The Trump campaign deepened the echo chamber of the President’s attacks against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Sunday as they repeated his gripe that the Democratic governor should be more appreciative after the FBI foiled an alleged right-wing conspiracy to kidnap and possibly kill her earlier this month. Continue reading “Trump Camp Jabs Whitmer For Lacking Gratitude After Prez Emboldened ‘Lock Her Up’ Chants”
Dems Answer Whitmer’s Call To Roundly Condemn Trump For Amplifying ‘Lock Her Up’ Chants
Prominent Democrats echoed Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) call for the public to roundly condemn President Trump a day after he joined his supporters’ “lock her up” chants during a rally in Michigan. Continue reading “Dems Answer Whitmer’s Call To Roundly Condemn Trump For Amplifying ‘Lock Her Up’ Chants”
Cornyn Likens His Private Disagreements With Trump To A Bad Marriage: ‘He Is Who He Is’
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) admitted to having private disagreements with President Trump on several issues during an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board published Sunday. Continue reading “Cornyn Likens His Private Disagreements With Trump To A Bad Marriage: ‘He Is Who He Is’”
Trump Camp Keeps Bolstering POTUS’ Self-Proclaimed QAnon Ignorance
The Trump campaign on Sunday continued defending the President’s refusal to disavow QAnon — a group that has been labeled by the FBI as a domestic terror threat — during an NBC News town hall by rehashing his self-proclaimed ignorance of the group, despite his history of endorsing QAnon-aligned GOP congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene and promoting unfounded claims from QAnon-affiliated accounts on Twitter. Continue reading “Trump Camp Keeps Bolstering POTUS’ Self-Proclaimed QAnon Ignorance”
Lara Trump Insists Prez Was Just ‘Having Fun’ As He Fueled ‘Lock Her Up’ Chants At MI Rally
Trump campaign senior adviser Lara Trump defended her father-in-law on Sunday when grilled on the President’s latest attack against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) during a rally the night before, which involved joining in on chants of “lock her up” just days after the FBI foiled an alleged right-wing conspiracy to kidnap and possibly kill her. Continue reading “Lara Trump Insists Prez Was Just ‘Having Fun’ As He Fueled ‘Lock Her Up’ Chants At MI Rally”
Whitmer Urges ‘People Of Good Will On Both Sides’ To Condemn Trump’s ‘Lock Her Up’ Rhetoric
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) hammered into her condemnation of President Trump’s incendiary rhetoric a day after the President blasted her for the COVID-19 restrictions she implemented, which prompted chants of “lock her up” from his supporters. Continue reading “Whitmer Urges ‘People Of Good Will On Both Sides’ To Condemn Trump’s ‘Lock Her Up’ Rhetoric”
Biden Camp Says ‘Even The Best Polling Can Be Wrong’ In Call To Deepen Lead
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign is urging supporters not to let down their guard in the final stretch of the presidential race suggesting in a memo that “even the best polling can be wrong.”
“We cannot become complacent because the very searing truth is that Donald Trump can still win this race, and every indication we have shows that this thing is going to come down to the wire,” Biden campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon wrote in a memo to supporters obtained by the Washington Post.
Dillon said that although many national polls show a widening lead for the Democratic candidate, polls can lack precision or be faulty, which appeared to be the case in 2016.
The memo further warned that Biden held only a slim lead in some key battleground states and Biden’s campaign manager urged Democratic supporters to stay focused in the last leg of the race in spite of a shifting attitude and move by some GOP senators to distance themselves from the President in what some within the party have projected as a potential Republican loss of the White House in November.
“While we see robust leads at the national level, in the states we’re counting on to carry us to victory like Arizona and North Carolina we’re only up by three points,” Dillon said, according to the Post. “We also know that even the best polling can be wrong, and that variables like turnout mean that in a number of critical states we are functionally tied — and that we need to campaign like we’re trailing.”
A number of polls have shown Biden with a healthy lead, but polling averages offer a different picture, Dillon said.
“This race is far closer than some of the punditry we’re seeing on Twitter and on TV would suggest,” she wrote. “In the key battleground states where this election will be decided, we remain neck and neck with Donald Trump.”
“If we learned anything from 2016, it’s that we cannot underestimate Donald Trump or his ability to claw his way back into contention in the final days of a campaign, through whatever smears or underhanded tactics he has at his disposal,” she added.
According to The New York Times, Dillon made a similar pleas urging grass-roots supporters to beat back complacency during a call with Biden backers on Friday. She contended during the call that Biden was not as comfortably ahead as some public polls have suggested.
