Evening Report — Dems seek new leader, path forward

Evening Report

TRUMP FIRST 100 DAYS

Dems to elect new leader as party searches for a way forward

DEMOCRATS WILL ELECT a new political leader this weekend, as the party searches for a way forward after suffering sweeping election losses in 2024.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) members will gather at the National Harbor outside of Washington to choose a new chairman, a high-profile but often thankless position responsible for organizing, strategizing and communicating the party’s message.

Democrats are looking for a new generation of leaders to step up now that former President Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris have left the scene. The party has been relegated to minority status in both chambers of Congress after watching President Trump cut deep into their coalition of working class and minority voters.

The selection of a new DNC chair should provide a brief boost of enthusiasm and optimism as a fresh face is introduced onto the national scene.

It’s an insider game with “Conclave”-style intrigue, as the candidates vie for support from the hundreds of state chairs, vice chairs and members who will be flying in from every corner of the country.

Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and Ken Martin, the chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, are seen as the favorites in a race that includes six other candidates.

Also in the running are former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Bernie Sanders campaign chief Faiz Shakir, who jumped in late and has pushed the party to return to its working class roots.

The vote will be an early indication of how much influence establishment Democrats wield.

Wikler has endorsements from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

DEMS DEBATE BIDEN, IDENTITY POLITICS

The disastrous 2024 election cycle for Democrats has provoked debate about Biden’s legacy and whether a focus on identity politics is an electoral dead end.

Those issues represent a potential litmus test for future Democratic leaders.

Biden dropped out of the presidential race after the debate affirmed the public’s concern about his age and mental acuity. Since then, media reports indicate Biden’s staff shielded him from scrutiny to keep a lid on questions about his decline.

Some Democrats are furious that Biden didn’t step aside earlier after pledging to be a bridge candidate in 2020.

Outgoing DNC chair Jamie Harrison disagrees, telling The Associated Press the party should have stuck with Biden instead of handing the nomination to Harris after a frenzied panic about the polls.

“You stick by your people,” Harrison said.

At a DNC forum Thursday night, every candidate raised their hand when asked whether they believed sexism and misogyny played a role in Harris’s defeat.

“You all passed,” moderator Jonathan Capehart said to laughter and applause.

That focus on identity could be another flashpoint for Democrats moving forward.

Trump has been unwinding Biden’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and many corporations have abandoned their DEI efforts.

Shakir, the former Sanders aide, said he’s “frustrated by the way in which we utilize identity to break ourselves apart,” according to The Washington Post.

"Let’s get into that, not separate ourselves out, give pats on the head for being in various identity groups."

Harrison insisted that a focus on diversity can still be a winner for the party.

"Unlike the other party, that is demonizing diversity, we understand that diversity is our greatest strength," he said, according to Semafor.

DEM BRAND TARNISHED

Quinnipiac University released a survey this week that found only 31 percent have a favorable view of the Democratic party, against 57 percent who view it unfavorably. That’s a double-digit gap compared to the GOP’s favorability rating, which sits at 43 percent.

Some Democrats blame progressives for dragging the party to the left by embracing policing and border policies that proved unpopular with the broader electorate.

The DNC forum Thursday was disrupted multiple times by left-wing climate protesters, much to the frustration of the candidates.

The center-left group Third Way, which backed Biden and later Harris, released a memo Friday calling on Democrats to reject the “wrongheaded and unbelievably unpopular policies that far-left groups are trying to strongarm Democrats to embrace.”

“We must never again let our candidates fall prey to the siren song of far-left groups who claim, without evidence, to speak for our coalition and offer a path to the nomination,” the memo states.

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Dems should steal from Trump’s playbook.

• The Liberal Patriot: Young people and the new culture wars.

• The Weekly Dish: Keep calm, carry on and wait.

• The Wall Street Journal: Trump and the collapse of the old order.

• Marco Rubio: An Americas First foreign policy.

Read more:

• Even progressives now worry about the federal debt.

• What to know about the legal challenges to Trump’s executive actions.

CATCH UP QUICK

The Trump administration is moving to fire FBI agents involved in investigations into President Trump.
The Department of Education is scrapping former President Biden’s Title IX changes, getting rid of discrimination protection based on gender identity and sexual orientation and changing how sexual assault cases are handled on campus.
Former “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd is leaving NBC after 18 years.
The Justice Department is suing to block the Hewlett Packard-Juniper merger.
Late-night TV hosts are doubling down on anti-Trump content.

