theguardian--2020-08-24--In 1981 a ‘task force’ intimidated voters at the polls. Will Republicans revert to their old tactics

In 1981 a ‘task force’ intimidated voters at the polls. Will Republicans revert to their old tactics?

“ Warning ” the posters stated in big red letters .
“ This area is being patrolled by the National Ballot Security Task Force .
It is a crime to falsify a ballot.
” There was no such task force in existence – it was the fictionalised creation of the Republican National Committee ( RNC ) .
Top conservative strategists built it from scratch , inventing a private vigilante squad of 200 off-duty police officers and private security guards .
They carried visible firearms , wore armbands bearing the name of the “ Task Force ” , and were equipped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1981 , and a bitter race for the New Jersey governor ’ s seat was approaching .
Republican organizers publicly claimed their plan would combat widespread Democratic cheating at the polls .
In fact , they had a more sinister intention : suppress the vote in Democratic strongholds where African American and Latino voters were in the majority and the election might be tilted in favor of Republican Tom Kean .
So up went the posters in New Jersey ’ s majority-Black inner city precincts .
As Rutgers University historian Mark Krasovic recorded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked for their registration cards by the “ officers ” , then turned away .
Some Latino voters were chased from the polling stations by the daunting patrolmen .
Kean won the election by all of 1,800 votes .
The 1981 “ Task Force ” amounted to one of the most egregious examples of election intimidation in America ’ s long history of voter suppression , but had a positive outcome .
In the wake of those chilling events , the RNC was sued by the national and state Democratic parties .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1982 at which point the RNC agreed to what was known as a consent decree .
Under its terms , the national Republican party pledged to abstain from poll watching unless it had obtained prior court approval .
Party officials who broke that stipulation could be hauled before a federal judge and held in contempt .
For decades , the RNC was careful to avoid association with any measures that could be construed as intimidatory and to eschew coordination over poll watching with presidential campaigns , including Trump ’ s in 2016 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ were lifted after the RNC persuaded a federal judge that it could be trusted not to return to the dark days of New Jersey in 1981 .
Now the real test of what the RNC is capable of doing , freed of legal shackles , will come in November .
And last week , Trump gave forewarning of what that might entail .
Asked by Sean Hannity on Fox News whether he planned to send in poll watchers to monitor voting and “ avoid fraud ” , Trump replied : “ We are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to have sheriffs , we are going to have law enforcement and we are going to have hopefully US attorneys.
” The 2020 presidential election will be the first time since Ronald Reagan ’ s landslide victory against Jimmy Carter in 1980 that the RNC will be able to unleash “ ballot security operations ” on election day entirely untrammeled .
And the party will be allowed to freely coordinate with Donald Trump ’ s re-election campaign .
Trump ’ s threat last week – coming so soon after his actual deployment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the streets of Portland – was his most aggressive one yet , with the caveat that he has no power over local law enforcement and could be challenged in the courts .
But his tone matches the remarks of top RNC strategists who have bragged that they are preparing an army of 50,000 poll watchers to be posted at polling places on 3 November across 15 key swing states .
The volunteer monitors will have the power in some states to pull people out of line and challenge their eligibility .
In other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ watch over the counting of mail-in ballots , and issue similar challenges .
The RNC also plans to train hundreds of lawyers ahead of November .
They will have access to a $ 20m legal fund and will fan out across battleground states in expectation of fierce legal wrangling that could drag on well beyond election day raising spurious fraud allegations or claiming irregularities in mail-in voting .
The official line coming out of the RNC and Trump campaign is that it is only fair that they should be able to patrol polling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They insist that their only desire is to ensure election integrity by rooting out cheating .
“ Now that the playing field has been leveled , we can do what Democrats and other Republican groups have been able to do for decades , ” the RNC ’ s spokesperson Mandi Merritt told the Guardian .
She insisted that the party ’ s goal was to get more people to vote , not fewer .
“ We will ensure that all votes are counted properly , and that more people can vote through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting more people to vote , certainly not less.
” The Trump campaign struck a similar note , accusing Democrats of being the ones to undermine the election .
“ Republicans will be ready to make sure the polls are being run correctly , securely and transparently as we work to deliver the free and fair election Americans deserve , ” a senior campaign official said .
But voting rights experts are concerned .
Kenneth Mayer , professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison , said that the lifting of legal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the prospect of trouble at the polls .
“ This raises the potential that we could see a repeat of classic intimidatory tactics of past years – police cars outside polling stations , billboards warning of the penalties for vote fraud posted in Black or Latino neighborhoods .
It may not happen , but you can see how it could get really nasty , and that ’ s deeply worrisome.
” Privately , top Republican officials view the end of the consent decree as a chance to get back into the game in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a senior lawyer in the Trump re-election campaign , told a panel on “ defeating the left ’ s voter fraud machine ” at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February that the ambition was to mobilise tens of thousands of poll watchers .
“ For 40 years the RNC has been fighting this battle with one hand tied behind its back , ” he said .
“ We are going to have scale this year , protecting our votes and our voters , making sure folks who are eligible to vote are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What he did not share with his audience is that voter fraud in the US is exceptionally rare .
The Brennan Center , a nonpartisan law and policy organization , has reviewed the research and concluded the whole idea of widespread cheating is a myth , including through mail-in ballots .
Outside conservative groups are also floating ambitious plans ahead of November .
True the Vote , a prominent advocate of the need for “ ballot security ” measures that others denounce as intimidation , has been telling its supporters that it will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1981 use of armed off-duty police in New Jersey .
The Intercept revealed earlier this year that the Houston-based group wants to recruit military veterans and retired police officers as poll watchers in November .
( True the Vote did not respond to questions from the Guardian . )
It is a striking quirk of history that Kean ’ s 1981 campaign for New Jersey governor , which led to the consent decree , was managed by Roger Stone , the political dirty trickster and long-time Trump friend .
Last month the US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obstructing a congressional inquiry into collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia .
In 2016 , Stone concocted his own poll watching bonanza .
He came up with an operation called Stop the Steal to send 3,000 poll monitors nationwide .
He argued that the initiative was essential to prevent the presidential election being “ rigged ” – identical to Trump ’ s repeated and misleading assertions that the 2020 election is rife with fraud .
In the end , Stone ’ s widely-publicised threat to deploy hundreds of poll watchers in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Steal turned out , like a lot of the Roger Stone playbook , to be so much hot air .
And this month Stone told the Guardian he had no intention to repeat the effort .
“ I have no plans to do anything of this kind in November , ” he said .
That was not the first time that ambitious plans for poll watching transpired to be more bluster and braggadocio than reality .
In 2004 , the Ohio Republican party – which , being a state institution , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the national party – vowed to deploy thousands of poll watchers on election day in mainly Black precincts .
Legal action duly ensued , rising all the way to the US supreme court which allowed the operation to go ahead .
But it never happened .
Such false alarms raise questions about this year ’ s presidential cycle .
Will the RNC ’ s talk of amassing 50,000 poll watchers on 3 November similarly turn into a puff of smoke ?
Justin Levitt , a former top official at the civil rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now specializes in democracy law at Loyola Law School , suspects that it might .
He points out that chest-thumping about putting tens of thousands of boots on the ground makes good fundraising material in an election year .
“ You brag about the size of the operation even when it may in reality be considerably smaller , ” he said .
“ It turns out that placing poll watchers across the country takes real logistics and organization .
It ’ s not trivial – and in a pandemic it ’ s going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Whether or not it is effective , the RNC ’ s rhetoric about sending armies of poll watchers to polling places on 3 November is designed to sow seeds of doubt in voters ’ minds about the integrity and safety of the electoral process .
Meanwhile , Trump has consistently attempted to undermine confidence in November ’ s poll , conjuring up a fog of confusion and misinformation .
He has implied he may not recognize the result of the vote – at a time when he is trailing behind Democratic rival @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballot because of Covid .
Most recently , the president has openly admitted that he is undermining the US post office as a way of hampering mail-in voting , which he claims untruthfully is vulnerable to cheating .
But damage can be done even before election day comes around .
The mere call for voters to be challenged at the polls to combat rampant fraud contributes to public doubts about the fairness of the election that Trump has avidly been pushing .
“ If you talk about off-duty police officers in polling places @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic areas , that could deter turnout , ” said Rick Hasen , a legal scholar who writes the Election Law Blog .
Mayer agreed .
He interprets the RNC ’ s talk about getting back in the poll-watching game in order to combat fraud as “ an obvious intentional effort to undermine confidence in the election ” .
“ One of the effects of that could be that people simply don ’ t vote .
”

