The Full Belmonte, 1/22/2024
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ends his Republican presidential campaign
“DeSantis is ending his once-promising presidential bid, which steadily deflated as he struggled to connect with voters and persuade Republicans to swap Donald Trump for a younger, more disciplined champion of his ideas.”
Read the story at Washington Post
President Biden will announce abortion and contraception protections today.
“The measures: They include guidance to make no-cost contraceptives more widely available and a team that aims to ensure access to emergency abortions in U.S. hospitals.
The timing: It’s the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling, overturned in 2022. Biden is trying to draw a comparison with Republican challengers who support strict abortion limits.”
Read this story at Washington Post
In New Hampshire, Trump’s grip on the GOP is clear.
“This state has a more centrist electorate than some other critical GOP primary battlegrounds, leading some analysts to see it as the best chance for one of Donald Trump’s rivals to notch a win for the Republican presidential nomination. Independent voters in New Hampshire also can cast ballots in party primaries, an electoral quirk that creates more potential support for a candidate who tries to tack to the middle. The reality is far more complicated, according to recent interviews conducted ahead of the state's primary on Tuesday.” [Wall Street Journal]
Trump-Haley brawl gets personal
Former President Trump walks offstage after a rally in Manchester, N.H., last night. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire's GOP presidential primary is taking a nasty turn in the final hours before Tuesday's voting, Axios' Alex Thompson reports.
Former President Trump is accusing Nikki Haley of not being ‘smart enough’ to be president, and once again is tapping into race-based attacks.
Haley, who turned 52 yesterday, says Trump, 77, may be in mental ‘decline,’ and incapable of being president into his 80s.
Why it matters: Trump is trying to finish off Haley and virtually seal the Republican nomination. Haley is looking for a springboard to stop him in her home state of South Carolina next month.
After Trump repeatedly mixed up Haley and former Speaker Pelosi at a rally late Friday as he defended his actions during the Capitol riot, Haley and her team spent much of yesterday suggesting the former president isn't mentally able to be president.
‘When you're dealing with the pressures of a presidency, we can't have someone else that we question whether they're mentally fit to do this,’ Haley said.
Pointing to a Trump remark from a few months ago, Haley noted that Trump ‘said he was running against Obama — he never ran against Obama!’
Nikki Haley campaigns at Keene Country Club in Keene, N.H., yesterday. Photo: Robert F. Bukaty/AP
Trump was telling voters that Haley — his former UN ambassador — is ‘not tough enough, not smart enough, or capable enough’ to be president and said that he'd ‘probably’ not pick her to be vice president.
He's also returned to race-based attacks in recent days, falsely suggesting Haley is ineligible to be president because of her Indian immigrant parents.
Trump repeatedly has called Haley by versions of her given first name, Nimarata, even though Haley has gone by her middle name, Nikki, for most of her life.
At a rally in Manchester Saturday night, Trump had a huge backdrop above the stage with anti-Haley graphics, including: ‘NIKKI HALEY IS LOVED BY DEMOCRATS, WALL STREET & GLOBALISTS.’
As a flex, Trump brought several lawmakers to New Hampshire this weekend from Haley's home state of South Carolina ... including Gov. Henry McMaster.” [Axios]
Auditioning for V.P.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) appears with Trump in Concord, N.H., on Friday. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
“KINGSTON, N.H. — The run-up to Tuesday's New Hampshire primary has included repeated auditions to be former President Trump's V.P. pick:
Contenders have been popping up around the state to stump for the former president, Axios' Sophia Cai reports.
Why it matters: With Trump mostly sticking to big rallies, his surrogates are getting big roles at smaller events — while promoting themselves and showing what Trump values most: loyalty.
This weekend, three lawmakers on Trump's V.P. short list — Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — didn't just tout Trump. They emphasized their own relationships with him.
