this publication, all indications pointed to a robust performance, although not likely to top the roughly 240,000 total who showed up in 2008 to vote for a Democratic rock-star field led by Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton.

The turnouts shunned conventional wisdom that high participation would equate to a Donald Trump victory, said Kedron Bardwell, the chairman of the political science department at Simpson College.

Its not what people were expecting in terms of what would happen if we had an increased turnout, Bardwell said. This is a dynamic kind of effect. If people anticipate that Trump is going to win, it also motivates the people that want anybody but Trump.

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said he is “very, very proud of my fellow citizens” for the record turnout.

“If there was ever a doubt that the people of Iowa believe in grassroots democracy, I think tonight that doubt is completely erased, Kaufmann said.

Some caucusgoers reported delays due to crowds.

At least one Democratic voter precinct at Iowa State University initially ran out of voter registration papers, according to a report from Betsy Woodruff, a reporter for The Daily Beast. At other sites, caucusgoers .

CAUCUS RESULTS:

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Daily Dose of Media Bias -> One round for the Trump administration on its travel ban

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McCain and Kerry outline lessons from Vietnam after watching new Ken Burns documentary

A paratrooper from the 101st Airborne Division guides a medical evacuation helicopter through the jungle foliage to pick up casualties at Hue in April 1968. (Art Greenspon/AP)

BY JAMES HOHMANN with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve

THE BIG IDEA: Hundreds of Washington insiders gathered last night in the Kennedy Center Opera House for an advance screening of Ken Burns’s new documentary on Vietnam.

Before he showed half a dozen choice clips from his 10-part, 18-hour film, which premieres Sunday, the director asked everyone who served in the military during the war to stand so they could be recognized.

John McCain and John Kerry were among those who rose, along with other famous veterans like Bob Kerrey and Mike Mullen.

Burns then asked anyone who protested Vietnam to also stand. Dozens did.

“I couldn’t tell the difference,” the director said, referring to the two groups.

The veterans, including McCain, joined the audience in applauding the antiwar demonstrators.

That moment set a tone of reconciliation and harmony for a discussion about one of the darkest and most divisive chapters in American history.

John McCain leaves the Senate chamber after a vote last week. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

— Forty-two years after the fall of Saigon, McCain believes “it is the right time to take notes.” “There has to be a period of time after a conflict where the passion cools,” he said during a panel that followed the screening. “Maybe we can look back at the Vietnam conflict and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes that we did before.”

The 81-year-old, who is undergoing chemotherapy as he battles an aggressive form of brain cancer, said that watching “the magnificent work” reminded him of just how young so many of the Americans were who died. With sorrow in his voice, he talked about “the 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kids who had no idea what they were getting into.”

“Their leaders didn’t lead, whether they were military or civilian,” said the Arizona Republican, who spent 5½ years as a prisoner of war after getting shot down on a bombing mission over Hanoi in 1967. “By telling the American people one thing, which was not true, about the progress in the war and the body counts, it caused a wave of pessimism to go across this country, which bolstered the antiwar movement. We can learn lessons today because the world is in such turmoil: Tell the American people the truth!”

McCain said he visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as often as he can to take in the names of the more than 58,000 Americans who died. “Depends on the weather,” he said. “Sometimes once a week. Sometimes once every couple of weeks. I try to go very early in the morning or when it’s near sunset. … It’s really an incredibly emotional experience. … These young men died because of inadequate or corrupt leadership.”

As chairman of the Armed Services Committee, McCain is managing the defense reauthorization bill on the Senate floor this week. Whenever troops go into combat, he explained, it is essential that the country decides “what victory means” and, then, “do not forget it!”

“We need to be able to have leaders who will lead and who will be able to give (the troops) a path to victory so that we will not sacrifice them ever again in a lost cause,” McCain said.

John Kerry signs the Paris climate agreement last year while holding his granddaughter. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

— Kerry, who captained a swift boat in Vietnam before returning home to protest the war, echoed similar themes and alluded to the Trump administration’s credibility gap.

“Vietnam has always stood out to me a stunning failure of leadership,” said the former secretary of state. “We were operating without facts back then. In today’s world, it’s (also) really hard to figure out what the facts are. And people won’t honor facts. You know what they are, but you have your ‘alternative facts.’”

The 73-year-old spoke of feeling betrayed by “the best and the brightest” who he had looked up to in the American government. He singled out Robert McNamara, who was secretary of defense under John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

“I thought I had felt all the anger I could feel about the war, but I hadn’t until I read ‘A Bright Shining Lie’ by Neil Sheehan,” Kerry said, referring to the classic book that came out in 1988. “All the way up the chain of command, people were just putting in gobbledygook information, and lives were being lost based on those lies and those distortions.”

Martha Raddatz of ABC News, who moderated the discussion, asked Kerry how society can learn “the right lessons” from Vietnam. “A lot of people don’t,” he replied. “It’s that simple.”

The five-term Massachusetts senator said that war should always be “a choice of last resort” after diplomatic options have been exhausted. He spoke of the need to have an endgame before going in. “So many missed opportunities,” Kerry said, shaking his head. “I hope never again will any generation have to face a moment like we did.”

Kerry explained that his combat experience as a young man has been “tricky” at times, and that he tried to not let it overly color his approach to the world during his tenure at Foggy Bottom. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t a captive of Vietnam,” he said. “Not everything is Vietnam!”

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in May. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

— By sparking new conversations, Burns hopes to heal old wounds. Famous for his in-depth explorations of the Civil War and World War II, the director highlighted additional parallels between Vietnam and the present moment: “Mass demonstrations taking place all across the country against the administration … A president certain the news media is lying … Asymmetrical warfare that taxes the might of the United States military … A country divided in half … Huge document drops of stolen, classified material into the public sphere … Accusations that a political campaign reached out to a foreign power during a national election to affect the outcome.”

