Friday Talking Points -- Trump Forced To Reverse Course
President Donald Trump does not like being told what to do. To be fair, very few people ever do. But Trump usually goes his own way and blows off those telling him he must do this or mustn't do that, and things have generally worked out for him in the end anyway. This week, however, was markedly different.
Trump is obviously being told -- over and over again -- that he is going to lose the upcoming election to Joe Biden because the public just does not trust him to handle the current coronavirus crisis (or any other crisis, for that matter). Trump's political advisors evidently made that plain to Trump this week, and forced him to chart a radically different course, in the hopes of salvaging his chances in the election.
The week started off with an announcement that Trump's coronavirus press briefings would suddenly reappear. They disappeared two months ago, right after Trump moronically told everyone that injecting bleach (or "light" ) might be a dandy way to fight off the infection. Since then, Trump's poll numbers have plummeted as more and more Americans get infected every day (to the tune of almost 70,000 per day now) and the death toll approaches 150,000. Trump's polling is related to his utter failure at handling the crisis, quite obviously. So the White House decided it was time to put Trump in front of the cameras again, in desperation.
Trump has so far (without having watched today's, we should point out) appeared alone at the podium. No doctors, no medical experts, no epidemiologists have appeared with him. Trump woodenly reads his prepared remarks -- with very little deviation from the script -- and then answers a very few questions from reporters. These briefings have been much tighter than before, clocking in at around a half-hour each day. But you just know Trump hates having to read from a script, so we'll have to wait and see how long this state of affairs will last.
The words put into Trump's mouth are also not to his liking, because he had to reverse himself on several major issues this week. First, he has now been talked into wearing a mask and is also (halfheartedly) now endorsing their use by everyone. Second, he flat-out admitted that all his previous rosy talk had been nothing short of lies, finally admitting that the pandemic would: "probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better." This may be the first true thing he's ever said about the pandemic -- or the first true thing he's said in the past few months, at any rate.
Of course, being Trump, not everything he said was the truth: "Earlier this week, Trump boasted that his administration has met most governors' requests for supplies. That's not true. Officials in Oregon, Indiana, Georgia, New Hampshire, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan, Idaho, Utah and Washington told ABC News they are either still waiting for requests to be fulfilled, had identified orders that were never filled or have made requests they understand are still being processed." Maybe this is what Trump was talking about when he tried a last-ditch effort to be cheerful: "The country is in very good shape, other than if you look South and West." Um... OK. If you just don't look at all those dead people, then things are really peachy-keen!
Yesterday was the biggest reversal, however, as Trump pathetically tried to take credit for a decision quite obviously forced upon him by others, as he officially scrapped the plans for his tremendous, powerful convention in Jacksonville, Florida. This was especially embarrassing for Trump, since the whole reason he moved it from Charlotte was so that he could have a big, tightly-packed, maskless crowd cheering his every utterance. Trump petulantly decided to move the convention to Jacksonville in the first place precisely because the Democratic governor of North Carolina refused to allow the Republican National Committee to do whatever it wanted in Charlotte, health restrictions be damned. So all of Trump's window-dressing talk yesterday about how he was only cancelling Jacksonville because of his concern for "safety" was downright laughable.
That's a pretty bad week for Trump, in terms of being told to do things he really didn't want to do. So far, he hasn't totally erupted on Twitter or elsewhere, but that volcano could blow at any moment, really. It usually has at similar times in the past.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci -- who was notably absent from the White House briefing room all week -- got to throw out the first pitch of the truncated baseball season. Both teams kneeled en masse before the game, too. This obviously got under Trump's paper-thin skin, as he had to brag (during a coronavirus press briefing, no less) that he'll be throwing out a first pitch at an unspecified upcoming Yankees game. Too bad there won't be crowds of New Yorkers to let Trump know what they really think of him (as only New Yorkers can...).
Fauci's pitch made most of the distance to the plate, but was pretty wide. Hey, the guy's 79 years old, so that's pretty good. But it did lead to one hilarious line from "The Daily 202" column at the Washington Post: "Tony Fauci threw the first pitch at the Nationals home opener and ensured the ball was socially distant from the catcher." Heh.
Getting back to Trump, though, it's really not that surprising that he is now chafing at being told what he can and cannot do these days, since his poll numbers keep hitting new lows. Trump has now registered in multiple recent national polls down an astonishing 15 points to Joe Biden. But that's not the end of the bad news, since Biden is also beating him in just about every battleground state you can name. Recent Fox News polls showed Trump down 9 points to Biden in Michigan, down 11 points in Pennsylvania, and down 13 points in Minnesota. Another poll showed Biden winning Florida by 13 points. And Trump and Biden are neck and neck (Biden is up one point, but it's essentially a tie) in Texas.
