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      ‘We’re positively BEGGING you’: how Republicans and Democrats demand money differently

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      ‘We’re positively BEGGING you’: how Republicans and Democrats demand money differently Meticulously crafted campaign emails and text messages, with a heavy dose of guilt-tripping, reveal their parties’ worldviews“Is your phone off, Patriot?”“Are you still a Republican?”“This is getting SAD!”“HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO ASK?”The midterm elections are approaching, and political messaging teams are hard at work overwhelming inboxes across America. And while Republicans and Democrats rely heavily on guilt trips to squeeze money out of voters, the language they employ is markedly different – and says a lot about what’s wrong with each of them.Princeton researchers reviewing more than 100,000 campaign emails from December 2019 to June 2020 found they rose from a peak of about 600 a day in December to twice that in June – and that didn’t include text messages.But, despite the annoying nature of the communications, they seem to work, perhaps because they are so meticulously crafted. Toby Fallsgraff, email director for the Obama 2012 campaign, explained to NPR how the campaign would test up to 18 versions of a message on certain subscribers before sending it out widely. Emails brought in roughly $500m for the campaign. A few years later, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign asked for money 50 different ways in one month.So what does all this linguistic fiddling say about the parties behind it? With just a few weeks before voting begins, the Guardian sorted through some of the most memorable messages of the 2022 campaign to shed light on the question.RepublicansFor the GOP, it’s all about unswerving loyalty to the party – and to the great overlord, the chosen one, he who alone can fix it. He is not running for office this year, but his party seems unaware.Text messages from the Republican National Committee dangle a wide range of perks: donate and you can be a part of the Trump Gold Club, the Trump Advisory Board (he undoubtedly takes direct calls from members), the Trump Free Speech Committee (I was flattered to receive an “EXECUTIVE INVITE” to this one), the 1 Million Trump Social Club, or the America First 100 Club. Failing that, you can become a Trump Social Media Founding Supporter or get on the Trump Life Membership List (the messages do not specify what it would mean to be a lifetime member of Trump). Gifs of the ex-president often adorn the bottom of emails.And if none of these clubs are for you, beware the RNC’s wrath. “Don’t you care?” asked a message on 30 June. “Our records show your Trump Advisory Board membership status is STILL PENDING ACTIVATION!”This was just one of many similar messages that arrived after a failure to donate. In February, I was threatened with “possible suspension” – from what, I’m not sure – if I didn’t provide my “$45 payment”. Then in April: “Patriot! YOU NEVER ANSWERED!” (Capitals theirs.)Later, things got passive-aggressive. “Do we need to talk, friend?” the party wondered. A few weeks after that, in May: “We’re not mad, we’re just asking. Why haven’t you pledged to follow Pres. Trump on Truth Social [his social media platform]?”All of these, it should be noted, were positively gentle compared with an apparently genuine message that made the rounds on Twitter and in the media a year ago, in line with New York Times reporting in April 2021 describing a “defector” list supposedly maintained by the GOP:These NRCC fundraising texts are getting intense pic.twitter.com/2Smm3NXCYy— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) October 14, 2021
      But it’s not all accusatory – the party employs flattery as well. In June, I learned that I was the party’s “BEST PATRIOT”, despite the delinquent behavior that had so recently forced it to reprimand me. The party’s forgiving nature was on display again in August, when my “strong support” – I had never once donated – “earned … a spot on the 2022 Republican Advisory Board”.Clearly, the party’s marketing team believes donors are motivated by accusations of insufficient loyalty. In a March email describing the invasion of Ukraine, the party said a poll had found most Democrats would flee the country if the US found itself in a similar position. “So we must ask: Would you fight for your country if it was under attack? Researchers need your response by midnight tonight. If you do not respond in time, we will assume you side with the Democrats who wouldn’t fight for America.”Those Democrats, of course, are framed as not just opponents but enemies of the people, as in this February message, when Ketanji Brown Jackson made her way to the supreme court:“HELP US! Biden’s Radical Supreme Court pick wants to TOTALLY TRAMPLE your right to:-1st Amnd-2nd Amnd-RIGHT TO LIFE.”I’ll admit, this text did leave me a little concerned about my right to 1st Amnd and wondering what, exactly, the “right to RIGHT TO LIFE” was – was Jackson planning to legalize homicide? Another message was similarly poetic, simply stating:“T Y R A N TB I D E N”Demands for loyalty might seem to contradict the Republicans’ supposed mantra of liberty above all, but George Lakoff, distinguished professor emeritus in cognitive science and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, says it fits with the way he describes the conservative worldview.We operate according to the idea that the nation is a family, and on the right, that family is driven by a “strict father” who “knows right from wrong. What he says should be is always correct, and you should do what he says,” Lakoff says in a phone interview. “The Republican party is an authority-based system. It says, ‘This is how things should be and let’s make them that way.’”As for the clash between an authoritarian viewpoint and the party’s professed love of freedom, Lakoff says it’s simple: “There are two different views of freedom,” and on the right, freedom “means you are free to use whatever authority you have”.So perhaps it’s no surprise that so many Republican fundraising messages, short on nuance and written in simple language, sound like a parent chastising a wayward child, while others warn of encroaching enemies. The subtext: donate now – or you’re in deep trouble with Dad.DemocratsThe opposing party is equally inclined to hyperbole, though it often takes a very different tone – one of vulnerability and occasional self-flagellation. “We’re downright BEGGING you,” wailed the subject line from a late-September Democratic email. “Election day is 64 days away and we’re getting nervous,” warned a text early last month.It’s really upsetting to have to send multiple texts and emails every day: “This isn’t easy for me,” wrote Joe Biden in April. A few months later: “I hate to ask.” (If Republicans’ word choice was occasionally odd, Democrats made mistakes of their own – this particular message suggested I “take a moment to read this email, and then chip in $0 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee”, which I did.)Republicans’ emails weren’t entirely free from vulnerability in messages such as, “If we fall even a dollar short, we will lose the House to Pelosi FOREVER,” which would be pretty remarkable even for Pelosi, a known mortal. But such warnings were still underscored by a sense of menace, while Democrats seem content to appear pitiful: “we’re PLEADING”, “we might miss our goal”, “throwing in the towel”.When they’re not PLEADING, Democrats, in classic Democratic fashion, struggle to get their message out. While Republicans spit out brief, simple messages, Democrats offer subject lines like this from April: “I hope you’ll read this long email about how the DNC is bringing advanced data infrastructure to thousands of midterm campaigns this year, and then consider chipping in to support that work.” What red-blooded American could resist?Perhaps working more in the Democrats’ favor, the messages contain a sense of warmth: instead of “Patriot”, the recipient is “Friend”. The word “please” is abundant. And there’s a sense of community: “This is the time to fight for our country with everything we have”, “thinking of this team,” “You power the DNC [Democratic National Committee].”And in another feature that’s typical of the party more broadly, the Democrats have no trouble hauling out celebrities from Barbra Streisand to John Legend (all of whom seem to have a remarkably similar writing style). “Matthew, I’m sure that you weren’t expecting to hear from me today,” Martin Sheen texted me, accurately, a few days ago, along with a lovely picture of his own face.If Republican messaging aligns with Lakoff’s “strict father” worldview, Democrats’ touchy-feely messaging fits his description of the progressive mindset, which he calls “nurturant parent”. That’s the empathetic figure who “isn’t imposing on the child but rather wants to find out what you need”, Lakoff says. “For the Democratic party, democracy is based on empathy. Why would you have a democracy, you know? In order to help other people, to make sure everybody gets treated equally, that everybody gets what they need from the government.”The “begging” and “pleading”, then, seem to be based on the assumption recipients wish to do good; describing nervousness and sinking hearts appeals to empathy. And Barbra, John and Martin are all just part of the family.And what would a nurturing family be without guilt trips? Of course, Democratic guilting is more “have you forgotten the parents who worked so hard to raise you” than the Republicans’ “if you don’t cough up now, you’re dead to me”:Did I…date Nancy Pelosi and completely forget about it? pic.twitter.com/UVDSr7tCMq— Megan Collins (@ImMeganCollins) October 1, 2022