“So much of the division that we experience today, the hyper-partisanship that besets us, we think the seeds of that were sown in Vietnam,” Burns said.

— Kerry recounted his work with McCain in the 1990s to normalize relations with Vietnam, which grew out a conversation they had during an all-night flight on a CODEL to the Middle East. “We decided consciously to work on this because we felt very, very deeply that the country was still at war with itself, and that we needed to move forward in the relationship with Vietnam in order to be able to move forward with the relationship here at home,” Kerry said. “We wanted to be able to talk about Vietnam as a country, not as a war.”

As the 2004 Democratic nominee for president spoke, the 2008 Republican nominee interjected to say that Bill Clinton deserves credit for backing them up at a time (before he got reelected) when it was not politically easy.

— Former defense secretary Chuck Hagel, who enlisted to fight in Vietnam and received two Purple Hearts as an infantryman, praised the documentary for humanizing the war. “We too often don’t humanize the mechanics of war,” the former Nebraska Republican senator lamented. “We say, ‘Well, we’re going to send six or seven divisions or three battalions or squadrons of planes.’ But what does that mean to the men and women who are fighting and dying? … As secretary of defense, I saw that from many years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The same was true for Vietnam.”

— “The Vietnam War” premieres Sunday on PBS at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.

— Special supplement: Washington Post Pop Culture Columnist Alyssa Rosenberg got exclusive access to the production process over the past year. She made a special companion podcast to accompany each of the 10 episodes in the miniseries. (Listen to her preview here.)

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

The many trials and tweets of Trump’s travel ban

— One round for the Trump administration on its travel ban — the Supreme Court agreed to block a lower-court ruling allowing 24,000 sponsored refugees into the country. From Robert Barnes and Matt Zapotosky: “The court issued a one-paragraph statement granting the administration’s request for a stay of the latest legal maneuvering … There were no recorded dissents to the decision … At issue is whether the president can block a group of about 24,000 refugees, who have assurances from sponsors, from entering the United States. ”

The ruling follows a June decision that no person with a “bona fide” connection to the United States could be denied entry, which the administration determined did not include extended family members or refugees with assurances. “The Justice Department this week asked the Supreme Court to step in again — although only to block refugees, not grandparents and other relatives beyond the nuclear family. Even those refugees with formal assurances from a resettlement agency lack the sort of connection that should exempt them from the ban, the Justice Department argued in its new filing to the Supreme Court.”

— The administration is also weighing slashing the number of refugee admissions to below 50,000, which would be the fewest since at least 1980. The New York Times’s Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Miriam Jordan report: “In recent weeks, as the deadline approached for Mr. Trump to issue the annual determination for refugee admissions required by the Refugee Act of 1980, some inside the White House — led by Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior adviser for policy — have pressed to set the ceiling even lower.” But other administration members — including officials in the National Security Council, the State Department and the Pentagon — are opposed to the idea, which has not been finalized.

— The Supreme Court also ruled that Texas did not immediately have to redraw electoral maps found to diminish the impact of minority voters. Robert Barnes reports: “The 5-to-4 ruling almost surely means the 2018 midterm elections will be conducted in the disputed congressional and legislative districts. The justices gave no reasons in their one-paragraph statement granting a request from Texas that it not be forced to draw new districts until the Supreme Court reviewed the lower court’s decision. But the court’s liberals — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — signaled their unhappiness by noting they would not have agreed to Texas’s request. The court’s intervention was a victory for Texas Republicans, who had drawn the districts. It disappointed civil rights groups, who had noted that even though growth in the state’s Hispanic population was the reason for additional congressional seats, none were drawn to favor minority candidates.”

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

— Exclusive: Internal Democratic poll shows Jeff Flake is in real trouble. Senate Majority PAC, the lead outside group focused on the upper chamber, commissioned an internal poll last week that shows Arizona’s Republican senator in danger of losing both the primary and the general election. He’s lost support from Trump supporters by challenging the president, but he’s not getting credit from independents for standing up to the White House. The survey, conducted by GBA Strategies, found that primary challenger Kelli Ward currently leads Flake by 27 points, 58 percent to 31 percent, in a head-to-head match-up among Republicans. Among GOP primary voters, the first-term Flake’s favorable rating is 25 percent – with 56 percent viewing him unfavorably. His job approval rating with his own party is 34 percent in the survey, while his overall approval rating is 38 percent (with 50 percent disapproval.)

Against Kyrsten Sinema, the likely Democratic candidate, Flake currently trails by 7 points – 47 percent to 40 percent.

The survey also shows that Senate Majority Leader McConnell is viewed favorably by just 17 percent of Republican primary voters in Arizona, while 42 percent see him unfavorably.

The live-caller survey of 600 likely 2018 general election voters and 500 likely Republican primary voters was in the field from Aug. 30 to Sept. 7. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent for the general and 4.4 percent for the primary. “Arizona is clearly an opportunity for Senate Democrats to pick up a seat,” said JB Poersch, president of Senate Majority PAC. “The political climate in Arizona hints growing problems for the GOP Congressional brand.”

To be sure, it’s early. Breitbart played up a poll at this point two years ago that showed John McCain losing to Ward by 9 points, and he wound up winning comfortably. The filing deadline is not until May 30, and the primary is not until Aug. 30. Someone else could still jump into the primary. Establishment Republicans believe Ward would get crushed in a general, even in a reddish state like Arizona, and Flake is more competitive. They say this is why Democrats are sharing a poll like this.

