As Donald Trump secured the Republican 2020 nomination from the Iowa caucus with ease, the Democratic push to choose a challenger descended into farce overnight after “inconsistencies” led to a disastrous delay in reporting the results and candidates having to give “victory” speeches without knowing where they stood in the polls.
The president's victory lap continued as Gallup poll results delivered his highest approval rating since taking office, hitting 49 per cent.
The Senate meanwhile heard closing arguments from House impeachment managers and the president’s legal team yesterday, with Adam Schiff calling the defendant “a man without character or ethical compass” and imploring opposition senators to vote according to their consciences: “You are decent. He is not who you are.”
Ahead of his likely acquittal on Wednesday, President Trump will deliver his State of the Union address to the nation this evening and is being urged by members of his own side not to dwell on his divisive impeachment and instead spread a message of national unity.
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Things you love to hear about a democratically elected leader: seizing control of an election.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could kick Chuck Schumer's ass in a run for his senate seat.
Adam Schiff: Trump is guilty as sin, but the voters should clean up this mess
As Donald Trump prepares for a State of the Union he will see as his coronation on the eve of his acquittal from his impeachment trial, Adam Schiff echoes Nancy Pelosi's comments to the New York Times that a decision over his removal from office now rests with voters.
CREW files ethics complaint against Jared Kushner
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a complaint against Jared Kushner for alleged violations of the Hatch Act, which prevents executive branch staff from using their position to interfere or affect the result of an election.
In a recent interview with Fareed Zakaria, Mr Kushner — the president's son-in-law — openly discussed his strategy to re-elect Mr Trump.
The Independent's Chelsea Ritschel asks whether the president will even acknowledge his wife's (only) signature campaign as first lady.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump welcomed a "remarkable group of people" to the address. They'll include Border Patrol deputy chief Raul Ortiz and Army veteran and PTSD survivor Tony Rankins, who has experienced homelessness.
Why Trump may fail to mention Melania's work in State of the Union
President has never acknowledged Melania's initiative Be Best in a State of the Union addressGallup: Economic confidence 'higher than at any point' in two decades
Gallup reports that American confidence in the economy is "higher than at any point in about two decades", with unemployment figures hitting record lows and the Dow hitting record highs.
The numbers mask the sky-high, trillion-dollar deficit, however, as well as static wages and a declining rate of growth in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Meanwhile, 41 per cent of Americans "are satisfied with the way things are going", the highest level in several years. The number of Republicans who are happy with the state of things is pushing that figure significantly higher. Seventy-two percent of Republicans and 37 per cent of independents are happy with how things are, compared to only 14 per cent of Democrats.
Trump ratings hit record high as Democrats flounder in Iowa chaos
The latest Gallup poll results show Donald Trump with his highest approval rating yet since taking office in 2017.
He's at 49 per cent, with a 50 per cent disapproval rating, and 1 per cent in the "undecided" camp.
Trump pulls selectively from the results amid his celebratory morning after the caucus disaster.
Pelosi: Democrats 'pulled back a veil of behaviour' with Trump's impeachment
On the eve of Donald Trump's likely acquittal in his impeachment trial, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells the New York Times that it was always inevitable as she braces for the fallout. "Republican detractors say she put moderate Democrats in political peril and weakened the House inquiry by failing to wage a prolonged legal fight to obtain critical testimony that the president was blocking," the Times says.
But her long game, looking ahead to 2020 elections, is to expose the president as unfit for office and make his Republican allies look complicit, even getting their admission that he did do something wrong, though they may not have considered "removal from office" the appropriate response. For the House Speaker, the impeachment wasn't just aimed at the president but the party structure that supports him.
She said: “I think that we have pulled back a veil of behaviour totally unacceptable to our founders, and that the public will see this with a clearer eye, an unblurred eye ... Whatever happens, he has been impeached forever. And now these senators, though they don’t have the courage to assign the appropriate penalty, at least are recognizing that he did something wrong.”
Trump celebrates 'victory' in Iowa
Donald Trump's Iowa victory lap continues on Twitter, with a dozen retweets mocking Democrats and universal health care, making a claim that Democrats are blaming Russia for the technical difficulties delaying caucus results, and celebrating his 97 per cent win, which was inevitable for the incumbent.
Most state Republican parties have cancelled their primaries, with Mr Trump as the presumptive nominee. "Winning" Iowa was another chance for the president to take some attention away from Democrats. It's only a big "win" relative to his second-place finish in 2016 (to Ted Cruz).