Keep reading.” [Axios]
A Texas company is suing Chicago after the city began penalizing buses that drop off migrants
“Texas-based Wynne Transportation will take the nation’s third largest city to federal court, ratcheting up a legal battle over the migrant crisis that’s left U.S. cities struggling for more than a year. Read more.
Why this matters:
Since 2022, Texas has sent over 100,000 migrants to Democrat-led “sanctuary cities.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he launched his busing operation to ease the burden on border cities, and argues that migrants choose their destinations, get free tickets and the cities should live up to their promise of welcoming all.
The influx has overwhelmed major U.S. cities, namely Chicago, New York and Denver, with mayors making pleas for federal help. They call Abbott’s approach inhumane with buses arriving at all hours and with no passenger lists or coordination, particularly for people who have already faced long, often dangerous, journeys to get to the U.S.
The lawsuit against Chicago comes amid a larger political battle involving federal immigration policy and arguments about the rights and treatment of asylum-seekers.” [AP News]
Nearly three-quarters of states could see earthquake damage in the next century.
“The risk of damaging shaking from an earthquake in the next century. (Illustration by Veronica Penney/The Washington Post)
Most at risk: Parts of Alaska, California and Hawaii have above a 95% chance of feeling shakes from a damaging earthquake, data shows. Check your state’s risk here.
Why it matters: No one has predicted a major earthquake. But these forecasts — updated every five years — let scientists work out where they’re more likely to hit.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Winter storms
“After a weekend of frigid temperatures across the US, warmer air will bring a risk of ice and flooding for some states this week, while another crippling winter storm is set to hit portions of the Plains and South today. A series of winter storms this month have killed at least 82 people in 13 states. The death toll climbed on Sunday after emergency management agencies in Oregon, Mississippi and Tennessee reported additional weather-related fatalities. Meteorologists say the warmer air will bring the most immediate potential hazards to eastern Texas and parts of the Lower Mississippi River Valley through at least Tuesday. Approximately 37 million people are currently under threats of flash flooding and excessive rainfall in the region.” [CNN]
Israeli forces have killed 20%-30% of Hamas’s fighters, the U.S. says—a toll that falls short so far of Israel's goals.
“The first known U.S. estimate of the group’s casualties shows its resilience after months of war that have laid swaths of the Gaza Strip to ruin. The U.S. estimate also found that Hamas still has enough munitions to continue striking Israel and Israeli forces in Gaza for months, and that the group is attempting to reconstitute its police force in parts of Gaza City, according to U.S. officials who confirmed a classified report. Israeli military officials say the war could continue for many more months. However, the U.S, Egypt and Qatar are pushing Israel and Hamas to agree on a phased plan to end the war, starting with freeing hostages. Neither side has agreed to the terms of the new proposal, but people briefed on the talks said Israel and Hamas at least were again willing to engage in discussions.” [Wall Street Journal]
The death toll in Gaza passed 25,000 people, Palestinian officials said.
“What to know: Gaza’s Health Ministry also said 62,681 have been wounded in the war, which began after Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7.
In related news: Iranian-backed militants attacked an air base housing U.S. troops in Iraq on Saturday, further fueling concerns of a wider conflict in the Middle East.”
Read this story at Washington Post
At least 27 people were killed in a blast in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine.
“What happened? Shells hit a market in the city of Donetsk yesterday, Russian and local officials said. They blamed Ukraine’s military, which has not claimed responsibility.
The bigger picture: Russia and Ukraine have both relied on long-range missile attacks in recent weeks as the nearly two-year conflict settles into a grinding stalemate.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Behind the Curtain: Biden's Middle East moonshot
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
“President Biden plans to keep pushing a grand bargain in the Middle East for the day after the war in Gaza — with the hope it could happen before the election, despite Israel's opposition, U.S. officials tell Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen.
The plan: Israel gets normalized relations with Saudi Arabia, in exchange for agreeing to an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state — and allowing the Palestinian Authority to have a role in post-Hamas Gaza.
