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Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential campaign debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, January 14, 2020. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)If and when the race narrows to the strongest candidate in each lane, Democrats will be forced to focus on the only questions that really matter to them.

Sure, anything can happen, and pundit predictions are hardly worth the pixels that deliver them. But if I were phoning my bets overseas to PaddyPower, Id buy Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden and short Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. The four-person race looks set to become a two-person race in the near future, and I think the dynamic will be self-reinforcing. Biden vs. Bernie: a race for the ages and the aged.

Biden has basically stayed at the top of the heap since he entered this race. Hes done so despite substandard fundraising and no cheering section in the media. Many Democrats detest the fact that he is leading. They worry about his verbal slip-ups and his politically incorrect statements. They dont want the Democratic standard-bearer in 2020 to be a man old enough to remember doing deals with segregationists, much less one who seems proud of that history. They fear that he would become the partys Bob Dole, a past-his-prime senator who got the nod through sheer seniority, unable to take on the energetic, if sleazy, incumbent. Yet while hes been attacked by younger, hungrier, more diverse candidates, Biden has maintained his dominant position among African-American voters and kept a healthy plurality of the older Democrats who turn out in primary elections. And front-runners have a tendency to sweep through divided fields.

Standing in his way is Bernie, who is surging two weeks before Iowa, in striking distance of the lead there and, according to one reliable poll, holding a decent lead in New Hampshire. Part of his national surge is his increased performance among non-white voters.

Id bet on the field to narrow to these two for two reasons.

First, theres a tendency for the top-polling candidates going into Iowa to overperform in the final results, because the caucusing process ultimately forces supporters of low-performing candidates to cast their votes for stronger ones. Second, the possibility of Bernies winning may drive a stampede toward Biden or vice versa.

The emergence of a head-to-head race between Biden and Sanders would immediately clarify the choices for Democrats.

One septuagenarian Sanders has recently suffered a heart attack. The other septuagenarian Biden frequently seems to have senior moments in the middle of his sentences. A race between these two could eliminate age as a relevant dynamic, leaving clear questions of electability and ideology on the table.

And what then? On one side there is Biden, the more moderate Democrat who scares nobody by design hes framed his entire campaign as a return to normalcy but doesnt excite progressive activists. On the other side there is Sanders, whose has argued in recent debates that he is electable because he has the backing of a large, young, grassroots movement whose enthusiasm will become contagious. The viability of one could drive the viability of the other.

After many pointless hours debating the ins and outs of Platonic health-care reforms that will never be implemented and many pointless minutes worrying about personality, a BidenSanders clash would focus the race on the only questions that really matter to Democrats: Should the party move to the left or to the center? Do the necessary voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin want a major revision to the American economic model, or do they merely want a Democratic candidate who connects with them on the gut level, who wont call them deplorable?

Those are debates worth having, and Democrats may have them sooner than youd think.

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The Coming Biden and Bernie Show - National Review

For our series Three Meals, Major Garrett traveled to three cities in Texas to talk to voters over breakfast, lunch and dinner.

In Texas, impeachment came up frequently; overall, most voters were fatigued by it all. But those paying close attention defied party stereotypes.

Garrett started in a diverse area outside of Houston with eggs, hash browns and pancakes at the Avalon Diner in Stafford.

"The economy is going really well," said dentist Scott Benoit. "I think overall we're safe as a country. Everything's going pretty well."

The "Now Hiring" sign outside backs that up; the Avalon's owner told us she's lost workers to better jobs elsewhere.

Benoit did not vote for Mr. Trump in 2016, but will this year. His wife Jeannine, a speech therapist, was with the president from the beginning. "I just have more conservative values, so I tend to go more with that person," she said.

Just across from Scott and Jeannine, Garrett met Bernard and Sharon Maynore. Both work in health care. Bernard said, "I feel mystified when I'm listening to what Donald Trump has to say."

Garrett asked, "How frequently now, or during the Trump presidency, have you found yourself shaking your head?"

