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‘Trump is an unparalleled danger’ Woodward warns, following hours of interviews – live
by Eliana Willis 24 October 2022, 15:13
Bob Woodward’s recorded excerpts of his conversations with Donald Trump take listeners back to 2020, and make clear just how much of the White House’s fumbling response to Covid-19 came from the president himself.“I feel good. I think we’re doing a great job. I think we’ll never get credit from the fake news media no matter how good a job we do. No matter how good a job I do, I will never get credit from the media, and I’ll never get credit from Democrats who want to beat me desperately in seven months,” Trump told Woodward in an early April interview, days after the economy had shut down to unsuccessfully stop the spread of a virus that would kill hundreds of thousands of Americans that year alone.Trump’s denialism continued into July: “It’s flaring up all over the world, Bob. By the way, all over the world. That was one thing I noticed last week. You know they talk about this country. All over the world, it’s flaring up. But we have it under control.”Later that month, he insisted that he would soon release a plan to fight the virus, but appeared to tie its timing to how it would affect his election chances. “I’ve got 106 days. That’s a long time. You know, if I put out a plan now, people won’t even remember it in a hundred — I won the last election in the last week.”While Woodward agrees with many other observers of the former president that his attempts to overturn the 2020 election make him a danger to democracy, he also makes the case to listeners that Trump didn’t even fully understand how to do his job – and the nation paid the price.“Trump reminds how easy it is to break things you do not understand — democracy and the presidency,” Woodward concludes.What would Republicans do with a majority in the House? Demand concessions in exchange for raising the debt limit, which will likely be necessary at some point next year, Politico reports.GOP lawmakers could demand that the tax cuts passed during the Trump administration are made permanent, or that Social Security and Medicare, the two massive federal benefit programs for older Americans that have long been in Republicans’ crosshairs, are overhauled. But the strategy is a risky one, because without an agreement to lift its legal ability to borrow, Washington could default on its debt – with potentially calamitous implications for the global economy. And even if Republicans took both the House and the Senate, expect tortuous negotiations with Biden to find an agreement.Here’s more from Politico:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Tight Senate margins and a Democratic president would make it impossible for GOP leaders to deliver on the party’s most hardline fiscal wishes, at least with President Joe Biden still in office. The disappointment would surely prompt blowback from right-leaning Republicans already known as the sharpest thorns in the party’s side.
“Spare me if you’re a Republican who puts on your frigging campaign website, ‘Trust me, I will vote for a balanced budget amendment, and I believe we should balance the budget like every family in America.’ No shit,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the pro-Trump Freedom Caucus, said in an interview.
“You have two simple leverage points: when government funding comes up and when the debt ceiling is debated,” Roy reminded his fellow Republicans. “And the only question that matters is, will leadership use that leverage?”There was also new polling today for Ohio, which seems to align with broader national trends for the 8 November midterms.Once considered a swing state, Ohio has become more solidly Republican in recent elections. But that doesn’t mean JD Vance, the GOP candidate for Senate, is running away with the race. Today’s Spectrum News / Siena poll shows him tied with Democrat Tim Ryan, underscoring that for all the momentum Republicans seem to have, retaking the Senate is not a sure bet.Spectrum News / Siena Poll: Ohio Likely VotersDeWine Continues to Hold Very Large Lead over Whaley, 58-34%Vance vs. Ryan Even, 46-46%, Two Weeks to GoVoters Prefer Republicans over Democrats to Control Congress, 40-33%https://t.co/nenKiR8q6o pic.twitter.com/K1MaXlksmQ— SienaResearch (@SienaResearch) October 24, 2022
However, notice the strong bias among Ohio voters towards Republicans on the generic congressional ballot. That matches recent nationwide polling suggesting the GOP has overtaken Democrats as the party preferred to control Congress – an outcome that may well come to pass when the midterm dust settles.There was some dire news for Democrats this morning from The Cook Political Report, which is known for its comprehensive rankings of congressional races across the country.The subject was congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, who is chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tasked with winning elections in the House of Representatives. Cook changed their rating for his suburban New York City district to toss-up from lean Democrat:House rating change: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D) moves from Lean D to Toss Up at @CookPolitical as Dems admit the DCCC chair is now in serious danger in #NY17. Full analysis: https://t.co/89bvezbNuw pic.twitter.com/ncljBkSfZw— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 24, 2022
Polls indicate that Democrats are likely to lose their majority in the House in the 8 November midterms, and a loss by Maloney would make an embarrassment of their efforts to stem what appears to be a rising tide of Republican sentiment among voters.We’re 15 days away from the 8 November midterms, but early voting data from across the country indicates a surge in voter enthusiasm, Adam Gabbatt reports – though it’s not yet clear which party is set to benefit:Early voting in the midterm elections is on track to match records set in 2018, according to researchers, as voters take advantage of both in-person and mail-in voting in states across the country.More than 5.8 million people had already cast their vote by Friday evening, CNN reported, a similar total to this stage in the 2018 elections, which had the highest turnout of any midterm vote in a generation.States with closely watched elections, including Georgia, Florida and Ohio, are among those seeing high volumes, with Democrats so far casting early votes in greater numbers.Republicans, including Donald Trump, have encouraged their supporters to vote in person, citing a mishmash of debunked conspiracy theories about election security.The New York Times reported that in-person turnout is up 70% in Georgia, where the incumbent Republican governor is facing a tough challenge from Democrat Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock, the Democratic US senator, is competing with Herschel Walker. As of Friday about 520,000 people had already cast their ballots during in-person early voting, according to Fox5 Atlanta.US midterm elections: early voting on track to match 2018 recordRead moreAttorney general Merrick Garland will this afternoon hold a press conference on a “significant national security matter,” the justice department has announced.The 1:30pm eastern time speech will “discuss significant national security cases addressing malign influence schemes and alleged criminal activity by a nation-state actor in the United States,” and feature Garland along with FBI director Christopher Wray, along with other top justice department officials.The Guardian will cover the press conference on this blog as it happens.From Las Vegas, The Guardian’s Edwin Rios reports on the cost-of-living concerns that are influencing voters in the swing state crucial to the upcoming midterm elections:Claudia Lopez, 39, is worried for her children.As her curly haired seven-year-old daughter bounced around a play area inside El Mercado, a shopping center within the Boulevard Mall in Las Vegas where the smell of arepas and tacos hovers over the shops, Lopez soaked in her day off from knocking on doors and talking to residents about the upcoming election.For much of her life, Lopez, whose parents emigrated from Mexico to California, where she was born, didn’t care for politics. This year, that changed: since Lopez moved to Las Vegas seven years ago, rents have rocketed. In the first quarter of 2022, the Nevada State Apartment Association found that rent had soared, on average, more than 20% compared to the same period last year. That growth has since slowed, but the self-employed house cleaner worries about her children’s future: their safety, their schools, their shelter.“I don’t care about Democrats or Republicans,” Lopez says. “I care about change. I just want change for the better. Everything’s getting worse. You see little kids like, ‘Are they going to live to my age?’”In Nevada, the political stakes of this election are high. Latino voters are projected to account for one for every five potential voters in November, turning the state into a microcosm of the national influence voters of color will have on the election. While Nevada voted Democrat in the last election, its contests were won by slim margins. And as a voting bloc, Latinos are not monolithic: what they care about ranges from immigration to the economy and depends on where throughout the country they live.‘I just care about change’: Nevada’s Latinos on their cost-of-living fearsRead moreTrump isn’t alone in presenting a danger to democracy. As Adam Gabbatt reports, Doug Mastriano is copying many of the former president’s tactics in his campaign for governor of Pennsylvania, from his perpetual lying to his belief in conspiracy theories about the 2020 election:As Pennsylvanians prepare to vote for their next governor, it is no exaggeration to say the future of American democracy is at stake.Doug Mastriano, a retired army colonel who has enthusiastically indulged Donald Trump’s fantasy that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, is the Republican candidate. If he wins, he plans to deregister every single one of Pennsylvania’s 8.7 million voters. In future elections, Mastriano would choose who certifies – or doesn’t – the state’s election results.With Pennsylvania one of the few swing states in presidential elections, Mastriano could effectively have the power to decide the next president. But in a midterm election season defined by Republicans who seem to oppose democracy, there is some evidence that Mastriano, a retired army colonel, could be too fringe even for the Republican party.Mastriano is, by most measures, an extremist.Doug Mastriano: is the Trump-backed election denier too extreme to win?Read moreBob Woodward’s recorded excerpts of his conversations with Donald Trump take listeners back to 2020, and make clear just how much of the White House’s fumbling response to Covid-19 came from the president himself.“I feel good. I think we’re doing a great job. I think we’ll never get credit from the fake news media no matter how good a job we do. No matter how good a job I do, I will never get credit from the media, and I’ll never get credit from Democrats who want to beat me desperately in seven months,” Trump told Woodward in an early April interview, days after the economy had shut down to unsuccessfully stop the spread of a virus that would kill hundreds of thousands of Americans that year alone.Trump’s denialism continued into July: “It’s flaring up all over the world, Bob. By the way, all over the world. That was one thing I noticed last week. You know they talk about this country. All over the world, it’s flaring up. But we have it under control.”Later that month, he insisted that he would soon release a plan to fight the virus, but appeared to tie its timing to how it would affect his election chances. “I’ve got 106 days. That’s a long time. You know, if I put out a plan now, people won’t even remember it in a hundred — I won the last election in the last week.”While Woodward agrees with many other observers of the former president that his attempts to overturn the 2020 election make him a danger to democracy, he also makes the case to listeners that Trump didn’t even fully understand how to do his job – and the nation paid the price.“Trump reminds how easy it is to break things you do not understand — democracy and the presidency,” Woodward concludes.Good morning, US politics blog readers. Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward has released more excerpts from his interviews with Donald Trump in 2020, and closes with this warning: “Trump is an unparalleled danger.” Describing him as “overwhelmed by the job” while in office as Covid-19 spread across the United States, Woodward warns that Trump continues to pursue “a seditious conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election – and end democracy itself. While Woodward is far from the first person to say that, the journalist’s opinion is uniquely informed, given that the two men spoke 20 times during the last year of his presidency.Here’s a look at what’s happening today:
Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis will face his Democratic challenger Charlie Crist for the only debate of the election at 7pm ET.
