SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:48 P.M. ET:

TRUMP SLOGAN THE BEST – FROM BREITBART:  Pollster and political analyst Pat Caddell declared, “Make America Great Again was the greatest slogan of my lifetime” during a panel at Daniel Horowitz’s Restoration Weekend conference with former White House chief strategist and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steven K. Bannon in Florida.  Pat Caddell explained that then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was able to tap into the anti-establishment fervor building with the 2016 presidential campaign.  Caddell said that 75 percent of Americans believed that the country was in decline and on the wrong track.  The polling analyst also argued that only 15 percent of U.S. citizens believe that if you work hard, you will succeed in this country, while 85 percent of Americans think that the rich and powerful rigged the system for their benefit.  Caddell added, “This is ultimately the truth.”  Caddell is a renegade Democratic pollster with much common sense.  If the party had listened to him, it would be on top right now, and not dependent on Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi.

GERMAN CRISIS – FROM AFP:  Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel resumed complex coalition talks Saturday in a last-ditch effort to forge a government and avert a political crisis in Europe's biggest economy.  The veteran leader, in power since 2005, won a September 24 vote without a clear majority for her conservative CDU/CSU bloc, largely because of the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), and must now build an unlikely alliance with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and left-leaning Greens.  But their deep policy differences, especially on immigration and the environment, have hobbled the monthlong negotiating marathon, leading party leaders to miss a Thursday deadline and declare they will push on until Sunday evening.  This major political story has gone virtually unreported in the United States, but political weakness in Germany can destabilize Europe and lead to the rise of smaller, fringe parties. 

A FIRST FOR NEW ORLEANS – FROM THE HILL:  The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, has elected its first female mayor in the city’s history.  Fox 8 projected Saturday night that LaToya Cantrell would be elected Mayor of New Orleans.  Cantrell, a former New Orleans city council member and Democrat, defeated opponent Desiree Charbonnet to win the election. She succeeds former Mayor Mitch Landrieu.  "Almost 300 years, my friends, and New Orleans, we're still making history," Cantrell told supporters, according to The Times-Picayune.  Cantrell ran on a platform advocating criminal justice reform, creating an LGBTQ outreach office at city hall and increasing affordable housing in the city, according to her campaign website.   Sounds like a typical Dem.  I love the name of her opponent, Desiree Charbonnet.  Now that's a name you don't forget.

November 18,  2017