MORNING MESSAGE
In
a way few can do, Obama called the country together to reach across the gaping
divide that was exposed this week. He summed up the divided understanding many
Blacks and whites have about policing and police violence. He suggested reality
is more complex than the simple rhetoric we hear in the media and encourage all
sides to empathize with the other ... But the president falls short; empathy
alone will never end the regular and widespread killing of black people in
disproportionate numbers. It’s a racist system, not a few individual racist
police that devalues black lives and leaves us dead so easily.
GOP DIVISIONS MAY HIT CONVENTION
GOP
convention could feature major floor fights. NYT: “Party officials were
working in overdrive behind the scenes to beat back two challenges. One would
force a vote that could theoretically open up the convention to any candidate
who wants to seek the nomination. A second, organized by supporters of gay
rights, would strike the entire Republican platform … scenes that would unfold
on national television are ones that the party and the Trump campaign would find
most unwelcome: hostile delegates seizing the microphone to voice their
displeasure with the party and its presumptive nominee.”
“Progressives
Plan ‘Anti-Trump Day Of Action’ For Last Day Of GOP Convention” reports
HuffPost: “Four progressive groups plan an ‘anti-Trump day of action’ on
July 21, with rallies at the offices of Republican politicians, party
headquarters, and corporations sponsoring the GOP national convention …
progressive organizations CREDO and People’s Action, the environmental group
NextGen Climate, and the youth immigrant rights outfit United We Dream ― say the
actions are meant to rally people against him…”
GOP
platform a “strange and remarkable document” says The Atlantic’s Molly Ball:
“[It] softens the party’s longtime stance in favor of free trade and calls in
strong terms for a wall on the southern border … But attempts to soften the
party’s harsh language on gay and transgender issues, on which Trump has
sometimes taken a more moderate tone, were resoundingly defeated, as were
attempts to tone down the document’s calls for military action, toward which
Trump has been relatively skeptical. The result was a portrait of a party being
pulled in competing and perhaps irreconcilable directions.”
Trump
to name VP Friday. Reuters: “Sources familiar with campaign operations
cautioned that while [Gov. Mike] Pence and [Newt] Gingrich were finalists, Trump
could always have a last-minute change of heart and choose someone else from his
short list.”
SUPERDELEGATE FIGHT ON TAP
Progressive
coalition proposes end of superdelegates. Politico: “…MoveOn.org, Democracy
for America, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, as well as the
center-left NDN think tank, among others … want to keep the total number of
delegates the same but convert the existing superdelegates to regular delegates
… [Their] letter was also signed by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former Cook County
Commissioner Chuy Garcia, and former Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi …
The Rules Committee is set to hold a meeting ahead of the convention on July
23.”
Right-leaning
Senate Dems resist push for public option. The Hill: “While a public option
has no chance of passing so long as Republicans control the House and Senate,
it’s far from certain that the idea could pass a Democratic Congress, given the
skepticism or outright opposition among centrists like [Sen. Heidi]
Heitkamp.”
House
Dems to unveil policy agenda today. NYT: “[Rep. steve] Israel said that the
Democratic themes of ‘securing our nation, securing our future, securing our
democracy’ went beyond worries about terrorism in an unsettled world to include
economic security as well as guaranteeing rights through campaign reforms,
voting law improvements and an immigration overhaul.”
TPP ON ICE
Senators
dump cold water on TPP. Politico: “‘I don’t see, with both major candidates
for the presidency against it, how it’s going to come up. I think that’s a big
issue,’ said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), a free trade supporter who wouldn’t say
how she’d vote … Sen. Claire McCaskill [said,] ‘It may be that we have to wait
and see if the new president … if she can negotiate an even better deal …’ …
congressional leaders are barely entertaining even lame duck votes on the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. Chief vote counters in the Senate say they aren’t
sure that TPP could win 50 votes.”
Worldwide
economic stagnation. WSJ: “Across 25 of the world’s advanced economies,
about two-thirds of the population—more than half a billion people—earn the same
as or less than their peers did a decade ago … according to a new study by the
Mckinsey Global Institute…”
Progressive
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