Trump makes wild claims about revitalizing auto industry at Michigan rally

FREELAND, Mich. — President Donald Trump made wildly inaccurate claims at a rally outside Saginaw on Thursday night, suggesting he has revitalized auto manufacturing in the state when it actually lost jobs even before coronavirus hit in March.

“We brought you a lot of car plants, we brought you a lot … and we’re going to bring you a lot more,” Trump began his speech at MBS International Airport in Freeland.

But only one new major assembly facility, a Jeep plant on Detroit’s east side, has been announced during Trump’s term, while General Motors underwent a divisive 40-day strike last year and announced the idling of four U.S. plants, including two in Michigan. One of those, Detroit-Hamtramck, has since been revived and is being retooled to build electric cars and SUVs. Warren transmission was revived most recently to make face masks, though its future is uncertain. Continue reading.

Trump fumes over ‘very disgraceful’ questions as he gets grilled for lying about risks of COVID-19

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President Donald Trump fumed during the Thursday press conference when the first question from the press was “why did you lie to the American people and why should we trust what you have to say now?”

“What a terrible question. I didn’t lie,” said Trump.

ABC News’ Jon Karl hammered Trump on the tapes that were released by Bob Woodward showing Trump intentionally downplayed the coronavirus, he claims, to not cause “panic.” While people panicked, rioted about masks and attacked state capitols doing lockdowns, Trump was egging them on with demands to “liberate” states. Meanwhile, he knew that the virus was five times more deadly than the worst case of the flu. Continue reading.

Trump seeks to shift scrutiny amid Woodward fallout

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President Trump is going on the offensive after revelations from Watergate journalist Bob Woodward that he deliberately misled the public on the severity of COVID-19.

Both the White House and Trump’s campaign are attempting to change the narrative after excerpts and audio recordings of Trump’s interviews with Woodward showed him admitting to publicly downplaying the threat from the virus despite knowing the danger it posed.

For a second consecutive day, Trump on Thursday called a previously unscheduled news conference, where his comments to Woodward took center stage as reporters pressed the president about whether he misled the American public during crucial stages of the pandemic. Continue reading.

Renowned psychiatrist explains how Trump has imposed a ‘malignant normality’ — just like the Nazis did

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Whereas we could not have predicted a pandemic three years ago, the authors of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President anticipated how the president would respond, should there be a crisis.  We tried to warn the public of the very consequences we are witnessing today: the loss of many lives and livelihoods of Americans.

Dr. Robert Jay Lifton has been one of the earliest voices to warn against these consequences.  He is distinguished professor emeritus of the City University of New York, a leading psychohistorian renowned for his studies of Nazi doctors and of Hiroshima bombing survivors, and author of Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry.

Lee: What is your analysis of Donald Trump’s response to Covid-19, in which you have said that his own effort at solipsistic reality breaks down?

Lifton: Covid-19 has presented a problem for Trump and his reality struggles.  I have written and spoken repeatedly about what I call his solipsistic reality.  That means it is entirely self-contained and having little to do with what others consider reality and little to do with classical standards of evidence.  With the Covid-19 virus, we have had a dreadful pandemic, which has given us constant, physical, organic evidence of sickness and death, evidence that is before us, that is concrete.  And in that sense, the effort of Trump to call forth his solipsistic reality is less and less effective. Continue reading.

Microsoft warns Russia, China and Iran targeting US election

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Microsoft on Thursday reported that it is seeing “increasing” cyberattacks originating in Russia, China and Iran targeting its customers, including attacks against political groups and the presidential campaigns of President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Tom Burt, corporate vice president of customer security and trust at Microsoft, detailed in a blog post the efforts by three major foreign hacking groups to target the campaigns, along with other political organizations and individuals.

“The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated, and is consistent with what the U.S. government and others have reported,” Burt wrote.  Continue reading.

#EndorseThis: How Trump Encourages White Nationalist Violence And Terror

Now a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower has pointed America’s attention to what has been obvious for years: White nationalist terrorism is a major threat to our lives and liberty — and the Trump administration has done far too little to address this burgeoning menace. In fact, as this MeidasTouch video shows, Donald Trump has provoked and encouraged racist violence from the beginning of his presidency. 

Trump deserves plenty of blame for this toxic excrescence, but too many of his fellow Republicans have gone along. The Republican leadership even allows QAnon, the anti-Semitic and racist conspiracy movement, to co-opt the party’s Congressional candidates. Continue reading.

Senate Democrats block GOP relief bill

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Senate Democrats blocked a GOP coronavirus bill on Thursday amid a deep stalemate over the next relief package. 

Senators voted 52-47 on the roughly $500 billion Republican bill, which marked the first coronavirus-related legislation the chamber has voted on since it passed a $484 billion package in April. 

The vote handed a symbolic victory to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who spent weeks haggling with Republicans and the White House over the contours of the pared-down GOP bill as he sought to overcome deep divisions over the path forward. Continue reading.

Court blocks Trump order to exclude undocumented immigrants from census count

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A federal court on Thursday blocked a memorandum signed by President Trump seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in the census for apportionment, saying such action would violate the statute governing congressional apportionment.

A special three-judge panel out of New York wrote that the president’s argument that undocumented immigrants should not be counted runs afoul of a statute saying apportionment must be based on everyone who is a resident of the United States.

The judges found that all residents must be counted for apportionment purposes regardless of their legal status. Continue reading.

Trump payroll-tax deferral for federal workers sparks backlash

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The Trump administration’s decision to require the deferral of payroll taxes for federal workers and military members is creating more divisions around the president’s attempt to provide short-term economic relief for workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

While many private sector employers are not expected to defer their employees’ Social Security payroll taxes under Trump’s order, the federal government is making it mandatory for its employees. Federal agencies have indicated that the deferral will apply to all eligible civilian employees and service members.

The federal government is the most prominent employer to announce it’s participating in the deferral, and the administration’s move to defer the payroll taxes of executive branch workers increases the impact of an action by Trump that may have little effect beyond government. Continue reading.

Do Jobless Benefits Deter Workers? Some Employers Say Yes. Studies Don’t.

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A $600-a-week supplement that expired in July has been credited with bolstering the economy. Its impact on hiring is central to a political fight.

When Clips & Clamps, a metal forming company in Plymouth, Mich., advertised for a die setter and operator last year, more than a hundred applications came sailing in.

This summer, the company sought to hire another operator, offering $17 to $22 an hour and benefits. After three months, not a single person had responded.

“I received zero applicants,” said Jeff Aznavorian, the company’s president. “I’ve been dumbfounded.” Continue reading.