“Warning” the posters stated in big red letters. “This area is being patrolled by the National Ballot Security Task Force. It is a crime to falsify a ballot.”
There was no such task force in existence – it was the fictionalised creation of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Top conservative strategists built it from scratch, inventing a private vigilante squad of 200 off-duty police officers and private security guards. They carried visible firearms, wore armbands bearing the name of the “Task Force”, and were equipped with official-looking walkie-talkies.
The year was 1981, and a bitter race for the New Jersey governor’s seat was approaching. Republican organizers publicly claimed their plan would combat widespread Democratic cheating at the polls. In fact, they had a more sinister intention: suppress the vote in Democratic strongholds where African American and Latino voters were in the majority and the election might be tilted in favor of Republican Tom Kean.
So up went the posters in New Jersey’s majority-Black inner city precincts. As Rutgers University historian Mark Krasovic recorded, Black voters waiting in line were asked for their registration cards by the “officers”, then turned away. Some Latino voters were chased from the polling stations by the daunting patrolmen. Kean won the election by all of 1,800 votes.
The 1981 “Task Force” amounted to one of the most egregious examples of election intimidation in America’s long history of voter suppression, but had a positive outcome. In the wake of those chilling events, the RNC was sued by the national and state Democratic parties. The case was settled out of court in 1982 at which point the RNC agreed to what was known as a consent decree.
Under its terms, the national Republican party pledged to abstain from poll watching unless it had obtained prior court approval. Party officials who broke that stipulation could be hauled before a federal judge and held in contempt.
For decades, the RNC was careful to avoid association with any measures that could be construed as intimidatory and to eschew coordination over poll watching with presidential campaigns, including Trump’s in 2016. But in 2018, the legal restrictions were lifted after the RNC persuaded a federal judge that it could be trusted not to return to the dark days of New Jersey in 1981.
Now the real test of what the RNC is capable of doing, freed of legal shackles, will come in November. And last week, Trump gave forewarning of what that might entail.
Asked by Sean Hannity on Fox News whether he planned to send in poll watchers to monitor voting and “avoid fraud”, Trump replied: “We are going to have everything. We are going to have sheriffs, we are going to have law enforcement and we are going to have hopefully US attorneys.”
The new task force
The 2020 presidential election will be the first time since Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory against Jimmy Carter in 1980 that the RNC will be able to unleash “ballot security operations” on election day entirely untrammeled. And the party will be allowed to freely coordinate with Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
Ronald Reagan makes a speech at the Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan in July 1980. Photograph: Historical/Corbis/Getty Images
Trump’s threat last week – coming so soon after his actual deployment of federal agents to police protesters on the streets of Portland – was his most aggressive one yet, with the caveat that he has no power over local law enforcement and could be challenged in the courts.
But his tone matches the remarks of top RNC strategists who have bragged that they are preparing an army of 50,000 poll watchers to be posted at polling places on 3 November across 15 key swing states. The volunteer monitors will have the power in some states to pull people out of line and challenge their eligibility. In other states, they will be able to watch over the counting of mail-in ballots, and issue similar challenges.
The RNC also plans to train hundreds of lawyers ahead of November. They will have access to a $20m legal fund and will fan out across battleground states in expectation of fierce legal wrangling that could drag on well beyond election day raising spurious fraud allegations or claiming irregularities in mail-in voting.
The official line coming out of the RNC and Trump campaign is that it is only fair that they should be able to patrol polling places on an equal footing with Democrats. They insist that their only desire is to ensure election integrity by rooting out cheating.
“Now that the playing field has been leveled, we can do what Democrats and other Republican groups have been able to do for decades,” the RNC’s spokesperson Mandi Merritt told the Guardian.
She insisted that the party’s goal was to get more people to vote, not fewer. “We will ensure that all votes are counted properly, and that more people can vote through our field program. This is about getting more people to vote, certainly not less.”
The Trump campaign struck a similar note, accusing Democrats of being the ones to undermine the election. “Republicans will be ready to make sure the polls are being run correctly, securely and transparently as we work to deliver the free and fair election Americans deserve,” a senior campaign official said.
But voting rights experts are concerned. Kenneth Mayer, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that the lifting of legal restrictions on the RNC once again raises the prospect of trouble at the polls.
“This raises the potential that we could see a repeat of classic intimidatory tactics of past years – police cars outside polling stations, billboards warning of the penalties for vote fraud posted in Black or Latino neighborhoods. It may not happen, but you can see how it could get really nasty, and that’s deeply worrisome.”
Privately, top Republican officials view the end of the consent decree as a chance to get back into the game in a big way. Justin Clark, a senior lawyer in the Trump re-election campaign, told a panel on “defeating the left’s voter fraud machine” at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February that the ambition was to mobilise tens of thousands of poll watchers.
“For 40 years the RNC has been fighting this battle with one hand tied behind its back,” he said. “We are going to have scale this year, protecting our votes and our voters, making sure folks who are eligible to vote are able to do so – once.”
What he did not share with his audience is that voter fraud in the US is exceptionally rare. The Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy organization, has reviewed the research and concluded the whole idea of widespread cheating is a myth, including through mail-in ballots.
Outside conservative groups are also floating ambitious plans ahead of November. True the Vote, a prominent advocate of the need for “ballot security” measures that others denounce as intimidation, has been telling its supporters that it will stage a November exercise that echoes the 1981 use of armed off-duty police in New Jersey.
The Intercept revealed earlier this year that the Houston-based group wants to recruit military veterans and retired police officers as poll watchers in November. (True the Vote did not respond to questions from the Guardian.)
Trivial threats?
Voters wait to cast their ballots in the US presidential election in Scottsdale, Arizona on 8 November 2016. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
It is a striking quirk of history that Kean’s 1981 campaign for New Jersey governor, which led to the consent decree, was managed by Roger Stone, the political dirty trickster and long-time Trump friend. Last month the US president commuted Stone’s sentence for obstructing a congressional inquiry into collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.
In 2016, Stone concocted his own poll watching bonanza. He came up with an operation called Stop the Steal to send 3,000 poll monitors nationwide. He argued that the initiative was essential to prevent the presidential election being “rigged” – identical to Trump’s repeated and misleading assertions that the 2020 election is rife with fraud.
In the end, Stone’s widely-publicised threat to deploy hundreds of poll watchers in 2016 never came to pass. Stop the Steal turned out, like a lot of the Roger Stone playbook, to be so much hot air. And this month Stone told the Guardian he had no intention to repeat the effort. “I have no plans to do anything of this kind in November,” he said.
That was not the first time that ambitious plans for poll watching transpired to be more bluster and braggadocio than reality. In 2004, the Ohio Republican party – which, being a state institution, was not covered by the consent decree hanging over the national party – vowed to deploy thousands of poll watchers on election day in mainly Black precincts. Legal action duly ensued, rising all the way to the US supreme court which allowed the operation to go ahead. But it never happened.
Such false alarms raise questions about this year’s presidential cycle. Will the RNC’s talk of amassing 50,000 poll watchers on 3 November similarly turn into a puff of smoke?
Justin Levitt, a former top official at the civil rights division of the US justice department who now specializes in democracy law at Loyola Law School, suspects that it might. He points out that chest-thumping about putting tens of thousands of boots on the ground makes good fundraising material in an election year.
“You brag about the size of the operation even when it may in reality be considerably smaller,” he said. “It turns out that placing poll watchers across the country takes real logistics and organization. It’s not trivial – and in a pandemic it’s going to be even more difficult to achieve.”
A fog of misinformation
Whether or not it is effective, the RNC’s rhetoric about sending armies of poll watchers to polling places on 3 November is designed to sow seeds of doubt in voters’ minds about the integrity and safety of the electoral process.
Meanwhile, Trump has consistently attempted to undermine confidence in November’s poll, conjuring up a fog of confusion and misinformation. He has implied he may not recognize the result of the vote – at a time when he is trailing behind Democratic rival Joe Biden – and proposed delaying the ballot because of Covid.
Most recently, the president has openly admitted that he is undermining the US post office as a way of hampering mail-in voting, which he claims untruthfully is vulnerable to cheating.
A group of protestors hold a demonstration in front of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s home in Greensboro, North Carolina on August 16, 2020. - Photograph: Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images
But damage can be done even before election day comes around. The mere call for voters to be challenged at the polls to combat rampant fraud contributes to public doubts about the fairness of the election that Trump has avidly been pushing.
“If you talk about off-duty police officers in polling places, about problems at the polls in Democratic areas, that could deter turnout,” said Rick Hasen, a legal scholar who writes the Election Law Blog.
Mayer agreed. He interprets the RNC’s talk about getting back in the poll-watching game in order to combat fraud as “an obvious intentional effort to undermine confidence in the election”.
“One of the effects of that could be that people simply don’t vote.”


theguardian--2020-08-24--Meet the Republican-turned-Democrat who could flip a Senate seat in Kansas

