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CNN editor Chris Cillizza, going on the assumption that Democrats will take control of the House and Republicans will narrowly keep control of the Senate, has written what we can expect to hear from Donald Trump on November 7:
"We always knew this was going to be a very tough election. Most presidents have lost huge numbers of seats in the House and Senate. When I first took office, many people said we would lose the House and Senate and lose them badly. Many presidents have suffered far greater losses in their first midterm election. Remember that we held the Senate yesterday. Maybe if those guys in the House had stuck a little closer to me, we might have held the House too. So true. So, all in all, this election is far better than the fake news media and the so-called experts were saying. And we still have control of the Senate, so important, so we can keep appointing conservative judges to the federal bench."
https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/10/31/pol...ump/index.html
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I take issue with CNN's headline. Now that we're in the 21st month of Donald Trump's Presidency, I doubt anybody is still shocked or surprised by anything Trump says or does. It's sad -- but true.
Trump shocks with racist new ad days before midterms
CNN, Nov 1 2018 8:53 AM
In the most racially charged national political ad in 30 years, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party accuse Democrats of plotting to help people they depict as Central American invaders overrun the nation with cop killers. The new web video, tweeted by the President five days before the midterm elections, is the latest example of the President's willingness to lie and fear-monger in order to tear at racial and societal divides; to embrace demagoguery to bolster his own political power and the cause of the Republican midterm campaign.
The web video -- produced for the Trump campaign -- features Luis Bracamontes, a Mexican man who had previously been deported but returned to the United States and was convicted in February in the slaying of two California deputies. "I'm going to kill more cops soon," a grinning Bracamontes is shown saying in court as captions flash across the screen reading "Democrats let him into our country. Democrats let him stay."
The ad recalls the notorious "Willie Horton" campaign ad financed by supporters of the George H.W. Bush campaign in the 1988 presidential election. Horton was a convicted murderer who committed rape while furloughed under a program in Massachusetts where Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis was governor. The ad has since come to be seen as one of the most racially problematic in modern political history since it played into white fear and African-American stereotypes. It was regarded at the time as devastating to the Dukakis campaign.
Trump's web video, while just as shocking as the Horton spot, carries added weight since, unlike its 1988 predecessor, it bears the official endorsement of the leader of the Republican Party -- Trump -- and is not an outside effort. Given that Trump distributed it from his Twitter account, It also comes with all the symbolic significance of the presidency itself. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said, "This is distracting, divisive Donald at his worst. This is fear mongering. They have to fear-monger and his dog whistle of all dog whistles is immigration. This has been Donald Trump's playbook for so long."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/31/polit...rms/index.html
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"Nationalism"? Let's be more specific: Donald Trump espouses white nationalism -- just like another dictator I could name.
Trump's nationalism is a breaking point for some suburban voters, risking GOP coalition
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ergt?ocid=AMZN
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Trump's outrageous, fear-mongering "cop killer" political ad omitted some details. Number one, the killer used an AR-15, the weapon of choice for mass shooters in the United States and a weapon that Trump and the Republicans refuse to ban. Number two......
Luis Bracamontes, cop killer in Trump's Twitter video, actually came back to the US under Bush
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/factc...dYxl?ocid=AMZN
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Senor, an adviser to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in 2012, says Trump's plan to abolish the 14th Amendment, which grants birthright citizenship, is unconstitutional and "conveys chaos." Almost everything Trump says and does conveys chaos.
GOP strategist Rick Senor: Trump's immigration stance is 'biggest risk' to Republicans in midterms
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republi...ration-issues/
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I don't know about a so-called 'blue wave' but I do know more green is going to the blue than to the red.
Democrats surge ahead of Republicans in fundraising for key races
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/u...ndraising.html
Wall Street is backing Democrats for the first time in a decade
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...wmO?li=BBnb7Kz
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Memo to Caitlin Conant: "Enthusiasm" does not win elections. What matters is votes -- and now, more than at any other time in our nation's history, people need to vote for candidates who uphold the Constitution, respect the freedom of the press, treat immigrants and minorities with respect, will take action to reduce gun violence and will fight for the middle class instead of for big corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
CBS News political director Caitlin Conant says Democrats 'have an edge' in enthusiasm in midterm elections
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-new...m-in-midterms/
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It's nice that people are voting -- but I'd feel better if I knew for whom and for what they are voting. We need to restore some sanity and decency to government. Actually, a lot of sanity and decency.
Early voter turnout in 27 states exceeds the 2014 total early vote
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/early-v...al-early-vote/
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Users of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites would be wise to heed the advice of the song I Heard It Through The Grapevine: "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear" -- but how do you know which half is true and which half is fake?
