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7 hours ago - Politics & Policy


HUCKABEE SANDERS' 2024 NEUTRALITY FRUSTRATES TRUMP

 * Alex Thompson
 * Worth Sparkman

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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gives the Republican response to President
Biden's State of the Union address in February. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via
Getty Images

Tensions between Donald Trump and his former press secretary, Arkansas Gov.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have grown over her neutrality in the 2024 presidential
race, people familiar with the relationship tell Axios.

Driving the news: Trump's frustration has risen recently because Sanders' team
had told his campaign she wouldn't make an endorsement until after her first
legislative session in Arkansas, according to two people familiar with the
discussions.

 * That session ended in May, and still, no endorsement.

Why it matters: Sanders is among several Republicans with national ambitions who
are staying neutral in the presidential primary despite the former president’s
large lead in early polls. But Sanders' political calculation is complicated by
her tenure as the voice of Trump's White House.

 * Potential future presidential candidates including Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas),
   Tom Cotton (Arkansas), Josh Hawley (Missouri), Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Marco
   Rubio (Florida) — along with Govs. Greg Abbott (Texas) and Kristi Noem (South
   Dakota) — have declined to endorse in the primary, waiting to see whether GOP
   voters want to move on from Trump and his legal battles.

The intrigue: Trump sees Sanders in a different category than other GOP leaders
because he hired her to be his press secretary and endorsed her the day she
launched her campaign for governor in January 2021.

 * One Trump ally described the feeling as: “You should always dance with the
   person who brought you.”
 * Earlier this year, Trump asked Sanders for her endorsement in a phone call
   and she declined, the New York Times first reported in March.
 * Trump denied the report, writing on Truth Social: “I never asked Sarah
   Huckabee Sanders for an endorsement. I give endorsements, I don’t generally
   ask for them. With that being said, nobody has done more for her than I have,
   with the possible exception of her great father, Mike!”
 * Three weeks after that story published, Mike Huckabee — a former Arkansas
   governor — endorsed Trump on his TV show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Zoom in: Sanders also has developed a relationship with Trump's rival, Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis.

 * Last year, she attended DeSantis’ retreat for his prominent donors and some
   fellow governors.
 * She hired DeSantis’ senior chancellor at Florida's Department of Education,
   Jacob Oliva, to be her secretary of education in Arkansas.
 * Sanders also has become close to DeSantis' wife, Casey, since their
   experiences with cancer in recent years. "Sarah reached out to Casey during
   her treatments and the same thing happened when Sarah had her experience,"
   said one senior Republican close to both orbits.
 * The DeSantis and Trump campaigns declined to comment.

Alexa Henning, Sanders' communications director, praised Trump in a statement —
but didn't offer an endorsement.

 * "Governor Sanders loves President Trump and believes our country would be
   much better off under his leadership than President Biden, and that President
   Trump is the dominant frontrunner and our likely Republican nominee in 2024,"
   Henning told Axios.

Between the lines: Sanders likely would have been the clear GOP frontrunner in
Arkansas' 2022 gubernatorial election without her Trump connection because of
her father's popularity in the state.



Sanders, 40, is the nation's youngest governor and Arkansas' first woman to hold
the office. She's tried to quickly establish a national profile beyond her work
for Trump; her allies believe she is focused on her home state but also
positioning for a possible run for president in 2028 or 2032.

 * She has written op-eds in the Wall Street Journal, picked a fight with
   California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), and delivered the GOP's national rebuttal
   to President Biden’s State of the Union address, in which she called for a
   "new generation of Republican leadership."
 * Sanders leaned into the conservative backlash to Bud Light after the brand
   used a prominent transgender influencer to promote the beer. Sanders began
   selling koozies that read “Real Woman” alongside the faces of her and other
   GOP women governors.
 * She also has brought in several officials from outside Arkansas, including
   aides from the Trump White House.

Sanders' early agenda has focused on public education, an issue that has
galvanized the conservative base in the aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdowns and
fights over how schools should teach about racism and sexuality.

 * She signed a sweeping education bill in March that included school vouchers,
   increased minimum teacher pay and prohibited teaching about gender identity
   or sexual orientation before fifth grade — or anything resembling "Critical
   Race Theory."
 * Henning told Axios that Sanders is focused on her duties as governor and "not
   2024, much less any election after that."

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GO DEEPER

 * Andrew Freedman, author of Axios Generate

5 hours ago - Energy & Environment


CANADA WILDFIRES DEVOUR LAND, VAULT CO2 EMISSIONS HIGHER

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service/ECMWF; Chart:Tory Lysik/Axios Visuals

The simultaneous, record-shattering heat in the U.S., Europe and Asia may be
getting all the headlines (more on these events below), but hotter and
drier-than-average conditions are fueling the disaster unfolding in Canada.

Why it matters: As residents of the Midwest and East Coast have repeatedly
learned this summer, Canada's devastating fires affect conditions elsewhere.

Go deeper (2 min. read)
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 * Andrew Freedman, author of Axios Generate

Updated 5 hours ago - Energy & Environment


HEAT WAVES: HISTORIC TEMPERATURES AFFECT THREE CONTINENTS

Heat waves: Historic temperatures affect three continents

A person cools off in the Canaletas fountain, on July 18 in Barcelona, Spain.
Photo: David Zorrakino/Europa Press via Getty Images

Record highs were set in the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia on Tuesday, in an
example of simultaneous, compounding extreme weather and climate events — which
scientists have been warning of for some time.

Why it matters: The heat waves pose an immediate risk to public health and
economic output, and signal that climate change impacts are escalating faster
than expected in some parts of the globe.

Go deeper (3 min. read)
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 * Erin Doherty

Updated 13 hours ago - Politics & Policy


TRUMP SAYS HE'S A TARGET IN JAN. 6 PROBE, ANTICIPATES ARREST

Trump says he's a target in Jan. 6 probe, anticipates arrest

Former President Trump speaks at the Turning Point Action conference in West
Palm Beach, Florida, on July 15. Photo: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty
Images

Former President Trump said Tuesday that he received a letter from special
counsel Jack Smith informing him that he is a target of the grand jury
investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Why it matters: Trump's remarks on Truth Social indicate that an indictment
could be forthcoming.

 * It would mark the second set of federal charges against Trump, following
   Smith's indictment of the former president last month over his handling of
   classified documents.

Go deeper (1 min. read)
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