| | | | The Virginia Democratic Party is a dumpster 🔥 |  | | The story of this week, the lasting story with long-ranging implications, isn't President Trump's quickly-forgotten State of the Union speech or acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker's super-contentious testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee. It was the utter collapse of the political futures of the top three Democratic elected officials in Virginia.
Gov. Ralph Northam spent the week fending off calls from every corner of the Democratic Party to resign after admitting -- and then recanting -- that he had been either in blackface or KKK robes in a photo on his medical school yearbook page. By the end of the week, reports suggested Northam had told senior staff he was sticking it out -- despite the ongoing chorus asking him to bow out.
Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax now faces not one but two allegations of sexual assault -- one in 2000, the other in 2004. While Fairfax has denied both accusations, the woman alleging the 2004 assault, Vanessa Tyson, came forward this week to put a name to accusations that Fairfax had forced her into oral sex during the Democratic National Convention in Boston. And the second woman, Meredith Watson, put her name on her accusation Friday. While most national Democrats had resisted calls for Fairfax's resignation, the new allegation Friday will complicate that.
Then, finally, is Attorney General Mark Herring, who acknowledged this week that he attended a party in blackface in 1980. Herring, like Fairfax, was seemingly spared calls for resignation -- instead embarking on a series of meetings and calls designed to fix his error in judgment.
How does this end? I struggle to see Northam and Fairfax surviving. Herring has the best chance of the three to remain in office, but even if he does, he has incurred serious political damage if/when he runs for governor (or becomes governor).
The Point: Virginia over the past decade has been one of the Democratic Party's great success stories. It went from a reliably Republican state to one in which Democrats held the lion's share of key political offices. This disaster tarnishes that rise -- and threatens to hand Republicans an opportunity this fall and beyond.
-- Chris
Below, the week in 19 headlines:
Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: | | "Mistakes happen. We acknowledge that this was a huge mistake."
-- Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir on the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. | | | TRUMP AND BEZOS, AN ANNOTATED HISTORY | | The National Enquirer may be the latest connection between the President and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. But the two businessmen go way back -- and Chris chronicles how far they've come ... so to speak.
For example, Trump has long antagonized Bezos on (you guessed it) Twitter.
For example, this tweet from December 2015: "The @washingtonpost loses money (a deduction) and gives owner @JeffBezos power to screw public on low taxation of @Amazon Big tax shelter."
For the record, Chris notes: This claim does not appear to be founded in fact. Read more about their less-than-cordial history. | | | Yoke Lore's cover of Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply" is perfection. Hat tip to Lauren's sister Morgan for the excellent rec. | | We've got a big weekend coming up in 2020 world.
Both Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar are scheduled to make *major announcements* -- and it's expected both Democrats will declare their candidacies for the presidency (but you never REALLY know until they say so. Remember that time Tom Steyer went to Iowa for a *major announcement* ... which was that he wasn't running).
Warren at least appears to be all in on turning her exploratory committee into a full-fledged candidacy.
Warren is scheduled to hit seven early-voting states after this speech, and if that's not enough of a sign of her impending candidate status, Warren's former Harvard Law School student (who happens to now be a member of Congress from Massachusetts), Rep. Joe Kennedy III, plans to endorse Warren at her Saturday event.
Klobuchar, meanwhile, is dropping her Sunday announcement on the aptly titled Boom Island in Minneapolis -- and will have warming houses, hot chocolate, cookies and live music for her attendees. | |
REMEMBERING REP. JOHN DINGELL | | The nation's longest-serving member of Congress and a true Twitter star died Thursday night -- but not before dictating a Washington Post op-ed to his wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell, hours before he died.
These are John Dingell's last words for America. | |  | | From Brenna: "Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee shook a pocket Constitution at Acting AG Matt Whitaker today. Best use of a prop thus far in 2019? Share The Point with your friend who loves props!" | | | | | | |
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