Why it matters: The Israelis aren't ready to accept a deal like this any time soon. But they might eventually take it as U.S., international and internal pressure mounts in coming months, U.S. officials tell us.
Biden needs to tap into and intensify that pressure without alienating pro-Israel American Jews at home.
Between the lines: This isn't a way to end the war. It's more aimed at setting up what comes after it.
The administration — including Secretary of State Tony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan— used comments in Davos, Switzerland, this past week to lay down its thinking more clearly than ever, in an effort to push world opinion.
What's happening: Biden is growing increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to engage in how to rebuild and run Gaza once he's done trying to decapitate Hamas, as Axios' Barak Ravid has reported in vivid detail.
Bibi has vowed publicly to oppose any deal that provides the Palestinian Authority control over Gaza.
So U.S. officials are working with and around Bibi on a grand bargain to eventually stabilize the region. They believe Gaza needs to be run by a ‘revitalized Palestinian Authority,’ and that a new, formal Israel-Saudi alliance could help stabilize the surrounding environment.
What we're watching: The grand bargain is a longshot in the immediate future, since Bibi and the majority of his government oppose a Palestinian state.” [Axios]
“The frontlines of Russia’s war in Ukraine have become infested with rats and mice, reportedly spreading disease that causes soldiers to vomit and bleed from their eyes, crippling combat capability and recreating the gruesome conditions that plagued troops in the trench warfare of World War I. The infestations are due partly to the change in seasons and mice’s mating cycle, but are also a measure of how the war has become static, after Ukraine’s counteroffensive was largely rebuffed by heavily fortified Russian defenses.” [CNN
The U.S. is derailing China’s influence in Africa.
“China’s missteps along a vital rail corridor have helped create a surprise opening for the U.S., which finds itself suddenly challenging Beijing’s commercial dominance in the unlikeliest of places: Angola, a southern African country once solidly embedded in the Communist bloc and the continent’s largest recipient of Chinese infrastructure loans.” [Wall Street Journal]
A temple to one of Hinduism’s holiest deities has opened in Ayodhya, India. Here’s what it means
“Three decades after Hindu mobs tore down a historical mosque, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attended the consecration of a grand temple, dedicated to Hinduism’s most revered deity Lord Ram, at the same site. It’s a political move to boost his party ahead of a crucial national vote. Read more.
Why this matters:
Ayodhya has been at the center of India’s turbulent politics for decades.The temple was built over a razed 16th-century Babri mosque, and most political opposition leaders are boycotting the temple’s opening, saying it doesn’t befit an officially secular India.
Experts say the temple’s opening is the beginning of the election campaign for Modi, an avowed nationalist who has been widely accused of espousing Hindu supremacy to lobby the country’s religious majority. Hindus make up about 80% of India’s population but the country is also home to some 200 million Muslims who have frequently come under attack by Hindu nationalists.” [AP News]
“Hundreds of thousands of people protested across Germany over the weekend against far-right extremism and the rise of the anti-immigrant AfD party. It followed a recent revelation of a meeting at which senior AfD officials and members of the main opposition Christian Democrats discussed a “re-migration” scheme that echoed the policies of the Nazis.” [Bloomberg]
Demonstrators in front of the Reichstag building yesterday in Berlin. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
“China’s imports of chipmaking machines jumped last year as firms tried to get around US-led efforts to hobble the nation’s semiconductor industry. Chinese companies are rapidly investing in new plants to advance their capabilities in the face of export controls imposed by the US and its allies, curbs that make it harder to access the machines needed to make the most powerful chips.” [Bloomberg]
“North Korea’s new arsenal of ballistic missiles is set for its first real-world test on the battlefield in Ukraine. But based on the success of US air-defense systems against Russian missiles in that conflict, Kim Jong Un may be worried. Experts say the weapons sent by Pyongyang so far are similar to Russia’s Iskander series, which US Patriot systems have been largely effective in countering.” [Bloomberg]
“Gold mining revenue is helping Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to fund its war against the nation’s army, United Nations investigators say. In a report, which Bloomberg News has seen and hasn’t yet been made public, the panel of experts also described as “credible” allegations that the United Arab Emirates has helped supply the RSF, which the Gulf nation denies.” [Bloomberg]
“The EU will take another step this week in its effort to recreate itself into a global power that can leverage its massive single market to rebuff coercive actions from the likes of Beijing, Moscow and even Washington.” [Bloomberg]
“Support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida showed little sign of recovery in a series of weekend polls after he dissolved his scandal-hit faction in a bid to restore trust.” [Bloomberg]
ESPN talks deals with NFL, NBA, MLB
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
“ESPN faces an existential crisis as it seeks to secure a streaming future while the cable TV bundle is in terminal decline, Axios' Tim Baysinger writes.
