Some interesting reporting and math from the folks at Electoral-Vote.com, showing presidential approve/disapprove numbers at 175 days in to their presidency. Not only is Trump the least popular for as far back as they surveyed (back to Truman), he’s by far the outlier.
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2017/Senate/Maps/Jul18.html#item-2
Republicans abandon repeal and replace, go full repeal only. We’ll see if that gets 50 votes.
The Washington Post has a good article on the lack of a strategy to pass a debt ceiling increase. Failure to pass up such an increase by September would mean the United States defaults on its payment obligations, with serious negative ramifications for the stock market in interest rates. The impact the economy has the potential to be extremely severe, and not just for the short term. If the world were to decide that the American dollar is no longer the safest investment out there, the impact to America’s economy would be generational and very very bad.
Concerned about military threats in space, Congress mulls creation of new agency
This bill would create a sixth branch of the military, the Space Corp. conceptually, this would put America’s structure on par with other peer countries.
Fascinating interview with a mathematician on modeling party based districts. How representative districts are drawn is one of the most important issues facing our democracy.
Great interview from Chuck Todd with an FBI agent who testified regarding Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Some valuable perspective from people who have been on presidential campaigns about why you don’t take meetings with foreign operatives.
GOP Campaign Veterans Say They Wouldn’t Have Met With Foreign Agent Offering Dirt
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-meeting-russia-campaign_us_5963a7a0e4b0615b9e936e06
Politico has laid out why the meeting with Trump’s son and a Russian operative is significant. Is it collusion? No. Bad judgment? Absolutely. Against the law? Potentially. And that’s where it gets complicated to report on.
I’m sharing this not because I think the cover story candidate has any chance (he doesn’t even live in the district he’s running to represent), but the body of the article contains fundraising numbers for Democratic candidates in multiple House races in California. If the Dems are going to take back the House in 2018, they need a sweep of the House districts in California where Hillary won in 2016.
‘Reagan Democrat’ enters race against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/07/07/reagan-democrat-enters-race-against-rep-dana-rohrabacher/
This is interesting to me as I think it’s a valid criticism of the national Democratic party–why is so much power given to someone who is not a member? Also, if this race becomes a legitimate three way race, I think it definitely becomes a pick ip opportunity for the Republicans.
The Electoral College Blog 