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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/
