Month: September 2020
Ilhan Omar Demands That President Trump Resign For Downplaying COVID-19
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) just called for President Donald Trump to resign once again, this time because he downplayed the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously admitting in interviews with Bob Woodward that he knew the virus was “deadly.”
Omar Demands Trump Resign
“Over and over again, Donald Trump downplayed the threat of COVID-19 — all while knowing how dangerous it was,” Omar tweeted on Thursday. “Almost 200,000 people have paid the price for his lies with their lives. If he refuses to resign, we will vote him out.”
RELATED: Ilhan Omar Claims Violent Riots Are Simply An ‘Uprising’ Against American Oppression
Don’t let this stay yesterday’s news: Over and over again, Donald Trump downplayed the threat of COVID-19 — all while knowing how dangerous it was. Almost 200,000 people have paid the price for his lies with their lives.
If he refuses to resign, we will vote him out. https://t.co/qdvtaZxuXI
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) September 10, 2020
Omar posted this alongside a tweet of Trump’s from March 2020. In this tweet, the president pointed out that the common flu had killed more Americans than coronavirus.
“So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu,” he tweeted. “It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020
Biden Also Downplayed COVID
Trump has said that he downplayed the COVID-19 pandemic because he did not want the public to panic. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden did the exact same thing back in February, something that Omar is conveniently ignoring.
“Barack [Obama] and I, when we were — as president and vice president – we took on the virus that was threatening all of Africa and, uh, the rest of the world,” Biden said as he forgot the name of the Ebola virus. “And we set up a mechanism that worked.”
“But I want to take a moment to say it’s not a time to panic about coronavirus, but coronavirus is a serious public health challenge,” he added.
Omar Has Previously Called For Trump To Resign
This is far from the first time Omar has called for Trump to resign. She first called for his resignation in November 2019, during the House impeachment investigation into his alleged efforts to have Ukraine interfere in the election.
“The President of the United States broke our laws and betrayed our country,” Omar tweeted at the time. “He needs to resign.”
RELATED: Ilhan Omar Continues Funneling Money To Her Husband’s Firm, Despite Ongoing FEC Complaint
We now have *another* smoking gun.
The President of the United States broke our laws and betrayed our country.
He needs to resign. https://t.co/HrZazalTKh
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 6, 2019
This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on September 11, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
Read more at LifeZette:
Two women charged with hate crime for attacking 7-year-old Trump supporter
Entire command staff of Rochester Police Dept. resigns over riots following death of Daniel Prude
WATCH: Candace Owens shreds ignorant rap star Cardi B
The post Ilhan Omar Demands That President Trump Resign For Downplaying COVID-19 appeared first on The Political Insider.
Senate Republicans privately more worried that Trump talked to Woodward than about his deadly lies
Three days into the revelation that Donald Trump willfully lied to the American people about the deadly coronavirus from the absolute beginning of the crisis, and Senate Republicans are still hiding out, avoiding the press, pretending like they missed the biggest news of the week entirely.
"Haven't seen it." "Didn't read it." Or, in the case of Sen. Susan Collins, pretending like she's invisible. Collins "walked quickly into Thursday's morning series of votes, flanked by an aide who shielded her from a reporter who yelled a question in her direction about Trump downplaying the threat of coronavirus," The Hill reported. CNN adds she refused to take any questions on Wednesday or Thursday. At least her fellow vulnerable colleague, Iowa's Joni Ernst, took the question. She waffled it—"I haven't read it, I haven't seen it, so give me a chance to take a look"—but she answered the damn question.
Same with Arizona's Martha McSally and Colorado's Cory Gardner. Not reading or paying any attention to any news at all has become quite fashionable among Republicans. If you haven't read it or listened to the tapes with your very own ears, it didn't happen. At least that's Texan John Cornyn's take. He said he didn't have "personal knowledge" and didn't "have any confidence in the reporting," so he couldn't weigh in on it.
Others decided their best bet was going all in with the Trump excuse that he was trying to avert a national panic. Because if there's anything the guy who screams about antifa and Mexicans and Black Lives Matter protesters coming to rape and pillage and loot in the suburbs wants, it's not to cause a panic. North Carolina's Thom Tillis endorsed Trump's excuse. "When you're in a crisis situation, you have to inform people for their public health but you also don't want to create hysteria." When Tillis was pushed and asked if Trump should have been comparing the virus to the flu when he knew that it was far deadlier, Tillis wouldn't answer.
Trump's little golfing buddy, Lindsey Graham, piped up: "I don't think he needs to go on TV and screaming we're all going to die." Georgia's David Perdue agreed. "I understand trying to manage the psyche of the country and also look at the actions that he took. […] I look at what he did—and it was certainly a strong response." In no universe whatsoever was it a strong response, but that's a popular lie among Republicans. "Actions speak louder than words," said Louisiana's Bill Cassidy, another Republican up for reelection. "The President tends to speak loosely. We know that. That's just his pattern." And of course there’s Sen. Mitch McConnell, who combined the professed ignorance and defense of Trump into one: "Well, I haven’t read the Woodward book, but we all knew it was dangerous. The president knew it was dangerous and I think took positive steps very early on, for which he should be applauded, not criticized," he said.