"Every day," Sharon replied. " My co-workers said that we needed a change, they wanted to make America great again. I'm wondering, do those same people, do they think that he has made American great again?"

Then it was on to lunch in conservative Midland, a boom town in West Texas, where oil and natural gas production runs around the clock

At Mac's Bar-B-Q, a local favorite, the brisket is slow-cooked out back for 18 hours. Customers start arriving for lunch around 11.

Kyle Davis, his brother Jake, and their business partner Tom Hull run a construction and drilling company. Kyle and Jake support President Trump and expect him to be re-elected.

"I don't like all the nonsense that comes with him," Kyle said. "But yeah, his policy has been spot-on."

Jake added, "I really don't want another Obama. I kind of feel like he divided our country."

Garrett asked both about impeachment. Kyle's answer surprised him: "Was it an impeachable offense? Yeah, it sounds like it probably was," he said.

Jake took the long view: "I'm sure at some point every president could have been impeached."

Tom Hull calls himself a New England Republican and considers Mr. Trump a failure. "The economy's been propped up with record levels of deficit spending," he said. "And he picks fights that he doesn't know how to get out of."

Garrett also met Alison Loera, Laura Ortega and Jennifer Reyes. Loera works in insurance; Ortega and Reyes are data specialists for drilling companies.

They criticized the president for his comments about the Hispanic community. Loera said, "We feel targeted."

Garrett asked, "Do you feel lumped in or somehow demonized?"

"In a way, I guess," Loera replied.

Reyes said, "Comments like that shouldn't be made by someone with that much power and authority."

Dinner took Garrett to The Flying Saucer pub in Garland, a politically-moderate area northeast of Dallas.

"I voted for Trump," said Rita Dusek. "I did, because I thought we need somebody who's not a politician. But that didn't seem to work out," she laughed.

Garrett asked, "Will you vote for him again?"

"No," she said.

Her husband, Al, a registered Republican, said, "I did not vote for him. I don't like extremism on either side."

Just across the way Garrett met David Lindsay, who owns a construction firm. "The economy has probably been the best since I've owned the company," he said.

"Do you give anyone in the political world credit for that?" asked Garrett.

"I will solidly give the president credit for doing it," said Lindsey.

The president's volatile style was raised: "Do you ever wish he would tone it down?" asked Garrett.

"Oh, yeah, I think somebody should hide his cellphone on him," Lindsey said.

Blake Hammerton and Daniel Torres both opposed Mr. Trump in 2016, and will vote in the March 3 Texas Democratic primary.

"I have very, very strong feeling: the young vote will come out this year," Torres said.

Garrett asked, "When you think about the Democrats, what are your thoughts?"

"Stop making everything a battle to the end," Hammerton said. "The Democrats are exhausting themselves and exhausting the public."

Sounds like they're exhausting you? "Yes!" he said.

Garrett said of his excursion that, among Democrats, he did not find hard-core supporters of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden. "Flat line across the board, Texas Democrats are waiting for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada to sort this out," he said. "Democrats said they were keeping an open mind for Texas' 'Super Tuesday' primary."

One person they were keeping in mind, because he's on TV so frequently in Texas, is Mike Bloomberg, he added, noting the billionaire's strategy of creating an impression with voters via paid ads while his opponents fighting it out in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere have yet to make an impression in the Lone Star State.

Garrett asked everyone if they had seen or remembered a Bloomberg TV ad. All but two had. Trump supporters said they thought Bloomberg might give the president the toughest challenge.

"One other thing: when we asked people what they thought about the November election, they said two words: anticipation, and dread."

Other entries in our "Three Meals" series:

Read more from the original source:
Democrats and Republicans across the Lone Star State defy party stereotypes, as they talk about a stronger economy, and a president's divisive...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers wont be in his office on Tuesday when Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to give a speech just a few feet away in the rotunda of the state Capitol, possibly the first visit by a sitting vice president or president in the buildings 103-year history.

