Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s edition, NBC News’ Capitol Hill team looks back at Donald Trump’s visit with House and Senate Republicans. Plus, Chief Political Correspondent Jonathan Allen explains why Blue Wall is the best bet to reach Joe Biden’s 270 electoral votes.
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Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill brings a rare moment of GOP unity
Scott Wong, Sahil Kapoor, Ali Vitali and Julie Tsirkin
Three and a half years ago, then-President Donald Trump violently rioted in the Capitol in an attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory and stay in power. The special committee of the House of Representatives concluded after much research.
On Thursday, Trump made his first visit to Capitol Hill before the Jan. 6 attack, when Republicans gave a hero’s welcome to their presumptive 2024 nominee.
The closed-door meetings with House and Senate Republicans represented a rare moment of unity for the party. participated in the civil war since that day.
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We present the most interesting moments from Trump’s visit to Washington:
Repairing fences: Trump reconciled with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who blamed the former president for the deadly riots at the Capitol. The two men had not spoken since December 2020. McConnell Trump and he said shook hands several times Thursday, calling it a “good meeting” and a “totally positive session.”
In a meeting with House Republicans, one source said Trump delivered a message of “unity.” He suggested holding tele town halls for members facing tough races and stressed that Republicans should not attack each other.
At one point, two sources said, a close Trump ally, R-Ga. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. begged to understand. tried to remove him from power.
“Marjorie, are you good to Mike?” Trump drew laughter from House Republicans, sources said. A source who observed Greene’s reaction said he made “some kind of” hand gesture, which Greene himself later confirmed.
Abortion Warning: Trump acknowledged that the issue of abortion rights has cost Republicans and is too important to ignore, adding that it is now in the hands of the people and the states. He also expressed his support for an abortion policy that includes exceptions such as rape, consanguinity and the life of the mother.
On these and other key issues, “We are the side of common sense,” Trump told lawmakers. Members in the room had a mixed reaction to his abortion riff, sources said.
Beats Milwaukee: Trump also filmed in Milwaukee, home of the Republican National Convention. The former president called the battleground state of Wisconsin’s most populous city “terrible” and crime-ridden, a source said, adding that no one in the room disagreed with him.
Read more from Trump’s day on Capitol Hill →
Biden’s ‘clearest path’ to victory runs through the Rust Belt (and Omaha).
By Jonathan Allen
If Biden loses in November, his aides may regret spending decisions they’re making now.
The “The clearest way” for Biden to win re-election It runs through Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — three states that swung Republican in 2016 and Democratic in 2020 — according to Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who is co-chairing the campaign and many other Democratic strategists.
If Biden holds those states along with Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, he could lose the remaining states and still get the 270 electoral votes needed to secure a second term.
But Biden campaign officials are convinced that putting all their eggs on the Blue Wall is a mistake. Flush with early campaign cash, they are also deploying staff, surrogates and advertising dollars to Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.
They could be right that Biden is best served by following all the changes that could lead to an Electoral College majority.
Simple math dictates that winning 16 electoral votes in Georgia or North Carolina, or 11 in Arizona, will cost more than losing 10 in Wisconsin. Likewise, winning Nevada’s six electoral votes will weigh more heavily than losing Nebraska’s 2nd District, which awards one elector for every congressional district a candidate wins.
But polls consistently show Biden trailing in Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. Moreover, with the exception of Nevada, these states have been weaker for Democrats than the Rust Belt trio in recent presidential elections.
According to Democratic strategist Faiz Shakir, who is managing Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are “must-have” states.
There is a very modern model of winning the presidency by focusing on these three states: Trump claimed the Oval Office in 2016. At the time, Hillary Clinton’s campaign team talked a lot about the value of pursuing multiple paths to 270 electoral votes. It turns out they were all interrupted by Trump’s speech in the Rust Belt.
So even as political junkies play with the electoral map to see how they can get 270 votes for one candidate or another, the most valuable area has not changed.
Biden aides say it’s too early to triage. But it may soon be too late in another election that promises to be close.
🗞️ The best stories of the day
- ⚖️ Judgment day: The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone, meaning the widely used drug can be widely used. The court ruled that the issues raised by the plaintiffs could be returned to the court in another case because they did not have standing. More →
- ⚖️ Judgment Day, continued: In other decisions, the Supreme Court on Thursday It was on the Starbucks side rejected an attempt to trademark the phrase “Trump is too small” in a labor dispute and a crude joke about the former president. More →
- 🐘 In any case: NBC News’ Matt Dixon said Trump is bracing for the possibility that he won’t be able to attend the Republican National Convention next month, in part because he could be sentenced to house arrest after being convicted in a hush money trial. More →
- 🛑 Protest zone: A group of Republicans in the Senate threatened to block the review of Biden’s judicial candidates in protest of Trump’s guilty verdict. More →
- 🗳️ IVF sounds: The Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, voted in favor of the resolution. against in vitro fertilization on Wednesday. On Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked a Democrat-led bill to codify broad federal protections for the procedure. More →
- 🇺🇦 Confirming support: Biden and his counterparts from other major democracies agreed at the G7 Summit this year to provide Ukraine with $50 billion in loans backed by frozen Russian assets. More →
- 🏈 A faster state demonstration: Longtime Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., faces his most competitive primary in two decades on Tuesday. His race against a wealthy rival also became a storied college sports rivalry. More →
- 📺 Your TV is watching you: Political campaigns receive a wealth of valuable information from Smart TVs, allowing them to target voters with highly specific ads. But as NOTUS reports, there is little transparency around the process. More →
For now, that’s it from The Politics Desk. If you have feedback – like it or not – send us an email politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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