Category: 2020 Election

Trump seizes on new rallying cry to reopen the country, but Democrats see caution as an advantage

Washington Post logoPresident Trump has been delivering his latest rallying cry in all-caps, a self-described “wartime president” defiantly thumbing his nose at the cautions of governors and scientists wary of a viral resurgence if the country returns too quickly to normal.

“REOPEN THE COUNTRY!” he tweeted this week. “TRANSITION TO GREATNESS.”

The exhortations follow a political strategy his advisers hope can help frame the coming election season: A president who had hoped to run on his economic record as a job creator might still be able to reclaim the brand despite the historic economic collapse by painting Democrats as opponents of an economic resurrection. Continue reading.

Lindsey Graham’s own words get thrown back in his face in devastating attack ad

AlterNet logoSen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is getting hit with a new attack ad that throws the senator’s own words back in his face.

The ad, which was produced by a super PAC called “Lindsey Must Go,” shows all the times that Graham attacked President Donald Trump before abruptly changing to becoming a major supporter of the president.

“I think he’s a kook,” Graham says at the start of the ad. “I think he’s crazy. I think he’s unfit for office.” Continue reading.

Video of Trumpian anti-mask jerks goes viral

AlterNet logoAuthor Anand Giridharadas on Friday shared on social media what he called an “end-of-empire” video featuring a compilation of Americans refusing to wear face masks in public places, purposefully coughing on others, and claiming their “freedom” is being trampled by public health guidance urging social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“A misbegotten, warped freedom obsession is killing us,” Giridharadas tweeted.

In the video, one woman curses at and tries to hit a store employee after being refused entry for not wearing a face mask; another screams at workers and reaches over a plastic barricade to assault them; a man tells a Costco employee he doesn’t have to wear a mask because he “woke up in a free country,” and one woman tells a grocery store manager that she can’t wear a mask due to a medical condition and that she can’t use a delivery service because she wants to buy “private” items. Continue reading.

Trump’s signature effort to direct farm surplus to needy families abruptly withdraws large contract amid criticism of rollout

Washington Post logoThe first $1.2 billion of the Farmers to Families Food Box contracts have been awarded. Food industry experts wonder who some of these people are.

The Trump administration withdrew one of the largest contracts in its signature effort to use farm surplus to feed hungry Americans, capping a chaotic process that industry experts say relied too heavily on companies with little demonstrated experience in farming, food chains or food banks.

Contracts totaling more than $107 million went to a San Antonio event planner, an avocado mail-order company, a health-and-wellness airport kiosk company and a trade finance corporation, according to the Agriculture Department’s announcement of contract awards.

But the USDA bypassed the country’s three largest food distribution companies, as well as nonprofit organizations with long histories of feeding the poor on a large scale, according to Tom Stenzel, president of the United Fresh Produce Association (UFPA). Continue reading.

Trump attacks Fox News for ‘doing nothing to help Republicans, and me,’ get reelected

It was the president’s second Twitter tirade this week against a network that has generally treated him favorably.

President Donald Trump launched a Twitter tirade against Fox News on Thursday — the second one this week — accusing the network of “doing nothing to help Republicans” and himself get reelected in November.

The president has been quick to attack the network, especially after host Neil Cavuto criticized the president on Monday for saying he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, despite health experts’ warnings. Trump on Thursday listed Cavuto along with other hosts and contributors he is disgruntled with, calling them “garbage” and adding that Fox News used to be “great.”

“Many will disagree, but @FoxNews is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd,” the president tweeted. “Sure, there are some truly GREAT people on Fox, but you also have some real ‘garbage’ littered all over the network, people like Dummy Juan Williams, Schumerite Chris…Hahn, Richard Goodstein, Donna Brazile, Niel Cavuto, and many others.” Continue reading.

Trump’s politically transparent push to reopen places of worship

Washington Post logoPresident Trump stepped into the White House press briefing room Friday and made what sounded like a big announcement: He would be classifying places of worship as “essential,” in line with businesses such as grocery stores, meaning they can reopen in this pandemic. And if governors decide not to open places of worship — given some were coronavirus hot spots in the spring — well, Trump will override them.

“The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now, for this weekend,” the president said. “If they don’t do it, I will override the governors.”

Commanding places of worship across the country to open is not something Trump can do. When to open public venues of all types is up to the governor of each individual state. And much like when Trump announced last month he was going to force governors to open their states, when it comes to reopening places of worship, he jumped over what’s constitutionally allowed and arguably medically advisable, in an apparent effort to move the country in a direction he thinks is better for his reelection. Continue reading.

A Trump election conspiracy collapses

MIAMI — A Trump election conspiracy theory has fallen apart after Florida’s law enforcement agency said it had found no widespread voter fraud in the 2018 races for Senate and governor.

President Donald Trump had complained repeatedly about election “fraud” and theft in heavily populated, Democrat-rich Broward and Palm Beach counties, which had slowly but erratically updated their vote totals after polls closed on Election Day.

With each updated tally, Republican candidates Rick Scott, who was running for U.S. Senate, and Ron DeSantis, in a bid for the governor’s mansion, saw their margins of victory narrow. Both races ultimately went to recounts. Continue reading.

Trump Says Mailing In Your Ballot Is Corrupt, Unless You’re Trump

The president repeated his baseless conspiracy theory that voting by mail leads to election fraud.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that mailing in election ballots is corrupt, but he carved out two exceptions on Thursday: you’re sick or you’re him.

“We don’t want them to do mail-in ballots because it’s going to lead to total election fraud,” Trump said, though there is no evidence of that.

“Now if somebody has to mail it in because they’re sick,” Trump told reporters, “or, by the way, because they live in the White House and they have to vote in Florida and they won’t be in Florida, if there’s a reason for it, that’s okay.” Continue reading.

Trump’s biggest deficit against Biden: Empathy

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s coronavirus response has been one marked by an inordinate balance between credit-seeking and empathy. A Washington Post review last month of his coronavirus task force briefings showed Trump spent 10 times more time praising himself and his administration (45 minutes out of 13 hours) for its response than expressing condolences to victims (4 ½ minutes). And he spent even more time attacking and blaming others (two hours).

On Friday, Trump seemed to try to rectify this, to some degree. In a tweet, he announced that flags would be flown at half-staff over the next three days “in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus.”<

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

I will be lowering the flags on all Federal Buildings and National Monuments to half-staff over the next three days in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus….

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It’s clearly something he needs to work on — and something that could prove an electoral liability. Continue reading.

Trump says US won’t close over second COVID-19 wave

The Hill logoPresident Trump said Thursday the United States would not shut down in the case of a second coronavirus wave.

“People say that’s a very distinct possibility. It’s standard. And we’re going to put out the fires. We’re not going to close the country. We’re going to put out the fires,” Trump told reporters during a tour of a Ford manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., when asked if he was concerned about a second wave of COVID-19.

Trump expressed confidence in the country’s ability to contain future outbreaks, referring to them as “embers.” Continue reading.