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Elections are never about just one thing, although in hindsight it may seem that way. Any issues that arise this week could have a serious effect, large or small, on the outcome of an election which, in turn, will affect the direction of the country for everyone.
Overall, recent polling suggests that more people are siding with Democrats on abortion and climate change and with Republicans on the economy and immigration. All these questions are very topical this week. The same goes for developments in the world of former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles, which are breaking news every week.
Current Republican Party frontrunner awaits trial on criminal charges in four different locations – New York, Washington, DC, Georgia and Florida. Some polls suggest that a guilty verdict could affect a small but potentially decisive number of people willing to vote for Trump.
His legal defense strategy is to delay trials and get elected. It’s a strategy that could pay off.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing her 2020 federal election interference case, tried to stick to a trial start date in early March, concurrent but unrelated to primaries across the country. This week she was forced to put things on hold As appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court weigh in on Trump’s argument, he should be immune from prosecution.
If this trial in Washington, D.C., is ultimately delayed, it could affect other trials. Will the delays affect President Joe Biden’s ability to make the case that Trump is a threat to democracy?
Americans should now know who Trump is. He is the former president who tried to stay in power despite losing the 2020 elections.
They may seriously wonder if he’s joking when he says he wants to be dictator for a day if he is elected in 2024. They have time to learn about his plans to radically change the makeup of government, use the Justice Department to go after his enemies, and gut America’s regulatory structure.
Republicans have so far failed, despite their strenuous efforts, to uncover any sort of malfeasance aimed at linking Biden to his son Hunter’s foreign income or tax evasion.
This search will not stop anytime soon. With a vote to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Biden this week, Home Republicans will now more forcefully use their subpoena and investigative power to try to find something to impeach him for. It remains to be seen whether this effort will further lower Biden’s (or House Republicans’) approval ratings.
Republicans have been following this path against Biden for years, ever since Trump, as president, called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pressure him to investigate Biden. That Trump faced his first impeachment for trying to tarnish Biden in the same way that Republicans are now trying to impeach Biden is a strange political irony that should not be lost on anyone.
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Listen to House Speaker Johnson change tone on impeachment after Biden wins White House
Republicans have long used the language of invasion to describe the situation at the border. Meanwhile, some big-city Democratic mayors are angry with the White House over the mass transportation of migrants to their cities without a plan to feed and house them or allow them to legally seek employment. Border communities have declared the situation a humanitarian crisis.
Rather than solving the problem with comprehensive new legislation, the Biden administration often finds itself being singled out on Capitol Hill and covered up.
The next inflection point domestically will be the decision by House Republicans to use funding for Ukraine as leverage to demand a return to Trump-era border policies and keep more migrants and asylum seekers outside the country.
Biden, eager to continue funding Ukraine, appears likely to offer at least some concessions, although a resolution will likely have to wait until after the holidays. Any action Biden takes to appease Republicans will annoy the progressives in his party who do not want to repress migration.
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Influx of migrants at US southern border fuels humanitarian crisis
Biden faces a growing outcry from the left over U.S. support for Israel, dispersing another united front and potentially disenchanting the young voters and voters of color that Democrats are counting on to win elections.
One of the latest examples of such discontent is the interruption of Vice President Kamala Harris at a holiday party at his Naval Observatory home by a Democratic state representative from Delaware who is Muslim.
There is also the worrying (for Democrats) CNN Poll this week from Michigan, a state with a large Muslim population. In this state, registered voters currently give Trump the edge over Biden.
Biden and his administration have begun to more visibly pressure Israel’s right-wing government to modulate its operations in the already devastated Gaza Strip, and it is to be hoped that the situation will calm down sooner rather than later.
Divisions over Israel defy party lines. Most American Jews vote with Democrats. This is also the case for most Muslim Americans. But the debate is increasingly partisan.
Frustrations over anti-Semitism and Islamophobia that have roiled college campuses reached Washington last week with remarkable testimony from university presidents from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania. Republicans in particular grasped their comments on anti-Semitism.
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Rep. Raskin on the hypocrisy of some denouncing anti-Semitism
After hitting the snooze button twice on a standoff over government spending, a long-awaited government shutdown appears likely for early 2024, although it could take several steps.
Questions remain about whether there will ultimately be a shutdown, how long it might last and how it might affect ordinary Americans.
But Republicans in the House of Representatives are preparing to make public spending a major issue. Government largesse is an issue that could become more important over the next year, as Democrats try to use government to make the country better, and Republicans try to shrink the size of government by based on the idea that it will make the country better. .
There is no chance that the two parties will agree on a national abortion rights policy in the near future. But abortion could be on the ballot in key states, and the U.S. Supreme Court will take another look at abortion policy (specifically, access to widely used abortion medications mifepristone) before election day.
Just as Republicans will focus on immigration, Democrats will make abortion access a key part of their pitch to voters next year.
When asked, voters typically cite the economy as one of the most important issues to them.
Inflation stabilized after the Federal Reserve instituted painful interest rate hikes to control prices. This week, Fed officials talk about interest rate cuts instead of raising interest rates.
Biden, for now, has a compelling case to make about an economy that continues to see extremely low unemployment. The stock market hit another record this week.
But polls give him no credit for the economy, and while prices may not be rising as fast as they were, polls suggest that the vast majority of the country is worried about the state of things.
The perception of increased crime in cities can only exacerbate this feeling of unease. THE average price of gasolineoften a key barometer, has fallen dramatically from all-time highs but is still about a dollar more per gallon than it was when Biden took office.
It’s a harsh and hypocritical reality for Democrats like Biden, who want the country to do more to combat climate change and move away from fossil fuels, that Biden’s political fortunes could be tied to falling gas prices.
Just because these are the issues we’re talking about this week doesn’t mean they’ll all be top of mind in November 2024.
News will arrive. The climate will continue to change. Lawmakers will respond. All of this will be added to the mix.