Category: 2020 Election

Mail delays likely as new postal boss pushes cost-cutting

WASHINGTON — Mail deliveries could be delayed by a day or more under cost-cutting efforts being imposed by the new postmaster general. The plan eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and says employees must adopt a “different mindset” to ensure the Postal Service’s survival during the coronavirus pandemic.

Late trips will no longer be authorized. If postal distribution centers are running late, “they will keep the mail for the next day,” Postal Service leaders say in a document obtained by The Associated Press. “One aspect of these changes that may be difficult for employees is that — temporarily — we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor or docks,” another document says.

The changes come a month after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump, took over the sprawling mail service. In a memo titled “PMG Expectations and Plan,” the agency said the changes are aimed at “making the USPS fundamentally solvent which we are not at this time.” Continue reading.

A new Trump ad shows why his re-election campaign is such a disaster

AlterNet logoThere’s a new ad out from the Trump campaign, and it shows quite clearly why the president’s team is having such a hard time selling the prospect of his re-election.

The video begins by listing a series of supposed agenda items from the “radical left-wing mob” — taking over cities, defunding police — claiming that Biden supports these goals.

Clearly, the Trump campaign had a plan to run against Sen. Bernie Sanders as a dangerous socialist, and it’s trying to use that same playbook against Biden. But however effective that script may or may not have been against Sanders, it’s clearly an uphill battle to use it against Biden. Biden famously and decisively won the primary against Sanders by running in opposition to the left-wing of the Democratic Party, so it will be hard to convince voters that he’s a secret radical. Continue reading.

#EndorseThis: Lincoln Project Ad Slaps Cowardly GOP Senators

“Walk of Courage,” the latest ad from the Lincoln Project, smacks down Republican Senators who won’t stand up to Donald Trump (meaning all of them except Utah’s Mitt Romney).

In just 30 seconds, this tiny gem contrasts the cowardice of those politicians with the courage of the protesters who rose up after the murder of George Floyd. It shows Black Lives Matter protesters marching peacefully past a group of armed white men during a demonstration in Crown Point, Indiana — and a parade of GOP senators skulking silently past reporters asking them about President Donald Trump’s conduct.or’s

Don’t miss the smile flashed by a protester walking past the gun thugs. Just click.

Lincoln Project reports raising $16.8 million for anti-Trump efforts

The Hill logoGOP group the Lincoln Project says it raised $16.8 million in the second quarter of 2020 as it ramps up its anti-Trump efforts ahead of the general election.

In a filing with the Federal Election Commission posted Wednesday, the group said it spent $7.2 million and has $10.8 million cash on hand. It also owes more than $263,500 in debt.

Among the organization’s most prominent donors are billionaire hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel, who gave $1 million, business magnate David Geffen, who gave $100,000, and Bain Capital chairman Joshua Bekenstein, who also gave $100,000. Continue reading.

Trump shares photo with Goya Foods products after Ivanka faces criticism

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Wednesday shared a photo on Instagram with several Goya Foods products as the White House doubled down on its public support of the company even as a similar tweet from Ivanka Trump raised concerns about the violation of ethics rules for public officials. 

The photo, taken from the Oval Office, was promoted on the president’s Instagram account a day after Ivanka Trump, a senior White House adviser, shared a picture of herself with a can of Goya beans. The caption of the tweet read: “If it’s Goya, it has to be good. Si es Goya, tiene que ser bueno.”

The message appeared to be show of support from Ivanka Trump following the backlash the CEO of Goya Foods, Robert Unanue, faced after publicly praising the president at a White House event last week. But it quickly prompted criticism of its own, as well as accusations that the senior White House aide was violating ethics laws by using her official capacity to endorse a private product. Continue reading.

Navarro under fire over anti-Fauci op-ed

The White House trade adviser’s column represented his most brazen effort yet to dress down the widely respected immunologist.

President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser came under fire Wednesday for assailing Dr. Anthony Fauci in a new op-ed, with even the White House distancing itself from the diatribe after waging its own smear campaign against the nation’s top infectious disease expert over the weekend.

Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, insisted in a tweet Wednesday morning that the West Wing’s press shop had not approved the explosive column by Peter Navarro, director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, that appeared Tuesday evening on USA Today’s website.

“The Peter Navarro op-ed didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone,” Farah wrote online. “@realDonaldTrump values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his Administration.” Continue reading.

As the coronavirus crisis spins out of control, Trump issues directives — but still no clear plan

Washington Post logoPresident Trump has vowed that the nation’s schools must reopen for the fall semester, but neither he nor his administration has detailed a plan for how to do so safely.

Trump has boasted that the United States leads the world in coronavirus testing, yet he has declined to produce a national testing plan, and in many communities tests can take a week or longer to process, rendering their results all but useless in slowing the spread.

And with case numbers spiking from coast to coast and fears mounting of additional outbreaks this fall and winter, Trump’s most clearly articulated plan to end the covid-19 pandemic is to predict the virus will “just disappear” and to bank on a vaccine being ready “very, very soon.” Continue reading.

Death Valley just hit the second hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth

Death Valley broke a record on July 13, when it clocked the hottest temperature on Earth since 2017 at a spicy 128 degrees Fahrenheit. One hundred and twenty eight degrees! That’s 28 degrees hotter than 100, for those counting.

Recorded at Furnace Creek, the Valley’s aptly named weather station, the temperature follows a number of record-breaking highs all across the United States as the nation undergoes a sweltering heatwave. The heatwave itself follows climate change trends long predicted by scientists, who warned this would happen. Multiple times.  View the post here.

Trump lawyers say they’ll fight subpoena for president’s tax returns

The Hill logoPresident Trump intends to fight a subpoena for his tax returns and financial records from the Manhattan district attorney after the Supreme Court rejected his claim that he’s immune to criminal investigation, the president’s lawyers told a judge on Wednesday.

In a status report filed with a federal district court in New York, Trump’s legal team said it has other objections to the district attorney’s subpoena aside from the one struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this month.

The move will surely draw out the proceedings in the lower court, and the president’s attorneys made clear that they intend to raise issues about whether District Attorney Cyrus Vance‘s subpoenas are overly broad or relevant to a legitimate investigation. They argued that the case requires the two parties to develop a more thorough factual record. Continue reading.

Trump hits road to ignite stalled campaign

The Hill logoPresident Trump will travel to Georgia on Wednesday, his 10th trip to a 2020 battleground state since May as he tries to reinvigorate a reelection campaign that has stalled out with the coronavirus crisis.

Trump is trailing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in national and swing-state polls, and his rhetoric has seemed out of step with voters on both COVID-19 and protests over systemic racism. 

His falling poll numbers have alarmed Republicans, who worry the party could end up losing the Senate majority. The White House has sought to get Trump out on the road more often in the last several weeks, something past presidents have used to rejuvenate themselves.  Continue reading.