| | | | Donald Trump's illegal voters fantasy, part 281 | | On Thursday in West Virginia, at an event to tout his tax cut law, President Donald Trump got to talking about the 2016 election. And he said this:
"In many places the same person in California votes many times. They always like to say, 'Oh that's a conspiracy theory.' It's not a conspiracy theory. Millions and millions of people and it's very hard because the state guards their records."
Which is, strictly speaking, false. (It is also, loosely speaking, false.)
As The Washington Post's Fact Checker put it way back in late 2016: "Simply put, there is no evidence that 'millions of people' voted illegally in the election."
That, of course, hasn't stopped Trump from saying it. He has tweeted it. He has asserted that he would have won the popular vote -- easily -- if not for the illegal votes. He. Just. Keeps. Repeating. It.
Why does he do it? Because it suits the story of the election he tells himself.
It's not enough for Trump to have won in the only way it matters -- the electoral college. (He lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes to Hillary Clinton.)
He has to have a total victory. And that means coming up with a way that he actually won the popular vote, even though he didn't. It also means conflating the idea of Russian meddling in the election -- which the US intelligence community unanimously agrees happened -- with somehow taking away the credit he deserves for winning.
Trump won't give up talking about illegal votes because he needs to believe that millions of them were cast, and everyone would know that if not for a conspiracy to keep the voter rolls secret.
The Point: There is no conspiracy. There is no evidence that millions or even thousands of votes were cast illegally in 2016. And none of that means the President of the United States will stop saying there were.
-- Chris | | "I will gladly work with the President when his ideas aren't stupid and detrimental to the United States."
-- Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona in an interview on CNN's "Newsroom" Thursday | | | TRUMP BREAKS SILENCE ON STORMY DANIELS | | From CNN's Kevin Liptak: "President Donald Trump said on Thursday he did not know about a $130,000 payment made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence, his first public acknowledgment of the scandal surrounding an alleged sexual affair that has plagued him for months.
"'No,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when questioned about his knowledge of the payment, which was made by his private attorney, Michael Cohen, in the month before the 2016 election. Asked why Cohen made the payment, Trump said: 'You'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You'll have to ask Michael.'"
Read more here. | | | Photo courtesy: Cassie Spodak / CNN | | CNN's Dana Bash, Bridget Nolan and Cassie Spodak spent time with Ohio governor and former Republican presidential candidate John Kasich in New Hampshire. Cassie sent us one of her favorite quotes from the trip:
"I don't know what the hell I'm doing, so we wanted to come here because I love to see you all," Kasich said at a mini-reunion of supporters in Concord, New Hampshire. ... As much as Kasich is applauded by anti-Trump forces for refusing to endorse the President, being a Trump gadfly makes a lot of Kasich's fellow Republicans really angry at him. "'Why doesn't he shut up and go away.' And these come from staunch Republican Trump people (who) were sick of" me, Kasich told reporters. "So, that must tell me I'm doing something right." Read more in their story here.
In other #2020 news ... Sen. Kamala Harris dodged questions about a potential presidential run in 2020 during an appearance Thursday on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." DeGeneres bluntly asked the California Democrat: "You're probably not going to answer me but I'm going to ask you anyway. ... Will you run for President?"
"Right now, we are in the early months of 2018," Harris said, emphasizing that she is focusing on "pressing issues right now," such as helping Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and pushing for an assaults weapons ban. Read more in Saba's story here and watch the clip here. | | REP. BLACKBURN FALLING BEHIND IN TENNESSEE POLLS | | The Tennessean reported Thursday that former Gov. Phil Bredesen has a 10-point lead over US Rep. Marsha Blackburn in the race to succeed US Sen. Bob Corker. The poll, from Middle Tennessee State University, found 45% of 600 registered Tennessee voters would chose Bredesen.
Bredesen, a Democrat, served as governor of Tennessee in 2003 through 2011. Before that, he served as mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999. The 74-year-old hasn't run in a competitive race since his first gubernatorial election in 2002. Blackburn has closely aligned herself with the President.
Corker will leave Senate when his term expires at the end of 2018. | | | Every Monday through Friday afternoon, you can click on CNN Politics' Instagram video story for more Point-related #content from Chris and Brenna Williams. Can you guess today's topic based on these emojis?
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| | This is when Trump held up his prepared marks and said: "This was gonna be my remarks. It would have taken about two minutes." Then he threw them.
As Brenna points out: "So ... TLDR. LITERALLY." Thanks for reading us! Tell people you know to read us, too, and subscribe. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | | | | |
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