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      in US Politics

      The fight for Florida's Latino voters: Biden courts Puerto Ricans as Trump rallies Cubans

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      Every Saturday for several months, Abel Iraola has kept track of the boisterous crowd of Donald Trump supporters that gathers near an exit ramp of the Palmetto Expressway in Hialeah, the city with the highest concentration of Republican Cuban Americans in Florida.A 28-year-old Democrat, Iraola lives two blocks away from the spot where the impromptu gathering gives him a sense of what his party’s presidential nominee, Joe Biden, is up against in the race to win Florida’s Latino vote.“He and everyone in the Democratic party should be concerned about turning out more Hispanic voters than Trump until the final results come in,” Iraola said. “We shouldn’t have to be worrying about the Hispanic vote in Florida.”Yet recent polls show Biden has lost ground among Florida’s Latino voters compared to his predecessors Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both of whom outperformed their Republican rivals among this key voting bloc in the last three presidential elections.Trump and Biden are virtually tied in Florida, prompting the former vice-president to make his first campaign trip as his party’s nominee to the Sunshine State earlier this week when he touched down in Kissimmee, a central Florida city with a huge population of Puerto Rican voters.Around the same time, former New York City mayor, ex-presidential candidate and multi-billionaire Mike Bloomberg announced he was committing $100m to turn this crucial swing state blue on 3 November. The “never-Trump” Republican outfit the Lincoln Project also announced it would produce ads targeting Florida’s Latino voters. More

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      in Elections

      Joe Biden blames Trump's 'lies and incompetence' for coronavirus death toll – video

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      1:50

      Joe Biden said Donald Trump’s ‘lies and incompetence’ since the start of the coronavirus pandemic had led to the ‘one of the greatest losses in American history’ as he spoke at an aluminum plant in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
      The Democratic presidential nominee noted the country was about to hit the ‘tragic milestone’ of recording 200,000 deaths from Covid-19, adding that number represented many ‘empty chairs’ for families who had lost loved ones to the virus
      Trump says he wants supreme court seat filled ‘before the election’ – live

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      in US Politics

      Trump says he wants supreme court seat filled 'before the election' – live

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      President hopes nominee will be confirmed by 3 November
      Biden blames Covid death toll on Trump’s ‘lies and incompetence’
      Whether vote will occur before election remains unclear
      Ginsburg to lie in repose Wednesday and Thursday
      Who is Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s likely court pick?
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      Updated

      Play Video

      2:38

      Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer clash on supreme court nomination – video

      Key events

      Show

      4.30pm EDT16:30
      Today so far

      4.13pm EDT16:13
      Trump says he wants supreme court confirmation to happen before election

      3.43pm EDT15:43
      Biden blames coronavirus death toll on Trump’s ‘lies and incompetence’

      3.30pm EDT15:30
      Senate will vote on Trump pick ‘this year’, McConnell says

      3.25pm EDT15:25
      McConnell promises a vote on Trump’s supreme court nominee

      2.45pm EDT14:45
      McConnell signals Republicans will oppose stopgap funding bill

      1.51pm EDT13:51
      CDC removes information on airborne transmission of coronavirus

      Live feed

      Show

      5.39pm EDT17:39

      A preemptive state of emergency has been declared ahead of an announcement regarding the Breonna Taylor case
      The police in Louisville, Kentucky have declared a state of emergency for the department ahead of an announcement from the state’s attorney general in the Breonna Taylor case regarding police who fatally shot a 26-year-old black woman in her sleep during a drug-related raid.
      Many have said the declaration seems to anticipate violent protests, suggesting an unfavorable ruling for those seeking justice in the case. Officials have also closed two federal buildings in anticipation of the announcement and the police force has prohibited officers from taking time off work.
      The family of Taylor has also received a settlement from the city of $12m in a civil suit stemming from the incident, in which Taylor was mistaken for a suspect in a drug raid. The incident has called into question “no-knock” warrants, in which police enter a home without announcing or identifying themselves.