Pence is scheduled to give a speech at an event celebrating Wisconsins school choice program. It is on the same floor and just around the corner from Evers office. The governor said he welcomes Pence to the state but that he wont be around to personally greet him. Evers did not say where he would be and his spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email asking about his schedule.

When asked about the event Monday, Evers said he hoped someone would ask Pence if he agrees with Sonny Perdue, Trumps agriculture secretary, who suggested during a visit to Madison in October that Wisconsins small dairy farms need to get bigger in order to survive. Democrats have latched onto the comments in an attempt to portray Trump as being out of touch and uncaring about the plight of Wisconsins struggling dairy industry.

Wisconsin is a key swing state in the presidential race this year. President Donald Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016, becoming the first Republican since 1984 to carry the state. Trump came to Milwaukee two weeks ago for a rally, just a couple blocks away from where Democrats will hold their national convention in July, and now Pence is coming to Madison.

The Capitol in Madison, perched on a hill with its granite dome just three feet and one-half inch shorter than the nations Capitol in Washington D.C., is frequently used as the backdrop for political rallies both large and small. But it appears no president or vice president has ever gone inside, at least officially.

Capitol Police and the Wisconsin Historical Society said they have no records indicating any prior visits by a sitting president or vice president. The Historical Societys photo library has an image from when then-Vice President Richard Nixon spoke on the lawn of the Capitol in 1958, an event that appeared to have attracted about 3,000 people. It had no images of visits inside the building by Nixon or any other past presidents or vice presidents.

Madison, also home to the University of Wisconsins main campus, is a reliably liberal city that more often plays host to Democratic candidates looking to show the strength of their support. For example, then-President Barack Obama came to the shadow of the Capitol for a rally with Bruce Springsteen the night before the election in 2012, an event that drew nearly 20,000 people.

Pences visit is an official event, not a campaign rally. School Choice Wisconsin, which is organizing the event, expects at least 1,000 people to attend, many of them school children. Building capacity for the Capitol is 4,000. While public access will be restricted, the Capitol will not be shut down on Tuesday.

Even though concealed weapons arent permitted in the Capitol, no one will be allowed in on Tuesday with a concealed weapon. Capitol Police notified building employees that if they typically store a weapon in their office or work space, they cant bring them out on Tuesday until after the end of the Pence event.

See the article here:
Democratic Gov. Evers won't be in Capitol for Pence visit - WSAW

The following is satirical.

President Trump sent out a tweet today wishing America a Good Morning.

At CNN, Brian Stelter led a panel discussion on the fascist undertones of the tweet. Addressing the CNN audience as the audience ran to catch his flight to Duluth, Stelter said, Trump is clearly blowing a dog whistle to the white supremacists at Fox News who deceptively allow openly conservative hosts to express openly conservative opinions unlike our fair-minded journalists who spread left-wing propaganda we call news.

Stelters guest, unindicted co-conspirator John Brennan, spoke from the shadows with a disguised voice, saying, Its egregiously insidious at this nefarious confluence of flagrantly imperious disputacious peregrinations to expostulate duplicitous expressions of benevolent ante meridianism. Brennan then slipped off into the darkness to avoid arrest.

At The New York Times, a former newspaper, a front page analysis denounced Trumps Good Morning Tweet, asking, Is it really a good morning for black and brown people? Or is that just the self-satisfied voice of whiteness speaking in recognizably male tones meant to send a chill of fear into the heart of every non-binary person trying to establish his-slash-her identity in a nation founded on the flagrant oppression of gender expression, unlike the peaceful tribes of Futa Jaloo where any man can declare himself a female in a moving ceremony of acceptance just before shes sacrificed to Baal.