In the heartland state of Kansas , long seen as deep-red territory where Democrats rarely have a shot at winning key elections , hope is beginning to stir that the party could pull off an unlikely win in a crucial Senate seat .
The state senator Barbara Bollier , a former Republican and physician , is the vehicle for these ambitions – which if they came off could decide whether the party grabs overall control of the US Senate in January .
Bollier has proved to be a formidable fundraiser and , in an interview with the Guardian , described @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans in Kansas in the general election against an establishment Republican candidate , the US congressman Roger Marshall .
“ What I want to highlight is the fact that as a physician , as a current legislator , I am an independent voice and work hard to listen to the people and bring their ideas and needs forward in a bipartisan fashion , cooperating and working together , ” Bollier said in an interview with the Guardian .
Bollier left the Republican party in 2018 .
She said she had grown dissatisfied with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expansion and record on balancing budgets .
She said that those priorities “ are still in place with me but they were not being followed by the Republican leadership in this state ” .
“ They were not following public education , ” Bollier said , adding that the then Republican Kansas governor , Sam Brownback , “ put in a horrific tax plan that broke and caused us to have to borrow money to meet our bills .
That is not a traditional Republican value , borrowing money .
And at a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best represent our people following the values that they want as a Democrat.
’ ” Democrats have not controlled a Senate seat in Kansas since 1939 and the state votes reliably Republican in presidential races .
But in 2018 Laura Kelly , also a state senator , beat the anti-immigration hardliner Kris Kobach to win the Kansas governor ’ s race , a sign that there is a precarious route for Democrats to win statewide .
Bollier had also hoped to face Kobach , but Kobach lost to Marshall .
The added rub @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has had to be virtual or socially distanced because of the coronavirus pandemic .
“ Campaigning has been very unique during Covid as we ’ ve done a tremendous amount … on the internet , Zoom , Facebook Live , ” Bollier said .
“ Of course tremendous numbers of phone calls .
We did a virtual bus tour .
Now that we ’ re moving forward in understanding this disease and understanding that if I wear a mask and another person wears a mask and we ’ re socially distancing , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me moving out of my home.
” Both Bollier and Marshall are physicians .
They both graduated from the same medical school .
But they have taken different approaches to campaigning during the pandemic .
Bollier ’ s campaign events are distanced and mostly virtual and Marshall ’ s have been in person , mirroring the national strategies of the Donald Trump and Joe Biden campaigns .
Marshall has also said every week he takes two tablets of hydroxychloroquine , the drug Trump has touted as a treatment for coronavirus .
Research has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Food and Drug Administration has warned that there are serious health risks connected to taking the drug .
The divergent approaches in campaigning and public stances on healthcare are what , Democrats hope , will boost Bollier and create an upset win for the party .
Scott Fairchild , executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee , touted Bollier ’ s background in a recent podcast interview with David Plouffe , former campaign manager for Barack Obama .
“ I think we ’ ve recruited a stellar candidate , ” Fairchild @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impressive doctor , moderate Republican turned moderate Democrat .
She ’ s raising a lot of money .
I think she ’ s going to make that race really competitive.
” Polling generally shows Marshall leading Bollier by single digits .
Democrats often point to the cash advantage Bollier had entering the general election – over $ 4m to Marshall ’ s $ 600,000 .
When asked if she thought her chances of winning the seat had shrunk when Marshall beat Kobach , Bollier pushed back and pointed to Medicaid expansion .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expansion and healthcare access .
And every one of them stood against it , including Roger Marshall .
He still does .
And has tried to end the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic , ” Bollier said .
She added : “ Four hundred thousand people in Kansas have pre-existing conditions , so you have to have another plan there for them to have insurance .
So , no , my campaign speaks for itself.
” Another question for the general election is how much damage the divided primary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weighing in on the primary , though he did congratulate Marshall after he won .
But major Republican organizations have rallied around the Kansas congressman .
“ Marshall ’ s significant win was a huge , critical victory for the pro-business majority and the business community , ” Ashlee Rich Stephenson , the political director for the influential US Chamber of Commerce , said in an email .

In the heartland state of Kansas, long seen as deep-red territory where Democrats rarely have a shot at winning key elections, hope is beginning to stir that the party could pull off an unlikely win in a crucial Senate seat.
The state senator Barbara Bollier, a former Republican and physician, is the vehicle for these ambitions – which if they came off could decide whether the party grabs overall control of the US Senate in January.
Bollier has proved to be a formidable fundraiser and, in an interview with the Guardian, described how she plans to attract independents and Republicans in Kansas in the general election against an establishment Republican candidate, the US congressman Roger Marshall.
“What I want to highlight is the fact that as a physician, as a current legislator, I am an independent voice and work hard to listen to the people and bring their ideas and needs forward in a bipartisan fashion, cooperating and working together,” Bollier said in an interview with the Guardian.
Bollier left the Republican party in 2018. She said she had grown dissatisfied with the party’s opposition to Medicaid expansion and record on balancing budgets. She said that those priorities “are still in place with me but they were not being followed by the Republican leadership in this state”.
“They were not following public education,” Bollier said, adding that the then Republican Kansas governor, Sam Brownback, “put in a horrific tax plan that broke and caused us to have to borrow money to meet our bills. That is not a traditional Republican value, borrowing money. And at a point you realize: ‘I can best represent our people following the values that they want as a Democrat.’”
Democrats have not controlled a Senate seat in Kansas since 1939 and the state votes reliably Republican in presidential races. But in 2018 Laura Kelly, also a state senator, beat the anti-immigration hardliner Kris Kobach to win the Kansas governor’s race, a sign that there is a precarious route for Democrats to win statewide.
Bollier had also hoped to face Kobach, but Kobach lost to Marshall.
The added rub now is that most campaigning for Bollier has had to be virtual or socially distanced because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Campaigning has been very unique during Covid as we’ve done a tremendous amount … on the internet, Zoom, Facebook Live,” Bollier said. “Of course tremendous numbers of phone calls. We did a virtual bus tour. Now that we’re moving forward in understanding this disease and understanding that if I wear a mask and another person wears a mask and we’re socially distancing, there will be opportunity to do more of me moving out of my home.”
Both Bollier and Marshall are physicians. They both graduated from the same medical school. But they have taken different approaches to campaigning during the pandemic. Bollier’s campaign events are distanced and mostly virtual and Marshall’s have been in person, mirroring the national strategies of the Donald Trump and Joe Biden campaigns.
Marshall has also said every week he takes two tablets of hydroxychloroquine, the drug Trump has touted as a treatment for coronavirus. Research has found hydroxychloroquine does not prevent Covid-19 and the Food and Drug Administration has warned that there are serious health risks connected to taking the drug.
The divergent approaches in campaigning and public stances on healthcare are what, Democrats hope, will boost Bollier and create an upset win for the party.
Representative Roger Marshall, joined by his wife, Laina Marshall, speaks to supporters near Pawnee Rock, Kansas, on 4 August. Photograph: Travis Heying/AP
Scott Fairchild, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, touted Bollier’s background in a recent podcast interview with David Plouffe, former campaign manager for Barack Obama.
“I think we’ve recruited a stellar candidate,” Fairchild said. “She’s an impressive doctor, moderate Republican turned moderate Democrat. She’s raising a lot of money. I think she’s going to make that race really competitive.”
Polling generally shows Marshall leading Bollier by single digits. Democrats often point to the cash advantage Bollier had entering the general election – over $4m to Marshall’s $600,000. When asked if she thought her chances of winning the seat had shrunk when Marshall beat Kobach, Bollier pushed back and pointed to Medicaid expansion.
“This state desperately wants and needs Medicaid expansion and healthcare access. And every one of them stood against it, including Roger Marshall. He still does. And has tried to end the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic,” Bollier said.
She added: “Four hundred thousand people in Kansas have pre-existing conditions, so you have to have another plan there for them to have insurance. So, no, my campaign speaks for itself.”
Another question for the general election is how much damage the divided primary did to Marshall. Trump refrained from weighing in on the primary, though he did congratulate Marshall after he won.
But major Republican organizations have rallied around the Kansas congressman.
“Marshall’s significant win was a huge, critical victory for the pro-business majority and the business community,” Ashlee Rich Stephenson, the political director for the influential US Chamber of Commerce, said in an email.


theguardian--2020-08-24--Democrats’ climate plan takes aim at the fossil fuel industry’s political power

Senate Democrats are set to release a 200-page plan arguing that significant US climate action will require stripping the fossil fuel industry of its influence over the government and the public ’ s understanding of the crisis .
“ It ’ s important for the public to understand that this is not a failure of American democracy that ’ s causing this , ” said Sheldon Whitehouse , a senate Democrat from Rhode Island .
“ It is a very specific and successful attack on American democracy by an industry with truly massive financial motivation to corrupt democratic institutions.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dark Money lays out how “ giant fossil fuel corporations have spent billions – much of it anonymized through scores of front groups – during a decades-long campaign to attack climate science and obstruct climate action ” .
The focus on limiting the industry ’ s political power could be the opening punch in what is likely to become a dirty fight over climate policy if Democrats take control of the Senate and the White House .
The blueprint , from Senate Democrats ’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis , follows an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House Democrats .
Its first two sections describe the depth of the climate problem and posit policy solutions .
The third outlines how Democrats could carve a political pathway to substantive reductions in planet-heating pollution .
Scores of media reports and lawsuits from states have exposed the industry ’ s efforts to conceal the scale of the problem and use of dark money groups to create partisan gridlock and slow a shift away from fossil fuels .
But Whitehouse said the story has yet to reach the American public .
“ I don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ begun to get the news out adequately .
We haven ’ t had proper hearings in Congress – the best we ’ ve had is the Senate ’ s all Democrats hearing with no ability to subpoena to investigate , ” he said .
The plan says the US is “ almost alone among industrialized nations in having failed to implement comprehensive policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ” .
It directly blames the 2010 Citizens United supreme court decision that allowed industries to spend virtually unlimited sums of money to sway elections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to address climate change because Republicans have majority control of the Senate and largely dictate the work of committees .
• None “ expose the role of the fossil fuel billionaires , executives , and corporations in funding and organizing the groups trafficking in climate denial and obstruction.
” • None “ reform federal laws and regulations to require greater transparency and reduce the influence of money , particularly dark money , in politics.
” • None “ alert industries that support climate action to the depth , nature , and success of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has said he would spend $ 2tn to get the US to essentially eliminate its climate pollution by 2050 .
He is pitching his proposal as a jobs plan to lift the US out of the economic downturn .
But he does not oppose fracking for natural gas – which is the main way the US industry has grown in recent years .
At the Democratic National Convention last week , climate activists were also let down by a decision to remove language from the party platform opposing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden and moderate Democrats ’ ability to get tough with the industry .
Republicans meanwhile are split on the climate issue , with some outright denying the science , many questioning the severity of the crisis , and a growing minority pitching technologies for capturing emissions from fossil fuels so they can continue to be used .
Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax and rescinded essentially all of the federal government ’ s biggest climate efforts .
The report lays out a timeline stretching back to 1977 , when an Exxon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientific agreement that humans were altering the climate by burning fossil fuels .
Exxon now says climate change is “ a serious issue ” and denies the company misled the public .
In 1988 , Shell scientists acknowledged carbon dioxide emissions could be setting the planet on a path to become 2C hotter , leading to rising seas and a melting Arctic , it notes .
The world is currently 1C hotter than before industrialization and on a trajectory to be at least 3C hotter .
In 1986 , a congressional subcommittee held @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nasa scientist James Hansen testified about the threat .
Senate Democrats say oil companies responded by copying the playbook of the tobacco industry to sow doubt about the problem .
They started front groups and funded think tanks like the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute to deny climate science .
Whitehouse was elected to the Senate in 2006 , and he said everything changed immediately after the supreme court issued the Citizens United ruling in 2010 .
“ There ’ s a very clear before and after , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans understand enough the extent to which the fossil fuel industry has weaponized a whole variety of systems and laws that now competes with the government itself for dominance , ” Whitehouse said .

