Trump tightens his grip on the GOP ahead of this weekend’s CPAC speech, Texas Democrats analyze why they came up short in November, and new Data for Progress/Vote Save America polling shows overwhelming bipartisan support for voting and democracy reforms. Then ProPublica’s Dara Lind talks to Dan about Biden’s immigration moves and the influx of unaccompanied minors at the border.

You can head to votesaveamerica.com/forthepeople right now to learn more about what’s in the bill, and then use our call tool to be connected to your reps. Then share it with your friends to help spread the word and build some momentum around the urgency of democracy reform as the bill heads to the Senate. 

Show notes

Biden Trump

• NYT: Trump Schedules Address Before CPAC Next Sunday 
• WaPo: Trump to speak at CPAC, in first public appearance since leaving office
• ABC News: CPAC to put 2020 election claims center stage just weeks after Capitol attack
• WaPo (PlumLine): Opinion: Trump’s grip on the GOP just tightened. Here’s what that means for Democrats. 
• Axios: Scoop: Trump to claim total control of GOP
• WaPo: ‘The former guy’: Biden and his aides work to ignore Trump — but it won’t be easy
• CNBC: ‘I’m tired of talking about Trump’: Biden steers clear of ‘the former guy’ in Covid relief pitch 
• LA Times: ‘Not a pundit,’ Biden ignores impeachment trial to focus on his priorities 
• USA Today: Exclusive: Defeated and impeached, Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP’s voters
• Morning Consult: Trump Emerges From Impeachment Trial With Sturdy Backing From GOP Voters
• WaPo (Plum Line): Opinion: Joe Biden is just where he wanted to be 
• NYT: Did Washington Just Have an Actual Weekend? 
• Vanity Fair: “I THINK PEOPLE WILL GET TIRED OF HIM”: FOR DONALD TRUMP, SARAH PALIN’S FALL SHOWS THE LIMITS OF MEDIA OBSESSION 
• Columbia Journalism Review: Cable news profits from its obsession with Trump. Viewers are the only victims. 
• CNN: Trump is already shaping the 2022 Senate battle 
• The Guardian: Donald Trump takes up a post-presidency hobby: revenge 
• CNN: Republican operatives sweat Trump’s role in upcoming Senate primaries 
• CNN: McConnell’s plan to deal with Trump: Ignore him
• FiveThirtyEight: How unpopular is Joe Biden?
• CNN: Biden’s polling is steadier than Trump’s 
• Politico: Why Biden won’t stop talking about Trump after impeachment
• USA Today: Planning for elections in 2022, Democrats set up ‘Trump Legacy Project’

Texas 

• WaPo: Texas Democrats issue report on 2020 elections 
• Texas Tribune: Texas Democrats blame lack of in-person campaigning, inefficient voter outreach for 2020 disappointment
• NBC News – Why Texas Democrats lost the 2020 voter turnout battle, even among Latinos 
• Texas Tribune – What went wrong with Texas Democrats’ 2020 plans? State party leaders intend to find out. 
• New Yorker – Deconstructing the 2020 Latino Vote
• Vox: Most Latinos voted for Biden — but 2020 revealed fault lines for Democrats
• WaPo: Why Texas’s overwhelmingly Latino Rio Grande Valley turned toward Trump 
• Dallas Morning News: Op-Ed Why former Democrats in the Rio Grande Valley voted for Trump 
• Politico: House majority may hinge on the Rio Grande Valley
• NYT:  Op-Ed – This Election, Latinos Sent a Warning Sign to Democrats
• The Nation: Mapping the Trump Meridian in Texas
• Mother Jones: Texas Democrats Use Their Organizing Power for Disaster Relief 
• The Atlantic: Texas Pays the Price of the Culture War
• The Atlantic: Texas’s Disaster Is Over. The Fallout Is Just Beginning. 
• Politico: Texas disaster puts Beto O’Rourke back in business 
• Dallas Morning News: Democrats look ahead to 2022 campaign with plans to hammer Texas GOP as inept in running government
• The Nation: This Is Why Texas Is the Next Georgia 
• Texas Tribune : Democrats didn’t get a blue wave, but some of the fastest-growing suburbs in Texas are still moving to the left

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here.
For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com.