“Please take the fact that we are not ahead by double digits,” she said. “Those are inflated national public polling numbers.” Still, she was particularly bullish on Arizona on the call: “I know we’re going to win Arizona,” she said.
She predicted that the Trump campaign would throw “the kitchen sink at us” in the final stretch and called on supporters to continue volunteering and donating.
Dillion said the campaign hopes to raise an additional $234 million before Election Day after entering October with a record-breaking $432 million the Times said.
Man Arrested In Threat To Kidnap and Kill Wichita Mayor Over Mask Mandate
A Wichita man has been arrested for an alleged threat to kidnap and kill Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple (D) over frustration with the city’s mask mandate.
Per the Witchita Eagle, the suspect had expressed opposition to “masks and tyranny,” in a series of texts reviewed by the city’s mayor.
“He said he was going to kidnap me and slash my throat and he needed my address because I needed to see the hangman,” Whipple said.
“It sounded like the person was very upset about pretty much mask mandates and he said something about not being able to see his mother because of COVID restrictions on elderly homes,” he added.
The news comes months after Whipple in July pushed for a city ordinance requiring face coverings to be worn in most public spaces in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus amid a wave of similar mandates in other cities and states nationwide.
According to the Eagle, the suspect, Meredith Dowty, 59, a retired Wichita city firefighter, was also a well-known local musician who plays guitar and harmonica and has performed in local bars and nightclubs under the name “Cathead.”
Years before his alleged threat to kidnap and kill the mayor over mask requirements, Dowty was honored for his service by the Wichita City Council in 2008 for helping to save the life of a Wichita police officer who was shot in the line of duty, the Eagle reported.
According to the Eagle, Dowty was also notably among the first rescuers on the scene at a 1998 explosion of the DeBruce Grain Elevator south of Wichita, helping to remove four seriously injured people from the damaged elevator which killed seven and injured 10 employees.
Dowty who was placed behind bars at Sedgwick County Jail on Friday evening could face a charge of criminal threat the police told the Eagle.
Wichita police spokesman Charley Davidson confirmed to the paper that the department is investigating the threat and did not as of Friday evening believe that other officials had been targeted in the case.
The case is the latest example of how President Donald Trump’s months-long tirade against masks, mocking officials who wear them while refusing to wear one himself has appeared to promote sometimes violent consequences.
The President after falling ill with COVID-19 earlier this month, only recently offered tepid acceptance of masks during a Thursday night town hall on NBC — saying he was “okay with masks” after a long record of politicizing the point of guidance from public health officials to promote a fiery debate that appears to be on the verge of drawing blood in recently foiled plots.
The reported threat comes just weeks after a foiled alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, (D) who was targeted for restrictions in her state amid efforts to protect against the virus’ spread.
13 men were charged with various state and federal crimes in the Whitmer case, including terrorism and conspiracy in the alleged kidnapping scheme to put Whitmer on trial for “treason.”
On Tuesday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was revealed as a second Democratic target for what authorities have said were violent plots against lockdown orders to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Whipple, also a Democrat, has said he believes Dowty’s posed a credible threat and that he will need additional security to protect his family in the aftermath of the alleged threat.
“This wasn’t just some guy popping off on social media,” Whipple said. “He contacted someone that knows where I live that apparently he thought would give him my address.”
Michigan Court Blocks 2-Week Extension For Absentee Ballots
The Michigan Court of Appeals on Friday said that absentee ballots must arrive by Election Day to be counted, blocking a 14-day extension that had been ordered by a lower court.
The Republican-appointed appeals court judges said changes rest with the Legislature, not the judiciary, in a 3-0 opinion that was met with criticism by Democratic officials in the battleground state which is being closely watched this year after President Trump won the state by a slim margin in the 2016 presidential election.
Absentee ballot extensions in two other Midwestern states including Wisconsin and Indiana have also been overturned by higher courts ahead of next month’s election as parties scramble to gain an edge.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson noted a marked increase in requests for absentee ballots last week by roughly 2.7 million voters total, after a change in law made them available to any voter in an election that has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic and pushed many voters toward casting ballots by mail.
Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens had previously ordered that any ballots postmarked by Nov. 2 could be counted if they arrived within two weeks after the Nov. 3 election noting that there was “unrefuted evidence” about mail delivery problems citing more than 6,400 late-arriving ballots that were not counted in the August primary.
