Trump, Biden rev up their campaigns in Minnesota

In the final month, both sides have been forced to confront the COVID-19 pandemic in new and surprising ways. 

Even the cars were socially distanced in a Woodbury parking lot on Tuesday night as Democrats filed into every other parking spot for a pandemic-era drive-in debate watch party. Instead of cheers, they laid on their horns when Joe Biden turned to President Donald Trump and asked: “Will you shut up, man?”

“As a Minnesotan, honking makes me really nervous, but I’m into it,” DFL Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said to scores of windshields, pivoting to a plea for volunteers. “We’re not knocking on a lot of doors, but you have to call people. You have to have conversations with your neighbors about what’s at stake.”

Two days later, Eric Trump asked a crowd gathered in person outside a Becker, Minn., trucking facility how they’d rate his dad’s performance in the debate. Hundreds wearing MAGA swag — but few face masks — raised their hands and cheered. “We lost this state by 1% in 2016, I’m very mad at all of you,” Trump’s son told the crowd. “But I’m telling you, we’re going to win it this time.” Continue reading.

Supreme Court could threaten Biden agenda

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The Supreme Court is looming as a roadblock for Democrats as they plot an ambitious wish list if they gain control of the White House and Congress for the first time in a decade. 

Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s ascension to the Supreme Court, which Republicans hope to finalize this month, would lock in a conservative majority likely for decades, setting the courts up as a potential foil for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s agenda and Democratic leadership in the House and Senate. 

The result of a 6-3 court, Democrats warn, could lead to the justices striking down a host of top priorities for the party, including health care, voting rights legislation or enacting stricter background checks for gun purchases.  Continue reading.

Biden campaign says it will now disclose the result of every coronavirus test

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Joe Biden’s campaign said Saturday it will now disclose the result of every coronavirus test the candidate takes, following increased pressure for more transparency after President Trump recently tested positive for the virus and Vice President Pence has released results for two consecutive days.

“We have adhered to strict and extensive safety practices recommended by public health experts and doctors in all of our campaigning — including social distancing, mask wearing, and additional safeguards,” campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “Vice President Biden is being tested regularly, and we will be releasing the results of each test.”

Bates did not say how often Biden would be undergoing such tests, beyond saying they would happen on a regular basis. Biden, who tested negative Friday, told reporters he had not undergone a test Saturday but would on Sunday. Continue reading.

As debate commission considers rule changes, Trump signals he’ll reject them

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President Trump and his top aides signaled Thursday that they would reject any changes to the presidential debate format, as members of the commission in charge of the matchups zeroed in on potential adjustments aimed at avoiding a repeat of Tuesday’s chaotic faceoff between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

The changes — which could be announced as early as this weekend — would be aimed at reining in behavior like Trump’s on Tuesday and making the debate more orderly. But the looming dispute with the Trump camp casts a cloud of uncertainty over the remaining debates, including Wednesday’s session between the vice-presidential nominees.

Biden told reporters Thursday that he is open to changes following a debate in which Trump repeatedly cut him off and talked over him. Trump campaign officials told reporters that Biden’s team had proposed several alterations, including allowing the moderator to mute candidates’ microphones; having more questions addressed directly to each candidate; adding opening and closing statements; and limiting the “free discussion” period, which devolved into inaudible crosstalk during Tuesday’s debate. Continue reading.

Joe Biden Tests Negative For Coronavirus After Trump Announces He Is Infected

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign announced on Friday afternoon that he and wife Jill Biden were both tested for coronavirus with negative results. 

Their announcement followed hours of uproar over President Donald Trump’s tweet announcing that he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the virus yesterday — along with White House aide Hope Hicks. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters that the president has “mild symptoms” but is “overall feeling good.” View the post here.

Fox Business host gives Kayleigh McEnany a brutal reality check: ‘Biden won the debate’

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Following Trump’s presidential debate with former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday night, September 29, Fox Business host Stuart Varney was honest enough to admit that Biden won the debate. And he was clearly in disagreement with White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany when she tried to convince him that Trump was the winner.

McEnany, appearing on Fox Business, told Varney that Trump was “in very good spirits” following the debate and “brought the fight that I think the American people wanted to see.” But Varney responded that Trump was much too abrasive for his own good during the debate, which was moderated by Fox News’ Chris Wallace.

“His style, the frequent interruptions — I mean, the insults came from Biden — but the frequent interruptions and the talking over everybody, that was a lot from President Trump,” Varney argued. “And I think that’s what the audience didn’t like and will turn off.” Continue reading.

Misinformation about Biden’s health spreads after debate

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TikTok videos and Trump ads with false information got more than 700,000 views and clicks

False stories about Joe Biden’s health continued to spread on social platforms the day after the first presidential debate, including misleading Facebook ads by the Trump campaign and a viral video on TikTok.

A false story about Biden wearing an earpiece that emerged on Tuesday continued to get traction on Facebook after the debate. The Trump campaign ad, which encourages people to “Check Joe’s Ears,” and asked “Why won’t Sleepy Joe commit to an earpiece inspection,” was viewed between 200 to 250,000 times and marketed primarily to people over 55 in Texas and Florida. The implication of the ad, the content of which originated from a tweet by a New York Post reporter who cited a single anonymous source, is that Biden needed the assistance of an earpiece so someone could pass him information during the debates.

And on the video platform TikTok, four grainy videos alleging that Biden was wearing a wire to “cheat” during the debate racked up more than half a million combined views on Wednesday, according to research by the left-leaning media watchdog group Media Matters. One of the videos shows a still of Biden with his hand inside his suit, while another overlays an arrow over Biden’s tie, but neither video shows any visual evidence of Biden wearing an electronic device of any kind. Continue reading.

5 takeaways from the first presidential debate

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President Trump and Joe Biden took part in their first of three one-on-one debatesof the 2020 general election Tuesday night in Cleveland.

It was so contentious and full of interruptions that it was almost unwatchable, but there were some takeaways. Here they are.

1. Biden resists Trump’s goading — mostly.

Trump’s strategy was clear: to steamroll both Biden and debate moderator Chris Wallace, hoping to provoke a bad moment. It was the strategy of a challenger, more than of an incumbent, and seemed to reflect that Trump needs to change the race more than Biden does. Continue reading.

With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden

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Interrupting Joe Biden nearly every time he spoke, President Trump made little attempt to reassure swing voters about his leadership. Mr. Biden hit back: “This is so unpresidential.”

WASHINGTON — The first presidential debate between President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. unraveled into an ugly melee Tuesday, as Mr. Trump hectored and interrupted Mr. Biden nearly every time he spoke and the former vice president denounced the president as a “clown” and told him to “shut up.”

In a chaotic, 90-minute back-and-forth, the two major party nominees expressed a level of acrid contempt for each other unheard-of in modern American politics.

Mr. Trump, trailing in the polls and urgently hoping to revive his campaign, was plainly attempting to be the aggressor. But he interjected so insistently that Mr. Biden could scarcely answer the questions posed to him, forcing the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, to repeatedly urge the president to let his opponent speak. Continue reading.

Biden releases 2019 tax returns hours before first presidential

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), released their 2019 federal and state tax returns on Tuesday, hours before the former vice president meets face-to-face with President Trump in the first debate of the 2020 presidential race.

The release comes days after a bombshell New York Times investigationshowed that Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax in both 2016 and 2017 and paid no taxes in 10 of the 15 previous years. The newspaper detailed questionable tactics that the president reportedly used to lower his tax bill over multiple years.

Biden and his wife reported an adjusted gross income of $985,233 and paid a total of $299,346 in taxes, for an effective tax rate of about 30 percent. Continue reading.