Anonymously, Republican senators were less bothered by Trump's lies to the American public about a pandemic that has gone on to kill 200,000 Americans than about the fact that he would talk to Bob Woodward. "Most of us say, 'What the hell is he doing talking to Bob Woodward at 11 at night?'" one of them told The Hill.
Remember back in March, when McConnell talked about how Trump's flat-footed response to the pandemic was the fault of House Democrats and impeachment? How he said that it "diverted the attention of the government?” Yeah, that. The refusal of McConnell and fellow Republicans to actually look at the evidence, to put country over party in the impeachment, has led directly to this: 200,000 people dead. McConnell's continued insistence on putting party over country means that six months into the pandemic, he's abandoned it.
Lordy, there’s tapes: vulnerable Senate Republicans squirm over Trump’s coronavirus confession
Back in July, as Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst was being pressed on her previous assertion that two Ebola deaths on Obama's watch amounted to "failed leadership," Ernst told CNN that Donald Trump was really "stepping forward" on stemming the coronavirus. At the time, despite 130,000 Americans having already died, Ernst managed to squeeze out that claim with a relatively straight face.
But now that we know Trump did exactly the opposite by admittedly downplaying the pandemic, Ernst, the erstwhile self-professed hog castrator, is running scared. Thursday marked the second day in a row the GOP incumbent senator who's locked in a very tight reelection race ducked questions about Trump's taped confession that he lied to the American public about how deadly the coronavirus is.
“I haven't read it, I haven't seen it, so give me a chance to take a look,” Ernst told CNN's Manu Raju of the revelations in Bob Woodward's latest book, Rage.
Notice what Ernst didn't say, she hadn't heard it. Yep, there's tapes and that's a big part of what makes this so sticky for Ernst and all her GOP colleagues struggling to hold on to power. Remember, earlier this year they all strapped themselves irrevocably to Trump when they voted to acquit him of impeachment charges without hearing from a single witness. GOP senators didn't care that Trump was willfully corrupting U.S. elections in order to win a second term, and now that he has deliberately brought death and destruction to the American people, they're either turning a blind eye or just running for the hills, à la Ernst.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn laughably pooh-poohed the reporting from arguably the most famous journalist of a generation who backed up his account with recordings of Trump himself. “I don't have any confidence in the reporting, so I'm not going to comment,” said Cornyn, who's got a 9-point advantage over his Democratic challenger M.J. Hegar, according to Real Clear Politics. Sorry, but at the risk redundancy, there's f'ing tapes. Cornyn may as well just say he doesn't have any confidence in Trump himself, since Trump’s the one who privately told Woodward back in early February how "deadly" the coronavirus was.
And North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who's trailing his Democratic challenger, suggested that Trump's pandemic response has been right on the nose.
“When you're in a crisis you've got to strike the right balance (not to create) a panic,” Tillis told CNN’s Raju. Tillis apparently thinks 190,000 American deaths and counting is "the right balance."
All these spineless GOP lawmakers remain more concerned about their reelection bids than the toll their craven silence has taken and continues to take on the nation. Unconscionably sociopathic.
Fact Check: Media And Democrats Downplayed Coronavirus, Not President Trump
While the media rewrites history because of the Bob Woodward tapes, claiming President Trump ‘knew and did nothing’ to protect Americans from the COVID pandemic, their own words and those of their favorite political party have betrayed them.
In reality, it was the media and top Democrat politicians like Joe Biden who downplayed the pandemic – even attacking President Trump for taking the virus seriously.
The President’s role as a leader requires him to make public statements that quell panic and project calm and confidence. It’s a relatively understood tactic for America’s leader.
Anyone recall Barack Obama telling the American people that ISIS had been “contained” one day before they killed over 130 people in Paris? Was there a single media outlet that blamed him for knowing and doing nothing? Of course not.
That said, Trump stands accused of telling Woodward on February 7th that the COVID pandemic was “more deadly than your, you know, your — even your strenuous flus,” while telling him a month later that he “wanted to always play it down … because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Most people understood why the President would make such comments. But the media and the Democrat Party aren’t most people. They’ve seized on the opportunity to accuse Trump of downplaying the crisis and doing nothing to stop it.
One accusation is hypocritical, while the other is simply false.
The media is lying when they say @realDonaldTrump ‘knew and did nothing.’
The media is a dying industry in this country, and false narratives like this are exactly why they are the enemy of the American people.
Don’t let the enemy win. Vote for Trump!
— Rusty Weiss
(@rustyweiss74) September 10, 2020
RELATED: Biden – Just Like Trump – Told Americans Not To ‘Panic’ About COVID At Beginning Of Pandemic
The Media Downplayed the Virus – Here’s Proof
Hypocrisy comes in the form of the mainstream media and their keepers – the Democrat Party – criticizing President Trump of downplaying the threat of the virus to the American people.