GET SMART FAST:​​

America’s middle class had its highest-earning year ever in 2016, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. Officials said the median household income in America was $59,039 last year, surpassing the previous record of $58,655 set in 1999. (Heather Long)

Apple unveiled three new editions of the iPhone, including a premium version costing $999. The premium iPhone X will have enhanced cameras for facial recognition, allowing users to unlock the phone just by looking at it. (Hayley Tsukayama)

Edith Windsor, whose Supreme Court case paved the way for legalizing same-sex marriage, died at 88. Barack Obama called her one of the “quiet heroes” who had advanced equality. (AP)

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced his resignation following a fifth claim of child sex abuse — this one from his cousin, who said the alleged abuse happened decades ago in New York. Murray has repeatedly denied the accusations, which began in April, and claimed they are part of a political takedown. (The Seattle Times)

Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R) and his wife are recovering from nonlife threatening injuries after their car was rear-ended and “flipped multiple times” on their way back to Washington. Both were released from the hospital Tuesday, a representative said. (WSB Radio)

More than 370,000 refugees from Burma’s long-persecuted Rohingya ethnic group have fled their country for neighboring Bangladesh, international migration groups said Tuesday. The Rohingya are desperately seeking to escape a crisis the United Nations human rights chief called a “textbook example” of ethnic cleansing. (Annie Gowen)

Five years after the Benghazi attacks, a federal court in Washington has begun searching for potential jurors in the terrorism trial. The 28-page questionnaire extends far beyond routine vetting inquiries for would-be jurors, asking them about views on whether the U.S. government acts fairly toward mostly Muslim countries and aggressively enough to fight terrorism. (Spencer S. Hsu)

The founder of a company that uses artificial intelligence to help people fight parking tickets online has created a free chatbot to help people sue Equifax, a credit-rating agency that was hacked and exposed the information of more than 143 million U.S. consumers. With the help of the bot, customers can sue Equifax for thousands of dollars in just minutes. (Peter Holley)

The World Anti-Doping Agency has agreed to clear 95 Russian athletes who were implicated in the country’s longtime doping program — a decision that is likely to fuel debate over Russian athletes’ eligibility in sporting events. (New York Times)

In Beijing, people are getting married for license plates. The spike in sham marriages comes as authorities began issuing new plates via a six-time-a-year lottery system to reduce congestion in the crowded capital city. The new system is daunting, but allows loopholes for spouses — and many single, would-be drivers are cashing in. (The Atlantic)

Authorities in suburban Chicago are investigating the death of a 19-year-old woman, who was found this weekend in a hotel’s industrial walk-in freezer. Her mother has since lashed out at the hotel and local police department, saying they “helped kill her child” by failing to act fast enough after learning of her disappearance. (Andrew deGrandpre)

A contentious lawsuit over the rights to a “selfie” taken by a monkey was settled on Tuesday, capping a years-long legal battle that ensued after a primate grabbed a wildlife photographer’s camera — and quickly snapped a shot of his own smiling face. (Amy B Wang)

AFTER THE STORMS:

— Trump will visit Florida Thursday in Irma’s wake. David Nakamura reports: “[For an] administration whose first eight months has been marked by internecine squabbles and a lack of legislative accomplishments, the initial competence in managing the storms represented a relief — and a rare chance to take credit … Several major policy questions have been raised in the wake of the storms, including whether Trump will reconsider his proposals to slash FEMA’s grant programs and his administration’s hostility to [environmental] regulations … But overall, emergency management veterans said, Trump and his team deserve acknowledgment for getting through the first phase of the crisis in a way that inspired public confidence.” “[Trump], for all the negatives we’ve heard about him,has done the right thing,” said Clinton-era FEMA official Mark Merritt. “He picked a great team and let them do their job.”

— Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) criticized officials who deny the connection between extreme weather and climate change. Politico’s Michael Grunwald reports: “Nelson said it’s clear that manmade global warming made Irma worse by increasing the temperature and the height of the seas that fueled the storm. He said he didn’t want to play partisan politics in the aftermath of a hurricane, but then went on to criticize Republicans in general and [Florida Gov. Rick] Scott in particular—though not by name—for opposing climate action. He noted that both the Trump administration in Washington and the Scott administration in Tallahassee have reportedly discouraged government employees from even talking about climate change.”

After losing electricity to Irma, assisted living facility worries for patients’ lives

— But millions of Floridians remain without power, and officials worry the lights may not come back on for weeks. Patricia Sullivan, Mark Berman and Katie Zezima report: “Across the nation’s third most-populous state, that discomfort played out in homes that were silent without the usual thrum of perpetual air-conditioning. It meant refrigerators were unable to cool milk, laundry machines were unable to clean clothes and, for the particularly young and old, potential danger in a state where the temperatures can range from warm to stifling. Even for those who had power, some also were struggling to maintain cellphone service or Internet access, sending Floridians into tree-riddled streets in an effort to spot a few precious bars of signal to contact loved ones. …

“At its peak, the Department of Homeland Security said about 15 million Floridians — an astonishing three out of four state residents — lacked power … Duke Energy Florida said it would restore power to most customers by Sunday, a week after Irma made its first landfall in Florida. Some harder-hit areas could take longer due to the rebuilding effort.”

— And it’s not just Florida: almost 900,000 residents of Georgia were still without power yesterday. Over 300,000 of them were just in the Atlanta-metro area. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

— For some, the lack of power is about much more than discomfort. Patricia Sullivan has a story on an assisted living facility that went without electricity for three days: “Cape Coral Shores, on a peninsula west of Fort Myers on the Florida Gulf Coast, had 20 patients stay during the storm … Power went out at the facility … and was not restored for days even as homes and businesses all around it saw their lights come back on … A handful of small fans powered by a borrowed generator were all that kept the situation from devolving into a medical emergency[.]”

A father and son paddle though their flooded neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP/David Goldman)

— Jacksonville reckoned with historic flooding. Lori Rozsa reports: “Driven by tidal flow, an already saturated inland waterway system and Irma’s powerful winds and rains, the swollen and fast-rushing St. Johns River crashed over sea walls and sandbags and left much of the area underwater. Officials called the flooding ‘epic’ and ‘historic,’ with the river through this city of nearly 900,000 hitting levels not seen since 1846 — a year after Florida became a state. On Tuesday the city started to recover, but meteorologists warned that some flooding is likely to return as storm-generated waters rush south from the Carolinas toward the Atlantic Ocean.”

— St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands has been essentially razed by Irma. Anthony Faiola reports: “[T]his 20-square-mile island is now perhaps the site of Irma’s worst devastation on American soil. Six days after the storm … the island finally has an active-theater disaster zone. Military helicopters buzz overhead and a Navy aircraft carrier is anchored off the coast, as the National Guard patrols the streets. The Coast Guard is ferrying the last of St. John’s dazed tourists to large cruise ships … More than a few locals, cut off from the world with no power, no landlines and no cellular … are leaving, too, some of them in tears. …

“A drive up formerly picturesque mountain roads reveals a landscape of such astonishing devastation that it looks as if it were bombed.Entire houses have disappeared. Others are tilting on their sides. Horizons of waxy-green bay leaf trees on jade-colored hills have turned to barren wastelands, as if the world’s largest weed whacker had hedged the entire island. … And that’s just damage from the weather.  In the days following the storm, lawlessness broke out — here and on other Caribbean islands. Thieves hit a string of businesses. Houses were burgled, entire ATM machines stolen.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders pauses during a rally in support of the Affordable Care Act in Covington, Ky. (John Minchillo/AP)

SINGLE-PAYER ON STAGE LEFT:

— Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is expected to introduce his single-payer health-care legislation today with the backing of a record 15 Democratic senators. David Weigel reports: “Sanders’s bill, the Medicare for All Act of 2017, has no chance of passage in a Republican-run Congress. But after months of behind-the-scenes meetings and a public pressure campaign, the bill is already backed by most of the senators seen as likely 2020 Democratic candidates — if not by most senators facing tough reelection battles in 2018. The bill would revolutionize America’s health-care system, replacing it with a public system that would be paid for by higher taxes. … As he described his legislation, Sanders focused on its simplicity, suggesting that Americans would be happy to pay higher taxes if it meant the end of wrangling with health-care companies. The size of the tax increase, he said, would be determined in a separate bill.”

“Republicans, bruised and exhausted by a failed campaign to repeal the Affordable Care Act, were giddy about the chance to attack Democrats and Sanders … Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a medical doctor, crowed that Sanders’s bill had become ‘the litmus test for the liberal left’ and that Americans would reject any costly plan for universal insurance coverage.”

— Sanders makes the case in a Times op-ed this morning: “Needless to say, there will be huge opposition to this legislation from the powerful special interests that profit from the current wasteful system. The insurance companies, the drug companies and Wall Street will undoubtedly devote a lot of money to lobbying, campaign contributions and television ads to defeat this proposal. But they are on the wrong side of history.”

— Nancy Pelosi tries to keep the tent big. Kelsey Snell and David Weigel report: “Pelosi (D-Calif.) declined to endorse ‘Medicare for All’ legislation backed by [Sanders] and instead called on Democrats to release a wide range of proposals to fix and improve [Obamacare]. … ‘I don’t think it’s a litmus test,’ Pelosi said in an interview. ‘What we want is to have as many people as possible, everybody, covered, and I think that’s something that we all embrace.’ Pelosi said that she would like a variety of health-care ideas to be vetted and analyzed by budget scorekeepers but that she thinks none of them will succeed while the ACA is under attack from Republicans. ‘Right now I’m protecting the Affordable Care Act,’ Pelosi said. ‘None of these things, whether it’s Bernie’s or others, can really prevail unless we protect the Affordable Care Act.’”

— Why this is still pie-in-the-sky, explains the New York Times’s Margot Sanger-Katz: “[L]ast week, a detailed analysis of the Sanders health care plan from researchers at the Urban Institute showed that it would probably cost the government double what the campaign proposed. It is the second credible analysis to suggest that the Sanders plan costs more than advertised. … The Sanders plan is light on some key details, but even in sketch form, it seems clear that it would require even bigger tax increases than the sizable ones the campaign has called for. If you look around the world, lots of countries have single-payer systems. … So how could a single-payer system here still be so expensive? … Here’s why: Medicare pays doctors and hospitals higher prices than single-payer systems do in other countries.”

— Meanwhile, Republicans are still debating whether they should try to gut the ACA. Politico’s Burgess Everett and Jennifer Haberkorn report: “Republicans are paralyzed over what to do about health care, caught between a bipartisan effort to shore up Obamacare and the opportunity to take one last swing at their years-long promise to repeal the law. Leaders of both efforts have less than three weeks to gather enough support[.] … A group of senators is making a last gasp effort to repeal some of the law and replace it with a block grant program to the states, though many Senate Republicans are pessimistic they will be able to get the 50 of their 52 senators needed to support it in the coming days.” Time is running out — the budget resolution containing the instructions that allows Republicans to push through health-care legislation without Democratic support expires on Sept. 30.

Why tax reform is hard

REPUBLICANS PIN THEIR HOPES ON A TAX REWRITE:

— But some conservatives are skeptical of Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn’s ability to advance tax reform with Republicans. Politico’s Nancy Cook and Rachael Bade report: “Neither man has ever worked in or with the legislative branch. They lack inside knowledge about how to navigate Congress at an especially fractious time. Cohn remains a registered Democrat; Mnuchin is a Republican, but he also has a long history of donating to the other party. … Republicans throughout Washington are concerned that if the White House can’t craft a plan that unifies the GOP, Trump’s tax writers will once again circumvent Hill Republicans in order to score a win. … The idea of the White House totally undercutting GOP leaders’ tax strategy and striking a deal with Democrats is not altogether inconceivable, especially after last week’s debt deal.”

–They might have reason to worry: Trump is meeting today with bipartisan members of the Problem Solvers’ Caucus. And he had dinner last night at the White House with several key Democratic senators in red states won by Trump in 2016 — and Finance Committee Chair Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). At the meeting were Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.). “Manchin, Heitkamp and Donnelly are the only Democratic senators who did not sign a letter addressed to Republican leaders and Trump that said the Democratic caucus would not support a tax overhaul that cuts taxes for the ‘top 1 percent’ or adds to the government’s $20 trillion debt,” the AP reported.

— But Democrats still have a long list of non-starters on taxes. The New York Times’s Alan Rappeport and Thomas Kaplan report: “Senate Democrats on Tuesday warned they would work to block any rewrite of the tax code that repealed the estate tax and the deduction for state and local taxes[.] … Congressional Republicans and the White House agree that the tax on inheritances should be scrapped … The red lines from Democrats are becoming increasingly stark. [Chuck] Schumer also said that a repeal of the deduction for state and local taxes and any changes to the mortgage interest deduction would also be non-starters with Democrats.”

— How will taxes happen? House Budget Chair Diane Black is pushing Paul Ryan to bring a budget to the floor this month, even as the House Freedom Caucus continues to insist on seeing a comprehensive tax plan before agreeing to a budget. Politico’s Sarah Ferris reports: “Black, frustrated by her party’s divisions, is daring die-hard conservatives to vote no, forcing them to take the fall for choking off the party’s chances at tax reform. ‘Sometimes when you get this close, perhaps you just need to put it on the floor,’ Black (R-Tenn.) [said].”

— Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are preparing to move on one of Ivanka Trump’s signature issues: affordable childcare. Politico’s Burgess Everett: “Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will lead the introduction of the “Child Care for Working Families Act” on Thursday, an aide familiar with the effort said. The move is intended to showcase broad Democratic buy-in on the bill compared to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ halting progress on the issue. The bill, which has been under development for months, will focus on early learning, child care costs and people who administer child care. “

DEALING WITH DACA:

— White House legislative director Marc Short signaled the White House may back off its calls to include funding for Trump’s border wall in legislation to protect to DACA recipients. Kelsey Snell, Ashley Parker and Ed O’Keefe report: “[Short] told a breakfast gathering … that Trump ‘believes that a physical barrier is important’ between the United States and Mexico. But he said that the administration does not ‘want to bind ourselves into a construct that makes reaching a conclusion on DACA impossible.’ … But the issue of border wall funding is still likely to be a point of contention in spending negotiations later this year. Congress voted last week to extend current spending levels through Dec. 8, leaving lawmakers three months to work out a long-term spending agreement. Short hinted Tuesday that Trump may demand border funding as a part of those negotiations.”

— House leaders from both parties are planning to huddle today to discuss possibly taking up DACA legislation. Ed O’Keefe reports: “The meeting … is a signal that congressional leaders are indeed trying to build support for a broader plan that would pair some kind of legislation to deal with dreamers … with a plan to expandsecurity along the U.S.-Mexico border. … Pelosi and her lieutenants had requested a meeting with [Paul] Ryan shortly after Trump decided to end the DACA program in March of next year unless Congress can resolve the issue. She told reporters Tuesday that House Democrats are quickly coalescing around legislation that would grant legal protections to DACA recipients and set them on a years-long course to apply for U.S. citizenship.”

McConnell: ‘My assumption is the debt ceiling will continue’

— Mitch McConnell expressed hesitation yesterday about ending the debt ceiling, as Trump had discussed with Chuck Schumer. Sean Sullivan reports: “‘Getting Congress to give up the tool like that would probably be quite a challenge,’ [McConnell] said. [He] predicted that the debt ceiling ‘will continue and we’ll have to decide when these intervals come along the best way to handle it.’ … McConnell said Tuesday that he does not expect to have to raise the debt ceiling again until ‘some time next year.’”

A photographer captures a mural of car attack victim Heather Heyer. (Steve Helber/AP)

— Congress has sent a resolution to Trump condemning the Charlottesville violence and encouraging him to speak out against hate groups. Mike DeBonis and Jenna Portnoy report: “The legislation, which passed by unanimous consent in the Senate on Monday and in the House on Tuesday, will be presented to Trump for his signature in an effort by lawmakers to secure a more forceful denunciation of racist extremism from the president. … The text of the resolution was negotiated on a bipartisan basis by the members of Virginia’s congressional delegation, overcoming early differences between Republicans and Democrats about how to characterize the events in Charlottesville and whether to explicitly criticize Trump’s response. … The authors of the legislation purposely introduced it as a joint resolution, which is sent for a president’s signature, rather than as a simple or concurrent resolution, which are not.” The text notably categorizes the killing of Heather Heyer as a “domestic terrorist attack.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. speaks to reporters following a briefing on Syria on Capitol Hill. (Susan Walsh/AP)

— Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) joined Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)’s campaign to force a debate on Congress approving a new Authorization for Use of Military Force. Karoun Demirjian reports: “But Kaine’s decision to join Paul’s efforts did not inspire other senators to follow suit, as leading Republicans and Democrats argued against putting an expiration date on existing authorizations for the United States’ engagement in high-stakes conflicts around the world. … It’s a change of heart for Kaine, who was quick to criticize last week when Paul launched his effort to add to the defense bill a six-month deadline to pass an authorization for military force.” The Senate will vote today on the measure to force an AUMF debate, Karoun reports. It’s expected to fail.

