Category: american black politics

Trump, in a Shift, Endorses Masks and Says Virus Will Get Worse

July 22, 2020
“Ultimately, our goal is not merely to manage the pandemic but to end it,” he added. “We want to get rid of it as soon as we can.”Mr. Trump’s decision to resume televised virus briefings came as the number of new cases soared far above what it was when he was last addressed the country

Democrats ask for FBI briefing on foreign disinformation efforts around Sen. Ron Johnson

July 21, 2020
None of this information is new. Johnson’s eagerness to solicit testimony from ex-Ukrainian official Andrii Telizhenko was the subject of public alarm and a previous intelligence community warning. Johnson has been dismissive of complaints about his reliance on known dodgy sources, though he was pressured into giving up on the idea of taking Telizhenko’s testimony

Joe Biden says four black women are on VP shortlist

July 21, 2020
Four black women are among Joe Biden’s shortlist of candidates for vice president, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said Monday. “I am not committed to naming any but the people I’ve named, and among them are four Black women,” Biden said on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut.” “That decision is underway right now.” Biden, 77, also promised

Rachel Maddow Praises Biden For Demonstrating How A Real Commander In Chief Stands Up To Russia

July 21, 2020
Rachel Maddow praised former Vice President Joe Biden’s tough stand against Russia on Monday, saying it’s a sign that if the former VP wins in November, the United States will again have a president who holds foreign adversaries accountable.“Dream of competent, uncompromised governance that stands up for our sovereignty against foreign countries that are trying

Trump Expands Federal Crackdown from Portland to Chicago

July 21, 2020
WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to deploy federal law enforcement to Chicago and threatened on Monday to send agents to other major cities — all controlled by Democrats.Governors and other officials reacted angrily to the president’s move, calling it an election-year ploy as they squared off over crime, civil liberties and local control that has

Top Democratic lawmakers request FBI briefing on ‘ongoing’ foreign campaign targeting 2020 elections

July 20, 2020
House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff In a publicly released letter to Federal Bureau of Investigation director Chris Wray, four top-ranking Democratic lawmakers are requesting the department provide the House and Senate a “classified defensive briefing” relating to an “ongoing” foreign disinformation campaign intended to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. “We are gravely

Russian elites given access to experimental coronavirus vaccine: report

July 20, 2020
A group of Russian tycoons, business executives and government officials were given early access to an experimental coronavirus vaccine, according to a report. They were given shots developed by the state-run Gamaleya Institute in Moscow as early as April, which last week completed phase 1 trial on military personnel, Bloomberg News reported. Gamaleya, backed by

As Trump Ignores Virus Crisis, Republicans Start to Break Ranks

July 20, 2020
President Trump’s failure to contain the coronavirus outbreak and his refusal to promote clear public-health guidelines have left many senior Republicans despairing that he will ever play a constructive role in addressing the crisis, with some concluding they must work around Mr. Trump and ignore or even contradict his pronouncements.In recent days, some of the

Trump won’t say whether he’ll accept 2020 election results

July 20, 2020
President Trump on Sunday declined to say whether he will accept the results of the 2020 election, adding that he will “have to see.” The president also claimed without evidence that “mail-in voting is going to rig the election,” during an interview aired on “Fox News Sunday.” In response, Fox News host Chris Wallace asked:

Trump’s Fox News Sunday Interview Was An Epic Disaster Thanks To Chris Wallace

July 19, 2020
Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace fact-checked Trump, pushed back, and caused a presidential implosion on national television by not accepting the lies. The part of the interview that will be getting attention for days was Wallace’s exchange with Trump about the cognitive test that the President took:WALLACE: But I’ve got to tell you, if I

How Joe Biden’s Strategy Could Help Him Win Wisconsin

July 19, 2020
ADAMS, Wis. — Nate Zimdars, a Democratic candidate for the Wisconsin State Assembly, arrived at the V.F.W. lodge here after marching in the local Independence Day parade, ready to meet voters at an annual outdoor chicken cookout called the “Chic Nic.” Although the event was hosted by the local Republican Party, Mr. Zimdars was far

Trump Heads To The Golf Course With Lindsey Graham Without Even Mentioning John Lewis

July 19, 2020
More than 10 hours after the death of civil rights icon John Lewis was reported, Donald Trump and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham headed to the golf course without even uttering a single word of condolence. “John Lewis is dead,” Andrew Feinberg noted on Twitter. “President Donald Trump has not said a word about it,

Trump plays the outsider incumbent in fan-made video on Twitter

July 19, 2020
President Trump may be the incumbent — but he’s still portraying himself as the ultimate outsider as he runs for reelection. A two-minute, fan-made video clip that Trump posted to his Twitter feed Saturday revolves around quotes from his 2017 inaugural address, including his vow to start “transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it

Trump Weighs In on the Death of John Lewis, One of His Most Vocal Critics

July 18, 2020
WASHINGTON — The Republican governor of Georgia said that the country will “never be the same” without Representative John Lewis, who died Friday at age 80. The Democratic speaker of the house called Mr. Lewis “a titan of the civil rights movement.” The House minority leader said that Mr. Lewis “never stopped working to improve

National Museum of African American History apologizes for chart listing attributes of ‘whiteness’ after criticism from Donald Trump Jr and the conservative media

July 18, 2020
The National Museum Of African American History & Culture on January 11, 2020 in Washington, DC.Jared Siskin/Getty ImagesThe National Museum for African American History and Culture removed a chart listing “whiteness” attributes after receiving criticism from Donald Trump Jr and conservative media.The chart listed “hard work,” “respecting authority,” and “objective, rational linear thinking” as some

Praise for John Lewis Pours in From Nation’s Political Elite

July 18, 2020
“We have lost a legendary leader, civil rights icon and change agent extraordinaire,” tweeted Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, who is Black. Mr. Lewis, he added, had “altered the course of history and left America a much better place.”“Congressman John Lewis was an American hero — a

Trump sours on online learning that his administration evangelized

July 18, 2020
In events and media appearances over the past several weeks, the White House and administration officials have repeatedly insisted that the nation’s schools and colleges must physically reopen classes — and that online instruction, fully or partially, isn’t an appropriate alternative. They’ve threatened to use federal funding as a lever to prod schools into physically

Powerful House chair Eliot Engel defeated by progressive newcomer Jamaal Bowman in stunning upset

July 17, 2020
WASHINGTON – Rep. Eliot Engel, a powerful House committee chair who served decades in Congress, was defeated by a political newcomer in a stunning upset showing the power of the progressive wing of the Democratic party, according to the Associated Press. More than three weeks after polls closed in the the New York primary, Jamaal Bowman was officially declared the winner Friday

Nonpartisan Cook Political Report Shifts Rating of 20 House Races to Democrats

July 17, 2020
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has shifted its rating of 20 House races toward Democrats, saying President Donald Trump’s “abysmal polling since the pandemic began is seriously jeopardizing down-ballot GOP fortunes.” “We may be approaching the point at which dozens of House Republicans will need to decide whether to cut the president loose and run

Fox News Cuts Off Trump’s White House Rally And Pummels Him With A Fact Check

July 17, 2020
Donald Trump held yet another taxpayer-funded campaign rally at the White House on Thursday, this time using pickup trucks and cranes to represent Obama-era regulations that have been eliminated since he took office in 2017. Trump characterized the previous administration’s policies as a disaster for the economy, which was such a blatant lie that even

Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Alicia Garza Says Joe Biden Is ‘Far Away’ From Changes Democratic Voters Want

July 17, 2020
As protests against racial injustice spread across the country after Floyd’s death on May 25, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has positioned himself as the candidate who could root out systemic racism in America. But Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement and the principal of Black Future Labs, says Biden is

As Election Nears, Trump’s White House Grows Bolder in Flouting Ethical Norms

July 16, 2020
But the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, dismissed such criticism.“I don’t see anything inappropriate with the comments the president has made,” Mr. Meadows said, adding that “those were policy differences that the president highlighted” regarding Mr. Biden.As president, Mr. Trump is not bound by the Hatch Act, which was passed to ensure that

By three to one, Americans reject Trump’s push to reopen schools despite COVID-19 risk

July 16, 2020
With coronavirus infections spreading fast and COVID-19 deaths climbing yet again, most Americans say the country is not ready to send children back to school this fall — and they emphatically reject every aspect of President Trump’s new effort to force public schools to fully reopen, according to the latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll.  The survey, which

Biden reassures voters in first Texas ad as coronavirus cases surge

July 16, 2020
Specifically, House Democrats’ campaign arm reserved nearly $1.25 million in ad space, of which about $250,000 went to Spanish-language ads. As recently as May, the DCCC hadn’t included Texas in an initial $18.3 million ad buy, although a Pelosi-aligned Super PAC had dropped $2.2 million in Houston in April. The buys will likely serve the dual

Trump Attacks Biden’s Clean Energy Initaitve on the Same Day He Announces More Environmental Rollbacks

July 16, 2020
President Donald Trump attacked Democrat Joe Biden, his electoral opponent, after Biden announced a $700 billion economic plan that touts environmental protection measures as a means for restoring economic growth. “Our past vice president opposes — think of this — all of our permitting reforms,” Trump said to an audience in Atlanta during a speech

Lack of oversight causing issues for next coronavirus bill

July 15, 2020
The lack of oversight for the multiple coronavirus relief packages has emerged as a roadblock to passing more legislation — as lawmakers prep to return to Capitol Hill to debate another potential bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) outlined the details he wanted to see included in a new package earlier this month, pledging

Trump Suggests Biden and Sanders Working Together on Policy Will Mean The “Guaranteed Destruction of America”

July 15, 2020
Earlier this morning, President Donald Trump attempted to tie his electoral opponent, former vice president Joe Biden, to the “radical left.” suggesting that Biden’s work with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I), a noted democratic socialist, on their joint unity task force will mean “The guaranteed destruction of America.” “Has anybody seen or reviewed the written

U.S. and China, Caught in ‘Ideological Spiral,’ Drift Toward Cold War

July 15, 2020
One by one, the United States has hit at the core tenets of Xi Jinping’s vision for a rising China ready to assume the mantle of superpower.In a matter of weeks, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions over punitive policies in Hong Kong and China’s western region of Xinjiang. It took new measures to suffocate

Asked About Black Americans Killed by Police, Trump Says, ‘So Are White People’

July 15, 2020
The president’s remarks were the latest example of his refusal to acknowledge the racial discrimination that even many in his own party have said must be addressed. But Mr. Trump, who recently retweeted a video of a supporter shouting “white power” and said he would oppose a bipartisan effort in Congress to remove Confederate names

Trump news – live: White House rescinds policy banning international students from online courses amid mounting criticism and lawsuits

July 14, 2020
ReutersDonald Trump’s administration rescinded controversial new measures that would have effectively banned any international students from living in the United States during the fall months amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the news being announced after a court hearing that lasted just minutes.The president has continued to insist US schools must reopen this autumn despite the