      5.21pm EDT17:21

      One more Senator comes out against a Trump supreme court nomination
      US Senator Joe Manchin, the only Democrat who voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh despite party objections in 2018, said the vote on a new Supreme Court nominee should be delayed until after the November 2020 presidential election “for the sake of the integrity of our courts and legal system”.
      “For Mitch McConnell and my Republican colleagues to rush through this process after refusing to even meet with Judge Merrick Garland in 2016 is hypocrisy in its highest form,” he said. “The US Supreme Court is the highest court int he land and it is ismply irresponsible to rush the adequate and proper vetting required of any new candidate for the bench.”
      The reactions of Manchin and several Republican senators have been closely watched in recent days to see if a justice nominee from Donald Trump would have enough votes to be comfirmed before the 2020 elections. Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have said the next judge should be nominated by whomever is elected in November. Trump has said he intends to pick a woman for the seat and will announce the nomination this week. It is speculated that US circuit court judge Amy Boney Barrett, a fervently anti-abortion Catholic, is at the top of Trump’s list of nominees.

      Updated
      at 5.22pm EDT

      4.57pm EDT16:57

      Chuck Schumer honors the legacy of RBG in Senate speech
      Chuck Schumer made remarks on the floor of the Senate on Monday honoring the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg days after her death.
      Schumer noted that in Jewish tradition only the “most righteous” people die on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, calling Ginsburg “a woman of great righteousness and valor”.
      “She might be the only justice to become a meme,” the New York senator said, citing the “Notorious RBG” meme, which likened the octogenarian judge to famous rapper Notorious BIG. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg was, in fact, a rebellious force to be reckoned with.”

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      Sen. Schumer honors RBG’s immense legacy: ‘She might be the only justice to become a meme’ pic.twitter.com/YtwSW1S3l9

      September 21, 2020

      Schumer outlined many of Ginsburg’s life accomplishments, including her making the court enforce the constitutional idea that people cannot be discriminated on the basis of sex. He said if Donald Trump is able to replace the late Supreme Court justice, reproductive rights, workers’ rights, and voting rights will be imperiled. He also said RBG’s dying wish was that a justice not be picked until after the 2020 elections.

      Updated
      at 5.22pm EDT

      4.38pm EDT16:38

      Hello! Kari Paul here in California taking over for the next few hours. Stay tuned for updates.

      4.30pm EDT16:30

      Today so far

      That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague. Kari Paul, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
      Here’s where the day stands so far:
      Trump said he wants to have his supreme court nominee confirmed before election day, on November 3. In a floor speech this afternoon, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell signaled the vote would take place “this year,” but he did not specify whether it would happen before or after election day.
      Trump said he would “probably” announce his nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday, following ceremonies honoring the legacy of the late supreme court justice. The president said he has narrowed his list of potential nominees down to five candidates, all of whom are women.
      Ginsburg will lie in repose at the supreme court on Wednesday and Thursday. House speaker Nancy Pelosi also announced Ginsburg will lie in state at the Capitol on Friday.
      House Democrats released their stopgap government funding bill, which would keep the government open until December 11. But McConnell quickly signaled he would not support the bill because it does not include bailout funds for farmers, which Trump has demanded. The government is currently set to close on September 30 if a bill is not passed.
      The CDC removed information on the potential airborne transmission of coronavirus from its website. The agency had posted an update on Friday to warn Americans that the virus can spread over a distance beyond six feet, particularly in poorly ventilated areas. The CDC removed the guidance today, claiming the update was posted in error. The news follows reports about Trump administration officials trying to interfere with CDC reports to paint a rosier picture about the pandemic.
      Kari will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

      4.24pm EDT16:24

      Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, said the panel would move “expeditiously” to advance Trump’s supreme court nominee.
      In a letter to the Democratic members of the committee, Graham said his view of the judicial confirmation process had changed after witnessing the treatment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault but was ultimately confirmed by the Senate.
      “I therefore think it is important that we proceed expeditiously to process any nomination made by President Trump to fill this vacancy,” Graham told his Democratic colleagues. “I am certain if the shoe were on the other foot, you would do the same.”

      4.13pm EDT16:13

      Trump says he wants supreme court confirmation to happen before election

      Speaking to reporters before leaving for Ohio, Trump said that he hoped his supreme court nominee will be confirmed before election day, on November 3.
      “I’d rather see it all take place before the election,” the president said.
      Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said moments ago that a confirmation vote would occur “this year,” but he did not specify whether it would take place before or after election day.
      Trump also confirmed the announcement of his nominee will likely come on Saturday, following this week’s ceremonies honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the supreme court and at the Capitol.
      Echoing his previous comments to Fox News, the president said he was considering five women for the seat.

