It’s season four of The World As I Like It To Be podcast and we are hard at work bringing the news of the day. Eric has also been using twitter a lot more (you may have noticed) so expect even more “breaking new” to appear on his feed @ericdsmall and perhaps on the @vtipent twitter feed.
This blog will remain a reference point to the podcast. Here we can delve deeper into the subjects discussed in the podcast and even update you on stories we may have discussed only a day or week ago.
On yesterday’s episode, we discussed the case against Donald J Trump. One of the president’s henchmen, Lev Parnas, was interviewed on Rachel Maddow‘s show. He laid out a remarkable case of how he was fooled by the president, how his supporters are in a cult and that the real source of his power is William Barr.
Then Denise from California (@denisefromcalif) and I discussed the tension between the Warren campaign and the Sanders campaign. Both appeared to lock arm during an MLK Day parade in what looked like a photo op.
But there are signs the war with Sanders is only beginning. Is there a visceral hatred for Bernie or is the Vermont senator simply getting the front runner treatment as did Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden?
Finally in episode two, we discuss climate change. The president, at Davos, says there’s nothing to worry about, even as extreme weather is destroying the world. We have a lot to say about climate, how it is hurting California and its homeless and what legislature is going to do about it.
Check out yesterday and today’s podcast episodes right here:
Fareed Zakaria GPS
In this episode we use clips from January 19th episode of GPS where Fareed talks with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd about his country and climate change. It’s an excellent show and worth listening to here: https://v-tip.com/-3e
Hillary….why?
Yesterday reports were Hillary Clinton is going to be featured in a documentary in which she trashes Bernie Sanders saying nobody likes him.
“Hillary Clinton lambasted Bernie Sanders in a forthcoming documentary as a “career politician” who “nobody likes,” savaging her rival for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination less than two weeks before the 2020 Iowa caucuses.”
For years the GOP has slammed the Clintons and in 2016 they went after the former first lady and senator hard, calling her power hungry and a war monger.
After her statements yesterday one has to wonder if the republicans were on to something.
Bernie Sanders, cleverly played it off.
Opinion: The Front Runner treatment
Today Clinton appears to have backtracked from a statement she made which was non committal on supporting the nominee if it were Sanders.
Since the backlash yesterday, she now claims she will do everything in her power to support the nominee.
As discussed on episode one, Bernie supporters seem to think any attack on Sanders is a win for Trump. I think this characterization is absurd. Bernie is not the savior of mankind, everyone knows John Conner is…oh wait a minute…
Sanders supporters need to understand anyone, like Warren and Biden before him, is going to get the front runner treatment when they are the front runner.
And make no mistake, Sanders is now being seen as the front runner. According to a CNN poll, Sanders is “surging” among registered democrats.
That means all the old grievances are going to be on display, all your enemies are going to come out and attack. People are going to pour over your record look for inconsistencies, they’re going to parse every statement and every vote as Joe Biden did on Morning Joe today.
“I find it amazing that we go back and look at statements, many of them — most of them — taken out of context of 10, 20, 30, 35 years ago,” he continued. “And it’s like my going back and pointing out how Bernie voted against the Brady Bill five times while I was trying to get it passed when he was in the House, or how he voted to, you know, protect gun manufacturers — it’s the only group in America you can’t sue.”
These kinds of attacks test the measure of a candidate. To have a full airing of these grievances and prepared apologies, counter attacks, changes or clarifications will do a lot to prepare the candidate for the general election and Donald Trump.
Bloomberg moves up; Trump sinks
If anyone ever wondered what it would look like for the 1% to buy their way to the White House, look no further than Michael Bloomberg. The billionaire has said he will spend a billion or more to defeat Donald Trump.
He dumped a load of money on ads that have been running all over the place and they appear to be working. Monmouth University poll (Fivethirtyeight rates Monmouth University an A+) has the former mayor of New York in fourth place having leap frogged over Pete Buttigieg.
Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters continue to be divided over who they want to face Trump in 2020. The top contenders include Biden (30%, from 26% in December), Sanders (23%, from 21%), and Warren (14%, from 17%). The next tier consists of Mike Bloomberg (9%, from 5% in December), Pete Buttigieg (6%, from 8%), and Amy Klobuchar (5%, from 4%). Yang is at 3% (identical to 3% in December), while none of the other five candidates included in the poll tops 1%
Meanwhile Donald Trump’s poll numbers are looking shaky.
Just over 4 in 10 (41%) registered voters feel that Trump should be reelected, while a majority (57%) say it is time to have someone new in the Oval Office. These numbers have not moved much over the past few months (43% reelect and 54% someone new in December and 42%-55% in November). The current results are also similar to late September when news about the president’s Ukraine call broke (39%-57%) and August when the House impeachment inquiry was just getting started (39%-57%). Trump currently has a personal rating of 43% favorable and 55% unfavorable among registered voters – which includes 35% with a very favorable opinion and 51% with a very unfavorable opinion.