Conservative senator pushes back on Trump’s trade moves: ‘We’ve crossed the rubicon.’ Utah primary day pits Romney vs. Kennedy and Curtis vs. Herrod. Poll: Utahns strongly oppose conventions as only route to the ballot.
Happy Tuesday. Sens. Bob Corker, Jeff Flake and Utah’s Orrin Hatch — some of President Donald Trump’s fiercest GOP critics on trade — are retiring from the Senate at the end of this year. But Pat Toomey, the conservative Pennsylvania senator, has emerged as Trump’s sharpest antagonist on trade policy — pushing legislation with Corker to take back Congress’ power over trade deals and straining to defend NAFTA from the erratic president. “It’s going to do and is already doing real damage,” Toomey says, “so I think we’ve got a responsibility to stand up and push back.” [Politico]
Topping the news: A Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute poll shows that 56 percent of Utah voters strongly oppose political party conventions as the only method to select candidates for office, while 31 percent support it. [Trib]
-> The Tribune’s political team chat about Tuesday’s primary election in Utah, including the Senate Republican primary between Mitt Romney and Mike Kennedy and the 3rd District Republican primary between John Curtis and Chris Herrod. [Trib]
Tweets of the day: From @mattdpearce: "Slightly depressed at the speed with which the conversation pivoted from kid jails to rude restaurants.”
-> From @byrdinator: "we are on day 3 of the restaurant news cycle, but it feels like day 3,000”
-> From @FrankConniff: "I demand to see Donald Trump’s long-form civility.”
In other news: Fifty-six percent of registered Utah voters are opposed to a nonbinding ballot question that would increase the state’s gas tax in order to increase education funding, compared with 42 percent who support the measure, a Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found. [Trib]
-> The House passed a bill by Rep. Rob Bishop that will designate the Golden Spike National Historic Park, a northern Utah location that connected the transcontinental railroad. [Trib]
-> Tim Seelig, director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, was the guest conductor for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at a show in Mountain View, Calif. on Monday night. [Trib]
-> As apartments are quickly filling up, developers of new luxury apartments near The Gateway Mall say the risky gamble of investing in housing amid Salt Lake City’s homeless crisis proved to be a good move. [Trib]
-> A toxic algae bloom is continuing to spread across Utah Lake, leading the state’s Department of Environmental Air Quality to issue warnings for Lincoln Marina, Sandy Beach and Utah Lake State Park. [APviaTrib]
-> Robert Gehrke says the recommendations made by the Utah School Safety Commission, including red-flag laws and expanded access to mental health professionals, are a great start towards addressing gun violence in schools. [Trib]
Nationally: Claims by Trump administration officials that “zero tolerance” immigration policies are still in place were undercut by the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Kevin K. McAleenan, who said the agency had stopped separating migrant children from their parents at the border. [NYTimes]
-> Republicans in the House are bracing for a vote, likely on Wednesday, on immigration that is expected to fail by a wide margin – and they are already considering their next move. [Politico] [WaPost]
-> Tensions over immigration have led to a nationwide debate over civility and the degree to which political frustrations should extend to the private lives of policy makers. [WaPost]
-> At her first press briefing in a week, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders chose to focus the conversation on her ejection from a restaurant over the weekend rather than on the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. [Politico]
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-- Thomas Burr and Connor Richards