      As for the more complex language involved in Democratic messages, Lakoff says, “Democrats tend to assume what I call Cartesian rationality: that is that you should be able to reason things out. And they give you reasons for things and then it takes some reasoning to get there. The Republicans tend to just say, ‘This is how it is.’”Across the divideThough each party’s tone is very different, there’s plenty that looks just about the same – well beyond the red, white and blue formatting of each email.Along with weaponizing guilt, both parties make use of what might be described as trickery. The 2020 Princeton study found manipulative tactics in emails were widespread – including “devious” techniques such as formatting emails so they look like they’re part of actual conversations between you and a campaign. Many of the emails I received, seemingly from Democrats in particular, had subject lines that contained “re:”, even though I’d never written to them.Even more deceptively, I received Republican emails with subject lines such as “Your flight is CANCELED”, with no indication that they were political emails until you opened them – the sender was labeled as “urgent notice”. (In this case, it turned out the email was warning me that I was about to lose access to a proffered dinner with Donald Trump.)And while definitions of left and right can fluctuate, says Justin Gross, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, there’s one thing that clearly unites each party: “a distaste for what the other side is doing”. As the pollster and political strategist John Zogby put it in an email: “They both need to hear from me because the sky is falling.”That fear, Gross says, is “enormously motivating”. “When we feel that anxiety that’s kind of accumulated from a bunch of sources” – the rolling ball of political worries that seems to get bigger every day – “we feel like we don’t know what to do about it”, Gross says. When parties ask for donations, “it’s kind of a channeling of: well, at least you can do this.”TopicsUS politicsUS political financingDemocratsRepublicansfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Help or hindrance? Biden takes a back seat as Trump goes all in on midterms

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      Help or hindrance? Biden takes a back seat as Trump goes all in on midterms The president, beset by low poll ratings, has been focusing on fundraising, while his predecessor swoops in for campaign rallies, whether Republican candidates like it or notRaucous music will be played, bellicose speeches will be given and big lies will be told. Donald Trump will hold his 20th and 21st campaign rallies of the year in Nevada and Arizona this weekend, urging voters to support Republican candidates in the midterm elections.Joe Biden will be relaxing at home in Delaware.What are the US midterm elections and who’s running?Read moreThe 45th and 46th US presidents have always been like chalk and cheese and those differences extend to how they approach next month’s crucial vote to determine control of Congress as well as three dozen state governorships.Trump is pressing on with the travelling circus of mass rallies – featuring merchandise, “Make America great again” (Maga) caps and communal grievance – in small towns or rural areas that have been a hallmark of his political career since 2015.Biden is likely to hold rallies of his own as election day approaches but for now has focused on smaller, more intimate fundraising receptions in conference centres, back gardens or ritzy New York apartments with the help of alcohol and celebrities.Underpinning both is the calculation that, although both Biden, who turns 80 next month, and 76-year-old Trump are the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties respectively, there are plenty of situations in which they might be seen as more of a liability than an asset.“They are both a help and hindrance at different points,” said Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center thinktank in Washington. “Biden is a help raising money; he’s a hindrance with the broader public at large. Trump is a help with the base voter to help gin them up and turn them out; he is a hindrance with the same sort of voters who turned against him and who Republicans need.”The Axios website reported this week that Biden had flown less for domestic political purposes, and hosted fewer out-of-town fundraisers, than either Trump or former president Barack Obama in their corresponding midterm cycles.The coronavirus pandemic partly explains his slimmer travel schedule. But so too does Biden’s approval rating, which has hovered in the 30s or low 40s all year, meaning that he could be a potential drag on some midterm candidates seeking to focus on issues such as abortion rights rather than inflation and the threat of petrol prices rising again.Tim Ryan, a Democratic congressman running for the Senate in Ohio, a state that Trump won twice, does not appear enthusiastic about Biden coming to stump for him. He told the conservative Fox News channel: “I want to be the face of this campaign. I don’t want any distractions.”Progressives on the left of the Democratic party also have misgivings about joint appearances with a president who campaigned as a moderate and, despite some significant legislative achievements, also has fallen short of some key objectives in their view.Chris Scott, chief political officer of the political action committee Democracy for America – which this week endorsed Senate candidates Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin, Cheri Beasley in North Carolina, Alex Padilla in California and Charles Booker in Kentucky – said: “There are parts, especially even in the midwest, are still very endeared to him but also you have a lot of the base of the party that still wanted to see more done by him and felt like he wasn’t pushing hard enough.“You are not necessarily the best asset for us to put out there in every place with you being a little bit more cautious at times. We’ve been vocal about the Biden administration in that, yes, you’ve accomplished some things but you should have pushed harder. You should have been more proactive versus reactive on some things.”But Scott added: “Him being the top for Democrats is still a much stronger position than everything former president Trump has been in the news for and is going to continue snowballing with. Trump is going to continue to be a liability but nobody in the party can check him. When you’ve created this monster and you wanted him to go so far, and as far as the extremism has gone, it’s hard to put the monster back in the box now.”Trump has inserted himself into the midterms whether Republican candidates and leaders like it or not. Last month the New York Times reported that the former president had invited himself to rally in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, forcing hopefuls Mehmet Oz and JD Vance to make the best of it.Some candidates, such as Kari Lake and Tudor Dixon, running for governor of Arizona and Michigan respectively, have enthusiastically embraced the ex-president as a way of firing up turnout from the Republican base.John Zogby, an author and pollster, said: “Whereas it may be difficult for many inside-the-Beltway and for dyed-in-the-wool Democrats to to accept, Trump seems to be magical on the stump on behalf of candidates, many of whom, as we’ve seen, are Maga candidates.“These are people that are ready to vote solidly Republican and he brings that out. What it does for independence remains to be seen.”But other Republican candidates have adopted a more traditional approach: adopt extreme positions in the primary election, then pivot to moderation in the general so as not to scare away swing voters. For example, Don Bolduc, running for the Senate in New Hampshire, reversed his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump two days after winning a primary.In these cases, joint campaign appearances with Trump, who is likely to repeat his “big lie” and make other polarising statements, could be politically toxic. But turning him away could risk his wrath and verbal abuse.Bob Shrum, a veteran Democratic election campaign strategist, said: “I don’t think Trump is helping his candidates because he’s going to drive away suburban voters, swing voters, women, but he insists on doing it.“A lot of his candidates, I think, would prefer that he not show up. He did his thing in the primaries and they’d like to pretend in the general that they’re a little different than they were in the primaries.”It looks like a replay of the 2020 presidential election in which Trump barnstormed the country while Biden, mindful of pandemic restrictions, rarely ventured out of his basement and won by 7m votes. This time Biden also has a consuming day job – the presidency – and some believe that he should stay focused on that.Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster and strategist, said: “The best thing that Joe Biden can do for the Democrats is to keep doing his job and laying out the issues and laying out the choice here, which is what he’s doing.