Three times politicians made mistakes on Twitter

— Sen. Ted Cruz blamed his Twitter account’s “liking” an illicit adult video on a “staffing issue.” Ed O’Keefe and Avi Selk report: “By late morning, reporters were waiting outside the U.S. Capitol to question the flesh-and-blood Cruz about his online alias’s handiwork, which he disavowed. ‘It was a staffing issue and it was inadvertent,’ the senator said. ‘It was a mistake.’ He said ‘a number of people’ in his office had access to his account[.] … ‘This was not how I envisioned waking up this morning,’ Cruz told his journalist interrogators at the Capitol, and then got in a crack of his own: ‘If I had known that this would trend so quickly, then perhaps we should have posted something like this during the Indiana primary.’”

Putin on a hunting and fishing trip in southern Siberia. (Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via Reuters)

THERE’S A BEAR IN THE WOODS:

— Another Flynn omission? Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn may have failed to disclose a trip to the Middle East to negotiate a business deal with the Saudi government and a Russian government agency, CNN’s Manu Raju and Marshall Cohen write this morning. House ” Democrats allege the retired Army lieutenant general broke the law by omitting the trip, according to the letter they sent to Flynn’s former business partners requesting more information about his overseas travels and contacts.”

— Flynn is refusing a new request to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee. CNN’s Jim Sciutto reports: “Flynn first declined to comply with a Senate subpoena in May, asserting his Fifth Amendment rights. More recently, the committee has reiterated its request and Flynn has declined again, the source said. Flynn has also been subpoenaed by the House intelligence committee, which is conducting a separate probe into Russia’s election meddling. Flynn had offered to testify before both the Senate and House intelligence committees in exchange for immunity, but neither committee accepted the offer.”

— Putin sought a “broad reset” of U.S.-Russian relations in the third month of Trump’s presidency — dispatching a Moscow diplomat to the State Department to propose “full normalization” across “all major branches of government.” Buzzfeed News’s John Hudson reports: “The proposal … called for the wholesale restoration of diplomatic, military and intelligence channels severed between the two countries after Russia’s military interventions in Ukraine and Syria. The broad scope of the Kremlin’s reset plan came with an ambitious launch date: immediately. … [And it] reveals one of Moscow’s unspoken assumptions – that Trump wouldn’t share the lingering US anger over Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 election and might accept a lightning fast rapprochement.” In meetings with Russian officials, members of the administration, including Rex Tillerson, signaled that such an arrangement would not be feasible.

Putin’s proposed timeline: “By April, a top Russian cyber official, Andrey Krutskikh, would meet with his American counterpart for consultations on ‘information security,’ the document proposed. By May, the two countries would hold ‘special consultations’ on the war in Afghanistan, the Iran nuclear deal, the ‘situation in Ukraine,’ and efforts to denuclearize the ‘Korean Peninsula.’ And by the time Putin and Trump held their first meeting, the heads of the CIA, FBI, National Security Council and Pentagon would meet face-to-face with their Russian counterparts to discuss areas of mutual interest. A raft of other military and diplomatic channels opened during the Obama administration’s first-term ‘reset’ would also be restored.”

— The Trump campaign has begun turning over documents to Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff reports: “John Dowd, an attorney representing the president, said that the campaign is in ‘total cooperation’ with Mueller on the matter. … The Trump campaign has previously turned over documents to congressional investigators looking into the possibility of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. That those documents have now been given to Mueller is a sign that the two investigations are covering similar ground, albeit from unique investigative vantage points[.]”

Watch President Trump’s full introductory remarks with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia

THE TRUMP WHITE HOUSE:

— The Malaysian prime minister visited the White House yesterday despite concerns from human rights groups. The Boston Globe’s Annie Linskey reports: “Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is linked to a multibillion-dollar embezzlement scandal, and human rights groups say he has limited free speech, imprisoned opposition leaders, and locked up Malaysians who have ‘insulted’ the government. But on Tuesday, Najib was greeted at the White House by President Trump, who listened to his guest’s pledge to invest billions of dollars for US infrastructure while publicly ignoring his links to the scandal that the Justice Department is actively probing. … It’s the latest example of Trump’s compliments directed at dictators[.] … Presidents often meet leaders who’ve done unsavory deeds — Obama played golf with Najib in December 2014 — but what’s different now is the absence of a public slap on the wrist.”

A key statistic: “Of the 32 foreign leaders from sovereign countries that Trump has invited to the White House so far, 15 rule over nations that either score in the bottom half of the Global Democracy Ranking, which uses metrics to measure the health of 112 democracies in the world, or hail from countries like Saudi Arabia that have no pretense of democratic rule.”

— Trump’s voter fraud commission came under fire as it met yesterday in New Hampshire, where the commission’s vice chairman claimed voter fraud occurred in November. John Wagner reports: “Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) largely defended an article published Friday in which he pointed to statistics showing that more than 6,000 people had voted in a close election here using out-of-state driver’s licenses to prove their identity. He suggested that was evidence of people taking advantage of New Hampshire’s same-day registration and heading to the Granite State to cast fraudulent votes. … Kobach’s article has been rebuked by election experts and among those who criticized his argument was New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner (D), a fellow commission member[.] … Gardner defended the Senate election result as ‘real and valid’ and said Kobach’s article … showed why the commission needs to be more careful about its assertions moving forward.”

— The Campaign Legal Center announced the Heritage Foundation pushed back on naming Democrats or mainstream Republicans to the voter fraud commission: “The [Heritage] employee wrote personally to Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushing back on even a single Democrat being named to the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity and discouraging the White House from naming mainstream Republican officials and/or academics to the commission. The Heritage Foundation employee, whose name has been redacted by the Department of Justice, complained that the White House did not consult with their ‘experts’ who ‘have written more on the voter fraud issue than anyone in the country on our side of the political aisle.’ A few months later, President Donald Trump appointed Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation to the Pence-Kobach Commission. Mr. von Spakovsky is widely considered the architect of the voter fraud myth.”

