Donald Trump
Robust News Cycle Leads To CNN’s Best Ratings In 40 Year History
Trump Cancels Alabama Rally Amid Rising Coronavirus Concerns
Donald Trump (image via public domain/White House)
Trump was slated to travel to the state ahead of the Senate race between his former attorney general Jeff Sessions and the former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, but plans were called off as state officials voiced concerns about a mass gathering and campaign officials ultimately decided against it.
A person close to the campaign said there are currently no rallies on the horizon, but aides are scoping out possible venues for when they decide to host them again.
“We don’t ever confirm where we’re looking until a rally date and location are announced. There is always work underway to identify sites,” said Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign.
On Tuesday, Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey announced an amended order, which will extend the current rules until the end of July. The order encourages minimizing travel outside the home and wearing face coverings when doing so. The order also states that “all non-work related gatherings of any size, including drive-in gatherings, that cannot maintain a consistent six-foot distance between persons from different households are prohibited.”
You’ll recall Trump’s recent return to the campaign trail in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was a less-than-spectacular result as eight pre-event campaign staffers tested positive for COVID-19 just before the rally. Following the event, which drew less than half capacity, dozens of Secret Service agents had to self-quarantine after two agents tested positive as well.
Parody: Randy Rainbow Wants Donald Trump To “Cover Your Freakin’ Face!”
Political satirist Randy Rainbow has some good advice for Donald Trump in his clever parody of “Put On A Happy Face” from the classic Broadway musical, Bye Bye Birdie. In his health-conscious iteration of the tune – “Cover Your Freakin’ Face!” – Rainbow addresses Trump’s avoidance of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic even though the federal government’s experts say it’s an important safety measure in tamping down the spread of the virus.
Please don’t politicize it, Don’t be a putz like Pence Don’t sit and scrutinize it, It’s only common sense Don’t spread droplets all over the place Cover your freakin’ face
Polls: Biden Leads In Six Vital Battleground States
L-R President Donald Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden If Biden were to win all six of those states and hold onto those carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016, he would win the presidency with by least 333 electoral votes, far more than the 270 needed, if he won all six of the states surveyed and held those won by Hillary Clinton four years ago. Scoring a win in any three of the six states listed above, however, would be enough to put him over the 270 point threshold to win the White House. Biden currently leads in virtually all national polls by an average of 9.4 points. A separate New York Times/Siena College national poll released this week showed Biden with a 14 point lead nationally (50-36). But as I’ve written many times, national polls don’t really tell the tale of an election that’s predicated on the Electoral College. Keep watching the swing state polling. A margin of plus/minus two or three points is close to a draw, but 6+ shows a clear advantage.
Trump Denies Being Briefed Regarding Bounties On US Troops
L-R Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump (image via White House/Public Domain)
The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, called the inaction “shameful” during a virtual town hall event on Saturday.
“Not only has he failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin,” Said Mr. Biden.
“His entire presidency has been a gift to Putin, but this is beyond the pale,” added Biden. “It’s a betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation, to protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm’s way.”
Trump tweeted today that neither he, Vice President Mike Pence, or Chief of Staff Mark Meadows were ever told about bounties on American troops. He also threw shade at Biden for reading a prepared statement, which Trump does all the time.
…Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than the Trump Administration. With Corrupt Joe Biden & Obama, Russia had a field day, taking over important parts of Ukraine – Where’s Hunter? Probably just another phony Times hit job, just like their failed Russia Hoax. Who is their “source”?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
Funny to see Corrupt Joe Biden reading a statement on Russia, which was obviously written by his handlers. Russia ate his and Obama’s lunch during their time in office, so badly that Obama wanted them out of the then G-8. U.S. was weak on everything, but especially Russia!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
Funny to see Traitor Donald Trump refusing to address the fact that Putin tried to kill American troops, and instead just attack Joe Biden who has absolutely nothing to do with any of this, and the media for reporting on the horrific things that took place.
— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) June 28, 2020
Trump: I’m Staying In DC To Make Sure Law & Order Is Enforced, Which Means ‘Play Golf’
Donald Trump is on the golf course again today. Remember back in 2015 when he said, “I’m not going to have time to go play golf.” Folks are counting his trips to his golf clubs.
“I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced,” Trump tweeted on Friday. “I am doing what is necessary to keep our communities safe.” Which, of course, means ‘play golf.’
Donald Trump today, making sure LAW & ORDER is enforced. https://t.co/FXYQB8WwJ2 pic.twitter.com/oLPXat0D0p
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 27, 2020
Trump On Biden: “He’s Gonna Be President Because Some People Don’t Love Me”
During an interview on Fox News Thursday night, Donald Trump admitted he could lose his reelection bid in November saying, “He’s gonna be your president because some people don’t love me, maybe.” Trump then, of all people, took a moment to mock the way former Vice President Joe Biden speaks. “I don’t want to be nice or un-nice, but…the man can’t speak.” “Un-nice?” He also pivoted to the healthy economy he inherited from President Obama insinuating HE alone had achieved that before the coronavirus.
