Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO NIGHTLY: How a toxic spill became a partisan flash point

Thursday, February 23, 2023

POLITICO NIGHTLY: How a toxic spill became a partisan flash point

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the East Palestine Fire Department as he visits the area in the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern train derailment. | Matt Freed/AP Photo

POLITICAL PAWNS — Nearly three weeks after a 150-car train containing toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, questions still abound about the extent of the environmental disaster and the health threats resulting from it. Misinformation is rampant . The fears of area residents have not been quelled by the Biden administration’s response, despite a visit from EPA Administrator Michael Regan and the presence of lower level EPA employees in East Palestine since the spill occurred.

This week, the crisis entered its secondary stage — partisan flash point. Republicans have cranked up the pressure on the White House, with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) calling Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg “m.i.a. on the derailment.”

“He is an incompetent who is focused solely on his fantasies about his political future & needs to be fired,” Rubio tweeted Tuesday. For his part, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) went on Tucker Carlson Tonight last week to talk about the lack of federal attention to East Palestine.

Columbiana County — where East Palestine is located — is in the heart of Ohio’s Trump country, which in no small part explains why Donald Trump visited today. Wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and flanked by East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and Vance, the former president amplified GOP criticism that the Biden administration hasn’t been focused on the disaster.

“I sincerely hope that when your representatives and all of the politicians get here, including Biden, they get back from touring Ukraine, that he’s got some money left over,” he said, echoing a right-wing talking point that Biden is more focused overseas than on pressing domestic affairs.

It’s an accusation that Trump’s son Donald Jr. has made multiple times on Twitter, and Conaway, a Republican, has made the point himself — on Tuesday he called it the “biggest slap in the face” that Biden visited Ukraine before he made it to East Palestine.

The barrage of criticism appears to have caught Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg flat footed. Earlier this week, Buttigieg had told reporters that he would visit the city “when the time was right” but it was announced today — on the heels of Trump’s visit — that the secretary would travel to Ohio Thursday to meet with DOT officials and receive an update from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Buttigieg countered Rubio’s attacks by arguing that Republican deregulatory efforts have weakened rail safety and that Trump’s visit to Ohio is political theater disguising the fact that he presided over rollbacks of essential safety measures .

Conaway, East Palestine’s mayor, worried aloud about his fearful and anxious constituents turning into “political pawns.” But it might already be too late.

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on Twitter at @calder_mchugh .

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WHAT'D I MISS?

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

— Tester will seek reelection, bolstering Dems in 2024: Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) announced this morning that he will run for reelection, a major boost to Senate Democrats defending their majority on a tough map in 2024 . Tester, who is running for a fourth term, will be a top GOP target this cycle.

— Battle for control of Wisconsin Supreme Court sees liberal and conservative advance to final round: Janet Protasiewicz and Daniel Kelly will face off in an April election to determine ideological control of the Wisconsin state Supreme Court — with implications for the future of abortion access, redistricting and voting rights ahead of the 2024 election in the battleground state.

— McClellan elected as Virginia’s first Black woman in Congress: State Sen. Jennifer McClellan overwhelmingly won a Tuesday special election for a vacant Richmond-based congressional district, making her Virginia’s first Black woman elected to Congress . McClellan, a Democrat, led 74 percent to 26 percent over Republican Leon Benjamin with 98 percent of the vote counted.

— Vivek Ramaswamy announces he will run for president: Ramaswamy, a multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur and self-described intellectual godfather of the anti-woke movement, announced yesterday evening that he is running for president . “We are in the middle of a national identity crisis,” he declared in a video launching his campaign. Ramaswamy is the third high-profile candidate to declare for the presidency in 2024.

AROUND THE WORLD

EASTERN PROMISES — Vladimir Putin said “Russia and China are reaching new levels of cooperation” after meeting Beijing’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Moscow, writes Gregorio Sorgi .

The Russian president hailed the relationship between Beijing and Moscow as important to “stabilize the international situation,” adding that he awaits a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Shortly before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin and Xi signed a statement proclaiming that there were “no limits to Sino-Russian cooperation.” While Russia has become economically more dependent on China since the start of the conflict, Beijing has refused to publicly provide military support.