Senate Democrats are set to release a 200-page plan arguing that significant US climate action will require stripping the fossil fuel industry of its influence over the government and the public’s understanding of the crisis.
“It’s important for the public to understand that this is not a failure of American democracy that’s causing this,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a Senate Democrat from Rhode Island. “It is a very specific and successful attack on American democracy by an industry with truly massive financial motivation to corrupt democratic institutions.”
A 16-page chapter of the report titled Dark Money lays out how “giant fossil fuel corporations have spent billions – much of it anonymized through scores of front groups – during a decades-long campaign to attack climate science and obstruct climate action”.
The focus on limiting the industry’s political power could be the opening punch in what is likely to become a dirty fight over climate policy if Democrats take control of the Senate and the White House.
The blueprint, from Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, follows an extensive package of climate policy proposals from House Democrats. Its first two sections describe the depth of the climate problem and posit policy solutions. The third outlines how Democrats could carve a political pathway to substantive reductions in planet-heating pollution.
Scores of media reports and lawsuits from states have exposed the industry’s efforts to conceal the scale of the problem and use of dark money groups to create partisan gridlock and slow a shift away from fossil fuels. But Whitehouse said the story has yet to reach the American public.
“I don’t think we’ve even begun to get the news out adequately. We haven’t had proper hearings in Congress – the best we’ve had is the Senate’s all Democrats hearing with no ability to subpoena to investigate,” he said.
The plan says the US is “almost alone among industrialized nations in having failed to implement comprehensive policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”. It directly blames the 2010 Citizens United supreme court decision that allowed industries to spend virtually unlimited sums of money to sway elections.
Democrats created the Democrats-only special committee to address the climate crisis because Republicans have majority control of the Senate and largely dictate the work of committees.
The special committee recommends a three-part plan to:
“Expose the role of the fossil fuel billionaires, executives and corporations in funding and organizing the groups trafficking in climate denial and obstruction.”
“Reform federal laws and regulations to require greater transparency and reduce the influence of money, particularly dark money, in politics.”
“Alert industries that support climate action to the depth, nature and success of the covert fossil fuel political scheme.”
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has said he would spend $2tn to get the US to essentially eliminate its climate pollution by 2050. He is pitching his proposal as a jobs plan to lift the US out of the economic downturn. But he does not oppose fracking for natural gas – which is the main way the US industry has grown in recent years.
At the Democratic national convention last week, climate activists were also let down by a decision to remove language from the party platform opposing fossil fuel subsidies – revitalizing skepticism about Biden and moderate Democrats’ ability to get tough with the industry.
Republicans meanwhile are split on the climate issue, with some outright denying the science, many questioning the severity of the crisis, and a growing minority pitching technologies for capturing emissions from fossil fuels so they can continue to be used. Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax and rescinded essentially all of the federal government’s biggest climate efforts.
The report lays out a timeline stretching back to 1977, when an Exxon scientist told company management that there was scientific agreement that humans were altering the climate by burning fossil fuels. Exxon now says climate change is “a serious issue” and denies the company misled the public.
In 1988, Shell scientists acknowledged carbon dioxide emissions could be setting the planet on a path to become 2C hotter, leading to rising seas and a melting Arctic, it notes. The world is currently 1C hotter than before industrialization and on a trajectory to be at least 3C hotter.
In 1986, a congressional subcommittee held hearings on climate change and in 1988 Nasa scientist James Hansen testified about the threat.
Senate Democrats say oil companies responded by copying the playbook of the tobacco industry to sow doubt about the problem. They started front groups and funded think tanks like the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute to deny climate science.
Whitehouse was elected to the Senate in 2006, and he said everything changed immediately after the supreme court issued the Citizens United ruling in 2010. “There’s a very clear before and after,” he said.
“I don’t think Americans understand enough the extent to which the fossil fuel industry has weaponized a whole variety of systems and laws that now competes with the government itself for dominance,” Whitehouse said.


theguardian--2020-08-24--Wave of extremist Republicans run for office, many with Trump's blessing

When Donald Trump congratulated Laura Loomer , an Islamophobe and conspiracy theorist , on her Republican congressional primary victory this week , it seemed to bring the president ’ s version of the Republican party full-circle to the start of his rise .
Trump opened his 2016 presidential campaign by claiming Mexico was sending drug dealers and rapists to the US .
He followed that up in office by implementing a travel ban on majority Muslim countries , and later refused to condemn white supremacists .
In that context , Loomer ’ s triumph in Trump ’ s own Florida @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pattern of prejudice and misinformation running through the modern day Republican party – which is now undeniably shaped in Trump ’ s image .
Loomer has been banned from all the most prominent social media networks for promoting hate speech , has said she wants more migrants to die , and last year said “ nobody cares about Christchurch ” after a shooting at a mosque in New Zealand killed 51 people .
She is just one of a slew of extreme Republicans who are running for office this year .
Many have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going Laura , ” Donald Trump tweeted after Loomer won the primary on Wednesday .
While Loomer may espouse the most dangerous beliefs of all the Republicans to win primaries this year , it ’ s a tight contest .
Media Matters , a not-for-profit progressive research center which monitors misinformation , has counted 67 current or former rightwing congressional candidates who have embraced QAnon , a conspiracy theory based in antisemitic tropes which has incited supporters to violence and is popular among Trump supporters .
Angela Stanton King , a QAnon believer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were a screen “ for pedophilia and human trafficking ” , won an uncontested primary in Georgia in July .
Marjorie Taylor Greene , who said the election of the first two Muslim women to Congress in 2018 was evidence of an “ Islamic invasion of our government ” , will also run for office in Georgia .
Loomer is unlikely to defeat congressman Lois Frankel in her heavily Democratic district , while Stanton King , running to replace Democratic civil rights leader John Lewis , who died in July , is also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lauren Boebert , in Colorado , is the favorite in her race for a seat in the House of Representatives .
Win or lose , however , the extremist candidates are still given an opportunity to make their voice heard .
“ It shows a disconnect between Republican leadership and the Republican base , ” said Jared Holt , research associate at People for the American Way , which seeks to combat right-wing extremism .
“ Loomer ’ s victory shows that despite Republican leadership ’ s insistence that the party is on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a set of deeply held values , that the base is interested in Trumpism 100 % .
That need to avoid alienating the Trumpian base has led to the Republican party in Florida backing Loomer .
“ Congratulations @ RepLauraLoomer on your victory !
” the Florida GOP tweeted on Tuesday .
“ We look forward to you defeating @ RepLoisFrankel.
” Loomer has also been promoted by Roger Stone , Trump ’ s long-time friend who the president recently pardoned , and Matt Gaetz , a Trump sycophant who represents Florida @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few Republicans willing to condemn Loomer and the other Trump extremists – and those who will go on the record tend to be on their way out of the party .
“ I ’ ve always said we need a big tent party .
I just didn ’ t think it would turn into a carnival tent , ” Republican congressman Denver Riggleman , who was defeated by a far-right challenger in his Virginia GOP primary race earlier this year , told the Hill .
“ Candidates like this really actually hurt our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work that ’ s being done by legitimate members.
” But the condemnation is sparse .
Republicans in office are well aware of Trump ’ s vengeance should they speak out against him .
On 4 June , after Trump ’ s former defense secretary Jim Mattis issued a statement excoriating the president , Alaska Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said she was “ struggling ” over whether to vote for Trump .
Within hours , Trump attacked her on Twitter .
“ Few people know where they ’ ll be in two years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the Great State of Alaska ( which I love ) campaigning against Senator Lisa Murkowski , ” Trump wrote .
“ Get any candidate ready , good or bad , I don ’ t care , I ’ m endorsing .
If you have a pulse , I ’ m with you !
” It was a stark contrast with his praise of Loomer , who despite her longshot candidacy , represents a serious threat .
“ I absolutely think we should be concerned , ” said Holt .
“ Loomer ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some degree , a stamp of approval from Trump voters on the messages she espouses , the way she conducts herself in public.
” Given Loomer is now a legitimate , nominated candidate in an actual election , it also means journalists are obligated to cover her , irrespective of her extremist racist beliefs .
That could lead to further promotion – inadvertently – of the racism and conspiracy theories Loomer and others espouse .
It ’ s causing problems for newsrooms , as they grapple with this new wave of Republican candidates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people like Loomer .
“ Just calling her far right does not fully explain what she is about , ” Holt said .
“ It is unavoidable for a lot of reporters to cover her election victory at this point .
And that coverage is OK – as long as it properly explains her extreme views .
“ When you cover her , you can at least bring the proper context , and a full picture of who she is as a candidate .
”

