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Welcome, readers, to the Good Men Project Daily Brief!
I generally write these stories before noon on the West Coast. Sometimes this means I have more time to really dive deeply into the waters of a story, look at it from several points of view, swim around in it for a while and have a pretty good idea about what I think when I finally come up for air.
Today I just have to hold my breath and wait and see what’s going to happen.
My name is Mckay Williams and this is your Daily Brief:
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Will President Trump Pull Out of the Iran Nuclear Deal?
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Today’s deadline to renew the 2015 Obama Administration JCPOA negotiated deal with Iran will pass with all signs pointing to President Trump’s withdrawal. Last month, President Macron of France and Chancellor Merkel of Germany, two of our biggest allies, came to the White House to plead with President Trump not to pull out of the deal which limits Iran from continuing a nuclear weapon’s program.
The NYT [paywall article] has reported that President Trump has phoned Macron to tell him of his intent to withdraw, and as I type this MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson reports that Congress is now being briefed on the withdraw plan.
Withdraw will undoubtedly frustrate our allies, anger Iran, and destroy American credibility to keep our word for decades.
Critics of the plan say that Iran got too much in exchange for their promise not to create nuclear weapons, many, this writer included, think that no price is too high for nuclear non-proliferation. Let’s all hold our breath for relative world peace.
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The Strange Campaign of Don Blankenship
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President Trump’s 2016 campaign undeniably moved the goalposts for political campaigns. His brash, angry, vile campaign scandals opened the door for all kinds of new politicians, including last year’s Roy Moore, an Alabama judge running to fill AG Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s Senate seat. (I simply can’t resist any opportunity to use his full name)
Moore was accused of decades of pedophilia and nearly won that special election which only added credibility to the idea that anyone can now run for public office, regardless of scandal.
West Virginian businessman Don Blankenship, who has been convicted of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety and health standard resulting in the deaths of 30 miners, is gaining traction in his race for his own Senate seat. In a puzzling ad earlier last week, Blankenship used racial slurs openly and made strange claims about Kentucky Senator, Mitch McConnell, calling him “cocaine Mitch” repeatedly while attacking his wife, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao.
President Trump has gambled on his base by declaring he did not support Blankenship’s campaign and it seems to have backfired. If he wins the primary tonight, he will have an uphill battle trying to hold onto GOP power in West Virginia. We’ll hold our breath and find out.
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Democratic New York State Attorney General Resigns in Scandal
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Late last night the New York Post filed a story that alleges NY State AG Eric Schneiderman had assaulted at least four women whom he had romantic relationships with. Hours later, Schneiderman resigned.
If you’ve been following along with The Daily Brief, you may have read some coverage about the Southern District of New York’s investigation against President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. The SDNY reports to the NY AG the same way that the Federal Justice Department reports to the United States’ Attorney General, and the timing of this report is interesting to those who are watching closely. Previously, former New York AG Eliot Spitzer and New York Representative Anthony Weiner had both been brought down by long-running sex scandals traced back to the GOP’s “Dirty Trickster” Roger Stone.
Roger Stone was part of President Donald Trump’s campaign and has been interviewed by several of the investigations into the President’s campaign. If something happens once it’s an anomaly, twice, a coincidence. Three times it starts to appear a pattern. Let’s hold our breath that I’m wrong.
A clarification here, this writer has no proof, no evidence, nothing but a gut hunch that these things are connected and absolutely believes the women who have accused Mr. Schneiderman and does not suspect the validity of their claims. The court of law says that all accused are innocent until proven guilty, the court of public opinion makes no such guarantees.
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Click for more from Mckay Williams
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