The story we’re being told about the history of immigration in America by Trump’s apologists — that we’re experiencing a historic flow of unskilled immigrants — is completely wrong. Or at least that’s what American historians tell us. Via Politico.
If you think you might have seen a number of Republicans on the presidential campaign trail, it’s not your imagination. They’re out there, including one vice-president by name of Mike Pence. Yes, there’s a first-term Republican in the Oval Office. But, remember, that president is Donald Trump. Via The New York Times.
By the way, Mike Pence, who must be worried that Trump would read The Times story, says the very suggestion that he has any thoughts about 2020 is disgraceful and offensive. Via The Los Angeles Times.
Yes, Trump’s numbers are historically bad for a president in his first six months. Yes, Trump is even starting to see some cracks in his support from Republicans. But all numbers aren’t the same. And the polling seems to show one critical point in Trump’s favor: In the swing Republican districts, the ones that make a difference in the Electoral College, Trump hasn’t lost anything at all. Via Vox.
David Von Drehle: If Democrats hope to win a major victory in 2018 and recapture the presidency in 2020, they need to forget about the Republicans. And they need to forget about Trump. What they can’t forget about is the voters. Via The Washington Post.
Margaret Sullivan writes in The Washington Post that if John Kelly is to be successful as Trump’s chief of staff, the first, and really important, order of business is do something about the persistent lies coming from the White House.
From The National Review: Is Robert Mueller’s grand jury the first step toward a Trump impeachment? Andrew McCarthy writes that he wouldn’t be at all surprised.
The crushingly hot summer in Europe may or may not be tied to climate change, but sufferers are going beyond science. They’re calling the heat wave “Lucifer.” As one Italian restaurateur explained about a lack of air conditioning, the air is too hot to be conditioned. Via The New York Times.
Bernie Sanders is out there campaigning as hard as ever, mostly with stops in the heartland where he’s trying to sell his version of the Democratic message. But just because he’s campaigning — and still turning out the crowds — doesn’t mean he’s running for president again. Via The New Yorker.
Have smartphones destroyed a generation? Or is that just the kind of disaster scenario we have heard about every generation? In either case, you may find some of the numbers pretty startling. Via The Atlantic.
Photo via National Institutes of Health. Flickr: Creative Commons
Adding insult to injury West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice chose a rally for President Trump in West Virginia to announce he is leaving the Democratic Party to become a Republican. Via The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/03/west-virginias-governor-is-switching-parties-and-democrats-just-hit-a-new-low/?utm_term=.9b3a93573fab
And for Democrats the news just keeps getting worse. Republicans now control 26 state legislatures where 164 million Americans live while only 50 million live in the six states controlled by the Democrats. Via Powerline Blog
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/08/do-the-democrats-know-how-much-trouble-they-are-in.php
Although some political pundits have become adept at avoiding good news it’s difficult to ignore that in July for the third straight month records have been set in the number of Americans who are employed (153,513,000) and the number of jobs added (209,000). In addition, the number of Americans not in the labor force also dropped for the third straight month to 94,657,000 and the unemployment dropped to 4.3 percent. Via CNS News
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/record-153513000-employed-july-629-labor-force-participation
Should journalists report the news or proselytize their views? CNN’s Jim Acosta seems to favor the latter. At least according to David Harsanyi who believes Acosta is “under the impression that the First Amendment features a clause granting senior White House correspondents from CNN the right to grandstand on national TV every day. ” Via The Federalist
http://thefederalist.com/2017/08/02/cnns-jim-acosta-read-statue-liberty-poem-melted-someone-suggested-immigrants-able-read/
And the latest news from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is that she wants Democrats to impeach Vice President Putin immediately after impeaching President Trump. Appearing on “The View” she then corrected herself saying she really meant Vice President Pence. Don’t be so judgmental, their names do start with the same letter. Via NTK Network.
http://ntknetwork.com/maxine-waters-says-putin-er-pence-needs-to-be-impeached-after-trump/
This just in: Al Gore still believes he won the 2000 presidential election. Via The Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/al-gore-tells-bill-maher-that-he-won-the-2000-election-i-think-i-carried-florida
Both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have reported that the Statue of Liberty is crying. No confirmation as of yet from CNN’s Jim Acosta on whether those reports are true or whether Democrats plan on introducing legislation to make it a federal offense to make the Statue of Liberty cry. Via PJ Media
https://pjmedia.com/andrewklavan/2017/08/04/jim-acosta-is-a-knucklehead/
And in Washington’s most under-reported scandal former Democratic Party chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is accused of stonewalling and threatening Capital Hill investigators if they didn’t back away from investigating Imran Awan an IT aide to Rep. Wasserman Schultz. Mr. Awan is under criminal investigation for bank fraud a charge Rep. Wasserman Schultz claims stems entirely from anti-Muslim bias. Via The New York Post
http://nypost.com/2017/08/04/debbie-wasserman-schultzs-pathetic-right-thing-defense/