Welcome to Liberty Nation’s Daily Snapshot. All the top news of the day, the latest polls, and more.

What’s happening in the political sphere – the hot stories making the news today.

• Late in the day on May 15, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the biggest spending bill in U.S. history. Oh, for the days of Capitol Hill pushing out mere $787 billion stimulus packages! This latest monstrosity tips the scales at $3 trillion – with a T – and has less to do with Coronavirus than financing the progressive agenda. The legislation is likely dead on arrival in the Senate, however.
• Another May 15 development in Washington was the firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick. “[I]t is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as Inspector General. That is no longer the case with regard to this Inspector General,” President Trump wrote in a letter to congressional leaders. Linick, appointed by former President Barack Obama, handed over to lawmakers certain documents provided to the State Department by Rudi Giuliani, during the impeachment investigation.
• Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is not excited about President Trump’s suggestion that he call Barack Obama to testify regarding the genesis of the Russian collusion affair. Graham warns that it would set a bad precedent, and he is probably correct. Were Obama to be directly implicated in the plot to create the now-debunked collusion story, though, the senator should remember the favorite mantra of Democrats, for the past three years: no-one is above the law.

The latest polls and trends impacting the United States.

• If the allegations made by Tara Reade against Joe Biden are proven before the November election, 57% of voters – including 44% of Democrats – say the former vice president should withdraw and allow his party to pick a replacement candidate.
• Reason magazine debunked a recent poll cited by CNN, explaining how the news network misrepresented a Gallup poll that asked people about what anti-Coronavirus measures were important to them as things return to normal. CNN claimed that 68% of those surveyed said they would not return to “normal life” until a vaccine was available. In fact, those people said that developing a vaccine should be the top priority but did not suggest the absence of a vaccine would prevent them from resuming normal activity.
• According to a May 10-11 Rasmussen survey, only a little more than half of Democratic voters want Joe Biden to be their party’s presidential nominee. 54% are satisfied with the choice of Biden, while 28% think the party should choose someone else.

Something political to ponder as you enjoy your morning coffee.

When times are tough and terrible things happen, there’s always someone willing to suggest that we have been presented with a “teachable moment.” This consolation is somewhat comforting to many, even though the phrase itself elicits grimaces from some of us. Yet, the concept is generally sound. If we can learn something positive, then even the most tragic event or the worst experience has an upside to it. When Americans discuss and debate politics, they tend to focus mostly on what’s happening on Capitol Hill and behind the doors of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Come election day, they are consumed with hopes and fears of who will hold the reigns of power in the nation’s capital. If the Coronavirus outbreak has taught the nation anything, though, it is – hopefully – that those who sit on city and county councils, on state legislatures and in governor’s mansions, should be chosen with extreme care. It is these state and local politicians – more than those in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government – who can and will exert the most direct control over people’s lives.

A thought for the day from history’s most interesting thinkers.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.

– Ernest Benn

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