“The best thing that Trump could do for his party is to be quiet but what he’s doing is great for the Democrats because he’s constantly talking about himself, Trump Republicans, overturning the election and running for office and that really energises Democrats and unnerves independent women.”Biden is also quietly proving an effective fundraiser. As of 1 October, he had headlined 11 receptions to raise money directly for the Democratic National Committee at venues ranging from mansions in southern California to a yacht club in Portland, Oregon, and bringing in more than $19.6m. On Thursday night he was in New York for a reception for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.Such events play to his strengths with one-on-one interactions. At a fundraiser in the Washington suburbs this summer, Biden first focused his attention on a little girl near the front. “Honey, what’s your name?” he asked a little girl, sitting through what he joked had to be the most “boring” event. “Well, let me tell you something. Is that your daddy? He owes you big for having to sit here.”The fundraisers have also featured celebrities such as the actor Robert De Niro and film-maker Ken Burns and enable Biden to cut loose from the formality of a scripted White House speech.Biden will be hoping that he fares better than Democratic predecessors Bill Clinton and Obama, both of whom have suffered huge losses in their first midterms – though both bounced back to win re-election to the White House two years later. For Trump, also, the stakes are unusually high – sweeping defeats for his endorsed candidates could raise fresh questions about his viability in 2024.Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington, said: “Trump is responsible for the nomination of at least four Senate candidates who will make the difference in control of the Senate. He also knows that if they all go down to defeat this will be a very significant blow to him nationally. So he’s all in.“It’s pretty clear since so many of these people [are] in closely run contests in swing states that, if they lose, establishment Republicans are going to debit it to Mr Trump’s account.”Galston, a former policy adviser to Clinton at the White House, added: “To the extent that the president is not sure that appearing with many of the candidates in closely run contests would be helpful to those candidates, he’s making a wise and humble calculation as to where he could do the most good.“I have the sense that Mr Biden, who is a political professional of the highest order, understands that this can’t be about him, that he has to do what’s useful and not what’s gratifying to one’s ego. The contrast with the other fellow couldn’t be sharper. I’m not sure that that Donald Trump is capable of imagining that he might not be an asset everywhere and, even if he could imagine it, the desire to be in the spotlight would simply override everything else.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022Joe BidenDonald TrumpUS politicsRepublicansDemocratsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      ‘We won’t be intimidated by Putin’s rhetoric,’ says White House after Biden’s ‘Armageddon’ warning – as it happened

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      Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would cause “unintended consequences” for Moscow, the White House press secretary said, while noting there’s no evidence yet that president Vladimir Putin intends to use his atomic arsenal.“Russia’s talk of using nuclear weapons is irresponsible, and there’s no way to use to use them without unintended consequences. It cannot happen… We won’t be intimidated by Putin’s rhetoric,” Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One during president Joe Biden’s short flight to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he is to speak about the economy.She downplayed the possibility that the first use of a nuclear weapon in war since 1945 was imminent.“We have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture, nor do we have indications they are preparing to use them, but Putin can de-escalate this at any time and there is no reason to escalate.”She did not comment directly on Biden’s prediction last night that Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon would cause “Armageddon”.Joe Biden has issued a dire warning about Vladimir Putin’s willingness to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and warned that if such weapons are deployed, “armageddon” would follow. The White House said the president’s comments weren’t based on any new intelligence or signs that such an attack might happen soon, but rather an indication of how seriously the administration takes such threats.Here’s what else happened today:
      September was another decent month of job growth, though there were signs of weakness in the US labor market, according to new government data.
      The White House press secretary declined to comment on reports that prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to charge the president’s son Hunter Biden with crimes related to lying on a firearm purchase background check and not reporting all his income.
      Biden’s student debt relief plan survived another court challenge.
      Herschel Walker, the Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, fired a top staffer amid revelations Walker paid for an abortion despite his hardline stance against the procedure.
      President Joe Biden has issued a statement of congratulations to the winners of this year’s Nobel Peace prize, which went to rights activists in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.The decision was seen as a repudiation of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Here’s what Biden’s had to say:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners remind us that, even in dark days of war, in the face of intimidation and oppression, the common human desire for rights and dignity cannot be extinguished. On behalf of the American people, I congratulate Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, and the Russian organization Memorial on this deserved honor. For years, they have tirelessly fought for human rights and fundamental freedoms—including the right to speak freely and criticize openly. They have pursued their mission with passion and persistence. Throughout its history, Memorial has revealed the truth about the abuse of Soviet and Russian citizens, despite intense intimidation. Ales Bialiatski has never backed down from demanding the democratic freedoms the Belarusian people deserve, even while imprisoned. And, in the midst of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war against Ukraine, the Center for Civil Liberties is documenting in real time the war crimes and atrocities Russia is inflicting on the Ukrainian people. Above all, the brave souls who do this work have pursued the truth and documented for the world the political repression of their fellow citizens—speaking out, standing up, and staying the course while being threatened by those who seek their silence. In doing so, they have made our world stronger. Ales Bialiatski, the Center for Civil Liberties, and Memorial deserve to be recognized for the work they have done, the example they have set, and the hope they inspire for a better future through their unwavering dedication to fundamental freedoms.Nobel peace prize given to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia and UkraineRead moreIn other Senate news, Marco Rubio, a Republican representing Florida who is up for re-election this year, has found himself in a feud with a drag queen, Coral Murphy Marcos reports:A drag queen called the Florida senator Marco Rubio a bigot, after the Republican included her in a campaign ad in which he attacked “the radical left”.Lil Miss Hot Mess, who performs in Los Angeles, responded to Rubio in a video after he used footage of her reading to children during Drag Queen Story Hour, a children’s program that started in 2015.“I have one question for Marco Rubio,” Lil Miss Hot Mess said in the video released by Glaad, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.“Why are you so obsessed with me and Drag Story Hour? We’re simply out here reading books to children, encouraging them to use their imagination to envision a more just and fabulous world.Drag queen featured in Marco Rubio campaign ad calls him a bigotRead moreHerschel Walker, the Republican senate candidate in Georgia, has fired his campaign’s political director, according to CNN. The decision came after The Daily Beast reported Walker, who backs banning abortion nationwide without exceptions, paid for the abortion of a woman who he later had another child with. The Georgia senate race in which Walker is trying to unseat Democrat Raphael Warnock is seen as crucial to controlling Congress’s upper chamber, but many high-profile Republicans continue to support Walker, despite the revelations.Here’s more from CNN:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The departure of Taylor Crowe, who previously held the same role on ex-GOP Sen. David Perdue’s failed bid for Georgia governor this year, comes just weeks before Election Day in the crucial Senate contest against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock. With an evenly split Senate, Republicans are hoping to flip the Georgia seat as they look to take control of the chamber.
      Two people familiar with the matter said Crowe was fired after suspected leaking to members of the media. It is unclear if there were any other factors at play.
      Walker campaign manager Scott Paradise declined to comment when reached by CNN on Friday. Crowe himself did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
      CNN has not been able to independently verify the allegation against Walker, who has repeatedly denied that he ever paid for an abortion.Republicans throw support behind Herschel Walker after abortion denialRead moreThe White House has hit out at a bill proposed by Republican senators to roll back provisions of an August spending measure that are projected to reduce both the US budget deficit and prescription drug prices for people who receive health insurance through the government.The ability for the Medicare and Medicaid programs to negotiate drug prices was a change long sought by Democrats, and included in the Inflation Reduction Act spending bill Joe Biden signed in August. Yesterday, Republican senators James Lankford and Mike Lee introduced a bill to repeal that ability, arguing it “creates even more barriers to effectively bringing down the cost of prescriptions, particularly for senior adults on Medicare.”Here’s what White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had to say about that:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Today, MAGA Congressional Republicans introduced legislation that puts special interests before working families. Their new bill is a giveaway to big pharma at the expense of seniors by ending Medicare’s new ability to negotiate lower drug prices. Their vision for the country is extreme and out of touch with working families across the country.Julian Borger, our world affairs editor, writes from Washington…The past week has seen a rapid escalation in nuclear rhetoric, beginning with Vladimir Putin’s threat to use “all forces and means” to defend newly seized territory in Ukraine and ending with Joe Biden’s warning of “Armageddon” if Russia crosses the nuclear Rubicon.However, the realities underlying the menacing vocabulary are a far greyer area than the bluster suggests. It is far from certain that Putin would be prepared to be the first leader to use nuclear weapons in wartime since 1945, over his territorial ambitions in Ukraine. If his primary goal is to stay in power, that could be exactly the wrong way of going about it.Even if he did issue the launch order, he has no guarantee it would be carried out. Nor can he be absolutely sure that the weapons and their delivery systems would work.On the US side, despite Joe Biden’s apocalyptic language at a private fundraiser on Thursday night, it is not at all inevitable that Washington would respond to Putin’s nuclear use with nuclear retaliation. Past wargaming suggests there would be vigorous debate within the administration to say the least.Full story:Are Putin’s nuclear threats really likely to lead to Armageddon?Read moreNBC News reports that the Republican Nebraska senator Ben Sasse’s imminent departure from Congress to be president of the University of the Florida, first reported on Thursday, is the result of high-level Republican rivalries.Quoting “a top Republican insider”, NBC says the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, was behind the move, which was meant as one in the eye for Donald Trump.Marc Caputo, an NBC reporter, writes: “In May, Trump said he regretted supporting Ben Sasse. Now, DeSantis’s man at UF has engineered Sasse’s hiring. ‘Everyone knows what this is about: Ron and Don,’ a top Republican insider tells me, echoing others.”As the only Republican who polls even close to Trump, DeSantis is widely thought to be planning a presidential run of his own.There could be another angle to Sasse’s move.Pete Ricketts, the Republican Nebraska governor, will appoint a replacement for Sasse, should he join UF as expected and resign before January, when a new governor will be in place.On Friday, in messages viewed by the Guardian, a Trump insider said the Sasse move was “about Ricketts money to DeSantis. This is what Pete wanted so he can appoint himself to the Senate.”A spokesperson for Ricketts did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Full story:Ben Sasse, Republican who voted to convict Trump, to depart CongressRead moreIn Hagerstown, Maryland, Joe Biden has delivered a long attack on Republican policies on taxation, spending, healthcare, drugs prices and benefits including social security and Medicare. The midterm elections are just a month away, after all. He singles out Paul Gosar, a far-right Arizona Republican who has slammed Biden’s agenda as “socialist” but, Biden says, has asked for federal spending in his district. Biden asks, who’s the socialist there? “I was surprised to see so many socialists in the Republican caucus,” he adds.Biden says: “When it comes to the next Congress, it’s not a referendum. It’s a choice, a choice between two very different ways of looking at the economy.”He repeatedly decries “trickle-down economics”, the notion that tax cuts for the rich will benefit everyone else, so central to the current British government under Liz Truss, of course. Biden also decries Republican election denial, among those who claim he stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump, but says he has “never been more optimistic about America’s prospects”.Raising his voice, he insists there is “nothing, nothing we’ve ever set our mind to that we have not been able to do”.Music, applause … and scene.In Hagerstown, Maryland, Joe Biden has hailed this morning’s jobs numbers.“We’re proving that our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. Just look at today’s jobs report. Our economy created 263,000 jobs last month – that’s 10 million jobs since I’ve come into office. That’s the fastest job growth at any point of any president in American history. Historic progress. “The unemployment rate remains at historic lows: 3.5% unemployment. That includes the lowest unemployment among Hispanic Americans ever in the history of this country, the second-lowest employment among Black teenagers.”The president does adds a nod to expectations of a slowdown in jobs numbers soon: “Our jobs recovery will cool while still powering our recovery.”Our business editor, Dominic Rushe, has more on such concerns:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}According to career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, it was the fifth month this year that job cuts were higher than the corresponding month in 2021. Challenger also reported a sharp slowdown in hiring intentions, with employers announcing in September that they planned to take on 380,014 workers, the lowest September total since 2011.
      “Some cracks are beginning to appear in the labor market. Hiring is slowing and downsizing events are beginning to occur,” senior vice-president Andrew Challenger said in a statement.
      “The cooling housing market and Fed’s rate hikes are leading to job cuts among mortgage staff at banks and lenders. The recession concerns are leading to increased uncertainty, and companies across sectors are beginning to reassess staffing needs.”US employers added 263,000 new jobs in September as ‘cracks’ appear in labor marketRead moreJoe Biden is now speaking in Hagerstown, Maryland, where he is visiting Volvo Group Powertrain Operations to talk about unions, jobs and other pressing pre-midterms priorities. Of course, a lot of minds are on what he said yesterday in New York, about Russia, the threat of nuclear war and the possibility of “Armageddon”.“I’m a union guy,” he says in Hagerstown, also branding himself the most “pro-union president American history”, dedicated to the “single best workers in the world”.We’ll keep listening, of course.Joe Biden has issued a dire warning about Vladimir Putin’s willingness to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and warned that if such weapons are deployed, “armageddon” would follow. The White House said the president’s comments weren’t based on any new intelligence or signs that such an attack might happen soon, but rather an indication of how seriously the administration takes such threats.Here’s what else is going on today:
      September was another decent month of job growth, though there were signs of weakness in the US labor market, according to new government data.
      The White House press secretary declined to comment on reports that prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to charge the president’s son Hunter Biden with crimes related to lying on a firearm purchase background check and not reporting all his income.
      Biden’s student debt relief plan survived another court challenge.
      The White House press secretary had less to say about the reports published yesterday and today revealing that federal investigators believe they have enough evidence to bring charges against Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.“This is an ongoing investigation being handled independently by the department of justice so I would refer you to the department of justice,” Karine Jean-Pierre replied when asked about the reports.Republicans have long tried to use the allegations of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden to paint the president as corrupt. During his administration, Donald Trump pressured Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate both Joe and Hunter Biden’s business dealings in the country to hurt the former’s presidential prospects, leading Democrats to impeach Trump in 2020. Hunter Biden has been under investigation since 2018, and The Washington Post along with CNN and The Wall Street Journal say that prosectors believe they have the evidence to charge Hunter Biden with crimes related to lying on a background check for purchasing a firearm, and for not reporting all of his foreign income. A Trump-appointed US attorney in Delaware will ultimately make a decision on whether or not to bring a case against the president’s son.Biden’s remarks last night weren’t based on any new intelligence, but rather a reinforcement of what Washington officials have been saying publicly in response to Putin’s threats using nuclear weapons, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.“The president… has been a very consistent. He was reinforcing what we have been saying, which is how seriously… we take these threats about nuclear weapons as we have done when the Russians have made these threats throughout the conflict,” Jean-Pierre said aboard Air Force One. “So the kind of irresponsible rhetoric we have seen is no way for the leader of a nuclear-armed state to speak, and that’s what the President was making very clear.”As Biden did in remarks to Democratic donors last night, Jean-Pierre also brought up the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union and the United States came perilously close to nuclear conflict in 1962. “If the Cuban missile crisis has taught us anything, it is the value of reducing nuclear risk and not brandishing it,” she said.Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would cause “unintended consequences” for Moscow, the White House press secretary said, while noting there’s no evidence yet that president Vladimir Putin intends to use his atomic arsenal.“Russia’s talk of using nuclear weapons is irresponsible, and there’s no way to use to use them without unintended consequences. It cannot happen… We won’t be intimidated by Putin’s rhetoric,” Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One during president Joe Biden’s short flight to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he is to speak about the economy.She downplayed the possibility that the first use of a nuclear weapon in war since 1945 was imminent.“We have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture, nor do we have indications they are preparing to use them, but Putin can de-escalate this at any time and there is no reason to escalate.”She did not comment directly on Biden’s prediction last night that Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon would cause “Armageddon”.Biden isn’t the only leader whose comments about Russia are grabbing headlines today.Here’s Finland’s prime minister Sanna Marin wasting no words on how the war in Ukraine should end:Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin was asked about a potential off-ramp for Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Her reply: pic.twitter.com/VblWxkMuFc— Rikhard Husu (@RikhardHusu) October 7, 2022 More

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      Why Democrats could win big in November: Politics Weekly America

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      With just over a month to go until the midterm elections, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg about why he has been confident for a lot longer than others that a red wave isn’t about to happen, and that a blue wave might well be

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      Biden pardons all federal offenses of simple marijuana possession – as it happened

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      President Joe Biden has announced a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result. My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions,” Biden said in a statement released on Thursday afternoon.He went on to urge all governors to do the same with regards to state offenses, saying, “Just as no one should be in a Federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.”The president also called on the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General to begin the administrative process to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.Marijuana is currently classified in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act under federal law. This classification puts marijuana in the same schedule as for heroin and LSD and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine, two drugs that are fueling the ongoing overdose epidemic across the country. It’s nearly 4pm in Washington DC. Here’s where things stand:
      Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told a member of the extremist group before the 2020 election that he had a contact in the Secret Service, a witness testified Thursday in Rhodes’ Capitol riot trial. John Zimmerman, who was part of the North Carolina chapter, said Rhodes told him that Rhodes had a Secret Service agent’s telephone number.
