THE SHOW NOTES: The Nikki Haley Announcement, The Debt Ceiling Dilemma, & Trump Prepares to Take on DeSantis
Welcome! Tom Brady announces his retirement (again).
BREAKING: The FBI is searching Biden’s beach house right now.
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Clip of the day: Ouch
Ron DeSantis Wins (Again)
The College Board changed its curriculum surrounding African American studies following intense criticism from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
What happened: The board was pilot-testing curriculum for an advanced placement class on African American Studies. A draft was leaked to the National Review and The Florida Standard last September that revealed the curriculum was full of deeply progressive ideology that had nothing to do with African American studies. DeSantis announced in January he would ban the curriculum if the College Board did not amend the leaked draft. The College Board caved.
UPDATE: Following the news, DeSantis unveiled a proposal that would prevent Florida schools from implementing ideological conformity in the classroom. In yesterday’s press conference, DeSantis said Florida’s public universities “should not be used to impose ideological and political activism” on students.
Why this matters: The news is the latest victory Ron DeSantis has secured as speculation of his presidential ambitions continues to mount. Full story from The Florida Standard.
2024 - Trump vs DeSantis: Donald Trump’s Super PAC has assembled an opposition research plan to attack a small field of potential Republican opponents with Ron DeSantis at the top of the list. While the cash-flush group cannot legally coordinate with Trump, they are following his lead after Trump levied new attacks against DeSantis over the weekend.
The DeSantis Playbook: Despite the attacks, DeSantis continues to largely ignore Donald Trump. “Nobody has done more to hurt Donald Trump than himself and I think Gov. DeSantis is absolutely taking the right tact here by completely ignoring Trump and letting him throw boomerangs.” - Stephen Lawson to The Hill
Related headline: GOP senators rally to defend DeSantis from Trump attacks - The Hill
Bonus headline: Trump’s Fund-Raising in First Weeks of ’24 Race Is Relatively Weak - NYT (paywall)
Haley 2024
Nikki Haley is set to announce her presidential bid on February 15th at a private event in Charleston, South Carolina. Haley called President Trump to share the news with him as they are the only two announced GOP candidates. In other presidential news, Tim Scott is heading to Iowa, Mike Pompeo just wrote a book, and Mike Pence continues to not say no.
The Debt Ceiling
Kevin McCarthy is meeting with President Biden for the first time to discuss a “wide range of issues” that we all know means the debt ceiling. Biden’s position remains the debt ceiling should be automatically raised without preconditions while McCarthy was elected speaker by promising conservatives some form of spending cuts. With months to go before a potential default, neither side is signaling movement at the moment.
From Punchbowl:
To be fair, there are other ways this could play out. Biden could refuse to negotiate and insist Congress pass a clean debt limit. However, it’s not clear at this point that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would be able to find 60 votes to pass a debt limit without some spending concessions.
Democrats could potentially use an obscure procedure called a dispatch petition to avoid a debt ceiling crisis. This is from The Hill:
Democratic leaders have already begun talks about tapping a procedural tool, known as a discharge petition, to force a debt-limit hike to the floor without the accompanying cuts McCarthy is demanding, according to sources familiar with the closed-door discussions. That would align House Democrats with President Biden, who is insisting on a “clean” debt-ceiling increase absent any other budget changes.
The rest of the news:
Saints, Broncos agree to trade to make Sean Payton Denver's head coach - Yahoo
Arizona Republicans fear they may blow it again - Politico
‘Go on offense’: Inside Democrats’ strategy to try to undercut GOP investigations and protect Biden - CNN
NFL Super Bowl betting: Eagles-Chiefs sees massive line movement as 69% of money pours in on Philly - Yahoo
Maxine Waters paid daughter $192,000 in campaign funds during 2022 cycle, filings show - Fox News
Pay $95 to Hear Bernie Sanders Complain About Capitalism - The Midwestern
$5 Million Reparations Payment for Black Residents Not Enough, San Francisco Official Says - National Review (paywall)
In Debt Limit Fight, Republicans Won’t Say What Spending Cuts They Want - NYT (paywall)
Tweets that caught my eye: