Political scribe: Will Every Living Dem Run for President?
The Week’s Matthew Walther says that if anyone had asked him last week whether Seth Moulton, a moderate Democrat who is enthusiastic about public transportation and veterans affairs, was a real presidential candidate, “I would have said absolutely not.” Then, the Massachusetts congressman announced. This election, says Walther, is “going to be remembered as the time that every living American older than 34 and younger than 110” sought the Democratic nomination. Just memorizing who they are and what they stand for is “harder than trying to summarize Ludwig van Pastor’s ‘History of the Popes.’ ” But if defeating President Trump “really is a matter of existential importance to the American people,” why are Democrats “taking it about as seriously” as a kids’ soccer game “where everyone plays?”
Foreign desk: Trump Not Pursuing Iran Regime Change
President Trump’s critics regularly assert that he’s seeking regime change in Iran; they did so again this week when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced tightened sanctions on Iranian oil imports. But Bloomberg’s Eli Lake asserts that the critics are wrong — “both in their opposition to regime change and in their understanding of Trump’s policy.” Fact is, there’s “a compelling argument” that regime change is “the way to go.” But it’s not Trump’s strategy, either overtly or covertly. The US “is starving the Iranian economy of the resources the regime needs to make war in the rest of the region.” Yet asking Tehran to end its support of terrorist proxies, as Trump has done, “is like asking a fish not to swim.”
From the right: Impeachment Will Tear Democrats Apart
Fallout from the publication of the Mueller report shows “how divorced partisan political culture has become from anything resembling rationality,” contends Bloomberg’s Noah Rothman. The pro-Trump side “has unreservedly wrapped its arms around the report’s conclusions,” even though it “painted a portrait of a mendacious cabal of incompetents.” Yet Democrats’ “failure to manage expectations” has yielded “a similar pathology” in their grassroots, which was so intent on seeing the special counsel set into motion the process of removing Trump from office that they’ve “rejected the report’s conclusions and substituted their own.” Which is why their progressive wing now insists impeachment “is the only prudent response.” That, however, “puts them on a collision course” with senior party leaders, who may soon discover that “political cannibalism is not the exclusive province of the Tea Party.”
Policy analyst: Cuba Sanctions Punish Maduro’s Enablers
The “road to liberty in Venezuela lies through Havana,” declares Ana Quintana at The National Interest, which is why the Trump administration’s decision to fully implement the US trade embargo with Cuba may “hasten the restoration of democracy” in Caracas. The new policy means American citizens can now “sue foreign companies trafficking in stolen property in Cuba,” including property “seized from Americans without compensation” decades ago. Cuba has played a key role in propagating Venezuela’s human-rights crisis by “exporting its police state,” allowing Nicolás Maduro “to maintain control as he ruthlessly pillages his own country.” Now, countries with foreign firms in Cuba must consider the consequences of their engagement. Our foreign partners “should not put commercial gains before freedom.”
GOP strategist: Illegal Immigrants Are Already ‘Voting’
Why are Democrats so intent on blocking the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census? According to Ford O’Connell at The Hill, it’s because they’re “using illegal immigration to alter the balance of power in the Electoral College from rural, Republican-leaning states to those that are predominately blue and in some cases purple.” No, illegal immigrants can’t vote directly — but they can alter the tally to favor Democrats because electoral votes are based on the number of each state’s residents, not citizens. Indeed, “a quick glance at the 20 metro areas with the largest number of illegal aliens confirms this.” Which explains why Democrats are “purposely ignoring the very real crisis and national emergency unfolding in front of their eyes.”
— Compiled by Eric Fettmann