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7 Things: Trump vs. Beto O’Rourke, anti-gas tax Alabama Republican changes his mind, US Steel credits Trump as they bring jobs to Alabama and more …

7. In the era of the questionable hate crime and unprovable anonymous insult, a Huntsville restaurant wants in on the act

— Charrito’s Bar & Grill in Huntsville has taken to Facebook to post an alleged customer receipt that had the words “BROWN C****” and “TRUMP WILL F*** YOU.” For some reason, they chose not to mention the name of the customer. In what appears to be a play for attention, they posted, “We don’t care about your political background, your race or what gender you prefer, ALL ARE WELCOME!!!”

6. Another state is pulling its troops from the border in a nakedly political move

— Last week, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) pulled her state’s National Guard troops from border protection missions and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is following suit. Newsom will rescind the order to send California’s troops to the border and “offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House.”

5. Trump is polling pretty well lately, showing that Democrats’ ideas are not that popular and the shutdown didn’t crush him

— There is no other way to put this. Trump’s approval rating is on the way up after the government shutdown and his State of the Union. According to the latest Rasmussen poll, the president’s approval rating has reached 52 percent, which is a 23-month high.

4. Democratic congresswoman apologizes for latest of her anti-Semitic comments

— Representative Ilham Omar (D-MN) sent two tweets referencing Jews using their money to control the actions of American politicians and she was criticized by both Republicans and Democrats. This is a trend for her and is a powerful new strain moving through the liberal base of the Democratic Party. After all of this, Omar will still be speaking alongside a person who praised the killing of Israelis by Islamic terrorists.

3. U.S. Steel is restarting a plant in Alabama, specifically citing President Trump as a reason why

— U.S. Steel Corporation is restarting construction on an electric arc furnace that will cost $215 million and add about 150 full-time workers. US Steel noted President Trump’s “strong trade actions” and improving market conditions, union support and government incentives as a reason to restart the project they mothballed in 2015.

2. Another Alabama Republican comes around on a gas tax and the Alabama Policy Institute wants other reforms if this is going to come to pass

— State Rep. Danny Crawford (R-Athens) opposed a gas tax increase in 2017, but is all in 2019, going as far as to say, “The facts kept coming out that showed me I didn’t know what I was talking about.” Advocates for the tax that could be as low as three and as high as 26 cents will be glad to see more Republicans coming on board. On the other hand, the conservative API is pushing for offsets to other taxes if a gas tax is to pass. They view it as a last resort.

1. We have a budget deal, in principle, as Trump heads to El Paso and the media gives an ex-Congressman equal billing

— The potential deal includes $1.375 billion for physical barriers. Democrats dropped their demand to restrict the number of people who can be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but there could be a reduction in total beds for illegal aliens. There is no sign that the president will sign on to the deal, but he said “we are building the wall anyway.” In El Paso, Trump pushed a broad range of topics from borders to Russian interference to the Green New Deal, while former Texas Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke used his moment to declare that walls work while declaring otherwise, “[W]alls do not save lives. Walls end lives.” He then explained how people will avoid the walls to enter the U.S.

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