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EXCLUSIVE

Scooter Braun will be running for Governor of California ... if some very powerful CA democrats have their way.

We've learned a number of Democratic fundraisers and political operatives in the state have approached Braun, because they believe, as one source put it, the current candidates -- Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are flawed.

Braun, who manages Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Usher and Kanye, has immersed himself in the Democratic political system over the last year ... doing fundraising for Hillary Clinton.

We're told there was something of a groundswell -- Scooter for Governor -- after he gave an emotional speech at Ariana Grande's Manchester concert to raise money for the victims of the terror attack.

No word on whether Scooter is seriously considering a run, or whether he'll change his name if he does ... but there's definitely interest from the Democratic Party.

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Scooter Braun Democrats Push Him To Run for Cali Governor - TMZ.com

Democrats are heading toward a new phase in the battle over healthcare as they brace for a tough midterm election cycle.

With the GOP's ObamaCare repeal push largely on ice, Democrats are shifting their focus from defending the Affordable Care Act to pitching their own healthcare ideas.

The long-shot proposals have little chance of passing with Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.

But the competing measures could feed into the ongoing fight about the partys future as Democrats search for a path out of the political wilderness.

Establishing a Medicare for All single-payer program will improve the health of the American people and provide substantial financial savings for middle class families. It is the right thing to do. It is the moral thing to do, Sanders wrote in a Guardian op-ed.

Echoing his upstart presidential campaign last year, the Vermont senator is asking supporters to sign up as a citizen co-sponsor of the forthcoming legislation, arguing that its time to wage a moral and political war against a dysfunctional healthcare system.

Sanders put universal healthcare at the center of his bid for the Democratic nomination, and the idea has gained traction amid a progressive resurgence within the party.

Many of Sanderss potential opponentsin a 2020 presidential primary including Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.) and Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerBooker: Republicans can't force new healthcare plan 'down our throats' Bill targets lead in schools drinking water Batman v Superman star pushes Cory Booker for president MORE (N.J.) have voiced some support for a government operated healthcare system. Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenWarren: Education Dept lawyer may have violated conflict-of-interest laws Congress should think twice on the Israel Anti-Boycott Act Sanders plans to introduce single-payer bill in September MORE (D-Mass.) told The Wall Street Journal that its time for the next step. And the next step is single-payer.

Marissa Barrow, a spokeswoman for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Democrats should embrace a big and bold agenda heading into the next election.

Were looking to make Medicare for all one of the big issues on the campaign trail, she said. We see it as an issue that could help unite the Democratic Party.

But Sanderss Senate colleagues who are running in red states have kept the proposal at arm's length.

Democratic Sens. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinOPINION | 5 ways Democrats can win back power in the states Trump's Democratic tax dilemma Manchin eyed as potential pick for Energy secretary: report MORE (W.Va.), Joe DonnellyJoe DonnellyTrump's Democratic tax dilemma FEC 'reform' a smokescreen to weaponize government against free speech It's time for McConnell to fight with Trump instead of against him MORE (Ind.), Jon TesterJon TesterWhy 'cherry-picking' is the solution to our nations flood insurance disaster Trump signs Veterans Affairs bill at New Jersey golf club It's time for McConnell to fight with Trump instead of against him MORE (Mont.) and Heidi HeitkampHeidi HeitkampTrump's Democratic tax dilemma It's time for McConnell to fight with Trump instead of against him The real litmus test is whether pro-life democrats vote for pro-life legislation MORE (N.D.), as well as Independent Sen. Angus KingAngus Stanley KingSen. King: If Trump fires Mueller, Congress would pass veto-proof special prosecutor statute Senate heading for late night ahead of ObamaCare repeal showdown Overnight Healthcare: Four GOP senators threaten to block 'skinny' repeal | Healthcare groups blast skinny repeal | GOP single-payer amendment fails in Senate MORE (Maine), joined with Republicans to vote against a single-payer amendment from GOP Sen. Steve Daines (Mont.) late last month.

Heitkamp said Congress needs realistic solutions and that Dainess maneuver which was expected to fail was a political stunt.

We need realistic solutions to help fix our healthcare system. ... The decision was made in 2010 to go with a market-based system the question is how we improve the system we have, Heitkamp said in a statement.

Sen. Claire McCaskillClaire McCaskillSenators push for possible FCC enforcement over Lifeline fraud Democrat senator: Trump has elevated Kim Jong-Un to the world stage It's time for McConnell to fight with Trump instead of against him MORE (D-Mo.), who like most Democrats voted present on the GOP amendment, also told constituents she would not support a single-payer proposal.

