Tag: Trump re-election

The Memo: Trump mulls the biggest gamble of his presidency

The Hill logoPresident Trump’s latest call to reopen the United States economy within weeks has put him on a collision course with public health officials.

If the president goes through with the idea of urging Americans back to work in less than a month, he would be rolling the dice in an extraordinary way amid the worst public health crisis in a century.

The potential downside is enormous. If Trump makes the move and the coronavirus surges anew, U.S. health systems could be overwhelmed and a huge number of people could die. The president would likely be held culpable in the minds of many for such a catastrophe. Continue reading.

States reject Trump calls to reopen economy by Easter

The Hill logoDemocratic and Republican governors, as well as local officials, are pushing back against President Trump‘s signals that he wants to restart the economy by Easter, warning that ending strict social distancing practices could put millions of lives at risk.

Governors have ordered residents to practice those distancing procedures, to varying degrees. Many have ordered residents to stay at home, ordered nonessential businesses closed and banned gatherings of all but a few people.

And several say they will keep those orders in place even if Trump rolls back the few national restrictions he has put in place. Continue reading.

Trump thinks he can use the pandemic to win again. And the media is proving him right

AlterNet logoPresident Trump’s Oval Office speech last week was a massive dud and the stock market took a huge dive last Thursday. So Trump decided to take the bull by the horns and held a press conference in the Rose Garden with a group of CEOs just before closing time the next day. The market made a sharp upward turn as he spoke and the president was extremely pleased with himself. Numerous reports about the deliberations within the dysfunctional White House over the past week, however, have made it clear that was the only thing that pleased him.

According to the New York Times, it’s been an extremely chaotic time with infighting among the various task force members, Jared Kushner stepping all over everyone’s toes and incompetent leadership from the top. In other words, it’s been business as usual in the Trump administration. Unfortunately, this time this bumbling White House is confronting its first real crisis and one of the most serious global challenges in decades.

On Sunday, Trump appeared in the White House briefing room to announce that the Federal Reserve had cut interest rates virtually to zero, but on Monday the market dropped precipitously again. Although Trump obviously thought that he could turn it around with another end-of-day press conference, it didn’t work. The market closed down nearly 3,000 points, and every bit of news about the coronavirus was so bad that even Trump dialed down his bragging a notch and avoided the incessant happy talk that had pervaded all his other appearances. Continue reading.

Which is Trump more worried about: Coronavirus numbers or coronavirus patients?

Washington Post logoA comment on Friday suggests it’s the former.

A comment President Trump made during his visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday brought into focus a unifying theory of his administration’s fumbling response to the growing spread of the coronavirus.

He was asked if passengers on a cruise ship anchored near San Francisco, some of whom have been exposed to the virus, should be brought ashore.

“From my standpoint, I want to rely on people. I have great experts, including our vice president who is working 24 hours a day on this stuff. They would like to have the people come off,” he said, wearing a baseball cap promoting his reelection campaign. “I’d rather have the people stay, but I’d go with them. I told them to make the final decision.” Continue reading.

Economist who predicted 2008 crash says coronavirus will send Trump’s 2020 prospects down in flames

AlterNet logoNouriel Roubini, the economist who earned the nickname “Dr. Doom” for his accurate predictions of the 2008 financial crisis, believes that the spread of coronavirus will tank the stock market and cost President Donald Trump the 2020 election.

Per Business Insider, Roubini told German newspaper Der Spiegel that he expects the virus will cause the stock market to drop by as much as 40 percent this year.

When that happens, Trump will lose his top talking point about the purported “greatest economy ever” and his reelection campaign will go down in flames, the economist predicted. What’s more, he said that Trump’s campaign was toast no matter who wins the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Continue reading.

On The Trail: Democrats plan to hammer Trump on Social Security, Medicare

The Hill logoDemocrats are dusting off a well-worn playbook as they prepare to launch their campaign against President Trump, revisiting a debate over entitlement spending that is almost as old as the social programs that make up so much of the nation’s budget.

The plan to accuse Trump of plotting a raid on Social Security and Medicare has worked for both Democrats and Republicans before. Recalling those old battles offers a hint of what Americans will see on their television screens and in their mailboxes this year, ahead of November’s presidential election.

Trump himself handed Democrats the tools they will use to warn of his future actions. In an interview last month on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump told CNBC anchor Joe Kernen that cutting entitlement programs would be an option if he wins a second term. Continue reading.

Trump to headline a $580,600-per-couple fundraiser, the most expensive of his reelection bid

Washington Post logoPresident Trump will be the guest of honor at a Saturday fundraiser at the palatial Palm Beach estate of billionaire Nelson Peltz. Trump’s fellow guests: donors who gave $580,600 per couple to support the president’s reelection, making it the most expensive such fundraising event since Trump took office.

The dinner, taking place just a few miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, shows how enthusiastically Trump has embraced big-dollar fundraising in his bid for a second term — a dramatic about-face from 2016, when he criticized the influence of wealthy donors on the politicians who court them.

It also shows the special access enjoyed by many of Trump’s wealthiest donors, including business executives and lobbyists, who get the chance to air their grievances with the president’s tariffs or promote their pet projects, often while dining on Trump’s favorite foods. Continue reading.

Every Major Democrat Still Beats Trump In New Poll After Acquittal

If the election were held today, Donald Trump would lose reelection to every major Democratic presidential candidate, according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Monday.

The poll’s findings come after the Republican-controlled Senate voted to acquit Trump of the two articles of impeachment against him — one for abuse of power and another for obstruction of Congress — suggesting that acquittal did not help Trump’s reelection chances.

In fact, the poll found that 55 percent of American voters believe the Senate acquittal, “does not clear [Trump] of any wrongdoing in the Ukraine matter.” Continue reading.

RNC will flood battleground states with staffers to boost Trump

The party committee has approved plans to send 300 more field workers to 18 swing states.

The Republican National Committee on Thursday approved plans to dispatch an additional 300 field staffers to 18 target states in this fall’s general election, a move that comes as the Trump political machine ramps up its presence in battlegrounds across the country.

The deployment was confirmed by a party official briefed on the plans. With the new wave, the committee will have over 600 staffers spread out across the nation. Party officials, who noted they had already knocked on a million doors, said the canvassers would be promoting GOP candidates up and down the ballot.

The RNC’s 168 members and its chairwoman, Ronna Romney McDaniel, are gathered in Doral, Fla., for the committee’s annual winter meeting. President Donald Trump is slated to address the group on Thursday evening. Eric Trump, Trump’s son, made an appearance earlier in the day. Continue reading.

NOTE:  Minnesota is included in this strategy.

Fascism scholar: If Trump wins again, America will be ‘ready for full-on authoritarian rule’

AlterNet logoLast week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Congress will soon send its articles of impeachment for Donald Trump to the Senate, where Republicans are determined to acquit him on all charges, including abuse of power, obstruction of Congress, and encouraging foreign powers to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

No evidence or witnesses will persuade the Senate majority to reach a conclusion consistent with the obvious facts that Donald Trump should be impeached, convicted and removed from office. The Constitution’s mandate that a impeachment should involve an impartial trial and a fair hearing of evidence and witnesses has no meaning in TrumpWorld.

The Republican Party is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump’s regime and an expression of his personal will and power. To that end, Trump has promised financial support to the Republican senators who will soon be voting at his trial. It has also been reported that Trump ordered the execution of Iranian Maj. Gen.  Qassem Soleimani in order to ensure that Republican senators would support his acquittal. Continue reading.