Nobody did this more than they did. Yet they have the gall to pretend as if they knew all along how bad things were going to get, sanctimoniously pointing accusatory fingers at the President for having blood on his hands.
The examples are legion, and glaring in how hypocritical they are:
- The Washington Post said the flu is “much bigger threat than coronavirus.”
- In another Washington Post ‘perspective‘ piece, they suggest our brains are actually making coronavirus “seem scarier than it is.”
- The Post also ran a column warning against an aggressive government response to the pandemic.
- The New York Times claimed that fear “spreads faster than the coronavirus itself.”
- CNN declared that “racist assaults and ignorant attacks against Asians” were spreading faster than the pandemic.
- CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “Half the people in America do not get a flu shot, and the flu is far deadlier. So if you’re freaked out at all about coronavirus, you should be more concerned about the flu and actually do something about it, which is get a flu shot.”
- CNN hosted a doctor who claimed no special precautions were in order because Americans should do “what you do every cold and flu season.”
- CNN ran a segment citing physicians who said “there’s no need to wear surgical masks … when treating viruses.”
- Vox tweeted a question asking, “Is this going to be a deadly pandemic?” before answering, “No.”
Vox: “factual, reliable, clear journalism is more important than ever.”
Also Vox: “Is this going to be a deadly pandemic? No.” pic.twitter.com/YqXVXwz19X
— balajis.com (@balajis) April 9, 2020
Democrat lawmakers weren’t much better as they also went out of their way to downplay the threat in the United States.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told people to leave their concerns behind and head on down to San Francisco’s Chinatown in late February – after President Trump banned travel from China.
“What we’re trying to do today is to say everything is fine here,” Pelosi said. “Come because precautions have been taken. The city is on top of the situation.”
February 24: The Trump Administration sent a letter to Congress requesting at least $2.5 billion to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Incidentally, this is the same day @SpeakerPelosi was telling constituents to come down to Chinatown.https://t.co/MCVcpeJlV3
— Rusty Weiss
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio was telling people to “go on with your lives” and hit the movie theaters despite the threat.
This was the day after @NYCMayor told New Yorkers to go to the movies, even offering recommendations.
NY had it’s first confirmed case of COVID on the same day de Blasio told people to hit theaters.https://t.co/Unip7WNGR4
— Rusty Weiss
Following the President’s implementation of a travel ban from China, Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden vociferously objected, calling the move “xenophobic.”
We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 1, 2020
RELATED: Here’s The Reason Trump Deserves The Nobel Peace Prize And Obama Didn’t
Trump Acted Quickly and Decisively
The second part of the media narrative is to suggest President Trump did nothing to stop the spread – a provable, bald-faced lie.
Unserious journalists make that accusation based simply on the President having told Woodward on March 19th that he “still like(s) playing it down.”
His administration’s actions up until that date show a man taking definitive action behind the scenes.
By the date in question, President Trump and his administration had done the following:
- The CDC established a coronavirus incident management system to better share and respond to information about the virus.
- Dr. Fauci announced the National Institutes of Health was working on the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus.
- The White House Coronavirus Task Force started meeting to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus and provide updates to the President.
- Declared the coronavirus a public health emergency.
- Announced Chinese travel restrictions, followed by more from other hotspots such as Italy and the UK.
- President Trump vowed in his State of the Union Address to “take all necessary steps” to protect Americans from the coronavirus.
- The CDC began shipping CDC-Developed test kits for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus to U.S. and international labs.
- Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
- Trump declared a national emergency in order to access $42 billion in existing funds to combat the coronavirus.
What had the Democrats and the media focused on during that time? Impeachment. And any other coverage that would reflect poorly on the President.
They have no interest in protecting the American people. President Trump did. He took action. And that is the only thing that matters.
Take a look at the entire timeline:
Woodward Thread by grusbf5 on Scribd
The post Fact Check: Media And Democrats Downplayed Coronavirus, Not President Trump appeared first on The Political Insider.
Fact Check: Media And Democrats Downplayed Coronavirus, Not President Trump
While the media rewrites history because of the Bob Woodward tapes, claiming President Trump ‘knew and did nothing’ to protect Americans from the COVID pandemic, their own words and those of their favorite political party have betrayed them.
In reality, it was the media and top Democrat politicians like Joe Biden who downplayed the pandemic – even attacking President Trump for taking the virus seriously.
The President’s role as a leader requires him to make public statements that quell panic and project calm and confidence. It’s a relatively understood tactic for America’s leader.
Anyone recall Barack Obama telling the American people that ISIS had been “contained” one day before they killed over 130 people in Paris? Was there a single media outlet that blamed him for knowing and doing nothing? Of course not.
That said, Trump stands accused of telling Woodward on February 7th that the COVID pandemic was “more deadly than your, you know, your — even your strenuous flus,” while telling him a month later that he “wanted to always play it down … because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Most people understood why the President would make such comments. But the media and the Democrat Party aren’t most people. They’ve seized on the opportunity to accuse Trump of downplaying the crisis and doing nothing to stop it.
