Republicans Are Going to Try the ?Red Scare? Strategy Again. Will It Work?

Shortly into the presidency of the resolutely centrist Barack Obama, the Republican National Committee very nearly adopted a resolution calling on all their partisans to begin referring to the opposition as the “Democrat Socialist Party.” And soon after another centrist Democrat, Hillary Clinton, beat back a challenge from that rarest of beasts, a self-identified socialist running a viable presidential nomination campaign, she encountered widespread conservative claims that Donald Trump was the only thing standing between a virtuous America and a “tsunami of leftism,” or perhaps socialist totalitarianism.So today, when 2016’s self-identified socialist is the consensus front-runner for the 2020 Democratic nomination, and when another self-identified socialist, congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has become the darling of party activists and a huge national celebrity, there’s no question the GOP’s “The Socialists Are Coming!” rallying cry will become even louder. On the other hand, the one viable self-identified socialist to run for president, Bernie Sanders, is consistently the most popular United States senator, and his national favorability ratio (54/38 according to Gallup late last year) is positive if not sensational.In terms of policy positions arguably identified with “socialism,” the record is murky as well. Heavy taxation of the very wealthy, another “socialist” proposal, is popular as well.There are a number of scenarios for how this latest “socialism” debate will play out between now and November 3, 2020.The rapidly-approaching Democratic presidential nominating contest will soon begin to capture some of the enormous attention currently being paid to congressional socialists like AOC and Rashida Tlaib (and their close ally Ilhan Omar), and with it some of the “Democrats are moving to the hard Left” talk that has dominated political coverage since the midterm elections. Indeed, while it’s very likely the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign will be significantly more out-front progressive than Hillary Clinton indistinct and largely negative 2016 effort – barring some shocking Hickenlooper Boom in the primaries – it might be best for the party to postpone any struggle for its soul until Trump is gone. But without question, Trump’s MAGA legions will try to force the issue, loudly.It’s not hard to see why someone would think corruption allegations are no longer an impediment to higher officeFormer Rep. Aaron Schock said Wednesday that he would not rule out a return to politics after striking a deal with federal prosecutors to have corruption charges dropped with no admission of wrongdoing if he pays restitution and back taxes.“At 37 years old, I don’t think I’ll ever say never,” Schock told CBS News in response to a question about his potential future political ambitions. But the former lawmaker said he would more likely enter the private sector and that “I have enjoyed being out of politics the last four years.”It’s almost like this administration doesn’t take environmental threats seriouslyCongressional Democrats are launching an investigation into the fate of NASA’s offer to fly a pollution-analyzing jet over the Houston region in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.The investigation was spurred by a Los Angeles Times report Tuesday revealing that officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality declined the NASA offer, arguing data collected by the space agency could cause “confusion” and might “overlap” with their own analysis — which was showing only a few, isolated spots of concern.On Wednesday, members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, sent letters to the EPA, NASA and Texas environmental officials asking for all documents relating to the agencies’ decision not to fly.Of course Trump couldn’t resist wading into this TV dramaThe flashy world of California’s college Republicans Yiannopoulos is emblematic of the larger division within the California College Republicans, an “us versus them” problem: us, the reasonable Republicans who want to talk about the issues, versus them, the bombastic, loud, flashy winners. She is the incumbent chairperson of CCR, a close friend of Yiannopoulos, and the reason he’s made a surprise appearance; she’s also brought him to UC Irvine.Still, the GOP is running out of sympathetic young mindsMichael Cohen handed over documents to the House Intelligence Committee today that reportedly show Trump’s attorneys editing Cohen’s 2017 statement to CongressA judge ruled to open the bulk of the documents in the case against Jeffrey EpsteinThe Second Circuit appeared inclined on Wednesday to unseal an enormous tranche of documents that would shed light on the case of wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose case a federal court recently decided trampled on the rights of dozens of underage victims.“There is a presumption of openness with virtually every document,” declared the Miami Herald’s attorney Sanford Bohrer, urging for the release of 167 files that neither he nor his client are allowed to see.The case journeyed to the Second Circuit from a lawsuit filed by one of Epstein’s accusers Virginia Giuffre, now Virginia Roberts.Describing herself as a former Epstein “sex slave,” Giuffre sued in 2015 before the case settled with a largely sealed record two years later. Another Mueller prognostication, this time from former CIA Director John Brennan – who assumes the special counsel is familiar with his Roman historyFormer CIA Director John Brennan suggested in an interview Tuesday that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if special counsel Robert Mueller hands down additional indictments at the end of the week, though he acknowledged he does not have inside knowledge.“I wouldn’t be surprised if, for example, this week on Friday, not knowing anything about it, but Friday is the day the grand jury indictments come down,” Brennan said.The former CIA chief, who served during the Obama administration and has since emerged as a fervent critic of President Trump, added that Mueller may take into account that the following Friday, March 15, coincides with the Ides of March.“I don’t think Robert Mueller will want to have that dramatic flair of the Ides of March when he is going to be delivering what I think are going to be are his indictments, the final indictments, as well the report he gives to the attorney general,” Brennan said.Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris respond to the Ilhan Omar controversy “Anti-Semitism is a hateful and dangerous ideology which must be vigorously opposed in the United States and around the world. The count occurs every 10 years.“A significant differential undercount, particularly impacting noncitizen and Latino communities, will result from the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census,” Seeborg wrote.Obama posts his thoughts on the Dem primary, with a shoutout to a certain websiteAs Democrats enter the presidential primary season, here’s an article that captures some of my thoughts on the process pretty well: http://nymag.com/…/will-2020-democrats-help-trump-by-destro…It goes without saying that the stakes couldn’t be higher in 2020, and I’m excited by the slate of extraordinary candidates who have thrown (or appear to be getting ready to throw) their hats in the ring. Representative Ayanna Pressley, Democrat of Massachusetts, said she told leadership that there must be “equity in our outrage,” noting that Ms. Omar, a Minnesotan and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, was being attacked for her faith.Bloomberg(’s Money) 2020Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that he would not run for president, but would devote some of his considerable economic firepower to helping elect Democrats next year. When they failed, they basically just threw up their hands and directed a lot of money to anti-Hillary super PACs. Bloomberg is a bit more forward-facing than a lot of these people, of course.The thing about the Bloomberg news is that, though few Democrats will say it out loud right now because of the taboo on talking positively re: money in politics, they’re pretty uniformly happy with the prospect of him pouring a ton of money into their 2020 efforts, without his own messy candidacy complicating things.I’m also aware that you and I both think a contested convention is more feasible in 2020 than at any time in living memory (feasible, not likely).