Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore conceded that President Trump’s performance was “crappy” during the debate he hijacked against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden earlier this month. Continue reading “Trump Economic Adviser Joined In On Panning POTUS’ ‘Crappy’ Debate Performance”
Unmasked Mike Lee Makes Ironic Case For Government Protecting Life
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) offered an ironic remark Tuesday in the abortion rights debate that has surfaced amid Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s hearing, as some Democrats fear she is likely to challenge the Roe v. Wade decision.
“Life is valuable. That is not a religious statement,” Lee said, appearing to defend Barrett’s conservative values, adding: “a purpose of government is to protect life.”
The comments ca,e after Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) had pressed Barrett on whether or not she believed the landmark Roe v. Wade case was correctly decided.
Lee was one of three GOP senators who was diagnosed with COVID-19 in recent weeks, yet he was not wearing a mask during Tuesday’s hearing. His refusal to wear a mask undercuts the wisdom of public health experts who have encouraged mask-wearing to protect lives, citing evidence that the practice helps curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus which has now killed roughly 215,000 people in the United States.
Amid questions about the safety of his presence in person at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing for Barrett, Lee said on Monday that an attending physician for Congress had cleared him as “no longer contagious.”
Lee had announced a positive test for coronavirus just 10 days prior to the first day of the hearing on Monday after attending a ceremony nominating the Trump Supreme Court pick at the White House on Sept. 26. The event, where few wore masks and several attendees later tested positive for the virus, has since been labeled a “super-spreader event” by public health experts.
Where Things Stand: Choosing Between Covering A Sitting POTUS And Reporters’ Health
The nation’s top news outlets are no strangers to the task of weighing how to cover this unprecedented president. Over the last few years, they’ve wrestled with how to avoid both-siderism, what to do with his distraction techniques, and whether or not to fact-check the blustering, evidence-free speaker.
But now newsroom leaders are facing a new challenge with President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis: How do they justify risking reporters’ lives in order to cover the public health-defying campaign?
Boots On For The Boogaloo: A Journey Into The Dark Web Of White Supremacy
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It is excerpted from Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy by Talia Lavin. Copyright © 2020. Available from Hachette Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
In the summer of 2019, white supremacists felt constrained by widely publicized — if in practice halfhearted—attempts to curb the spread of racist and conspiratorial rhetoric on mainstream social-media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. While white-supremacist foot soldiers continued to maintain a robust presence on mainstream social media, they also began to seek alternatives.
Continue reading “Boots On For The Boogaloo: A Journey Into The Dark Web Of White Supremacy”
GOP Hates Drop Boxes Everywhere Except California, Where It’s Made Its Own
The Republican Party has fought across the country to restrict the use of drop boxes for voters to return their mail-in ballots. But in California, the state party has gone in the opposite direction, creating their own ballot boxes and playing so loose with the rules that state has had to step in.
Continue reading “GOP Hates Drop Boxes Everywhere Except California, Where It’s Made Its Own”
Giuliani Declares ‘People Don’t Die Of This Disease Anymore’ Amid Rising COVID Deaths
Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani went all in on President Trump’s efforts to portray himself as an all-powerful strongman who has beat COVID-19 (he has not) during an indoors Italians for Trump rally in Philadelphia Monday night. Continue reading “Giuliani Declares ‘People Don’t Die Of This Disease Anymore’ Amid Rising COVID Deaths”
Retrofitting the Presidency
Given the wreckage of the Trump administration and the vulnerabilities in the office of the Presidency it has exposed, is it possible to retrofit the office to prevent or at least limit its vulnerability to Trump-like abuses? Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith, two lawyers who served respectively at the highest levels of the Obama and Bush administrations, have written After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency, a systematic review of how to bring the office of the Presidency up to code after the debacle of Trumpism.
Watch my conversation with Bauer and Goldsmith in this Inside Briefing from earlier this month.
Virginia’s Online Registration System Goes Down, Scrambling In-Person Voting
A cut cable has shut down Virginia’s statewide online voter registration system, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Continue reading “Virginia’s Online Registration System Goes Down, Scrambling In-Person Voting”
Romney Puts Trump On Blast In Scathing Rebuke Of ‘Hate-Filled Morass’ In US Politics
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) put out a blunt statement on Tuesday on how he has become “troubled” by “our politics, as it has moved away from spirited debate to a vile, vituperative, hate-filled morass that is unbecoming of any free democracy.”
FBI Agent: Anti-Gov Groups Also Discussed Kidnapping Virginia Governor
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Members of anti-government paramilitary groups discussed kidnapping Virginia’s governor during a June meeting in Ohio, an FBI agent testified Tuesday during a court hearing in Michigan.
Continue reading “FBI Agent: Anti-Gov Groups Also Discussed Kidnapping Virginia Governor”