Its solution: Ask sports leagues if they want to buy a stake in the network.
Why it matters: The ‘worldwide leader in sports’ being partially owned by a major league would raise a bevy of conflict-of-interest questions.
No deal is close. But multiple sources say ESPN, owned by Disney, has been discussing equity stakes with the NFL, NBA and MLB.
Read on.” [Axios]
Scientists put forward a new theory for why dogs wag their tails.
“What is it? Humans tended to choose animals with waggly tailswhen they welcomed dog ancestors into their lives tens of thousands of years ago, a new study said.
What it means: The findings could flip the long-held belief that dogs wag their tails because they’re happy. Instead, it may be because tail-wags made humans happy.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Valley of lost cities
This LIDAR image shows complexes arranged along wide dug streets at the site. Photo: Antoine Dorison, Stéphen Rostain via AP
“Archeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old network of cities, tucked into the foothills of the Andes in Ecuador, AP reports.
These settlements were home to at least 10,000 people and existed around the same time as the Roman Empire — making them roughly 1,000 years older than previous discoveries in the region, the researchers report in Science.
This LIDAR image shows a main street crossing an urban area. Photo: Antoine Dorison, Stéphen Rostain via AP
‘This shows a very dense occupation and an extremely complicated society,’ says University of Florida archeologist Michael Heckenberger, who wasn't involved in the study.” [Axios]
SPORTS
“N.F.L. playoffs: The Kansas City Chiefs are headed back to the A.F.C. Championship — their sixth straight — after beating the Buffalo Bills, 27-24. They will face the Baltimore Ravens, who beat the Houston Texans on Saturday.
More N.F.L.: The Detroit Lions’ historic run continues: They beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-23, to reach their first N.F.C. Championship in over three decades. They will play the San Francisco 49ers, who beat the Green Bay Packers on Saturday.” [New York Times]
Hoops' winningest coach
Tara VanDerveer celebrates in Stanford, Calif., yesterday. Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
“Tara VanDerveer, the Stanford women's basketball head coach, passed retired Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski with her 1,203rd career victory yesterday.
No. 8 Stanford won at home in Maples Pavilion, beating Oregon State 65-56.
Why it matters: A head coach since age 24, the 70-year-old VanDerveer now stands atop major college basketball as the winningest coach of all time, AP reports.
She's now 1,203-267. In 45 seasons at Stanford, she's had 14 Final Fours.
Video tributes from Billie Jean King, Steve Kerr, Dawn Staley and Coach K himself (age 76) played on the big screen.” [Axios]
“Putting for glory: 20-year-old Nick Dunlap became the first amateur golfer to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991. Because of his status, he will not receive a single dollar of the tournament's eye-watering prize.” [BBC]
“Lives Lived: Berish Strauch was a plastic surgeon whose pioneering procedures and devices to reattach or replace vital body parts included the first inflatable prosthetic penis. He died at 90.” [New York Times]
1 for the road
Photo: Peter Dejong/AP
“Thousands of people picked free tulips in the garden at Museum Square in Amsterdam over the weekend, marking the opening of the 2024 tulip season.” [Axios]
Photo: Peter Dejong/AP