The appeals court, however, said the pandemic and widely criticized mail delivery challenges that became central to congressional debate over the summer “are not attributable to the state.”
“Although those factors may complicate plaintiffs’ voting process, they do not automatically amount to a loss of the right to vote absentee,” the court said. In its decision, the court underlined voters’ access to special boxes to deposit completed ballots.
The court also reversed part of Stephens’ earlier decision which would permit a non-family member to deliver a voter’s ballot with consent in the final days before the election.
“The constitution is not suspended or transformed even in times of a pandemic, and judges do not somehow become authorized in a pandemic to rewrite statutes or to displace the decisions made by the policymaking branches of government,” Judge Mark Boonstra said of the allowance in a separate opinion, according to the Associated Press.
Boonstra along with two other appeals court judges who heard the case — Michael Gadola and Thomas Cameron — were appointees of former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) when he held that post.
Benson and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats, had declined to appeal Stephens’ rulings, leaving it to the Republican-controlled Legislature to offer intervening opinions.
“Happy to see this unanimous ruling to uphold the integrity of our elections process and reject judicial overreach,” Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey said in a tweet lauding the decision on Friday.
The Michigan Democratic Party called the reversal an unfair punishment for postal delays.
“Voters should not be punished for delays in the U.S. Postal Service or for unexpected emergencies that could make it a challenge for them to get to the polls on Election Day,” the party said per AP.
Perdue ‘Didn’t Mean Anything By’ Mocking ‘Kamala-mala-mala’
The reelection campaign for Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) is responding to criticism of what some have called a willfully racist move — claiming that the Georgia senator on Friday “didn’t mean anything by” what looked like a purposeful mispronunciation of the first name of the senator’s colleague of nearly four years, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Perdue, who serves on the Senate Budget Committee with Harris, appeared to mock his Senate colleague’s name when ahead of Trump’s speech at a rally in Macon, Georgia, he referred to the vice presidential candidate as “Kamala, -mala, -mala, I don’t know, whatever,” to jeers of laughter from the crowd.
Here is the video of Senator David Perdue mangling the pronunciation of Kamala Harris’s name. pic.twitter.com/aVJU451bDi
— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) October 16, 2020
The nominee’s press secretary, Sabrina Singh, swiftly condemned the move to mock Harris’ name calling it “incredibly racist” in a tweet on Friday.
But Perdue’s campaign has rebuffed complaints in a statement on Friday saying the lawmaker had “simply mispronounced Sen. Harris’s name, and he didn’t mean anything by it.”
Kamala is pronounced “‘comma-la,’ like the punctuation mark,” the California senator has previously said.
“He knows her name,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) chimed in on Saturday in a tweet rebuking Perdue’s butchered pronunciation of his colleague’s name. “There are only 100 of us. And he thinks he can get by with this.”
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Helen Kalla called the response from Perdue’s campaign a “trash cleanup that literally no one believes” in a Friday tweet, later noting that Perdue had served along Harris in the Senate since 2017.
“He knows her name and he knows how to say it,” Kalla said, adding: “His disgusting performance today is nothing more than a desperate dog whistle from a losing politician who was already caught running anti-Semitic ads against Jon Ossoff.”
Perdue previously came under fire for an anti-Semitic move — depicting Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff with a digitally altered nose in an ad that was later removed from Facebook by Perdue’s campaign. A campaign spokeswoman called the distorted image “accidental” in what has become a common excuse for race-baiting and anti-Semitic attacks.
Chair of Georgia’s Democratic Party, Nikema Williams went a step further when she suggested that Perdue owed voters in the state an apology for what she also contended was a deliberate mispronunciation of the Democratic vice presidential nominee’s name.
“Senator Perdue’s intentionally disrespectful mispronunciation of Senator Harris’s name is a bigoted and racist tactic straight from President Trump’s handbook. He owes Georgians an apology for his offensive display,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Nikema Williams.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly mispronounced the vice presidential nominee’s name while conservative commentators following that lead have often claimed to do so by mistake.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson — who on his Friday show appeared to question the necessity of disavowing white supremacy — snapped at a guest when he was corrected for mispronouncing Harris’ name shortly after Biden revealed the California senator as his running mate claiming he had done so “unintentionally.”
“So it begins, you’re not allowed to criticize Kuh-MAH-la Harris, or CA-muh-la, or whatever,” Carson said in August. He has since repeatedly attacked the senator on the basis of her race and gender, as she takes the spotlight as the first Black and South Asian-American woman to appear on a major party’s presidential ticket.