Category: 2020 Election

As Trump appointees flout the Hatch Act, civil servants who get caught get punished

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A Defense Logistics Agency employee was suspended for 30 days without pay last fall after giving his office colleagues a PowerPoint presentation that displayed the words, “Vote Republican.”

An Energy Department worker was forced to resign in January after admitting she gave a woman running for Congress a tour of a federal waste treatment plant so the candidate could show her expertise to potential voters.

Another civil servant began a 120-day suspension without pay from the Food and Drug Administration in July after creating a Facebook page with his name and photograph to solicit political donations and then co-hosting a fundraiser. Continue reading.

Secret Service copes with coronavirus cases in aftermath of Trump appearances

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When President Trump gave a speech to a group of sheriffs in Tampa late last month, his decision to travel forced a large contingent of Secret Service agents to head to a state that was then battling one of the worst coronavirus surges in the nation.

Even before Air Force One touched down on July 31, the fallout was apparent: Five Secret Service agents already on the ground had to be replaced after one tested positive for the coronavirus and the others working in proximity were presumed to be infected, according to people familiar with the situation.

The previously unreported episode is one of a series of examples of how Trump’s insistence on traveling and holding campaign-style events amid the pandemic has heightened the risks for the people who safeguard his life, intensifying the strain on the Secret Service. Continue reading.

Here are 5 accidentally revealing lines from Trump supporters at the RNC

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Unsurprisingly, the Republican National Convention was filled with lies about President Donald Trump, his administration, the Republican Party, and the Democrats. But on occasion, the speakers slipped some truth into their speeches.

And on some of those occasions, the truth seemed to come out unintentionally. Or at least, the speaker’s wording left open the possibility of interpreting it quite differently than was intended.

Here are five claims from RNC speakers that were accidentally revealing: Continue reading.

Trump Program to Cover Uninsured Covid-19 Patients Falls Short of Promise

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Some patients are still receiving staggering bills. Others don’t qualify because conditions other than Covid-19 were their primary diagnosis.

WASHINGTON — Marilyn Cortez, a retired cafeteria worker in Houston with no health insurance, spent much of July in the hospital with Covid-19. When she finally returned home, she received a $36,000 bill that compounded the stress of her illness.

Then someone from the hospital, Houston Methodist, called and told her not to worry — President Trump had paid it.

But then another bill arrived, for twice as much. Continue reading.

‘Promises kept’? Not entirely. Here are five pocketbook pledges Trump broke.

‘Promises kept’? Not entirely. Here are five pocketbook pledges Trump broke.

WASHINGTON — A video segment featured at the Republican National Convention featured President Donald Trump proclaiming, “I didn’t back down from my promises — and I’ve kept every single one.”

“Promises made, promises kept” was a theme of the four-day event, which aimed to drive home a message that the president has been fearless in pursuit of delivering on his pledges — that his pugnacious tweets may rub people the wrong way, but they signify a rare fighting spirit on behalf of regular Americans.

The reality isn’t quite that simple. Continue reading.

‘I knew I would be here today’: Thousands demand racial justice at March on Washington

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Just past dawn Friday, more than a half-century after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the Lincoln Memorial’s marble steps and offered his vision for a fair and righteous America, thousands of protesters descended on the nation’s capital at the end of a summer that has laid bare just how distant the fulfillment of his vision remains.

Among them was Marilyn Boddy, 62, who had never attended a protest. As a decades-long federal employee, Boddy had always been reluctant to join in public demonstrations, but that changed when she heard the Rev. Al Sharpton eulogize George Floyd, who died in May beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

“It was right there, in the emotion of that moment, that I knew I would be here today,” Boddy said, describing the anger and anguish that shot through her while watching the televised service from her New Jersey living room. Continue reading.

Trump Says He Will “Save” The American Dream As His Policies Fail Working People

Unemployment is in double-digits, renters are scared of eviction notices, aid is stuck, and economic recovery seems to have slowed.

Republicans want Americans to believe that Joe Biden would “demolish” the American dream.

“This election will decide whether we save the American dream,” Trump said while accepting the Republican nomination for president on the final night of the Republican National Convention. “Or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.”

Speaker after speaker repeated the same message: Trump is the only candidate who can save the American dream, Democrats’ insistence on expanding the social safety net will stymie individuals’ opportunities, and Republicans are the party of dreaming big. Continue reading.

Two P.R. Experts at F.D.A. Have Been Ousted After Blood Plasma Fiasco

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The agency’s chief spokeswoman, Emily Miller, was removed from her position just 11 days into the job. And the contract was terminated of a consultant who had advised the F.D.A. chief to correct misleading claims about plasma’s benefits.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration ousted its top spokeswoman from her position on Friday in an urgent bid to restore the tarnished credibility of the agency after he made erroneous claims that overstated the benefits of plasma treatments for Covid-19 at a news conference with President Trump.

The decision came just a day after the F.D.A.’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, terminated the contract of a public relations consultant who had advised the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, to correct his misleading claims that 35 out of 100 Covid-19 patients “would have been saved because of the administration of plasma.”

The removals come at a moment when the agency, which will be making critical decisions about whether to approve coronavirus vaccines and treatments, is struggling to salvage its reputation as a neutral scientific arbiter. Continue reading.

2 QAnon Promoters Will Rally Voters For Trump At Official Events This Weekend

The Trump campaign is not requiring masks or social distancing at the events — but attendees must sign a COVID-19 liability waiver.

The Trump campaign is hosting events across the country this weekend to capitalize on whatever momentum the Republican National Convention created and mobilize the party’s base of voters to turn out in November. HuffPost found that official campaign events in Georgia and Nevada will be hosted by people who promote QAnon, the hateful conspiracy theory that the FBI recently flagged as a domestic terror threat. 

Neither masks nor social distancing appear to be mandatory for any of the gatherings — and they have not been required at numerous Trump reelection events over the past two weeks, where campaign surrogates and supporters have frequently crowded into relatively small spaces without proper protection. Attendees are required to waive their right to sue the campaign and the host venue if they contract the coronavirus at the event. 

QAnon adherents baselessly claim that the world is controlled by a cabal of satanic, pedophiliac Democrats and wealthy Hollywood socialites who run a global sex trafficking ring and feed on the blood of abused children. They claim that President Donald Trump is engaged in a secret battle against the satanists and their so-called deep state supporters in government. QAnon rhetoric is steeped in anti-Semitism and threats of violence, and the FBI has warned it poses a domestic terrorism threat. Continue reading.

Tax experts dispute Trump’s claims about Biden’s tax plan

On the final night of the Republican National Convention, president Donald Trump warned that former vice president and Democratic candidate Joseph Biden would raise taxes on “almost all American families” and impose corporate taxes that would lead to the collapse of the stock market and the economy.

This isn’t true, experts say. And when it comes to tax plans, Trump offered little in the way of concrete policy or figures.

Craig Wild, senior partner at Wild, Maney & Resnick, LLP, said the President’s accomplishments on the tax front promised more than they delivered, particularly for ordinary Americans.

“The tax reductions, first of all did not help the middle class,” Wild said. That’s especially true in high cost-of-living states where the amount of property tax and mortgage interest taxpayers could deduct dropped sharply. “Wealthier people were helped, as were corporations.” Continue reading.