Joe Biden will hold a rally today at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at 1pm.
Poll tracker FiveThirtyEight downgraded Democrats’ chances of keeping control of the Senate over the weekend, lowering it to 55% amid a wave of polls that signal several of its candidates may be in trouble. More
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Weapons of Mass Delusion review: Robert Draper dissects the Trumpian nightmare
by Evelyn Reynolds 23 October 2022, 06:00
Weapons of Mass Delusion review: Robert Draper dissects the Trumpian nightmare The New York Times reporter shows Kevin McCarthy to be the enabler of all Republican enablersNot so long ago, fake news stories were routinely smothered, simply by being ignored by the biggest newspapers and the major TV networks, their storylines safely confined to the National Enquirer and its tabloid competitors.‘A nutso proposition’: Robert Draper on Trump, Republicans and January 6 Read moreRogue legislators with histories of racism or addiction to conspiracy theories usually suffered the same fate for the same reason – nobody gave them ink or air time. Their leaders in the House and Senate could complete their marginalization.These gatekeepers did not have perfect judgement, but in our time it has become obvious that they provided essential protections for democracy. The internet and its infernal algorithms are the main reasons no institution or congressional leader retains the power to protect the public from outright insanity.Robert Draper’s new book about Washington in the 18 months after January 6 is all about the fatal consequences of the brave new world the internet created, in which Republican outliers the like the Arizona congressman Paul Gosar and his mentee, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, are much more likely to be rewarded for “outrageous, fact-free behavior” than to be penalized for it.The author, a New York Times magazine contributor, begins with a confession: all his previous books and articles about the Republican party “tended to bear the telltale influence of my father, a lifelong Republican”.Since his focus is “the tension between the party’s reality-based wing and the lost-its mind wing”, this confession reinforces the idea that all the book’s harsh judgements are coming from a dispassionate observer.But later on in the book this feels less like a confession and more like a mea culpa, when Draper describes three common notions about Donald Trump’s successful putsch: the idea it was accomplished through “force and surprise”; the notion “that the party was fully functioning and purposeful” before Trump took it over; and the contention “that the GOP bore no responsibility for the crime committed against it”.As Draper writes, “Each of these notions is false.”Unlike Mark Leibovich’s recent book, Thank You for Your Servitude, which covers much of the same territory but does not manage to tell us anything new, Draper provides pungent new anecdotes about and original analysis of the most outrageous actors, like Gosar and Greene, and their main enabler, the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy.Gosar spent a decade in Congress “building a portfolio of outrageous conduct even before social media’s ‘attention economy’ was fully capable of rewarding him for it”. One Gosar staffer was “advised by a top Republican operative, ‘You need to get out of there, that man is insane”. Another GOP aide called the congressman “my nominee to be that guy who comes in with a sawed-off shotgun one day”.But what Draper finds most astonishing is that Greene, who attributed forest fires to (possibly-Jewish connected) space lasers and openly promoted QAnon conspiracies, would only need a year in Congress before becoming “the party’s loudest and most memorable messenger outside of Trump himself”.Draper provides an excellent description of how Greene’s personal wealth and determination made it possible for her to move to an adjoining district and win the primary after the incumbent retired. She loaned her own campaign $500,000 and by March 2020 the extreme House Freedom Caucus had contributed nearly $200,000 more.After she won the first round in her primary, before the run-off, Politico ran this pithy summary of her greatest hits: Greene “suggested that Muslims do not belong in government; thinks black people ‘are held slaves to the Democratic party’; called George Soros … a Nazi, and said she would feel ‘proud’ to see a Confederate monument if she were Black because it symbolizes progress made since the civil war”.McCarthy and the rest of the House leadership denounced her. But then a funny thing happened – “or rather did not happen – back in Georgia. The attack on Greene by “fake news” and “the equally fake Republicans” delighted her new constituents and she won the run-off by 14 points. At her victory party, she said of Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House speaker: “We’re going to kick that bitch out of Congress.”The intellectual bankruptcy Draper chronicles pivots around McCarthy, whose blind ambition to become the next speaker leads to a series of despicable choices. First, he decides he must push Liz Cheney out of Republican leadership, because she refuses to pretend Trump lost the election because of fraud. Then he goes out of his way to mend his friendship with Trump and turn a blind eye to Greene’s outrages, because he is convinced he cannot win a House majority without Trump’s craziest supporters.Draper makes a couple of small mistakes, describing an amendment McCarthy opposed that would have removed “language that could enable discrimination against LGBTQ+ members of the military”. The amendment actually would have banned military contractors from discriminating against LGBTQ+ employees, and it was debated five years after Congress finally ended discrimination against gay and lesbian sailors and soldiers. He also describes the New Jersey Democratic congressman Tom Malinowski as Jewish. He is not.‘Devoid of shame’: January 6 cop Michael Fanone on Trump’s Republican partyRead moreThe exact moment the Republican party lost its soul probably came after the January 6 rioters tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to the duly elected new president by storming the Capitol – and a few hours later seven Republican senators and 138 representatives still voted to sustain spurious objections to the electoral votes of Pennsylvania.McCarthy and Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, were not among those election deniers – although McCarthy earlier voted to object to results from Arizona. But their refusal to convict Trump in his subsequent impeachment trial, or to stand up to any allies of the insurrection, guaranteed their party’s addiction to the lie that the presidential election was stolen.Draper has performed an essential service by documenting the details of this singularly destructive cowardice.
Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind is published in the US by Penguin Press
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Steve Bannon vows ‘very vigorous appeal’ to four-month prison sentence – as it happened
by Evelyn Reynolds 21 October 2022, 20:09
Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress.Donald Trump’s former chief strategist was sentenced to serve four months on each of the two contempt counts for defying a congressional subpoena issued by the January 6 House panel investigating the former president’s efforts to reverse his defeat by Joe Biden.The prison terms will be served concurrently, district court judge Carl Nichols ruled. But the judge said he would stay the sentence pending an appeal by Bannon, as long as the legal paperwork is filed promptly.The statutory minimum was one month in prison on each count.BREAKING: Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon sentenced to four months of prison on each count of contempt of Congress concurrently and $6,500 in fines — and will stay the sentence pending appeal if that is filed in timely fashion— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) October 21, 2022
We’ll have more details shortly…We’re closing our live blog now at the end of another tumultuous day, and week, in US politics. Thanks for joining us.
