Category: Joe Biden

Conservative columnist unpacks why Trump’s ‘people in the dark shadows’ comment was so troubling

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“Dark Shadows” isn’t only the name of a 1960s/early 1970s soap opera about vampires, witches and werewolves — it is also a phrase that President Donald Trump is using to rally his far-right base. During a Monday night appearance on Laura Ingraham’s “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News, Trump claimed that “people in the dark shadows” and “people that you haven’t heard of” are working to get Vice President Joe Biden elected in November.

And conservative Never Trump journalist Bill Kristol, in an article for The Bulwark, points to those comments as examples of Trump’s love of conspiracy theories.

“Perhaps one shouldn’t…. be too alarmed by a politician claiming his opponent is being manipulated by men operating in the dark shadows,” Kristol writes. “Politicians exaggerate and even make up things. It’s life in a democracy. But this wasn’t just any politician. It was the president. And this isn’t just any president. It’s one who’s not been afraid to encourage, or at least excuse, violence by his supporters.” Continue reading.

Biden criticizes violence while blaming Trump for fomenting it

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Monday blamed President Trump for escalating violence at protests in cities across the country, while condemning the destructive elements of the racial justice demonstrations that he said are counterproductive to the cause.

Speaking at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Biden placed the blame for the civil unrest in the country squarely on Trump, saying the president has inflamed tensions since the police killing of George Floyd in May.

“This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country,” Biden said. “He can’t stop the violence because for years he’s fomented it.” Continue reading.

Biden calls Trump ‘a toxic presence’ who is encouraging violence in America

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Joe Biden excoriated President Trump on Monday as a threat to the safety of all Americans, saying he was a “toxic presence” who has encouraged violence in the nation’s streets even as he has faltered in handling the coronavirus pandemic.

The direct repudiation of Trump came as Biden and the president launched into a caustic debate over violent protests that have escalated across the country in recent days, thrusting the presidential campaign into a new and more combustible phase centered on which man represents the biggest danger to America.

For his most extensive remarks since violence has broken out in recent days, Biden traveled to Pittsburgh and struck a centrist note, condemning both the destruction in the streets and Trump for creating a culture that he said has exacerbated it. Continue reading.

Trump and allies keep accusing Biden of not condemning violence — shortly after Biden condemns violence

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On Sunday at 4:13 p.m. Eastern time, Joe Biden issued a broad denunciation of the violence that has occurred at racial justice demonstrations across the country, saying, “I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right.”

About six hours later, at 10:36 p.m., President Trump asked, “When is Slow Joe Biden going to criticize the Anarchists, Thugs & Agitators in ANTIFA?”

We can parse these statements all day long, and the Trump argument seems to be that Biden needs to more explicitly condemn antifa — however much the amorphous group is actually responsible for the unrest. But practically speaking, he condemned violence by them, too. Continue reading.

US surpasses 6 million coronavirus cases nationwide

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The United States has passed six million confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The country has also passed 183,000 deaths nationwide.

President Trump and his 2020 Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, have battled for months over the U.S.’s coronavirus response, with allies of the Democratic nominee hammering the administration over the U.S.’s status as the country with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world.

In July, Biden accused Trump of giving up on the U.S.’s efforts to control the disease’s spread, claiming that the president “raised the white flag.” Continue reading.

Trump-Biden race tightens as both sides expect close contest

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President Trump has lagged Democratic presidential nominee Joe Bidenbadly in the polls for much of 2020, but strategists in both parties predict his numbers will rise and the race will tighten as the Republican Party consolidates further behind him this fall.

There are already signs that the race is tightening.

In Michigan, Biden’s average polling lead dropped from 8.4 percentage points on July 28 to 2.6 percent a month later, according to the average of polls kept by RealClearPolitics, while in Pennsylvania Biden’s average lead dipped from 7.4 points to 5.8 points during the same period. Continue reading.

Michael Moore offers ‘reality check’: Swing state polls signal Trump could pull off electoral victory in November

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Pointing to polls in swing states and the wide gap in enthusiasm between President Donald Trump’s supporters and voters planning to cast a ballot for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, progressive filmmaker Michael Moore warned Friday of signs that Trump may win the November general election.

Calling for Democrats to ensure a massive voter turnout in November, Moore cited a CNN poll from August which showed that in 15 swing states, Biden was only one point ahead of Trump.

“In Minnesota, it’s 47-47,” Moore wrote on Twitter and in a Facebook post. “In Michigan, where Biden had a big lead, Trump has closed the gap to four points.” Continue reading.

Longtime GOP consultant: This election ‘is the most dangerous period since the Civil War’

In response to the civil rights movement and Black America’s embrace of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party chose to make racism the centerpiece of their electoral strategy.

From the “Southern strategy” and Richard Nixon’s summoning of “law and order” to Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queens” and appeals to “states’ rights”, Willie Horton, the Tea Party and “birtherism” — and now to Donald Trump’s naked racial authoritarianism — racism and white supremacy have paid electoral dividends for the Republican Party and the conservative movement.

But this devil’s bargain rests upon a very slippery foundation: as the country’s racial demographics change from an absolute white majority toward one where white people are “just” a plurality as compared to Black and brown people, the Republican Party’s power as a de facto “whites only” party is imperiled. Continue reading.