      Updated
      at 4.14pm EDT

      4.03pm EDT16:03

      Joe Biden has now concluded his speech at an aluminum plant in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
      The Democratic nominee criticized the president for previously suggesting the US coronavirus death toll would be much lower if Americans who died in blue states weren’t counted.
      Biden promised to act as a unifying figure to help bring the country together during this time of national crisis.
      The presidential candidate also took a moment to address those who voted for Trump in 2016, saying he knows they felt like they weren’t being heard by Democrats.
      “It will change with me,” Biden said. “You will be seen, heard and respected by me.”

      3.51pm EDT15:51

      Joe Biden argued Trump had failed in his response to coronavirus because he “panicked” rather than confronting the crisis head-on.
      “Trump panicked. The virus was too big for him,” Biden said in Wisconsin. “All his life Donald Trump has been bailed out of any problem he faced.”
      The Democratic nominee dismissed the president’s claim that he downplayed the threat of the virus because he wanted to help Americans remain calm.
      In reality, Biden said, Trump “just wasn’t up to” the challenge of handling the crisis.

      3.43pm EDT15:43

      Biden blames coronavirus death toll on Trump’s ‘lies and incompetence’

      Joe Biden is delivering remarks on the country’s coronavirus death toll at an aluminum plant in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
      The Democratic nominee noted the country is about to hit the “tragic milestone” of recording 200,000 deaths from coronavirus.
      Biden said that number represented many “empty chairs” for families who had lost loved ones to the virus.
      The presidential candidate emphasized Americans could not allow themselves to become “numb” to the mounting death toll.
      “We can’t let the numbers become statistics and background noise,” Biden said.
      Biden specifically blamed Trump’s response to the pandemic for causing tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths in the country.
      “Due to Donald Trump’s lies and incompetence over the last six months, we have seen one of the greatest losses in American history,” Biden said.

      3.30pm EDT15:30

      Senate will vote on Trump pick ‘this year’, McConnell says

      Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said the chamber would vote on Trump’s supreme court nomination “this year”.
      But the Republican leader did not provide much clarity on whether the confirmation vote would occur before or after election day, on November 3.
      Democrats have a chance to flip the Senate in November, but even if they do, that seems unlikely to change McConnell’s plans to move forward with a nomination.

      Updated
      at 3.36pm EDT More

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      in World Politics

      What Trump Will Leave Behind If He Loses

      by

      Whether Donald Trump will serve four more years as president of the United States will be decided on November 3. America’s partners should nonetheless already be thinking about what Trump will leave behind — namely the consequences of his policies — if he loses the election and agrees to hand over power to his challenger, Joe Biden.

      Every US president sets priorities for domestic developments as well as for the country’s positions in foreign and security policy. Given the international weight of the United States — still by far the most powerful nation in the world in terms of absolute power, even when compared to China — American presidents will always shape the international order, too.

      What the Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Means for America’s Political Future

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      Incoming presidents of any party have traditionally accepted many of the legacies of their predecessors, while simultaneously setting new accents. This is not surprising; it is a characteristic of a functioning state. The foreign policy, security, economic and ecological challenges that a new president faces the first day in office are not, after all, fundamentally different from those challenges that were on the table the day before.

      Only Trump has consciously departed from this pragmatic and statesmanlike tradition. Fighting against the legacy left behind by his predecessor, Barack Obama, has been a central part of his agenda. Consequently, Trump rescinded financial market rules and environmental laws of the Obama administration, withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement with Iran, and also pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Paris Climate Accord and other international agreements.

      Should Trump be replaced by Biden, the new president will certainly reverse some of the most blatant measures of his predecessor — if only to regain trust and strengthen the international reputation of the United States again. This applies, in particular, to the Iran nuclear agreement and the climate accord. Biden will not be able to turn the wheel of history back to the end of the Obama era, however. He will have to deal with — and his presidency will partly be shaped by — a Trump legacy that cannot simply be undone by resigning some important international agreements.

