Week of Monday, August 13, 2018.
IN BRIEF: Wisconsin Republicans’ race to the bottom may come to an end tomorrow, but the victor in tomorrow’s Senate primary won’t escaped unscathed. Leah Vukmir and Kevin Nicholson’s “acrimonious” primary election — increasingly a contest over who loves President Trump the most in a state where he is deeply unpopular — will irreparably damage the winner’s chances as they attempt to pivot to the general election.
- Vox writes, “A vicious GOP primary, pitting a former Democrat running as an outsider against the conservative state establishment, isn’t improving [Republican] odds of beating Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin.”
- In spite of a unity pledge the two candidates signed in January, Kevin Nicholson hasn’t hesitated to air his anti-Vukmir oppo all over Breitbart. Meanwhile, the Nicholson-aligned Club for Growth has poured tens of millions of dollars into efforts slamming Vukmir as a “RINO.”
- Not to be outdone, Vukmir calls Nicholson’s attacks “desperate tactics from a guy who claims to be on the outside yet he is using D.C. swamp campaign strategy plain and simple.”
- But the one endorsement both candidates view as a campaign-winning juggernaut — that of President Trump — has proved elusive, resulting in what one Wisconsin operative calls “grotesque pandering of who’s the biggest Trump fan.”
- “The GOP knows it has a unity problem,” the operative says. “That acrimony is going to have some impact on their enthusiasm.”
TRADE WAR UPDATE:
NASDAQ Commodities Futures Prices, Soybeans
Soybean prices have plummeted in the weeks since President Trump intensified his trade war with partners around the world. In states like North Dakota, farmers are being helplessly squeezed by double-digit percentage losses to their biggest export.
“We’re the soldiers in the field now, literally,” says one North Dakota farmer. “Our fields out there are being used as the weapon in this trade war, and it’s really affecting everybody’s bottom line.”
THREE NUMBERS:
- 9. Number of dolphins killed in Sarasota County, Florida by the ongoing toxic algae bloom crisis.
- 66. Tons of dead fish that have washed ashore in Sarasota County in the last two weeks.
- 12. Estimated number of months during which dolphins could be deprived of food due to the red tide.
ONE FOR THE ROAD: In My Life, the Beatles (1965)
AND HAPPY MONDAY from American Bridge. Follow us at @JoshuaKarp @AmeliaPenniman @
Published: Aug 13, 2018