Category: 2020 Election

Democrat Jon Ossoff denounces ‘anti-Semitic’ ad by Sen. David Perdue that made his nose look larger

Washington Post logoDemocrat Jon Ossoff on Monday denounced a now-deleted Facebook ad by Sen. David Perdue’s (R-Ga.) campaign that appeared to make Ossoff’s nose look larger, accusing Perdue of playing on anti-Semitic tropes.

Perdue’s campaign blamed an outside vendor and described the altered photo as an “unintentional error” that was caused when a filter was applied.

According to the Jewish news site the Forward, which first reported on the ad, the black-and-white photo of Ossoff was “changed by having his nose lengthened and widened, even as other parts of his face stayed the same size and proportions.” Continue reading.

House GOP candidates join Trump in preaching hysteria

Fundraising pitches echo warnings of destruction of suburban way of life

ANALYSIS — The fundraising email arrived Friday afternoon. It was a message from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but the disclaimer said, “Paid for by Zeldin for Congress,” a reference to Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York’s 1st District. The subject line of the email was “Stop the Mob NOW.”

“Friends,” the email began, “This November election is coming down to the fight between freedom and socialism. Rep. Lee Zeldin and I are quickly working to take back the House, re-elect President Trump, and push back against the radical left.”

“Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen countless mobs destroy our cities, harm our police officers, and disrupt law and order. The kicker is that they’re supported by the Democrats in Congress.” (The words in bold for emphasis was their idea, not mine.) Continue reading.

Here are 7 disturbing revelations from a National Guard officer about Trump’s Lafayette Square disaster

AlterNet logoAn officer in the D.C. National Guard delivered a damning account of the events surrounding the federal crackdown on protesters in Lafayette Square in testimony released by the House of Representatives on Monday.

Adam DeMarco, a senior officer tapped to serve as a liaison between the National Guard and the Park Police, was on the scene during the June 1 assault on protesters, as his opening statement for a planned hearing on Tuesday explained. While the president gave a speech to reporters at the White House, federal officers, including the Park Police, violently cleared demonstrators, the media, and others from the nearby area. Shortly thereafter, the president walked across the street that had been cleared for a photo-op at St. John’s Church.

Though presumably intended to bolster Trump’s political standing, the optics of the events clearly backfired, as Vanity Fair reported: Continue reading.

Mary Trump, niece of the president, says she’ll do ‘everything in my power’ to elect Joe Biden

 

Washington Post logoMary L. Trump, whose best-selling book calls her uncle President Trump “the world’s most dangerous man,” said in an interview with The Washington Post that she plans to do “everything in my power” to elect Democrat Joe Biden as president, but hasn’t yet talked to his campaign.

Speaking Monday on The Post Live program with reporter Robert Costa, the president’s niece acknowledged that she had not obtained permission to use a series of incendiary quotes from her aunt Maryanne Trump Barry. In the book, Mary Trump quotes Maryanne as saying that Donald Trump was a “clown” who would never get elected.

Asked whether Maryanne knew her quotes would be in the book, Mary Trump said that they came from conversations that took place before she planned to write a book. She said that she hadn’t talked to Maryanne since the book was published and said she would not be surprised “if she never contacted me, and I think that’s fair. I understand why she would not want to.” Continue reading.

More federal agents dispatched to Portland as protests rise in other cities

Washington Post logoThe Trump administration is sending more federal agents to Portland, Ore., already the site of aggressive policing tactics that activists and city officials across the country say are inspiring more-violent clashes and re-energizing protests.

The U.S. Marshals Service decided last week to send more deputies to Portland, according to an internal email reviewed by The Washington Post, with personnel beginning to arrive last Thursday night. The Department of Homeland Security is also considering a plan to send an additional 50 U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to the city, according to senior administration officials involved in the federal response who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

Such moves would mark a significant expansion of the federal force operating at the Portland federal courthouse — there were 114 federal agents there in mid-July — though it is unclear how many existing personnel could be sent home after the arrival of at least 100 reinforcements, according to internal Marshals emails. Continue reading.

