| | | | Here's why Donald Trump can totally win in 2020 |  | | Electability, many liberal Democrats will tell you this cycle, is a farce. It doesn't really exist. It's simply a scare tactic used by establishment, centrist Democrats to keep voters from choosing a true-blue liberal for the nomination to run against President Donald Trump in 2020.
And there's some evidence to suggest they're right -- namely Trump himself. Trump's GOP opponents in the 2016 race spent the entire campaign insisting that in nominating the controversial billionaire the party would be forgoing its chances of beating Hillary Clinton in the general election. Then, Trump won. So long, electability!
Except that in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll there's at least the suggestion that who Democrats nominate could make a difference in whether Trump wins a second term or not. Former Vice President Joe Biden leads Trump 53%-43% in that national survey. But Biden is the only Democrat with a statistically significant edge over the incumbent. California Sen. Kamala Harris took 48% to Trump's 46%, while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders stood at 49% to Trump's 48%. Trump was tied with both Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Biden's lead over Trump is explained, somewhat, by the fact that Biden is a wholly known commodity on the national stage -- the result of eight years as Barack Obama's vice president and more than three decades of service in the Senate. Biden is also known -- even by independents and lean-Republicans -- as a centrist, unlike, say, Sanders, who has unapologetically embraced every imaginable tenet of liberalism.
While the next eight months(ish) will decide the electability question vis-a-vis Biden, the takeaway from the Post-ABC poll -- or at least one of the takeaways -- should be that Trump isn't going to be a pushover in November 2020.
The Point: What the Post-ABC numbers remind us is that Trump won't be running against an idealized Democratic candidate in 2020. He'll be running against a flesh-and-blood person with strengths and weaknesses. And judging from the poll numbers, he has a decent chance of beating that eventual nominee.
-- Chris | | "I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way."
-- President Trump tweeting about outgoing UK PM Theresa May's handling of Brexit, and responding to the current UK ambassador to the US, who criticized Trump in leaked cables. | | | Certain members of the US women's soccer team may not be headed to the White House following their World Cup victory, but the door's open on the other side of the National Mall.
"I'm pleased to invite the players to the US Capitol as a team or individually to celebrate your inspiring victory," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted Sunday night.
Either way, the team will be welcomed back to the US in style. New York City is throwing a ticker tape parade for the winning team down Manhattan's Canyon of Heroes on Wednesday morning. 🎧 Lauren has more to say about the politics of US women's soccer in today's The Point audio briefing -- available anywhere you listen to podcasts! | | | John Mayer's "New Light" music video remains a true Monday pick-me-up. | | He's in: Tom Steyer, the pro-impeachment California billionaire who earlier this year held a news conference in Iowa to announce he wasn't running for president.
There's been a change of plans, apparently, as Steyer never fully closed the door on 2020. Now, he's already informed staffers at two organizations he funds, Need to Impeach and Next Gen, that he plans to run for president.
He's out: Eric Swalwell, the California congressman who announced today he's suspending his campaign. Swalwell is the first candidate to drop out since the campaign began in earnest.
Swalwell's campaign, which lasted 85 days, championed generational change in the Democratic Party and a commitment to taking on gun violence.
Here's a flashback to Swalwell's presidential announcement: "Burn the boats," Swalwell said, name-checking what Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés did when he invaded the Aztec Empire in 1519. "They stormed the land. And he had them burn the ships behind them so there was no looking back. I would want people to know that I'm putting my all into this and I don't have a life insurance policy."
What stays the same: The number of declared Democratic presidential candidates, which would remain at 24. | |
LAUREN'S CAMPAIGN TRAIL LATEST | | Elizabeth Warren: Raised $19.1 million in the second quarter of 2019, bringing in more donations than Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris. She trails only Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden in Q2 fundraising.
Julián Castro: Says he's crossed the 130,000-donor threshold, which will help him qualify for the third and fourth debates this fall.
Joe Biden: Apologized for his previous positive comments about working with segregationist senators while in South Carolina this weekend.
Kamala Harris: Praised Biden for his reversal, but stopped short of fully accepting his apology. | | | | | | |
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