Category: 2020 Election

Trump turned July Fourth into a partisan event. The damage could be long-lasting.

Washington Post logoPresident Trump, with two speeches in two days, has turned the Fourth of July from a joyful and unifying patriotic celebration of America’s founding values into a partisan political event. The damage could outlast his presidency.

From near the base of Mount Rushmore on Friday night and from the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday night, Trump tried to write himself into the history of America as an implacable wartime president. His enemy, however, is not the Nazis of the 20th century or terrorists of the 21st century. Instead, it appears to be those in America who disagree with him — a caricatured blue America.

Trump knows his reelection campaign is in trouble. He sees the fight against this enemy of his creation as his pathway to victory in November. His political weapon of choice is exaggerated and at times racist rhetoric designed to pit Americans against Americans. Never in our lifetimes has the Independence Day holiday been used for such divisive and personal ends. Continue reading.

Trump’s leadership is tested in time of fear, pandemic

WASHINGTON — Not long after noon on Feb. 6, President Donald Trump strode into the elegant East Room of the White House. The night before, his impeachment trial had ended with acquittal in the Republican-controlled Senate. It was time to gloat and settle scores.

“It was evil,” Trump said of the attempt to end his presidency. “It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars.”

It was also soon forgotten. On Feb. 6, in California, a 57-year-old woman was found dead in her home of natural causes then unknown. When her autopsy report came out, officials said her death had been the first from COVID-19 in the U.S. Continue reading.

Trump Vowed to ‘Drain the Swamp,’ but Lobbyists Are Helping Run His Campaign

New York Times logoLobbyists like David Urban, whose connections start at the very top, are thriving as they help the president’s re-election effort while aiding corporate clients.

WASHINGTON — The chief executive of the arms maker Raytheon, under pressure to overcome a congressional hold on major sales in the fall of 2018, wanted to sit down with one of the few people who could solve the problem — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

But the State Department would not schedule the meeting. So Raytheon turned for help to David Urban, perhaps the best-connected lobbyist in President Trump’s Washington.

Mr. Urban was a classmate at West Point of Mr. Pompeo and of Mark Esper, now the defense secretary, and was influential in recommending both men for administration posts. Continue reading.

Trump second-term plans remain a mystery to GOP

The Hill logoRepublican lawmakers say they have little to no idea what President Trump’s agenda would be if he wins a second term, making it difficult for GOP candidates to coordinate campaign messages ahead of November.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said last year he wanted the 2020 election to be a referendum on socialism, but instead it’s turning into a referendum on Trump, a scenario that GOP senators wanted to avoid.

Congressional Republicans say Trump spends too much time going after critics on Twitter and not enough time articulating his vision for a possible second term. They would prefer more contrasts between their party and Democrats on issues such as taxes and regulation — areas they think could be part of a winning formula in the fall. Continue reading.

Trump’s newest assault on America’s public schools: They teach kids to ‘hate their own country’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump started his administration with a dystopian inaugural speech on Jan. 20, 2017, in which he talked about “American carnage” and said the country has “an education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.”

This year, in his Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota on Friday, he changed that narrative: Now, in his view, schools are teaching kids to “hate our country” with a “far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance.”

“If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished,” he said. Continue reading.

Trump and the GOP are blatantly sacrificing working people for political gain

AlterNet logoThe United States is currently seeing the most coronavirus infections since the pandemic began. Dr. Anthony Fauci just warned that the U.S. could soon reach 100,000 new cases each day. And across every age group, people of color, especially Black and Native people, are being infected and dying at much higher rates.

Cases are surging because we’re reopening without adequate public health protections. At least 17 states that had begun reopening are shutting back down. It’s no coincidence that the same states that were the last to shut down and the first to reopen are experiencing the most alarming spikes.

The U.S. has been hit harder by the pandemic than any other nation, largely due to a series of blunders in the Trump administration’s handling of the crisis. In response to rising cases, President Trump encouraged his team to “slow down the testing” because the numbers made him look bad.

Historians question Trump’s choice of ‘heroes’ for national garden monument

Washington Post logoAmong the combative and unusual ways President Trump chose to celebrate Independence Day, some historians were particularly puzzled Saturday by his announcement for a new monument called the “National Garden of American Heroes” populated by a grab bag of historical figures chosen by his administration.

The garden, Trump explained in a Friday night speech at Mount Rushmore, was part of his response to the movement to remove Confederate statues and racially charged iconography across the country.

“Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities,” Trump said. “This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty, must be stopped.”

In response, Trump said he plans to build “a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.” Among the statues to be erected in the garden — spelled out in an executive order — are evangelical leader Billy Graham, 19th-century politician Henry Clay, frontiersman Davy Crockett, first lady Dolley Madison and conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. Continue reading.

Ousting Republicans From Senate Is Vital For Biden

If Joe Biden is elected, he will face the same intransigence from the GOP that Barack Obama did. Just as soon as Biden is sworn in, Republicans will do everything in their power to defeat his policies and hamstring his presidency.

They will suddenly remember long-forgotten conservative principles, such as fiscal restraint. They will refuse to compromise. Even though they ignored mind-boggling corruption for the last four years, they will show a passionate and determined interest in any whiff of scandal among Democrats.

That’s why a Biden administration will need a Democratic Senate. Without it, he will not be able to drag the country out of the mess that it’s in.

This is not the time for complacency, even though polls show Biden leading nationally and in several critical battleground states. It’s the time for Democratic activists to redouble their efforts to boost not only Biden, but also Senate candidates in Colorado, Arizona, Maine, North Carolina and even Georgia. Continue reading.

The Trumps host a July 4th pandemic party at the White House as new COVID-19 infections soar

AlterNet logoHundreds of thousands of people converged on a very hot Washington, DC Saturday afternoon, where U.S. President Donald Trump will host a private party in the midst of a pandemic. The Trumps are hosting a “2020 Salute to America” on the South Lawn of the White House. The “Salute” will include a speech that Trump says would celebrate American “heritage.” The invitation-only event, will culminate in watching flyovers of military aircraft and a large-scale fireworks show on the National Mall.

Disregarding Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser’s warnings of the risk of gathering as many U.S. states are spiking with record numbers of new COVID-19 cases.

Florida reported 11,458 new coronavirus cases Saturday, shattering its record for daily reported cases in the state since the pandemic began. Yesterday the US reported a third straight day with more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases. The US death toll has now risen to 132,223. Continue reading.

In Trump’s new version of American carnage, the threat isn’t immigrants or foreign nations. It’s other Americans.

Washington Post logoIn his inaugural address, President Trump sketched the picture of “American carnage” — a nation ransacked by marauders from abroad who breached U.S. borders in pursuit of jobs and crime, lured its companies offshore and bogged down its military in faraway conflicts.

Nearly 3½ years later, in the president’s telling, the carnage is still underway but this time the enemy is closer to home — other Americans whose racial identity and cultural beliefs are toppling the nation’s heritage and founding ideals.

Trump’s dark and divisive 42-minute speech at the foot of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota late Friday served as a clarion for his campaign reelection message at a time when the nation — already reeling with deep anxiety over the devastating public health and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic — is also facing a cultural reckoning over the residue of its racially segregated past. Continue reading.