One accusation is hypocritical, while the other is simply false.
The media is lying when they say @realDonaldTrump ‘knew and did nothing.’
The media is a dying industry in this country, and false narratives like this are exactly why they are the enemy of the American people.
Don’t let the enemy win. Vote for Trump!
— Rusty Weiss
RELATED: Biden – Just Like Trump – Told Americans Not To ‘Panic’ About COVID At Beginning Of Pandemic
The Media Downplayed the Virus – Here’s Proof
Hypocrisy comes in the form of the mainstream media and their keepers – the Democrat Party – criticizing President Trump of downplaying the threat of the virus to the American people.
Nobody did this more than they did. Yet they have the gall to pretend as if they knew all along how bad things were going to get, sanctimoniously pointing accusatory fingers at the President for having blood on his hands.
The examples are legion, and glaring in how hypocritical they are:
- The Washington Post said the flu is “much bigger threat than coronavirus.”
- In another Washington Post ‘perspective‘ piece, they suggest our brains are actually making coronavirus “seem scarier than it is.”
- The Post also ran a column warning against an aggressive government response to the pandemic.
- The New York Times claimed that fear “spreads faster than the coronavirus itself.”
- CNN declared that “racist assaults and ignorant attacks against Asians” were spreading faster than the pandemic.
- CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “Half the people in America do not get a flu shot, and the flu is far deadlier. So if you’re freaked out at all about coronavirus, you should be more concerned about the flu and actually do something about it, which is get a flu shot.”
- CNN hosted a doctor who claimed no special precautions were in order because Americans should do “what you do every cold and flu season.”
- CNN ran a segment citing physicians who said “there’s no need to wear surgical masks … when treating viruses.”
- Vox tweeted a question asking, “Is this going to be a deadly pandemic?” before answering, “No.”
Vox: “factual, reliable, clear journalism is more important than ever.”
Also Vox: “Is this going to be a deadly pandemic? No.” pic.twitter.com/YqXVXwz19X
— balajis.com (@balajis) April 9, 2020
Democrat lawmakers weren’t much better as they also went out of their way to downplay the threat in the United States.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told people to leave their concerns behind and head on down to San Francisco’s Chinatown in late February – after President Trump banned travel from China.
“What we’re trying to do today is to say everything is fine here,” Pelosi said. “Come because precautions have been taken. The city is on top of the situation.”
February 24: The Trump Administration sent a letter to Congress requesting at least $2.5 billion to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Incidentally, this is the same day @SpeakerPelosi was telling constituents to come down to Chinatown.https://t.co/MCVcpeJlV3
— Rusty Weiss
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio was telling people to “go on with your lives” and hit the movie theaters despite the threat.
This was the day after @NYCMayor told New Yorkers to go to the movies, even offering recommendations.
NY had it’s first confirmed case of COVID on the same day de Blasio told people to hit theaters.https://t.co/Unip7WNGR4
— Rusty Weiss
Following the President’s implementation of a travel ban from China, Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden vociferously objected, calling the move “xenophobic.”
We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 1, 2020
RELATED: Here’s The Reason Trump Deserves The Nobel Peace Prize And Obama Didn’t
Trump Acted Quickly and Decisively
The second part of the media narrative is to suggest President Trump did nothing to stop the spread – a provable, bald-faced lie.
Unserious journalists make that accusation based simply on the President having told Woodward on March 19th that he “still like(s) playing it down.”
His administration’s actions up until that date show a man taking definitive action behind the scenes.
By the date in question, President Trump and his administration had done the following:
- The CDC established a coronavirus incident management system to better share and respond to information about the virus.
- Dr. Fauci announced the National Institutes of Health was working on the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus.
- The White House Coronavirus Task Force started meeting to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus and provide updates to the President.
- Declared the coronavirus a public health emergency.
- Announced Chinese travel restrictions, followed by more from other hotspots such as Italy and the UK.
- President Trump vowed in his State of the Union Address to “take all necessary steps” to protect Americans from the coronavirus.
- The CDC began shipping CDC-Developed test kits for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus to U.S. and international labs.
- Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
- Trump declared a national emergency in order to access $42 billion in existing funds to combat the coronavirus.
What had the Democrats and the media focused on during that time? Impeachment. And any other coverage that would reflect poorly on the President.
They have no interest in protecting the American people. President Trump did. He took action. And that is the only thing that matters.
Take a look at the entire timeline:
Woodward Thread by grusbf5 on Scribd
The post Fact Check: Media And Democrats Downplayed Coronavirus, Not President Trump appeared first on The Political Insider.
U.S. Identifies Rudy Ally and Biden Dirt-Peddler as an ‘Active Russian Agent’
Byron York: Vindman, not whistleblower, driving force behind Trump impeachment
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key impeachment witness against President Trump, was the "original source" of the Trump-Russia collusion push, not the whistleblower, Fox News contributor Byron York said Wednesday.
Morning Digest: Darrell Issa thought he had an easy path to a comeback. A new poll says guess again
The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Carolyn Fiddler, and Matt Booker, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
● CA-50: While California Republican Darrell Issa looked like a sure bet to return to the House after he narrowly prevailed in the March top-two primary, a new SurveyUSA poll finds him locked in an unexpectedly close open seat contest with Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar. The poll, which was done for KGTV-TV San Diego and the San Diego Union-Tribune, shows Issa up just 46-45. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the sample finds Joe Biden ahead 48-45 in California's 50th Congressional District, an ancestrally Republican seat in inland San Diego County that backed Donald Trump 55-40 in 2016.
This is the first independent poll we've seen since the top-two six months ago. Last month, Campa-Najjar released numbers from Strategies 360 that found him down 47-43, but his campaign did not mention any presidential results. So far, though, no major outside groups on either side have booked air time here, though that could always change over the next two months.
Campaign ActionIssa infamously decided to run here the cycle after he retired as the congressman from the neighboring and more Democratic 49th District just ahead of the 2018 blue wave, and it's possible that his weak connections to this area are hurting him. SurveyUSA finds Issa with an even 32-32 favorable rating, while Campa-Najjar sports a 37-26 score.
If SurveyUSA is right, though, then there's also been a big shift to the left in this seat over just the last two years. Back in 2018, then-Rep. Duncan Hunter managed to fend off Campa-Najjar 52-48 even though the Republican incumbent was under indictment at the time for misusing campaign money. That was a much better performance than Democrats usually pull off in this area, but the fact that this district still decided to return Hunter to Congress even in a terrible year for Republicans didn't seem to bode well for Campa-Najjar's second campaign, especially after Hunter took a plea deal in late 2019 and resigned.
We'll need to see if more polls find a close race, and we'll also be keeping an eye out to see if major outside groups spend here. However, if this contest is tight, Campa-Najjar will have the resources to run a serious campaign. The Democrat ended June with a $890,000 to $516,000 cash-on-hand, though Issa is more than capable of self-funding if he needs to.
Senate
● AK-Sen: A newly formed PAC called Independent Alaska has launched an ad campaign supporting Al Gross, an independent who won the Democratic nomination last month. The commercial touts Gross' time as a fisherman and a doctor and informs the audience, "Dr. Al's father was Alaska's AG [attorney general], and his neighbor and fishing partner growing up was Republican Gov. Jay Hammond." The narrator concludes, "We're in a pandemic. It's time to send a doctor to D.C." There is no word on the size of the buy.
● GA-Sen-B: Republican Rep. Doug Collins is running his first ad on broadcast TV, and he begins by saying of the appointed GOP incumbent, "Kelly Loeffler spent $30 million on slick ads telling lies—now it's my turn to tell the truth."
Collins continues, "I'm not a billionaire. I'm a state trooper's kid, a husband, a father, an Air Force chaplain and Iraq War veteran." He adds, "I'm President Trump's top defender against the sham impeachment, and yes, his preferred pick for the Senate." Trump reportedly did very much want Collins to be appointed to this seat, but he hasn't taken sides in the Nov. 3 all-party primary between the congressman and Loeffler.
On the Democratic side, pastor Raphael Warnock, who would be the state's first Black senator, is using his newest commercial to talk about his experiences with systemic racism. The narrator begins, "1982. A 12-year-old is accused of stealing and dragged out a store, told he looks suspicious because his hands are in his pockets." The audience then sees it's the candidate speaking as he continues, "I'm Raphael Warnock and that boy was me."
Warnock goes on, "Back then I didn't understand how much the system works against those without power and money, that the rules were different for some of us. Too often that's still true today, especially in Washington." Warnock ends by saying that it's time for this to change.
● MI-Sen: The Glengariff Group's new poll for WDIV and the Detroit News finds Democratic Sen. Gary Peters leading Republican John James 44-41, while Joe Biden is ahead 47-42. Glengariff's last poll was all the way back in January, and it showed Peters up by a similar 44-40 spread.
● MN-Sen: Citizens United (yes, the Citizens United) has launched what the National Journal's Dylan Wells reports is a six-figure buy supporting Republican Jason Lewis. The commercial, like Lewis' own ads, promotes Lewis as a supporter of the police and an opponent of violent mobs; both Lewis and Citizens United's spots also ignore racism and police brutality.
● NC-Sen: Democrat Cal Cunningham has the first commercial we've seen anywhere focusing on allegations that the Russian government put out a bounty on American troops in Afghanistan. Cunningham says that his fellow veterans are the first ones to answer the call and continues, "So when [Republican Sen.] Thom Tillis fails to act while the Russians pay bounties for dead Americans, something is deeply wrong in Washington."
● TX-Sen: Democrat MJ Hegar is airing her first TV ad of the general election as part of what her campaign says is a $1.5 million buy in six media markets that are home to 80% of the state's voters. As faint sounds of explosions are heard, the candidate tells the audience, "It was my third tour in Afghanistan. I was flying a medevac mission when I was shot through the windshield and we went down."
The camera gradually pans out to reveal a smoking helicopter in the canyon behind Hegar as she continues, "So I strapped myself to the skids of the helicopter that rescued us and returned fire on the Taliban as we flew to safety. For that I was awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor." The candidate goes on, "I'm MJ Hegar, and we fought like hell to get everyone home safe that day. And I approved this message because my mission isn't over while Texas families are still in danger."
Gubernatorial
● WV-Gov: Democrat Ben Salango is airing his first TV spot since he won the primary three months ago. As old photos from his childhood fill the screen, the candidate says, "I grew up in a two-bedroom trailer in Raleigh County. It was a big deal when we got our first washer and dryer."
Salango then goes after Republican Gov. Jim Justice, declaring, "My family worked hard to build a business and even harder to pay the bills. Jim Justice is a billionaire who's been sued over 600 times for not paying his bills. And who made a secret deal with the government he controls to give himself tax breaks." Salango concludes, "I mean c'mon. I'll never betray West Virginia like that. I was raised better."
House
● CA-25: Democrat Christy Smith is running her first commercial since her defeat in the May special election. Smith talks about how her mother survived domestic violence and "rebuilt our lives" with a nursing degree from the local community college. The candidate says she went on to work three jobs to pay for her education at that same institution and went on to found an education nonprofit.
● CA-48: In its opening TV spot for this race, the DCCC declares that Republican Michelle Steel's allies were at the center of a major corruption scandal, but she "voted to defund the anti-corruption unit in Orange County."
The ad is also running in Vietnamese, which makes this one of the very rare examples of an American political commercial that's aired on TV all or mostly in a language other than English or Spanish. Back in 2018, Democrat John Chiang ran a spot entirely in Mandarin in his unsuccessful bid for governor of California, while Republican Ed Gillespie added Korean subtitles to a commercial during his 2017 primary for governor of Virginia.
There have been a few instances of American political ads airing on the radio in a language other than English or Spanish (and obviously, without subtitles.) In 2016, Arizona Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick recorded some ads in Navajo, which she speaks, for her unsuccessful Senate bid. That same year, Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman's campaign did a Ukrainian radio ad for his re-election campaign.
● IA-01: Back in July, Republican Ashley Hinson blamed her campaign staff after the New York Times reported that several op-eds credited to her, as well as material on her campaign site, were full of passages plagiarized from other sources, and the DCCC is using its first TV spot to go after Hinson over this.
The narrator begins, "In tough times, we need leaders we can trust. But Ashley Hinson was caught plagiarizing—word for word—from the Des Moines Register, the New York Times, even her opponent's own policy positions." He then focuses on Hinson's record, declaring, "And Hinson took thousands from the nursing home industry. When the Coronavirus struck—Hinson voted to protect them with special legal immunity. Instead of protecting seniors and workers."
● OH-01: House Majority PAC has released a survey from the Democratic firm Normington Petts that shows Democrat Kate Schroder leading Republican Rep. Steve Chabot 50-46, while Joe Biden has a tiny 48-47 edge in this Cincinnati-based seat. We've seen a few other polls this year from Schroder and her allies that have found a tight race, while Republicans have yet to drop their own numbers.
HMP is also running a commercial that targets Chabot over the truly strange scandal that engulfed Chabot's campaign last year, a story that Schroder has also focused on in her ads. The spot begins by reminding viewers that Chabot became a member of Congress in 1995 when "[b]aseball was on strike" and "Toy Story debuted. The first one." The narrator continues, "But now, a confirmed FBI investigation into $123,000 missing from Chabot's campaign. And Chabot's campaign paid his son-in-law's company nearly $200,000." The narrator concludes, "Twenty-four years in Congress has taken its toll on Steve Chabot."
● PA-01: Democrat Christina Finello's first general election ad focuses on her own struggles with college loans and healthcare. She says that, while she "understands the struggles of the middle class," Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick "votes with Trump. Giving tax cuts to the rich and ending protections for people with pre-existing conditions."
Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, uses his own ad to tout his endorsements from groups that usually pull for Democrats like the AFL-CIO, the League of Conservation Voters, and Everytown for Gun Safety, as well as the local police and firefighter unions. The congressman's mom also makes it clear she's backing Fitzpatrick.
● SC-02: EMILY's List has endorsed Adair Ford Boroughs' campaign against Republican Rep. Joe Wilson.
● TX-21: While freshman Republican Rep. Chip Roy has shown absolutely no desire to actually vote or behave like anything other than the far-right Freedom Caucus member that he is, the former Ted Cruz chief of staff is using his opening ad to portray himself as a bipartisan figure. Roy declares he'll "hold my party accountable if they're wrong, and work across party lines when it's right for Texas."
● TX-23: Republican Tony Gonzales uses his first general election commercial to talk about how he went from growing up in an abusive home where he was abandoned by his father to the Navy.
Meanwhile, VoteVets has launched a $533,000 ad campaign against Gonzales. The ad stars an injured veteran who tells the audience that Gonzales "supports taking away health coverage from half a million veterans."
● UT-04: The Congressional Leadership Fund is running a very rare positive TV commercial promoting Republican Burgess Owens, whom House Majority PAC recently began attacking.
CLF promotes Owens as a "pro-football star, political outsider, conservative, successful businessman, and mentor to troubled kids." As the ad shows footage of a football game, the narrator declares Owens will "heal our nation, tackling a virus and protecting the vulnerable." Those feel good themes are not, shall we say, the type of things that CLF likes to fill its ads with.
● VA-02: This week, a third staffer from Republican Scott Taylor's 2018 campaign was indicted for allegedly submitting fraudulent signatures in order to get a former Democrat on the ballot as an independent that year. Special prosecutor John Beamer predicted that he would seek at least one additional indictment, and he said of Taylor, "He's part of the campaign and the whole campaign is under investigation."
Taylor is seeking a comeback against freshman Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria, who narrowly unseated him in 2018. Last month, Taylor sent a cease-and-desist letter to Luria demanding that she stop making statements claiming that he is under investigation for ballot access fraud only for Beamer to publicly contradict him. Luria soon began running commercials focused on the ongoing scandal.
● VA-05: Democrat Cameron Webb is up with two commercials that decry the "lies and dirty tricks" being waged by Republican Bob Good, who recently ran a truly racist spot against Webb.
In Webb's first ad, the narrator declares that the candidate "is not for defunding the police," and adds that "a senior Trump official is praising Webb." The commercial highlights the law enforcement officials backing Webb before the candidate himself appears and talks about his work in the Obama and Trump administrations and support for "free market solutions to bring healthcare costs down."
The second Webb spot stars several former sheriffs as well as Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Hingeley, who praise Webb and implore the audience not to let "Bob Good scare you from electing a good man."
Ballot Measures
● CA Ballot: Probolsky Research has released the first poll we've seen of Prop. 15, the so-called "split roll" initiative that would scale back a significant part of the law passed by anti-tax crusaders in 1978, and finds it down 49-41. Probolsky has worked for Republicans in the past, but it says this survey was not done for a client.
The poll was taken just before the pro-Prop. 15 group Schools & Communities First launched its opening TV commercials. One ad declares that wealthy corporate tycoons "think they're entitled to tax handouts. Prop. 15 closes the loopholes." The narrator continues, "The richest 10% of corporate properties provide 92% of the revenue, while homeowners, renters, and small businesses are protected." The second spot argues, "Prop. 15 would raise billions of dollars that our communities and schools need" and would make "wealthy large corporations pay their fair share, while small businesses get a tax break."
As David Jarman has written, Prop. 15 would dramatically alter California's property tax landscape and lead to a massive increase in tax revenue by repealing a portion of 1978's Prop. 13. That measure limits the annual property tax on a particular property to no more than 1% of its assessed value and, most importantly, limits the increase in a property's assessed value to no more than 2% per year—even if its actual market value has soared. This has resulted in municipalities and school districts taking in revenues far smaller than they ought to be.
However, voters finally have their chance this fall to modify the system Prop. 13 set up decades ago. This year's Prop. 15 would essentially split the "roll" of properties every municipality maintains by requiring commercial and industrial properties to be reassessed at actual market value while keeping residential and agricultural properties under Prop. 13's rules.
Mayoral
● Miami-Dade County, FL Mayor: On behalf of the Miami Herald, the Democratic pollster Bendixen & Amandi International is out with a survey that finds Democrat Daniella Levine Cava leading Republican Steve Bovo 39-32 in this November's officially nonpartisan contest. This sample also found Joe Biden ahead 55-38 in a county that supported Hillary Clinton 63-34.
Primary Result Recaps
● NH-Sen: Corky Messner, a wealthy attorney endorsed by Donald Trump, beat retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc 51-42 in the Republican primary. Bolduc responded to his defeat by declaring that he wouldn't back Messner in the general election against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. "I will not support a man who is being investigated for fraud by the attorney general," Bolduc said, "No. I will not support him. I will not disgrace my name to support a man like that."
Last month, Mary Mullarkey, a former chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, asked that state's attorney general and secretary of state to investigate the charitable foundation run by Messner, who lived in Colorado until last year. Mullarkey's request came after the Washington Post reported that the Messner Foundation, whose stated purpose is to provide college scholarships to low-income students, had only awarded a grant to one student in its first 10 years of existence. However, despite what Bolduc said, there are no reports that a legal investigation is underway.
No matter what happens with this story, Messner will be in for a difficult race against Shaheen, a longtime figure in New Hampshire politics. A recent poll from the University of New Hampshire found Shaheen beating Messner 54-36, and no major groups have booked ad time here. Messner's ability to self-fund could still give him an opening if Donald Trump performs well in this swing state, though, so Daily Kos Elections is keeping it on the big board at Likely Democratic.
● NH-Gov: State Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes won the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Gov. Chris Sununu by defeating Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky 52-48. On the GOP side, Nobody lost.
