The 2020 Presidential race

Last week, after a Goodyear employee revealed the company has banned "Make Amerioca Great Again" caps and other political attire in the workplace, Donald Trump called for a boycott. He tweeted, "Don't buy GOODYEAR TIRES. They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!)." Goodyear has its headquarters in Akron and a manufacturing plant in Fayetteville. Tomorrow, the Biden campaign will begin running ads in Ohio and North Carolina saying Trump is "spinning out of control" and "would risk American jobs to try to save his own." Indeed. Everything Donald Trump does, or tries to do, is ultimately for the benefit of Donald Trump.

Biden gains popularity in post-convention polling
CNN, Aug 23 2020 2:06 PM ET

The first polls taken after the Democratic National Convention are in and it mostly seems like "mission accomplished" for the Democrats. While it does not look like former Vice President Joe Biden's lead over President Donald Trump has widened, Biden may have made his advantage more durable by raising his own popularity. A new CBS News/YouGov poll puts Biden ahead by a 52% to 42% margin among likely voters. That's identical to the lead Biden had from the pollster before the conventions began.

The good news for Biden comes in the form of favorability ratings. A new ABC News/Ipsos poll shows that Biden's net favorability rating (favorable vs. unfavorable) is up compared to before the conventions. Biden's net favorability rating climbed 8 points from -3 points to +5 points among all adults. It's up from -2 points to +3 points among registered voters. Biden's jump into positive net favorability ratings is a big development – if it holds. Biden's problem has not been his numbers against Trump. He's over 50% support and his lead has been sizable and sustained. Biden's biggest issue has been voters' lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/23/polit...ion/index.html

On August 20, Donald Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity he would be sending law enforcement personnel to polling places on election day to guard against the "voter fraud" which does not exist anywhere except in his own mind: "We’re going to have sheriffs and we’re going to have law enforcement. And we’re going to have hopefully U.S. attorneys and we’re going to have everybody and attorney generals." Trump knows his blindly loyal supporters would march through the flames of hell to vote for him. What he wants to do is intimidate Democratic voters and keep them away from the polls. However, federal law prohibits the President from sending troops to election sites "unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States."

Homeland Security cannot send agents to polling sites: Acting DHS Secretary

https://www.aol.com/article/news/202...tary/24597485/

Donald Trump is doing everything he can to discourage people from voting. What is he afraid of?

Twitter hits Trump for 'misleading health claims' that could dissuade people from voting
CNN, Aug 23 2020 2:12 PM ET

Twitter today slapped a label on a tweet from President Donald Trump, who claimed in posts on Twitter and Facebook early this morning that mail drop boxes for voting "are not Covid sanitized" as well as a "voter security disaster." Hours after Trump sent the tweet, Twitter took action, saying, "We placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our Civic Integrity Policy for making misleading health claims that could potentially dissuade people from participation in voting." Now accompanying the tweet is the full following security notice: "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about civic and election integrity. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible." Trump's tweet saying that mail drop boxes are "not Covid sanitized" puzzled scientists, who note people are unlikely to catch the coronavirus from touching such a box.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/23/polit...ged/index.html

Donald and Melania Trump recently voted by mail in the Florida primary – but Trump doesn't want anyone else to vote by mail. He falsely believes vote-by-mail leads to widespread fraud and he falsely believes vote-by-mail favors Democrats. He has filed several lawsuits against states that plan to conduct voting by mail. What is he so afraid of?

Major Trump federal voting Pennsylvania lawsuit effectively shut down
CNN, Aug 23 2020 8:42 PM ET

President Donald Trump's plan to sue Pennsylvania in federal court to determine how the state conducts mail-in voting has been effectively shut down by a US district court judge. The judge, Nicholas Ranjan of the US District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania, decided today that Trump's federal lawsuit against the Secretary of the Commonwealth over the use of drop boxes, poll watching and other voting processes should be put on hold while state court cases about voting move forward. It's a setback for Republicans where there are several ongoing cases that could determine how the battleground state's voters cast ballots this election. Ranjan was appointed by Trump. Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states where Trump has sued to make mail-in voting tougher, making this case a closely watched one.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/23/polit...nia/index.html

"Presenting.....the Donald Trump political convention, starring Donald Trump, written by Donald Trump, produced by Donald Trump, directed by Donald Trump.....and did we mention it stars Donald Trump?"