When Donald Trump congratulated Laura Loomer, an Islamophobe and conspiracy theorist, on her Republican congressional primary victory this week, it seemed to bring the president’s version of the Republican party full-circle to the start of his rise.
Trump opened his 2016 presidential campaign by claiming Mexico was sending drug dealers and rapists to the US. He followed that up in office by implementing a travel ban on majority Muslim countries, and later refused to condemn white supremacists.
In that context, Loomer’s triumph in Trump’s own Florida voting district is indicative of a broader pattern of prejudice and misinformation running through the modern day Republican party – which is now undeniably shaped in Trump’s image.
Loomer has been banned from all the most prominent social media networks for promoting hate speech, has said she wants more migrants to die, and last year said “nobody cares about Christchurch” after a shooting at a mosque in New Zealand killed 51 people.
She is just one of a slew of extreme Republicans who are running for office this year. Many have been endorsed by Trump.
“Great going Laura,” Donald Trump tweeted after Loomer won the primary on Wednesday.
While Loomer may espouse the most dangerous beliefs of all the Republicans to win primaries this year, it’s a tight contest.
Media Matters, a not-for-profit progressive research center which monitors misinformation, has counted 67 current or former rightwing congressional candidates who have embraced QAnon, a conspiracy theory based in antisemitic tropes which has incited supporters to violence and is popular among Trump supporters.
Angela Stanton King, a QAnon believer who claimed Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter were a screen “for pedophilia and human trafficking”, won an uncontested primary in Georgia in July.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said the election of the first two Muslim women to Congress in 2018 was evidence of an “Islamic invasion of our government”, will also run for office in Georgia.
“A big winner. Congratulations!” Trump tweeted after Greene’s victory in June.
Loomer is unlikely to defeat congressman Lois Frankel in her heavily Democratic district, while Stanton King, running to replace Democratic civil rights leader John Lewis, who died in July, is also a long shot.
Others, like Lauren Boebert, in Colorado, is the favorite in her race for a seat in the House of Representatives. Win or lose, however, the extremist candidates are still given an opportunity to make their voice heard.
“It shows a disconnect between Republican leadership and the Republican base,” said Jared Holt, investigative reporter with People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch, which seeks to combat rightwing extremism.
“Loomer’s victory shows that despite Republican leadership’s insistence that the party is on the up and up, and committed to a set of deeply held values, that the base is interested in Trumpism 100%.
That need to avoid alienating the Trumpian base has led to the Republican party in Florida backing Loomer.
“Congratulations @RepLauraLoomer on your victory!” the Florida GOP tweeted on Tuesday. “We look forward to you defeating @RepLoisFrankel.”
Loomer has also been promoted by Roger Stone, Trump’s long-time friend who the president recently pardoned, and Matt Gaetz, a Trump sycophant who represents Florida’s first district.
There are few Republicans willing to condemn Loomer and the other Trump extremists – and those who will go on the record tend to be on their way out of the party.
“I’ve always said we need a big tent party. I just didn’t think it would turn into a carnival tent,” Republican congressman Denver Riggleman, who was defeated by a far-right challenger in his Virginia GOP primary race earlier this year, told the Hill.
“Candidates like this really actually hurt our profile, because it overshadows the great work that’s being done by legitimate members.”
But the condemnation is sparse. Republicans in office are well aware of Trump’s vengeance should they speak out against him.
On 4 June, after Trump’s former defense secretary Jim Mattis issued a statement excoriating the president, Alaska Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said she was “struggling” over whether to vote for Trump.
Within hours, Trump attacked her on Twitter.
“Few people know where they’ll be in two years from now, but I do, in the Great State of Alaska (which I love) campaigning against Senator Lisa Murkowski,” Trump wrote. “Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don’t care, I’m endorsing. If you have a pulse, I’m with you!”
It was a stark contrast with his praise of Loomer, who despite her longshot candidacy, represents a serious threat.
“I absolutely think we should be concerned,” said Holt.
“Loomer’s victory represents, at least to some degree, a stamp of approval from Trump voters on the messages she espouses, the way she conducts herself in public.”
Given Loomer is now a legitimate, nominated candidate in an actual election, it also means journalists are obligated to cover her, irrespective of her extremist racist beliefs.
That could lead to further promotion – inadvertently – of the racism and conspiracy theories Loomer and others espouse.
It’s causing problems for newsrooms, as they grapple with this new wave of Republican candidates – one issue being how to label people like Loomer.
“Just calling her far right does not fully explain what she is about,” Holt said.
“It is unavoidable for a lot of reporters to cover her election victory at this point. And that coverage is OK – as long as it properly explains her extreme views.
“When you cover her, you can at least bring the proper context, and a full picture of who she is as a candidate.”


theguardian--2020-08-25--RNC live: Trump to speak at every night of convention alongside family members and supporters

Trump has made his second convention appearance of the night , starring in a video with former hostages who were @ @ @ @ @ he took office .
The video , which appeared to have been previously taped at @ @ @ @ @ the hostages thanking Trump for working to get them released .
The video was quickly @ @ @ @ @ Jason Rezaian , who was held hostage in Iran for a year and a half @ @ @ @ @ safely is always a reason for great joy .
But using us for political gain @ @ @ @ @ said in a tweet .

