7. No preconditions for Iran
- On Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Trump administration is willing to talk to Iran with no preconditions, however, sanctions already placed on Iran will stay in effect.
- Tensions between Iran and the United States have been escalating dramatically. Trump has previously stated that war between the United States and Iran would mean the official end of Iran.
6. Someone is going to get hurt
- U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was assaulted by a former political rival who tossed a drink at him after a town hall. She was arrested for copying a trend that is occurring in Europe called “milkshaking.”
- U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), a 2020 presidential candidate, was interrupted during a MoveOn.org event by a man who took her microphone. Security was slow to respond, but moderator Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to get between the senator and the animal rights protestor.
5. Trump keeps pressuring Mexico
- President Donald Trump has already warned Mexico that if they don’t do more to stop the invasion at the southern border, he will impose more tariffs on Mexican goods, forcing companies in Mexico to move their businesses back to the United States.
- Sunday, Trump doubled down and tweeted about his promise to possibly hit Mexico with 25% tariffs, saying, “The problem is that Mexico is an ‘abuser’ of the United States, taking but never giving…America has had enough!”
4. Trump will keep voter turnout up
- Alabama GOP Chair Terry Lathan is predicting that President Trump will definitely be the party’s nominee in the primary election, but he’ll also keep voter turnout up.
- On Friday, Lathan said, “Now if you’re asking me specifically about Trump on a primary ballot, and of course he is going to be the nominee of the party, there’s something about people liking to go pick up a pen and that ballot and circle ‘Donald Trump.’ They love him in our state. If the president says, ‘Everyone go vote, everyone go vote in the primary, regardless,’ he’s also probably messaging, ‘Hey I need help in the Senate, I need help in the U.S. House. All my folks go vote. Get in the primary. Get us some good candidates. We’ll see you in November.”
3. Let the people vote on the lottery
- After the end of the legislative session last week, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) said that while he thought the session was one of the best he’s ever seen, he wished he could’ve gotten voters the opportunity to vote on the lottery bill.
- The lottery bill did pass the Senate, but the bill failed in the House. Marsh said he believes if the bill had passed it would’ve eased some of the pressure on the General Fund in the future.
2. Byrne says he regrets calling for Trump to quit 2016 race
- In 2016, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) called for then-candidate Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential race after a video of Trump making comments about what women would let him do to them. The video led Byrne, and many others, to assume he couldn’t win the race.
- Byrne has voted with Trump 97% of the time over his career, but this could still play a role in Alabama’s 2020 U.S. Senate primary.
1. Media and their Democrats keep pushing for impeachment
- House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said during CNN’s “State of the Union,” “We aren’t particularly interested in the Senate. We do believe that if we sufficiently, effectively educate the public, then we will have done our jobs, and we can move on an impeachment vote and it will stand, and maybe it will be what needs to be done to incent the Senate to act.”
- A CNN poll showed that impeachment approval had grown some, however, 54% of those who participated in the poll are against impeachment. Support in Congress is far less than that but, with Russian collusion busted, this is the media’s story for the foreseeable future.
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