Im going to disappoint a lot of you. ... I would say if a single-payer came up to a vote right now I would not vote for it, McCaskill, who is up for reelection next year, told constituents during a town hall earlier this year.

McCaskill added she would support allowing individuals who only have one option on the ObamaCare exchanges to buy into Medicare or Medicaid instead.

Democrats face a tough Senate map in 2018, with 10senators running for reelection in states carried by Trump. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted three of those races West Virginia, Indiana and Missouri to toss up and North Dakota from likely D to lean D this week.

A spokesman for Sanders said he didnt yet have an estimate for how many members of the Democratic conferencewould support the forthcoming legislation. One hundred and sixteen House Democrats are backing a separate House bill from Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) the first time a majority of the House Democratic Caucus has supported the proposal.

Democratic leadership is trying to walk a fine line in the looming healthcare fight as they balance the competing interests of different wings of the party.

Senate Minority Leader CharlesSchumer (D-N.Y.) has put myriad options, including single payer, on the table.

We're going to look at broader things single payer is one of them, he told ABC News. Medicare for people above 55 is on the table. A buy-in to Medicare is on the table. A buy-in to Medicaid is on the table.

Overall, 33 percent of Americans believe healthcare should be a single payer setup, according to a Pew Research Center poll from late June, compared to 52 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of liberals.

The poll also found that roughly 60 percent believe the government is responsible for making sure all Americans have health insurance.

The coming fight over healthcare is the latest example of a vocal progressive wing trying to flex its muscle and push the Democratic Party to the left in the wake of the 2016 presidential election.

When Sanders introduced a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 a key issue between himself and primary opponent Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonAssange meets U.S. congressman, vows to prove Russia did not leak him documents High-ranking FBI official leaves Russia probe OPINION | Steve Bannon is Trump's indispensable man don't sacrifice him to the critics MORE 30Democratic senators signed on to the bill, compared to five supporters for a similar bill in 2015.

But red-state incumbents arent the only Democrats worried about embracing single payer.

Sen. Dianne FeinsteinDianne FeinsteinTrump's Democratic tax dilemma Feinstein: Trump immigration policies 'cruel and arbitrary' The Memo: Could Trumps hard line work on North Korea? MORE (D-Calif.) received pushback at a town hall in San Francisco when she said told constituents that she wasnt there on single payer.

Asked if he could support a single-payer system, Sen. Tim KaineTim Kaine Violent white nationalist protests prompt state of emergency in Virginia Republicans will get their comeuppance in New Jersey, Virginia Spicer signs deal with top TV lawyer: report MORE (D-Va.), Clintons vice presidential pick, noted Sanders would be introducing a bill but that he has a different view about what we ought to do.

I want people to have more options, not fewer. ... I would like to explore a circumstance under which there could be a public option, like a Medicare Part E for everybody that you'd have to buy into, Kaine, who is also up for reelection next year, told ABC News earlier this month.

Democratic Sens. Debbie StabenowDebbie StabenowHead of McConnell-backed PAC: We're 'very interested' in Kid Rock Senate campaign Juan Williams: Trump and the new celebrity politics Senate Dems unveil trade agenda MORE (Mich.), Tammy BaldwinTammy BaldwinClub for Growth endorses Nicholson in Wisconsin GOP primary Senate Dems unveil trade agenda Group pushes FDA to act on soy milk labeling petition MORE (Wis.) and Sherrod BrownSherrod Campbell BrownOvernight Finance: House passes spending bill with border wall funds | Ryan drops border tax idea | Russia sanctions bill goes to Trump's desk | Dems grill bank regulator picks Dems grill Trump bank regulator nominees Senate Dems launch talkathon ahead of ObamaCare repeal vote MORE (Ohio), who are each up for reelection in states carried by Trump, are offering legislation that let Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 buy into Medicare.

Barrow called the move a positive step, though the end game is either a single-payer system or a state-by-state or federal Medicare option for everyone.

Sanders has also acknowledged that with Republicans in control of Congress, his bill is unlikely to pass. He outlined three steps to take in the meantime: passing legislation to get the public option in every state, lowering Medicaid eligibility to 55 and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

But he is also prepared to take his argument for a broader single payer bill into Trump territory. Hell hit the road with stops in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan to discuss healthcare and the economy, including a rally with Conyers where theyre expected to discuss Medicare for all.

