Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has seen a continued rise in the polls, with a new poll from the New York Times/Siena College showing him receiving 25 percent in a poll question asking which Democratic candidate would be the first choice for voters in the upcoming Iowa caucuses, according to an article by Sydney Ember and Jonathan Martin published in The New York Times on Jan. 25.
Ember and Martin wrote that Sanders “has gained six points since the last Times-Siena survey” which was taken in Oct. 2019. South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Sen. Joe Biden “have remained stagnant since the fall,” according to the article. Sen. Elizabeth Warren saw a decrease since the last poll, dropping from 22 percent to 15 percent. Warren is trailed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Wall Street banker and billionaire Tom Steyer and former corporate lawyer Andrew Yang, respectively.
President Donald Trump has continued holding rallies and making public appearances amidst the ongoing impeachment proceedings. His rally in Wildwood, New Jersey on Tuesday saw more than 100,000 ticket requests coming in. New Jersey 101.5 said in an article posted to their website that this high number of requests for tickets could make the rally one of Trump’s biggest rallies so far.
The president also made an appearance at the annual March for Life rally, which took place on Friday. NBC News reported that Trump was “the first sitting president to attend [the] March for Life rally.” Trump told the pro-life crowd that “unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.”
“Together, we are the voice for the voiceless,” Trump said. U.S. Rep. from Hawaii Tulsi Gabbard made headlines recently when she filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton following Clinton’s baseless accusation that Gabbard is an asset of the Russian government.
Gabbard has made semi-regular appearances on Tucker Carlson Tonight while on the campaign trail and she again appeared on his show last week to discuss the lawsuit. Gabbard said that the lawsuit is about her “life” as well as Clinton implying that she is a “traitor.”
“I think it was a very clear and intentional message that if you dare to cross Hillary Clinton or her powerful allies…you too will see your reputation smeared,” Gabbard said. “You too will get the kind of false and baseless accusations that we’ve seen from Hillary towards me. It’s an attempt to silence anyone who dares to cross her.”
Carlson — a longtime critic of Clinton — said that people were “shocked” that Gabbard filed the lawsuit but said that he was not shocked by the news.
“She accused you of being ‘groomed’ by a foreign power to subvert this country. We’re of course rooting for you in this,” Carlson said.
One of the most interesting events so far on the run for the White House centered around comedian and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. On a recent episode of his podcast the Joe Rogan Experience, he told comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore that “all” of the Democratic candidates have approached him about guests on the show (which has an audience in the millions) but he has refused all except for Gabbard, Sanders and Yang.
“I like Tulsi and I like Bernie,” Rogan said. “That’s it.”
Several episodes later, Rogan told columnist Bari Weiss that he would “probably vote for Bernie” in the primary. Sanders tweeted the clip from Rogan’s conversation with Weiss and the controversy began almost immediately. According to The Hill, The Human Rights Campaign’s President Alphonso David criticized Sanders for accepting Rogan’s endorsement along with a number of ‘blue check’ Twitter users.
Much of the controversy stems from Rogan having guests on his podcast who are said to be “right wing” as well as his questioning of whether or not children should be given hormone blockers.
While Sanders has yet to denounce Rogan’s endorsement, the debate continues over whether or not the Vermont senator’s embrace of the endorsement will help him or hurt him in the long run.
Graphic: Maggie Claytor/ The Johnsonian
