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Felicia Sonmez
National Journalist in the Washington Post Political Press Team
Voters still have to go to the polls in mid-2018, but President Trump and many potential candidates to overthrow him have already exchanged shots over what could be considered the first official weekend of the 2020 presidential campaign.
Some, like Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) And Attorney Michael Avenatti, have tackled their presidential ambitions head on. Others, like Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Have fueled speculation. Trump Spokesman to make his second visit to New Hampshire, the country's first state, on Monday, a few days after being pushed to the fore by his call for an expanded FBI inquiry into Supreme Court candidate Brett M Kavanaugh amid allegations of aggression.
All the while, Trump stepped up his attacks on potential opponents, calling several of them by name during a heated debate in West Virginia on Saturday night.
The events highlight the dilemma facing the Democrats – and some Republicans – as the campaign begins in earnest: should they wade through the mud and make the Trump attack a centerpiece of their efforts, or should they they try to formulate a more edifying message in their own way? ?
"There will be a group of people who are tempted to try to play Trump's game.I think the most effective antidote against Trump will be to claim what it means to be populist in a more optimistic, upbeat way. and ambitious, "said Mo Elleithee, a longtime Democratic agent who is now executive director of the Institute of Politics at Georgetown University and the public service.
The attacks of 2020 come as mid-term elections this year enter their frenzied final phase and both parties are bitterly at odds with Kavanaugh, who is under investigation by the FBI after Christine Blasey Ford claimed to have sexually assaulted her as a teenager. Both testified to the allegation at a controversial hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
Meaning. Cory Booker (DN.J.), left, and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Caused Thursday as Christine Blasey Ford testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Supreme Court candidate Brett M. Kavanaugh Sexually assaulted teenager party. (Saul Loeb / AP)
Biden, who announced his decision to hold a race for 2020 by January, presented a harsh criticism of Trump's foreign policy at a rally of Rhode Island Democrats in Providence on Sunday. He described Trump as "a president whose only concern is to expand and personally retain power" and criticized Trump's recent remark that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had fallen "in love".
"I'm not looking for a war. But I'm looking for a reality, "said Biden.
Warren, meanwhile, was closer to declaring an offer than any other major hope of the Democratic White House, announcing Saturday afternoon in front of a Massachusetts city hall that he "would be watching closely "to run for president after the mid-term.
She clashed directly with the president, telling the crowd that she was "worried about what Donald Trump is doing to our democracy."
Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Left, and Senator Christopher A. Coons, (D-Del.), Are standing together on Saturday at the 2018 Global Citizen Festival in New York. (Craig Ruttle / AP)
But she also sought to align with the #MeToo movement and said Kavanaugh's gender dynamics of hearing played a role in her decision to run or not.
"It's time for women to go to Washington and repair our broken government, including a woman at the top," she said.
Trump is often made fun of Warren as "Pocahontas" because of the controversy over his Native American origin. He did it again on Saturday night, inviting the Liberal Democrat and former Harvard Law School professor to reflect a more general shift within his party.
"They've been taken so far that Pocahontas is now considered a Conservative Democratic Party," Trump told the crowd at the Wheeling newspaper in West Virginia, adding that the Democrats had "become locomotives".
The president – who is due to headlines this week in Tennessee, Mississippi, Minnesota and Kansas – also targeted "crazy" Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Who did not close the door to a bid for 2020, and did what appeared to be his first campaign shot at Booker. The former mayor of Newark, who will be traveling to Iowa this week, was ridiculed by Republicans a few weeks ago for dramatically calling for Kavanaugh's disclosure of documents in an episode of Booker. described as his moment "I am Spartacus".
"And Cory Booker?" Trump asked the crowd Saturday night. "Have you watched the show? He brought Newark back to New Jersey on the floor, and now he wants to be president, is not it?
He continued to make fun of Booker's "Spartacus" reference and compared it with Kirk Douglas, the legendary actor who played the role of the rebel warrior in the 1960 film.
