BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER
& CROOKED MEDIA

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

(Source: Axios)

RICK, ROLLED

Democrat Conor Lamb won the House seat in Pennsylvania’s 18th district by just 627 votes in a hard-fought special election for a district that Trump won by 20 points in 2016. Lamb swung 172 precincts that went to Trump in 2016, while his opponent Rick Saccone took a grand total of 0 districts that went to Clinton. The Pennsylvania 18th marks the 42nd seat to flip from Republican to Democrat since Trump became President.

The Republican spin on the loss is wonderful. After Republicans spent more than $9 million calling Lamb a Pelosi-style liberal, Paul Ryan claimed that Lamb ran as a “conservative,” and the White House said he won in part by “embracing Trump’s policies.” Lamb did support Trump’s tariffs and was critical of Pelosi; but he also campaigned in favor of Obamacare, expanded background checks, stronger unions, a woman’s right to choose, and legalizing medical marijuana, while opposing Trump's tax cuts, cuts to Medicare, and cuts to Social Security. Not exactly a member of the Tea Party, Paul.

Turnout was also high for a special election like this—it captured 62 percent of the 2016 presidential turnout. It was especially high in Democratic areas of the district. According to FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver: “That sort of turnout gap suggests that registered-voter polls could be underrating Democrats in this year’s midterms—and could turn a challenging year for Republicans into a catastrophic one.”

Bottom line: You see the numbers. Conor Lamb is heading to Washington because of 627 votes. From Jon Favreau: “Never think your vote, or phone call, or door knock, or $10 donation won’t make a difference. It all adds up. It all matters.”

Help us kick out California’s most vulnerable Republicans out of office →

NO GOLD WATCH FOR YOU, PAL

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is considering firing Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe days ahead of his scheduled retirement this Sunday. This decision would cause McCabe to lose his pension after 21 years at the FBI. The FBI’s disciplinary office suggested Sessions fire McCabe after he allowed FBI officials to speak with reporters in 2016 about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. If you’re just catching up, super cool boss Donald Trump previously told McCabe that his wife was a loser before pressuring the FBI director to fire him.

Trump is reportedly also considering replacing Sessions with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, which could have serious ramifications for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Unlike Sessions, Pruitt would not have to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, and would legally not need another Senate confirmation vote to serve as acting Attorney General, as he was already confirmed by the Senate as EPA Director. This makes him an easier, and dangerous, pick.

FOLLOW THOSE KIDS

Across the country, thousands of students participated in the National School Walkout, leaving their classrooms and schools for a 17 minute protest to honor the lives lost in the Parkland shooting, and to push lawmakers for action on gun control. Some communities came out in force, while in other schools, students took a knee or found other ways to protest—in one instance, a North Carolina boy was the lone student to walk out. This comes one day after a teacher’s gun accidentally fired in a PUBLIC SAFETY CLASS, injuring three kids. The case for guns in the classroom is getting stronger every day.

For more, check out Crooked contributor Julissa Arce’s conversation with Women’s March Youth activist Winter Minisee about how Generation Z plans to stop school shootings.

Listen →

The U.K. is expelling 23 Russian diplomats as “undeclared intelligence officers” after Russia refused to explain the use of a Russian-made nerve agent in the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy on British soil. Russia has retaliated by expelling British diplomats from Moscow.

Larry Kudlow accepted Trump’s offer to replace Gary Cohn as National Economic Council Director. The CNBC personality, who generally opposes tariffs like the ones Trump announced, will now serve as Trump’s top economic adviser. In offering him the job, Trump said he’d seen a lot of him on TV lately: “You’re looking handsome, Larry.” Kudlow joked he’ll do whatever the CEO of JPMorgan Chase wants as long as he buys Kudlow dinner. Delightful.

Trump is reportedly open to considering a short-term fix to protect DACA recipients in exchange for funding his border wall. Trump has taken every position possible on this issue, but this would be a positive sign.

Emails show HUD Secretary Ben Carson and wife Candy personally selected his $31,000 dining set. Carson and his spokesman previously claimed he had little to no involvement. Reports also revealed that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s soundproof phone booth that was initially reported to cost $25,000 ended up costing $43,000. The furniture is ugly but the lies are uglier. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

After checking out prototypes for his wall, Trump spent yesterday night draining the swamp at a fundraiser for his re-election in Beverly Hills, with a starting ticket price of $35,000. Over 1,000 people came to protest, and they were all invited to stop by the Crooked Media office afterwards to pick up their check from George Soros.

Spending a year in space changed 7% of astronaut Scott Kelly’s DNA.

Cruella de United: According to the Department of Transportation, “18 of the 24 animals who died in U.S. major airlines’ care were in the care of United.” STOP KILLING DOGS, United.

Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It are stopping by a bunch of new cities! Come say hi.

Tickets are available on pre-sale now with the code "crooked” →

Fox & Friends is chalking Conor Lamb’s victory up to his “cuteness.” Weird.

Stephen Hawking: Born 300 years after Galileo’s death, died 139 years after Albert Einstein’s birth...on Pi Day. The man lived his brand. Read the tributes from his colleagues and friends:

Read →

It’s March 14, a.k.a 3/14, a.k.a pi day, named for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

From Lovett: "I don’t care. I’m putting this in. Euler’s identity: It combines some of the most complicated and seemingly unrelated ideas in math into one elegant formula that seems too simple to exist. It’s like magic. Math is cool. Was this short enough, Tommy?"