Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) conceded on Wednesday that he believed Democrats had a “good chance of winning the White House” as President Donald Trump’s likelihood of victory continues to dwindle according to recent polling data from multiple sources across a number of battleground states.
Continue reading “Graham Concedes On Live TV: Dems Have ‘Good Chance’ Of Winning WH”
A sitting senator on Thursday expressed her gratitude for an endorsement from … a first-time congressional candidate who’s promoted the insane QAnon conspiracy theory?
The D.C. Circuit vacated an earlier decision in the House’s long-running battle to enforce a subpoena on Don McGahn, saying that the full court would consider the case.
Continue reading “White House May Have Just ‘Won’ Its Long Fight Against The McGahn Subpoena”
Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci indicated on Thursday that he won’t be getting more aggressive in his pushback against the Trump campaign using his quotes out of context and without his permission to make it look like he was praising Trump’s COVID-19 response.
President Trump kept up his attacks against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Thursday morning by nonsensically accusing her of wanting to be a “dictator” a week after the FBI thwarted an alleged militia plot to kidnap her. Continue reading “Trump Accuses Whitmer Of Wanting To Be ‘Dictator’ After Alleged Plot Against Her”
Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has predicted privately that Democratic nominee Joe Biden will defeat President Donald Trump in the presidential election in a landslide victory, the Daily Beast reported Thursday.
The Australian-born billionaire who has been an influential supporter of the President in the past has remarked to close associates that Trump is his own worst enemy, according to the Daily Beast. Murdoch suggested to at least three Daily Beast sources that Trump has handled the COVID-19 pandemic poorly and ignored advice on how to better manage it, which has created a never-ending crisis for his administration.
Murdoch declined to comment directly when asked by the publication about the remarks attributed to him by associates — saying “No comment except I’ve never called Trump an idiot.”
Murdoch’s silence is perhaps unsurprising as a number of his publications have worked hard in recent weeks at boosting Trump even amid Murdoch’s quiet projections of Trump’s failure.
Murdoch has appeared to enjoy unhindered access to the White House, but has not spoken with Trump lately — at least for several weeks, sources confided to the Daily Beast — after Murdoch grew tired of Trump’s unending grievances about negative coverage from Fox News.
Murdoch has griped about Trump in the past, suggesting in a tweet ahead of the 2016 presidential election that then-candidate Donald Trump had been “embarrassing his friends and “the whole country.”
A Murdoch executive told the Daily Beast that Murdoch grew increasingly frustrated with Trump last winter, and at that time had even considered backing then-Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, whom he had pushed for a presidential run four years prior.
“With Trump becoming very serious candidate, it’s time for next billionaire candidate, Mike Bloomberg to step into ring. Greatest mayor,” he wrote in a tweet in August 2015. The New York Post, one of Murdoch’s papers, ultimately endorsed Trump in the primary, but did not officially weigh in when Trump went head to head with then-Demcratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Following Bloomberg’s failed bid for the Democratic ticket this year, one Murdoch associate told the Daily Beast that the media mogul is convinced the nation’s next president will be Biden.
This isn’t the first time Murdoch has predicted a declarative Democratic victory.
Ahead of the 2008 presidential election, Murdoch said that if then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama could overcome the hurdle of race he would likely win the election, telling two Wall Street Journal reporters at the time, “it looks like he overcomes that, overcomes that totally.”
Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, uploaded a video that included footage of him doing a racist imitation of a Chinese person on Wednesday.
Continue reading “Giuliani Uploads Video Showing Him Doing Racist Chinese Impression”
Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-CA) travel has been put on hold until Sunday after two people involved in Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign tested positive on Wednesday night. Continue reading “Harris’ Travel Canceled Through Sunday After Two Involved In Biden Campaign Contract COVID”
Let me just say right off the bat, I don’t do scary. I have a very vivid memory from when I was a child, hanging out with some friends and the beloved 80’s film, Predator was on TV. I was so uncomfortable that I physically turned my back away from the TV screen instead of watching some alien creature with night vision duke it out with Arnold Swartzenager in the middle of the jungle. My tolerance hasn’t changed much since then — if you want me to watch a horror movie with you, expect me to talk idly through the entire thing to avoid focusing on the gore happening on screen. I know, I am the perfect person to take to the movies.
Granted scary doesn’t necessarily, equal gore. With the right amount of tension, my heart and anxiety will race simultaneously. Part of what, I think, makes gothic novels so enticing is simple — the atmosphere and the anticipation of what’s about to happen are far scarier than what actually unfolds. Perhaps most share that sentiment.
This month TPM is recommending their favorite horror or gothic novels. Halloween (in the classic form of parties and trick-or-treating) may not be happening this year, but October does offer a great vibe for an engrossing book: foggy nights with clouds so low you can feel the rain in the air, the leaves start to fall from trees, covering what was once green grass (or concrete is you’re like us) and everything looks just a bit darker. As a fan of a good throw blanket, I very much look forward to the cozy nights to come. Comment below with some of your favorite, horror or gothic stories and if you like what you see, you can always purchase any of the books below by visiting our TPM Bookshop profile page. Be sure to check back again next month for some new staff recommendations, and if you’ve missed any, you can find all of our reading lists here. Happy reading!
House of Leaves: Mark Danielewski
“It’s a haunted house book. Kind of. You’ll love it or hate it, but you won’t forget it.”
We Have Always Lived in the Castle: Shirley Jackson
“If you were in the mood for a deliciously slow burn treatment of agoraphobia and intense tribalism, this is the story for you. Everything Shirley Jackson touches is gold though, and I love her short stories too — my favorite is the ‘Daemon Lover.'”
John Dies at the End: David Wong
“This is a deeply unsettling book filled with ghosts, corrupted realities, and more than a little gore. It’s also got a sense of humor that actually meshes really well with the horror, and we’re talking about a book that describes people’s heads exploding in detail.”
Rappaccini’s Daughter: Nathaniel Hawthorne
“As with many gothic tales, ‘Rappacinni’s Daughter’ is tale about a scientist who goes too far, and the unintended consequences of scientific advancement. As we march toward a world with artificial intelligence and virtual reality, the Hawthorne story remains as relevant as ever.”
Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Katherine Anne Porter
“This book is a series of three short novels, each quietly horrifying in its casual confrontation with death. But the one that left the biggest impression on me was the titular and final story, ‘Pale Horse, Pale Rider.’ It takes place as the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic hits Denver. A mysterious disease stalks the city in the background of much of the book, as the main characters walk by people falling ill and funeral processions roving the city. The protagonists are mostly caught in desperation, surrounded by death at home and the specter of World War One, deprived of any sense that they’ll survive far into the future. And as the deadly flu takes hold the city, one of the characters makes the memorable observation that “the streets have been full of funerals all day, and ambulances all night.”
Mexican Gothic: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
“An engrossing, page-turner, Mexican Gothic is more psychologically terrifying than gory. Just when you think you know how it’s going to end, Moreno-Garcia turns the whole situation upside-down.”
The Lovely Bones: Alice Sebold
“I read ‘Lovely Bones’ in middle school. It still haunts me, as a near 30-year-old and I think I have Sebold to thank for my unhealthy, albeit stereotypical, true crime obsession. If you didn’t destroy your innocence as a child reading this book, be sure to crack it open as an adult. Trigger warning: It is definitely not a story that children should be reading, but alas.”
The Shining: Stephen King
“I have a deep and abiding passion for all Stephen King books, but if you’ve not yet experienced his mastery, ‘The Shining’ is a perfect place to start. Infused with dread, it’s a pitch-perfect mix of tragedy and truly scary stuff. And no, you do not get to skip it if you’ve seen the movie because the movie is BAD — completely lacking in the nuance of the book, watered down ending, a total disservice to Wendy’s character and the little boy’s scared faces bug me.”
Phantom of the Opera: Gaston LeRoux
“The world famous musical began as a novel by Gaston Leroux. Inspired by earlier gothic authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and the inventor of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Leroux began working on his own work. Based in part on a real-life ‘phantom’ said to haunt the Palais Garnier in Paris, the Phantom of the Opera still stands as a masterwork of gothic literature.”
TPM partners with Bookshop, a non-profit bookseller whose objective is to help independent bookstores survive. TPM and independent bookstores both earn a small percentage of revenue for each book sold. You can learn more about Bookshop here, and on this episode of the Josh Marshall podcast.
The California Republican Party said Wednesday it will not comply with the state’s cease-and-desist order over unofficial ballot drop boxes which have made their way into at least four counties across the state.
“Ballot harvesting program will continue,” California Republican Party spokesman Hector Barajas told CNN in a statement defending the boxes which have been found in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and Fresno.
In spite of the cease and desist order, Barajas said Wednesday that the party may expand the program.
“We’re going to continue this program,” Barajas told CNN affiliate KABC in an interview. “If you want to take us to court, then we’ll see you in court.”
The comments appeared to echo a message from Trump who tweeted a day earlier that his party should fight the order.
“You mean only Democrats are allowed to do this? But haven’t the Dems been doing this for years? See you in court. Fight hard Republicans!” Trump tweeted Tuesday night after railing for months without evidence against what he has repeatedly called widespread “fraudulent” mail-in voting.
In a letter to the California Secretary of State on Wednesday attorneys for the state’s Republican Party said all of the ballot boxes dispatched by the party were indoors and staffed by volunteers or party officials. The letter also said that the unauthorized boxes were secure and not labeled “official.”
Images of the ballot boxes have shown that the unofficial boxes are labeled as “official,” but the state GOP contends in the letter that it had not authorized the term to be used and that the labels had been removed.
“The California Republican Party did not promote, or authorize the promotion of, the secure boxes as ‘official mail drop boxes,'” the letter states. “When we learned that a sign using the word ‘official’ was used in some locations on Saturday, October, 10, 2020, we corrected that error immediately and within hours.”
A spokesperson for California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) told CNN that Padilla’s office reviewing the GOP response letter.
During a CNN interview on Monday, Padilla called the drop boxes “fake” telling CNN’s Chris Cuomo that the move was wrong regardless of which party was dispatching the unauthorized boxes.
“We don’t have the requirements or regulations for these fake drop boxes as you do for the official drop boxes,” Padilla said adding that voters should instead be directed to official drop boxes which meet all state requirements.
Secure drop boxes that are state-sanctioned and monitored — have been widely promoted by voting rights advocates, including in California, where official boxes are widely accessible.
Outside of California, Republican officials have sung a different tune, moving to limit access to authorized drop boxes in states like Texas and Pennsylvania. On Friday, a federal appeals court temporarily reinstated limits on the expansion of ballot drop boxes in Ohio, suggesting “the State cannot be faulted for these voters’ choice to not take advantage of the other avenues available to them to cast their ballot.”