The House panel investigating Donald Trump’s January 6 insurrection issued a subpoena to the former president for documents and testimony.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress, and fined, for defying his own subpoena. But he was allowed to remain free pending his appeal.
The White House dismissed claims by Russia’s ambassador to the US that it had shut down communication with Moscow as the war in Ukraine continues. US defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu earlier.
The Washington Post reported that documents seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida contained secrets about Iran’s missile program, and China.
Joe Biden touted a “record” reduction of the federal deficit, $1.4tn since last year and the largest one year drop in American history, the president said.
A Miami judge dismissed one of the 19 voter fraud prosecutions loudly trumpeted by Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis. Former felon Robert Lee Wood, 56, voted after being sent a registration card by the state.
Joe Biden is appealing to younger voters in a speech Friday afternoon touting his student debt relief program. The president is addressing students at the historically black Delaware state university in Dover.Ahead of his address, the supreme court gave Biden a lift on Thursday by refusing a request by a taxpayers’ group in Wisconsin to block the program, which cancels up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of borrowers.Biden addressed an enthusiastic crowd:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}You are an example of why I’m so optimistic about the future. You are the most involved, the most educated, the most engaged, least prejudiced generation in American history.Biden says the debt relief program is changing lives, and urged those qualified to sign up online:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This is a game changer. We’re hearing from people all over the country. Over 10,000 students have written me letters so far. It’s as easy to sign up as hanging out with your friends or watching a movie.
My commitment when I ran for president was if I was elected I’d make the government work and deliver for the people.And he attacked congressional Republicans for attempting to block the aid “to their own constituents”:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}As soon as I announced my administration’s plan on student debt they started attacking it and saying all kinds of things. Their outrage is wrong and it’s hypocritical.
But we’re not letting them get away with it. They’ve been fighting us in the courts. But just yesterday, state courts and the supreme court said no, we’re on Biden’s side.Read more:Supreme court declines to stop Biden’s $400bn student debt relief planRead moreThe Biden administration’s strategic communications coordinator has dismissed claims by Russia’s ambassador to the US that Washington is blocking conversations with Moscow over the Ukraine war.Newsweek reported on Thursday the belief of Anatoly Antonov that no direct open lines of communication existed between the countries similar to the Kremlin-White House hotline credited with preventing nuclear war during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.“The attempts of Russian diplomats in Washington to re-establish such contacts have been futile,” he said. “The administration is unwilling to talk with us as equals.”But in an interview on CNN Friday, John Kirby, the national security council coordinator for strategic communications, said that was not true.He pointed to defense secretary Lloyd Austin’s conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu earlier today, their first known contact for more than four months, as evidence:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}There’s many channels open with Russia even down to the fairly low operational level. We still have a deconfliction line set up in Europe so that we can properly deconflict operations with respect to Nato’s eastern flank.
You saw today the secretary of defense spoke with with his counterpart. The secretary of state has an open line of communication with foreign minister [Sergey] Lavrov if needed. There are many channels at various levels throughout our government to continue to communicate with Russia.
That’s important, particularly now when when bellicose rhetoric by [Russian president Vladimir] Putin about the potential use of nuclear weapons only could lead to confusion and miscalculation.Maya Yang reports…The rightwing TV network Newsmax has said it had no plans to interview Lara Logan again, after the award-winning war correspondent turned rightwing pundit launched a QAnon-tinged tirade on air.Speaking to host Eric Bolling, Logan said “the open border is Satan’s way of taking control of the world” and claimed world leaders drank children’s blood.QAnon is a pro-Trump conspiracy theory which holds that leading liberal figures in US and world politics are, among other things, secretly murderous pedophiles.Logan told Bolling: “God believes in sovereignty and national identity and the sanctity of family, and all the things that we’ve lived with from the beginning of time.“And he knows that the open [southern US] border is Satan’s way of taking control of the world through all of these people who are his stooges and his servants.“And they may think that they’re going to become gods. That’s what they tell us … You know, the ones who want us eating insects, cockroaches and that while they dine on the blood of children? Those are the people, right? They’re not going to win. They’re not going to win.”Newsmax said in a statement it “condemns in the strongest terms the reprehensible statements made by Lara Logan” and had “no plans to interview her again”.Full story:Newsmax bans Lara Logan after QAnon-tinged on-air tiradeRead moreThe White House won’t comment specifically on the subpoena issued to Donald Trump by the January 6 House panel this afternoon. But it has thoughts on the direction of the inquiry.Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is addressing reporters aboard Air Force One as the Joe Biden makes his way to Delaware to speak on his student loan forgiveness program.Asked if she believed Trump would comply, Jean-Pierre said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I’m going to speak broadly, as we do not comment on any ongoing investigation, the department of justice is independent, but the president has spoken to this many times, it is important to get to the bottom of January 6.
January 6 was one of the darkest days in our nation, and it’s important for the American people to know exactly what happened, so that it doesn’t happen again, so we don’t repeat that very dark day in our nation.The subpoena issued by the January 6 House panel this afternoon demands that Donald Trump provide documents and testimony under oath.It requires documents to be submitted to the committee by 4 November, and for Trump to appear for deposition testimony beginning on or about 14 November.“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power”, a four-page letter accompanying the subpoena said.It was signed by panel chair Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, and vice-chair Liz Cheney, the Wyoming Republican.In a tweet, the panel says the vote to issue the subpoena was approved by a unanimous vote. The nine-member committee includes two Republican House members, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Cheney.In a letter to Mr. Trump, Chair @BennieGThompson and Vice Chair @RepLizCheney underscored Trump’s central role in a deliberate, orchestrated effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and block the transfer of presidential power. pic.twitter.com/rg7R37YE11— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) October 21, 2022
Shortly before news broke that Donald Trump has been issued a subpoena by the House panel investigating his 6 January insurrection, the former president was lashing out over another episode.The Washington Post drew Trump’s ire for its story that classified papers seized by the FBI at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida allegedly included documents containing secrets about Iran and China.Predictably, in a statement, Trump claims it’s a hoax:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The FBI and the department of ‘justice,’ which paid a man $200,000 to spy on me, and offered a $1 million ‘bounty’ to try and prove a totally made up and fake ‘dossier’ about me (they went down in flames!), are now leaking nonstop on the Document Hoax to the Fake News.
Who could ever trust corrupt, weaponized agencies, and that includes Nara [the US national archives and records administration] who disrespects our constitution and Bill of Rights, to keep and safeguard any records, especially since they’ve lost millions and millions of pages of information from previous Presidents.