Analysis: Trump-centric convention to emphasize Republicans' party of one
Stephen Collinson, CNN, Aug 24 2020 12:06 AM ET

If the cure for President Donald Trump's political problems is more Trump, this week's Republican National Convention will be a roaring success. The President will show up on each night of the convention, not on the last night as is traditional. And when he isn't grabbing the limelight, one of his relatives will be on stage or waiting in the wings. That ubiquity will feed his craving for attention and delight his supporters. But hours of Trump TV seem unlikely to win back disillusioned moderate Republicans and independents and will play directly into Democratic claims that Trump's self-obsession and refusal to listen makes crises worse. A Trump campaign adviser told CNN's Jim Acosta that aides are questioning the President's decision to appear every night of the convention. The adviser said the effect of Trump being in the limelight each night will take away from the drama that should build to the final night of the convention. "He just can't handle attention going anywhere but him," the adviser said.

That Trump would be so focused on planning a show that glorifies himself at a time when an average of 1,000 Americans are dying every day from the pandemic that he once said would just "disappear" is a telling insight into the President's real priorities. It could drive home the central message sent by Democrats last week that Trump is concerned only with his own political ambitions rather than the health and emotional well-being of a nation mired in crisis.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/24/polit...ion/index.html

"This is the greatest scam in the history of politics," declared Donald Trump today. What was he talking about? Voting by mail. Can somebody explain to him how a democracy works? He has no idea.

Trump claims Democrats trying to 'steal' election

https://www.aol.com/article/news/202...tion/24598583/

As expected, the first night of The Donald Trump Show – referred to by some as the Republican National Convention – was a parade of lies on a wide range of subjects, from China, guns and police funding to healthcare, employment statistics and postal funding. And Trump bragged that he's kept "every single one" of his promises. Another lie. Unfortunately, Trump's blindly loyal supporters believe everything he says. How sad. And how scary.

Fact check: First night of the Republican National Convention features more dishonesty than four nights of DNC

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/24/polit...eck/index.html

For four years, I've been saying the Republican party now exists in name only. It has become the Donald Trump party, with Trump as the leader of millions of blindly loyal supporters who worship him almost as much as he worships himself. Today, Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian agrees. By the way, the white St. Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters spoke at today's Donald Trump Show, a.k.a. the Republican National Convention. Our racist, bigoted white nationalist President must be proud.

Robin Abcarian: There is no Republican party anymore. There is only Trump. The convention proves it.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...tion-proves-it

CNN's John King says that if all the Republican-leaning states vote for Trump and all the Democratic-leaning states vote for Biden, the Presidential race may be decided by Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes. FiveThirtyEight.com's latest numbers show Biden with a 68% chance of winning Wisconsin. Among the other must-win states, Biden has a 77% chance of winning in Maine, a 62% chance of winning in Florida and a 53% chance of winning in Arizona.

US intelligence officials say there's no evidence to back up Trump's claims about threats to mail-in voting
CNN, Aug 26 2020 4:00 PM ET

US officials charged with protecting the 2020 election said today they have "no information or intelligence" that foreign countries, including Russia, are attempting to undermine any part of the mail-in voting process, contradicting President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly pushed false claims that foreign adversaries are targeting mail ballots as part of a "rigged" presidential race. Specifically, a senior intelligence official discounted the possibility of foreign actors mass-producing fake ballots to interfere in the November elections, again breaking with Trump, who has continued to insist that mail-in voting poses a significant threat to election security. A senior FBI official also said they have not seen evidence of coordinated national voter fraud related to mail-in ballots. Trump has repeatedly promoted the baseless lie that there is massive voter fraud in US elections.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/polit...ump/index.html

Doctor Trump has made another wacky diagnosis.

