“Nobody drives to a city with guns because they love someone else’s business that much. That’s some bullshit. No one thinks, ‘it’s my solemn duty to pick up a rifle and protect T.J. Maxx.’ They do it because they’re hoping to shoot someone,” @Trevornoah pic.twitter.com/4H5O6ptfYB
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 27, 2020
Category: 2020 Election
House panel to investigate Pompeo’s GOP convention speech
A House Democrat announced Tuesday that he is launching an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s expected speech to the Republican National Convention, raising concerns that the move is an illegal violation of the Hatch Act and a breach of State Department regulations.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs panel’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations, raised his concerns in a letter to Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and requested information on the secretary’s planned remarks.
Pompeo is coming under scrutiny for taking time during official diplomatic travel in the Middle East to record remarks to be played at the GOP convention Tuesday night. Continue reading.
Ann Johnson Stewart on Matt McNeil Program
Ann Johnson Stewart, our DFL Senate District 44 candidate, was on the Matt McNeil radio program earlier this week. If you weren’t able to listen, here’s a link.
Michael Cohen Ad: You Don’t Have to Like Me, But Please Listen to Me
Billy Graham’s granddaughter: Evangelical leaders are failing us by supporting Trump
The granddaughter of late evangelical Christian leader Billy Graham is accusing current church leaders of spitting on his memory with their continued support of President Trump.
“I have spent my entire life in the church, with every big decision guided by my faith. But now, I feel homeless,” Jerushah Duford wrote in an op-ed for USA Today. “Like so many others, I feel disoriented as I watch the church I have always served turn their eyes away from everything it teaches. I hear from Christian women on a daily basis who all describe the same thing: a tug at their spirit.”
Duford wrote that she often feels that unpleasant “tug” when listening to Trump’s rhetoric, citing his recent comments about scraping an Obama-era rule meant to quash segregation and provide low-income housing. Continue reading.
RNC Speakers Can’t Defend Trump’s Record So They Resort to Lies
Trump Leverages Powers of Office as He Seeks to Broaden Appeal
In an abrupt swerve from the dire tone of the convention’s first night, President Trump staged a grab-bag of gauzy events and personal testimonials aimed at female and minority voters. His program blurred the lines between campaigning and governing.
President Trump made a bid to sand down his divisive political image by appropriating the resources of his office and the powers of the presidency at the Republican convention on Tuesday, breaching the traditional boundaries between campaigning and governing in an effort to broaden his appeal beyond his conservative base.
In an abrupt swerve from the dire tone of the convention’s first night, Mr. Trump staged a grab-bag of gauzy events and personal testimonials aimed in particular at female and minority voters. In videos recorded at the White House, Mr. Trump pardoned a Nevada man convicted of bank robbery and swore in five new American citizens, all of them people of color, in a miniature naturalization ceremony.
Where the convention on Monday emphasized predictions of social and economic desolation under a government led by Democrats, the second night speakers — including three from Mr. Trump’s immediate family — hailed the president as a friend to women and a champion of criminal justice reform. There was no effort to reconcile the dissonance between the two nights’ programs, particularly the shift from Monday’s rhetoric about a looming “vengeful mob” of dangerous criminals into Tuesday’s tributes to the power of personal redemption. Continue reading.
Trump needs a convention bounce
Hard to identify where Trump is performing as well as he did in 2016
ANALYSIS — Whether you believe in convention bounces or not, President Donald Trump and the Republicans need one to salvage the elections this fall.
On the current trajectory, former Vice President Joe Biden is likely to win the White House and Democrats are more likely than not to take control of the Senate. And even though the president told The Wall Street Journal that Republicans would take back the House, Democrats are on pace to grow their majority.
Nearly four years later, the 2016 presidential election result looms over any political projection. But Trump’s victory should be a lesson in probability rather than a call to ignore data. We should reject the false choice between following the data and being open-minded about less likely results. Continue reading.
Natalie Harp said Trump saved her life. Experts doubt that’s true.
Under the bright lights of the Republican National Convention on Monday night, California entrepreneur Natalie Harp said President Trump literally saved her life.
“When I failed the chemotherapies that were on the market, no one wanted me in their clinical trials,” Harp said in an emotional address. “They didn’t give me the right to try experimental treatments, Mr. President. You did, and without you, I’d have died waiting for them to be approved.”
But experts cast doubt on that story: They point out that Harp’s description of the treatment she received and her timeline for receiving it make it unlikely Trump had any effect on her case. Continue reading.
Former RNC chair Michael Steele joins anti-Trump group
Former chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele is joining the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans working to prevent President Donald Trump’s re-election.
“Today is the day where things should matter and you need to take stock of what matters to you — and the kind of leader you want to lead in these moments. And for me, it ain’t him,”
Steele, a political analyst for MSNBC said making the announcement to host Nicole Wallace on Monday afternoon. Steele was the first African American to be elected to statewide office in Maryland, serving as lieutenant governor from 2003 to 2007. He was also the first African American to serve as chairman of the RNC. Continue reading.