Also, who knows what NARA and the FBI plant into documents, or subtract from documents – we will never know, will we?It’s safe to say Trump will have other things on his mind as the afternoon wears on.The House January 6 select committee has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump, compelling the former president to provide an accounting under oath about his potential foreknowledge of the Capitol attack and his broader efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.The subpoena of constitutional and investigative consequence made sweeping requests for testimony about some of the most key moments before January 6, as well as documents and communications about his role in multi-pronged schemes to return himself to office.BREAKING: Jan. 6 committee formally issues subpoena to Donald Trump — https://t.co/OzljsNT0oF— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) October 21, 2022
It comes on the same day as Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, was sentenced to four months in prison for refusing to comply with his own subpoena.We’ll have more details soon …Our Washington bureau chief, David Smith, has filed a terrific interview with Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, the crack reporter and “Trump whisperer” whose new book seeks to explain the rise and fall and rise (and rise and fall and rise, ad infinitum) of the 45th president. It’s certainly worth your time this lunchtime. Here’s a taster, with a link at the bottom to follow:“He’s become something of a Charles Foster Kane-like character down in Mar-a-Lago these days,” observes Maggie Haberman, a Pulitzer-winning reporter for the New York Times, political analyst for CNN and author of Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, which has a black-and-white photo of Trump on its cover.Her analogy raises the question: what is Trump’s Rosebud, the childhood sled that symbolised Kane’s lost innocence? “His father is Rosebud, and I don’t think it’s one particular moment,” Haberman replies. “There’s no single childhood memory that is the key. It’s a series of moments that interlock and they point back to his father.”Fred Trump was a property mogul who had been disappointed by his eldest son Fred Jr’s lack of commitment to the family business. Donald Trump, by contrast, impressed his father by cultivating a brash “killer” persona and became heir apparent. Decades later, in the first weeks of his presidency, Trump had one photo on the credenza behind him in the Oval Office: his father, still watching.Speaking by phone from her car in midtown Manhattan, Haberman reflects: “His father basically created this endless competition between Trump and his older brother Freddie, and pitted them against each other. Donald Trump spent a lot of time seeking his father’s approval and that became a style of dealing with people, which was certainly better suited for a business than for a household.”“But it became one that Trump recreated in all aspects of his life. It became how he dealt with his own children. It became how he dealt with people who worked for him and then, in the White House, you read a number of stories about these battles that his aides would have. A lot of it was predetermined by lessons from his father.”But if Trump is Kane, who is Haberman?Maggie Haberman on Trump: ‘He’s become a Charles Foster Kane character’Read moreThe Biden administration is taking steps to protect residents of nursing homes, promising what it calls “aggressive action… to keep American seniors safe”.A White House fact sheet released Friday lays out measures including financial penalties for failing nursing homes, improved safety standards and more and better technical support for homes in need.The labor department is providing $80m in grants for nursing training and development, while the department of health and human services providing a further $13m for education and training initiatives.“Covid-19 laid bare the challenges in America’s nursing homes,” Biden’s domestic policy adviser Susan Rice said in a tweet.“Today, we’re announcing new steps to improve nursing home quality and accountability”.COVID-19 has laid bare the challenges in America’s nursing homes. In his State of the Union, @POTUS laid out an action plan to address these challenges—and, today, we’re announcing new steps to improve nursing home quality and accountability. https://t.co/yNG6rLn757— Susan Rice (@AmbRice46) October 21, 2022
Joe Biden may have coined a phrase earlier, or tried to coin one at this late stage in the midterms race, when he said Republican economic policy amounted to “Maga-mega trickle down”.Trickle down economics is the idea that slashed taxes on the wealthy mean benefits for all those below them. Liz Truss was a devotee. She was also British prime minister for all of 45 days before announcing her resignation yesterday, after crashing the markets and cratering the UK economy.Biden may have been seeking to remind any Americans even vaguely aware of events across the pond when he told reporters: “If Republicans get their way, the deficit is going to soar, the burden is going to fall on the middle-class … They’re not going to stop there. “It’s Maga-mega trickle down.”For the avoidance of doubt, here’s how Larry Elliott, the Guardian’s economics editor, defines “trickle down”:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The theory is simple. Governments should cut taxes for the better off and for corporations because that is the key to securing faster growth. Entrepreneurs are more likely to start and expand businesses, companies are more inclined to invest and banks will tend to increase lending if they are paying less in tax.
Initially, the beneficiaries are the rich, but gradually everyone gains because as the economy gets bigger well-paid jobs are created for working people. Governments should stop focusing on how the economic pie is distributed and focus on growing the pie instead.
Supporters of trickle down often cite the work of the US economist Arthur Laffer as proof that the theory works. Laffer said tax cuts for the wealthy had a powerful multiplier effect and any revenues lost by governments from reducing tax rates would be more than compensated for by the fruits of higher growth.For the further avoidance of doubt, Maga, written like that here because of Guardian style rules on acronyms, stands for “Make America great again”, aka Donald Trump’s campaign slogan in 2016.Biden was speaking at the White House, about the US deficit and efforts to reduce it. He said: “The federal deficit went up every year in the Trump administration – every single year he was president. On my watch, things have been different. The deficit has come down both years I’ve been in office, and I’ve just signed legislation that will reduce it even more in the decades to come.”Republicans will counter that Biden has passed a lot of legislation increasing government spending. And so the dance toward election day goes on.It’s a busy Friday again…In a bombshell scoop launched just as Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former campaign chair and White House adviser, was handed a four-month jail sentence for contempt of Congress, the Washington Post reports that some of the classified documents recovered from Trump’s Florida home in August included “highly sensitive intelligence regarding Iran and China”.The Post cites anonymous sources who said that “if shared with others … such information” as found by the Department of Justice at Mar-a-Lago “could expose intelligence-gathering methods that the United States wants to keep hidden from the world”. Exposure of such information, the paper reports, could endanger people aiding US intelligence efforts or invite retaliation from the powers concerned.The Post also says at least one document described Iran’s missile programme while others described “highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China”.Trump or his spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the paper said.The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago on 8 August set off a monumental tussle between the former president and the Department of Justice. The contest has gone back and forth in the courts ever since, lawyers for Trump fighting a delaying action, a watching nation wondering if Trump might yet be indicted.Trump claims to have done nothing wrong by taking records from the White House after he was beaten by Joe Biden in 2020. Most observers say otherwise.More:‘Where’s the beef?’: special master says Trump’s Mar-a-Lago records claims lack substanceRead moreJoe Biden is speaking at the White House about the achievements of his economic plans, and what he says is a “record” reduction of the federal deficit.“This year the deficit fell by $1.4tn, the largest one year drop in American history,” the president said.“We’re rebuilding the economy in a responsible way.”In an earlier treasury department statement, the Biden administration said the annual deficit plummeted from $2.8tn in 2021 to about $1.4tn this year, the Washington Post reported.Biden is touting a “historic” Covid-19 vaccination effort for saving lives and helping the economy recover from the pandemic, and hailing successes in passing bipartisan bills such as the inflation reduction act, the Chips act boosting semiconductor production, and last year’s infrastructure act.Today’s speech is, however, a thinly disguised party political broadcast on behalf of the Democrats barely two and a half weeks before midterm elections in which they are expected to cede control of at least one chamber of congress.Warming to that theme, Biden said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Congressional Republicans love to call Democrats big spenders. And they always claim to be for less federal spending. Let’s look at the facts. The federal deficit went up every single year in the Trump administration, every single year he was president, and went up before the pandemic, and went up during the pandemic.
In three years before Covid hit, the deficit ballooned by another $400bn. One big reason for that is the Republicans voted for a $2tn Trump tax cut, which overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and the biggest corporations. That racked up the deficit significantly.
On my watch, things have been different. The deficit has come down in both years that I’ve been in office.Here’s Hugo Lowell’s report on the Steve Bannon sentencing hearing this morning:Donald Trump’s top former strategist Steve Bannon was sentenced Friday to four months in federal prison and $6,500 in fines after he was convicted with criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply last year with a subpoena issued by the House January 6 select committee.The punishment – suspended pending appeal – makes Bannon the first person to be incarcerated for contempt of Congress in more than half a century and sets a stringent standard for future contempt cases referred to the justice department by the select committee investigating the Capitol attack.The sentence handed down by the US district court judge Carl Nichols in Washington was lighter than recommended by prosecutors, who sought six months in jail and the maximum $200,000 in fines because Bannon refused to cooperate with court officials’ pre-sentencing inquiries.Bannon, 68, had asked the court for leniency and requested in court filings for his sentence to either be halted pending the appeal his lawyers filed briefs with the DC circuit court on Thursday or otherwise have the jail term reduced to home-confinement.But Nichols denied Bannon’s requests, saying he agreed with the justice department about the seriousness of his offense and noting that he had failed to show any remorse and was yet to demonstrate that he had any intention to comply with the subpoena.The far-right provocateur now faces a battle to overturn the conviction on appeal, which, the Guardian first reported, will contend the precedent that prevented his lawyers from disputing the definition of “wilful default” of a subpoena, and arguing he had acted on the advice of his lawyers, was inapplicable.Read the full story:Steve Bannon given four months in prison for contempt of CongressRead more More
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Biden to release 15m barrels from strategic reserve in effort to tamp down gas prices – as it happened
by Evelyn Reynolds 19 October 2022, 20:02
Here’s a quick summary of what happened today:
Joe Biden announced the release of 15m barrels of petroleum from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move he says will keep gas prices down. Biden pushed back on criticism that the timing of the announcement, which confirmed plans to release barrels from the reserve, was politically motivated by the looming midterms.
John Fetterman, a key Democratic candidate in the US senate race in Pennsylvania, released a detailed doctor’s report that said he is fit to work and fully serve in office following a stroke in May. This was the first official medical report from Fetterman since June.