Barrow added that the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is already reaching out Capitol Hill offices and will keep up their effort through 2018 and beyond to get Democrats to wrap themselves in the flag of Medicare.

If you go into a red state its a super, super popular program in red states, blue states and purple states, she said. Its going to be a winning issue in 2018 especially in those red and purple states.

Continue reading here:
Democrats prep for next round of healthcare fight - The Hill

It's all a part of this week's "Inside Politics" forecast, where you get tomorrow's headlines today.

With President Trump facing a backlash for his comments on Charlottesville, Democrats see an opening with voters. But energy doesn't necessarily mean momentum for Dems looking towards the midterm election in 2018.

Dems' biggest midterms worry is their messaging, according to Julie Pace, White House Bureau Chief for the Associated Press. Some Democrats are anxious about going all in on Trump's response, she says.

"They see Democrats potentially falling into some of the same traps that they fell into in 2016, where they ran mostly on an anti-Trump message. The party still feels like it's an economic message that needs to resonate with voters," Pace explains.

"The irony, of course, is that Sen. Chuck Schumer and some other Democrats have rolled out an economic blueprint for Democrats, but it's been completely overshadowed this summer by all of the antics surrounding Trump and the White House."

The Democratic National Committee's July fund-raising numbers are in. And compared to the Republicans, they're not good.

The DNC haul was just $3.8 million compared to the RNC's $10.2 million. In total, the Republican National Committee has $47.1 million to the DNC's $6.9 million.

But as CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson reports, some are worried it's DNC Chair Tom Perez who's doing the damage.

"It's easier for parties to rake in the cash when they have a sitting president. But for some progressive Democrats, the paltry numbers are a reflection of Tom Perez and proof that the Democratic establishment just can't get it done," Henderson explains.

"The DNC says it's still early, and the rebuilding of the brand and the party's infrastructure is still ongoing," she adds. "They also say that they think they'll have the resources they need for the rest of the year in 2018."

Trump is back from vacation, but he may not be sticking around the White House for long.

The President will be doing a big, public push for tax reform and it will take him on the road, most likely to the Rust Belt where he first sold his populist economic message.

As Wall Street Journal's Michael Bender tells us, the road trip is set for the end of August.

"I'm told the West Wing has identified a Rust Belt city for a first major event on August 28th," Bender reports. "What they would really like this tour to eventually include is a stop in California in Simi Valley at the Reagan Library, which includes the desk where former President Reagan signed the last major tax reform three decades ago."

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has been fired, but it may not affect White House operations all that much.

Michael Warren from The Weekly Standard has reporting on how Bannon spent his final weeks on the job.

"I'm told that he spent much of his time, particularly in the last several months of his time at White House, sitting on a couch in the office of Reince Priebus, scrolling through his phone. But what was he doing there?" Warren asks.

"He was trying to run sort of an outside media campaign against his enemies on behalf of his agenda -- (against) people like H.R. McMaster, Gary Cohn," adds Warren, speaking of the national security advisor and Trump's chief economic advisor. "I guess we're going to see more of that and it 's going to intensify from outside the White House."

At the beginning of his term in January, many wondered aloud about how candidate Trump would turn into President Trump.

But the so-called presidential pivot hasn't happened, and likely won't happen. And as the LA Times' Jackie Calmes reports, some Republicans have given up on the idea altogether.

"I talked to a couple of very well-known, formerly high-placed Republicans over dinner (about Trump) ... the most senior of the two Republicans looked at me and said, 'He's a classic narcissist ... you cannot get someone like that to change,' " Calmes says. So Trump's own party isn't counting on that pivot.

Originally posted here:
Democrats see an opening with Trump but are worried about messaging - CNN

Back to basics.

It's been clear for a long time that Donald Trump is unfit to be president, but there are degrees of unfitness. Last week, with his response to the march of neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, he sank to an amazing new low.

He crossed a new line not in defending the right of neo-Nazis and white supremacists to march, nor in expressing the view that Confederate statues shouldn't be taken down (until recently, a permissible position, even if it's wrong). And he didn't cross it by pointing out that some of the counter-protesters turned up looking for a fight (because they did). Instead, the jaw-dropping moment was Trumps claim that marching alongside the avowed racists, fascists and other degenerates in Charlottesville were some "very fine people."

