Political prophet who correctly predicted every presidential election since 1984 says Iran is trouble for Trump
1. Party Mandate: After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections.
2. Contest: There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination.
3. Incumbency: The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president.
4. Third party: There is no significant third party or independent campaign.
5. Short-term economy: The economy is not in recession during the election campaign.
6. Long-term economy: Real per capita economic growth during the term equals or exceeds mean growth during the previous two terms.
7. Policy change: The incumbent administration effects major changes in national policy.
8. Social unrest: There is no sustained social unrest during the term.
9. Scandal: The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal.
10. Foreign/military failure: The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs.
11. Foreign/military success: The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs.
12. Incumbent charisma: The incumbent party candidate is charismatic or a national hero.
13. Challenger charisma: The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero.
“One, nine and 12 [are] locked in against [Trump],” Lichtman told Salon by email. “Six for. Many others are fluid either way, although I am sill hard pressed to see Trump securing either Key 10 or 11.”
When Salon asked Lichtman about the ramifications of the Soleimani assassination, he prefaced by saying that it was “much too early to gauge the political effects” of that decision. He added that at the moment he sees “Trump losing Key 11 on foreign/military success and likely losing Key 10 on foreign/military failure.” He saw the possibility that “Trump might get a short-term boost from the killing, which almost always follows from a U.S. military operation. However, I am hard pressed to see this leading to a long-term success and it could cement in the failure key against Trump if it results in significant harm to the U.S. and its interests.”
If the Soleimani assassination indeed has an anti-Trump rebound effect that would mean that five of the 13 questions are “false.” Many of the remaining variables are beyond the control of anyone besides Trump and the Republicans, but Democrats could lock in a sixth key against Trump by nominating a candidate who is charismatic and/or a national hero. It isn’t clear, of course, that they have such a candidate available — although charisma is, to some extent, in the eye of the beholder.
Democratic presidential candidates hit the campaign trail on Thursday after a bruising debate that saw billionaire Michael Bloomberg take a pummelling from his rivals.
"Worst debate performance in history!" crowed President Donald Trump of the former New York mayor's first debate appearance since joining the race in November.
Bloomberg, who has surged in the polls behind hundreds of millions of dollars of spending on television, radio and online ads, was the target of unrelenting attacks all night from the other five candidates on the Las Vegas stage.
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'In a Climate of Wildfire Misinformation, This Is Super Irresponsible'
Billionaire Mike Bloomberg's performance at Wednesday night's Democratic debate was by most accounts at best terrible, but that didn't stop the campaign from pushing out a fake, doctored, and highly-edited clip suggesting the other candidates on stage were silenced by a claim he made.
2020 Election
Judge who struck down stop-and-frisk says Bloomberg isn’t a racist — but had an ’empty head’
In a bizarre column published just hours before the first Democratic debate to feature Michael Bloomberg, the judge who struck down the former New York City mayor's most controversial policy offered a defense — of sorts — of the billionaire mogul.
"In 2013, I ruled in Floyd vs. City of New York that the tactics underlying the city’s stop-and-frisk program violated the constitutional rights of people of color," wrote former U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin. "While Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York, black and Latino people were disproportionately stopped, and often frisked, millions of times, peaking at 690,000 in 2011. After my ruling, the number of stops plummeted to 11,000 in 2018. And crime did not rise."
White House flack gets busted after claiming Trump ‘barely knows’ GOPer who took pardon offer to Assange
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‘You lost me’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez graciously defuses confrontational question
Susan Rice confronts John Bolton face to face over impeachment failure: ‘I can’t imagine withholding my testimony’
Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro pushes political incorrectness to the limit
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Adam Schiff sends signal that a Roger Stone pardon would be another impeachable offense
E. Jean Carroll blames Trump’s attacks on her character for firing from Elle magazine following sexual assault allegation
WATCH: Roger Stone greeted with ‘Lock Him Up!’ chants after getting sentenced to 40 months
WATCH: Roger Stone greeted with ‘Lock Him Up!’ chants after getting sentenced to 40 months
Meghan McCain laughs in Matt Gaetz’s face as the Trump-loving congressman flops on The View
CNN’s Elie Honig praises DOJ lawyers for revolt against Barr: ‘Like students rising up against the oppressive headmaster’
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