At a speech at a conservative think tank, Mike Pence criticized the Republican party for straying from its values and said the party should be cautious of developing an isolationist mindset, particularly regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A district court judge said that emails from Donald Trump’s attorney, John Eastman – a key architect in his plan to overthrow the 2020 election – should be released to the House special committee investigating the insurrection. The judge said emails from Eastman prove Trump signed legal documents that contained information on election fraud that he knew was false.
We’ll be closing the blog for today, but we will be back tomorrow with more live politics updates. A US district court judge said that Donald Trump signed legal documents that contained evidence of election fraud that he knew was false, Politico is reporting. Based on emails from Trump attorney John Eastman, “President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public,” wrote district court judge David Carter in an opinion. The opinion said that Eastman’s emails need to be turned over to the House select committee investigating the insurrection. Eastman refused to turn over their emails, citing attorney-client privilege. Carter wrote that while most of the emails may remain private, “the Court finds that these four documents are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of the obstruction crime”.A majority of Americans believe Donald Trump should testify over his involvement in the January 6 insurrection on the US Capitol, according to a Monmouth University poll released today. Six out of 10 Americans polled said that Trump should have to testify before the House committee investigating the attack. Unsurprisingly, Democrats and Republicans were split on whether Trump should have to testify, with 89% of Democrats saying he should and 67% of Republicans saying he shouldn’t. Most independents, 61%, said that he should have to testify, and only 34% said he should not have to appear at all. The American people: “We feel bad for the country, but this would be tremendous content.”60% of Americans want Trump to testify before the Jan. 6 committee, according to a new Monmouth poll; 77% say it should be public if he does. https://t.co/RBXB6IMo40 pic.twitter.com/WATj0owRcO— Kevin Robillard 🇺🇸 (@Robillard) October 19, 2022
It is unclear whether Trump will testify before the House committee, which concluded its public hearings which it says proves Trump’s involvement in the attack by voting to subpoena Trump. A formal subpoena will likely be issued this week. Trump’s public response so far has been a rambling letter addressed to representative Bennie Thompson, who chairs the special committee. Sources close to Trump said last week that he is considering testifying in front of the committee. The committee said they do not expect to make criminal referrals to the department of justice, though they have laid out their findings to help federal investigators.A group of four members of Joe Biden’s Covid advisory board just published an op-ed in the New York Times saying that there needs to be more work to address the pandemic.“We are deeply dismayed by what has been left undone,” the group, which includes Ezekial Emanuel, David Michaels, Rick Bright and Michael Osterholm, wrote. “There were many opportunities that would have permanently improved American health and the public health system. They have not yet been pursued.”“There is no question other health crises lie ahead. We need to assess the opportunities squandered or missed in the Covid pandemic and seize them now.”The group wrote that rapid, low-cost at-home-testing could be used to detect multiple infections at once. But there is no comprehensive reporting system for individuals to submit their at-home test results to public health agencies, “rendering a broad swath of infections across the country invisible to officials trying to slow their spread.”The writers note that much of the blame for inaction can be put on the lack of funding from Congress, but “not all [are] attributable to financial limitations”.They write that one big missed opportunity was one to enhance indoor air quality, particularly in schools. They recommend improving national indoor air quality standards, with focuses on schools, nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, jails and prisons and other high-risk settings.Better data collection, more paid sick leave, stronger vaccine outreach and better domestic production of medical supplies were also needed during the pandemic, they wrote.“The list could go on and on, including the poor response to long Covid.”In a speech at conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, Mike Pence criticized the direction of the Republican party saying, “I think we need to chart a course that doesn’t veer off too far in either direction.” “Our movement cannot forsake the foundational commitment that we have to security, to limited government, to liberty and to life,” Pence said. “But nor can we allow our movement to be led astray by the siren song of unprincipled populism that’s unmoored from our oldest traditions and most cherished values.” Pence seemed to criticize the “America First” mindset, particularly in the midst of Russia invasion of Ukraine. “As Russia continues its unconscionable war of aggression to Ukraine, I believe that conservatives must make ti clear that Putin must stop and Putin will pay,” he said. “There can be no room in the conservative movement for apologists to Putin. There is only room in this movement for champions of freedom.” Pence at Heritage Foundation making an impassioned plea to continue to help Ukraine. There are those in the movement that “would have us disengage with the wider world,” he says. “But appeasement has never worked.”— Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurns) October 19, 2022
Opposition to isolationist ideals has not stopped Pence from endorsing candidates who have ultimately voiced opposition to involvement in the conflict, including Blake Masters, who is running for an Arizona US senate seat and called the war a “European problem”.Mehmet Oz, who is running as the Republican candidate in a key senate race, responded to today’s announcement from his opponent, John Fetterman, that a doctor clear Fetterman to work after a stroke in May. “That’s good news that John Fetterman’s doctor gave him a clean bill of health… Now that he is apparently healthy, he can debate for 90 minutes, start taking live questions from voters and reporters, and do a second debate now too,” a campaign spokesperson said. Oz senior comms adviser Rachel Tripp responds: “That’s good news that John Fetterman’s doctor gave him a clean bill of health…now that he apparently is healthy, he can debate for 90 minutes, start taking live questions from voters and reporters, and do a second debate now too.”— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 19, 2022
Oz and other Republicans have been using Fetterman’s stroke as an attack against him, saying that he is unfit to be in office. Fetterman’s campaign, on the other hand, has carefully been talking about his stroke as a way to gain empathy from voters. At a rally in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, Fetterman asked the audience if they or a loved one had ever dealt with a serious health issue, and nearly every hand went up. Until the doctor’s report that was released, the last official medical update from Fetterman’s campaign on his health was released in June. At his press conference moments ago announcing the release of petroleum from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Joe Biden was asked to comment on criticism that he was making the announcement for political reasons ahead of the midterms.“I’ve been doing this for how many months now? It’s not politically motivated at all. Its motivation is to make sure that I continue to push on what I’ve been pushing on. And that is making sure there’s enough oil being pumped by the companies so that we have the ability to produce enough gas that we need here at home,” Biden said. “The problem is these guys were asleep. I don’t know where they’ve been.’”Joe Biden spoke on the release of 15m barrels of petroleum from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move to seemingly signal to voters ahead of the midterms the White House’s efforts to tamper gas prices. Biden announced earlier this year that the energy department will be released 180m barrels from the strategic reserve this year. The 15m barrels announced today will complete the 180m barrels promised by the White House. The administration says the release will add 500,000 barrels per day of supply to the market in December. In a speech, Biden pointed to the war in Ukraine as the main reason for increasing gas prices and said that he “acted decisively” over the summer, and gas prices in turn have dropped $1.50 per gallon since their peak over the summer. “That’s progress, but they’re not falling fast enough,” Biden said. Gas prices are felt in almost every family in this country. It squeezes family budgets when the price of gas goes up, and other expenses get cut. That’s why I’ve been doing everything in my power to reduce gas prices.” “With my announcement today, we’re going to continue to stabilize markets and decrease the price at a time when the actions of other countries have caused such volatility.” Biden said that he has instructed his team to look into further releases from the reserve in the months ahead if needed. He also defended his administration against “myths” that he has slowed gas production.“Quite the opposite. We’re producing 12m barrels of oil per day. And by the end of the year, we will be producing 1m barrels a day – more than the day in which I took office.” Biden also said that the administration will repurchase crude oil from the strategic reserve once prices fall to $67 to $72 a barrel, incentivizing production for the future, and called on oil and gas companies to pass lower energy costs to consumers.Donald Trump in 2021 asked a group of people whether a Jewish documentary filmmaker was “a good Jewish character”, according to a video of the former president that was released as part of footage that was subpoenaed by the House special committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, the New York Times reports. The interaction was recorded by documentary filmmaker Alex Holder at an event at Trump’s New Jersey golf club in May 2021. Trump, speaking to several people, was responding to a woman’s comment about “Jews who didn’t vote for you”. Trump reportedly started talking about how he signed an executive order in 2019 that recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, yet he still polled low with Jewish voters in the US. “In Israel, I’m at like 94 percent, but I got 27, 28 percent [in the US],” Trump said at the time. “In Israel, I’m the most popular. With Orthodox, I’m the most popular.” Trump points to Holder, who is Jewish, “is this a good Jewish character right here?” At the end of the clip, before it cuts off, Trump asks, “You Persian? Very smart. Be careful, they’re very good salesmen.” News of the clip comes on the heels of a post Trump made on his social media platform Truth Social in which he lamented the lack of Jewish support for him despite his pro-Israel policies. “No president has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of Jewish faith, especially those living gin the US,” he wrote. “US Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel – before it is too late!”The Guardian’s voting rights reporter Sam Levine writes: Georgia has seen an “astounding” increase in turnout through the first two days of in person early voting, the state’s top election official said on Wednesday.Early voting began on Monday in the state, where there are closely watched gubernatorial and senate races. 