Meet Hope Hicks: White House communications director

— Trump’s longtime adviser Hope Hicks was named White House communications director yesterday. Hicks was already serving in the role on an interim basis, but she now shifts to it permanently. (Anne Gearan)

— Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said yesterday the Justice Department should consider prosecuting former FBI Director Jim Comey for actions that “were improper and likely could have been illegal.” Anne Gearan reports: “‘I think if there’s ever a moment where we feel someone’s broken the law, particularly if they’re the head of the FBI, I think that’s something that certainly should be looked at,’ Sanders said. She said that recommending such a prosecution is ‘not the president’s role,’ and that the White House is not encouraging it. ‘That’s the job of the Department of Justice, and something they should certainly look at,’ Sanders said. Asked to clarify, Sanders said this: ‘Anybody that breaks the law, whatever that process is that needs to be followed, should certainly be looked at,’ Sanders said. ‘If they determine that that’s the course of action to take, then they should certainly do that, but I’m not here to ever direct DOJ in — in the actions that they should take.’”

Malaysian prime minister’s visit to Trump International Hotel could be violation of Constitution’s emoluments clause

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:

— The White House sought to downplay questions about Malaysian Prime Minister Razak’s visit to Trump’s D.C. hotel on Tuesday, with Huckabee Sanders telling reporters the administration “certainly [didn’t] book their hotel accommodations.” “[But] the prime minister’s official White House visit also brought at least 24 hours of activity and sales to the [hotel],” Jonathan O’Connell reports. “And it is likely to escalate debate over whether the president is benefiting from a luxury property that has become Washington’s new power center — and, its critics say, a staging area for those seeking White House access. …[Signs] of the Malaysia delegation’s presence were obvious at the property[:]  At lunchtime Monday, more than a dozen members of Najib’s entourage relaxed in a lounge area reserved for hotel guests. On Tuesday morning, dozens of delegation members convened in meeting rooms [while] some attended a white-tablecloth breakfast … Events of this scale would probably mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for the Trump Organization …”

— Trump’s resort in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., is seeking permission from the government to hire more foreign guest workers as housekeepers. Buzzfeed News’s Jessica Garrison, Jeremy Singer-Vine and Ken Bensinger report: “The resort, which is near Miami, licenses [Trump’s] name but is owned by the International Resorts Management Group. It asked for permission to bring in 10 housekeepers, claiming no Americans wanted the jobs. Including this latest request, companies owned by Trump or bearing his name have already sought to hire at least 380 foreign guest workers under the federal H-2 visa guest worker programs since [he launched his] presidential campaign.”

Kim Jong Un at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/AP)

THE NEW WORLD ORDER:

— North Korea lashed out at the new “vicious” sanctions package approved by the U.N. Security Council this week, reiterating its warnings through a spokesman that the United States would “suffer the greatest pain” for leading the sanctions effort. (Michelle Ye Hee Lee)

— One day earlier, the State Department’s top official on North Korea quietly visited Moscow to urge support for the new sanctions, Josh Rogin reports. But the two countries issued two very different statement about the meeting:

“This visit is an example of our ongoing discussions with the international community to increase pressure on [North Korea],” a State Department spokesman said Monday. “The United States seeks stability and the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

But a statement from the Russian foreign ministry Tuesday had a very different take: “The Russian side stressed that there is no other way to settle the problems of the Korean Peninsula … other than by political and diplomatic means,” the ministry said. “The sides noted readiness for joint efforts … including in the context of the implementation of the Russian-Chinese roadmap for the Korean settlement.” (Both Washington and Seoul have publicly and repeatedly rejected the “freeze for freeze” option advocated by Moscow and Beijing.)

— The State Department has reported additional American diplomats harmed in Cuba. Anne Gearan reports: “There are now 21 reported cases, up from 19 on Sept. 1, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. A U.S. investigation is ongoing, Nauert said. The Trump administration has not blamed the Cuban government for what the union representing Foreign Service officers called ‘sonic harassment attacks’ dating to late 2016. Cuba has denied wrongdoing in the mysterious events. Victims have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries, hearing loss and other neurological and physical ailments, the union said.”

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

Trump’s voter fraud panel met in a public setting for the first time. From conservative firebrand Ann Coulter:

Bernie Sanders’s former press secretary offered the opposite take:

Hillary Clinton gave dual credit for this famous line in her new book:

The former chief of staff to Al Gore and Joe Biden gave the book a positive review:

But Trump’s former press secretary wrote it off:

Former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum replied to Spicer’s criticism:

From the Washington Examiner’s White House correspondent:

The editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight responded to the list:

The president sent out this tweet the same day that Clinton’s book dropped:

From Trump’s former Office of Government Ethics director:

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss marked the 55th anniversary of this moment:

Two of Trump’s chroniclers are writing a book:

The top Senate Democrat may need to upgrade to the new iPhone:

CNN’s Jake Tapper mocked Ted Cruz’s Twitter investigation:

A nun in South Florida took the Irma clean-up effort into her own hands:

And Eric Trump welcomed his first child, the president’s ninth grandchild:

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich departing his Chicago home for Littleton, Colo., to begin his 14-year prison sentence. (AP/Charles Rex Arbogast)

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

— Chicago Magazine, “Blago: His Life in Prison,” by David Bernstein: “Five years ago, Rod Blagojevich kissed his wife and daughters goodbye, waved one last time to reporters, and flew to Colorado to start a 14-year sentence. ‘I’ll see you guys when I see ya,’ he called out … For Blagojevich, a man who rose to political heights from modest [roots], prison has been a humbling experience, full of little indignities. As at most correctional facilities, inmates are assigned menial jobs, such as washing dishes, mopping floors, and scrubbing toilets. At the low-security facility, Blagojevich did a three-month stint in the kitchen, one of the toughest tasks, but primarily worked in the law library and taught classes on the Civil War and World War II. His current job as an orderly at the camp pays $8.40 a month. ‘My jurisdiction was once all of the State of Illinois. Now I’ve got two hallways to clean,’ he says.”

