Category: 2020 Election

Trump Campaign, Fox News Fabricate Lie To Smear Biden

President Donald Trump’s media allies are distorting a quote from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in order to falsely claim that Biden called police “the enemy.” The lie followed a now well-trod path from Trump’s campaign to his propagandists in Fox News prime time.

Biden has called for police reform following the brutal killing of George Floyd by officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While describing some of his campaign’s proposals during an interview with progressive activist Ady Barkan published by NowThis News on Wednesday morning, Biden highlighted the problem of police militarization and how it impacts public perceptions of law enforcement.

The Defense Department has provided more than $5 billion in free surplus military equipment to local law enforcement since 1996, including at least $760 million after the Trump administration lifted restrictions implemented by President Barack Obama, according to a CNN analysis. Public outcry in response to police usage of military-style equipment against protesters has led to a bipartisan push in Congress to reform or end that program. Continue reading.

Trump’s new excuse on not releasing his taxes is ‘completely meaningless’ and may not even be in English: CNN’s Toobin

AlterNet logoCNN’s Jeffrey Toobin on Friday found himself flabbergasted by President Donald Trump’s new excuse for not releasing his tax returns, and he questioned whether the president was even speaking English when he made it.

During a CNN panel discussion, Toobin was shown a clip of Trump talking about releasing his tax returns during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

“I’m under tax audit, I have been for a long period of time,” the president told Hannity. “Once I ran for politics that deal was like we didn’t make it. So I’m under a continuing audit, and anyone that did that or showed that before you have it finalized, but they treat, they treat me horribly, the IRS. It is a disgrace what has happened. We had a deal done, I guess it was signed even. Once I ran or once I won, somewhere back a long time ago everything was like let’s start all over again.” Continue reading.

Trump’s apparently been too busy hate tweeting to file his annual financial disclosure report

AlterNet logoDonald Trump’s annual financial disclosure report—really the only regular glimpse the public gets of a president’s finances—was due in May. He and other White House employees received a 45-day pandemic extension that came due last week, according to The New York Times.

Guess what? Trump’s financial report still hasn’t been filed.

Trump originally complained the report was “complicated” and said he was far too busy “addressing the coronavirus crisis and other matters” to meet the May deadline, as if he himself was filling it out. Apparently, his rigorous tweet schedule is inhibiting the ability of his accountants to complete the report. Continue reading.

Trump the victim: President complains in private about the pandemic hurting him

Washington Post logoCallers on President Trump in recent weeks have come to expect what several allies and advisers describe as a “woe-is-me” preamble.

The president rants about the deadly coronavirus destroying “the greatest economy,” one he claims to have personally built. He laments the unfair “fake news” media, which he vents never gives him any credit. And he bemoans the “sick, twisted” police officers in Minneapolis, whose killing of an unarmed black man in their custody provoked the nationwide racial justice protests that have confounded the president.

Gone, say these advisers and confidants, many speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations, are the usual pleasantries and greetings. Continue reading.

Running Away From Trump

GOP candidates who once watched the president thwart the political futures of Republicans deemed not sufficiently loyal are finding he may bring them down this fall.

A RECENT SENATE campaign ad touts the candidate’s record protecting public lands and national parks and how that’s pleased environmentalists. One ad features his work getting masks from overseas to protect people from the coronavirus and shows his state’s Democratic governor thanking him for his effort. There is no ad highlighting an endorsement or praise from President Donald Trump.

It’s not a typical summer ad campaign from a Republican incumbent fighting for reelection in a highly polarized political environment. But it may be Cory Gardner’s best hope of remaining Colorado’s junior senator after the fall elections – and the only hope Republicans have of hanging onto control of the Senate, experts say.

“Some of (the GOP candidates) will definitely outperform” Trump at the ballot box, with endangered Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine the most likely to do so, says Amy Walter, national editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. “The question is, at what point is the weight too heavy for them to reach the surface? It’s the difference between being able to pull a 5-pound weight and being able to pull a 200-pound weight. He’s a 200-pound weight.” Continue reading.

In ‘Buy American’ Speech, Biden Challenges Trump on the Economy

New York Times logoJoseph R. Biden Jr. laid out a populist economic vision with the tagline “Build Back Better,” part of an effort to confront President Trump on his strongest issue in polling.

Joseph R. Biden Jr. laid out a populist economic vision to revive and reinvest in American manufacturing on Thursday, calling for major new spending and stricter new rules to “Buy American” as part of an effort to more aggressively challenge President Trumpon two of his signature issues: the economy and nationalism.

In a speech in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Mr. Bidenlacerated Mr. Trump for a bungled response to the coronavirus pandemic that has deepened the economic crisis and a misplaced focus on the stock market, while framing his own economic agenda around a new campaign tagline, “Build Back Better.”

In some ways, Mr. Biden was seizing the “Buy American” message from Mr. Trump himself, who campaigned on an “America First” agenda in 2016 and wrote on Twitter on his Inauguration Day that “Buy American” and “Hire American” were “two simple rules” that would guide his administration. Continue reading.

Trump’s campaign to open schools provokes mounting backlash even from GOP

An overwhelming alignment of local, state and even Republican-aligned organizations oppose the rush to reopen schools and colleges.

President Donald Trump has been on a rampage against public schools and colleges all week, threatening to use the power of the federal government to strong-arm officials into reopening classrooms.

But his effort is now creating a backlash: An overwhelming alignment of state and even Republican-aligned organizations oppose the rush to reopen schools. The nation’s leading pediatricians, Republican state school chiefs, Christian colleges and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have all challenged parts of Trump’s pressure campaign.

“Threats are not helpful,” Joy Hofmeister, the Republican state superintendent of public instruction in Oklahoma, told POLITICO on Friday. “We do not need to be schooled on why it’s important to reopen.” Continue reading.

Trump rally in New Hampshire postponed due to weather

The Hill logoPresident Trump‘s scheduled campaign rally in New Hampshire this weekend will be postponed, the White House said Friday, due to expected storms in the area.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters traveling with the president to Florida that the rally will be put on hold for a “week or two.”

Tropical Storm Fay is expected to make landfall in New Jersey on Friday, and its projected path shows that it will reach New Hampshire by Saturday. The storm is expected to produce heavy winds and rain. Continue reading.

Arrests along Mexico border jumped 40% last month, despite Trump administration’s immigration crackdown

Washington Post logoThe number of migrants detained along the Mexico border jumped 40 percent in June, defying a Trump administration emergency crackdown that has cited the coronavirus pandemic to swiftly “expel” those who cross illegally, according to enforcement statistics released Thursday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

U.S. authorities made 32,512 arrests and detentions along the Mexico border in June, up from 23,142 in May. The June total was nearly double the number of detentions recorded in April, after the Trump administration suspended normal immigration proceedings to quickly process most migrants and return them to Mexico in a matter of hours.

CBP figures show the vast majority of those detained in June — 89 percent — were promptly turned back to Mexico using the rapid-expulsion system that is facing a legal challenge from rights groups and immigrant advocates. The administration has defended the expulsions as a necessary measure to keep detention cells along the border empty and avoid the risk of spreading infection. Continue reading.