268,050 people voted in person during the first two days. At the same point in the 2020 presidential election, 266,403 had voted in person. That differential is notable because presidential elections usually have higher turnout than midterms. At the same point in the 2018 midterms, 147,289 people had voted in person.Georgia has been at the center of high-stakes battles over voting access and this is the first general a new law with sweeping new voting restrictions is in effect. The law shortens the window in which voters can request a mail-in ballot and places new identification requirements on both the mail-in ballot application and ballot itself. Stacey Abrams, the gubernatorial candidate for governor, as well as voting rights groups are encouraging voters to cast their ballots as early as possible to avoid any issues.Republicans in the past have pointed to surging turnout to push back on accusations of voter suppression. But voting advocates say that is misleading and does not take into account the increased obstacles voters face in getting to the polls, even if they are able to navigate them successfully.John Fetterman’s primary care physician said the Democratic senate candidate for Pennsylvania has no restrictions “and can work full duty in public office” following a stroke in May. Fetterman’s campaign released a detailed medical report today based on an examination that took place on Friday. His doctor, Clifford Chen, said that Fetterman’s strength was normal and has no coordination deficits. He also noted that he “spoke intelligently without cognitive deficits”.Fetterman continues to show symptoms of auditory processing disorder (trouble understanding certain spoken words) but “his communication is significantly improved compared to his first visit, assisted by speech therapy, which he has attended on a regular basis since the stroke.” Currently the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, Fetterman is in a heated election for an open Senate seat against celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, who is running as a Trump-endorsed Republican. Fetterman’s campaign celebrated the doctor’s report on Wednesday. “Bad news for Dr. Oz, who has been rooting hard against my recovery: I’m doing great + remain fully ready to serve,” Fetterman tweeted. Bad news for Dr. Oz, who has been rooting hard against my recovery: I’m doing great + remain fully ready to serveSo grateful to all of you who’ve stood with me. I’ll be fighting for each and every one of you in D.C. ❤️ https://t.co/RMUCsGpOpG— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) October 19, 2022
Polls have shown Fetterman with a slight lead over Oz, though Oz has been narrowing the gap over the last week as the GOP has been hitting voters hard with messaging about Democrats and the economy.The Texas state government is sending DNA and fingerprint identification kits to parents with kids in kindergarten through eight grade in case of an emergency. The law that established the kit distribution was passed in 2021 and was meant to “help locate and return a missing or trafficked child”, though the timing of the kits’ distribution has reminded parents of the Uvalde shooting, where 19 children and two adults were killed. In the aftermath of the shooting, parents were asked for DNA samples of their children to help medical examiners identify the victims. AR-15s, the type of gun that was used in the shooting, is a powerful weapon that can leave victims unrecognizable. Brett Cross, the father of a student who was killed in Uvalde, tweeted of the kits: “Yeah! Awesome! Let’s identify kids after they’ve been murdered instead of fixing issues that could ultimately prevent them from being murdered. It’s like wiping your ass before you take a shit.” Yeah! Awesome! Let’s identify kids after they’ve been murdered instead of fixing issues that could ultimately prevent them from being murdered. It’s like wiping your ass before you take a shit. https://t.co/1V3i1lIfTc— Brett Cross (@BCross052422) October 18, 2022
Kits have started to be distributed this week. Parents are not obligated to send in DNA samples, though schools are obligated to inform parents about the kits.House speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview published today that Democrats need “to message [inflation] better in the next three weeks ahead” but ultimately expressed optimism over the election.“Inflation’s an issue, but it’s global,” she said. “What’s [Republicans’] plan? They ain’t go nothing.”.@PunchbowlNews AM: Our wide-ranging interview with @SpeakerPelosi. Here’s Pelosi on inflation: “We’ll have to message on it better.”Much more here: https://t.co/lhCIUjCrLg pic.twitter.com/AcbALvTV4K— Punchbowl News (@PunchbowlNews) October 19, 2022
Pelosi also said that the key for Democrats will be turnout. “We know the public is with us. But it’s about turnout. So I’m excited. We’ve outraised them, except for their big, dark money, which is endless.”When asked whether she’s worried about House minority leader Kevin McCarthy becoming speaker after the elections, Pelosi said: “We’re going to win this election so I don’t even entertain that notion. But it should be of concern to the Republicans.”Polls are showing a more uncertain future for Democrats, who have been slammed by Republicans over the economy and inflation over the last few weeks. A recent CBS News/YouGov survey found Democrats were two points behind Republicans on the congressional ballot.Democrats are using these next three weeks to try to electrify their base, sending out some of their prominent members to stump for candidates and encourage voters to head to the polls. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is heading west to speak to young voters at the University of California Irvine this Sunday. Irvine is in US representative Katie Porter’s swing district. .@AOC is heading to UC Irvine this Sunday to rally young voters: pic.twitter.com/nVXJMgx3Xc— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) October 18, 2022
Meanwhile senator Bernie Sanders is heading to eight states for at least 19 events over the next two weeks, including California, Nevada, Texas and Florida. “It’s about energizing our base and increasing voter turnout up and down the ballot,” Sanders told the New York Times. “I am a little bit concerned [about] energy level for young people, working-class people… And I want to see what I can do about that.” Last week, Barack Obama’s team announced that the former president will be heading to Milkwaukee to rally for Mandela Barnes, who is looking to unseat Republican incumbent Ron Johnson in a seat that Democrats see as vulnerable.Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate in a heated Georgia senate race against Democrat Raphael Warnock, is planning to hand out fake law enforcement badges that say “I’m with Herschel” as part of his campaign. During a debate with Warnock last week, Walker held up an honorary deputy sheriff’s badge after Warnock attacked him on his claims of being a law enforcement officer. Walker has never been a trained officer, though he has received the endorsement of law enforcement groups. In the debate, the moderator told Walker that props are not allowed on the debate stage.“Let’s talk about the truth,” Walker said while holding his honorary badge. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D): “One thing I have not done — I have never pretended to be a police officer, and I’ve never threatened a shootout with the police.”In response, Herschel Walker (R) pulled out a prop badge: “I am work with many police officers.” pic.twitter.com/Wyh6oYD9zB— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) October 14, 2022
Now, Walker’s campaign told NBC News that it has ordered 1,000 imitation badges as part of his campaign. “Herschel Walker has been a friend to law enforcement and has a record of honoring police, said Gail Gitcho, Walker’s campaign strategist. “If Senator Warnock wants to highlight this, then bring it on.”Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist in the Trump White House who is at the forefront of the Republican march toward hard-right populism, is throwing his weight behind a movement to radically rewrite the US constitution.Bannon has devoted recent episodes of his online show the War Room to a well-funded operation which has stealthily gained ground over the past two years. Backed by billionaire donors and corporate interests, it aims to persuade state legislatures to call a constitutional convention in the hope of baking far-right conservative values into the supreme law of the land.The goal is, in essence, to turn the country into a permanent conservative nation irrespective of the will of the American people. The convention would promote policies that would limit the size and scope of the federal government, set ceilings on or even abolish taxes, free corporations from regulations, and impose restrictions on government action in areas such as abortion, guns and immigration.“This is another line of attack strategically,” Bannon told his viewers last month. “You now have a political movement that understands we need to go after the administrative state.”By “administrative state”, Bannon was referring to the involvement of the federal government and Congress in central aspects of modern American life. That includes combating the climate crisis, setting educational standards and fighting health inequities.Mark Meckler, a founder of the Tea Party who now leads one of the largest groups advocating for the tactic, the Convention of States Action (Cosa), spelled out some of the prime objectives on Bannon’s show. “We need to say constitutionally, ‘No, the federal government cannot be involved in education, or healthcare, or energy, or the environment’,” he said.Meckler went on to divulge the anti-democratic nature of the state convention movement when he said a main aim was to prevent progressive policies being advanced through presidential elections. “The problem is, any time the administration swings back to Democrat – or radical progressive, or Marxist which is what they are – we are going to lose the gains. So you do the structural fix.”The “structural fix” involves Republican state legislatures pushing conservative amendments to America’s foundational document. By cementing the policies into the US constitution, they would become largely immune to electoral challenge.Inside Steve Bannon’s ‘disturbing’ quest to radically rewrite the US constitutionRead moreFlorida senator Marco Rubio had an intense debate last night with his opponent, Val Demings, currently a US representative. Demings, who is trying to be Florida’s first Black senator, pushed Rubio on issues ranging from abortion to gun control. Rubio, who is running for a third term, would not confirm whether he would support a federal ban on abortion that has no exceptions for rape on incest but sai, “every bill I have ever sponsored on abortion and every bill I’ve ever voted for has exceptions.” Demings responded by saying, “What we know is that the senator supports no exceptions. He can make his mouth say anything today. He is good at that, by the way. What day is it and what is Marco Rubio saying?” On gun control, Demings asked Rubio, “How long will you watch people being gunned down in first grade, fourth grade, school, college, church, synagogue, grocery store, movie theater, a mall and a nightclub and do nothing,” she asked. Demings is in an uphill battle trying to unseat Rubio in a state that has gone further to the right in recent years. Earlier this month, a poll showed Demings six points behind Rubio.Good morning, and welcome to the politics live blog. Joe Biden is set to announce the release of 15m barrels of gas from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve later today as the administration attempts to tamp down gas prices.The national average for gas prices stands at $3.85 a gallon today, according to AAA, slightly higher than the $3.34 a gallon that was seen this time last year. But it’s still lower than this summer, when gas peaked at over $5 a gallon.The move is Biden’s attempt to mitigate growing concerns over the economy as the midterms approach. Democratic candidates in heated races across the country have been facing attacks from their Republican candidates over inflation, which stood at 8.2% in September. Biden will make the announcement around 1 pm today.Here’s what else we’re watching:
Donald Trump is heading to DC court today for a deposition in the lawsuit brought by former magazine columnist E Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault. Carroll is suing Trump for defamation.
