| | | | Trump administration climate report is dead wrong, says Trump administration |  | | Last Friday, the Trump administration -- 13 federal agencies working in coordination -- released the Fourth National Climate Assessment, a detailed document featuring the conclusions of more than 300 scientists that the planet is getting warmer, human activity is contributing to that warming and we are approaching a point of no return in terms of the damage to the climate.
It's a stunning document. It's also one that President Donald Trump and his administration don't, uh, believe.
"I don't believe it," Trump told reporters Monday of the report, acknowledging that he had only read "some" of the study.
Then, on Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders took the whole thing a step further. "We think that this is the most extreme version and it's not based on facts," Sanders said. "It's based on -- it's not data-driven. We'd like to see something that is more data-driven."
Let's be very clear about what is going on here: The President and his official spokesperson are rejecting the conclusions of a detailed study conducted by the Trump administration because the findings of that study don't comport with the President's long-held beliefs that climate change just isn't a real thing.
And this is far from the first time this has happened. Back in 2017, the US intelligence community unanimously concluded that Russia had sought to interfere in the 2016 election to help Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton. Trump has continued to raise questions about whether Russia actually did it. Earlier this month, the CIA determined that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had personally ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump, in an official White House statement, said "our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event -- maybe he did and maybe he didn't!"
The Point: Facts are not the sort of thing you get to decide whether you believe or not. Especially when your own administration is the one providing the facts!
-- Chris | | "Texas is no longer, I believe, a reliably red state. We are on the precipice of turning purple, and we've got a lot of work to do to keep it red, because we ... got blown out in the urban areas."
-- Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn on his re-election prospects. He is up for re-election in 2020. | | | 🗳HAPPY (SECOND) ELECTION DAY, MISSISSIPPI! 🗳 | | Because Mississippi voters are heading to the polls in the final unresolved Senate contest of 2018.
To get a sense of what's happening on the ground, Chris caught up with Sam R. Hall, executive editor of the Clarion Ledger, the largest paper in Mississippi.
While the race has tightened, 💸smart money 💸is on the Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith to pull out a win tonight, Hall explained: "She's had a rough three weeks -- largely self-inflicted -- but I think most of it turns out to be political flesh wounds. ...
Mississippi is still heavily and reliably Republican. Gov. Phil Bryant and President Donald Trump are immensely popular; the rallies Monday will be a huge boost for her. And Hyde-Smith's campaign has been relentless with political attack ads against Espy for three solid weeks. ...
Espy has garnered a lot more attention because of Hyde-Smith's screw-ups, but I don't think it is anywhere near enough for him to win. If he gets within 10 points, then that would be a monumental voting shift and point toward Hyde-Smith possibly having a serious primary challenger in 2020." | |  | Donald Trump has a golf problem | | Back on the presidential campaign trail, then-candidate Donald Trump said if he was elected, his golf days would be behind him.
But as President, Trump has hit the links almost 166 times since taking office. That's nearly twice as often as President Obama played over his eight years in office. Watch our latest YouTube video, and stay tuned for a Taft Fun Fact! | | | Chris is SUPER excited about the forthcoming "Black Album" from Weezer. (Also, the Weezer "White Album" was very good.) | |  | | Today's topic: Beto 2020? You Beto believe it! | | WE ARE SO. CLOSE. TO BEING DONE WITH 2018 | | The midterms are very, very nearly over -- and the magic number is now 39.
Democrats have officially flipped 39 total seats in the next session of Congress with the result out of New Mexico made official today: Xochitl Torres Small defeated Republican Yvette Herrell in a district CNN rated as a toss-up going into Election Day.
And there's still ONE MORE race to call. The last unresolved House race of the year is CA-21, the contest between Democrat TJ Cox and Republican Rep. David Valadao. The district is one of 25 GOP-held districts won by Hillary Clinton in 2016.
News outlets stumbled over calling the race -- CNN had previously projected the race for Valadao, as had other national news outlets. But more vote reports after election night tightened the margin significantly, and the latest update from Kern County put Cox, a businessman, in the lead by just over 400 votes.
CNN has now withdrawn its projection in the race -- could it be pickup number 40 for Democrats? | | New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ruled out a run for president.
"I am ruling it out. I ran for governor, I have a full plate, I have many projects. I'm going to be here doing the job of governor," Cuomo told WNYC's Brian Lehr today.
This summer, Cuomo invoked the wrath of a higher power in pledging to serve his full term as governor, which would run through 2022: "The only caveat is if God strikes me dead."
While Cuomo has been floated as one contender in the bloated field of would-be Democratic presidential candidates, another New Yorker made Chris and Harry Enten's latest power ranking of 2020 contenders: former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. | | President Donald Trump made a special ... and festive ... entrance and exit to his second rally in Mississippi last night.
He took a page out of Santa's book and arrived through a chimney.
In what was a feat of advance team planning, Trump's normal entrance from the side of the stadium was decorated like a chimney, festooned with hung stockings, presents and a wreath. | | | | | | |
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