"What time did he say he had it?" Said Trump about Booker, as some members of the audience responded screaming "Spartacus!" "I do not think so. I think we would take Kirk Douglas to its peak, do we agree? "
Democrats are not the only ones to have presented their aspirations this weekend. In a joint interview with Senator Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) On CBS's "60 Minutes," Flake focused on bipartisanship by explaining his call to the FBI to investigate Kavanaugh.
"I just knew that we could not move forward – that I could not move forward – without pressing the" pause "button," said Flake in the interview, broadcast Sunday night.He said he was confronted Friday in a lift by victims of sexual assault and having said, "This is tearing the country apart."
Flake will travel to New Hampshire on Monday, where he will deliver a speech at St. Anselm's College in Manchester. During his last trip to the state, he fueled speculation by stating that he had not ruled out an offer from the White House, strongly criticized Trump and expressed his desire to see someone stand against the president at the GOP 2020 primary.
"I think Republicans want them to be reminded of what it means to be a traditional and decent Republican," Flake said at the time.
Avenatti is one of the Democrats calling for a more aggressive stance against Trump. The ubiquitous advocate of adult film actress Stormy Daniels was among half a dozen potential candidates spending part of the weekend in Austin, where the Texas Tribune was hosting its annual political festival. Avenatti also represents Julie Swetnick, another woman who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
Avenatti is seriously considering a candidacy for the presidency but warned that "2020 will be a very, very difficult race for the Democrats". The fact that the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – "the most qualified individual in the history of our country" – did not answer the call Offers 2016 and shows that Trump should not be underestimated, said Avenatti.
"I think there are a handful of people who could potentially beat him, but they need to be able to participate in a debate with him and face him," he said. "They must be able to function in the media environment we are in. And they must be a fighter."
Other Democrats in Austin have tested more policy-oriented messages.
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who set up a political action committee last month, appeared in court for the Texas Democrats and explained how he brought the two parties together to push for reforms. South Mend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu, joined him on the scene. They discussed the economic recovery of their cities and suggested that any national democratic message should tell similar stories.
Buttigieg claimed that the Democrats had "allowed our conservative friends to monopolize the idea of freedom."
"I think the good vocabulary will come from the red states, because that's where we learn to persuade people," he said. "You are not free if you can not change jobs because you would lose your health care. You are not free if you can not sue your credit card company that is getting caught scamming you. "
After finishing, a Democrat shouted from the audience: "2020!"
Landrieu also asked audience members if they had seen the widely watched television footage of Flake being interviewed by two survivors of sexual assault, claiming that mayors of big cities were used to politics. conflictual and direct action.
"It's shocking for senators," Landrieu said. "When you get up in the morning to get milk from the store, you've been hit eight or nine times on something you did yesterday!"
Patrick, who has been invited to look into a 2020 year led by veterans of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, as well as on his own candidacy for the governorship of Massachusetts, said at a session of questions- answers that it "did not show up today" without excluding it. In an exchange of views with Politico's Jake Sherman, Patrick said his party needed to acknowledge voters' anger against the political establishment and introduce something new.
"I am perhaps one of the few Democrats to think that, on the corporate side, the tax bill was correct, but incomplete," Patrick said. "We can not leave the impression that we can change our president and go back to what we were doing. We must offer a positive alternative. "
Meanwhile, Democratic representative Beto O'Rourke, who leads a surprisingly powerful progressive challenge against Republican Sen, the Ted Cruz in deep Texas, drew tens of thousands of people to Austin on Saturday night at a rally featuring featuring legendary legendary Willie Nelson.
O'Rourke set a stark contrast between him and Trump, but he also seemed to take a potential 2020 bid on the table when he told the audience of the Texas Tribune festival Earlier in the day, he will not be running for office in the next six years if he is elected to the Senate.
To hear Trump say it, any Democrat who will win the nomination for 2020 will be a well-received challenger – provided he's already a well-known figure on the national scene.
"Oh, I dream of these people every night," he said at Saturday's rally. "The only thing that worries me is that it's a total unknown that no one has ever heard of."
Weigel reported from Austin.
Weigel reported from Austin.
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