A Politico/Morning consult poll shows that Republicans may have an edge over Democrats in the midterms due to the economy: 81% say the economy will play a major role in their vote, and 80% said the same about inflation.
Stay tuned for more live updates. More
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Barack Obama to campaign for Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin Senate race
by Evelyn Reynolds 15 October 2022, 16:02
Barack Obama to campaign for Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin Senate raceBarnes, who would be the first Black senator from Wisconsin, is looking to unseat Republican Ron Johnson Barack Obama, who twice won Wisconsin by large margins, will travel to the battleground state in the final weeks of the current midterm elections, seeking to boost Mandela Barnes, the young lieutenant governor looking to unseat the Republican Ron Johnson in a key US Senate contest.Barnes would be the first Black senator from Wisconsin. He held early leads over Johnson but the Republican, a prominent figure on the GOP hard right, has surged back. This week, a Marquette University Law School poll showed Johnson in the lead.Herschel Walker denies abortion ban support and brandishes ‘police badge’ in Georgia debateRead moreBarnes, who is from Milwaukee, has been trying to energize Black voters in a contest that could decide control of the Senate, which is currently split 50-50 and controlled by Democrats through the vote of the vice-president, Kamala Harris.Obama, the first Black US president, is set to hold an early voting event on 29 October, less than two weeks before election day, in Milwaukee, the largest city in Wisconsin and home to its largest group of African American voters.Politico reported this week that the Barnes campaign was reaching out to high-profile Democrats, seeking support as he slips in the polls. Joe Biden, Harris and Bernie Sanders were also named as potential guests.Since his first run for the Senate in 2010, Johnson has marketed himself as a successful businessman upholding conservative values.But he has leaned heavily into rightwing conspiracy theories around the 2020 presidential election and Covid-19 vaccines and remedies. In turn, his approval rating has dropped to 45%, the second-lowest for a Republican senator.In a recent editorial, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in the state, called Johnson “the worst Wisconsin representative since the infamous Joseph McCarthy” and reminded readers he promised to serve no more than two terms, which he has now completed.“Voters should hold him to that pledge in November,” the newspaper said.But Johnson’s campaign has been gaining steam. Early polls showed Barnes with a slight edge but Johnson has launched an intense negative ad campaign, attempting to portray Barnes as bad for the economy in a time of high inflation and as a supporter for activists who want to defund police departments.The lieutenant governor has not backed such campaigns.At a heated debate last Thursday, Johnson, when asked to say something nice about his opponent, said that Barnes had loving parents and added: “What puzzles me about that is with that upbringing, why has he turned against America?”Wisconsin has long been a swing state. After voting for Obama twice, Donald Trump beat Hilary Clinton in 2016 by less than one point. Biden won with a similarly small margin four years later.The state is home to more tight races this midterm season, including the Democratic governor, Tony Evers, being challenged by Tim Michels, a construction company co-owner endorsed by Trump. Marquette polls have for months shown that race to be about even.Tammy Baldwin, the state’s other US senator, and Gwen Moore, a congresswoman who represents Milwaukee, are also slated to appear with Democratic candidates for office, including the serving attorney general, Josh Kaul.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022Barack ObamaWisconsinDemocratsUS SenateUS politicsnewsReuse this content More
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Senate candidate Herschel Walker brandishes 'police badge' in Georgia debate – video
by Eliana Willis 15 October 2022, 10:50
The Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker addressed his past claims about being a law enforcement officer by producing what he said was a police badge. The former college football and NFL star, who is endorsed by Donald Trump, was accused of ‘pretending to be a police officer’ by his rival, Democratic senator Raphael Warnock, during a debate on Friday. Saying ‘I have to respond to that,’ Walker produced his badge. Walker has never been a trained law enforcement officer, though he has law enforcement endorsements
Herschel Walker denies abortion ban support and brandishes ‘police badge’ in Georgia debate More
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Unchecked review: how Trump dodged two impeachments … and the January 6 committee?