      Joe Biden has announced a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana. “There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result. My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions,” Biden said in a statement released on Thursday afternoon.
      Biden addressed workers at the IBM manufacturing plant in Poughkeepsie, New York on Thursday afternoon where he spoke of the Chips and Science Act that includes over $52bn in federal subsidies. The $280bn package seeks to boost the US’s semiconductor industry and scientific research in attempts to create more high-tech jobs across the country while also help it compete better with international rivals such as China.
      The federal government on Thursday expressed support for New York City’s lawsuit seeking to halt the spread of “ghost guns” as city and state officials try to hold sellers of the largely untraceable firearms accountable. In a “statement of interest” filed in Manhattan federal court, the Department of Justice expressed “serious concerns” about the proliferation of ghost guns, and said kits containing the weapons’ components are classified as firearms under federal gun control law.
      A federal judge has temporarily blocked parts of New York state’s new gun law, in order to allow the Gun Owners of America, an advocacy group, to pursue a lawsuit challenging the legislation. The law came into effect on 1 September, creating new requirements for obtaining a license, including submitting social media accounts for review, and creating a list of public and private places where having a gun became a felony crime, even for license holders.
      The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a health advisory, regarding an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda. The alert summarises “recommendations for public health departments and clinicians, case identification and testing, and clinical laboratory biosafety considerations.”
      Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told a member of the extremist group before the 2020 election that he had a contact in the Secret Service, a witness testified Thursday in Rhodes’ Capitol riot trial.Associated Press reports: John Zimmerman, who was part of the North Carolina chapter, said Rhodes told him that Rhodes had a Secret Service agent’s telephone number. Zimmerman said he believed Rhodes spoke on the phone with the agent about the logistics of a September 2020 rally that then-President Donald Trump held in Fayetteville, North Carolina.The claim came on the third day of testimony in the case against Rhodes and four others charged with seditious conspiracy for what authorities have described as a detailed, drawn-out plot to use force to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Democrat Joe Biden, who won the election.Prosecutor Kathryn Rakoczy had asked Zimmerman whether Rhodes ever told him about having any kind of connection to Trump.Zimmerman could not say for sure that Rhodes was speaking to someone with the Secret Service — only that Rhodes told him he was — and it was not clear what they were discussing. Zimmerman said Rhodes wanted to find out the “parameters” that the Oath Keepers could operate under during the election-year rally.The significance of the detail in the government’s case is unclear. Trump’s potential ties to extremist groups have been a focus of the House committee investigating the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Another Oath Keeper expected to testify against Rhodes has claimed that after the riot, Rhodes phoned someone seemingly close to Trump and made a request: tell Trump to call on militia groups to fight to keep him in power. Authorities have not identified that person; Rhodes’ lawyer says the call never happened.Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said it is not uncommon for “protest groups” to contact the agency with logistical questions about rallies. He noted that firearms are always prohibited within restricted areas being secured by the agency.“The Oath Keepers are certainly a known demonstration group.” he said.Guglielmi said he is not aware of any contact between Rhodes and an agency representative but would not be surprised if Rhodes said he had contacted the secret Service before the North Carolina event..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“I don’t have any way to track that down without some more information,” the spokesman said.Rhodes, from Granbury Texas, and four associates are being tried on a Civil War-era charge. President Joe Biden has announced a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result. My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions,” Biden said in a statement released on Thursday afternoon.He went on to urge all governors to do the same with regards to state offenses, saying, “Just as no one should be in a Federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.”The president also called on the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General to begin the administrative process to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.Marijuana is currently classified in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act under federal law. This classification puts marijuana in the same schedule as for heroin and LSD and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine, two drugs that are fueling the ongoing overdose epidemic across the country. President Joe Biden addressed workers at the IBM manufacturing plant in Poughkeepsie, New York on Thursday afternoon where he spoke of the CHIPS and Science Act that includes over $52 billion in federal subsidies. .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Since we’ve been elected, we’ve created 678,000 new manufacturing jobs where, And we’re just getting started. Where is it written that we can’t lead manufacturing in the world? I don’t know where that’s written. And that’s one of the things that CHIPS Act is going to change – the law that’s going build the future in a proud, proud legacy, not only for IBM but for the country,” Biden said. The $280 billion package seeks to boost the US’s semiconductor industry and scientific research in attempts to create more high-tech jobs across the country while also help it compete better with international rivals such as China. .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“American manufacturing – the backbone of our economy got hollowed out because companies began to move jobs and production overseas. And as a result, today, we’re down to barely 10% of the world’s chips, despite leading in chip research and design,” Biden said.
      “We need [these chips] in conductors, not only to make Javelin missiles, but also the weapon systems, the future that is going to rely even more on advanced chips, Unfortunately we produce 0% of these advanced chips today…China is trying to move ahead of us in manufacturing them,” he added. “The United States has to lead the world in producing these advanced chips,” Biden said, adding that “some of our friends” on the Republican side bought into China’s lobbying in Congress against the act. .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“The CHIPS and Science Act is not handing out blank checks to companies… I’ve directed my administration… to be laser focused on the guard rails that’s gonna protect taxpayers dollars.”
