Category: Electoral Politics

Tennessee Republicans, Once Moderate and Genteel, Turn Toxic in the Trump Era

In the 2016 presidential election, Mr. Hagerty first served as a delegate for Jeb Bush, then moved his support to Marco Rubio; only after Mr. Trump sealed the nomination did he come on board with the future president, serving as Tennessee finance chairman of the Trump Victory Committee. Mr. Trump later appointed Mr. Hagerty ambassador

Trump And The RNC Are Currently Trying To Limit Voting Access In 17 States

Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee are teaming up to wage war on voting access in more than a dozen states with 90 days until the November elections. As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes pointed out on Tuesday, Trump and the GOP aren’t even trying to hide this coordinated effort to “bar people from voting by

Why Biden Won’t Find His Biden

Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. I’m Lisa Lerer, your host.Sign up here to get On Politics in your inbox every weekday.When it comes to the vice presidency, Joe Biden has a perfect candidate in mind: himself.Well, if he were Josephine Biden, of course.In comments about his search

Mary Trump Warns Don Jr. and Ivanka Could Be Future Republican Candidates

Mary Trump has candidly discussed the possibility that Donald Trump’s children could enter politics if he loses the White House in the November election. The President’s niece gave an interview to the UK’s Independent newspaper where she talked about the possibility of her cousins seeking elected office after Trump’s administration. Mary Trump suggested that Donald Jr. and

House Republicans prep for scratching each others’ eyes out to lead whatever’s left of their caucus

Let’s be clear, if Trump loses, House Republicans will undoubtedly be in the minority—in fact, they almost surely will no matter who wins the White House. But the main point here is that the House leadership team—Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Steve Scalise, and GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney—is already inspiring very little loyalty

Trump Halfheartedly Urges Supporters To Wear Masks In Bizarre Campaign Email

In a bizarre email to his supporters with the subject line “Patriots Wear Face Masks,” Donald Trump halfheartedly endorsed the use of face coverings to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “I don’t love wearing them either,” Trump said in the campaign email. “Masks may be good, they may be just okay, or they may be

Kanye West plans to be on ballot in swing-state Wisconsin

Independent “Birthday Party” presidential candidate and rapper Kanye West is making a last-minute push to get on the ballot in the swing-state of Wisconin. The Rust Belt state helped elect President Trump in 2016, with a margin of fewer than 23,000 votes between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. West hired a petitioning firm to collect

Biden Continues to Climb as Trump Falters in Battleground States

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden continues to enjoy rising poll numbers in two key battleground states: North Carolina and Ohio. Biden leads Trump 48 percent to 44 percent in North Carolina, according to a new CBS News/YouGov poll. “To be clear, there are pretty much no paths to Trump winning the presidency without a victory in

Inside the Democratic Party—Excitement? Exhaustion?

Opportunities provide excitement A lot of this week will look at large races like those for the U.S. Senate and the presidency, but these same strategies apply to every race. The first rule of generating excitement around any candidate is simple: Narrow down the items you want to excite voters with to a small list—three is

Elizabeth Warren’s Evolution on Race Brought Her Here

After Ms. Warren’s father lost his job, her family struggled to stay in the district so their children could attend the school, considered one of the academically strongest in the area. Friends described Ms. Warren as conservative at the time, and don’t recall spending much time discussing civil rights, even as protests, sit-ins and integration

Kayleigh McEnany Heckles the Press. Is That All?

WASHINGTON — For the first half of his term, President Trump treated the White House press briefing as must-see television. From his small dining room off the Oval Office, he kept close watch over his first two press secretaries as they battled with journalists, defended his performance and often tried to rewrite history.Kayleigh McEnany, the

Tammy Duckworth Is Nothing and Everything Like Joe Biden

They have been married since 1993. Mr. Bowlsbey now works as an information technology consultant.Though Ms. Duckworth moved to Illinois to pursue a doctorate, she went through flight school and entered the Illinois National Guard in 1996.Before her deployment eight years later, Ms. Duckworth had been working at Rotary International, helping to manage offices in

Impeachment witness Alexander Vindman says in op-ed ‘doing what’s right matters’

On his first day of retirement, key Donald Trump impeachment trial witness Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman said in a Washington Post op-ed Saturday that speaking up against the president cost him his career  — but he believes “right matters.” “When I was asked why I had the confidence to tell my father not to worry

WH Official Stephen Miller Broke The Law By Launching Into Anti-Biden Rant On Fox & Friends

White House official Stephen Miller appears to have broken the law during a Friday appearance on Donald Trump’s favorite morning program, Fox & Friends. According to a new complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Miller violated the Hatch Act by using his official government position for partisan purposes. The complaint

Biden Faces Pressure From Left Over Influence Industry Ties

Within two years, he had compiled a client list that included General Motors, Experian, the American Hospital Association, AT&T, Eli Lilly, Nextel, Novartis, Pfizer and Fannie Mae, the quasi-governmental mortgage lender whose late entry into the subprime housing market exacerbated the 2008 financial crisis.When Mr. Ricchetti backed Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, aides to her

Trump Is Fighting Harder To End TikTok Than The Coronavirus

Even though he has yet to develop a national strategy to fight the continued spread of the coronavirus, Donald Trump’s new focus appears to be on dismantling a social media platform. The president announced on Friday that he would act as soon as Saturday to ban the Chinese-owned video app, TikTok, in the United States,

Trump Holds Less Than Impressive Rally at Tampa Airport

Donald Trump has spent most of the year aching to get back in front of his supporters. The one time he did, however, the turnout was quite terrible. Following the Tulsa disaster, Trump has seen a New Hampshire rally, and the Jacksonville portion of the RNC canceled. On Friday, the President did get the chance

The war hero who could be Biden’s running mate

Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq War veteranWho is Tammy Duckworth, the US senator from Illinois who is reportedly on the short list for the vice-presidential slot on the Democratic ticket?Born in Bangkok and wounded in the Iraq war, Tammy Duckworth has a Purple Heart and the instincts of a street fighter.Her name has come up

Karen Bass, Susan Rice Rise As Biden’s Search for V.P. Nears End

Ms. Bass has also waged a previously undisclosed campaign to woo influential liberal leaders, telephoning union presidents to seek their counsel and support.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is close with Ms. Bass, whom she named to oversee the recent policing reform bill, and has made her admiration clear in private conversations, including with former President Barack

Young voters in battleground states are concerned about the coronavirus for a surprising reason

In terms of the coronavirus, it’s ranked as the No. 1 issue for young voters in the November election, coming in at 24%. Just after at 19% is ending systemic racism. Affordable health care, climate change, and voting rights follow.  When considering the impact the virus has had on respondents’ lives, young Democrats are, as mentioned previously,

Jeffrey Epstein hosted Bill Clinton on private island: court docs

Former President Bill Clinton was a guest at Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island, according to testimony from an Epstein accuser which was unsealed on Thursday. Virginia Giuffre — who has also accused Epstein’s alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell of abusing her — told lawyers in 2011 that Clinton visited Epstein’s private Little St. James Island with

You can’t delay 2020 election

The president suggested postal voting could lead to fraud and inaccurate resultsTop Republicans have rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that November’s presidential election should be delayed over alleged fraud concerns.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy both dismissed the idea.Mr Trump does not have the authority to postpone the election, as

Why Trump Has No Power to Postpone the 2020 Election

President Trump, who is trailing badly in polling of the race for the White House, suggested on Thursday that the Nov. 3 general election be delayed “until people can properly, securely and safely vote.” Even for him, floating the idea of postponing the election was an extraordinary breach of presidential decorum.But the president does not

Trump floats delaying the election, but he can’t do that

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that the 2020 presidential election should be postponed, claiming it could be ripe for fraud.“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump tweeted. “It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay

Trump Plays on Racist Fears of Terrorized Suburbs to Court White Voters

WASHINGTON — President Trump vowed on Wednesday to protect suburbanites from low-income housing being built in their neighborhoods, making an appeal to white suburban voters by trying to stir up racist fears about affordable housing and the people who live there.In a tweet and later in remarks during a visit to Texas, Mr. Trump painted

Trump’s Coronavirus Incompetence Caused ‘Most Severe’ Economic Collapse In Modern History

Donald Trump’s bungling of the coronavirus crisis has led to the “most severe” economic downturn in modern history, according to his hand-picked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. “The current economic downturn is the most severe in our lifetimes,” Powell said on Wednesday, according to Barron’s. “It will take continued support from both monetary and fiscal

Doctors behind viral COVID-19 misinformation video met with Vice President Pence

A group of doctors who participated in an event on the steps of the Supreme Court — a viral video of which was taken down the next day by social media companies for spreading disinformation about the coronavirus — met with Vice President Mike Pence, according to Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party

As pandemic rages on, Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils bill to provide free, reusable masks to all

As cases of the coronavirus continue to rise in hospitals, it’s particularly important that the bill addresses healthcare workers. According to the bill, they would be provided with N-95s and surgical masks. As explained in an op-ed by Sanders and Andy Slavitt at CNN, the priority would be to get these masks to essential workers, healthcare

Barr Clashes With House Democrats in Testimony, Defending Protest Response

Attorney General William P. Barr vigorously defended the federal response to nationwide protests and civil unrest in a combative congressional hearing on Tuesday where Democrats accused him and other Trump administration officials of suppressing protesters’ rights in an overly violent crackdown.The attorney general also insisted that he intervened in the criminal cases of President Trump’s

Ali Velshi Tears Bill Barr Apart For Playing Dumb While Protecting Trump’s Criminal Friends

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi tore Attorney General William Barr to shreds on Tuesday for playing dumb during his House testimony, particular on questions surrounding Donald Trump’s criminal friends. Barr repeatedly denied having any knowledge about cases involving Trump’s corrupt allies, from Michael Flynn to Roger Stone to Michael Cohen. “With respect to the Stone case, the