Trump mocked for suggesting he and Biden take drug tests before debates
HuffPost, Aug 26 2020 6:26 PM ET

President Donald Trump was thoroughly mocked on Twitter today for suggesting that he and Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden take drug tests before their upcoming debates. "This is what certified bats**t crazy looks like," said one Twitter user. Trump made the suggestion to Washington Examiner reporter Byron York after claiming, without evidence, that Biden was under the influence of drugs during the last Democratic primary debate against Senator Bernie Sanders. "I don’t know how he could have been so incompetent in his debate performances and then all of a sudden be OK against Bernie," Trump said. "If you go back and watch some of those numerous debates, he was so bad. He wasn't even coherent. And against Bernie, he was. And we’re calling for a drug test." This isn’t exactly a new tactic of Trump’s. In October 2016, he suggested that he and then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton take drug tests before their last debate after alleging, again without evidence, that she had been on drugs during their second debate.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump...b6cf66b2b24985

Donald Trump must be proud of Melania. She can tell lies just as well as he can.

Opinion: Republicans' fake feminism might have worked
CNN, Aug 26 2020 6:46 AM ET

If the first night of the Republican National Convention was about letting the Trump team's unhinged flag fly, night two was an attempt to leverage Trumpworld women to send a message of sanity and compassion. The scary thing is, it might have worked. First Lady Melania Trump closed out the night with a long speech that was notable for its demonstration of basic human compassion and decency, recognizing that there is still a pandemic going on and that it continues to kill Americans. The rest of the turn toward the soft and the gentle largely came from other women in Trump's orbit. The First Lady, who years ago parroted the racist claim that Barack Obama might not be a US citizen, used her convention dais to repeat her husband's flat-out lie that he had appointed a historic number of women to positions of power, a line that the administration has been pushing for years, when in fact Trump has appointed fewer women than any President in recent history.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/opini...vic/index.html

There seems to be an unwritten rule that anyone who speaks at the Donald Trump Show, a.k.a. the Republican National Convention, has to spew lies and conspiracy theories and resort to fear-mongering.

In 'law-and-order' speech, Vice President Pence warns against Biden win
Reuters, Aug 27 2020 3:05 AM

Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday cast the re-election of President Donald Trump as critical to preserving America's safety and economic viability, while cautioning Democrat Joe Biden would set the country on a path to socialism and decline. Amid widening protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, Pence and other Republicans at their national convention described the November 3 contest between Trump and Biden as a choice between "law and order" and lawlessness. "The hard truth is you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America," Pence told the crowd seated on a lawn at historic Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Pence repeated the unfounded charge that Biden supports liberal activist calls to "defund" the police. Biden rejects that approach and has promised instead to invest $300 million in grants to hire more diverse officers and train them to develop better relationships with communities.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN25M14R

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today Joe Biden should refuse to debate Donald Trump: "I don't think there should be any debates. I wouldn't legitimize a conversation with him." Biden disagrees. Three dabates are scheduled – but how do you debate someone who does nothing but lie? Joe Lockhart, a CNN political analyst and former White House press secretary under Bill Clinton, has a suggestion:

Opinion: How to make the Trump-Biden debates fair
Joe Lockhart, CNN, Aug 27 2020 7:53 PM ET

There are going to be Presidential debates this fall. But will we have an honest conversation where both candidates are given the chance to present their vision for the future or will the debates devolve into a series of lies from the President that former Vice President Joe Biden is forced to react to?

Debate rules are determined by negotiations between the two campaigns mediated by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Although not perfect, the commission has done a very good job of structuring the debates so both campaigns get what they need and, more importantly, the American public gets to make an informed judgment on who they will vote for. President Trump poses an unprecedented challenge to both the commission and the Biden campaign. He routinely lies about what he has done, what he has said and what is actually happening in the country. He famously said to Americans that they should not trust what they see and read; they should trust only him. Trump believes he can create a version of history that brings credit only to him and blame to everyone else, and that he can sell this alternative strategy to the American people. That worked in 2016 and it may work again in 2020.

So, how do we have debates that are a service and not a circus for the American public? I think it's important the debate commission recognizes the challenge of the moment: one of the debaters seems incapable of sticking to the truth. They must structure the format to take that into account, to allow for the moderator to call out lies no matter who they come from. The only way to get a liar to stop lying is to call him out on the spot. This can and must be done if these debates are to have any value.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/27/opini...art/index.html

As expected, Donald Trump tonight spewed another round of lies and fear-mongering. That's all he's done for the past four years and it's gotten him this far. Why should he stop now?