Joan E Greve in Washington DC and Maanvi Singh

25 Aug 2020 06.10 BST Key takeaways from the first night of the Republican convention That’s it from us tonight. The Guardian team will be back tomorrow with more coverage of the Republican National Convention. Here are the key takeaways from the night: Republicans delivered a dark, Trumpian message centered on the alleged dangers of electing Joe Biden as president. Despite party leaders’ promises to paint an optimistic vision about the future of the country, Republicans instead attempted to scare voters into supporting Trump by pushing baseless claims that Democrats would “disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door”, as Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said.
Despite party leaders’ promises to paint an optimistic vision about the future of the country, Republicans instead attempted to scare voters into supporting Trump by pushing baseless claims that Democrats would “disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door”, as Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said. The convention kept fact-checkers busy as the RNC peddled falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans praised Trump’s response to the pandemic and accused Democrats and the media of failing to recognize the threat posed by coronavirus, even though the president has said as recently as this month that the virus “will go away”. Health experts dismissed Republicans’ presentation as “all propaganda”.
Republicans praised Trump’s response to the pandemic and accused Democrats and the media of failing to recognize the threat posed by coronavirus, even though the president has said as recently as this month that the virus “will go away”. Health experts dismissed Republicans’ presentation as “all propaganda”. Trump made multiple appearances at the convention through pre-taped videos, ensuring he will remain the star of the event. Despite the president’s criticism of Democrats for including many pre-taped videos in their convention last week, Trump appeared in two such segments tonight. Considering Republicans did not craft a party platform for the convention, the president’s repeated appearances underscored that this week is certain to become “the Trump Show”.
Despite the president’s criticism of Democrats for including many pre-taped videos in their convention last week, Trump appeared in two such segments tonight. Considering Republicans did not craft a party platform for the convention, the president’s repeated appearances underscored that this week is certain to become “the Trump Show”. Nikki Haley tried to walk the line between embracing Trump and promoting her own vision for the future. The former UN ambassador began her speech by celebrating Trump’s foreign policy agenda and accusing the Obama administration of disastrous inaction. But Haley, who previously served as the South Carolina governor, then pivoted to calling for a more inclusive America. Haley praised her home state for removing the Confederate flag from the state capitol in 2015, which seemed to be at odds with Trump’s repeated criticisms of Nascar for banning the Confederate flag from races.
The former UN ambassador began her speech by celebrating Trump’s foreign policy agenda and accusing the Obama administration of disastrous inaction. But Haley, who previously served as the South Carolina governor, then pivoted to calling for a more inclusive America. Haley praised her home state for removing the Confederate flag from the state capitol in 2015, which seemed to be at odds with Trump’s repeated criticisms of Nascar for banning the Confederate flag from races. Republicans copied elements of the Democratic convention. Certain segments and speakers of Monday’s programming appeared to be a direct response to the Democrats’ convention last week. A Democratic state legislator explained why he was supporting Trump, an obvious attempt to counter prominent Republicans’ endorsements of Biden last week. A father who lost his daughter in the Parkland shooting also addressed the convention on Monday, a week after another Parkland father spoke at the Democratic convention.
Certain segments and speakers of Monday’s programming appeared to be a direct response to the Democrats’ convention last week. A Democratic state legislator explained why he was supporting Trump, an obvious attempt to counter prominent Republicans’ endorsements of Biden last week. A father who lost his daughter in the Parkland shooting also addressed the convention on Monday, a week after another Parkland father spoke at the Democratic convention. Kimberly Guilfoyle was mocked by critics for her loud and enthusiastic speech, which was delivered to an empty room. Guilfoyle, who serves as a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, shouted much of her speech, prompting comparisons to a “North Korean propaganda lady” and a SoulCycle instructor.
Guilfoyle, who serves as a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, shouted much of her speech, prompting comparisons to a “North Korean propaganda lady” and a SoulCycle instructor. Senator Tim Scott attracted praise for his hopeful speech, which clashed with the overall dark tone of the evening. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, explained his belief in the American dream, noting that his own grandfather was forced to leave school in the third grade to pick cotton. “Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime,” Scott said. “And that’s why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.” Thanks for following along with our convention coverage and remember to return tomorrow, as the RNC continues.
Updated at 06.27 BST
25 Aug 2020 05.51 BST The Biden campaign’s Latino Media Director Jennifer Molina offered this rebuke of the RNC: “Congratulations to the Trump campaign on finding the small handful of Latino voters still supporting him after a disastrous four years for the Latino community.” The DNC also drew criticism for not involving more Latino speakers, and for excluding Julián Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development secretary under Obama and the only Latino Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. This year, there are 32m Latino eligible voters, per the Pew Research Center. Molina noted: “Under Trump’s watch, Latinos have been devastated by COVID, a crumbling economy, anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies that have separated families and needlessly divided Americans. Tonight’s program was thin on solutions for the challenges facing Latinos.” – Maanvi Singh
25 Aug 2020 05.43 BST In some non-convention news, Jacob Blake is reportedly in stable condition after being shot multiple times by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the Blake family, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the father of six remains in stable condition. “At this point, we’re still waiting for the facts to be confirmed,” Crump said. “But we know what we saw in that video, and it was clearly an excessive use of force that was shocking and outrageous and devastating and nobody’s more devastated than his three sons.” A video of the shooting appears to show Kenosha police repeatedly shooting Blake while his back is turned. Wisconsin deploys national guard amid protests over police shooting Read more
25 Aug 2020 05.37 BST More fact checks from tonight... Donald Trump: “I didn’t back down from my promises, and I’ve kept every single one.” Fact check: Per a Politifact tally, Trump has kept 24% of his promises. Donald Trump: “We’re taking good care of our postal workers. We’re not getting rid of any of our postal workers, you know ... If anyone does it’s the Democrats, not the Republicans.” Fact check: The USPS under Trump donor Louis DeJoy, earlier this month announced planning to seek early retirements of non-union employees. It only suspended an initiative to cut work hours for postal workers after public scrutiny. – Maanvi Singh
Updated at 05.56 BST
25 Aug 2020 05.21 BST Notably, tonight, the Republicans offered few specific platforms of their own, choosing instead to keep the focus on bashing Democrats policies. While the DNC adopted an official party platform last week, the RNC won’t be doing the same. This year, the RNC has resolved that it “enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration” and “will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention”. – Maanvi Singh
25 Aug 2020 05.10 BST Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Fox News – Trump’s darling network – and other news channels during tonight’s RNC. Hannity bragged that Fox News was the only network that will show you all of the RNC when at that very moment it was the only network that was NOT showing you (well, it was showing it in a window, with no sound) the RNC. pic.twitter.com/5QZyBdPHP2 — Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 25, 2020 – Maanvi Singh
Updated at 05.18 BST
25 Aug 2020 05.04 BST A few quickfire fact checks from tonight: Nikki Haley: “They want to ban fracking.” Fact check: Biden and Harris’ climate plan would not ban fracking, though it would end new leases for fracking on federal land. Donald Trump Jr: “Courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party, the virus struck.” Fact check: Though the virus first flared up in China, genome evidence suggests that most people in New York caught the virus from travelers from Europe. Steve Scalise: “Joe Biden has embraced the left’s insane mission to defund [police].” Fact check: He has not and it is not a part of Biden’s platform. – Maanvi Singh
Updated at 05.09 BST
25 Aug 2020 04.50 BST Biden’s campaign attacked the Republicans for failing to provide any plans to contain the coronavirus crisis during tonight’s convention. Kate Bedingfield, the campaign’s deputy manager, said:
If you tuned into the Republican convention tonight looking for some indication from President Trump that he has a strategy to contain the coronavirus, you’re still waiting. Instead, what you heard tonight was a parade of dark and divisive fear-mongering designed to distract from the fact that Donald Trump does not have an affirmative case to make to the American people about why he should be re-elected. The truth is that his failed leadership has needlessly cost over 177,000 Americans their lives, tens of millions of Americans their jobs, and left the United States the hardest hit country by the pandemic in the whole world. Yet six months into this crisis, he still doesn’t have what Joe Biden proposed months ago: a plan to get us out. – Maanvi Singh
Updated at 05.06 BST
25 Aug 2020 04.47 BST Today’s roster of speakers included two rising stars of the Republican party – Nikki Haley and Tim Scott. Haley, who was initially critical of Trump (she said in 2015, when she was governor of South Carolina, that he represents “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president”) has come a long way in delivering a full-throated endorsement today. She also used the opportunity to set herself up as a 2024 presidential candidate – providing a personal biography and outlining her vision for the country’s future. – Maanvi Singh
25 Aug 2020 04.31 BST In the lead up to the RNC, Republicans struggled to pin down an attack against the Biden/Harris ticket, alternatively painting them as radicals, and socialists who want to defund the police (they are not and do not) but also as candidates too tough on crime. That waffling continued tonight.
Vernon Jones, a Georgia state representative, lauded Trump for delivering a “historic criminal justice reform” and decried Democrats’ reform efforts in the same speech. – Maanvi Singh
Updated at 04.34 BST
25 Aug 2020 04.25 BST Senator Tim Scott received some praise for his convention speech, with many fellow Republicans saying he offered an uplifting message about America’s future. Reflecting on how his grandfather was forced to leave school after third grade to pick cotton, Scott said, “Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime. And that’s why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.” Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said Scott’s speech was “authentic” and “the most effective” of the night. "I think the most effective speech of the night by far was Tim Scott...the content that Tim spoke about was reaching out to beyond just the base of our party," @ChrisChristie says after the first night of #RNC2020. https://t.co/SLOF32ABAG
"It was authentic." pic.twitter.com/zFB6MjAqVd — ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) August 25, 2020
Updated at 04.38 BST
25 Aug 2020 04.14 BST The conservative-leaning website Drudge Report summarized the first night of the Republican convention with the headline: Trump or doom. Drudge succinctly summing up the RNC argument tonight. pic.twitter.com/lBLx9jvC5m — Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) August 25, 2020 Heading into the convention, Republicans promised to offer a promising vision for the future of the country, but the night was dominated by dark warnings about the alleged dangers of electing Joe Biden president.
Updated at 04.20 BST


theguardian--2020-08-25--Trump takes center stage at Republican national convention

Republicans kicked off their four-day long nominating convention on Monday putting Donald Trump center stage , and arguing that the president has kept all the promises he made while in office .
The theme for Monday night ’ s events at the Republican national convention is “ land of promise.
” Republican speakers , surrogates and Trump family members were expected to argue that the president has accomplished the major policy proposals he made during the 2016 campaign and deserves four more years in office , attempting to direct attention away from the administration ’ s widely-criticized handling of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 175,000 people in the US and infected more than 5.7 million .
Speaking earlier in the day after officially receiving the party ’ s nomination , Trump addressed delegates in Charlotte , North Carolina , and claimed without evidence that Democrats planned use the coronavirus crisis to “ steal ” the election .
“ The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election , ” Trump told the 336 delegates in the hall , who had traveled to the convention from the 50 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re trying to steal the election.
” The majority of speakers at a political nominating convention such as the RNC or the Democratic national convention are usually current or former elected officials .
But this year many of the speakers are icons of the conservative wing of the Republican party or family relatives of Trump himself .
Donald Trump Jr is slated to speak as is his partner , the campaign aide Kimberly Guilfoyle .
A few candidates are speaking as well : Sean Parnell , a retired US army ranger running @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Kim Klacik , a candidate for the heavily Democratic Maryland seventh congressional district .
Over the next four days the RNC is poised to be the latest example of the Republican party ’ s complete shift over to a political party centered on Donald Trump .
The revised party platform for the convention this year is just an expression of support for the president ’ s second-term agenda .
And none of the featured speakers at the convention are Republicans who have strongly dissented with Trump – a few , like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have instead endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden .
Usually former presidents attend their party ’ s nominating convention , but former president George W Bush , the only living former Republican president , is not attending the convention or offering a taped video .
All three former living Democratic presidents participated in last week ’ s Democratic national convention .
Both national and statewide polling has shown Trump trailing Biden and although polls have recently tightened , Biden came out of his party ’ s convention with a polling bump .
Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will help shift both Trump ’ s approval numbers and the national spotlight in the president ’ s favor .
The convention is also an opportunity for Trump to try to address the crises facing the country and offer optimism .
But critics have argued the president is politicizing science ; on Sunday , as his administration continued to struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic , Trump linked the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) to a “ deep state ” cabal , and admitted having applied pressure on the agency to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plasma to fight the virus , despite the treatment being in the very early stages of testing .
Tensions between law enforcement and protesters are likely to escalate over the next few days following the police shooting of an African American man , Jacob Blake , in Wisconsin on Sunday .
As the country faces a national reckoning on racism and police brutality , there too the Trump administration has struggled to ease tensions across the country , instead using divisive rhetoric .
The convention is beginning the day after Kellyanne Conway , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aides , announced she would be leaving the administration at the end of the month .
Conway said she needs to spend more time with her family .
She will also deliver a speech at the RNC .

Republicans have used the first night of their national convention to issue dark warnings about the future of America, arguing that re-electing Donald Trump is the only way to save the country from falling into socialism, economic ruin, violence and anarchy.
Monday night’s theme was officially the “land of promise,” but the collection of speeches offered an almost apocalyptic vision of what’s at stake in November’s elections, and a dizzying array of misleading claims.
“They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home and invite [street gang] MS-13 to live next door,” the congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida said of the Democrats in his speech, likening the prospect to a “horror movie”.
“The same socialist policies which destroyed places like Cuba and Venezuela must not take root in our cities and our schools,” Trump campaign senior adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle warned in a loud, inflammatory speech to an empty room.
01:33 Kimberly Guilfoyle shouts much of her Republican national convention speech – video
Directly lifting a line from the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s stump speech, Guilfoyle, whose partner is the president’s son Donald Trump Jr, said: “This election is a battle for the soul of America. Your choice is clear.”
Guilfoyle described Democrats as focused on enslaving Americans to their liberal ideology “to the point that you won’t recognize the country yourself”.
While Biden has moved to the left during his presidential campaign, he is regarded as a moderate within the party, and spent much of the Democratic convention last week touting his support among anti-Trump Republicans.
Other featured speakers described the incumbent president as a compassionate man who succeeded through his first term in office in the face of “radical” Democrats and the media, both presented as the president’s coordinated enemies hellbent on blocking his initiatives.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a white St Louis couple facing charges for brandishing guns at peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters, gave a pre-recorded speech, in which they baselessly accused Democrats of “protecting criminals from honest citizens” and trying to “abolish the suburbs”.
The dark tone was apparent to political operatives.
02:15 St Louis couple filmed threatening Black Lives Matter protesters speak at RNC – video
The “campaign said the convention would be about hope and light but so far most of the speeches are extreme fear porn”, one veteran Republican presidential campaign operative told the Guardian.
A video of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic featured multiple Democratic governors complimenting Trump and the federal government, editing out the fierce criticism of the administration’s response from those same speakers.
Trump has been criticized for playing down the pandemic, and saying the coronavirus – which has killed more than 175,000 people in the US, more than any other country by far – will eventually just “disappear”.
Voters have increasingly viewed the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a negative light. A new Gallup poll found that just 36% of Americans surveyed approve of how he’s handled the pandemic while 63% disapproved.
As the night wore on the more high profile speakers took aim at Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris.
The Republican national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
“Joe Biden and the Democrats are still blaming America first. Donald Trump is putting America first. And he deserves four more years as our president,” the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley said, who is seen as a potential Republican presidential candidate for the 2024 election. “President Trump brought our economy back before, and he will bring it back again.”
One of the most common warnings throughout the night was about cancel culture -the blanket censorship of public figures. Haley said Trump “knows that political correctness and ‘cancel culture’ are dangerous and just plain wrong”.
“Joe Biden and the radical left are also now coming for our freedom of speech and want to bully us into submission,” Trump Jr argued in his speech, again to an empty room. “If they get their way, it will no longer be the ‘silent majority’, it will be the ‘silenced majority’.”
The South Carolina senator Tim Scott warned “Make no mistake: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want a cultural revolution. A fundamentally different America.”
The DNC included speeches from Republicans as a way to try and woo over moderates and Republicans who don’t support Trump. But most of the RNC addresses on Monday were aimed at revving up the Republican base. Trump himself has been more focused on that throughout his re-election campaign, hoping that an energized conservative electorate can overpower any broader coalition backing Biden.
The convention had some of the same elements as the Democratic national convention last week, including a short taped version of the roll call across America, testimonials from average Americans and the president interacting with people affected by the pandemic. But it also featured more live addresses over pre-recorded videos, which sometimes fell flat without the usual audience responses.
The format of the convention changed several times over recent months as the coronavirus crisis worsened. But despite health concerns, more than 300 cheering Republicans convened in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday to officially nominate Trump as the party’s presidential candidate.
In a preview of what was to come later in the evening, Trump claimed without evidence that the Democrats were attempting to “steal” the election.
“The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” Trump told the 336 delegates in the hall, who had traveled to the convention from the 50 states and US territories. “They’re trying to steal the election.”
02:28 Donald Trump accuses Democrats of plot to 'steal' election at Republican convention – video
The majority of speakers at a political nominating convention such as the RNC or the Democratic national convention are usually current or former elected officials. But this year many of the speakers are celebrities for the conservative wing of the party.
Over the next four days the RNC is poised to be the latest example of the Republican party’s complete shift over to a political party centered on Trump. The revised party platform for the convention this year is just an expression of support for the president’s second-term agenda. And none of the featured speakers at the convention are Republicans who have strongly dissented with Trump – a few, like the former Arizona senator Jeff Flake, have instead endorsed Biden.
Usually former presidents attend their party’s nominating convention, but former president George W Bush, the only living former Republican president, is not attending or offering a taped video. All three former living Democratic presidents participated in last week’s Democratic national convention.
Both national and statewide polling has shown Trump trailing Biden and although polls have recently tightened, Biden came out of his party’s convention with a polling bump. Trump and his aides are hoping the convention will help shift both Trump’s approval numbers and the national spotlight in the president’s favor.


theguardian--2020-08-25--Trump formally renominated by Republicans as convention gets under way – as it happened

Postmaster general Louis DeJoy continued to defend his leadership at the United States Postal Service amid questioning from Congressional Democrats about nationwide delays in mail service .
DeJoy is a major Republican donor without postal service experience who took over as postmaster general in June .
Since he took up the post , Americans have experienced mail delays and mail volumes have fallen .
“ While we have had temporary service declines , which should not have happened , we are fixing this , ” DeJoy told the chair of the committee , New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also said the postal service has the capacity to deliver mail-in ballots this fall , and delivering them in a timely way is a priority for the agency .
DeJoy also but distanced himself from the decisions to remove street mail boxes and mail facility sorting machines .
He said again he would not restore the equipment , even after he announced earlier this month he was pausing changes until after the election .
“ I did not direct the removal of blue collection boxes or mail processing equipment , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ analyses , if any , USPS had done before implementing a program to try and get trucks to run on time .
He also did not explain exactly what the agency was doing to facilitate that .
While DeJoy noted mail volume was declining , he also offered no details on who made the decision to move sorting machines or the justification for doing so .

Sam Levin (now), Joan E Greve, Jessica Glenza and Martin Belam (earlier)