Twitter deleted more than 10,000 automated accounts that posted messages seeking to discourage people from voting in the US election Tuesday and wrongly appeared to be from Democrats
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/02/twit...ge-voting.html
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A CBS News commentary points out the obvious: Donald Trump "stokes fears, peddles falsehoods daily and snubs traditional US allies while embracing dictators." In the 37 states that allow early voting, more than 40% of voters have already gone to the polls. Let us hope they voted wisely.
Democrats' closing argument for midterm elections: 'We are better than this'
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/comment...ter-than-this/
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As long as people keep electing pro-gun, pro-NRA, anti-gun-control Republicans to Congress, there will never be any restrictions or limitations on gun ownership, assault rifles and high-capacity ammo magazines will never be banned, HIPAA restrictions will never be lifted and angry hateful lunatics will never be institutionalized and will continue to go on shooting sprees.
Parkland students captivated the nation but will their message resonate on election day?
Los Angeles Times, Nov 2 2018 11:45 AM
They’ve held hundreds of rallies including a massive gathering on the National Mall, appeared with Trevor Noah and other late-night television hosts and challenged elected officials to face-to-face debate. But nine months after the teenage students from Parkland, Florida were thrust to the fore of America’s daily political discourse following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, their calls for gun control, and for registering and turning out young voters, have been largely overtaken by the nation’s daily crush of controversies.
While the effort they ignited was viewed early on as a possible tipping point, even the slaying of 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue last weekend with weapons that included an assault rifle triggered a muted response concerning gun control. Yet as Tuesday’s midterm election looms, the students who launched the national movement known as March For Our Lives have remained undeterred, traveling to dozens of college campuses and registering voters while keeping gun control at the forefront of their pitch. They remain confident that even if they have personally receded from the national spotlight, their message continues to resonate.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-...018-story.html
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Most polls show the Democrats regaining control of the House -- but we know from the 2016 Presidential election that election results don't always turn out the way the pollsters predicted. However, Democrats remain optimistic.
CNN Key Races: Six races move toward Democrats as battle for control of the House enters the home stretch
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/03/polit...ate/index.html
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With absolutely no evidence, a Republican makes a false claim against the Democrats. Hey, if the President Of The United States can do it.......
Brian Kemp charges Georgia Democrats with attempted hack of voter registration system. Stacey Abrams fires back: 'Desperate.'
The secretary of state provided no evidence for his claim. Democrats called it a 'political stunt' two days before the election.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...s-back-n931011
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This is known as "hedging one's bets": CBS is predicting the Democrats will regain control of the house by a small margin.....or maybe by a large margin.....or maybe the Republicans will remain in control. What a bold prediction!
CBS News poll: House Democrats in position to gain but still face hurdles
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-d...cbs-news-poll/
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Trump has only one go-to strategy for campaigning for Republicans: Attack Democrats. When a speechwriter writes the declaration "We need to come together," Trump reads it from a teleprompter but he never believes it or acts upon it. He prefers to sow discord and division and our nation and our democracy suffer.
Trump on Stacey Abrams: 'One of the most extreme, far-left politicians in the entire country'
The President said the Democrat would "take Georgia backwards' in comments that came amid claims from her GOP rival of attempted vote hacking, claims for which he provided no evidence.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...d-vote-n931076
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Don'tcha love US elections? There are a hundred candidates.......and at least five hundred polls. Here is the latest one:
It's Democrats +8 in likely voter preference, with Trump and health care on center stage
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/demo...ry?id=58935954
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The Republican party no longer has any conscience, ethics or decency. It is the party of self-serving wealthy white men, racists, bigots, racists, xenophobes, racists and white nationalists. And did I mention racists?
Midterms test whether Republicans not named Trump can win by stoking racial animosity
The Washington Post,Nov 4 2018
The fierce battle for control of Congress and the nation's governorships has turned toward blatant and overtly racial attacks rarely seen since the civil rights era of the 1960s.
A new robo-call going out to voters in Georgia features a voice impersonating Oprah Winfrey and calling Stacey Abrams, who is running to become the nation's first black woman elected governor, "a poor man's Aunt Jemima." In Florida, the Trump administration's Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue urged voters not to elect Andrew Gillum, who would be the state's first black governor, with a colloquialism widely seen as having racial connotations: "This election is so cotton-pickin' important."
The 2016 election confirmed that a potential president could run — and win — after stoking racism. Now, in their closing days, the midterms are shaping up as a demonstration of whether the entire Republican Party can succeed by following his lead.
