Archive

Situational awareness – July 6, 2018

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Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City. We’re back after the 4th of July break.

Utahns don’t favor impeaching Trump. Trump narrows his possible Supreme Court picks. Trade war with China begins.

  TICK TOCK   

  • 123 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
  • 206 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
  • 851 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

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  HERE ARE THE STORIES YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO TODAY  

Utahns aren’t DTI (Down to impeach)

A new UtahPolicy.com survey finds nearly 2/3rds of Utahns don’t want Democrats to move to impeach Donald Trump if they take control of the House in November – http://bit.ly/2KKoiO7

Cruz gets behind Lee

Sen. Ted Cruz really, really wants President Trump to pick his buddy Sen. Mike Lee for the Supreme Court – http://bit.ly/2MSIdI5

Tooting our own horn

You can stop saying public opinion polls can’t be trusted anymore. Our pre-primary surveys absolutely nailed the final results – http://bit.ly/2MPAZ7s

  OTHER UTAH HEADLINES   

  • Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, says President Trump needs to go into the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin with “eyes wide open” [Deseret News].
  • Democrat Jenny Wilson wants Mitt Romney to debate her this month on immigration. Romney says he plans to participate in the Utah Debate Commission event later this fall [Fox 13].
  • The top two candidates in the Democratic primary in HD24 are separated by just 58 votes ahead of Friday’s final tallies [Deseret News].
  • The Salt Lake City Council announces public hearings for a proposed $87 million bond for road maintenance [Deseret News].
  • Two public officials have been accused of embezzling public funds after audits revealed the financial irregularities [Deseret News, Tribune].

  NATIONAL HEADLINES  

  • Trade war with China is on. The Trump administration slapped tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods at midnight on Friday. China immediately retaliated imposing tariffs on U.S. goods – https://reut.rs/2KPSreD

  • Despite the trade war, President Trump’s business interests continue to benefit from relationships with Chinese firms – https://wapo.st/2KDJbuO

  • Supreme Court battle. President Trump is reportedly zeroing in on who he plans to nominate to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy. The announcement will come on Monday evening in primetime – https://abcn.ws/2KEK5Y4

  • Scandal-plagued EPA head Scott Pruitt has resigned – https://wapo.st/2KBdcLL

  • Scott Pruitt’s resignation comes after revelations that he and his aides held meetings to “scrub” events from his official calendar because they might “look bad” in public – https://cnn.it/2KNSS9s

  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is headed to North Korea for a new round of meetings on denuclearization – https://abcn.ws/2KyCk5

  • Pompeo is reportedly going to give North Korean Kim Jong Un a copy of the Elton John song “Rocket Man” during the meeting. Trump referred to Kim as “Rocket Man” last year during North Korea’s latest round of missile tests – http://bit.ly/2KOe1Ao

  • The Trump administration is resorting to DNA testing to reunited 3,000 migrant children who were separated from their families. A federal court has ordered the reunification of the families this month – https://nbcnews.to/2KO6Tnz

  • Special counsel Robert Mueller is hiring more prosecutors to help with the expanding probe into Russian interference during the 2016 election – http://bit.ly/2KV3CDb

  • Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, is telling friends he does not think Trump will pardon him – https://cnn.it/2KAkP5k

  • Donald Trump hires former Fox News executive Bill Shine to run the White House communications shop – https://cnn.it/2KURp1i

  • Private payrolls are growing at a slower than expected pace because businesses can’t find enough people to hire – https://cnb.cx/2KzQ5Bi

  • President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago private club has filed paperwork to hire 40 more foreign workers. The club has employed more than 240 foreign workers since Trump took office – https://bzfd.it/2KURSAA

  • A Texas teenager was accosted by a man at a restaurant for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat. The man took the hat and threw a drink in the teenager’s face – https://bzfd.it/2KSSlD9

  ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY   

  • 1777 – After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
  • 1854 – In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the Republican Party is held.
  • 1885 – Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
  • 1933 – The first Major League Baseball All-Star game is played in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. The American League defeated the National League 4-2.
  • 1942 – Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the “Secret Annexe” above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
  • 1957 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming The Beatles.