Analysis: Takeaways from Trump's final night at the RNC
Kevin Liptak, CNN, Aug 27 2020 11:47 PM ET

By the time President Donald Trump descended the South Portico steps tonight, the goals for this week's Republican National Convention had become clear: win back women, put coronavirus in the rear-view and convince Americans the President is not a racist. In a lengthy acceptance speech delivered almost entirely from a teleprompter, Trump sought to deliver on all three of those aims while also appeasing the base of supporters who helped propel him to the White House in the first place. The result was a made-for-television world in which the coronavirus pandemic has largely faded, the President is oozing with empathy and accusations he is racist are met with appalled denial.

Outside the fortified gates, things look different. The type of mass gathering the President arranged isn't possible nearly anywhere else. His insult-filled Twitter feed gives voters little evidence of hidden warmth. And his hardline "law and order" stance has veered into racist rhetoric. Yet in his speech, Trump essentially asked viewers to believe what he was offering instead of their own lived reality. He proclaimed his efforts to combat the virus were centered on "the science, the facts and the data," despite numerous evidence to the contrary, including the very mask-free crowd he had assembled for his speech. He declared that he had exceeded any previous President's efforts for the Black community, even as he's declined to address issues of systemic racism that have sparked nationwide protests. And he delved into dark premonitions about "violent anarchists, agitators and criminals" who he claimed would be given free reign if Joe Biden wins.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/27/polit...y-4/index.html

Television viewership for both the Democratic convention and the Republican convention was lower in 2020 than in 2016 – but the Democratic convention drew a much larger audience than the Republican convention. Donald Trump, our egotistical, narcissistic, delusional President who is obsessed with television ratings, tweeted this morning, "Great Ratings & Reviews Last Night. Thank you!" TJ Ducklo, national press secretary for the Biden campaign, offered a more realistic assessment: "Turns out Americans aren't really into the dark and dystopian view of the country that Donald Trump is presiding over as President."

Trump, defiant and dark as ever, claims Biden would destroy America

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/polit...sis/index.html

LeBron James (@kingjames) has 70,000,000 followers on Instagram. He is the NBA's most popular player right now and he is definitely an "influencer."

NBA star LeBron James emerges as potent political force ahead of election
Reuters, Aug 28 2020 3:09 AM

Two years after a conservative commentator told LeBron James to "shut up and dribble," the NBA star has become an increasingly influential political force as issues of racial justice and voter suppression move to the forefront in the November Presidential election. James, an outspoken activist and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, helped form a group that will spend millions of dollars to battle voter disenfranchisement in predominantly Black communities ahead of the November 3 election between the Republican Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

James also has helped push the National Basketball Association to recognize racial justice issues and the Black Lives Matter movement. The NBA said today its stadiums will be turned into polling places in November to allow for safe in-person voting in areas vulnerable to COVID-19 – an early initiative of James' group More Than A Vote. The NBA will also form a social justice coalition to work on increasing access to voting and promoting civic engagement.

James, who campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton four years ago, has promised to campaign for Biden this year. Given that Black voter turnout dropped in 2016 for the first time in 20 years, his influence could be critical in 2020, strategists and activists said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN25O1B9

This Yahoo News-YouGov poll surveyed only 807 voters who responded to a similar Yahoo News-YouGov poll in July. It shows Biden leading Trump by only six points. A new Morning Consult poll of 4,035 likely voters also shows Biden leading Trump by six points. But a new USC Dornsife poll of 2,569 likely voters shows Biden leading Trump 53% to 41%.

New Yahoo News-YouGov Poll: Biden's lead over Trump shrinks to 6 points after the RNC – his smallest margin in months

https://www.aol.com/article/news/202...-rnc/24603942/

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Biden leading Trump 47% to 41%. Most other polls show Biden getting at least 50% of the vote. A new ABC News/Ipsos poll shows Biden's favorability rating at 46%, 1% higher than a week ago, and Trump's favorability rating at 31%, 1% lower than a week ago. Polls do not really matter. What matters is votes. Sixty-five days till election day.