No wonder David Duke was delighted. In plain sight, this was the moral bankruptcy Trump has long been accused of. I don't know if he actually meant those words, but, under pressure, and driven as always by pathological vanity and refusal ever to be corrected or contradicted, he sure enough said it.

With luck, this turn of events will accelerate the fall in Trump's support, rendering him, beyond a doubt, politically toxic for the Republican party. This would make it easier for Republican politicians to do what they should already be doing, and start opposing their own president.

Democrats can help too, but they need to be smart about it. They should take care not to get too much in the way of Trump's self-destruction. They can oppose him most effectively by restraining some of their own less productive political instincts.

Politics after Charlottesville has turned to the question of Confederate monuments. The monuments should go -- and the decisive arguments for removing them are, first, that they give deep and justifiable offense to many Americans and, second, that they've become a rallying point for the unhinged far right. In other words, this is an argument that can be cast in terms of patriotic solidarity. It's an opportunity to live up to the highest American ideals and repudiate the fascists who oppose them.

This argument shouldnt divide liberals and conservatives. But it very well could, if Democrats don't handle it intelligently. Many Trump supporters don't much care for the president, but they dislike the relentless self-righteousness and condescension of the liberal elite even more. The removal of the statues is an invitation to indulge those sentiments -- one that many Democrats will be unable to resist. "So we were right to call you deplorable, weren't we." Or: "You've honored your loathsome history long enough. We spit on your heroes and will make you recant whether you like it or not."

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All but a small number of Americans see slavery as a terrible stain on their country's history. All but a small number of Americans deplore white supremacists and neo-Nazis. If you start by recognizing that, a common patriotic cause can be made for seizing this moment as a way to get past that history and unite around America's founding ideals, correctly understood. But succeeding in this calls for an effort to soften, not harden, the class and cultural divisions that got Trump elected in the first place.

The Trump presidency may be melting down. Let us hope so. But in seeking to advance this prospect, we should remember the tens of millions of votes that Americans -- many of them very fine people gave Trump, despite knowing what they knew before last November. This surely ought to tell Democrats, no less than Republicans, something about the failure of their politics.

Mark Lilla's superb new essay, The Once and Future Liberal, would be a good thing for Democrats to read as they ponder this question. Lilla's book is an attack on the identity politics around which the Democrats have lately organized themselves -- as a coalition of single-issue movements, rather than, as their party used to be, a vehicle for American solidarity.

There can be no liberal politics without a sense of "we" -- of what we are as citizens and what we owe each other. If liberals hope ever to recapture Americas imagination and become a dominant force across the country, it will not be enough to beat the Republicans at flattering the vanity of the mythical Joe Sixpack. They must offer a vision of our common destiny based on one thing that all Americans, of every background, actually share. And that is citizenship. We must relearn how to speak to citizens as citizens and to frame our appeals --including ones to benefit particular groups -- in terms of principles that everyone can affirm. Ours must become a civic liberalism.

After Charlottesville, and Trump's appalling response to it, that could be a potent message -- and one, above all, that many of Trump's supporters are capable of hearing.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Clive Crook at ccrook5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.net

Link:
How Democrats Can Help Trump Fail - Bloomberg

Liberal activists who hounded the GOP throughout its failed Obamacare repeal bid are gearing up to hit any Democrat who strays from the fold on tax cuts for the wealthy including some of the partys most politically vulnerable incumbents.

Democrats were spared the sight of their progressive base battling centrists on Obamacare, which proved a uniquely unifying issue for both wings of the party. But theres no guarantee that taxes will be another kumbaya moment for Democratic leaders, who have long struggled to contain tensions between red-state lawmakers facing tough reelections and a grass roots emboldened by resistance to President Donald Trumps agenda.

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Whether Democrats can stay united will help determine the fate of Trumps tax push, a legislative priority that's become all the more important to Republicans after the demise of his health care bill.

And Democratic harmony is already somewhat at risk. The White House is reaching out to centrist House Democrats, and three moderate Senate Democrats declined to sign onto a recent letter outlining their caucus consensus position on taxes. Winning any bipartisan support would make rewriting the tax code far easier for Trump and Republican leaders.

Liberal groups are vowing to fight the GOP tax bill as hard as they battled Obamacare repeal. Theyre expecting Democrats to stand together against any legislation that cuts taxes for the rich, even if it also trims tax bills for others. And theyre prepared to unleash their energized grass roots on any lawmaker who doesnt get on board.

