Important headlines for March 5th
Bottom Line: These are stories you don't want to miss and my hot takes on them...
Hot Take: A week ago I presented Governor Scott's plan and included public sentiment for each one of the proposal's specifically in his plan. As it turned out there was anywhere from 57%-97% support for the governor's plan. Having spoken with a myriad of public officials in various capacities about his plan over the past week, I've yet to find someone who didn't support it. A couple have articulated the view that it should go farther but that they'd support it passing. For that reason, I've felt it's foolish for the state house and senate to draft their own legislation, that's likely to net less support and take away from, the time and opportunity to work on meaningful reform that has broad-based support from Floridians. That being said...
Will the "assault weapons" non-sense please stop? Conflating the argument serves nothing but riling up emotions among the uneducated/uniformed. If you mean AR's, say AR's. If you mean more than that - be clear so we have open and honest debate. Otherwise you're about to get another dose of "assault knife" statistics from me because once again - three times more people are killed via knives in the US every year, than all rifles combined. If you want to make a difference by banning "assault weapons" the conversation should statistically be focused on knife control. If that sounds silly to you. A. Educated yourself. B. Tell the damn truth so we can elevate the conversation rather than perpetuating the lowest common denominator nonsense.
The Media Keep Ignoring Trump's Presidential Leadership Michael Goodwin, NY Post
Hot Take: They might be but as I've always stated - you can lie to somebody about what people don't see, touch or feel and people might believe you. You can't effectively lie to people about what is or isn't in their wallet. That's all part of this story. Wage growth is averaging 4.8% year over year through February. People know if they're making more. The average person is also benefiting from the tax cut. Ditto they see more money in their checks. Unemployment claims haven't been this low since 1969. People know if they're working or not. These are all pieces of the bigger pie that are part of the President's highly effective leadership. But this is also where it's important to remember that if it were for the media there's no way Donald Trump's President in the first place. It's easy to assign more credence to outlets that consistently undermine their own credibility and relevancy.
What If Republicans Win the Midterms? Charlie Savage, New York Times
Hot Take: They'd have overwhelmingly defied the odds. History suggests there's a 92% Democrats will come out net winners in the midterm elections. That's without a media that's been dedicated to undermining the President since prior to him taking office and a political party that's literally discussed impeachment openly since prior to his swearing in. So even in the context of historic upsets - these would be the upsets among even those. All current data suggests Democrats are very much in a position to gain but November's a long way off and if the only message is an anti-Trump message... Well as I mentioned last Friday. President Trump's current approval rating is actually 4% higher among likely voters at this stage in his Presidency than President Obama. If that holds or even improves, Democrats might regret the day they decided not to stand for something other than unfounded impeachment.
Until tomorrow...