Friday, August 2, 2019
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary Bauer
Poll Position
Today's Morning Consult poll shows that the latest round of debates did little, if anything, to shake up the Democratic presidential primary race as former Vice President Joe Biden continues to maintain a commanding lead. Here are the results from the survey taken after both nights of debates:
Joe Biden 32%
Bernie Sanders 18%
Elizabeth Warren 15%
Kamala Harris 10%
No other candidate received double digit support. It's also worth noting that these figures are essentially unchanged compared to the results after the first round of debates in June. The biggest difference is Harris, who lost four points.
The next Democratic debate, scheduled for September 12th, could be very different. The qualifying rules are much stricter, and so far only eight candidates have met those benchmarks: Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Harris, Klobuchar, O'Rourke, Sanders and Warren.
Trump's Way
President Trump continues to defy conventional wisdom and confound his critics with a unique approach to foreign policy. Let's start with China.
The president announced yesterday that he will impose an additional 10% tariff on $300 billion of imported Chinese products beginning September 1. The announcement came in response to Beijing's backtracking in the trade talks.
Washington's corporate elite don't like the president's tough stand against China, but the Chinese are taking a huge hit (here and here) and, as the Wall Street Journal notes, Beijing is running out of options.
The Trump Administration announced that it is withdrawing from a dead-end arms control treaty with Russia because Moscow was not complying its terms. This was not a rash action on the president's part. Trump gave Putin six months to comply and he did not. A senior administration official told Fox News:
"Russia alone is to blame for this situation. We have taken every opportunity -- dozens and dozens of opportunities across two administrations -- to bring Russia back into compliance. . . They are a serial violator of arms control agreements."
And there's more. Yesterday, the president slapped Russia with a second round of sanctions for its use of chemical weapons in the attempted assassination of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.
Finally, there are reports today that the administration is preparing to bring thousands of troops home from Afghanistan. Hardline NeverTrumpers are screeching in opposition, accusing Trump of making a mistake and insisting that he is not "finishing the job."
U.S. forces have been dying in Afghanistan for 18 years. If "finishing the job" means defeating the Taliban, we will be there for the next century and hundreds of thousands of additional soldiers will have to be deployed. There is no stomach for that.
After all the help we have poured into that country, if the Afghan people and the Afghan government cannot defeat the Taliban, we cannot do it for them. It's time to bring the troops home and let them defend our borders rather than Afghanistan's.
Other Headlines
- 164,000 new jobs were created last month, the unemployment rate remained at 3.7% and wages also grew.
- Gillette's liberal virtue signaling doesn't seem to be good business. The company reported losing billions last quarter.
- Meanwhile, Chick-fil-A's strong commitment to customer service and traditional values earned it the top spot as America's favorite fast food restaurant.
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