In The News
Coates Says Biden, Harris Have Criminal Justice ‘Baggage’
Ta-Nehisi Coates this week warned Democrat presidential hopefuls Sen. Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden that they will have to deal with their criminal justice “baggage” in the 2020 election campaign.
In an interview with New York magazine, the author of The Case for Reparations was asked to discuss “both politicians who embraced some version of ‘tough on crime liberalism’ earlier in their careers.”
Coates acknowledged that Harris and Biden both “have some of that baggage” and was skeptical they can sustain their popularity with black voters when their criminal justice records get scrutinized.
Booker Says Trump, GOP Policies Could ‘Cause People’s Death’
Wednesday on the Pod Save America podcast, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker warned that the policies of Donald Trump and Republicans “literally… could cause people’s death.”
“If Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Donald Trump for the last two years, had complete sway, they wouldn’t have just changed policy, which is nice, they would have hurt people in my community, literally doing policies that could cause people’s death,” said Booker.
“When we had a Republican governor in the state of New Jersey, just something like attacking Planned Parenthood, for women in my community who rely on that Planned Parenthood for their health care.”
Van Jones Says Abrams is a ‘Diversity Beard’ For Biden
Appearing Thursday afternoon on CNN, contributor Van Jones said a decision by former Vice President Joe Biden to name failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams as his 2020 running mate would be an attempt at boosting his “diversity” bona fides.
“Maybe he’s trying to put on a little big of a diversity jacket, have a diversity beard, you know, for himself,” said Jones. “The downsides of it for him are, this is very, very risky… This early, to decide, you know, who’s going to be the best help for you as vice president, I think is very premature.
“The other problem is, the other part of this demographic profile, is his age. Whoever he picks to be vice president, because of his age — hey, listen, that person could be president in 20 minutes.”
Carter to Become Longest-Living Former U.S. President
Jimmy Carter will become the longest-living former U.S. president this Friday, surpassing the record set by George H.W. Bush.
Carter will be 94 years and 172 days old on March 22, breaking the record recently set by Bush, who was 94 years and 171 days old when he passed away in November 2018. Only a handful of former presidents have lived past the age of 90, including Carter’s successor, former President Ronald Reagan, who lived until the age of 93.
“We at the Carter Center sure are rooting for him and are grateful for his long life of service that has benefited millions of the world’s poorest people,” said the Carter Center in a statement.
Blumenthal: ‘There Are Indictments’ in Trump’s Future
Thursday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sen. Richard Blumenthal predicted there would be indictments in President Trump’s future.
Blumenthal said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s upcoming report would be “about the credible case of obstruction of justice that is right now against President Trump, about other crimes that clearly there’s evidence he’s committed.
“We need to understand what Vladimir Putin and the Trump campaign may have done together but also the obstruction of justice that was done by the president of the United States in real time. There are indictments in this president’s future. They’re coming. Whether they’re after his presidency or during it, obviously the Department of Justice has said you cannot indict a sitting president,” he added.
Donors Unwilling to Raise Money for Biden
Top Democrat donors reportedly have told former Vice President Joe Biden that they would not raise early-stage campaign funds for him if he were to run for president in 2020.
According to CNBC, several donors declined Biden’s request to bundle campaign contributions because they’re not convinced he can overtake the younger, more diverse and progressive field of candidates.
“I can donate but I don’t think I can raise you money today,” said one anonymous billionaire. He told CNBC, “The sense we’re getting [from other donors] is yes, he’s a good guy and everybody knows him, but he has run for president a couple times and it didn’t always work out. I think with Biden there’s a feeling of ‘I like him, he’s a really good guy, but he’d be running at a moment in time that a 76-year-old white guy may not be what voters want.’”