Category: 2020 Election

Newly-Sworn In Citizens from Trump’s WH Naturalization Ceremony Weren’t Told About Being Part of RNC Convention

Two of the immigrants sworn in as new U.S. citizens during the second night of the Republican National Committee convention were only told of President Donald Trump’s involvement at the last minute and were never informed beforehand that their ceremony would be aired as part of the party’s campaign festivities.

According to the Wall Street Journal, two women from the group of five, Indian immigrant Sudha Narayanan and Sudanese immigrant Neimat Awadelseid, were not aware their naturalization ceremony at the White House was to be part of the RNC’s partisan celebration of Trump. The Journal was not able to contact the other three new citizens participating the ceremony.

“Ms. Narayanan and Ms. Awadelseid said they didn’t mind being featured in the convention, saying in interviews Wednesday that they were still celebrating their newly granted citizenship,” the story notes. “”Ms. Awadelseid, 66 years old, a Sudanese immigrant and a substitute teacher, said she remembers signing a media release form, but doesn’t remember being told about the Republican convention.” Continue reading.

Republicans are lying about Biden and hoping voters are ignorant enough to believe them

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TRAILING IN the polls, and with no tangible agenda for a second term, President Trump is doing his best to tear down Democratic nominee Joe Biden. That’s hardly an unprecedented strategy, and some of the policy-based arguments being advanced by speakers at the Republican National Convention this week fall within the normal bounds of campaign debate, even if some of the hyperbole is beyond those bounds. Mr. Biden, it’s said, will be controlled by the Democratic left; he will raise taxes; he will be too soft on China.

There is another strand of the attacks, however, that is as depraved as it is scurrilous. The Trump campaign is attempting to portray Mr. Biden and his family as neck-deep in corruption, based on allegations that have repeatedly been demonstrated to be false. In effect, the Republicans accuse the former vice president of secretly doing what Mr. Trump has accomplished overtly during the past three years — using his office to enrich himself and his family.

Leading the GOP charge on Tuesday was Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who in 2013 received a $25,000 contribution from a Trump charity six days after her office said it was looking into fraud charges against Trump University. The investigation did not go forward. Incredibly, Ms. Bondi opened her case against Mr. Biden by repeating the lie that led to Mr. Trump’s impeachment: that Mr. Biden demanded the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating a gas company that employed the then-vice president’s son Hunter.

‘I Fear That We Are Witnessing the End of American Democracy’

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The frank racism of the contemporary Republican agenda is on display at the R.N.C.

The center-right political coalition in America — the Republican Party as it stands today — can be described as holding two overarching goals: First, deregulation and reductions in corporate and other tax liabilities — each clearly stated on the White House website — and second, but packing a bigger punch, the preservation of the status quo by stemming the erosion of the privileged status of white Christian America.

For those who want confirmation of Republican accomplishments along economic lines, the Brookings Institution has provided a helpful deregulatory tracker. And The Times has published a thorough examination of Trump’s achievements in cutting taxes for the rich — not only the “big, beautiful” tax bill of 2017, but also this year’s “Tax-Break Bonanza Inside the Economic Rescue Package.”

The most important issue driving Trump’s ascendance, however, has not been the economy but race. Continue reading.

Fact-checking Mike Pence, night 3 of the 2020 RNC

In accepting the Republican Party nomination on Aug. 27, Vice President Mike Pence accurately recounted the history of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, and how a failed British bombardment in 1814 helped inspire Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”  

Pence’s attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, on the other hand, were sometimes misleading, incomplete or wrong. 

“Joe Biden wants to end school choice.”  

This is Mostly False. (Trump made the same claim in July.) Continue reading.

Coronavirus concerns fall and Trump approval ticks higher in swing states, CNBC/Change Research poll finds

Voters’ concerns about the coronavirus have fallen and President Donald Trump’s approval rating has ticked higher in six swing states over the last two weeks, according to a new CNBC/Change Research poll. 

Still, the improvement has not helped the president overcome a polling deficit against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. 

In Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, 66% of likely voters said they have serious concerns about Covid-19, the survey released Wednesday found. The share fell from 69% in a poll taken two weeks earlier. The share of respondents who said they have “very serious” concerns about the coronavirus dropped to 45% from 49%.  Continue reading.

RNC fact check: Questioning economic and tax claims

Exaggerating economic assumptions and some misleading claims about Biden’s tax plan

The fact-checking fodder included claims about the economy, the Democratic nominee and the president’s actions. 

Here is the analysis:

Kudlow’s False Economic History

Kudlow painted a false picture, claiming Trump inherited “a stagnant economy on the front end of recession” and then adding, “The economy was rebuilt in three years.”

But the fact is, as we wrote on the day Trump took office, Trump inherited “an economy experiencing steady if unspectacular growth in output, jobs and incomes.” After the terrible 2007-2009 recession that Obama inherited, the economy had posted six straight years of economic growth and was about to post a seventh. Continue reading.

Trump has betrayed people for over 3 years

Trump officials pressured CDC to change virus testing guidelines

Public health experts have questioned the scientific basis for the testing change.

Top Trump administration officials involved with the White House coronavirus task force ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Protection to stop promoting coronavirus testing for most people who have been exposed to the virus but aren’t showing symptoms, according to two people with knowledge of the process.

Federal testing czar Brett Giroir denied those allegations Wednesday, telling reporters that the CDC ultimately decided to narrow the recommendations for who should be tested.

“The new guidelines are a CDC action,” Giroir said. “As always, the guidelines received appropriate attention, consultation and input from Task Force experts, and I mean the medical and scientific experts, including CDC Director [Robert] Redfield.” Continue reading.

Trump Hotel At Center Of RNC Festivities

The Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., is the place for Republicans to see and be seen during convention week.

WASHINGTON ― Republicans had to cancel their big convention celebration in North Carolina ― and then Florida ― this year, but that doesn’t mean the festivities were all called off. The center of gravity instead moved to Washington, particularly the Trump International Hotel, where donors are being treated to panels, receptions and even a bourbon tasting with their favorite Trump World personalities.

Much of the action of a convention goes on outside of the official proceedings, in the parties and fundraisers around town. At least some of those events are still going on this week, despite the coronavirus pandemic. 

The big event planned for Wednesday is a reception with Donald Trump Jr., his girlfriend and Trump fundraiser Kimberly Guilfoyle, Tiffany Trump, her boyfriend Michael Boulos, and John Pence, the nephew of the vice president.  Continue reading.

Don Jr. robocall urges supporters to vote by mail

The president’s son made the appeals as his father continues to rail against widespread mail-in voting.

Donald Trump Jr. is urging voters to cast absentee ballots in robocalls detected across the nation Wednesday — even as his father continues to rail against widespread mail-in voting.

The robocalls, which reference this week’s Republican National Convention have been deployed in 13 states — Arizona, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, Texas and Maine — all states the Trump campaign is targeting. They indicate that either the Trump campaign or Republican National Committee has already mailed absentee-ballot requests to those being called.

“President Trump is counting on you to make a plan to return your absentee ballot request. Voting absentee is a safe and secure way to guarantee your voice is heard,” Trump Jr. says in the calls. “Help President Trump make America great again by joining him in being an absentee voter this year.” Continue reading.