America is one year away from the most consequential and negative campaign most have seen. So important and virulent, it is worth taking stock of now. Both sides have great weaknesses, which present the other great opportunities. However, the greater opportunity is Donald Trump’s, so despite his seemingly perilous position, the election remains his to lose.

Next year’s race is important simply because it is a presidential one. Already the nation’s most powerful office, presidents of both parties are rapidly increasing its authority. The coming clash between divergent approaches over how a powerful presidency should be used heightens the election’s importance even more. 

The ideological contrast will also further increase the campaign’s virulence. Fresh from a divisive impeachment fight, the country will face an unusual contest in which both parties run toward their bases, rather than the center. It will accentuate stark differences between ideologies, economics, and policies. Read Full Story

• The Hill: WaPo Gives Schiff 3 Pinocchios on Whistleblower Anonymity Claim
• Washington Examiner: Swing State Voters See Impeachment as Pointless, Trump Group Finds
• The Washington Free Beacon: Study: 2020 Dem Tax Hikes Could Eliminate 413,000 Jobs
• Axios: “Dark Money” Group Gave $141M to Liberal Causes in 2018
• Townhall: Scientists: Dishonest or Afraid?

U.S. immigration officials apprehended just more than 42,000 individuals at the southern border with Mexico in October, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said Thursday, marking a drop from the previous month and a sharp decline from earlier this year.

“This represents an overall decrease of almost 70 percent since the peak in May of this year,” Morgan told reporters at the White House, crediting the Trump administration’s “bold” actions for the decline. “This is a significant decline.”

The new figure represents a 14 percent decline since September, when officials apprehended 52,000 individuals at the border. Read Full Story

• Washington Examiner: Kevin McCarthy Rips Schiff Over Whistleblower
• The Washington Times: McConnell Dismisses House Impeachment Proceedings as ‘Some Public Hearing’
• Townhall: Impeachment Hearings Stumble Out of the Blocks
• PJ Media: Jane Fonda Declines to Say if She’s Giving Up Flying to Combat Climate Change
• National Review: Elise Stefanik Stood Out on Day One of the Impeachment Hearings

One of the issues being hotly debated among presidential candidates and political operatives leading up to the 2020 campaign isn’t health care, or the economy — it’s free speech.

Why it matters: Disagreements about how to apply the First Amendment to the speed and scale of social media are consuming the political debate this election cycle and cementing unprecedented levels of polarization.

Driving the news: In the Trump era, Republicans have found a way to leverage the loose freedoms of social media to gain an upper hand in some elections. Now, Democrats are demanding that big tech companies do something about it. Read Full Story

• The Hill: Graham Wants Senate Panel to Probe State Department Over Bidens
• Washington Examiner: Republicans ‘Serious’ About Moving Jim Jordan to House Intelligence for Public Impeachment Fight
• Townhall: A Rude Awakening Awaits the ‘Woke’
• The Washington Free Beacon: Study: Free College Plans Leave Vast Majority Worse Off
• The Washington Times: Rand Paul Demands Media ID Whistleblower