Category: Electoral Politics

Which Candidate Do Voters Trust to Handle the Unrest?

Welcome to Poll Watch, our weekly look at polling data and survey research on the candidates, voters and issues that will shape the 2020 election.The trips this week to Kenosha, Wis., by President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. laid bare the political bets both presidential candidates are making about how voters will respond to

As Others Condemn Putin Critic’s Poisoning, Trump Just Wants to ‘Get Along’

But in Latrobe on Thursday, the president treated the topic of Russia as little more than a political cudgel used by his opponents for partisan gain. He renewed his attacks on Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, who led the House Intelligence Committee’s inquiry into a possible conspiracy between the Trump 2016 campaign and

Trump’s hires are sabotaging Voice of America and transforming its journalism

Also, if you believe some of the staunch Republicans who Pack has booted out of the way, in this quest to do what is most certainly not his job, he appears to be slightly off his rocker. NPR reports the discovery of a specific case of Pack-Dewey interference in the news, the “formal review” of

Trump’s Base Is Shrinking Which Is Why He’s Trying To Block Your Vote

The backbone of Trump’s support is non-college-educated white voters, but these voters have shrunk by 4% since 2016. NPR and Brookings Institution analyzed census data and found: President Trump’s base has gotten smaller. That’s a key finding of an analysis of how the U.S. electorate has changed since 2016, based on census data analyzed by

Trump and Biden to both attend 9/11 Shanksville, PA memorial

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will both pay their respects at the site of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the two announced Wednesday. The memorial is located at the site of the attack, where one of the four hijacked planes crashed into

6 Takeaways From ‘Speaking for Myself’ Book by Sarah Huckabee Sanders

“In the raging battle between the president and the media, I often felt like I was on the front lines in no-man’s land,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders writes in her memoir, “Speaking for Myself,” which comes out on Tuesday. “In one of my first briefings in my new role, I noted that I was the first

Trump supporters didn’t become conspiracy theorists, conspiracy theorists became Trump supporters

The “quotas” excuse is harmful in so many ways. First, it leaves a large number of poorly informed white men nursing a grudge over a nonexistent “wrong.” Second, it perpetuates the upside-down mythology that white men are somehow at a disadvantage in the workplace. Third, the fact that so many interviewers feel comfortable in using this

Joe Biden Tells America You’re Paying For Trump’s Failure And Delusions

Joe Biden spoke about safely reopening schools and said that Trump has offered parents and students nothing but failure and delusions. Biden said: American families all across this country are paying the price for his failures. And his administration’s failures. Like many of you, because you’re all reporters, you also have a lot of friends,

Cheers and Jeers: Wednesday

The President goes on: For all that we do in the federal government however, everybody has a roll in responding to this virus. We need state and local governments on the front line to make antivirals available and be ready to take whatever steps are necessary to support the health-care system. Sept. 1, 2009 We

Trump says Biden is using ‘enhancement’ drug based on performance

President Trump on Tuesday night said he believes Joe Biden “is on some kind of enhancement” based on the former vice president’s previous debate performances. The president told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that Biden “was horrible” in the Democratic debates, except for the final one when he squared off against Sen. Bernie Sanders. “I watched

Trump is using federal resources to campaign again—this time, via food aid boxes

Forty-nine House Democrats, led by Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, objected to the Trump letter, writing to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, “Using a federal relief program to distribute a self-promoting letter from the President to American families just three months before the presidential election is inappropriate and a violation of federal law.” As we know,

Trump Spread Multiple Conspiracy Theories on Monday. Here Are Their Roots.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday night, President Trump spread multiple conspiracy theories about the protests that have erupted across the nation. Many of Mr. Trump’s unfounded claims can be traced back to narratives that have been swirling online for months.Here are three of the baseless conspiracy theories that

Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday

Bullshit Mountain cont’d Eric the LesserGoodyear TiresGolden showersMount RushmoreThe dial on his TVHis younger brotherJoe Biden’s bike rideHis Minnesota speechPre-existing conditionsThe Jerusalem embassyFact-checker Daniel DaleThe QAnon numbskull cultHuffPost reporter S.V. DateHis low, low convention ratingsThe current wife who hates himThe Manhattan District Attorney This is only the tip of the assberg. The rest can be

75 years later, Japanese man recalls bitter internment in US

TOKYO (AP) — When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the first thing Hidekazu Tamura, a Japanese American living in California, thought was, “I’ll be killed at the hands of my fellow Americans.” It wouldn’t be the last time he felt that way.At 99, amid commemorations of Wednesday’s 75th anniversary of the formal Sept. 2,

Trump refused meeting Jacob Blake’s family because they wanted lawyer present

WASHINGTON — President Trump says he turned down a meeting with Jacob Blake’s family during his visit to Wisconsin on Tuesday because they wanted a lawyer present, something he said was “inappropriate.” During a Monday evening briefing at the White House, Trump also claimed he spoke to the family’s pastor but a confused Jacob Blake

Top Republican backs down to Ady Barkan over manipulated video

“Though Ady would have loved Joe Biden to announce in this interview that he is in favor of defunding the police, the Vice President never said it,” Liz Jaff, the president of Barkan’s Be A Hero political fund, said. In fact, what Biden said was that he had proposed reforms to, as Barkan put it, “reduce

Cheers and Jeers: Monday

Margaret and Helen cont’d Your selfishness is killing people. You don’t deserve our votes. You don’t deserve to breathe the same air we breathe. In your America 200,000 people are dead and it didn’t have to be that way.  In your America children are rioting in the streets begging for justice and it didn’t have

Portland Shooting Amplifies Tensions in Presidential Race

PORTLAND, Ore. — A fatal shooting in Portland, Ore., over the weekend led President Trump to unleash a torrent of tweets and attacks on Sunday, capping a volatile week of street violence that is becoming a major theme in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign.On Saturday, a man affiliated with a right-wing group was

Trump Embraces Fringe Theories on Protests and the Coronavirus

“What does President Trump think will happen when he continues to insist on fanning the flames of hate and division in our society and using the politics of fear to whip up his supporters?” Mr. Biden asked. “He is recklessly encouraging violence. He may believe tweeting about law and order makes him strong — but

Adam Schiff Says Trump Thinks He Can’t Beat Biden Without Russian Help

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Trump is hiding election security briefings because he can’t beat Biden without Russia. Chairman Schiff said on CNN’s State Of The Union, “When you can hide behind documents or withhold documents and not have to answer questions about it, it lets you conceal the truth. And in this

No More In-Person Election Briefings for Congress, Intelligence Chief Says

The nation’s top intelligence officials moved on Saturday to tighten control over the flow of sensitive intelligence about foreign threats to November’s election, telling Congress that they would no longer provide in-person briefings about election security and would rely solely on written updates instead.Representatives from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence informed the

Biden, Dems, BLM Must Embrace and Re-define “Law and Order”

Donald Trump has repeatedly declared himself the “law and order” candidate, wearing this mantle proudly. At last week’s Republican National Convention, the array of speakers trumpeted this slogan again and again as the dominant chord of Trump’s otherwise ill-defined policy platform. “Law and order” isn’t just the definitive slogan on Trump’s candidacy; it’s deployed as

Biden, Speaking to National Guard Group, Takes Aim at Republican Criticism on Crime

But if Mr. Sanders’s remarks were intended to unify his supporters behind Mr. Biden nine weeks before the general election, he also went out of his way to present Mr. Biden as a moderate. All of the Biden policies that Mr. Sanders noted were widely acceptable liberal proposals. Mr. Sanders made plain that he and

Trump Gets Virtually No Bounce From The Republican Convention

The first post-Republican convention poll is out, and it shows Trump still trailing Joe Biden by six points with Biden at 50%. The Morning Consult Poll found: NEW POLL: @realDonaldTrump pulls closer to @JoeBiden after #RNC2020, nearly halving a 10-point deficit to 6 points. Read more here from @eyokley: https://t.co/3pyNu63wGg pic.twitter.com/jqdZzomlgn — Morning Consult (@MorningConsult)

After the conventions, the election battle intensifies

xArizona. Florida. Michigan. North Carolina. Pennsylvania. Wisconsin. Some combo of these states can free us from the route to autocracy we are on. Others can be won. But won’t be the tipping point. Those of you from the six above – the world needs you. And will owe you a debt.— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) August

N.Y.C. Tenants Say They Were Tricked Into Appearing in R.N.C. Video

It started with an unexpected call last week from Lynne Patton, a longtime Trump associate who oversees federal housing programs in New York.Ms. Patton told a leader of a tenants’ group at the New York City Housing Authority, the nation’s largest, that she was interested in speaking with residents about conditions in the authority’s buildings,

Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Social Distancing FRIDAY!

The Late Nighters On Yet Another Effed-Up Week… “Full disclosure: I did not watch much of the convention tonight. And fullest disclosure: I didn’t watch any of it. Because right now in America, we’re facing a global pandemic that has killed 180,000 Americans, heavily-armed Rambo wannabes are murdering people in our streets, the strongest hurricane in the

Kamala Harris Says What Trump And Pence Won’t About The Jacob Blake Shooting

Kamala Harris gave a powerful answer when asked about the Jacob Blake shooting on Friday, while Pence and Trump didn’t mention it at the GOP convention. Harris said during an interview with NBC’s Craig Melvin that she didn’t see how the shooting was justified, “Craig, I don’t see it, but I don’t have all the

Four Years Later, Trump Still Portrays America as Under Siege

Right now, this race is a referendum on Mr. Trump and his leadership. For months, Joe Biden has kept a lower profile, allowing the president’s inability to stay away from controversy to drive the race.But given Mr. Trump’s low job-approval ratings, the president desperately needs this election to be a choice. He also needs voters

Trump’s convention speech make you feel crazy? Rachel Maddow’s fact-check will restore your sanity

I think it might be helpful if I just did like a real, real quick speed-read auctioneer fact-check, just on some of the top lines so we can clear those out of the way. This was more than an hour-long speech by the president. We think this is the second-longest acceptance speech ever given by