US elections 2020

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      'Slayer Pete': Buttigieg emerges as Biden's unlikely Fox News fighter

      by

      At home, he is the unassuming former mayor of a small town in Indiana, where he lives happily with his husband, a junior high school teacher, and their two lazy dogs.But on cable TV, where he has emerged in the homestretch of the presidential campaign as a likable and lethal surrogate for Democrat Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg is something else: “Slayer Pete”.Conferred on Buttigieg by the Los Angeles Times columnist Mary McNamara, the nickname captures the efficacy with which Buttigieg has turned his rhetorical chops to the task of obliterating apologists for Donald Trump.Buttigieg’s biggest scores have come on Fox News, an arena not many Democrats deign to enter, unwilling or unable to argue against an alternative reality where Covid-19 is a hoax, Hillary Clinton is public enemy No 1 and Trump is infallible.But if the echo-chamber quality of most Fox broadcasts has led the hosts into a sense of complacency when challenging their guests, they have recently been fed rude surprises – in the nicest possible way – by the rapier-tongued “mayor Pete” (his other nickname).Before the vice-presidential debate, Buttigieg, whose own presidential bid came to an end in March, was asked on Fox News why Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate, had modified her stance on healthcare reform after joining the presidential ticket.“Well, there’s a classic parlor game of trying to find a little bit of daylight between running mates,” Buttigieg said. “And if people want to play that game, we could look into why an evangelical Christian like Mike Pence wants to be on a ticket with the president caught with a porn star, or how he feels about the immigration policy that he called ‘unconstitutional’ before he decided to team up with Donald Trump.”Buttigieg is not universally loved. His record on policing and racial justice as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been heavily criticized, and during the Democratic primary he had a long-running feud with Senator Amy Klobuchar, who in one debate quipped: “I wish everyone was as perfect as you, Pete.”But with the Democrats having mended their differences and the battle lines now clearly drawn in an election with epic stakes, Biden supporters of every persuasion might feel free to sit back and enjoy one thing Buttigieg does seem practically perfect at: dissecting Trump sycophants with a smile.When Fox host Steve Doocy tried to hit Biden for declining to debate Trump in person in the aftermath of Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis, Buttigieg deftly turned the tables.“It’s too bad,” he said. “I don’t know why the president’s afraid to debate. All of us have had to get used to a virtual format. Parents are having to deal with e-learning, which is not what we’re used to. We’re having to take meetings over Zoom. It’s not something I think most of us enjoy, but it’s a safety measure.“I think part of why the US is badly behind the rest of the developed world on dealing with the pandemic is because every time there’s been a choice between doing something in a way that’s more safe or less safe, this president seems to push for less safe.”The range of Buttigieg’s analytical intelligence was on display in an interview in a friendlier forum, on MSNBC, when he was asked about a call by supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett for rulings to be “fairly reasoned and grounded in the law”.“This is what nominees do,” Buttigieg said. “They write the most seemingly unobjectionable, dry stuff. But really what I see in there is a pathway to judicial activism cloaked in judicial humility.”“At the end of the day, rights in this country have been expanded because courts have understood what the true meaning of the letter of the law and the spirit of the constitution is.“And that is not about time-traveling yourself back to the 18th century and subjecting yourself to the same prejudices and limitations as the people who write these words.“The constitution is a living document because the English language is a living language. And you need to have some readiness to understand that in order to serve on the court in a way that will actually make life better.”Buttigieg then quoted Thomas Jefferson, smiled, and finished with a dagger: “Even the founders that these kind of dead-hand originalists claim fidelity to understood better than their ideological descendants, today’s judicial so-called conservatives, the importance of keeping with the times.” More

    • 163 Shares119 Views

      in US Politics

      Is it reckless to hope Trump might actually be defeated? | Suzanne Moore

      by

      The recklessness of hope. This is now my current mood, not the Audacity of Hope that Obama wrote about. Is it reckless to think Trump might be defeated, that women are turning against him, that the polls are good for Biden? Surely we won’t get fooled again.Now il duce is coming on like some modern-day Lazarus – how is Mrs Lazarus, by the way? Anyone know or care? He now claims immunity to Covid (unscientific, untrue) as well as having a kind of “protective glow”. He doesn’t even mean the makeup he so badly applies. Is this a psychotic delusion? Is he on a ’roid high? Has his near-death experience produced some kind of euphoria? Again, I don’t blame Trump alone, but his myriad enablers, some of whom are apparently doctors, some of whom he has infected, some of whom have been thrown by the wayside. Still, I can see, despite the absolute insanity of it all, that he projects strength against Joe Biden’s quivery decency. It still astonishes me that this is the best the Democrats can do.I keep trying to work out where I will be on the night, and it looks as if – because of lockdown – I won’t be able to be where I wanted to be, with whom I wanted to be with. I keep imagining the next day. If he wins, will anyone be able to get out of bed?Lately, though, I look at him, and that scene in When Harry Met Sally comes to mind. I think: “I’ll have what he’s having.” Cells from foetuses, antibody cocktails, steroids, “heart medication” and the rest. Who even knows?Put the cannula in now, Nurse Ratched. I am ready. More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      More than 10-hour wait and long lines as early voting starts in Georgia