Trump’s Brutal Response To Protest Violence Undermines ‘Law And Order’

Donald Trump, whose 2016 presidential campaign was consciously modeled after Richard Nixon’s 1968 run, seems to think he can win reelection by emulating his predecessor’s appeal to a “silent majority” disgusted by raucous anti-war protests. Trump is offering voters a choice between his firm hand and the pusillanimity of “liberal Democrats” who let “violent anarchists” run wild in the streets.

Notwithstanding Trump’s pose as “your president of law and order,” his heavy-handed reaction to the protests triggered by George Floyd’s death represents neither. In response to largely peaceful demonstrations against police brutality that have been punctuated by criminal behavior, he has deployed his own brand of lawlessness, including arbitrary arrests and the disproportionate, indiscriminate use of force.

Billy Williams, the U.S. attorney for Oregon, is well aware of the crimes committed by some people drawn to the protests Portland has seen every day since May 28. He notes that the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse has been vandalized repeatedly and that federal agents assigned to protect the building “have been subjected to threats; aerial fireworks including mortars; high intensity lasers targeting officers’ eyes; (and) thrown rocks, bottles, and balloons filled with paint.” Continue reading.

National Guard officer calls treatment of Lafayette Square protesters ‘deeply disturbing’

Adam DeMarco will testify before a House panel on Tuesday that he observed a disproportionate law enforcement reaction against protesters.

A District of Columbia National Guard officer claimed law enforcement used excessive force on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square last month, directly disputing the White House’s account of events that led to a photo-op during the height of demonstrations against racial injustice.

Adam DeMarco, a major in the D.C. National Guard and Iraq War veteran, will testify on Tuesday in front of the House Natural Resources Committee that he observed a brutal law enforcement reaction against protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. A copy of his prepared testimony was released Monday.

“Members of the Committee, the events I witnessed at Lafayette Square on the evening of June 1 were deeply disturbing to me, and to fellow National Guardsmen,” DeMarco’s written testimony said. “Having served in a combat zone, and understanding how to assess threat environments, at no time did I feel threatened by the protestors or assess them to be violent.” Continue reading.

Trump supporters fume at the president’s campaign for spamming them with ‘sleazy’ text messages

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is frantically spamming its supporters with text messages — and many of them are absolutely sick of it.

As flagged by Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch, several pro-Trump figures took to Twitter over the weekend to voice their displeasure with the Trump campaign’s texting strategy, which involves sending out panicky missives several times a day letting supporters know that they’re “failing” the president by not donating more money.

“You FAILED to use your 5x match,” reads one text message. “It EXPIRED… Why did you let us down? LAST CHANCE.” Continue reading.

Don’t Count Trump Out

Polling could be wrong. The economy could recover just enough. He could announce his own October surprise.

Let’s stipulate right away that President Donald Trump is losing this race. Set aside the particulars—how suburban voters are migrating toward Joe Biden, and how seniors are rethinking their support too. Consider the basics.

Presidents are supposed to keep Americans employed. The jobless rate now stands at 11 percent—more than 3 points higher than when Jimmy Carter lost reelection in 1980 and when George H. W. Bush was defeated in 1992.

Presidents are supposed to keep Americans safe. About 140,000 have died from COVID-19, more than twice the number that perished in the Vietnam War, which doomed Lyndon B. Johnson’s reelection chances in 1968. Continue reading.

100 days out, parties fear chaotic election

The Hill logoA little more than three months before November’s election, partisans who back both President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are growing anxious over what they see as the mounting potential for a chaotic contest marred by disenfranchised voters, administration errors and mountains of litigation.

The new anxiety comes on top of the typical nerves that plague campaign operatives. Republicans are increasingly concerned that Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the attending economic crisis has put off so many voters that his path to reelection is narrowing precipitously. Democrats are almost universally convinced that Biden’s polling lead is a mirage, a potential repeat of the 2016 calamity they did not see coming.

But a series of quieter developments have people on both sides nervous that Election Day may bring a host of its own unpredictable disasters. Continue reading.