Sanders Courts GOP Voters With 'Medicare For All' Plan
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is trying to use “Medicare for All” to win over white working-class voters, many of whom supported President Trump in 2016.
The 2020 candidate went on Fox News, Trump’s turf, on Monday night for a town hall, where audience members cheered when asked if they would support Medicare for All. Sanders shared the clip on social media several times the following day.
But Republicans see Medicare for All as a winning issue for their side as well, and they’re eager to attack Sanders and other White House hopefuls on the proposal.
Polling indicates the battle could come down to how the issue is framed.
A majority of voters favored a Medicare for All plan when asked about the concept: A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in January found that 56 percent of adults surveyed supported having a single government-run health plan for all.
But that number drops significantly when respondents are asked about tax increases or other downsides to the plan.
Just 37 percent of respondents said they supported Medicare for All when informed that the proposal would require most Americans to pay more in taxes. Likewise, only 37 percent backed the plan when told it would eliminate private insurance.
“It is ingenious branding surrounded by a terrible idea,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell, adding that Republicans should make sure voters know that Medicare for All means a huge government price tag, higher taxes and eliminating private insurance, including Medicare Advantage plans that many seniors like.
Studies from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Urban Institute have both found that Medicare for All would cost the federal government about $32 trillion over 10 years.
O’Connell said the White House is keen to keep Medicare for All on the front burner.
“They are very happy to talk about Medicare for All,” he said. “They like this. They like the possibility of going against Bernie.”
Why AG William Barr Is Turning Out To Become Trump’s Best Cabinet Pick
President Trump went on the offensive Wednesday attacking the Mueller investigation and demanding an inquiry into the people behind the Russia probe.
“It was an illegal investigation. It was started illegally. Everything about it was crooked, every single thing about it. There were dirty cops, these were bad people,” Trump said while speaking to reporters. “You look at [Andrew] McCabe and [James] Comey and you look at Lisa [Page] and Peter Strzok, these were bad people and this was, an attempted coup, this was an attempted take-down of a president and we beat them.”
During his second day of testimony on Capitol Hill, Attorney General William Barr said that he believes spying did occur on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.
“Spying on a political campaign is a big deal, it’s a big deal...I think spying did occur, the question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated. I’m not suggesting it wasn’t adequately predicated but I need to explore that.”
CivicForumPAC Chairman Ford O’Connell said Barr is “turning out to become President Trump’s best cabinet pick.”
“What is amazing here about Attorney General Barr is really his by the book manner, his ability to cut through the Democratic games, and also the willingness to get to the bottom of exactly how this Russia probe came about and whether or not there was foul play here,” he said on FOX Business’ “Making Money with Charles Payne ” Wednesday.
He adds that Barr’s demeanor will calm both sides of the political aisle down.
Watch the video and read more from Lucas Manfredi at Fox Business
Bernie Sanders On Soviet-Style Socialism
Republican strategist Ford O’Connell says Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is engaging in revisionist history.
Tax-Return Fight Tests Mnuchin's Loyalty To Trump
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin faces a challenging test after Democrats formally requested President Trump's tax returns.
Mnuchin has been one of Trump's most loyal Cabinet members, defending the president's policies and personal conduct when others have shied away.
Now as the president's chief line of defense he will have to balance his loyalty to Trump against a request that many experts say leaves him little wiggle room.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) Wednesday evening sent IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig a request for six years' worth of Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Neal made the request under a part of Section 6103 of the federal tax code that states that the Treasury Secretary “shall furnish” tax returns to the chairmen of Congress’s tax committees upon written request, so long as the documents are viewed in a closed session.
Key Republicans are critical of the request. The top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), argued in a letter to Mnuchin Wednesday that the request is “an abuse of the tax-writing committees’ statutory authority,” and he said it weakens Americans’ right to have their personal information kept private.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Thursday that courts have ruled that congressional requests for information need to have legitimate legislative purposes, and Democrats have fallen short on that front.
Mnuchin has been a fierce Trump loyalist and advocate for his agenda, supporting the president’s positions and controversial comments even when they differ from his own views.
Republican strategists predict that Mnuchin will get involved and that it will be an easy decision for him to reject Democrats’ request.
"You’ve never seen a Cabinet secretary at that level not fight for the administration,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. He predicted that Mnuchin is likely to let the issue end up in the courts.
The pressure from conservatives to defend Trump will likely be intense.
The White House's Biggest Worry For 2020
With the 2020 presidential campaign ramping up and the Democratic field of presidential hopefuls growing, President Trump’s ability to secure a second term in office could hinge on his ability to weather an economic slowdown in the coming months.
“The biggest concern [for the White House] was not the Russia probe nor the Democrats’ field, but what the state of the economy is in 2020,” Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said. “That’s the biggest determinative of whether they’re going to be reelected.”
Historically, most incumbent presidents have been successful in winning a second term in the White House, with just five exceptions. The common thread shared by those one-term presidents was “either recession or a major economic blip,” O’Connell said.
“That’s what the White House has to guard against,” he said. “In some ways, that’s totally out of their hands. But at the same time, that’s why you see them trying to make end roads on other issues, like immigration and healthcare.”
Trump frequently cites as a key achievement of his presidency the growth in the economy and the low unemployment rate, which he attributes to tax cuts and deregulation.
But the economy could be buoyed by a trade deal between the U.S. and China, which the two countries are in the process of negotiating.
“A deal with China factors into it because what U.S. markets are looking for is stability,” O’Connell said. “It’s something the White House desperately wants to get done, but realizes it has some wiggle room in terms of timing.”
Trump Takes Aim At Joe Biden Amid Misconduct Allegations
CivicForumPAC Chairman Ford O’Connell and liberal commentator Danielle McLaughlin discuss how President Trump slammed Joe Biden, after multiple women accused the former vice president of inappropriately touching them.
Democrats' 2020 Outrage Machine Targets Buttigieg's Gayness, Biden's Past
Now that the 675 Days of Russian “collusion delusion” is over, the Democratic outrage machine is no longer satiated with just destroying President Donald Trump. Yes, many Democrats continue to pursue the Russian witch hunt, and it could ultimately doom their party’s 2020 chances. But others have decided to turn their appetite for perpetual outrage inward, finding no Democrat pure enough to live up to their own cartoonishly absurd purity tests.
Those battling it out in the “who can destroy America first” primary for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination are currently all in a twit over that mayor whose name you can’t pronounce from that city you don’t know.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-Ind.) appears to be climbing in the polls and raking in the campaign cash.
Now I know I am a member of what "the woke" refer to as the white cis-gender heteronormative patriarchy, but I would be the first to argue that an openly gay man rising in the polls for his party's presidential nomination is kind of a big deal. And evidently, I am not alone.
But don’t tell that to Slate staff writer Christina Cauterucci.
According to Cauterucci, Buttigieg doesn’t quite make the blue team’s diversity cut because “Buttigieg isn’t just gay – he’s also white, male, upper-class, Midwestern, married, Ivy League-educated, and a man of faith.”
Let that sink in for a minute. Mayor Pete is essentially doomed in the “oppression Olympics” of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary because he is a white male who shares some traits with the oppressive overlords of intersectionality.
But Buttigieg is not the only target of escalating Democratic outrage. A quick check of the headlines indicates that the intra-party feeding frenzy is now squarely focused on fellow white male and former Vice President Joe Biden (D-Del.), who has yet to officially enter the 2020 fray.
Surprise ObamaCare Move Puts GOP In Bind
The Trump administration’s surprise call for the courts to strike down ObamaCare upended Capitol Hill on Tuesday, putting Republicans in a bind while giving Democrats new talking points on one of their favorite issues for the 2020 elections.
GOP lawmakers for the most part were reluctant to even talk about the Justice Department’s decision to call for all of ObamaCare to be struck down in a court filing.
If the courts agree with the Justice Department, it would dramatically change the way health care is now delivered in the country. Insurance companies were among those criticizing the administration’s decision.
For the GOP, it shifted the political discussion from a more welcome storyline about the end of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe to health care — the issue Democrats believe helped them win back the House majority last fall.
Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist, said that because most legal experts do not think the anti-ObamaCare lawsuit will ultimately succeed, the issue will eventually be moot. At the same time, he acknowledged the administration’s filing creates a positive story for Democrats.
“Internally in their mind they’re breathing a sigh of relief,” O’Connell said of Democrats who can now talk about health care instead of Mueller’s findings.
Biden, Sanders Lead Pack Of 2020 Democratic Candidates: Fox News Poll
CivicForumPAC Chairman Ford O’Connell and New Heights Communications President Christy Setzer discuss the upcoming 2020 presidential election and which Democrat has the best chance of defeating President Trump.
Mueller Findings May Shake Up 2020 Landscape In Trump's Favor, Experts Say
The conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation without accusing President Donald Trump or those around him of colluding with Russia during the 2016 election lifts perhaps the biggest cloud hanging over Trump’s 2020 re-election bid, but Democrats say many other concerns remain about his conduct and fitness for office that could derail his run for a second term.
After 675 days of exhaustive investigation, Mueller submitted his final report to the Department of Justice Friday, recommending no additional indictments. Attorney General Bill Barr relayed Mueller’s findings in a four-page letter to congressional leaders Sunday, stating that the special counsel’s investigation did not find the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or cooperated with Russia to influence the election.
“No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!” Trump tweeted in response.
Despite Trump’s exultations, Mueller’s report explicitly did not provide “Complete and Total EXONERATION.” According to Barr, Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice. However, Barr wrote he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined there was insufficient evidence to support an obstruction charge.
For Republicans, Barr’s letter put to rest all lingering questions. For Democrats, it just raised new ones. Lawmakers on both sides are already girding for new battles over the public release of Mueller’s full report and possible congressional testimony by Barr and Mueller.
Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said Democrats are “grasping beyond straws” at this point, and none of the other inquiries carry the same weight as the collusion allegations. However, he doubts the president’s critics will back down.
“We’ve been doing this for 675 days,” O’Connell said. “No one is going to have more ability to investigate these things than Mueller, but that’s not going to stop Democrats from pushing this agenda.”
Trump has already labeled Democratic subpoenas and demands for information as “presidential harassment,” and experts say they do face serious risks of looking partisan and petty as they pursue other avenues of investigation.