      by

      Voters in Georgia faced hours-long lines on Monday as people flocked to the polls for the first day of early voting in the state, which has developed a national reputation in recent years for voting issues.Eager voters endured waits of six hours or more in Cobb County, which was once solidly Republican but has voted for Democrats in recent elections, and joined lines that wrapped around buildings in solidly Democratic DeKalb County. They also turned out in big numbers in north Georgia’s Floyd County, where support for Donald Trump is strong.At least two counties briefly had problems with the electronic pollbooks used to check in voters. The issue halted voting for a while at State Farm Arena, in Atlanta. Voters who cast their ballots at the basketball stadium, which was being used as an early voting site, faced long waits as the glitch was resolved.Adrienne Crowley, who waited more than an hour to vote, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution there wasn’t anything that would make her get out of the line to vote. “I would have voted all day if I had to.”Elsewhere in Atlanta, some voters reported waiting more than 10 hours for their chance to cast an early ballot.Voters began lining up outside polling stations in the predawn hours, some using their cellphone flashlights to help other voters fill out pre-registration forms, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.Janine Eveler, the elections and registration director for Cobb County, said the county had prepared as much as much as it could, “but there’s only so much space in the rooms and parking in the parking lot.”“We’re maxing out both of those,” she said. “People are double parking, we have gridlock pretty much in our parking lot,” she added.Hundreds of people slowly moved along a line that snaked back and forth outside Cobb’s main elections office in a suburban area northwest of Atlanta. Good moods seemed to prevail, even though some people said at 1pm that they’d been waiting for six hours. A brief cheer went up when a pizza deliverer brought a pie to someone in line.Steve Davidson, who is Black, said the late US congressman John Lewis and others had fought too long and hard to secure his place at the polls for him to get tired and leave.“They’ve been fighting for decades. If I’ve got to wait six or seven hours, that’s my duty to do that. I’ll do it happily,” Davidson said.Georgia is the latest state to see extremely long lines during the first day of in person voting. Election officials have also seen unprecedented voter turnout on the first day of in-person early voting in states like Virginia and Ohio.With record turnout expected for this year’s presidential election and fears about exposure to the coronavirus, election officials and advocacy groups have been encouraging people to vote early, either in person or by absentee ballot.Nationally, more than 9.4m people have already voted, an unprecedented number, according to data collected by Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida.Democrats are trying to pick up a US senate seat in Georgia in a race, where the Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff, is challenging the incumbent Republican, David Perdue.Georgia has long been seen as a Republican bastion, but many believe recent demographic changes have made it a more competitive state. A recent poll shows Donald Trump and Joe Biden in a statistical tie in the state. More

    • 200 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      'I'll kiss everyone': Trump claims he has immunity at first rally since Covid diagnosis – video

      by

      Play Video

      1:14

      Donald Trump has returned to the campaign trial after being hospitalized with Covid-19. He arrived on Air Force One to a packed outdoor rally in Florida without a protective mask but tossed out masks to the crowd. Trump boasted about his recovery, claiming he was now ‘immune’ to the virus. ‘I feel powerful,’ he said. ‘I’ll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and everybody.’ Trump’s return to his signature campaign rallies kicked off a three-week sprint to election day, as polls showed him losing more ground to Democratic rival Joe Biden
      Trump holds first rally since Covid diagnosis, as Senate opens bitter hearings on court pick – as it happened
      Trump holds packed rally after Covid diagnosis as he struggles in polls

      Topics

      US news

      Donald Trump

      US politics

      Coronavirus outbreak

      US elections 2020 More

    • 175 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      US election 2020: why are so many Americans being denied a vote? – podcast

      by

      Millions of American voters will be unable to cast their ballot in this year’s presidential election and those affected will be disproportionately first-time voters and from minority groups, reports Sam Levine

      How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

      As the November election approaches, Donald Trump is continuing to make stark claims about voter fraud, particularly focused on postal voting. Despite a lack of evidence, many are interpreting the president’s claims as a prelude to his challenging the result should he be defeated. Fears of fraud are also being used by many states to place more hurdles in the way of voters trying to cast their ballots. The Guardian’s Sam Levine tells Anushka Asthana about the bureaucratic steps required to cast a legal vote in some states and how research shows that they mean the discounting of votes from disproportionately younger and minority voters. He also describes how millions of former prisoners are being denied votes decades after release due to bureaucratic errors or minuscule unpaid fines. He met Alfonso Tucker, a resident in Alabama, who was struck from the register over a $4 fine and whose son of the same name was also prevented from voting. Meanwhile, there are growing fears of intimidation at the polls, not least following Trump’s performance at the presidential debate in which he failed to denounce white supremacists, telling the rightwing Proud Boys group to “stand back and stand by”. More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Trump holds packed rally after Covid diagnosis as he struggles in polls

      by

      US elections 2020

      President addresses mostly maskless crowd in key swing state of Florida: ‘I feel so powerful’

      Play Video

      1:14

      ‘I’ll kiss everyone’: Trump claims he has immunity at first rally since Covid diagnosis – video

      Keen to appear lively and well after his recent hospitalization for Covid-19, Donald Trump held his first rally since being diagnosed, addressing a packed, largely maskless crowd in Florida – a state he desperately needs to win.
      “I feel so powerful,” he boasted to his cheering supporters, 11 days after announcing his infection. “I’ll walk into that audience. I’ll walk in there, I’ll kiss everyone in that audience. I’ll kiss the guys and the beautiful women – everybody,” he added, his voice still a bit hoarse.
      With just weeks to go before election day, and early voting under way, Trump has been eager to return to a full schedule of in-person rallies as he scrambles to hold on to supporters. Polls have his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, ahead by an average of 10.4 points as of Friday. Trump is also losing support from seniors, who are the most vulnerable in a pandemic that has already killed more than 214,000 Americans.
      In a frenetic push to solidify support, Trump and his campaign have sought to downplay the threat of coronavirus. The president’s own demonstrations of reckless, maskless bravado appear to be key to that strategy, as Trump characterizes his opponent as frail and confined to his basement. More