Feb 18, 2018

Romney would take on outsized role in Senate

Senate candidate Mitt Romney tours Gibson's Green Acres Dairy in Ogden, Utah, on Friday. Photo: Gene Sweeney Jr. / Getty Images

"Mitt Romney's extensive resume has many Republicans looking to him to take on a role in the Senate as a political and moral counterweight to a president many in the GOP see as divisive and undignified," AP's Matthew Daly writes.

Why it matters: "If he does go after Trump, Romney will find himself among a dwindling breed in Congress."

The backdrop:

  • "The 2012 GOP nominee for president announced Friday he is running for the Utah Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch."
  • "Romney, 70, [has been] one of his party's fiercest critics of President Donald Trump."
  • Trump said in 2016 that Romney "choked like a dog."

Go deeper

Axios
Updated 15 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 6:30 p.m. ET: 18,643,633 — Total deaths: 703,127 — Total recoveries — 11,206,409— Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 6:30 p.m. ET: 4,811,128 — Total deaths: 157,690 — Total recoveries: 1,528,979 — Total tests: 58,239,438 — Map.
  3. Public health: Florida surpasses 500,000 confirmed cases — Fauci calls U.S. coronavirus testing delays "totally unacceptable."
  4. Business: America's next housing crisis.
  5. States: Virginia launches contact tracing app using specs from Apple and Google.
  6. Politics: White House, Democrats remain "trillions of dollars apart" on stimulus talks.
Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow
Bryan Walsh
39 mins ago - World

How new tech raises the risk of nuclear war

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

75 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, some experts believe the risk of the use of a nuclear weapon is as high now as it has been since the Cuban missile crisis.

The big picture: Nuclear war remains the single greatest present threat to humanity — and one that is poised to grow as emerging technologies, like much faster missiles, cyber warfare and artificial intelligence, upset an already precarious nuclear balance.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Zachary Basu
42 mins ago - Politics & Policy

White House, Democrats remain "trillions of dollars apart" on stimulus talks

Meadows and Mnuchin. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Trump administration and Democrats have not agreed to any "top-line numbers" and remain "trillions of dollars apart" on coronavirus stimulus negotiations, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Wednesday.

The state of play: Meadows told reporters, "At this point we’re either going to get serious about negotiating and get an agreement in principle or — I’ve become extremely doubtful that we’ll be able to make a deal if it goes well beyond Friday.”

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow