The Lobby Shop Episode #199: Dr. Liam Dissects the Midterms

Now that the mid-terms are officially over with the Georgia run-off, The Lobby Shop team gathers to get inside Liam Donovan’s brain.  We discuss with the Professor of Punditry why there was no red wave, the implications of a GOP-controlled House and the Dems controlling the Senate, the impact of a certain former President, and how the results impact the current lame duck session of Congress and the Biden agenda.

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Semafor: One Good Text

I texted with Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissman in the wake of the failed effort to include Joe Manchin’s permitting proposal in the annual defense authorization bill. What started out as a question of permitting’s immediate prospects quickly turned to its future as the NDAA text was released late last night without the Manchin language. The exchange was included as part of Semafor’s daily Principals newsletter written by Steve Clemons.

One good text … with Liam Donovan

Read the full issue here.

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POLITICO Mag: Can Trump Do to DeSantis What He Did to Bush?

I spoke to Michael Kruse for his POLITICO Magazine piece on the looming 2024 GOP primary and whether it will be a reprise of 2016.

Plenty of politicos from Florida to Washington and beyond say Trump is the favorite until he’s not. Plenty of others are picking DeSantis even as they tick off what they perceive to be his faults (he’s had but one close race, he can come off as prickly, unlikeable and aloof, his head’s too big and his circle’s too small …). Some see not another Jeb Bush but another Scott Walker, or Chris Christie, or Tim Pawlenty or Rick Perry — governors who were bandied about as potential presidents but never got close. But the most important comparison — for both Trump and DeSantis — remains Jeb Bush.

Bush “was the perfect foil — a living testament to the political class, a darling of the establishment who had been a successful governor but who could not have been more out of step with what the base was looking for,” Republican strategist Liam Donovan told me. “Whatever you think of DeSantis he is none of that.”

Read the full piece here.

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