On reading Trumps Good Morning Tweet, Democrats in the House opened a new impeachment investigation with Nancy Pelosi wearing a military dress uniform with enormous epaulets while declaiming the Pledge of Allegiance until her personal assistant dropped the cue cards and she couldnt remember the rest of it. In a 17-hour speech in the capitol Mens Room, Adam Schiff declared that if the president is allowed to wish people good morning without an intra-agency consensus, he is no better than a king.

NBCs Chuck Todd was so moved by the speech he shook Schiffs hand and then later remarked, Hey. Wheres my watch?

Related:Trump Unloads On Bolton Over New Ukraine Claims

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Democrats Call For New Investigation After Trump Tweets 'Good Morning.' [Satire] - The Daily Wire

When Jair Bolsonaros culture secretary published an official video paraphrasing Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, it wasnt just Brazilians who were stunned. The video, in which Roberto Alvim called for a rebirth of art and culture in Brazil while Adolf Hitlers favourite Wagner opera played in the background, sent shockwaves around the world.

Alvim was sacked within hours, as Brazilians asked: was this an aberration, a one-off, or even a communist trick? And what did it say about the far right presidents communications masterplan?

Analysts said the use of such extremist tactics is typical of the brinksmanship, trolling and meme tactics used by the US alt-right who are often referenced by powerful members of Bolsonaros government.

The term alt-right was popularised by white supremacist Richard Spencer and has been linked to Stephen Miller, a white nationalist and senior adviser to Donald Trump who has himself benefited from far-right support and at times nodded to it.

Pushing the limits and goading liberals are classic alt-right tactics, said Rodrigo Nunes, a political philosophy professor at Rio de Janeiros Pontifical Catholic University.

This is done in the US by people on the fringes of the public debate, and here it is done by people in the government, Nunes said. Sending messages to people in the most extreme fringes of the far right.

Alvim denied knowing he had quoted Goebbels. Brazilian media reported that he was well aware that he was echoing Hitlers propaganda minister and even joked he would be called a Nazi.

The playbook is the American alt-right, Nunes said. In that sense, Brazil is the first alt-right government in the world.

Its not hard to find other such rightwing dog-whistle messages around Bolsonaros government.

His congressman son, Eduardo, and special adviser of international affairs Felipe Martins both have Twitter profile pictures which use a sci-fi, collage aesthetic called vaporwave or fashwave associated with the alt-right.

Martins profile quotes Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night the Dylan Thomas poem quoted in the manifesto of far-right terrorist Brenton Tarrant, accused of killing 51 people in the Christchurch mosque attacks.

These are common tropes, said Alexandra Minna Stern, a professor in the American Culture department at the University of Michigan and author of Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate. In turn, the US alt-right is interested in Brazil because they like Jair Bolsonaro and the way he and his supporters have used social media, she said.

Another alt-right favourite is the Latin phrase deus vult (God wills it) a Crusader slogan which has often been used by figures in the alt-right as well as Alvim and foreign minister Ernesto Arajo.

The Bolsonaros also use offensive statements to distract media attention from damaging scandals. In the past month alone, the president told a reporter he looked terribly like a homosexual as explosive details about a money laundering inquiry into his senator son Flvio swirled. Last week, he said on Facebook live that Indigenous people are increasingly becoming human beings just like us.

Thats part of the spectacle, like the shock and awe going on in the US, said Stern.

Like Trump, leading Bolsonaristas are good at plausible deniability making an extreme comment, then withdrawing it or claiming it was misconstrued.

Eduardo Bolsonaro and finance minister Paulo Guedes have both said Brazil could reintroduce notoriously repressive legislation from Brazils military dictatorship if street protests like those in Chile were to erupt. Both later backed off, but the subject had entered the national conversation.

And while Alvims conservative art competition has been suspended, many Bolsonaristas still believe that Brazilian culture is decadent, infested with leftist ideals, and in need of a conservative transformation.

Its back to Nazi ideas of what is degenerate art, how young families are being corrupted, Stern said. [The idea] is out there and its entering the discourse.

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'The playbook is the American alt-right': Bolsonaristas follow familiar extremist tactics - The Guardian