24 Aug 2020 00.33 BST Jerry Falwell Jr is now claiming that the reports of his resignation from Liberty University are false: New: Jerry Falwell Jr. tells me he is NOT leaving his post, despite indications from Liberty that he will do so. "I have not resigned," Falwell says. — Maggie Severns (@MaggieSeverns) August 24, 2020 The powerful Christian leader and close Trump ally who has been caught in a number of recent scandals told Politico this evening, “I have not resigned. How did those reports get out? I don’t know. I have not resigned. I will be on indefinite leave.” A Liberty University spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s inquiry this evening.
24 Aug 2020 00.22 BST Trump’s latest misleading attack on Joe Biden claims that the Democratic nominee would “lock down the Country again” and “close it all down”, when in reality Biden said he would shut down the US if scientists recommended it. In the interview over the weekend, Biden said he would “be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives, because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus”. Joe Biden has said he would lock down the Country again. That’s crazy! We’re having record job growth and a booming stock market, but Joe would end it all and close it all down. Ridiculous! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2020
24 Aug 2020 00.11 BST Michael Cohen releases anti-Trump ad Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and longtime fixer, is featured in a Democratic group’s anti-Trump ad, just released: The people who know Donald Trump best are sounding the alarm: our country cannot survive four more years of a Trump presidency.
In our latest ad, a former member of his inner circle & "fixer" — @MichaelCohen212 — has a dire warning for us all. #RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/suPUODOdwz — American Bridge 21st Century (@American_Bridge) August 24, 2020 In 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress and facilitating illegal payments to silence two women who alleged affairs with Trump. Here’s an excerpt from Cohen’s remarks in the ad with American Bridge, a Democratic group: I was president Trump’s righthand man, fixer and confidante. I was complicit in helping conceal the real Donald Trump. I was part of creating an illusion. Later this week he’s going to stand up and blatantly lie to you. I’m here to tell you he can’t be trusted, and you shouldn’t believe a word he utters ... If he says something is huge, it’s probably small. If he says something will work, it probably won’t. If he says he cares about you and his family, he certainly does not.” Cohen is soon releasing a book about his time as Trump’s fixer. The Trump administration had tried to block its release.
24 Aug 2020 23.23 BST Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, repeatedly shook hands and kissed cheeks at the president’s event in North Carolina today, raising concerns about the Trump team’s coronavirus safety protocols. Meadows was not wearing a mask: WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is maskless, shaking hands and kissing cheeks at Trump's event in North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/BEjEDMOD0G — The Recount (@therecount) August 24, 2020
24 Aug 2020 23.01 BST Wisconsin deploys national guard to protests Wisconsin officials have deployed the national guard to Kenosha amid protests over police violence surrounding footage that appeared to show an officer shooting an unarmed man in the back seven times, reportedly in front of his three children. The shooting of Jacob Blake in the city of 40 miles south of Milwaukee has reignited national outrage over police abuses against Black Americans. Tony Evers, the state’s Democratic governor, said 125 members of the national guard would be in Kenosha by Monday evening, tasked with “guarding infrastructure and making sure our firefighters and others involved are protected”. County authorities also said there would be an 8pm curfew in the region, raising concerns about a potential clampdown on protests. The civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said Blake’s three young sons had been in the car. Crump, who has represented the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, said on Twitter, “They saw a cop shoot their father. They will be traumatized forever. We cannot let officers violate their duty to PROTECT us. Our kids deserve better!!” Wisconsin deploys national guard amid protests over police shooting Read more
Updated at 00.13 BST
24 Aug 2020 22.10 BST Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, will address the Republican national convention in pre-taped remarks from Jerusalem this week, violating a longstanding tradition that the country’s top diplomat avoid partisan politics, CNN has confirmed: .@SecPompeo will address the Republican National Convention this week, despite just a month earlier reminding employees to "not improperly engage the Department of State in the political process," according to a cable obtained by @CNN. — Jennifer Hansler (@jmhansler) August 24, 2020 Pompeo’s speech comes one month after he sent a cable to state department employees stating that “presidential and political appointees and career SES (Senior Executive Service) are subject to significant restrictions on their political activity; they may not engage in any partisan political activity in concert with a partisan campaign, political party, or partisan political group, even on personal time and outside of the federal workplace”, CNN noted. @SecPompeo appears to tape his RNC address from the roof top of the King David hotel in Jerusalem. A State Department spox said Sunday that “Secretary Pompeo will address the convention in his personal capacity” and “(n)o State Department resources will be used.” pic.twitter.com/b1zMmd3FdV — CNN NationalSecurity (@NatSecCNN) August 24, 2020
Updated at 00.14 BST
24 Aug 2020 21.49 BST Hi all – Sam Levin in Los Angeles here, continuing our live coverage on this busy Monday. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be regularly tested for coronavirus as they do more in-person campaign events in the final weeks before the election, the campaign has announced. “For the entirety of this outbreak, Joe Biden has lived his values, modeling and strongly encouraging responsible behavior to keep Americans safe while proposing the kind of desperately needed national strategy for defeating this pandemic that Donald Trump still has not provided,” campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “This announcement is another step demonstrating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s commitment to turn the page on Trump’s catastrophic mismanagement during the worst public health crisis in 100 years.” Reporters following Biden’s campaign have had their temperatures taken, worn masks and have faced questions about symptoms, Bloomberg noted. On Sunday, Biden’s deputy campaign manager said he had not yet been tested: “He has not been tested; however, we have put the strictest protocols in place,” Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield tells @GStephanopoulos when asked if Joe Biden has been tested for COVID-19. https://t.co/GPFENpKyfa pic.twitter.com/bSyyXhKox0 — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 23, 2020
Updated at 22.05 BST
24 Aug 2020 21.33 BST Today so far That’s it from me for now. I will be back tonight to cover the first night of the Republican National Convention. Here’s where the day stands so far: Trump formally received the Republican nomination for president. Addressing the few hundred delegates who gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, to renominate him, the president said Democrats are “using Covid” to try to rig the election, even though there is no evidence of that.
Addressing the few hundred delegates who gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, to renominate him, the president said are “using Covid” to try to rig the election, even though there is no evidence of that. Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, testified before the House oversight committee. Shortly before the hearing adjourned, Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter grilled DeJoy on basic details of the US Postal Service, such as the cost of a postcard stamp. DeJoy said he did not know how much it cost to mail a postcard. “I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps,” DeJoy said.
Shortly before the hearing adjourned, Democratic congresswoman grilled DeJoy on basic details of the US Postal Service, such as the cost of a postcard stamp. DeJoy said he did not know how much it cost to mail a postcard. “I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps,” DeJoy said. The attorney general of New York asked a court to enforce a subpoena against the Trump Organization , in an investigation into whether the president’s business overvalued certain assets for favorable loan terms.
, in an investigation into whether the president’s business overvalued certain assets for favorable loan terms. California Governor Gavin Newsom described the wildfires raging across the state as “historic.” California currently has 7,002 fires burning across more than 1.4 million acres. For the latest updates on the wildfires, follow the Guardian’s live blog.
California currently has 7,002 fires burning across more than 1.4 million acres. For the latest updates on the wildfires, follow the Guardian’s live blog. Joe Biden called for an investigation into the shooting of Jacob Blake, an African American man who appears to have been shot in the back several times by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. My west coast colleague, Sam Levin, will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
24 Aug 2020 21.17 BST Progressive groups are already seeking to capitalize on the postmaster general’s failure to answer basic questions about the US Postal Service. Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter asked Louis DeJoy if he knew how much it costs to a mail a postcard. He did not. “I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps,” DeJoy said. After the uncomfortable exchange, the progressive group Public Citizen tweeted a video of Porter’s questioning. “The Postmaster General does not know the cost of mailing a postcard,” Public Citizen said in the tweet. “You can literally google it.”
The Postmaster General does not know the cost of mailing a postcard. pic.twitter.com/Gp3jIw7DbC — Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) August 24, 2020
24 Aug 2020 21.05 BST The House hearing with the postmaster general has now adjourned, wrapping up about six hours of questioning over recent operational changes at the US Postal Service. Surprisingly, some of the newsiest moments of the hearing came as it was nearing its conclusion, with Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Katie Porter grilling Louis DeJoy on his handling of USPS. Rep. @AOC @RepAOC: "Can we get a commitment from you to submit your calendar dating back to June 16th to this committee?"@USPS Postmaster General DeJoy: "I don't know. I'll check with counsel. I don't want to set a precedent..."
Full video here: https://t.co/FpSllfZzV3 pic.twitter.com/r1uhsFBRVf — CSPAN (@cspan) August 24, 2020 Ocasio-Cortez pushed DeJoy to commit to handing over his calendars to the House oversight committee, which the postmaster general refused to agree to. Porter put DeJoy on the spot by posing basic questions about the postal service, asking him how much a postcard stamp costs and how many people voted by mail in the last election. DeJoy was unable to answer. “I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps,” the postmaster general said. Porter told DeJoy, “I’m concerned about your understanding of this agency.”
24 Aug 2020 20.46 BST Postmaster general: 'I know very little about postage stamps' The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports: Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, admitted Monday that he did not know how much it cost to send a postcard in the United States. DeJoy was asked about the postage by Rep. Katie Porter, a California Democrat, who had warned the postmaster general he should come to the hearing having done his homework. I hope the Postmaster General comes prepared. I know I will. https://t.co/Lan1in5UmH — Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) August 17, 2020 “I don’t know, ma’am,” said DeJoy, who had no prior experience working at USPS before he was selected to be the agency’s top official. “I don’t.” It costs 35 cents to send a postcard in the United States - information easily available on the USPS website. Asked how much it would cost to send a greeting card, DeJoy said, “I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps.” Porter then quizzed DeJoy on the weight limit for priority mail, which he correctly said was 70 lbs. He was unable to tell Porter the starting rate for priority mail. DeJoy also said he was unable to say how many people voted by mail in the last election. The exchange came at the end of a lengthy hearing on Monday during which DeJoy was repeatedly pressed over delays with mail delivery, which could complicate mail-in voting for the November elections. “I’m glad you know the price of a stamp, but I’m concerned about your understanding of this agency,” Porter said. “I’m concerned about it because you started taking very decisive action when you became postmaster general.”
24 Aug 2020 20.29 BST This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Jessica Glenza. Speaking to MSNBC moments ago, House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Republicans were apathetic about passing another coronavirus relief bill. "They just don't simply seem to care." @SpeakerPelosi on GOP inaction on coronavirus relief. pic.twitter.com/0hhiiWPQQL — MSNBC Live with Ayman Mohyeldin (@AymanMSNBC) August 24, 2020 Pelosi insisted Democrats were working to keep the pressure on their Republican colleagues to try to get another relief bill passed after negotiations with the White House stalled. “We have kept the pressure on,” Pelosi said. “They have been receiving overwhelming advocacy from the American people. ... They just simply don’t seem to care.” Negotiations between congressional Democratic leadership and the White House came to a halt earlier this month, after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the overall cost of the relief package.
24 Aug 2020 20.05 BST Republican party nominates Trump for another term Today’s news was dominated by President Trump’s formal nomination for another term in office by Republican party delegates. Trump gave a long, unscripted speech in North Carolina after the formal nomination. In it, he sought to sew doubt in the legitimacy of the presidential election in November.
Here’s a bit more detail on what happened today... Trump said Democrats are “using Covid” to try to rig the election, a claim for which there is no evidence. He also criticized mail-in voting and made a series of other claims...
to try to rig the election, a claim for which there is no evidence. He also and made a series of other claims... He lauded his work to lower prescription drug prices (experts described Trump’s order as “mostly symbolic”); said his administration worked to protect people with “pre-existing conditions” (actually, his administration is working to overturn those protections through a lawsuit against “Obamacare”); and criticized governors’ preparedness for Covid-19 (the Trump administration’s decision not to oversee logistics was widely blamed with causing competition amongst states).
Also today... New York State Attorney General asked a court to enforce a subpoena against the Trump Organization, in an investigation into whether the president’s business overvalued certain assets for favorable loan terms.
A poll from the AP found just 31% of Americans approve of Trump’s leadership during the pandemic.
And, one fun thing, Showtime released a trailer for its new miniseries The Comey Rule, based on the memoirs of former FBI director James Comey.