The President coddles Putin on future election sabotage, the White House says they’re killing it on the economy, Nancy Pelosi believes Democrats need to own the center-left, and the electability debate rages in America and Westeros. Then digital strategist Tara McGowan talks to Tommy about which candidates are spending most on digital ads and why that’s so important.

Show Notes:

Trump and Putin

• NYT: Trump Says He Discussed the ‘Russian Hoax’ in a Phone Call With Putin
• WaPo: Trump says he talked to Putin about ‘Russian Hoax’ but not about ongoing election interference
• WSJ: Trump and Putin Discuss Venezuela, North Korea, Mueller Report – Mr. Trump said ‘we didn’t discuss that’ when asked if he had sought assurances that Moscow wouldn’t try to influence future U.S. elections
• NY Mag:  Russia Claims Trump Reached Out to Putin for Lengthy Friday Call
• The Atlantic – Trump’s Surreal Phone Call With Vladimir Putin
• Esquire: Please Explain How This Entire Presidency* Isn’t a National-Security Crisis – By Charles Pierce
• WaPo: ‘Investigate the investigators’ is new Trump rallying cry to counter Mueller report
• The Atlantic – The Russia Investigation Will Continue – By John Sipher
• Rolling Stone – Secretary of State Laughably Claims Trump Ran Out of Time in Putin Call to Talk Election Meddling
• NYT: F.B.I. Warns of Russian Interference in 2020 Race and Boosts Counterintelligence Operations (April 26)
• NYT: Russian Hackers Were ‘In a Position’ to Alter Florida Voter Rolls, Rubio Confirms (April 26)
• WaPo: What’s Russia still doing to interfere with U.S. politics — and what’s the U.S. doing about it? – By Philip Bump
• CNN: Pompeo: ‘Of course’ Obama should have done more on Russian election interference (April 29)
• WaPo: Trump said Putin isn’t looking to get involved in Venezuela. Two days later, Russia and Venezuela’s foreign ministers meet.
• WaPo: Trump echoes Putin on Venezuela — and contradicts his own secretary of state – Analysis
• WaPo: Pompeo won’t promise to consult Congress about potential military intervention in Venezuela
• Guardian – Venezuela: Russia urges US to abandon ‘irresponsible’ plan to topple Maduro
• Daily Beast: Was a Russian Plot Behind the Venezuela Coup?
• AFP: US, Russia butt heads over Venezuela
• Reuters: Russia’s Lavrov urges U.S. to cancel plans to oust Venezuela’s Maduro
• WaPo: U.S. officials weigh options for Venezuela, as Trump describes ‘positive’ call with Putin
• Vox: The Trump administration’s Venezuela policy is failing – By Alex Ward
• WaPo: The Standoff in Venezuela, Explained
• NYT: North Korea Launches Short-Range Projectiles, South Says
• CNN: Exclusive: Images show North Korea missile launch as Pyongyang tests Trump
• NYT: New North Korea Weapons Test Threatens Trump’s Diplomatic
• WSJ: Trump Shrugs Off North Korean Weapons Test as Administration Seeks New Talks
• WaPo: Kim personally supervised ‘guided weapons’ test, North Korea says
• Politico: Kim oversees missile firing drills, tells North Korean troops to be alert
• WaPo: Mother of Otto Warmbier calls U.S. diplomacy with North Korea a ‘charade’

Booming Economy

• WaPo: U.S. unemployment fell to 3.6 percent, lowest since 1969
• NYT: The Economy That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen: Booming Jobs, Low Inflation
• WaPo: Is this economy too good to be true? – By Heather Long
• Vox: Americans are working harder these days. Their paychecks don’t show it. – By Alexia Fernandez Campbell
• Politico: Bernie Sanders: ‘Economy is doing
• NBC News – Trump says economy is a strength and the numbers just got better – Friday’s employment numbers were undeniably good.
• New Yorker – By John Cassidy – After a Strong Jobs Report, Economic Questions Linger for 2020
• Market Watch column – Good jobs report shows there is still no Trump boom – By Tim Mullaney
• HuffPo: Larry Kudlow’s ‘Killing It On The Economy’ Video Goes Viral For The Wrong Reasons – Larry Kudlow
• Bloomberg Op-Ed – Don’t Be Shocked If Trump’s Economy Goes the Way of Bush’s – By Richard Carroll
• CNN: Trump is struggling despite a strong economy. Here’s why. – By Harry Enten
• Vanity Fair: DEMS’ 2020 DILEMMA: GOOD NEWS FOR THE ECONOMY IS GREAT NEWS FOR TRUMP – By Eric Lutz
• WaPo: U.S. economy feels like the 1990s, but with more inequality, less readiness for a downturn (April 26)
• NYT: In Push for Trade Deal, Trump Administration Shelves Sanctions Over China’s Crackdown on Uighurs
• NYT: How Tariffs Work, and Why China Won’t See a Bill
• Politico: Trump, citing slow pace of talks, revives threat to put tariff on all Chinese goods
• CNN: Trump renews tariff threat ahead of critical Chinese trade talks
• USA Today – ‘We would like to get to yes:’ Lawmakers signal growing concern on Trump’s Mexico-Canada trade deal
• Bloomberg Op-Ed – By Jonathan Bernstein – White House’s Threat on Nafta Gives Democrats an Easy Out
• Politico: ‘Quit thinking like a New Yorker’: GOP smacks Trump on trade (May 2)
• Politico: Democrats itching to take down Biden over free-trade past (May 2)
• WaPo: Because China isn’t ‘Caucasian,’ the U.S. is planning for a ‘clash of civilizations.’ That could be dangerous. – By Stephen Ward