      “We’ll make sure the companies partner with unions, community colleges, technical schools, and offer training and apprenticeships. We’re going to make sure…small and minority owned businesses get to participate. We’re gonna make sure the companies do not take these taxpayers dollars, do not turn around and make investments in China, investments that undermine our supply chains and natural security. That’s a guarantee.” “It’s about economic security…it’s about national security…and that’s what we’re going to see in this factory, in the Hudson Valley,” Biden added. “We have the best and most productive workers in the world. We have the best research universities in the world… We wrote and passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law…and we finally decided that we’re going to move up from number 13 in the world on infrastructure to number one,” Biden said. “The Chips and Science Act is not handing out blank checks to…companies…we’re going to make sure that small and minority-owned businesses get to participate,” Biden said. “In this law, I have the power to take back federal funding if companies are not meeting the requirements,” he added. “The future of the chips industry is going to be made in America…and many of these good paying jobs don’t require a set of college degrees,” Biden said. “The largest American investment of its kind,” Biden said in his address as he celebrates this summer’s passage of a $280 billion legislative package intended to boost the US semiconductor industry and scientific research.Joe Biden is set to deliver remarks at around 2pm ET at the IBM site in Poughkeepsie, New York.Biden is expected to speak on creating jobs in the Hudson Valley and lowering costs, among other topics.We will bring you the latest updates on his address so do stay tuned.The Biden administration announced that the US will start screening travelers from Uganda for Ebola as an additional precaution aimed at trying to prevent an outbreak in the African country from spreading, the Associated Press reports.The federal government on Thursday expressed support for New York City’s lawsuit seeking to halt the spread of “ghost guns,” as city and state officials try to hold sellers of the largely untraceable firearms accountable.In a “statement of interest” filed in Manhattan federal court, the Department of Justice expressed “serious concerns” about the proliferation of ghost guns, and said kits containing the weapons’ components are classified as firearms under federal gun control law.“Ghost guns are a major contributor to the ongoing plague of gun violence,” US Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said in a statement accompanying the filing, which US Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan also signed..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“The United States will continue to employ every means available, including civil tools, to keep ghost guns and other illegal firearms out of the hands of criminals and reduce the risk of gun violence. The United States filed a Statement of Interest in this important litigation to ensure that the Court is informed of the federal government’s views of pertinent firearms statutes and regulations,” he added. New York City and state Attorney General Letitia James on June 29 filed two lawsuits accusing 10 out-of-state distributors of creating a public nuisance by selling unfinished frames and receivers to buyers within the state.Ghost guns do not have serial numbers and can be acquired without background checks, potentially letting people otherwise ineligible to buy firearms to construct finished guns..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We are not going to let gun companies turn New York into a city of mail-order murder,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said when announcing the city’s lawsuit.Both lawsuits were filed six days after the supreme court struck down a century-old New York law that strictly limited the carrying of guns outside the home.Federal law largely shields gun makers from lawsuits over shootings. There is an exception for when sellers knowingly violate statutes governing firearms sales and marketing.Three of the five defendants in the city’s lawsuit have settled, and agreed to stop sales to city residents.Steven Donziger, a human rights lawyer, environmental justice advocate and Guardian US columnist, writes today about a ‘terrifying case’ about to be heard by the US supreme court…It is well-known that intense competition between democracy, authoritarianism, and fascism is playing out across the globe in a variety of ways – including in the United States. This year’s supreme court term, which started this week, is a vivid illustration of how the situation is actually worse than most people understand.A supermajority of six unelected ultraconservatives justices – five put on the bench by presidents who did not win the popular vote – haveaggressively grabbed yet another batch of cases that will allow them to move American law to the extreme right and threaten US democracy. The leading example of this disturbing shift is a little-known case called Moore v Harper, which could lock in rightwing control of the United States for generations.The heart of the Moore case is a formerly fringe legal notion called the Independent State Legislature (ISL) theory. This theory posits that an obscure provision in the US constitution allowing state legislatures to set “time, place, and manner” rules for federal elections should not be subject to judicial oversight. In other words, state legislatures should have the absolute power to determine how federal elections are run without court interference.Think about this theory in the context of the last US election. After Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump resoundingly in both the popular vote and in the electoral college, Trump tried to organize a massive intimidation campaign to steal the election which played out in the storming of the Capitol building on 6 January. But behind the scenes, the legal core of this attempt was to convince the many Republican-controlled state legislatures (30 out of 50 states) to send slates of fake Trump electors from states like Arizona, Georgia and Michigan where Trump lost the popular vote.If Trump had succeeded, he would have “won” the election via the electoral college (itself an anti-democratic relic) and been able to stay in office. If the supreme court buys the theory in the Moore case, this could easily happen in 2024 and beyond. In fact, it is possible Republicans will never lose another election again if this theory is adopted as law. Or put another way, whether Republicans win or lose elections via the popular vote will not matter because they will be able to maintain power regardless.That’s not democracy.The most terrifying case of all is about to be heard by the US supreme court | Steven DonzigerRead moreA federal judge has temporarily blocked parts of New York state’s new gun law, in order to allow the Gun Owners of America, an advocacy group, to pursue a lawsuit challenging the legislation.Reuters has the report:“The law came into effect on 1 September, creating new requirements for obtaining a license, including submitting social media accounts for review, and creating a list of public and private places where having a gun became a felony crime, even for license holders.Lawmakers in New York’s Democratic-controlled legislature passed the law during an emergency session in July after the US supreme court found the state’s licensing regime for firearms to be unconstitutional following a challenge by the New York affiliate of the National Rifle Association, a powerful gun-owners’ rights group.On Thursday, Glenn Suddaby, chief judge of the US district court in Syracuse, agreed to issue the order at the request of six New York- resident members of Gun Owners of America, which competes with the National Rifle Association in political influence. Suddaby said his order would not take effect for three days, to allow the New York government to appeal.Suddaby last month ruled that much of the new law was unconstitutional in dismissing an earlier lawsuit by Gun Owners of America in which he found neither the group nor an individual member of it had standing to sue before the law came into effect.” Background:New York enacts new gun restrictions in response to supreme court decisionRead moreThe Florida mayor to whom Joe Biden uttered a profanity captured by a live microphone, sparking a minor viral fuss, said the presidential f-bomb did not bother him in the slightest.The two men met on Wednesday, as Biden visited areas of Florida hit by Hurricane Ian. The president was heard to say: “Nobody fucks with a Biden.”The incident set off a minor media storm. The White House did not comment.Ray Murphy, the mayor of Fort Myers Beach, told NBC: “It was not directed at anybody. It was just two guys talking. It didn’t faze me one bit. That’s just the way two guys talk to each other from our respective backgrounds.”We have video of the moment:00:31Murphy told NBC he and the president quickly discovered they had a lot in common.“We’re both Irish Catholics,” he said. “We’re both devout Catholics. But every once [in] a while a little salty language comes out.”Biden has had brushes with hot mics and salty language before. Most famously, in 2010 he enlivened the signing ceremony for the Affordable Care Act by telling his then boss, Barack Obama: “This is a big fucking deal.”Biden later told NPR: “Thank God my mother wasn’t around to hear.”In January this year, Biden appeared to think his microphone was off when he called a Fox News reporter, Peter Doocy, “a stupid son of a bitch” for asking a question about inflation. The president said sorry.Florida mayor not offended by Biden’s ‘salty language’ on live microphoneRead moreThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a health advisory, regarding an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda.The alert summarises “recommendations for public health departments and clinicians, case identification and testing, and clinical laboratory biosafety considerations”.The federal agency emphasises that the alert is a precaution, as “no suspected, probable, or confirmed EVD cases related to this outbreak have yet been reported in the United States”.Its aim, it says, is to raise awareness among clinicians.Reuters, meanwhile, reports that the Biden administration “will begin redirecting US-bound travelers who have been to Uganda within the previous 21 days to five major American airports to be screened for Ebola”..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The change is expected to take effect within the coming week or so, a source said. The travelers will need to arrive at New York-JFK, Newark, Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare or Washington Dulles. There is no vaccine for the Sudan strain of the disease behind the latest Uganda infections.The Biden White House does contain experience in dealing with Ebola. Ron Klain, the president’s chief of staff, was Barack Obama’s Ebola tsar during an outbreak in 2014.In 2020, during the darkest days of the Covid pandemic, Klain wrote for the Guardian: “Of the many hard days I spent coordinating the US fight against Ebola in 2014-15, none was more painful than 29 November 2014, when I spoke at the funeral of Martin Salia, a doctor who left Maryland to return to his native Sierra Leone to help cope with the devastating death toll among healthcare workers during that epidemic.“Dr Salia contracted Ebola while performing surgery; by the time he was airlifted back to the US for treatment, he was too ill to be saved. At his funeral, I noted that while history is filled with all sorts of accidental heroes and unwilling heroes, ‘the greatest heroes are people who choose to face danger, who voluntarily put themselves at risk to help others.’”Here’s Klain’s full piece:I was Obama’s Ebola tsar. US healthcare workers are dying at a shameful rate | Ronald A KlainRead moreDemocrats are seething over Saudi Arabia’s push for Opec+ to cut oil production, potentially driving up US gas prices just as voters head to the midterm elections. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has embarked on a long day of travel that will see him tout the Chips bill to boost semiconductor production, and also attend two Democratic fundraisers as the party prepares to defend its slim holds on both the House and Senate.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia, said he knew “nothing about” a woman’s claim he paid for her to have an abortion – and then had a child with him.