— Buzzfeed News, “There’s Blood In The Water In Silicon Valley,” by Ben Smith: “The blinding rise of [Trump] over the past year has masked another major trend in American politics: the palpable, and perhaps permanent, turn against the tech industry. The new corporate leviathans that used to be seen as bright new avatars of American innovation are increasingly portrayed as sinister new centers of unaccountable power, a transformation likely to have major consequences for the industry and for American politics.  Tech is manifestly unready for this new era. They’ve been playing small-ball politics of regulation, and coasting on incredibly high approval ratings. But there are signs they feel the winds changing … And the political class can smell blood.”

— The Daily Beast, “How Omarosa Became the Most ‘Despised’ Person in the Trump White House,” by Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng: “According to four sources in and outside the West Wing, the longtime Trump confidant is isolated inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as she quietly plots against her fellow senior officials. Colleagues regularly complain about Manigault’s behavior and work ethic. She frequently derails internal meetings with irrelevant or counterproductive interjections and she’s earned a reputation for attempting to micromanage [communications] operations. [John Kelly] has tried to curtail Manigault’s direct access … But her continued proximity to Trump—he speaks with her over the phone, even in the middle of the night—underscores just how thorny her tenure has been for those tasked with managing the administration.” “She doesn’t have any friends in high places—except the one place [where] it matters,” said one Republican official.

HOT ON THE LEFT

“Luis Gutiérrez doubles down, calls John Kelly ‘mean’ for supporting DACA’s demise,” from Ed O’Keefe: “Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) doubled down on his criticisms of White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on Tuesday, saying that President Trump’s top aide is ‘mean’ for standing by while the administration prepares to deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants known as ‘dreamers.’ … Asked whether it was inappropriate to attack Kelly, a key GOP broker on the immigration debate and a former Marine general, Gutiérrez insisted he saw no issue. ‘He’s a politician, okay, not a general. I don’t see a uniform. He’s a politician who works for Donald Trump,’ Gutiérrez [said].”

HOT ON THE RIGHT:

“Christopher Columbus statue defaced in Central Park,” from the New York Post: “A vandal defiled a larger-than-life statue of Christopher Columbus in Central Park on Tuesday, leaving ‘blood’-red paint on the explorer’s hands and scrawling ‘Hate will not be tolerated’ on its pedestal. The vandal also left an apparent threat at the base of the 7-foot-tall bronze: ‘’#somethingscoming.’  Monuments dedicated to Columbus have become a hot-button issue in the Big Apple amid a national debate on statues honoring controversial figures. Mayor Bill de Blasio recently assembled a commission to review and recommend the removal of any ‘oppressive’ monuments … [and] City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito urged that the 76-foot structure honoring Columbus at Columbus Circle be reviewed for potential removal.”

  DAYBOOK:

Trump has a meeting with his Domestic Policy Council, which Pence will join, and another with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). The president will then sit down with the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: 

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked whether Trump would read Hillary Clinton’s new book: “Whether or not he’s going to read Hillary Clinton’s book, I’m not sure. He’s pretty well-versed on What Happened.” 

  NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

— It may rain during D.C.’s morning commute, but it should clear up later in the day. The Capital Weather Gang forecasts: “The chance of a lingering early-to-mid-morning shower is about the only weather inconvenience today, unless you count mostly cloudy morning skies. We should see skies brighten by mid-to-late afternoon, as highs reach near 80 to the low 80s with moderate humidity and light winds.”

— The Nationals lost to the Braves in an 8-0 rout. (Chelsea Janes)

— The DOJ announced that it would not pursue civil rights charges against the police officers involved in Freddie Gray’s death. Matt Zapotosky, Keith L. Alexander and Peter Hermann report: “In a news release, the Justice Department said its investigation had found ‘insufficient evidence’ to support charges in the case, and pointed to the high bar prosecutors would have had to meet to prove federal charges. … The decision likely forecloses any chance that the officers involved in Gray’s high-profile death will face criminal consequences[.]”

— The Petersen House, where Abraham Lincoln died, will close for six months of renovation beginning Christmas Day. (Michael E. Ruane)

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Jimmy Kimmel read the children’s book version of Hillary Clinton’s “What Happened”:

Hillary Clinton’s New Children’s Book “Losie the Pooh”

The Post’s Nicole Lewis fact-checked Trump’s claim that countries are unhappy with GDP growth rates of 7 to 8 percent:

Fact Check: Are foreign leaders telling Trump “they’re unhappy about 7 or 8 points of growth – GDP”?

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who accepted the 2017 Freedom Award from the U.S. Capitol Historical Society this week, discussed the importance of arts education with The Post:

Lin-Manuel Miranda wants to bring arts funding back to the table at the Capitol

A celebrity telethon raised nearly $15 million for the victims of Harvey and Irma:

Celebrity telethon raises almost $15 million for Hurricane victims

And a Florida police officer helped ease one Irma victim’s concerns by dancing with her:

Deputy helps ease elderly woman’s Irma worries with adorable dance

Daily Dose of Media Bias -> One round for the Trump administration on its travel ban Daily Dose of Media Bias -> One round for the Trump administration on its travel ban…