2020

• NYT: Pelosi Warns Democrats: Stay in the Center or Trump May Contest Election Results  By Glenn Thrush
• Think Progress – Pelosi said Trump might not leave office if he loses in 2020. He once said himself he might not.
• NBC News Op-Ed – Nancy Pelosi has set House Democrats on a road that may lead to Trump’s impeachment – By Fred Werthheimer
• WSJ: Trump Says Mueller Shouldn’t Testify
• WaPo: In reversal, Trump says Mueller ‘should not testify’ before Congress
• NYT: Trump Objects to Mueller Testifying Before Congress
• CNN: CNN Poll: Trump’s approval rating on the economy hits a new high
• Politico: Biden extends lead by 11 points in CNN poll with post-announcement surge (April 30)
• The Hill – O’Rourke holds double-digit lead on Trump in head-to-head matchup
• WaPo: Joe Biden’s strong debut puts pressure on other candidates vying to challenge Trump
• WaPo: The Trailer: What we talk about when we talk about ‘electability’ – By David Weigel
• CNN: Big-name 2020 Democrats struggle to stand out in the Biden era
• CNN: 2020 polls lay out an ominous pattern for Trump – By Harry Enten
• AP: Biden surge fueled by electability advantage. Will it last
• CNN: Kamala Harris eyes black voters, women in campaign tour to win over Midwest
• FiveThirtyEight – Does Biden’s Polling Bounce Mean Anything? – By Nate Silver
• FiveThirtyEight – By Nathaniel Rakich – Democrats Think Biden Is Electable, But He’s Not Everyone’s First Choice (April 25)
• The Atlantic – By Ron Brownstein – The Democratic Debate Over Winning Back Trump’s Base
• Brookings: The Democratic Race: Taking a hard look at electability
• NYT: Asked if a Woman Can Win, 2020 Candidates Offer an Easy Answer: ‘I
• The Atlantic -The Right Way to Think About ‘Electability’ – By Conor Friedersdorf
• The New Republic- Democrats Have Created an “Electability” Monster – And this time, it’s even eating establishment candidates.
• WaPo: Joe Biden checks the ‘electability’ box for whom? – Analysis by Vanessa Williams
• WaPo:  Democrats and the ‘electability’ trap. Can anyone define what it means? – Analysis by Dan Balz
• WaPo – Plumline column by Paul Waldman – The ‘electability’ claim is swallowing up the Democratic primaries. But it’s nonsense.
• NBC News – Beer Pong 2020: Will Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s Cool Campaign Pay Off?
• NYT: Biden Thinks Trump Is the Problem, Not All Republicans. Other Democrats Disagree.
• WaPo: The Trailer: Why the world is missing from the Democratic
• Politico: Cheat sheet: Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan to expand agriculture and rural policies
• Politico: Cheat sheet: How John Hickenlooper would address the economy
• Politico: Cheat sheet: How Sen. Amy Klobuchar would address drug addiction
• Politico: Cheat sheet: How Gov. Jay Inslee would address climate change

Tara McGowan

• Acronym (May 3): FWIW: Where are they now
• Acronym (April 26):  FWIW: Have Democrats lost Florida?
• PBS NewsHour: Can you chip in a dollar? 2020 Democrats race for small donors (April 29)
• NYT Op-Ed  by Tina Rosenberg (March 2019: It Takes a Friend to Get a Friend to Vote
• The Hill – Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 (February 2019)
• CNN: Democratic group launches Trump-bashing $3 million online voter registration campaign (October 2018)
• WaPo: The Daily 202: Playing ‘catch-up,’ progressive groups to spend $10 million on digital ads for state legislative races (September 2018)
• Medium: How to Win the 2020 Democratic Primary (February 4) – By Greta Carnes and Dan Bram
• Medium: The Lesson for Campaigns in Facebook’s Pivot (April 2018) – By Tara McGowan and Greta Carnes
• Axios (October 2017): Digital-first startup launches to elect progressive Dems