Category: 2020 Election

Sen. Amy Klobuchar drops from consideration as Joe Biden’s running mate

The Minnesota senator says she told Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden that he should pick a woman of color.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday night that she asked Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to take her name out of consideration as his vice presidential running mate, and recommended that he choose a woman of color.

“America must seize on this moment, and I truly believe, as I told the vice president last night, that I think this is a moment to put a woman of color on the ticket,” Klobuchar said in an interview on MSNBC.

In a follow-up interview with the Star Tribune, Klobuchar clarified that she reached out to Biden to ask him to pull her name from his VP list, not the other way around. She said she was still being vetted for the vice presidential slot, though many Democrats believe Klobuchar’s chances suffered after the unrest that sprang up in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. Continue reading.

Congress must act now to help states with vote-by-mail in November, experts say

Election officials will need more resources to prepare for voting by mail and in person

The November presidential and congressional elections are a little more than four months away, and Congress must act now to help states prepare for a surge in Americans seeking to vote by mail because of pandemic-driven fears that are likely to keep them from voting in person, according to election experts, advocates and lawmakers.

As many as 30 states have already lowered barriers for voters seeking to mail in their ballots because of COVID-19. Some, like Nevada, have gone as far as sending pre-printed mail-in ballots to all registered voters in some counties.

But states scrambling to scale up voting by mail also need to be prepared for voters to show up in person at regular polling places because of glitches in the mailing process or a failure to receive mail-in ballots in advance. That could increase costs not only for new equipment but for staffing to handle both ways to vote, experts say. Continue reading.

Tulsa arena asks Trump campaign for detailed health plan as Oklahoma Supreme Court hears arguments about rally

Washington Post logoThe managers of the arena in Oklahoma where President Trump plans to hold a controversial campaign rally requested on Thursday that the Trump campaign provide a detailed written plan outlining “health and safety” measures ahead of the event to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to a statement from the venue

The rally is planned for Saturday evening at the BOK Center, a 19,000-seat venue in downtown Tulsa. According to the arena management’s statement, the campaign has already said it will offer masks, hand sanitizer and temperature checks to everyone who attends. The statement added that facility staffers will be tested for the coronavirus and that the venue will be “cleaned and disinfected repeatedly throughout the event, with special emphasis on high-touch areas.”

A number of Tulsa residents and business owners, alarmed by the prospect of a large-scale outbreak of coronavirus if the rally proceeds, have sued the venue manager attempting to block the event unless it is held in accordance with social distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A Tulsa County judge on Tuesday denied the request for a temporary injunction, but the decision was appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Continue reading.

Seizing the Presidency to Suit His Own Needs

New York Times logoIn a new book, John R. Bolton portrays Donald Trump as a president who sees his office as an instrument to advance his own personal and political interests over those of the nation.

One day in the summer of 2018, John R. Bolton commiserated with John F. Kelly over the burdens of working for President Trump. Mr. Kelly, then the White House chief of staff, had just had another argument with the president in trying to stop him from using the power of his office to punish a political foe. It did not go well.

“Has there ever been a presidency like this?” Mr. Kelly asked plaintively.

“I assured him there had not,” Mr. Bolton recalls in his new book. Continue reading.

Twitter labels Trump video tweet as manipulated media as it cracks down on misinformation

Washington Post logoThe label marks the fourth time Twitter has added labels to the president’s tweets

Twitter on Thursday evening took the rare step of appending a warning label to one of President Trump’s tweets after the company determined it violated its policies on manipulated media.

The president tweeted a doctored version of a popular video that went viral in 2019 that showed two toddlers, one black and one white, hugging. In the version Trump shared, the video has been edited with ominous music and a fake CNN headline that says, “Terrified toddler runs from racist baby.”

“Racist baby probably a Trump voter,” the headline then says in a subsequent screen.

The video then cuts to the original clip of the children hugging, and then cuts to the message: “America is not the problem. Fake news is.” Continue reading.

Facebook takes down Trump ads featuring symbol used by Nazis to mark political prisoners

The Hill logoFacebook on Thursday took down Trump campaign ads against antifa that prominently featured a symbol used by Nazis to designate political prisoners, a spokesperson for the company confirmed to The Hill.

“We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate,” Facebook said in a statement. “Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol.”

The ads featured an inverted red triangle, which was used by Nazis to identify political opponents including communists, social democrats and liberals at concentration camps. Continue reading.

Facebook removes Trump ads with symbol once used by Nazis to designate political prisoners

Washington Post logoFacebook on Thursday deactivated dozens of ads placed by President Trump’s reelection campaign that included a symbol once used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners in concentration camps.

The marking appeared as part of the campaign’s online salvo against antifa and “far-left groups.”

A red inverted triangle was used in the 1930s to identify Communists, and was applied as well to Social Democrats, liberals, Freemasons and other members of opposition parties incarcerated by the Nazis. The badge forced on Jewish political prisoners, by contrast, featured a yellow triangle overlaid by a red triangle so as to resemble a Star of David. Continue reading.

The Memo: Bolton exposé makes Trump figure of mockery

The Hill logoJohn Bolton’s most potent weapon against President Trump is simple but brutal — mockery.

The New York Times published details from the former national security advisor’s book Wednesday afternoon, and other outlets soon followed. The revelations caused an immediate firestorm.

By Bolton’s account, Trump on one occasion asked if Finland is part of Russia. He was not aware that the United Kingdom possesses nuclear weapons. He was eager to see if an autographed copy of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” could be delivered to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.  Continue reading.

Bolton book portrays ‘stunningly uninformed’ Trump

The Hill logoFormer national security adviser John Bolton‘s forthcoming book portrays President Trump as a “stunningly uninformed” officeholder who routinely conflated different people, veered off on unrelated tangents during critical meetings and had little concept of the world with which he dealt.

In the book, “The Room Where It Happened,” Bolton describes his year and a half as Trump’s third chief national security aide as a roller-coaster effort to keep an erratic president on topic in spite of a lack of an overarching theory of national security or foreign policy that guided the first-time politician.

“He second-guessed people’s motives, saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government,” Bolton writes. Continue reading.

Here are 7 stunning details from a new report about John Bolton’s explosive book

AlterNet logoThough the Trump administration is making a show of trying to stop it, former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s book is already making waves.

The New York Times, which received an advance copy of the book before its official publication next week, published a report on Wednesday laying out some of its key revelations.

While Bolton himself is in many ways a duplicitous and untrustworthy figure, his allegations about President Donald Trump are worth taking seriously. We’ve already seen that much of what is going on behind closed doors is nefarious and detrimental to the country — and a person with Bolton’s access would likely know many of the White House’s darkest secrets.

Here are 7 stunning details from the report: Continue reading.