DHS/POLITICAL FIGURES: “It was a made-for-TV moment, perfect for a presidential campaign advertisement.
His fists clenched and his voice rising, Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, delivered a 10-minute verbal thrashing to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen this week, recalling his ‘tears of rage’ when he learned that President Trump had used vulgarities to describe African nations.
Not to be outdone, Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, who was seated next to Mr. Booker, also skewered Ms. Nielsen, suggesting that Americans could draw a ‘reasonable inference’ that she is racist.
The next presidential election is nearly three years away, but in the Capitol the race is already unfolding, with no fewer than six senators — Mr. Booker and Ms. Harris, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — eyeing the Democratic nomination in 2020, with each angling to get to the left of the others…
The fissure between 2018 and 2020 has been on display in the Capitol this week, as Washington barrels toward a possible government shutdown that can be averted only if lawmakers approve a stopgap spending measure by Friday. For that to happen, at least nine Democratic senators need to vote for it.”
-Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Senate Democrats Make Hard Turn Left in Warming Up for 2020 Race,” The New York Times online, Jan. 17, 2018