Dems face rising calls for cease-fire

by Emily Martin - 11/17/23 6:16 PM ET

Evening Report

Dems face rising pressure over Israel-Gaza war

About a month after militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, Democrats in Washington are under intense pressure from their base to urge Israel to pull back military operations and agree to a cease-fire.

The fighting, which has lasted for 41 days, has sparked protests across the globe. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says more than 11,000 civilians — many of them children — have been killed amid Israeli strikes in Gaza.

Earlier this week, activists in Washington, D.C., clashed with police outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters, forcing several lawmakers to shelter in place and eventually get evacuated by police.

And in Boston, protesters blocked a heavily trafficked bridge to urge Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to back a cease-fire.

Democratic lawmakers have pushed for billions of dollars in assistance for civilian victims — both Israeli and Palestinian — in addition to $14.3 million in military assistance to Israel. But they’ve mostly resisted calls from their base to back a cease-fire, saying Israel has a right to defend itself.

President Biden on Wednesday said that Hamas has already stated they’ll attack Israel again and that the idea that the group will agree to a cease-fire “is not realistic.”

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CATCH UP QUICK

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, 96, who was diagnosed with dementia nearly six months ago, has entered hospice care, joining her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, 99.
Rep. George Santos‘s (R-N.Y.) communications director, Gabrielle Lipsky, resigned after the House Ethics Committee released a scathing report about the congressman’s alleged criminal activity.
The judge in former President Trump‘s New York civil fraud case has denied Trump’s motion for a mistrial that was filed on grounds of bias, saying the motion was “utterly without merit.”

NEW THIS AFTERNOON

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ousted

Sam Altman, CEO and founder of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) company known for creating ChatGPT, will be stepping down as CEO, the company’s board of directors announced Friday.

The announcement comes after the board found Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board.”

“We are grateful for Sam’s many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI,” the announcement continued. “At the same time, we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward.” (TheHill)

? FRIDAY FIGURES

Swing State Series — A snapshot of where things stand one year out from the 2024 election. In Part 5, the final installment of our series from The Hill’s Amee LaTour, we look at Wisconsin:

The Cook Political Report rates Wisconsin’s presidential election a “toss-up” and Senate race “lean Democrat.”

Presidential peek:

Most recent polling out of Wisconsin shows President Biden and former President Trump roughly tied in hypothetical match-ups. In RealClearPolitics’s polling index, Biden has 47 percent and Trump, 46 percent.
A recent New York Times/Siena College poll tested several election scenarios, finding one match-up in which a candidate led another beyond the margin of error. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley bested Biden 53 percent to 39 percent among likely voters.
A Marquette Law School poll showed Haley ahead of Biden 53 percent to 44 percent (when including how undecided registered voters were leaning) in Wisconsin.
Check out how FiveThirtyEight’s (now 538) polling averages for Trump and Biden in Wisconsin trended throughout 2020.

Keep in mind: Wisconsin voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1988 except in 2016, when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by less than 1 percentage point.

Biden flipped Wisconsin back by less than 1 percentage point in 2020.

The Senate side: Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) is running for reelection, without any well-known Republican challengers at this time.

In 2022’s Senate election, Republican incumbent Ron Johnson defeated Democrat Mandela Barnes by 1 percentage point.

In the House: Wisconsin may also have at least one competitive House election next year. Cook considers the 3rd District as “lean Republican.”

ICYMI: Check out previous installments of our Swing State Series on Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada

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9/11 families go after TikTok for bin Laden video

9/11 Families United, a 9/11 families group, has called out TikTok for allowing a letter from Osama bin Laden to go viral.

OP-EDS IN THE HILL

“Wall Street titans aren’t fighting antisemitism, they’re bankrolling it” — Lewis Braham, the author of “The House That Bogle Built,” a book about the history of Vanguard funds, and has written about investment funds for numerous financial publications. (Read here)

“Congress’ games mean people go hungry” — Jacqueline Benitez is a preschool teacher and full-time student living in Bellflower in Los Angeles County. She is a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against the USDA over SNAP benefits, represented by Western Center on Law and Poverty and Impact Fund. (Read here)