There has been a notable shift in the political battlespace in the past 72 hours; and particularly since the Nevada democrat debate.  More and more democrats are openly criticizing Bernie Sanders directly. However, they only have a window of about ten days to attack Bernie before Super Tuesday when the Rubicon of inevitability will be crossed.

Institutional democrats had conducted a few test runs against Sanders in previous months; however, as with the example of Hillary Clinton, each effort resulted in a quick reversal after the backlash from Bernie’s grassroots activists.  What appears to be happening now is a blitzkrieg effort with all elements aligned and focused.

The Sunday evening CBS interview was carefully crafted and highlighted some of the more severe opinions and beliefs of Bernie.  The framing was noted to draw particular attention to his Socialist & Marxist underbelly via emphasis on Sanders outlook toward Fidel Castro.

A soft type of narrative engineering is similar to passive aggression; noted the way it is presented to the audience.  The Anderson Cooper 60 Minutes interview was a case study.

We are starting to see the ‘Never-Bernie’ candidates taking direct aim at the front-runner from all directions. Along with the shift the campaign of Mini Mike Bloomberg announces they are going to carpet bomb Sanders with a mass media blitz of negative attack ads.

VIA NBC – Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign plans to unleash its cash-flush media operation against Bernie Sanders.

[…] The campaign plans a multi-pronged attack, including the publication of opposition research on Sanders, these people said. It will also push out digital attack ads focused on Sanders’ record. On Monday, the Bloomberg campaign attempted to paint Sanders as a past ally of the National Rifle Association, a gun advocacy group that Bloomberg has fought for over a decade.

The attacks on Sanders, who has accused Bloomberg of trying to buy the Democratic nomination, will also attempt to highlight negative aspects of his record on race relations both as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and as a senator, the sources said. This comes after Sanders, now seen as the Democratic front-runner, has taken aim at Bloomberg for his support of a policing policy known as stop-and-frisk that often targeted black and Latino people.

People within the Bloomberg campaign are also discussing whether to have surrogates and supporters write op-eds and show up on TV to speak out against Sanders, these people added.

Bloomberg’s campaign is sounding the alarm on Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, ahead of Super Tuesday, March 3, when 14 states hold their primaries. (read more)

Apparently, for reasons they cannot quite fully explain, it takes a few weeks to count the votes from Democrat caucuses.  The DNC has reported that sometime mid-week next week the Iowa caucus results will be released.  With that in mind the Nevada caucuses were held yesterday, here’s the most recent update:

♦ New York Times Nevada Results LINK

♦ CNN News Nevada Results Link

♦ Politico Nevada Results Link

♦ Reno Gazette Nevada Results Link

Nevada caucus results are starting to come in, albeit there are again delays with reporting from most precincts; however, it is clear Bernie Sanders is well positioned for a blowout victory likely to exceed 50% of the Nevada vote.

With Bernie Sanders now positioned as the clear front-runner, DNC party insider James Carville reacts.  WATCH:

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A troubling early indicator for Democrats shows up in early vote responses showing a lack of turnout amid Latino and Black voters.  Something to keep watching

2016: 19% latino / 13% black
2020: 17% latino / 10% black

The Nevada Caucuses are taking place today to select the Democrat presidential candidate. For the first time this year Nevada had early caucuses voting last week and there were a great deal of votes cast.

Caucuses begin at Noon local time, 3:00pm Eastern.  Due to early caucus voting we should start to see some results around 4:00pm to 4:30pm as precincts call-in their results.

♦ New York Times Nevada Results LINK

♦ CNN News Nevada Results Link

♦ Politico Nevada Results Link

♦ Reno Gazette Nevada Results Link

At first this seemed like some kind of spoof…. alas, in reality, this is what billionaire Mike Bloomberg is spending his money on.  Good grief, the left really can’t meme.

Apparently this is supposed to be some kind of hit against President Trump… but it’s just plain silly.  The only thing this billboard does is highlight President Trump as an ordinary person; heck, Trump likes ketchup too.  So what?

However, there’s a boomerang message; because the implied message is Billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s elitism.  What a doofus. This is what Bloomberg’s spending his money on?  Next up: Donald Trump Eats McDonald’s French Fries”…

The New York Times and a host of allied political narrative engineers attempted to spin up another Russia narrative yesterday.  The claim surrounds a briefing by DNI Joseph Maguire (pictured below) to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).  Adam Schiff and house Democrats in the briefing claim DNI Maguire stated Russians favored President Trump and would work to assist his re-election.

The Democrat spin was to claim President Trump replaced Maguire as an outcome of this briefing; and Trump wants to ignore Russia interference assistance. etc. etc.  The media ran with the framework of the Democrat narrative; and the political operatives piled-on.

However, in a surprise move Jake Tapper actually undercuts the narrative engineering through his own sources with information on the reality of the briefing:

(1) DNI Joseph Maguire never said Russia was, would, or is working to interfere in the election to help President Trump.  Rather the briefing nuance was that Russia has an understanding of Trump and would likely view him as a deal-maker they could work with and Sanders, Buttigieg et al were unknowns.

(2) President Trump wasn’t angered at the Maguire briefing; however, he was angered that he had to find out about the briefing from GOP members of the HPSCI instead of Maguire briefing the President on the material prior to briefing congress.  The executive office was blindsided by committee members asking questions of the White House, when Maguire never informed the President of his briefing material in advance.

Those two points were spun wildly by the left-wing media.  Kudos to Jake Tapper for setting the record straight.

However, it is not a surprise for President Trump to end the tenure of Maguire as DNI given this end-run around the President and the possibility Maguire’s motives might just be another example of the intelligence community undercutting the office of the President. [I would say that’s highly likely]

The fact DNI Joseph Maguire would brief congress without informing the White House of the briefing material highlights a possible intent by Maguire to undermine the President.  Whether that intent is accurate is a moot point.  The action by Maguire leaves open the possibility, and his lack of judgement created a mess for the White House.

Therefore Maguire’s action showed poor judgement and a compromise within his position.  Given the sensitive nature of the position he holds, both issues are fatal flaws.

Hence, President Trump selected a more dependable Richard “Ric” Grenell to replace Maguire as interim Acting DNI.