The goal is to defeat any attempt to cut taxes for the wealthy, MoveOn.org Washington director Ben Wikler said in an interview. That means any Democrat or Republican who signs on for such a proposal should expect to incur the wrath of a public that thinks the economy is already rigged in favor of the rich and shouldnt get any worse.

MoveOn and more than two dozen other liberal groups have launched a campaign dubbed Not One Penny thats designed to marshal opposition to any tax legislation that lowers the tax bills of wealthy individuals and corporations.

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Liberals hope their focus on grass-roots organizing will overcome a push by conservative groups like the Koch-backed Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Prosperity, which are spending millions of dollars aimed partly at pressuring Senate Democrats from Trump states to back a new tax bill.

Still, outside-the-Beltway-style civil disobedience proved effective at mobilizing public opposition to Republicans Obamacare repeal plan. Liberal activists are betting that red-state Senate Democrats like Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana the trio that did not endorse their caucus principles of no tax cuts for the wealthy, no increase in the deficit and no use of procedures to avoid the filibuster wont want to attract the glare of their spotlight.

Were not really worried about the Democratic ranks right now, because were in a political situation where we have [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell and the White House punching themselves out, said CREDO Action political director Murshed Zaheed, whose group launched a pro-Obamacare billboard campaign in June targeting Manchin, Heitkamp and Donnelly.

Of course, if we see any movement, any tangible report that Senate Democrats are having trouble holding the line on the tax reform fight, then we will engage, Zaheed added.

Indivisible, the anti-Trump group that rocketed to prominence this year by flooding town hall meetings with frustrated constituents, is routing tax reform information to its members even though significant votes may not happen until next year. Policy manager Chad Bolt vowed the group would work just as hard to keep Democrats aligned on taxes as it did on health care.

We really wanted Democrats to stand strong and draw attention to the health care bill moving through the Senate, and they did, Bolt said in an interview. So we intend to hold Democrats accountable just as strongly on the tax fight as we did on health care.

McConnell already has announced plans to shield any tax bill from a filibuster using budget reconciliation, a procedure that allows him to pass legislation with as few as 50 votes from his party alone. Its the same tactic he tried and failed to use to repeal Obamacare.

Republicans point out that reconciliation doesn't preclude minority-party votes for a tax package, and note that bipartisan tax cuts passed in similar fashion in 2001 and 2003. But the parties are far more polarized in the Trump era, and using the filibuster-proof maneuver so soon after the health care battle risks poisoning the well with many Democrats.

"There's actually an argument that it's easier to get to 60 than it is to get to 51, because when you operate from the premise that you're going to do a partisan proposal, you end up with odious policies," Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said in a recent interview. Republicans would surely beg to differ, but McConnell was ultimately unable to find the votes for a health care bill that could satisfy all his partys factions.

Conservative groups counter that red-state Democrats have an opportunity to help shape the tax bill by buying into the process early.

Democrats and Republicans have been saying the same thing for years about problems with the tax code the difference is that now we have the opportunity to fix it, Freedom Partners spokesman Michael Bars said. Were hopeful that people like Joe Manchin, Claire McCaskill, Joe Donnelly and others will put politics and partisanship aside and work together to help deliver a simple, fairer and flatter tax code that will lead to more jobs, higher wages and greater financial security.

Although the tax fight is in its earliest stages, progressives don't believe they need to spend big money or threaten to support primary challengers to Democrats who back a GOP-written tax bill. Liberals say momentum is on their side thanks to an activist base that was further galvanized by the failure of Obamacare repeal.

Without question, it plays to the advantage of holding Democrats together on taxes, Center for American Progress Action Fund campaign director Emily Tisch Sussman said in an interview.

For Democrats holding a hard line against Republicans and against Trump, theyre in very high favorability with their base and independents right now, Tisch Sussman added. Red-state Democrats want to find an issue to moderate on, but cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations is unpopular.

In a memo written last week with top Democratic pollsters at Hart Research and the Mellman Group, the Not One Penny campaign sought to stiffen Democratic spines by citing widespread public opposition to further tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations.

Progressives can win this tax debate, declares the memo, a copy of which was shared with POLITICO.

But the memo also cites polling in which a majority of respondents supported tax cuts for the wealthy as part of a broader proposal that also slashes taxes for people like me unless activists emphasize the comparably larger size of the breaks that higher-income taxpayers would get.

[I]t is critical for progressives to contextualize the disproportionate benefit that the wealthy and corporations will receive from this tax plan, the memo states.

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Left warns Democrats in tax reform fight - Politico