      Republicans may decide to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas if they win a majority in the House.
      Election deniers appear poised to win many races in the upcoming midterms, no matter what happens, The Washington Post found. More

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      Wes Moore bids to become Maryland governor: ‘I’m running against an insurrectionist’

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      InterviewWes Moore bids to become Maryland governor: ‘I’m running against an insurrectionist’Martin PengellyThe 43-year-old military veteran is confident he can defeat Trumpist Dan Cox and become the state’s first black governor Wes Moore will in all likelihood be the next governor of Maryland. A month before election day, one poll gave him a 32-point lead over his Republican opponent, Dan Cox.If successful, Moore will be the state’s first Black governor – and only the third Black governor of any state. He stresses the need for bipartisan support in a time of divide.He says: “The only way you’re going to see polling results like that is if you’re showing a measure of support not just among Democrats, but amongst independents and amongst Republicans.Senate rival accuses Dr Oz of killing over 300 dogs as medical researcherRead more“I think you’re seeing how the state … is rallying behind that idea that we can go further together, that people are tired and exhausted, frankly, of being at each other’s throats, that we are going to build a new type of coalition inside the state that incorporates people from a variety of political parties.”At 43, Moore’s résumé includes a Rhodes scholarship, a tour of Afghanistan, a Bush White House job and corporate and non-profit experience. He is part of a diverse crop of new leaders in a Democratic party headed by a 79-year-old president, Joe Biden, and congressional leaders among whom Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, is a spring chicken at 71.He insists: “We’re taking nothing for granted. We are running every day like we’re 10 points behind. I believe that’s how we were able to win the primary. And I believe that’s how we’re going to be able to win the general as well.”Moore emerged from a bruising, nine-strong primary field. In the general election it’s him versus Cox, and here’s the crux: the Republican, a state representative, attended Donald Trump’s rally near the White House on January 6, before the Capitol riot. The Maga hardcore will back him, but it is unlikely many others will.“There are issues on the ballot,” Moore says. “You have very clear distinctions about where we are when it comes to reproductive health, when we talk about things like economic growth, when we talk about how to support education.“But I do think one of the things on the ballot in this election is this idea of patriotism, where we have not just very different views, but very different histories when it comes to what it means to defend the values of your country and fight for a better future.“I have an opponent who talks about backing the blue, but was supportive of a group of people who stormed the Capitol and were risking the lives of police officers. Someone who says they believe in freedom, yet at the same time would criminalise abortions, for both patients and providers, even in cases of incest and rape.“You have someone who’s talking about patriotism but their definition of patriotism is putting on a baseball cap and calling the vice-president a traitor, while a mob asks for him to be hung.“I think this bastardisation of the idea of patriotism will not be tolerated … I am running against someone who is an insurrectionist. I won’t be lectured by him, nor anyone else in this wing of the Republican party who wants to define patriotism as people who are willing to fight for the overturning of the government.“That’s not patriotism. My definition of patriotism was serving as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan and leading paratroopers in combat.”Moore is “confident” he will get Republican votes, in part because “we’re campaigning all over the state, in Democratic areas, independent areas, Republican areas … I’m going to the areas where there’s not a lot of Democrats but I tell people, ‘Listen, there’s a lot of Marylanders. And I plan on being their governor too.’“In the military, we learned a basic mantra: leave no one behind. And I live by it. I never once asked my soldiers ‘What’s your political party?’ Because it didn’t matter. My goal was to unify everyone around a single mission. And that’s exactly what I plan on doing as governor.”Maryland is currently governed by a Republican, Larry Hogan, a lonely moderate in a party in Trump’s grip. In 2020, rather than vote for Trump or Biden, Hogan wrote in Ronald Reagan. In 2022, he has spoken forcefully against Cox but has not said he will vote for Moore or endorse him.Given Moore’s focus on patriotism, a concept generally easier for Republicans to wield in elections, is he disappointed Hogan has not told Republicans to cross the divide?“Well, I think Governor Hogan has been very clear on the fact that he’s not going to support his party’s nominee. Governor Hogan has said that not only does he think that my opponent is mentally unstable – he’s called him a ‘QAnon whack job’ – he has said, ‘I wouldn’t even give him a tour of the governor’s office.’“So the governor has been full-throated in his displeasure with where the party went. I’d love the governor’s vote, I hope that he would vote for me in the general election. But I also know that there’s been no nuance in the governor’s displeasure on who the Republican nominee is.”A spokesman for Hogan did not respond to a query about any endorsement of Moore.Moore hopes to work to instill “progressive patriotism” via a programme to encourage voluntary service after high school, “essentially democratising the gap-year process that only certain students can take advantage of” without government support.Such a programme, he says, is “absolutely achievable and absolutely fundable because we’re going to use … state and federal resources in addition to public-private partnerships”.The need for partnerships extends to Moore’s own party, where at least for now he is holding progressives and moderates together.“I haven’t been a politician,” he says. “I didn’t come up in this political world where people are placed in boxes and get their talking points from the box that they live in. I came up from a perspective where I built alliances and allegiances across the board and across sectors, and across political parties, because my whole focus throughout my entire career has been get big things done.“We’ve been able to build a very interesting coalition of people, from leaders in the business community to labor leaders, from Progressive Maryland to the Fraternal Order of Police. I’m offering them all the same thing: a chance to be involved in the policymaking conversation.”The last Democratic governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, agrees. In an email, he said Moore “has the ability, because of his victory, his candidacy, and his message, to unite all the various factions of the Democratic party”.After two terms in Annapolis, O’Malley ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. Some expect Moore to take a similar path. He is focused on the task at hand.He says: “I understand, as chief executive, I’ve got to make decisions. And I will make decisions every single day and wake up the next morning and make some more. But the thing I am offering everybody as part of our coalition is that you are going to have a seat at the table as we push forward for the same collective goal.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022MarylandDemocratsUS politicsinterviewsReuse this content More

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      The pastor v the football player: can Raphael Warnock tackle Herschel Walker?