      Four Elements Stand Out From This Legacy

      First, there is the political polarization in the US, which is as intense as it was during the Vietnam War. A new president may attempt to reunite the country politically and to mitigate the growing social inequalities through social and tax policies. However, neither the political nor social divisions in America will simply disappear with a change of political direction.

      Second, the tense relationship with China will test the Biden administration from the beginning. Trump certainly did not cause the rise of China. Even Obama had tried to redirect the focus of American policy toward Asia — he saw China’s rise as a game-changer but, overall, still regarded Beijing as a partner. In the meantime, China’s policy has become more challenging.

      Embed from Getty Images

      There is a wide-ranging bipartisan consensus in the US for taking a tough stance toward Beijing. President Trump, however, has weakened America’s position in the rivalry with China by duping friends and allies, leading the US out of international institutions and agreements, and thus creating empty spaces that China could, and did, fill.

      Strategic rivalry between the US and China is likely to remain a guiding paradigm of international relations, even under a Biden administration — a conflict that structures world politics with power-policy, security, economic, technological and ideological dimensions. How this rivalry will be shaped and evolve will largely depend on future US policy.

      Third, a new president will have to deal with the loss of international trust. Much here depends on the personality of the individual in the White House. As president, Biden would likely enjoy an advance of international trust. This could even help him to push for certain demands that not only Trump has articulated — not least that America’s NATO partners increase their defense spending. Any successor to Trump, however, no matter how much they may be trusted as a person, will be confronted with a new form of skepticism, if not fear, among international partners that any agreement they may negotiate today could be called into question after another change in the White House.

      For this reason alone, new negotiations with Iran or future arms control talks with Russia and/or China will become more difficult. Negotiating partners will want to offer less if they cannot be sure that future presidents will also abide by an agreement. American negotiators, however, are more likely to demand more in order to make such agreements more acceptable across the political spectrum in Congress, and thereby prevent a new president from simply turning them over.

      Finally, multilateral institutions and international organizations have been weakened, not only as a result of Trump’s policies but also his active contributions. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, we live in a world with fewer binding rules than four years ago. Important arms control agreements have been terminated, the World Trade Organization has been weakened, and the legitimacy and financial resources of the United Nations have been under attack.

      A new president can certainly try to change course and recommit the United States to shaping and supporting multilateral institutions, but other actors on the world stage have become more self-confident and assertive during the last four years. These actors, China above all, are unlikely to be interested in the emergence of binding new international rules that could restrict their freedom of action.

      And Europe? It is simply not enough to hope that Trump will be voted out of office and then relax if it happens. The European Union and its member states must seriously think about how they could help a new US president to regain international trust for the country. Europe can hardly expect that the United States under Biden will set out to safeguard international order on its own. Nor should it expect a Biden administration to simply adopt Europe’s multilateral agenda.

      Instead, Europe needs to strengthen its own capabilities, and it should take the initiative and press for a joint strategic analysis and agreement with the US on future issues — climate, digitization and the relationship with China, among other areas. Moreover, Europe will also have to explain how it envisages fair burden-sharing in order to create a more symmetric transatlantic relationship.

      *[This article was originally published by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), which advises the German government and Bundestag on all questions relating to foreign and security policy.]

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

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      in Elections

      'Follow your conscience,' Biden urges Republicans as Trump pushes for supreme court nominee – video

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      1:13

      Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden makes a plea to Senate Republicans, asking them to ‘follow their conscience’ and defy president Donald Trump’s push to name his nominee for the supreme court ahead of November’s election. Trump says he plans to nominate a women for the seat as soon as possible, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died aged 87 six weeks out from the US election. ‘I appeal to those few Senate Republicans, that handful who really will decide what happens. Please follow your conscience,’ Biden says. ‘Don’t vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances President Trump and Senator McConnell have created. Don’t go there. Uphold your constitutional duty, your conscience’
      Supreme court: Biden accuses Trump and Republicans of abuse of power
      Second Republican senator says there should be no supreme court vote before election
      ‘I will fight!’: mourners’ vow at supreme court vigil for Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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      US elections 2020

      US politics

      Joe Biden

      Donald Trump

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