by Evelyn Reynolds 15 October 2022, 06:01
Unchecked review: how Trump dodged two impeachments … and the January 6 committee? Rachael Bade and Karoun Demirjian’s account of how the Democrats failed to oust Trump is timely – and worryingOn Thursday, the House January 6 committee voted unanimously to issue a subpoena to Donald Trump. He has indicated he is considering testifying but surely the likelihood of him doing so under oath is nil. He lacks all incentive to appear. The committee’s long-term existence is doubtful.Trump a narcissist and a ‘dick’, ex-ambassador Sondland says in new bookRead moreIn their joint account of Trump’s two impeachments, Rachael Bade of Politico and Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post suggest the US is exhausted by the pandemic and perpetual investigation. The quest for “Capitol riot accountability became an afterthought to … other crises”, they write.Trump lost to Joe Biden by more than 7m votes nationally but only by the thinnest of margins in the battleground states. Trump is on the ballot this November, even if his name does not appear. The Republicans are primed to take the House and possibly the Senate.In other words, Trump’s future rests with the courts and the electorate, not Congress. For all the committee’s efforts, Trump remains either hero or villain depending on demographics, habits and preferences. Political identification is an extension of self.Against this dystopian backdrop, Bade and Demirjian deliver a granular examination of both Trump impeachments and the work of the January 6 committee. Their joint effort is a stinging indictment of what they see as Republican cravenness and Democratic ineptitude.The former allowed Trump to evade consequences, the latter failed to master the levers of power. The authors are alarmed but their words are measured. They worry about what might be next.“Even if they did not intend to, the Democrats’ efforts to oust Trump created a paradigm for hostile presidents to ignore subpoenas and buck [Capitol] Hill oversight,” Bade and Demirjian write.They also posit that “a party with congressional supermajorities may one day oust a president with no evidence at all”. Said differently, the impeachment process will become wholly debased, a cudgel to be deployed as the US careens through its cold civil war. House Republicans have raised the possibility of a Biden impeachment already.As is to be expected, Unchecked is well-sourced and noted. The book records the give-and-take between congressional leaders and members, at the same time helping the reader understand how the US reached this point.During the first impeachment, the authors capture Mitch McConnell as he rallies his Republican Senate troops. His pitch centers on power. He depicts impeachment over Ukraine as a smokescreen for the Democrats’ ambition to take the chamber.“This is not about this president,” McConnell said. “It’s not about anything he’s been accused of doing,” Rather, “it has always been about 3 November 2020. It’s about flipping the Senate.”McConnell loathed Trump but understood their fates could not be separated. If McConnell were pitted against Trump in a Republican popularity contest, the Kentuckian would be squashed. He lacked Trump’s appeal and was overtly linked to the donor base. Banker’s shirts do not signal “man of the people”. For McConnell, populism was an acquired taste, if that. He could fake it, to a point. But in the Senate, he held sway.At the same time, there was the reality of Trump’s approaches to Ukraine. As much as Trump lawyers argued there was no quid pro quo, in private, Senate Republicans weren’t buying it.Before the first impeachment trial, Ted Cruz of Texas met Trump’s team. He argued it was irrelevant whether their client engaged in a quid pro quo. Rather, the issue was one of intent. If uprooting foreign corruption motivated the contemplated transaction, that would be legally permissible. Cruz failed to persuade the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone. As the action shifted to the Senate, Trump’s lawyers angered Republican jurors. Alan Dershowitz equated presidential power to that of a king unchecked by parliament. “If the president does something which he believes will help get him elected, in the public interest”, that would be fine.Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of Republican leadership, was not amused. He demanded that Dershowitz be fired. The next day, the Harvard professor was gone.As for the Democrats, they failed to internalize that their audience was the Republican Senate. With Trump in the White House, Adam Schiff enjoyed a meteoric rise among Democratic House colleagues. But he left Senate Republicans unmoved. In the end, they were yawning.Fast forward to the second impeachment. Here, Bade and Demirjian depict Kevin McCarthy in all his oleaginous glory. The House minority leader devolves from someone who confronted Trump to an out-and-out sycophant.On January 6, McCarthy lambasted Trump over the riot. Within weeks, the man who would replace Nancy Pelosi as speaker traveled to Mar-a-Lago with hat in hand. He too realized that it was Trump’s party now.At its core, removing a president is about politics. For impeachment to succeed, it must transcend raw partisanship, a reality Pelosi expressed early on. Richard Nixon resigned because congressional allies would no longer protect him. The Watergate tapes were the smoking gun.Confidence Man: The Making of Trump and the Breaking of America review – the vain sadist and his ‘shrink’Read moreNow, with or without a criminal referral by the January 6 committee, justice department investigations of Trump are in full swing. On Friday, the Washington Post reported that a federal judge ordered Mike Pence to testify before a grand jury, and that earlier in the week the US Court of Appeals refused to block Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, from doing the same.But that is not the end of the story. Inflation continues, interest rates on home mortgages have shot above 7%, and Biden’s relationship to basic facts appears situational at best.With cost-of-living outstripping take-home pay, the saliency of abortion and the supreme court Dobbs decision diminishes. The Democrats also appear out of step on crime. In the midterms, shouting that democracy and the constitution hang in the balance will not be enough. Culture will always matter. Whether the Democrats can figure this out remains to be seen.
Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump is published in the US by HarperCollins
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Herschel Walker denies abortion ban support and brandishes ‘police badge’ in Georgia debate
by Evelyn Reynolds 15 October 2022, 03:27
Herschel Walker denies abortion ban support and brandishes ‘police badge’ in Georgia debateRepublican spars with Democratic senator Raphael Warnock in one-off contest in vital midterms race The Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, a staunch anti-abortion politician accused by a former girlfriend of encouraging and paying for her abortion in 2009, used his only debate against the Democratic senator Raphael Warnock on Friday to deny his previous support for an outright national abortion ban.The former college football and NFL star, who is endorsed by Donald Trump, was asked about his support for “a complete ban on a national level”. He said the moderator misstated his position. That contradicted statements made repeatedly on the campaign trail, including in July when Walker said it was “a problem” that no national ban existed.Walker also answered an attack from Warnock about his past claims about being a law enforcement officer by producing what he said was a police badge.Woman tells New York Times that Herschel Walker urged her to have second abortionRead moreWarnock said: “You can support police officers as I’ve done … while at the same time holding police officers, like all professions, accountable. One thing I have not done, I’ve never pretended to be a police officer. And I’ve never, I’ve never threatened a shootout with the police.”Saying “I have to respond to that”, Walker produced his badge.Walker has never been a trained law enforcement officer, though he has law enforcement endorsements.As Walker brandished his badge, the debate moderator said: “Mr Walker, Mr Walker – excuse me, Mr Walker. I need to let you know, Mr Walker, you are very well aware of the rules tonight. And you have a prop that is not allowed. Sir, I asked you to put that prop away.”Walker did not do so immediately.The moderator said: “Excuse me, sir. You’re very well aware of the rules, aren’t you?”Walker said: “Well, let’s talk about the truth.”Walker’s apparent battle with the truth over abortion has become a theme of the midterm elections. On Friday, he said his position was the same as Georgia’s state law, a so-called heartbeat bill that bans abortion at six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. That law went into effect this year after the US supreme court overturned the right to abortion.The heated exchange on abortion was one of many that highlighted stark differences between Warnock and Walker. Warnock did not directly bring up the allegation about Walker paying for an abortion, leaving moderators to elicit a flat denial. Walker blasted Warnock for being a Baptist pastor who supports abortion rights.“Instead of aborting those babies, why aren’t you baptizing those babies?” he said.Warnock said “God gave us a choice and I respect the right of women to make a decision”, adding that Walker “wants to arrogate more power to politicians than God has”.Warnock and his fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff won their Senate seats in a January 2021 special election, two months after Joe Biden beat Trump in Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes. It was the first time in two decades Democrats won federal elections in the state, raising questions about whether Warnock can win again as Biden’s popularity falls.In-person voting begins on Monday. The outcome will help determine control of the Senate, currently split 50-50.Republicans throw support behind Herschel Walker after abortion denialRead moreOnstage, Walker claimed Warnock was a Biden puppet, saying the election was about what they “had done to you and your family” in an inflationary economy. Warnock said the election was about “who is ready to represent Georgia”.Walker blamed Warnock and Biden for inflation but offered little when asked what he would do to fix it. Walker said the first step was “getting back” to energy independence rather than depending “on our enemies”. The US had never been free from fossil fuel imports, some from countries such as Russia.Warnock highlighted Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, focusing on provisions he sponsored capping insulin and other healthcare costs, the extension of the child tax credit and infrastructure provisions he shepherded with Republicans. He offered few specifics about further steps.Warnock declined to say if Biden, nearing 80, should seek re-election in 2024. Walker deviated from Trump by saying Biden won legitimately in 2020. But he said he would support Trump if he ran in 2024. Both Walker and Warnock said they would accept the outcome of their election.Both men discussed their personal lives. Recent reporting by the Daily Beast disclosed records of an abortion receipt and personal check from Walker to a woman who said he paid for her abortion. Walker’s denials have continued even after the woman identified herself as the mother of one of his four children. Walker acknowledged three children publicly for the first time only after Beast reporting.Other reports have detailed how Walker has exaggerated academic achievements, business success and philanthropic activities, as well as accusations he threatened the life of his ex-wife beyond details acknowledged in a 2008 memoir. In perhaps his most effective debate move, Warnock alluded to such stories.“We will see time and time again tonight, as we’ve always seen, that my opponent has a problem with the truth,” said Warnock.Dismissing reports that a foundation tied to Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he is senior pastor, had evicted tenants from real-estate holdings, Warnock said Walker was trying to “sully the name of Martin Luther King’s church”.Walker pointed to his memoir, in which he detailed a diagnosis of dissociative personality disorder. Walker said he had “been transparent” and “continue[d] to get help if I need help, but I don’t need any help. I’m doing well. I’m ready to lead today.”Walker declined three debates typical in Georgia campaigns. The Savannah debate did not include the libertarian Chase Oliver, who did not meet a polling threshold. Warnock will meet Oliver in a Sunday debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club. Walker will be represented by an empty podium.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022GeorgiaUS politicsUS CongressUS SenateRepublicansDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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