"He's gonna be your president because some people don't love me, maybe" — Trump sure sounds resigned to losing to Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/UQTrzJVSXR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 26, 2020
News Round-Up: June 24, 2020
Some news items you might have missed: • CBS Sports: Major League Baseball is set to return starting either July 23 or 24, the league has announced. It’s worth noting that 40 MLB players and staff members reportedly tested positive for the novel coronavirus in recent days. • Billboard: Former President Barack Obama is set to deliver a special message to the LGBTQ community for the 3rd annual Stonewall Day virtual event. He will be joined by major stars such as Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, Katy Perry and more, who will be offering their own messages of support, while pop superstars Kesha and Hayley Kiyoko will take to the digital stage for special performances. The Stonewall Day 2020 livestream on Logo’s YouTube and Facebook pages from 12:45 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Friday, June 26. • NewNowNext: Also on Friday, the cast of FX’s Pose will reunite for “Pose-A-Thon,” a commercial-free, one-hour online kiki with the cast and creative team of Pose. The event will raise awareness for three LGBTQ organizations: GLSEN, Hetrick-Martin Institute, and Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund. The “Pose-A-Thon” will air Friday, June 26 at 10pm ET on FX, Freeform, and the “Pose-A-Thon” website. • New Music: Lauv drops a surprise new EP titled Without You. The 4 tracks were all written and produced during quarantine. The global hottie also releases the quarantine made video for “Dishes,” the totally chill-vibe lead track for the EP. p.s. He also recently launched Breaking Modern Loneliness, an episodic podcast where each episode is a new open forum discussion on all things human relationships, mental health, and technology.
• Zillow: The massive real estate website has announced all Zillow listings will now provide information regarding local LGBTQ protections to help home buyers and renters identify which communities provide protection for all. Currently, only 22 states and the District of Columbia have laws against housing discrimination that include sexual orientation and gender identity. • Reuters: American approval of Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has dropped to the lowest level on record since Reuters/Ipsos polls started asking the question at the beginning of March. With new COVID-19 cases surging, 58 percent said they disapproved. • Out: Actor and activist Wilson Cruz (My So-Called Life, Star Trek: Discovery) offers this subtle reminder that at the young age of 46-years-old, he ain’t playing.
COVID-19: Trump Administration May Shift Blame To CDC
Donald Trump at press conference (image via White House)
White House officials are putting a target on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, positioning the agency as a coronavirus scapegoat as cases surge in many states and the U.S. falls behind other nations that are taming the pandemic.
Trump administration aides in recent weeks have seriously discussed launching an in-depth evaluation of the agency to chart what they view as its missteps in responding to the pandemic including an early failure to deploy working test kits, according to four senior administration officials.
Part of that audit would include examining more closely the state-by-state death toll to tally only the Americans who died from Covid-19 directly rather than other factors. About 120,000 people in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus so far, according to the CDC’s official count.
Politically, Trump aides have also been looking for a person or entity outside China to blame for the coronavirus response and have grown furious with the CDC, including its public health guidance and actions on testing, making it a prime target.
SCOOP: WH aides eyeing an an evaluation of the CDC to chart its missteps on coronavirus. Also thinking of putting more political appointees at agency and shrinking its mission, as Trump ppl look for a Covid-19 scapegoat w/@adamcancryn: https://t.co/Ji2pArPGqr
— Nancy Cook (@nancook) June 23, 2020
1) Trump’s advisers are targeting a new scapegoat in order to shift blame away from his utterly catastrophic botching of coronavirus: The CDC. This is deeply depraved on its own. But there’s a backstory here that simply must not get memory-holed.https://t.co/xsZ06HH4yf
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) June 23, 2020
Trump Campaign: TikTok Rally Hacking Claims Are Bogus
In a statement posted to the Trump 2020 campaign site, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, claims news reports about TikTok and K-Pop fans claiming thousands of RSVPs to the woefully under-attended rally in Tulsa this past weekend are unfounded. In fact, Parscale denounces those reports of ticket hacking because the campaign weeds out “bogus” requests.
Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don’t know what they’re talking about or how our rallies work.
Reporters who wrote gleefully about TikTok and K-Pop fans – without contacting the campaign for comment – behaved unprofessionally and were willing dupes to the charade.
Registering for a rally means you’ve RSVPed with a cell phone number and we constantly weed out bogus numbers, as we did with tens of thousands at the Tulsa rally, in calculating our possible attendee pool.
These phony ticket requests never factor into our thinking. What makes this lame attempt at hacking our events even more foolish is the fact that every rally is general admission – entry is on a first-come-first-served basis and prior registration is not required.
The fact is that a week’s worth of the fake news media warning people away from the rally because of COVID and protestors, coupled with recent images of American cities on fire, had a real impact on people bringing their families and children to the rally.
MSNBC was among outlets reporting that protesters even blocked entrances to the rally at times. For the media to now celebrate the fear that they helped create is disgusting, but typical. And it makes us wonder why we bother credentialing media for events when they don’t do their full jobs as professionals.
The Tulsa Fire Marshall estimated 6,200 showed up for the event at the BOK Center which holds just over 19,000. If I’m understanding Parscale correctly, he’s saying his team received around a million valid requests for rally tickets, and a smattering of protests kept around 993,800 people from entering the event? Trump campaign spokeswoman Mercedes Schlapp deflected when Fox News anchor Chris Wallace asked “What happened?”
“You guys were so far off that you had planned an outdoor rally, and there wasn’t an overflow crowd … the fact is, people didn’t show up” — Chris Wallace grills Trump campaign spokesperson Mercedes Schlapp on Trump’s underwhelming Tulsa crowd pic.twitter.com/1wdWK7Cpta
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 21, 2020