Trump is also losing badly in the suburbs. So Team Trump has come up with a plan to win all those suburban moms and dads back: FEAR! Be afraid! Be very afraid! Because that's all they've got, really.
Trump thinks that changing a federal fair-housing regulation for the express purpose of keeping the suburbs white is going to be some sort of game-changer for him. He bragged about this effort in a recent tweet: "The Suburban Housewives of America must read this article. Biden will destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream. I will preserve it, and make it even better!" Unfortunately for him, the suburbs no longer exist in the 1950s, meaning this nakedly racist attempt at fearmongering will likely fail.
Please remember, Trump tried the same tactic in the 2018 midterms, and it failed pretty miserably back then. Remember all the fearmongering about "the caravan"? Now Trump is fearmongering about colored people being able to (gasp!) move into the suburbs, and fearmongering about (as he puts it): "professional anarchists, violent mobs or arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, antifa" who will soon be marching from the city centers out to the 'burbs to terrorize the populace and pillage everyone's house. And no, this is not an exaggeration, as Trump's latest campaign ad plainly shows.
Trump is ginning up this fear by sending federal police into cities where they are not wanted, in order to gain some scary television footage he can then use in his political ads. The only problem for him is that most Americans support the protesters, and the videos they are seeing on their evening news show the federal uniformed thugs beating people up and pepper-spraying them while they are offering no resistance at all. A Navy veteran in Portland, Oregon walked up to the federal camo-clad cops and asked them whether they remembered their oath to the Constitution or not. He stands with his hands at his side while the cops spray a chemical weapon in his face and flail on his arms and legs with a nightstick. This resulted in broken bones in one arm. A nude woman (dubbed "Naked Athena" ) struck yoga poses in front of the riot police, and they shot pepper balls at her feet. That is the kind of thing the American public is seeing, and to say they're not reacting how Trump wants them to is an understatement.
To top off his "law and order" stance, Trump publicly wished accused sex-trafficker and underage pimp Ghislaine Maxwell the best of wishes, from the White House podium: "I just wish her well, frankly." This clip has already been turned into an anti-Trump ad by the Lincoln Project. As well it should be.
So what has Joe Biden been up to this week? He released a video of a chat he had with Barack Obama over Trump's disastrous presidency, and he rolled out a new plan to help actual citizens:
It would be funded in part by rolling back some tax breaks for real estate investors and by "taking steps to increase tax compliance for high-income earners," according to the Biden campaign.
That's a pretty stark difference between the two candidates' campaigns, you've got to admit. And we now have just over 100 days until the election, folks. Buckle up, though, because this ride is only going to get more frantic as the clock ticks down.
We have two very important awards to hand out, but first there was one tweet which caught our eye: "Gay Vegan Socialist Elected in Brooklyn." This celebrated the fact that there is a progressive tidal wave taking over New York's statehouse, as more and more centrist and even conservative Democrats get primaried out. The Working Families Party claimed 31 victories in New York's recent statehouse races, while the Democratic Socialists of America won four races. This should lead to the most progressive state government ever seen in the Empire State, so congratulations are in order for all of them.
And as usual, there are several groups of Republicans who are ineligible for any of our awards but who are nonetheless churning out great anti-Trump ads that are highly amusing to watch. One of these groups is even called "Republican Voters Against Trump," just to twist the knife.
But there were two Democrats who really stood out this week. The first, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was easily the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week for her firm response to an ugly event that took place on the Capitol steps. Here was the initial report, from The Hill:
In a brief but heated exchange, which was overheard by a reporter, Yoho told Ocasio-Cortez she was "disgusting" for recently suggesting that poverty and unemployment are driving a spike in crime in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic.
"You are out of your freaking mind," Yoho told her.
Ocasio-Cortez shot back, telling Yoho he was being "rude."
The two then parted ways. Ocasio-Cortez headed into the building, while Yoho, joined by Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), began descending toward the House office buildings. A few steps down, Yoho offered a parting thought to no one in particular.
"Fucking bitch," he said.
Ocasio-Cortez has been (we apologize for using this term, but we feel it is entirely justified in this instance) bitch-slapping Yoho around, ever since. Her first reaction was to tweet:
Believe it or not, I usually get along fine w/ my GOP colleagues. We know how to check our legislative sparring at the committee door.
But hey, "b*tches" get stuff done.
This is a callback to a brilliant appearance by Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live back when Hillary Clinton was running against Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, we should point out (just in case you've never seen the hilarious video).
