2020 watch: Democratic Unity Is Imploding

“Infighting between the young socialists and the old establishment figures who run the place” has left the Democratic Party an “absolute mess” — and more divided than ever, observes Scott Jennings at USA Today. He cites Nancy Pelosi’s criticism of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three other Democratic freshmen women who “have their Twitter world”— which prompted “AOC” to punch right back, calling Pelosi’s legislative moves “a huge mistake.” And, of course, there was Sen. Kamala Harris’ “flogging” of Joe Biden over federally mandated busing. Billionaire Tom Steyer’s entrance into the race could further deepen the division. With the illusion of a “united front” crumbling, “Trump’s chances for reelection are getting better every day.”

Fiscal watchdog: Cuomo’s $1.7 Billion Medicaid Charade

Gov. Andrew Cuomo “quietly postponed a month’s worth of Medicaid payments” from March to April, “shifting $1.7 billion in spending from one fiscal year to the next,” reports the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond. Had the payments been made on time, Medicaid spending would have busted the state cap on its growth — as well as the governor’s self-imposed 2 percent cap on overall state-funded budget hikes. Hammond recalls similar “gimmicks” in the past, including by then-Gov. Mario Cuomo, who famously “sold” Attica prison to the state Urban Development Corp. Yet the Medicaid move came even as the state ended its fiscal year with a $12 billion surplus. And with last year’s payments rolled into the current budget, observes Hammond, complying with the Medicaid-spending cap will be “that much harder.”

From the right: Susan Collins Faces a Tough Fight

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is up for reelection in 2020, but after she voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Washington Examiner’s Kaylee McGhee fears “this race could be very different than the last four, in which she easily swept her Democratic opponents.” Collins has consistently appealed “to voters in both political parties who value thoughtfulness and middle ground,” but after she said she needed more than “one completely uncorroborated accusation” of sexual abuse to deem Kavanugh guilty, she and her family were threatened and harassed. “Now Democrats are rallying behind various progressive candidates” in a bid to boot her. Republicans should come to her aid. “The Senate needs independent thinkers such as Collins,” says McGhee, “and it would set a terrible precedent to let leftist activists bully her into submission.”

From the left: Kamala Harris’ Troubling Flip-Flops

Sen. Kamala Harris’ “forceful confrontation with Biden over school segregation” during the Democratic debates significantly boosted her poll numbers, but The Week’s Ryan Cooper points out that she soon “backtracked on the issue,” giving voters “reason to believe her answers to thorny questions are less than sincere.” Her inconsistency isn’t new: Harris pulled “the same herky-jerky move” when she changed her mind about doing away with private health insurance. Her “most disturbing” flip-flop is her boast “about her role in the national mortgage settlement of 2012,” which turned out to be “yet another bank giveaway.” Instead of the “steely resolve” the country needs, Harris has a “tendency to say what is popular in front of progressive audiences while defaulting to the political status quo when it comes time to make tough decisions.”

Libertarian: Socialism Is Fueling Seattle’s Demise

Amazon’s new 43-story building outside Seattle, which will accommodate thousands of workers, seems like “another part in the saga” of the company’s slow departure from the city, sighs Dori Monson at KIRO Radio. And it’s all because Seattle’s mayor and City Council “have gone fanatic about socialism,” pushing “anti-business policies.” Amazon’s exit will be “cataclysmic” for the real-estate market, Monson notes, because the “many thousands of square feet” of space it frees up will drive down prices. More generally, Seattle’s “Leftist run-up” will cause the city to “fall harder than any other” in the next recession. Already, many businesses are on the brink of survival thanks to the hefty minimum-wage hikes and “all the controlling policies” officials keeps imposing. Seattle may never elect Republicans, Monson allows, “but we have got to stop electing socialists.”

— Compiled by Ashley Allen & Adam Brodsky