Sununu has polled well during his tenure, and a recent survey from the University of New Hampshire found him beating Feltes 57-33. However, Sununu's allies at the RGA don't seem to think the governor is a lock in this swing state, since they reserved $3.6 million in television time for the general election earlier this year. Daily Kos Elections rates this contest as Likely Republican.
● NH-01: Former Trump aide Matt Mowers, who had his old boss' endorsement in the Republican primary, beat former state party vice chair Matt Mayberry 60-26. Mowers will face freshman Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in the fall.
The 1st District, which includes eastern New Hampshire, has been very competitive turf for a long time, and both Barack Obama and Donald Trump only narrowly won it. Pappas, however, prevailed 54-45 during the 2018 blue wave, and he holds a huge financial edge over Mowers with less than two months to go before voting concludes. A recent poll from the University of New Hampshire also showed Pappas up 52-34, though we haven't seen any other numbers here.
Still, Team Blue isn't leaving anything to chance in this swing seat, and House Majority PAC has reserved $2 million for this race; Republicans have not yet booked any air time. Daily Kos Elections rates this contest as Lean Democratic.
● NH State Senate, Where Are They Now?: Former Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes lost Tuesday's Democratic primary for New Hampshire's 15th State Senate District to Becky Whitley, a disability rights attorney, 41-33. This seat backed Hillary Clinton 58-37, and Whitley will be the clear favorite to succeed state Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes, who is the Democratic nominee for governor.
Ad Roundup
- AZ-Sen: DSCC - anti-Martha McSally (R-inc)
- CO-Sen: Senate Majority PAC - anti-Cory Gardner (R-inc)
- IA-Sen: NRSC - anti-Theresa Greenfield (D)
- MI-Sen: John James (R)
- MT-Sen: Steve Bullock (D); NRSC - anti-Bullock (D)
- AR-02: Joyce Elliott (D)
- CA-22: Phil Arballo (D)
- CA-25: DCCC - anti-Mike Garcia (R-inc) (in English and Spanish); Congressional Leadership Fund - anti-Christy Smith (D)
- CA-48: Congressional Leadership Fund - anti-Harley Rouda (D-inc)
- IA-02: NRCC - anti-Rita Hart (D)
- IL-17: Esther Joy King (R)
- ME-02: Jared Golden (D-inc)
- MI-06: Jon Hoadley (D)
- NE-02: Kara Eastman (D)
- NM-02: Xochitl Torres Small (D-inc); Congressional Leadership Fund - anti-Torres Small (D-inc)
- NY-02: Congressional Leadership Fund - anti-Jackie Gordon (D)
- OK-05: Congressional Leadership Fund - anti-Kendra Horn (D-inc)
- PA-08: Jim Bognet (R)
- PA-10: Scott Perry (R-inc)
- TX-07: Wesley Hunt (R)
- NC-AG: Josh Stein (D-inc)
Senate Republicans don’t want to talk about what Trump knew about COVID-19 and when he knew it
Donald Trump knew. He knew in February how dangerous, how deadly coronavirus was going to be and he deliberately played the severity of it down. Some of the revelations from the Bob Woodward interviews now surfacing are old news. Everyone watching knew he's been lying through his teeth from January onward about the disease and the crisis surrounding it.
No one knew better than the people closest to Trump, including Republican senators. When they voted to acquit Trump on February 5, they knew. They knew that he had obstructed justice, they knew that he was a liar and a cheat and they knew this epidemic had reached our shores and that Trump was likely the least capable person imaginable to deal with what was coming. They let this happen. And now that it's all out in public, not a one of them wants to talk about it. Especially Mitch McConnell. "I didn't look at the Woodward book," he told MSNBC's Kasie Hunt. "I will later. But I haven't even seen what you're referring to yet."
That must have been the talking point sent out to the conference. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Kennedy and Shelley Capito and Rob Portman—not a one of them would comment. They "haven't seen" it, "haven't read it," practically stopped up their ears when it was read to them. Florida man Sen. Rick Scott is the only one ready to make himself complicit by willfully burying his own head in the sand: "I have not read it. I don't want to read it. I think the president did the right thing by stopping flights from China."
You won't be shocked to find out that the Republicans up for reelection in a matter of weeks haven't been rushing out with statements. Remember what Sen. Susan Collins said in April? She said "the president did a lot that was right in the beginning." That's what she said. In the beginning, when he was telling Bob Woodward that he understood the disease was transmitted through the air, that he knew how deadly it would be, that he was deliberately downplaying its dangers. That he was setting up the deaths of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Americans. He "did a lot that was right," she said.
Here's what she said last week. Last. Week. "[H]e has also done some things right. […] On January 31st, he ended travel to and from China, where the virus and the pandemic originated. He was roundly criticized for that, but it saved lives." She said that. Just like Rick Scott. We haven't heard from her today, though. We haven't heard from most of them.
All these deaths, they're on Trump's head. But not on Trump's head alone. Every single one of those Republican senators who voted against his impeachment bear responsibility. They could see what was coming. They knew Trump would be just as likely to do precisely what he did—try to figure out a way to profit from it, lie about it, blame everyone else for it, and fail to protect the people who elected them.