Analysis: Trump administration unleashes a new effort to undermine election integrity
CNN, Aug 30 2020 1:!0 PM ET

There are already concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election with an intelligence official warning earlier this month that Russia, China and Iran are all seeking to interfere in the Presidential contest this fall. The Trump administration created more fears about that possibility this weekend when it informed members of Congress that the Director of National Intelligence will no longer brief them in person on election security issues. It was yet another attack by the Trump administration on democratic institutions and the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution, and it is the latest in a long list of efforts by Trump and his administration to erode the checks on their power two months from Election Day, efforts that appear to have one goal in common: ensuring that the President will be reelected in November.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/30/polit...ing/index.html

There is no limit to the depths to which Donald Trump will sink as he continues to spew insults, lies, accusations and conspiracy theories. He is a total disgrace to the office of the Presidency.

Trump resumes campaign rallies and utters the unthinkable: 'If Biden wins...'
Yahoo News, Aug 29 2020 9:57 AM

One night after accepting the Republican nomination, Donald Trump resumed campaigning for reelection as though the coronavirus pandemic was a thing of the past, rallying hundreds of supporters at an airport hangar. But with the virus looming over the race, the President for the first time acknowledged even the theoretical possibility of defeat. "If Biden wins, which I honestly can't believe would happen, I will have lost to a low IQ individual," Trump told a boisterous crowd in the low hundreds gathered at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. His standing position has been that "the only way we're going to lose this election is if this election is rigged." The President's supporters stood shoulder to shoulder, most not wearing face masks that health experts say can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, which has killed more than 181,000 Americans.

Trump's speech was punctuated with remarks that belied an uneasiness about how the election will play out. "We’re going to have an unbelievable year unless somebody stupid gets elected and raises your taxes," he said. The President was in Manchester for a reason. An average of recent polls shows Biden leading Trump by 9.7 points in New Hampshire, although state Republicans have expressed confidence in being able to win in November. As yet there is no actual evidence in the Granite State so far to back up the President's assertion that "the poll numbers have swung" in his direction.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/202...able/24603763/

Donald Trump is attempting to portray himself as a law-and-order candidate while declaring that if Joe Biden is elected, we will have anarchy and rioting everywhere in the nation. On Fox & Friends August 27, Trump lapdog Kellyanne Conway declared, "The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reign, the better it is for the very clear choice on who's best on public safety and law and order." She also claimed that the cities where there have been violent clashes between police and protesters are "Democratically led cities and most with Democratic governors." Yes, the Trump administration's response to the violence is to blame Democrats and to take advantage of it in an effort to get Trump re-elected. Trump's dark, divisive, racist, us-vs.-them rhetoric has served only one purpose: to Make America Hate Again.

Biden condemns violence and asks if Americans 'really feel safe under Donald Trump'
CNN, Aug 31 2020 3:00 PM ET

Democratic nominee Joe Biden declared today that President Donald Trump has made America a more dangerous place – blaming Trump for fomenting racial unrest and sidestepping responsibility for the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis. "Do you really feel safer under Donald Trump?" Biden asked repeatedly in a speech in Pittsburgh. The former Vice President delivered a forceful response to Trump and his allies' racially charged claims that the looting and property damage that has taken place amid protests over racial injustice in some cities would spread to the suburbs if Biden is elected in November.

Biden condemned violence and destruction, calling it an affront to the tactics of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis. "I want to be very clear about all of this: Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It's lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted," Biden said. "Violence will not bring change, it will only bring destruction. It's wrong in every way."

Responding to Trump's claims that the suburbs, where Trump needs to win back white voters who have abandoned the GOP in droves on his watch, would not be safe if Biden wins, Biden asked, incredulously: "You know me. You know my heart. You know my story, my family's story. Ask yourself: Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?" He also condemned Trump, whose armed supporters have been involved in violent clashes with protesters, saying his refusal to call on his own supporters to "stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows how weak he is."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/31/polit...ech/index.html