By running so overtly on racially tinged messages, the GOP is putting that explosive form of politics on the ballot. If Republicans maintain control of the House, the notion of running a campaign built on blunt, race-based attacks on immigrants and minorities will have been validated. A loss, on the other hand, might prompt a number of Republicans to call for a rethinking of the party's direction — but that would collide with a sitting president who, if anything, relishes over-the-edge rhetoric. The President salted his 2016 campaign with racial insults to Mexicans, Muslims and others and has continued in that vein as President.
As the campaign has barreled toward the final hours, the President expanded his nativist appeals, proudly calling himself a "nationalist" and trying to drive his base with threats about a caravan of Central Americans creeping toward the US border with Mexico.
Candidates in the past have tapped obliquely into racial undercurrents during political campaigns. Ronald Reagan talked of "welfare queens" and George H.W. Bush played on racial fears with an ad in his 1988 campaign about a black convict, Willie Horton. But the attacks are now much more blatant and out in the open, at a level not seen since the 1950s and 1960s.
The most blatant charges of racism have come in the South, where candidates Abrams and Gillum are attempting to become the first black governors of their states. The President has led the charge against them, calling Gillum "not equipped" and Abrams "not qualified" to be governor despite their long experience in government. Gillum is the mayor of Tallahassee and Abrams is a longtime legislator.
The robo-calls that have gone out in Georgia purport to be from Winfrey, who campaigned last week for Abrams. "This is the magical Negro, Oprah Winfrey, asking you to make my fellow Negress, Stacey Abrams, the governor of Georgia," the message says. "Years ago the Jews who own the American media saw something in me — the ability to trick dumb white women into thinking I was like them and to do, read and think what I told them to. I see that same potential in Stacey Abrams. Where others see a poor man's Aunt Jemima, I see someone white women can be tricked into voting for, especially the fat ones."
Similar calls have gone out in Florida, with a voice mimicking Gillum as jungle sounds and chimpanzee noises can be heard in the background. One Republican group called Black Americans For The President's Agenda released a radio ad in Arkansas that warned: "White Democrats will be lynching black folk again."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ity/ar-BBPleso
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Trump produces a racist ad filled with lies and now that some networks have pulled the ad, Trump's son and campaign manager are -- very predictably -- denouncing the networks as "fake news" who have an "agenda" and are supporting illegal immigrants. Of course they don't denounce the racist ad. They're Republicans, after all.
Fox News, NBC stop airing Trump immigrant ad deemed racist
CBS News, Nov 5 2018
NBC and Fox News Channel both said today they will stop airing President Trump's campaign advertisement that featured an immigrant convicted of murder. CNN had rejected the same ad, declaring it racist. Fox pulled the ad Sunday "upon further review," said Marianne Gambelli, president of the network's ad sales department. Fox did not immediately say how many times it aired on either Fox News Channel or the Fox Business Network. The advertisement aired on NBC's Sunday Night Football and MSNBC's Morning Joe and drew a heated online response. After reviewing the ad, NBC said it recognizes its insensitive nature. The ad was produced by the Trump campaign, with an ad buy of $1.5 million across TV and digital platforms.
The ad includes footage of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported immigrant from Mexico sentenced to death in California for killing two police officers. It blames Democrats for allowing him into the country. The ad, however, is not factual. It is akin to blaming Republicans for criminals who entered the country illegally under Presidents Trump or George W. Bush. There is no evidence that any Democrat — or anyone, for that matter — allowed Bracamontes to stay.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fox-new...st-2018-11-05/
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Donald Trump said the only reason he lost the popular vote in 2016 was because as many as five million people voted illegally -- and apparently every one of them voted for Hillary. In May 2017, he created the Advisory Commission On Election Integrity to investigate the alleged voter fraud. After finding no evidence to support Trump's allegation, the commission was dissolved in January 2018. Our delusional President obviously thinks those "five million illegal voters" are still out there.
Trump keeps warning of voter fraud despite lack of evidence
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/05/polit...rms/index.html
Trump tries to intimidate voters with 'law enforcement is watching' tweet
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/...te-voters.html
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Will the predictions of a "blue wave" in tomorrow's midterm elections turn out to be accurate? Democrats have around an 85% chance of regaining control of the House and a very small, but not impossible, chance to win control of the Senate. Tomorrow night we will learn the extent to which voters are turned off by Trump's hatred, bigotry, racism, misogyny, constant lying and anti-immigrant policies. Trump has destroyed the Republican party and that does not bode well for Republican candidates, especially when the majority of them, by their silence, condone everything Trump says and does.
Democrats see late surge in Senate battlegrounds
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...nf4f?ocid=AMZN
Democratic anger could spell victory in Wisconsin: 'They hate Scott Walker'
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...nbxh?ocid=AMZN
