Rust Belt States That Helped Trump Win Appear To Be Spurning Republicans

Donald Trump’s campaign has sent North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to at least 10 different states to campaign with or for the former president, Axios reports.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), the veteran Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, fended off a primary challenge on Tuesday from a well-funded right-wing businessman, putting him on track to win a 12th term, the Washington Post reports.

“Democratic lawmakers in battleground states are worried that their long-running support from union voters may be the latest casualty of a political realignment that’s threatening President Biden’s re-election,” Axios reports. “Republicans have made a concerted effort to court workers this year, and — even more worryingly for Democrats — the head of one of the country’s largest unions is making overtures to the GOP.”

“The fakest thing about The West Wing was that we had rational Republicans.” — Bradley Whitford, who played fictional White House deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman on The West Wing, quoted by The Hill.

“In the summer before a tough re-election contest in 2012, President Barack Obama was losing support from Latino voters who called him ‘deporter in chief.’ Then he signed a sweeping executive order to shield hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation,” the New York Times reports. “Twelve years later, President Biden appeared to be trying to replicate that move.”

“President Vladimir Putin of Russia met with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, in his first visit to the country in nearly a quarter-century on Wednesday, as the two autocrats vowed to build a joint front against the United States and deepen bilateral ties that Washington fears will include more arms trade,” the New York Times reports. “Mr.