The debate’s biggest split screen wasn’t actually about Trump vs. his GOP rivals

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MICH. — The main political split screen Wednesday night wasn’t Donald Trump appearing at a rally in Michigan next to his Republican primary rivals debating in California.

It was the former president trying to woo auto workers in a critical battleground state, and the current president who did the same the day before.

Trump traveled to the Detroit area on Wednesday night to counterprogram the GOP’s second debate. But the visit sent a warning shot to President Joe Biden that he was already looking ahead to the general election — and he wants to win back the support of some of the same union workers who helped put him in the White House in 2016.

GOP Debate Stage Down To Just 1 Candidate Who Wouldn't Back A Convicted Trump

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Seven of Donald Trump’s rivals for the GOP presidential nomination return to the debate state Wednesday night, once again without the presence of the poll-leading Trump himself — and likely, once again, without the will to go after his greatest vulnerability: four criminal indictments that could put him in prison for decades.

The coup-attempting former president has scheduled a speech in the suburbs of Detroit, where he is likely to blame striking autoworkers’ woes on President Joe Biden’s efforts to encourage electric vehicles to fight climate change.

Mark Milley Taking ‘Safety Precautions’ After Trump Suggested He Deserves Execution

Gen. Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that he is taking appropriate measures to ensure his safety and that of his family after former President Donald Trump attacked the top military leader by suggesting he is a traitor who deserves to be executed.

Trump went after the Army general Friday in a Truth Social post, accusing Milley of being a “Woke train wreck” who went behind his back to communicate with China in the final months of the former president’s administration. Milley, who was nominated to the position by Trump, is set to leave his post at the end of this month.

Ruling in Trump Fraud Case Could Result in Him Losing Trump Tower

A New York state judge ruled on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump committed business fraud for several years by falsely inflating the value of his assets to secure better loans from banks and policies from insurance companies.

The ruling comes in a civil case brought against Trump by state Attorney General Letitia James. The attorney general had considered bringing criminal charges relating to the allegations she made against Trump, but ultimately opted not to.

A Small Cadre of GOP Hard-Liners Is Pushing US Toward Government Shutdown

The U.S. government is set to run out of money later this week, not because the U.S. has suddenly gotten poor, but because hard-liners within the GOP are looking for major policy concessions from the White House and the Democratic-controlled Senate simply to keep government operations afloat. Without those concessions, many Republicans have made it clear they will refuse to cast their votes for the 12 appropriations bills that keep the system ticking along.

This is the latest installment of what has become an entirely dysfunctional congressional ritual — using vital legislative deadlines as bargaining chips in a high-stakes effort to impose a far right agenda on the body politic. If the borrowing limit needs to be raised, a significant number of Republicans simply refuse to vote for the increase. If government needs to be funded through appropriations bills, as is the case this week, these same hard-liners see it as an opportunity to leverage their votes in exchange for massive cuts to federal spending and the adoption of a raft of other policy demands.

UAW President Calls Trump Speech at Non-Union Auto Plant “Pathetic Irony”

Former President Donald Trump will be skipping the second Republican presidential debate on Wednesday evening to instead speak to auto workers in Michigan amid the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against the Big Three auto companies.

In spite of the strike, however, Trump will not be delivering his speech at a union shop.

The Swift and Stunning Downfall of New Jersey Teflon Don

Micah Rasmussen knows what it’s like to be on the wrong side of Bob Menendez. Back in 2003 as press secretary for Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevey, he pushed back against Menendez’s favored candidate for the state Supreme Court, fellow Cuban Zulima Farber. Menendez, then a U.S. representative, deridingly called the governor’s office “amateur hour” in the press because McGreevey did not put her on the bench, and he wanted to know why. So Rasmussen explained: Farber had a poor driving record that included unpaid parking tickets.

‘Turning point’: Milley steps down as chair at a crucial moment for Ukraine

Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley is handing the reins over to his replacement on Friday. It couldn’t come at a more precarious time, as the West show signs of running out of weapons — and out of patience — with Ukraine.

As the top military adviser to the president, Milley has weighed in on every major decision in the Ukraine conflict, from what weapons to send Kyiv to how to best train its forces. He has a longstanding relationship with Ukrainian Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as other chiefs of defense around the world. He and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a former four-star general, have led the charge in rallying the West to support Ukraine with modern arms and equipment.

Trump’s GOP rivals say he’s unelectable. Polls disagree.

A group of Republicans will march onto the debate stage Wednesday night to argue that each of them could stave off another Donald Trump defeat against President Joe Biden.

Polling increasingly shows it’s not true.

Far from being an electoral liability, the former president is starting to lead — or at the very least tie — Biden in general election polling.

Not only is Trump the top choice of a growing majority of Republican primary voters in national surveys, but Republicans overwhelmingly think he’s the candidate with the best chance of beating Biden next fall. And poll after poll suggests Biden and Trump are essentially tied with just over a year until the general election.

Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell Facing Off In Government Shutdown Showdown

WASHINGTON — The top Republicans in the House and Senate don’t agree on how to avert a government shutdown that is looking increasingly likely this weekend.

And if the government shuts down, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has made clear who should get the blame: the Republican-led House.