Wang told Putin that the relationship between China and Russia would “not succumb to pressure from third parties,” and pledged to deepen strategic cooperation with Moscow, despite objections from the U.S. and other western nations.

PERSONA NON GRATA — Shamima Begum, who left the U.K. to join the ISIS terror group while still in school, has lost an appeal over the decision to strip her of British citizenship, writes Andrew McDonald .

At a secret hearing in November, Begum challenged the removal of her citizenship by the U.K. government in 2019. Her citizenship was removed as the government judged her to be a threat to national security.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission ruled this morning that the decision was lawful. The judge, Robert Jay, said that the “sensitive” issue of whether Begum is a threat to national security is “for the secretary of state to evaluate and not for the commission.”

Begum was 15 when she left her home in London to travel to Syria in 2015. The now-23-year-old is unlikely to be able to return to the U.K.

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NIGHTLY NUMBER

966,000

The number of applications from asylum seekers to enter the European Union, Switzerland and Norway that were lodged in 2022 , according to an analysis from the European Union Agency for Asylum. The nearly 1 million applications represents a rise of about 50 percent compared to 2021 and is the highest number since 2016. EU experts attribute the rise to the weakening Covid-19-related restrictions and long-term underlying issues like a rise in conflicts around the world. The main countries of origin were Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Venezuela and Colombia, according to the report.

RADAR SWEEP

GLIMPSES OF THE GALAXY — Since the 1990s, scientists have identified 5,000 planets outside of Earth’s solar system. Now, musician and American filmmaker John D Boswell has a new, operatic and visually stunning animation highlighting the diversity of planets in galaxies beyond. The animated tour takes viewers through an interstellar spaceship, exploring nearby solar systems, examining planets with the potential to support alternative forms of life and examining the galaxy’s natural beauty — filled with metal clouds, double sunsets and operatic interludes. The video examines planets like HD 219134, and demonstrates how high concentrations of aluminum and calcium can form vast deposits of rubies and sapphires. As well as a pair of zombie super earths, called Poltergeist and Phobetor, which produce breathtaking auroras as a result of their dead stars. Watch the 30-minute animated tour produced by Boswell , also known as Melodysheep, for the digital magazine Aeon.

PARTING WORDS

Participants wave Russian national flags during the "Glory to the Defenders of the Fatherland'' concert. | AP Photo

PUTIN’S HOME COURT — Friday marks exactly one year since Russian forces first rolled into Ukraine, kicking off a bloody conflict that has ravished Moscow’s economy, upended trading relations with the West and continues to claim countless lives. In the run-up to the anniversary, President Vladmir Putin showcased his domestic propaganda campaign at an event at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium — filled with hot drinks, payouts, and of course, free food.

Tens of thousands of Russians were reported to have poured into the event yesterday, which was timed for Defender of the Fatherland Day on February 23, a traditional holiday in Russia which this year acts as an upbeat to the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A similar rally in Luzhniki was held in March last year, when Russia marked the eight-year anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, and another in October on Red Square after a signing ceremony to celebrate the annexing of four more Ukrainian regions, despite them not being fully under Russian control.

Since 2014, the rallies have become a fixed feature of Putin’s leadership. But even the most fervent Kremlin supporter would struggle to portray the rallies as spontaneous.

“After Crimea’s annexation, Putin went from aspiring to the legitimacy of an elected president to that of being an almighty Leader. And if you’re a Leader, you need a crowd to gather around you,” analyst Nikolai Petrov, a consultant at Chatham House think tank, told POLITICO.

The presidential administration has sent out guidelines to regional authorities on suitable activities, and suggestions reportedly include painting military-themed murals, staging flash mobs with people lining up in the form of a star-shaped war medal, and arts and crafts workshops to produce, among other things.

Russians who have family or friends involved in the “special military operation” have also been encouraged to record personal video messages and share them online under the hashtag #ourheroes.