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      The pastor v the football player: can Raphael Warnock tackle Herschel Walker? Georgia in focus: Warnock’s fundraising is impressive, though the Democratic senator lacks the name recognition his scandal-prone opponentWhen Democrat Raphael Warnock won his election last year, he celebrated his success as a reflection of America’s promise.Only in this country could the son of a Black woman who once spent her summers picking cotton experience such a dramatic rise, becoming the first African American to represent Georgia in the US Senate, Warnock told his supporters. He implored his new constituents,in the wake of a historically divisive campaign season, to embrace the values that made his win possible.“Will we continue to divide, distract and dishonor one another? Or will we love our neighbors as we love ourselves?” Warnock said in his victory speech. Just hours later, a group of Donald Trump’s supporters breached the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election. Since then, the country has endured record-high inflation, marked 1 million lives lost to coronavirus and witnessed the end of federal protections for abortion access.She’s Georgia’s great blue hope – but can Stacey Abrams win a crucial race?Read moreIn the face of that national upheaval, Warnock now faces a familiar challenge. Once again, the battle for the Senate runs through Georgia, and Democrats’ hopes for controlling the upper chamber of Congress rest on Warnock’s shoulders. Republicans only need to flip one seat to regain their Senate majority – and given that Joe Biden carried Georgia by just 0.2 points in 2020, all eyes are on Warnock.Or at least most eyes, because Warnock’s opponent is Herschel Walker – a sports celebrity with a history of scandals that reached new heights this week with the accusation that the staunch anti-abortion conservative paid a girlfriend to terminate her pregnancy – reports he has denied but that only grew more grave after his own son appeared to back them.Warnock and his supporters, meanwhile, are hoping that his compelling personal story, combined with his accomplishments in Congress so far, can again carry him to victory. The 11th of 12 children, Warnock grew up in the Kayton Homes public housing complex in Savannah, Georgia. After getting his undergraduate degree from the historically Black Morehouse College, Warnock earned his PhD from the Union Theological Seminary and became an ordained minister. In 2005, he was appointed senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist church, where Dr Martin Luther King Jr once preached to the congregation.“I think the historical significance of Ebenezer church instantly put Raphael Warnock into the spotlight,” said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University.“Any pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church [who] is standing in the pulpit of Martin Luther King, Jr and Sr, is going to be noticed, and so Reverend Warnock certainly had that cachet.”Even after his win last year – he was elected in a runoff vote to finish out the term of the late senator Johnny Isakson, and is now running for his first full six-year term – Warnock has continued to preach at Ebenezer, and can occasionally be seen taking selfies with congregants after services on Sundays. His activism work at Ebenezer appears to have informed his work in Congress, where he has championed voting rights and successfully lobbied to cap insulin costs for Medicare recipients. Warnock has also made a point to work across the aisle, teaming up with Republican Ted Cruz on a highway funding proposal.“I’ve been very impressed at what he’s done in Congress, what he’s managed to get through in the short time that he’s been there,” David Walker, a 39-year-old voter from Marietta, said at a Cobb County Democrats rally last month. “It’s going to help a lot down here.”Bonnie Watson, a 71-year-old voter from Marietta, said she would even consider supporting Warnock for president. “I like his ethics,” Watson said at the rally. “I like the fact that he’s a communicator, that he is a community builder, that he is a leader. But he also is someone I think that can look at both sides and understand what needs to be done.”Even with his time in the Senate, however, Warnock does not have name recognition over his Republican opponent. A former professional football player, Herschel Walker is best known for the Heisman Trophy he won in 1982 while playing for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Walker helped the Bulldogs win a national championship in 1980; when he left the school, the team retired his jersey number, 34.That fame, combined with Trump’s early endorsement, allowed Walker to easily secure the Republican nomination in May. His team leans hard into his celebrated football record, offering hats to supporters that say “#34 for ‘22”. At a rally last month in Rome, Georgia, attendees waited in a long line to take photos with him.“I’ve watched him since I was six years old with the Georgia Bulldogs play football, and he’s really a great guy,” said Stephanie Nichols, a 48-year-old voter from Rome who carried a football she wanted Walker to sign.That storied history seems to be enough for many Georgia voters to overlook his controversial, and often nonsensical, comments on everything from the pandemic to abortion access, which Warnock has seized on in his campaign ads. One features a clip of Walker claiming to know a miracle cure for Covid, which he does not specifically name. “I have something that can bring you into a building that would clean you from Covid as you walk through this dry mist. As you walk through the door it will kill any Covid on your body,” Walker says in the clip.“You hear [Walker] talk sometimes, and it’s just word salad,” said Jacquelyn Bettadapur, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Committee. “He doesn’t have the oratory skills. He doesn’t have the positions. He can’t even express himself coherently.”Walker’s controversies and gaffes have also offered Democrats plenty of fodder. His ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, has claimed he threatened to kill her. (Walker has said he was dealing with mental health issues at the time, but he has not denied the allegation.) Walker has three children from non-marital relationships, and he did not publicly acknowledge them until reports about them emerged. (Walker has said he supports all his children and “chose not to use them as props to win a political campaign”.) He claimed to have previously worked in law enforcement. (He did not, although his campaign asserted he was an honorary deputy in Cobb county.) Walker once boasted that he graduated in the top 1% of his class from the University of Georgia. (He never got his degree.) A New York Times investigation raised questions about whether Walker’s food-distribution company had spread false information about donating some of its profits to charity.Most recently, and perhaps most damning of all for a candidate who has campaigned strongly against abortion, Walker now stands accused by a former girlfriend of paying for her to get an abortion in 2009. He has denied the reports. His son, also a vocal conservative, blasted his father on social media, calling him a hypocrite and a liar.And yet, despite Walker’s vulnerabilities, most recent polls indicate that he and Warnock are running neck and neck. The race could prove even more difficult than Warnock’s last contest, given the national headwinds facing all Democratic candidates: in addition to widespread complaints about rising prices, Biden’s approval rating has been underwater for more than a year.“At the end of the day, a lot of this is a nationalized election, and it’s much more about what the Democrats have done over these last two years when they’ve been in control versus what Herschel Walker may have done in the past,” said Jay Williams, a longtime Republican strategist based in the Atlanta area. “You could put a potted plant against Warnock, or you could put a potted plant against Walker, and all the Democrats would vote for the potted plant or all the Republicans would vote for the potted plant. It’s really that kind of election.”Walker’s supporters have echoed that stance, saying party identity is enough to guarantee their vote. “I like him because he’s a Republican. That’s all I need to know,” Bill McCain, a 78-year-old voter from Lindale, said at the Rome rally after grabbing one of Walker’s lawn signs.Warnock is clearly aware that he has a real race on his hands, and he has been fundraising aggressively. In the second quarter of 2022 Warnock raised $17m, bringing his campaign’s total haul to more than $70m. In comparison, Walker raised just $6.2m over the same three months, and Warnock’s cash advantage has allowed him to dominate the Georgia airwaves.The forthcoming debate, scheduled for 14 October in Savannah, could provide Warnock with another opportunity to draw a clear contrast between him and Walker. The two candidates jostled for months over the debate schedule, and Warnock accused Walker of being “scared for voters to hear what he has to say”. Even Walker’s allies acknowledge he will be at a disadvantage on stage.“Clearly Warnock is a much more seasoned speaker, much more eloquent,” Williams said. “If I were [Walker], I’d just stay on message, stay focused on what is his campaign plan and what is the difference between him and Warnock.”One of Warnock’s tasks in the debate will be to motivate Democratic base voters, including African Americans, to turn out in November, and Gillespie argued that questions about race-related issues could help him in that regard. Warnock and Walker are both Black men but their approaches to discussing race are notably distinct.While Warnock has directly confronted the ways in which African Americans are uniquely impacted by federal policy decisions, Walker has instead attacked his opponent for raising the issue at all. “Senator Warnock believes America is a bad country full of racist people,” Walker said in an ad released last month. “I believe we’re a great country full of generous people.”Walker may have appealed to Republican leaders in part because they hoped he could neutralize potential allegations of racism against Warnock, Gillespie said. But Walker’s approach to the topic of race may not sit well with other African Americans, who make up about a third of Georgia’s population.“Walker has a history of avoiding and deflecting on topics related to race. I think that’s going to be off-putting to African American voters,” Gillespie said. “The question is whether or not Warnock can use that to mobilize Black voters to make sure that they turn out at the highest rate possible.”Gillespie conceded that the debate is unlikely to sway many voters, but said it could make a critical difference for the small swath of Georgians still trying to make up their minds. In the rapidly shifting political landscape of Georgia, once a reliably Republican state and now a hotly contested battleground, Warnock’s fate will probably be decided by a handful of points.“We just have to accept that Georgia is going to be an electorally competitive state,” Gillespie said. “What that means, regardless of who wins, is that we’re in the era of narrow margins.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022GeorgiaUS politicsDemocratsfeaturesReuse this content More