He'll have his "win" and near-acquittal from his impeachment as he heads into the State of the Union address tonight.
Iowa Democrats are attributing last night's disastrous reporting problems following the caucus votes to a "coding issue".
The party plans to release results "as soon as possible today" but precinct reports are still incoming.
'The Iowa caucus fiasco is a metaphor for the state of US democracy'
For Indy Premium, Matthew Norman says that this embarrassment is in danger of ingraining the notion of Democrats – their candidates, by unfair association, as well as their electoral organisers – as hapless amateurs who couldn’t oversee a church tombola without recourse to legal action.
'Trump is laughing his a** off'
While the president is attempting to look concerned for the sake of democracy over the Iowa debacle (not very convincingly - remember the Ukraine scandal?), the likes of Meghan McCain believe, in private, he is enjoying all this enormously.
That Scavino retweet would appear to indicate she's right.
Chris Riotta has more on the conservative response.
Trump says Iowa will remain first-in-the-nation 'as long as I am president'
In the last hour, Trump has refused to blame the state of Iowa for the Democratic caucus blunder and said he would oppose any motion to replace it as the first state to cast its vote in presidential elections.
But he has also not been able to resist mocking the situation, retweeting the following...
Sean Hannity mocked with photo of Trump kissing Ivanka after calling Biden 'creepy'
We're still waiting from some coherent results from the Iowa caucus but here are two little incidents from yesterday you might have missed.
After Fox blowhard Sean Hannity mocked Joe Biden for kissing his granddaughter Finnegan on the lips (which was, admittedly, a little weird) by conducting a poll about whether it was "creepy" or not on Twitter, he was deluged with images of his hero - Donald J Trump - being even more uncomfortably intimate with his daughter Ivanka.
The candidate's wife, Dr Jill Biden, meanwhile told CNN that her family is no longer on friendly terms with South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham over his pursuit of Joe and Hunter during the impeachment process.
"Now, he's changed," Dr Biden said. "I don't know what happened to Lindsey... It's hard when you consider somebody a friend and then they've said so many negative things. That's been a little hurtful."
Here's Chelsea Ritschel on Hannity's latest #fail.
Rush Limbaugh announces advanced lung cancer diagnosis
Conservative talk radio stalwart Rush Limbaugh - arguably the forerunner of the populist, opinion-based broadcasting style Fox News has so weaponised in the post-Clinton era - announced yesterday that he is suffering from lung cancer.
Trump regularly golfs with Limbaugh and yesterday took to Twitter - along with many other prominent right-wingers and Tulsi Gabbard - to wish him well.
Here's Clark Mindock's report.
House impeachment manager quotes Harry Potter in Senate
"It is our choices that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities," said Colorado Democrat Jason Crow during yesterday's closing arguments, invoking Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore as he implored Republican senators to do the right thing.
Eric Trump inspires 'Merry Christmas' to trend in February
The president's idiot sons held a "Keep Iowa Great" rally in Des Moines last night, touting their father's familiar attacks on "Crazy Bernie" and his fellow Democratic contenders.
So tired were their themes that Eric even brought up "the war on Christmas" - yep, that hoary old conservative myth - causing ironic greetings of "Merry Christmas" to trend on Twitter last night 11 months ahead of schedule.
Sigh.
Here's our report.
Trump fidgets and conducts orchestra during Super Bowl national anthem
A new video of the president filmed at his "Super Bowl watch party" in Florida over the weekend by a real estate agent "from a Russian-American firm" (hmmm) is causing a stir after it shows him fidgeting during the national anthem and waving his arms as though to conduct the orchestra, rather than holding his hand solemnly over his heart.
It is being seen by some as a show of mocking disrespect.
Chirs Riotta has more
President urged to move on in State of the Union address
Ahead of his likely acquittal in the Senate on Wednesday, Trump will deliver his State of the Union address to the nation this evening and is being urged by members of his own side not to dwell on his divisive impeachment and instead spread a message of national unity.
GOP senator Roy Blunt of Missouri urged him not to crow: “If I was him, I would avoid the subject. I think there’s plenty to talk about, and it’s an opportunity to move on.”
But will he be able to resist? I doubt it somehow. Especially given events in Iowa.
But will he be able to resist? I doubt it somehow. Especially given events in Iowa.
President Trump: 'Democratic Caucus is an unmitgated disaster'
Here's Trump putting the boot in over the Iowa debacle, as expected.
Here's Trump putting the boot in over the Iowa debacle, as expected.
