| | | | Democrats' leadership problem | | The three top-ranking Democrats in the House are a combined 232 years old. That's a major problem, according to California Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez.
"I do think it's time to pass a torch to a new generation of leaders, and I want to be a part of that transition," Sanchez said on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program Thursday. "I want to see that happen. I think we have too many great members here that don't always get the opportunities that they should. I would like to see that change."
Complaints from the younger members of the Democratic House caucus are nothing new. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (California) faced a semi-serious challenge from Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio) last winter -- in the wake of the party's tough 2016 election. Ryan, a long shot by any measure, took 63 votes against Pelosi -- a number that surprised many people.
What makes this different is that Sanchez is a member of party leadership. She is the vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, which makes her the fifth-ranking Democrat in the House. That Sanchez is willing to speak out publicly about her leaders means that she -- and other younger members -- have reached the breaking point.
Pelosi has been steadfast in her assertion that House Democrats need her fundraising prowess -- and her hold over the increasingly liberal caucus -- if they want to have a real chance at retaking the chamber in 2018. She's right.
And, while Pelosi, 77, tends to take most of the flak for blocking younger members from moving into leadership, it's worth noting that Steny Hoyer (Md.), the second-ranking Democrat, is 78 years old and Jim Clyburn (S.C.), the third-ranking Democrat, is 77.
In the wake of Ryan's challenge, Pelosi added a number of younger members to various advisory roles within the caucus. But Sanchez's comments suggest those gestures haven't done enough.
There's little debate that the longevity of Pelosi/Hoyer/Clyburn stunted the growth of an obvious next generation of party leaders. Maryland's Chris Van Hollen got tired of waiting and ran for the Senate. New York's Steve Israel got sick of waiting and retired. California's Xavier Becerra got sick of waiting and returned to his home state to be attorney general. Florida's Debbie Wasserman Schultz got tired of waiting and took on the Democratic National Committee chairmanship -- which promptly blew up in her face.
For a party that finds itself out of the White House, the aging leadership in Congress is a not-insignificant problem. (Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is 66 -- a relative spring chicken.)
Parties are at their healthiest when younger people are helping to continually revitalize them with new personalities and ideas. The Democratic party -- particularly in Congress -- is somewhat stagnant on that front. Which is why people like Sanchez are starting to speak out publicly.
-- Chris | | CNN's Ryan Struyk reports:
A new survey from the Pew Research Center released on Thursday shows a majority of both Republicans and Democrats say they have "just a few" or no friends in the opposing party.
Almost two in three Democrats (64%) and more than half of Republicans (55%) say they have "just a few" or "none" when asked about close friends who are Republicans or Democrats, respectively. Only 14% of Republicans say they have "a lot" of friends who are Democrats, and only 9% of Democrats say they have "a lot" of friends who are Republicans. Similarly, a majority of people in both parties -- 57% of Republicans and even more, 67% of Democrats -- say they have "a lot" of friends in their own party.
Read Ryan's full story here. Point readers: Tell us your thoughts on this survey. Do you have friends who have different political beliefs? Yes or no? Why or why not? Email: Saba.hamedy@cnn.com and chris.cillizza@cnn.com. | | BUMP FIRE STOCKS, EXPLAINED | | In wake of the Las Vegas mass shooting, CNN's Daniella Diaz looked into why Republicans are blaming the Obama administration for failing to regulate bump fire stocks in 2010. She writes:
A bump fire stock, also known as a bump stock, is a device that enables semiautomatic rifles to fire rapidly, like automatic weapons. Twelve of them were found on firearms recovered from the gunman's hotel room in Mandalay Bay, said Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' San Francisco field office.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said on CNN that it's the fault of the Obama administration's ATF for not regulating the device. She was specifically referencing how in 2010, Texas-based Slide Fire pitched the device to federal regulators as a new way to assist people with disabilities to "bump fire" from an AR-15-type rifle.
But because a bump stock is not a firearm, the ATF classified it as firearm part -- so the ATF wrote in a letter that it approved it because it doesn't have any real jurisdiction over firearm parts.
Read Daniella's full story here. And for more on exactly what a bump stock device is, check out CNN reporter Nicole Chavez's explainer here. | | "I said, 'I think you should tweet. It's a new way, a new technology. And if you want to get your words across rightly, without telling The New York Times, which is going to twist every single word of yours, this is how you get your message out'"
-President Donald Trump's ex-wife, Ivana Trump, in a new interview with 'CBS Sunday Morning' | | | | Lin-Manuel Miranda, Saba's dream BFF, made a "For Puerto Rico" playlist on Spotify, ahead of the Friday release of his Puerto Rico benefit track, which will feature JLo, Marc Anthony and others. | | Speaking of Trump's tweets...
The President sent yet another chilling tweet about the media on Thursday. Chris writes: Let's be clear about what Trump is suggesting here. He wants the Senate Intelligence Committee to open an investigation into the "Fake News Networks" to get to the bottom of why so much of the news is "just made up." He offers no evidence of this claim. And yet, the President of the United States feels entirely comfortable urging the legislative branch to open an investigation into the Fourth Estate. The reason? Because Trump doesn't like what the media writes about him. That's what he means when he uses the word "fake" -- and he uses it a lot...
It's worth noting here that Trump is far from the first president to have his issues with the media. Virtually every president has an adversarial relationship with the press. The difference with Trump is that he seems not to believe in the fundamental role that a free press plays in a democracy and spends a good chunk of his time working to discredit and disenfranchise the media.
Read his full take here. | | Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Tim Murphy will resign from his position, effective October 21, according to a statement issued by House Speaker Paul Ryan's office.
The news comes after the lawmaker, who has an anti-abortion voting record, urged a woman he was having an affair with to get an abortion, according to messages obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Read more in CNN's story by Sophie Tatum. | | CNN's Laura Jarrett writes:
The US Secret Service says there is no system for tracking visitors to President Donald Trump's Florida resort at Mar-a-Lago, according to new court filings.
"(T)here is no system for keeping track of presidential visitors at Mar-a-Lago, as there is at the White House complex," wrote USSS special agent Kim Campbell in a court filing Wednesday. "Specifically, it was determined that there is no grouping, listing or set of records that would reflect presidential visitors to Mar-a-Lago." Earlier this summer, a federal judge in New York ordered the Secret Service -- a component of the Department of Homeland Security -- to complete searches and turn over all records for Mar-a-Lago from January 20, 2017, to March 8, 2017. The Secret Service turned over a list of only 22 names of foreign dignitaries and staffers related to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's February trip to the Florida resort in response -- prompting Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to go back into court asking the judge to hold the government in contempt for ignoring the court's order.
Read Laura's full story here. | | | #TBT to this moment. Remember to spread the word about The Point. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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