Yoho was then forced (by his own party's leadership, most likely) to issue one of those non-apology apologies, on the House floor. In it, he offered up some caveat-filled nonsense: "The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues, and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding." Please note that he is not actually denying he said the words, just that he never said them "to my colleagues." In other words, it was OK because I didn't say it to her face, just to a reporter. No biggie, right?
He also wrapped himself in some rather impressive folderol, after pointing out that he has a wife and two daughters: "I cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family, and my country."
The next day, Ocasio-Cortez rose to give her own House floor speech. This video has already been viewed millions of times, and we heartily encourage everyone who hasn't to watch her entire speech, because it is indeed one for the ages.
After repeating Yoho's ugly words verbatim -- just in case anyone missed the news stories -- Ocasio-Cortez took the moral high road, while rejecting Yoho's "excuses" and non-apology:
. . .
Having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man.
. . .
When you do that to any woman, what Mr. Yoho did was give permission to other men to do that to his daughters. In using that language in front of the press, he gave permission to use that language against his wife, his daughters, women in his community and I am here to stand up to say that is not acceptable.
This is truly a historic feminist speech, even though it is only about ten minutes long. Ocasio-Cortez got a whole hour to speak, and after her own short address, deferred to other House members who echoed her sentiments. It was beyond impressive, all around. Which is why A.O.C. is easily our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week.
But we've also got one more award to hand out, a Most Impressive Democrat Lifetime Achievement Award, which must be issued posthumously to Representative John Lewis.
John Lewis was the youngest person to speak at Martin Luther King Jr.'s "March On Washington" rally at the Lincoln Memorial, and he was the last surviving person who spoke to the crowd that day. To say an era has closed with his passing is not an overstatement at all. Lewis was an outsized presence for good in national politics, but he will perhaps best be remembered for being the first person to be savagely beaten by the police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in March of 1965. Never forget that Lewis rose to fame for protesting injustice. Those protesting in the streets today owe him an enormous debt, in other words.
Lewis was also an incredibly moral and righteous presence in Congress, of course, which is one reason why he's going to lie in state in the Capitol next week. But Democrats should really honor his memory by making a concerted and massive push to pass a new voting rights act, to replace the one the Supreme Court all but threw out. This effort has been going on a long time, and Nancy Pelosi has already passed several voting rights bills, but they should now all be consolidated into one piece of legislation that bears his name: the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
This would truly be the best way to honor his memory. All we can do ourselves is to give him our own Most Impressive Democrat Lifetime Achievement Award, which is a poor substitute indeed.
[Congratulate Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her House contact page, to let her know you appreciate her efforts. And there will be a public viewing of John Lewis on the steps of the Capitol (since the Rotunda would be less safe) next week, for anyone who wants to pay their respects.]
This one is pretty easy, even if he's been out of the public eye for four decades. Here's the whole sordid story:
Myers served as the representative for Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District from November 1976 until October 1980, when he became the first lawmaker to be expelled from the House of Representatives since the Civil War after being ensnared in the FBI sting operation known as Abscam.
During an exchange with an undercover agent posing as an intermediary for a fictional Arab sheikh, Myers was infamously recorded saying, "Money talks in this business and bullshit walks." He was subsequently convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges, and sentenced to serve three years in prison in 1981.
Myers is now charged "with conspiring with and bribing" former Philadelphia Judge of Elections Domenick Demuro, who pleaded guilty in March and was convicted in May for "his role in accepting bribes to cast fraudulent ballots and certifying false voting results during the 2014, 2015, and 2016 primary elections" in the city, according to the Justice Department.
This is not exactly helpful right now, obviously. 'Nuff said. Myers was easily the winner of this week's Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week award.
[Michael "Ozzie" Myers is a private citizen, and our blanket policy is not to provide contact information for such persons, sorry.]
Volume 583 (7/24/20)
We have a rather mixed and varied bag of talking points this week. As always, please use responsibly.
Worse indeed
Ya think?
"President Trump finally was forced to admit this week that the coronavirus pandemic is, quote, going to get worse before it gets better, unquote. After pushing states to reopen their economies dangerously early and thus guaranteeing a much wider outbreak, Trump has finally realized that he has massively screwed up. And things are getting worse incredibly fast. When the virus first hit, it took 45 days for the second million Americans to become infected. We then went from two million to three million infected in 27 days. It has taken only 15 days to add the fourth million. These are real people, Mister President, and they're getting sick and dying at an accelerated rate. The daily death totals has risen once again to over 1,000 per day. That is 1,000 families who have lost a loved one each and every day. We are fast heading toward the milestone of 150,000 Americans dead. How many of those could have easily been prevented if Trump hadn't rushed reopening? Sadly, we will never know."
It's back to school time!
This is a pathetically easy line to draw -- so draw it!
"Donald Trump moved his convention speech from North Carolina to Florida because he thought he could dictate his own rules for the crowd there, after a Democratic governor told him North Carolina's health safety rules would not be waived. Now Trump has been forced to cancel his Jacksonville rally because he says he's very concerned with everyone's safety. That's all pretty laughable when you think about it, but what is definitely not funny at all is that Trump is still pushing very hard for every schoolchild in America to go back to physical classrooms in the fall, no matter how safe it is for them to do so. Which means Trump cares more about Republican politicians at his convention than he does for your own children."
Or maybe there was another reason...
Shades of Tulsa?
"There is already a lot of speculation that Trump really cancelled his big convention speech because he knew how few prominent Republicans were even going to bother to show up. It'd be pretty embarrassing to have most of the congressional Republicans sit out their own party's convention, after all. And what would it have done for Trump's re-election campaign if he spoke to a crowd as pathetically small as showed up at his last rally, in Tulsa? In other words: what if a president gave a nomination acceptance speech and nobody came?"
McConnell dithers while Rome burns
Senate Republicans deserve all the scorn Democrats can heap upon them, at this particular moment in time.
"Mitch McConnell said, many weeks ago, back when the Democratic House passed a new coronavirus relief bill, that everyone should just take a 'pause.' We'd have plenty of time before the August vacation to put together some sort of bill, if we even needed one, McConnell told everyone. He promised a Republican draft bill would be released at the start of this week. And yet all week long Republicans dithered among themselves and achieved nothing. And let me point out that these disagreements are entirely within the Republican Party, because they have refused to even begin the negotiations with Democrats over what will be in the bill. This is Republican-on-Republican incompetence, folks, plain and simple. Meanwhile, more people filed for unemployment this week than last, the unemployment aid from the previous bailout bill is about to expire for tens of millions of families, the protections against evictions are also about to end, and the number of cases of coronavirus continues to skyrocket because of the complete absence of any leadership from Washington. In normal times, Republicans incompetently wasting a bunch of time would be rather amusing, but these days it is nothing short of deadly. People are dying out there, Mitch, so please do your job so Democrats can begin to fix whatever inadequate bill you finally come up with. This is no laughing matter."
Republicans in disarray!
We wrote about this yesterday, in much more detail, if anyone's interested.
"While we've all grown used to seeing utter chaos from the White House, it has now spread to the entire Republican Party, it seems. While Trump flails around on issues both foreign and domestic, Senate Republicans still haven't agreed among themselves what should be in the next pandemic relief bill. In the House, some Tea Partiers are leading a push to oust Liz Cheney from their leadership, because she believes Anthony Fauci more than she believes Trump. Trump cancelled his big convention speech because so few congressional Republicans were even going to show up, and Republicans are deeply split on the issue of the Confederacy. A bill passed the House this week to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol, and over 70 Republicans voted for it. The Defense Department budget bill passed (in different form) both houses of Congress with veto-proof margins, even though both bills would force the Pentagon to rename the bases that honor Confederate officers. Trump has said he'll veto it, but if he does it'll likely be the first time a Trump veto is overturned. Meanwhile, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan revealed that several of Trump's own cabinet members begged him to run against Trump this year. The Republican Party seems to be splintering and only concerned with arguing among themselves. There's really only one newspaper headline possible, in fact: Republicans In Disarray."
Who could he possibly have in mind?
Democrats are also moving forward on a House bill that would rein in the presidential pardon power, and an amendment to this bill was just offered by Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland. The amendment would make it illegal for a president to pardon themselves. One wonders if Raskin has anyone in particular in mind -- see if you can tell from his statement about his amendment:
Flee for the hills!
Hypocrisy rears its racist head, once again.
"Does anyone remember the massive hissy fit Republicans pitched when President Barack Obama appeared in a tan suit in the Oval Office? Back in those days, Republicans had to work hard to manufacture reasons to be outraged at the first Black man to hold the office, of course, and this is a prime example. They expressed their outrage (while clutching firmly at their pearls) over the disrespect shown the Oval Office by such informal attire. So I certainly was waiting to hear the same outrage expressed this week, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared in an Oval Office meeting with the president in a tan suit. However, for some strange reason, zero Republicans seemed to be offended by it. Funny thing, that, isn't it?"
Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com
Follow Chris on Twitter: ChrisWeigant
Full archives of FTP columns: FridayTalkingPoints.com
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