News round-up, Wednesday, November 10, 2022.
Editor's Pick:
Control of the House and the Senate remain up in the air as President Biden struck an optimistic tone at the White House. Georgia’s Senate race will head to a runoff, while races in Arizona and Nevada have yet to be called.
President Biden discussing the midterm election results at the White House on Wednesday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Jonathan Weisman and Peter Baker
Biden celebrates Democrats’ performance in midterms and says he recognizes voter concerns.
President Biden declared Wednesday that American voters sent “a clear and unmistakable message” that they wanted to preserve democracy and abortion rights, but he acknowledged voter frustrations with stubbornly high inflation and governmental dysfunction.
Speaking at the White House at an extended news conference, Mr. Biden took stock in an election that went surprisingly well for his party, proclaiming he had lost fewer seats in the House than any Democratic president in his first midterm since John F. Kennedy.
This is what Republican politicians and commentators are saying about the election results.
Donald Trump at his election night party at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. He has a history of repeatedly defying those who said he was finished.Credit...Josh Ritchie for The New York Times
It’s a storied American ritual: Two years in, a president whose party just got shellacked hauls himself before the White House press corps to confront his accusers.
President Biden, Houdini-like, escaped that fate on Wednesday with a jaunty news conference before heading off for a planned trip to Indonesia. “It was a good day for democracy,” he said, “and I think a good day for America.”
Instead of Democrats, it is Republicans who are now discussing a reckoning — an outcome few expected on Monday. The On Politics newsletter spoke with Representative Peter Meijer, a Michigan Republican who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, and took a look at Republican reactions from the Capitol and in the news media.
Putin will not go to G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia
The decision not to attend the summit next week comes as Moscow is suffering losses in its war in Ukraine.
Le Monde with AFP
Published on November 10, 2022 at 04h37, updated at 07h43 on November 10, 2022
Time to 1 min.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech at a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of Russian Federal Medical-Biological Agency in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. SERGEI GUNEYEV / AP
Russian president Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 leaders' summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali next week, Moscow's embassy in Indonesia told AFP on Thursday, November 10. "I can confirm that (foreign minister) Sergei Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation to the G20. President Putin's program is still being worked out, he could participate virtually," said Yulia Tomskaya, the embassy's chief of protocol.
US president Joe Biden, who has called Mr. Putin a "war criminal", previously said he had no intention of meeting Putin at the summit if he attended.
The decision, which follows months of speculation, comes as Moscow is suffering losses in its Ukraine campaign and as the Kremlin tries to shield itself from Western condemnation at the November 15-16 summit.
Russia on Wednesday ordered its troops to withdraw from the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine in a further setback in the face of Kyiv's counter-offensive. Another source with knowledge of Russia's planning for the Bali event confirmed that Mr. Putin would be replaced by Lavrov. The person said it was unclear if the Russian leader would attend virtually.
Ron DeSantis just sent a BIG 2024 message
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 2230 GMT (0630 HKT) April 8, 2022
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 24, 2022, in Orlando.
(CNN)Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has raised more than $100 million for his 2022 reelection bid, a stunning sum that speaks as much to his national ambitions as it does to his prospects in the Sunshine State.
DeSantis is widely regarded as the biggest star not named "Donald Trump" within the Republican Party. He regularly runs second to Trump in 2024 straw polls and often wins them outright when Trump is not included.
And unlike many other Republicans mentioned as possible 2024 candidates, DeSantis has not said he would get out of the race to make way for Trump.
Which, of course, Trump has taken notice of. "I think that most of those people, and almost every name you mentioned, is there because of me," Trump told The Washington Post earlier this week about the potential field. "In some cases, because I backed them and endorsed them. You know Ron was at 3 percent, and the day I endorsed him, he won the race."
It's unclear what DeSantis makes of all of this. His 2022 reelection campaign gives him a convenient excuse to deflect all 2024 questions until after November. (Polling suggests he is a clear favorite for a second term in Republican-leaning Florida.)
But make no mistake: DeSantis and his allies very much meant to send a message with his fundraising totals. (According to CNN, he appears to be the first governor to break the $100 million mark in fundraising solely through donations.)