Great piece oh how Trump’s final meltdown may foil the GOP’s efforts to get out of decades old restrictions tied to attempts to intimidate and suppression African-American voting over 30 years ago. Check it out.
A lot of Democrats would prefer someone younger and a bit more progressive than Judge Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court. If Hillary Clinton is elected President and she has a Senate majority, I suspect they’ll get that. Now Sen. Jeff Flake says he’s encouraging his colleagues to confirm Garland in the lame duck session of Congress if Clinton is elected. That could set up a very paradoxical situation in which Senate Republicans are suddenly Garland’s gung-ho-est supporters.
It’s amazing to see a whole new generation learning about the opportunistic bs of Betsy McCaughey. Folks in this cycle know her as the one who says you can’t oppose sexual assault if you like Beyoncé. But Betsy’s been around forever as a person who uses dubious professional credentials to get behind all manner of straight up lies.
Charlotte Fryar, author of a TPM longform piece about Frank Porter Graham and the political climate of N.C. (a crucial swing state), is joining Prime members in the Hive on 10/25 to discuss Graham, N.C. politics, and her views on how the election will go in the Tar Heel State. This conversation will be moderated by TPM — get in your questions here before 1 p.m. next Tuesday.
It’s October 20 and the PollTracker Average stands at Clinton 47.1 percent, Trump 43.1 percent, a four percentage-point spread
The TPM Electoral Scoreboard stands at Clinton 323, Trump 161. Evan McMullin is leading in Utah, worth six electoral votes. Alaska, Arizona, Ohio and Georgia are in the Toss Up category.
Here’s a critical exchange from tonight about the Russian disruption campaign in the 2016 election. It’s overshadowed by the refusal to accept the results of an election. But it was also crucial for what both candidates said.
To understand a debate like this we need to begin with the context. Winning or losing debates doesn’t matter. Mike Pence arguably won the Veep debate; but the net effect of the debate hurt his ticket. All that really matters is the impact debates have on the election outcome. Hillary Clinton now has a sizable lead. Trump was the one who needed to dramatically shift the trajectory of the election. By that measure, he clearly failed.
10:36 PM: African-Americans have “no education.” … “Our inner cities are a disaster. You get shot walking to the store. They have no education. They have no jobs. I’ll do more for African-Americans and Latinos that she can do for a lifetime.”
10:34 PM: I’d say Wallace did a pretty solid job overall. Didn’t make himself part of the debate but kept things moving, controlled things.
10:32 PM: “Such a nasty woman.” Actually surprised he didn’t call her disgusting.
10:31 PM: Trump is ‘glad’ that Obamacare premiums are going up. Good to know.
10:30 PM: I’ll just say it again. The arbiter of budget reality, Social Security, Medicare etc etc is a right-leaning social insurance cutting group. It’s a viewpoint. But it is far from established fact. In fact, a lot of it is deliberately misleading.