Category: 2020 Election
Lincoln Project Video: Regret
Kasich speech to Democratic convention follows years of building conservative credentials
2016 rival to Trump didn’t attend GOP convention in home state
As a House member and initially as the Republican governor of the Ohio, John Kasich was known for his ardent conservatism — one of Speaker Newt Gingrich’s loyal lieutenants, an architect of the 1997 balanced budget agreement who later fought unions and abortion in the Buckeye State.
But Monday night, the lifelong Republican told the Democratic National Convention that all Americans should vote for former Vice President Joe Biden.
“I know the measure of the man,” said Kasich, noting that he has known the longtime Delaware politician for 30 years. “He’s reasonable, faithful, respectful, and you know, no one pushes Joe around.” Continue reading.
Former Chief of Staff of Trump’s DHS is the newest Republican Voter Against Trump
Senate report finds Manafort passed campaign data to Russian intelligence officer
The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the fifth and final volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which details “counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities.”
Why it matters: The bipartisan, 996-page report goes further than the Mueller report in showing the extent of Russia’s connections to members of the Trump campaign, and how the Kremlin was able to take advantage of the transition team’s inexperience to gain access to sensitive information.
Highlights
Paul Manafort: The report found that the former Trump campaign chairman began working on influence operations for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and other pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarchs in 2004. Continue reading.
Postmaster general agrees to testify before House panel
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee about recently implemented cost-cutting measures at the U.S. Postal Service that have sparked fears that some ballots might not be delivered in time for Election Day.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Monday that DeJoy and Robert Duncan, the chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, had agreed to testify next Monday in response to her request.
“The American people want their mail, medicines, and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way, and they certainly do not want drastic changes and delays in the midst of a global pandemic just months before the election,” Maloney said. Continue reading.
Trump is actively working to undermine the Postal Service — and every major U.S. institution
William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014.
In the 1997 film “The Postman,” set in post-apocalyptic America, Kevin Costner plays a drifter trying to restore order to the United States by providing one essential service, mail delivery. In the story, hate crimes, racially motivated attacks and a plague have caused the breakdown of society as we know it. In his quest to restore order and dignity to the nation, the Postman tries to recruit other postal workers to help rebuild the U.S. government. But Costner’s character is opposed by the evil General Bethlehem, who is fighting to suppress the postal carriers so he can establish a totalitarian government. Fortunately, our hero, gaining inspiration from the motto, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night,” fights on against Bethlehem and saves the country.
Not surprisingly, the movie was panned by critics and was a financial disaster. I mean really, racial strife and a plague so bad that it threatened our society? And even if that happened, who would try to destroy the Postal Service? Where do they come up with these crazy plots?
In retrospect, maybe we should give the movie another look. Today, as we struggle with social upheaval, soaring debt, record unemployment, a runaway pandemic, and rising threats from China and Russia, President Trump is actively working to undermine every major institution in this country. He has planted the seeds of doubt in the minds of many Americans that our institutions aren’t functioning properly. And, if the president doesn’t trust the intelligence community, law enforcement, the press, the military, the Supreme Court, the medical professionals, election officials and the postal workers, then why should we? And if Americans stop believing in the system of institutions, then what is left but chaos and who can bring order out of chaos: only Trump. It is the theme of every autocrat who ever seized power or tried to hold onto it. Continue reading.
A reporter’s stunning look inside Trump’s chaotic, meandering 2020 reboot proves he’s running his re-election campaign into the ground
Olivia Nuzzi’s stunning look inside the Trump presidential campaign confirms everything we’ve been saying, for so long—that it’s a disorganized disaster of a mess, riven by internal discord and rival factions, with no guiding strategy that could plausibly give the incumbent president a path to reelection.
We’ve seen and discussed it before, but Nuzzi offers new insight. About the nepotism and grift that infects the campaign?
“The campaign was spending all this money on silly things. Brad’s businesses kept making money,” the first senior White House official told me. “Everyone was like, What does he even do? He’s just milking the family, basically. And nobody could understand why Jared and the family were putting up with it. That was the talk all the time. Why? Why Brad? He’s not some genius. And I guess people just came to the conclusion that, well, who else would be campaign manager? We’re kind of stuck with this guy.” Continue reading.
Minnesota Delegates React to Night One of the 2020 Democratic Convention
SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – During night one of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, people across America heard from a wide variety of speakers with different backgrounds and points of view about why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris must become the next President and Vice President of the United States of America. Below, the Minnesota DFL Party has collected reactions from the Minnesota delegation to the first night of the Democratic National Convention:
“My expectations for the first night were completely exceeded! From the personal stories to the speakers, every single part of the night felt so fresh and human!”
– Ceri Everett from Red Wing, Minnesota
“I am inspired by Senator Bernie Sanders and Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s speeches which grounded us in the true lived experiences of people all across our nation and need to overcome any obstacles in order to build toward the future we deserve.”
– Nelsie Yang from St. Paul, Minnesota
Continue reading “Minnesota Delegates React to Night One of the 2020 Democratic Convention”Why Are Republicans Going Quazy For QAnon?
“I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration … to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.” — Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, Dr. Strangelove
In the 1964 black comedy Dr. Strangelove, the above words are spoken by a general who is about to start World War III. His theory about the contamination of “precious bodily fluids” is the tipoff for poor Group Captain Lionel Mandrake that the general has gone certifiably cuckoo.
This week, Republican voters in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District nominated Marjorie Taylor Greene for the seat being vacated by Rep. Tom Graves. Greene is (or claims to be) a QAnon believer.
You might think that once voters were alerted to this, they’d shrink from Greene as Mandrake did from Ripper, asking her to go nicely with the men in white coats who are here to help her. Her opponent told Politico, “She is not conservative — she’s crazy.” The voters were not convinced. Greene trounced Cowan by 14 points (as of this writing). Continue reading.