NEWS THIS AFTERNOON

New details emerge from DCA collision

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is restricting helicopter routes near Reagan Washington National Airport, as investigations get underway into the events that led to American Eagle Flight 5342 colliding with a Black Hawk helicopter.

All 64 people on the plane and the three Army soldiers on the helicopter died.

The plane's cockpit voice recorder — also known as a "black box" — has been recovered and more than 40 bodies have so far been pulled from the Potomac River.

• The helicopter was engaged in a military training flight.

The pilots had flown the same route before, according to Jonathan Koziol, the chief of staff for Army aviation. The male instructor and female pilot had a combined 1,500 hours of flight time between them.

President Trump suggested the helicopter was flying at too high of an altitude when the collision occurred.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said they're investigating whether night vision goggles were engaged for the flight. The black box from the Black Hawk has not yet been recovered yet, he said.

“Was the Black Hawk too high? Was it on course? Right now, we don't quite know,” Hegseth said Friday on Fox & Friends.

• Trump on Friday doubled down on his claim that diversity hiring was responsible for the crash.

“This is just one reason why our Country WAS going to hell!!!” Trump wrote in Friday post.

The FAA acknowledged that air traffic control staffing responsibilities were below normal levels at the time of the collision, with the AP reporting one person was doing the job of two people.

• Close calls at Reagan National existed long before this week’s collision. Heavy congestion, military training and restricted air space have contributed to risks at the airport.

“It is a very complicated and congested airspace,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

The Washington Post reports that less than 24 hours before Wednesday’s collision, a different passenger plane had to abort landing due to potential for a collision with a helicopter.

Over the past few years, there were at least two incidents where planes nearly collided, and another where two helicopters nearly collided, according to CNN.

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: What we know so far about the DCA airplane collision.

• USA Today: Trump cravenly blames DEI after tragic plane crash.

• Las Vegas Review Journal: Everything lined up for this accident to happen.

• The Guardian: Trump’s warped priorities.

Read more:

• The Memo: Washington flight disaster sparks political fights.

• Years of warnings came before DC air tragedy.

• DCA crash: Timeline of Black Hawk, plane collision.

ON TAP

Here's who's talking Sunday...

NewsNation's "The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.).

CNN's "State of the Union”: Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.).

NBC's "Meet the Press": Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.).

IN OTHER NEWS

Washington roundup: Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China coming Saturday

The White House says President Trump will move forward with steep tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, two of the nation’s biggest trade partners.

The 25 percent tariffs will go into affect Saturday, with the White House citing illegal immigration, the flow of fentanyl and trade imbalances for the move.

“They’ve treated us very unfairly on trade, and we will be able to make that up very quickly because we don’t need the products that they have,” Trump said.

Trump will also impose a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods.

Among the items that could be in the crosshairs: Automobiles, oil and avocados.

Two Democratic senators introduced a bill that would require Trump to get congressional approval for proposed tariffs on trading partners before imposing them.

• The Hill's Rebecca Beitsch scoops: "A small tweak to an email encouraging federal employees to take a buyout indicates the Justice Department wouldn’t vouch for the legality of the program. The Trump administration is battling skepticism about a buyout package from the Office of Personnel Management offering eight months of pay for those who resign from their roles."

• Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be director of national intelligence “may be in jeopardy,” according to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

Several GOP senators expressed uncertainty about Gabbard after her Thursday hearing, with her support for Edward Snowden emerging as a flashpoint.

Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who revealed the government’s mass surveillance program, took to X to defend Gabbard:

"Her sin is that she told the truth about the government spying on Americans, and for that she is getting absolutely persecuted,” he said.

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Panama next week. Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino told Politico he will not negotiate over the Panama Canal.

💡Perspectives:

• Chris Stirewalt: Setting a baseline for Trump and the GOP.

• The Hill: By firing inspectors general, Trump is covering up pandemic-era fraud.

• New Yorker: Trump’s Cabinet of revenge.

• Los Angeles Times: RFK Jr. has captured the attention of everyday moms.

• Sasha Stone: What really bothers them about Gabbard.

Read more:

• Trump threatens BRICS nations that move away from ‘mighty US dollar.’

• FCC chair launches investigation into NPR, PBS.

• Senate confirms Burgum as Interior secretary.

• Federal agencies ordered to implement transgender bathroom ban.

• Trump aid freeze disrupts global HIV/AIDS fight.

Stay Engaged

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