Category: 2020 Election

Silicon Valley is getting tougher on Trump and his supporters over hate speech and disinformation

Washington Post logoBut civil rights activist and other critics say Facebook and other tech companies are still too timid

The nation’s technology industry has begun taking a harder line against hate speech, misinformation and posts that potentially incite violence when made by President Trump and some of his most extreme supporters after years of treating such issues gingerly for fear of triggering the wrath of the nation’s most powerful politician.

The moves, such as labeling false posts by Trump and banishing forums devoted to supporting him after years of policy violations, have taken place across the industry in recent weeks, with actions by Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitch.

Even Facebook, which long has given wide latitude in allowing problematic posts by Trump and his followers, on Wednesday closed down a network of more than 100 accounts and pages affiliated with Trump confidante and felon Roger Stone. The action came years after his use of social media first came under the scrutiny of federal investigators and involved issues dating back to 2015 that the company said it had unearthed only recently. Continue reading.

Trump Is Selling White Grievance. The Suburbs Aren’t Buying It.

New York Times logoAs the president casts himself as a bulwark against “angry mobs,” there are signs that he is alienating voters in bedroom communities who view him as a deeply flawed messenger on issues of race.

CORNELIUS, NC — On a humid Wednesday morning in this leafy lakeside suburb of Charlotte, American flags fluttered from porches along Main Street, traffic was slow, and the occasional resident ambled out for a walk.

There was only one visible sign of the anger and anxiety that have coursed through this community and so many others across the nation in recent weeks: “Racist,” read the faded black graffiti at the base of a Confederate memorial, the kind of statue President Trump has vowed to preserve amid a national discussion of racism in America.

Down the street, as she loaded groceries into her car, Elizabeth Stewart vented her frustrations about Mr. Trump’s incendiary approach. Continue reading.

If these are the polls he’s using, no wonder Trump thinks 2020 is going well

Washington Post logoAs far as ledes go — the anecdotes that journalists use to compel readers at the outset of a story — few I’ve encountered in my life have been better tailored to my interests than one that Washington Post columnist Marc A. Thiessen used this week.

Thiessen got a chance to interview President Trump in the Oval Office and began his description of that conversation by explaining what the president was doing when Thiessen entered. Continue reading “If these are the polls he’s using, no wonder Trump thinks 2020 is going well”

These 7 details from the damning Sharpiegate report show it was a dark omen of Trump’s destructive potential

AlterNet logoWhile it was dismissed by some as an overhyped media obsession, the presidential scandal that has come to be known as “Sharpiegate” was, in fact, an early warning sign of the truly catastrophic potential of Donald Trump.

The story arose out of Hurricane Dorian, which began its deliberate march up toward the East Coast of the United States in late August and early September of 2019. It ravaged the Bahamas, and officials feared the damage it could inflict stateside. But then came a Trump tweet on Sept. 1, and later comments to reporters, in which he warned that Alabama was in the storm’s path. He said it was among the states “most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.”

This wasn’t true, and his false claim set off a series of troubling events. Most infamously, he later showed a weather forecast map that appeared to have been altered with a Sharpie to falsely extend the storm’s path into Alabama — a truly absurd and ridiculous spectacle that earned the president widespread derision. But his tweet also led to the NOAA’s National Weather Service office in Birmingham to tweet out contradictory information, telling readers: “Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian.” That tweet sparked fury within the administration, and the Commerce Department later rebuked the office in a contentious statement. Continue reading.

Trump confirms 2018 US cyberattack on Russian troll farm

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Friday confirmed for the first time that the U.S. launched a cyberattack on the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) in 2018.

Trump confirmed the attack in a two-part interview with The Washington Post’s Marc Thiessen. When asked whether the U.S. had launched an attack on the IRA — a troll farm that led the effort to spread disinformation around the 2016 presidential election and 2018 midterm elections — Trump said that was “correct.”

The cyberattack, first reported by The Washington Post in 2019 but not confirmed publicly by the Trump administration, involved U.S. Cyber Command disrupting internet access for the building in St. Petersburg that houses the IRA on the night of the U.S. 2018 midterm elections, halting efforts to spread disinformation as Americans went to the polls. Continue reading.

Trump Says He ‘Aced’ Cognitive Test, but White House Won’t Release Details

New York Times logoPresident Trump has repeatedly ridiculed Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s fitness to be president. Mr. Biden’s campaign has called it a smear that has backfired.

President Trump on Thursday volunteered to Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, that he “very recently” took a test at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center measuring his mental acuity and “aced” it, but the White House would not say when he took it or why.

Mr. Trump boasted that his success on the test surprised his doctors as he continued his attempt to make a campaign issue of whether his presumptive Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., was mentally fit.

“I actually took one when I — very recently, when I — when I was — the radical left were saying, is he all there? Is he all there? And I proved I was all there, because I got — I aced it. I aced the test,” Mr. Trump, 74, said in his interview with Mr. Hannity. Continue reading.

Trump commutes Roger Stone’s sentence

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Friday commuted the prison sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone after the former campaign adviser was sentenced to three years and four months in prison in connection with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

The decision capped a months-long saga that has roiled the Justice Department and divided some of the president’s advisers. Stone was set to report to prison July 14, but his allies had lobbied for a pardon or a commutation, citing his risk of contracting coronavirus while in jail.

The move Friday did not come as a particular surprise, as Trump had at various points in recent months signaled he was leaning toward intervening in Stone’s case. Trump told reporters he was considering a commutation or pardon for Stone as the date he was scheduled to report to prison loomed. Continue reading.

Trump delays N.H. campaign event, citing weather, as virus raises questions about the future of his rallies

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s Saturday night rally in Portsmouth, N.H., was supposed to give his reelection campaign a much needed boost as his polling numbers lag, a shot in the arm from the state that handed him his first blowout primary victory in 2016.

But locals — and prominent state Republicans — spent days telegraphing concerns that the outdoor gathering could fuel the spread of the coronavirus. And on Friday, Trump’s campaign abruptly postponed the rally, citing the threat of a tropical storm that was not forecast to affect the area during his speaking time.

“The rally scheduled for Saturday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has been postponed for safety reasons because of Tropical Storm Fay,” said Tim Murtaugh, a campaign spokesman, in a statement. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters the event would be rescheduled in “a week or two.” Continue reading.

GOP attacks Biden for ‘audacity’ to say ‘all people are created equal’

An RNC spokesperson called the notion of equality for all people ‘radical-left socialism.’

A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee slammed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for saying “all people are created equal.”

During an appearance on Fox News on July 5, RNC spokesperson Liz Harrington criticized an op-ed Biden published on NBC News’ website on the Fourth of July.

In the op-ed, Biden says that Independence Day is a celebration of “the natural expansion of our founding notion from ‘all men are created equal’ to ‘all people are created equal and should be treated equally throughout their lives.'” Continue reading.

Trump earns support from former KKK leader David Duke a second time

In recent weeks, Trump has defended Confederate memorials and denounced Black Lives Matter as a ‘symbol of hate.’

Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke formally backed Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection on Wednesday. He also demanded that Fox News host Tucker Carlson replace Vice President Mike Pence on the ticket.

“President Trump! You have one last chance to turn the tables, win this election and save America — and yourself ! Nominate Tucker Carlson for Vice President. This would energize your campaign beyond belief. You can replace Zio NeoCon warmonger Pompeo with Pence as Sec. of State!” he tweeted.

“Trump & Tucker is the only way to stop the commie Bolsheviks! It is the only path to beat them! #TrumpTucker2020,” he added minutes later. Continue reading.