TUE 2/1/22
Wagging for Peace? – Great Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in Kyiv to meet directly with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in an effort to diffuse the apparently pending invasion by an estimated 130,000-plus Russian troops gathered along its eastern border and to the north in Belarus. While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continues to meet with his Kremlin counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to tamp down tensions in the region, the U.K.’s leader has headed over there himself as he faces calls for resignation back in London, over lavish “COVID-19 lockdown” parties he attended.
Wagging the dog?: Certainly that’s what it looks like, and it will take a big diplomatic victory for Johnson to overcome outrage over the lockdown parties. But Johnson, who was aligned with Donald J. Trump’s presidency as the prime minister who fought for and administered the nationalistic Brexit withdrawal from the European Union, is now in Kyiv “to show support” to Ukraine, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. The U.K. “will continue to uphold Ukrainian sovereignty even as Russia seeks to destroy it,” Johnson said.
Back here at home, factions of Trump’s GOP are taking an isolationist position at best – pro-Russia at worst -- over the crisis.
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Uncovering More of Trump’s Coup Attempt – Six weeks after the November 2020 election, then-President Trump directed his attorney, former 9/11 hero Rudy Giuliani, to call the Department of Homeland Security to see whether he could have the department legally take control of voting machines in swing states whose Electoral College votes were to go to Joseph R. Biden, The New York Times reports, citing three sources.
Giuliani did, but Homeland Security’s acting deputy director told the former New York City mayor he lacked authority to audit or impound the machines. The alleged plot quashed Team Trump’s third attempt to seize the machines, which included deploying the military and using the Justice Department, a scheme then-Attorney Gen. William Barr immediately “shot down,” according to the NYT’s report.
Note: Between the interviews with former Trump administration advisors and officials willing to talk to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, and subpoenas issued to those who won’t turn, the panel appears to be building a strong case against the ex-president. But Trump’s rally in Houston last weekend serves as warning he is not going down without a fight, with help of his Republican supporters on Capitol Hill as well as in his rallies, culminating in another attempt in 2024.
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Sinema Sinking — Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) is not doing particularly well among Arizona Democrats according to a recent Morning Consult poll conducted December 21, 2021 to January 20, 2022, and compared with results from another poll taken January 21 to February 20, 2021.
Last year 67% of Democratic voters approved of the senator. The most-recent poll has her at 43%.
Perhaps it comes as no surprise that her approval rating among Republicans last year was 35%. It is now at 55%.
Yes, Sinema is more popular among Republicans than Democrats in her home state.
The shift among Independents isn’t particularly notable: 39% approval last year; 35% approval this year.
Sinema’s numbers are quite a contrast with her fellow Democratic senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly. His early 2021 approval rating among Democrats was 81%. In the latest poll it is 80%.
Similarly, 20% of Republicans approved of him in the earlier poll and 19% do in the most recent.
As for Independents there is seemingly a shift from Sinema to Kelly. He was at 36% in last year’s poll and is now at 39%.
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics