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Tom of Temecula

Tom of Temecula's Journal
Tom of Temecula's Journal
July 1, 2024

Steve Bannon says 'Maga army' ready, as he reports to prison

Donald Trump’s former top adviser Steve Bannon has told the BBC he does not fear going to prison or watching the former president’s 2024 campaign from behind bars. After being convicted of contempt of Congress, the man who was seen as the power behind the scenes in the White House at the start of Trump’s presidential term in 2017 will report to a federal prison in Connecticut on Monday.

He is still appealing against his conviction for refusing to appear in front of the committee of lawmakers investigating the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. Bannon has claimed that conversations he had with the president that day should be protected under executive privilege.

But last week the Supreme Court ruled he could not delay his sentence until after the appeal was heard, and now Bannon will have to face his four-month sentence. “I've served my country now for the last 10 or so years focusing on this,” he said in an interview, referring to politics and the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement. “If I have to do it in a prison, I do it in a prison - it makes no difference at all.”

He said that he was unconcerned about missing a crucial part of Trump’s campaign, as there is a “Maga army” ready to ensure the former president defeats Joe Biden and returns to the White House. “I’m ready to go,” he said. “I'm all set up.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/steve-bannon-says-maga-army-011219156.html

July 1, 2024

Biden Family Privately Urges President to Fire Top Advisers Over CNN Debate Disaster - Report

Privately, members of President Joe Biden’s family are trashing his top advisers over his disastrous performance at Thursday’s debate against Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, Biden struggled to give coherent answers while debating the former president, leading to many Democratic pundits and strategists urging him to step aside in the November race before the convention. Biden was joined by members of his family this weekend at Camp David, where they reportedly discussed the future of his campaign.

Members of Biden’s family privately put the blame on his top campaign advisers, urging the president to fire or demote them. Among the staffers singled out as being at fault were senior adviser Anita Dunn, the president’s attorney Bob Bauer, and former chief of staff Ron Klain, who helped him prepare for the debate, Politico reported. Three anonymous sources told Politico that it’s unlikely Biden will follow through with their advice and oust any of his close advisers

The family members are reportedly saying Biden was not given proper preparation to pivot and attack Trump during the debate, and that the focus was too much on defending his record to date, rather than outlining his goals for a second term. Moreover, family members reportedly claimed Biden was over-worked and not well-rested.

https://www.mediaite.com/biden/biden-family-privately-urges-president-to-fire-top-advisers-over-cnn-debate-disaster-report/

July 1, 2024

Trump-aligned 'smear machine' ramping up plan to vilify government workers by name

With an announcement on X earlier this week, "WE ARE DECLARING WAR ON THE DEEP STATE,” a conservative project aligned with both Donald Trump and Project 2025 — which is creating a roadmap to gut the government if Trump is re-elected — is preparing to "name and shame" civil servants they believe won't be loyal to the now convicted felon ex-president.

According to a report from the Guardian, with financial assistance from the Heritage Foundation, "Project Sovereignty 2025" is going to make life miserable for government workers who will likely face threats of violence as accusations fly with their names attached.

"The group behind the list is the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), which was founded in 2020 and describes its mission as 'working non-stop to expose the left’s secrets and hold Biden accountable'" reports the Guardian's Tess Owen, while also noting a profile by the New Yorker labeled AFF a "slime machine”.

As Owen explained, AAF is moving past blocking President Joe Biden's political appointments to harass civil servants, with a "plan to publish dossiers on those non-public facing individuals, starting with the Department of Homeland Security, and expose them to scrutiny." The American Federation of Government Employees is waving red flags about the oncoming onslaught, calling it "an intimidation tactic to try to menace federal workers and sow fear”.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-project-2025-2668649429/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/30/trump-loyalists-deep-state-blacklist-american-accountability-foundation

June 30, 2024

Increasing numbers of voters don't think Biden should be running after debate with Trump -- CBS News poll

For months before the first debate, the nation's voters repeatedly expressed doubts over whether President Biden had the cognitive health enough to serve.

Today, those doubts have grown even more: now at nearly three-quarters of the electorate, and now including many within his own party.

And today, after the debate with former President Trump, an increased number of voters, including many Democrats, don't think Mr. Biden should be running for president at all. Nearly half his party doesn't think he should now be the nominee.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-debate-should-biden-be-running-mental-abilities/

June 30, 2024

Carville Responds to Biden Campaign Using His Name to Fundraise After He Predicted President Will Drop Out of Race

President Joe Biden’s campaign trolled James Carville on Saturday after the Democratic strategist predicted Biden will not be on the ballot in November. The president made a poor showing in Thursday’s presidential debate with Donald Trump, with Biden tripping over his words several times while also declaring, “We finally beat Medicare.” Biden’s performance was so bad, that liberal cable news pundits suggested he be replaced. The New York Times even called for him to drop out.

In a report published by Axios on Saturday, Carville predicted Biden will not be on the Democratic ticket. “I never thought this was a nifty idea,” he said. “He doesn’t have advisers. He has employees.” Paraphrasing a famous economist, he added, “That which can’t continue… won’t.”

The Biden campaign responded by texting supporters with a note purporting to be from Carville. “Hi, it’s James Carville,” it began. “I need you and Democrats everywhere to make a contribution to the Biden-Harris campaign ASAP. Help them defeat Donald Trump.” The text included a link to a fundraising webpage.

Tyler Pager of the Washington Post reached out to Carville about the message to ask for his reaction. “Of all the glitches they made, I guess this is pretty minor. It didn’t bother me as much as the debate,” he said. “It’s kind of weird to see your name go out to half a million people.”

https://twitter.com/DavidLBernstein/status/1807231600700072259
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/carville-responds-to-biden-campaign-using-his-name-to-fundraise-after-he-predicted-president-will-drop-out-of-race/

June 29, 2024

CNN's Trump-Biden debate draws 48 million viewers in drop from past elections

Roughly 48 million people tuned into the first general election debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden Thursday night, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen, marking a significant decline in television viewership compared to the first general election debates of the last two presidential races.

Biden's train wreck performance coupled with Trump's highly-anticipated return to the debate stage drew a sizable audience in an era when the value of political debates had been in question, but very few young people watched. Of the 48 million that tuned in on live TV, only 3.9 million were between the ages of 18 and 34.

A total of 47.9 million people watched the debate on live television Thursday across several networks, according early figures. Among the coveted advertising demographic of 25-54-year-olds, 12.6 million tuned in. CNN said there were more than 30 million live starts of the debate on CNN's digital platforms and on YouTube. Millions of others likely watched clips or parts of the debate on social media.

Fox News' simulcast of the event drew the highest number of viewers, despite the fact that the event was hosted by CNN. Below are viewership figures by network: Fox News: 8.82 million. CNN: 8.75 million. ABC: 8.70 million. NBC: 5.17 million. CBS: 4.81 million. MSNBC: 3.94 million.

https://www.axios.com/2024/06/28/biden-trump-debate-ratings-viewership-election

June 28, 2024

Some Democrats start calling for Biden to step aside and 'throw in the towel' on 2024

Some Democrats began calling for President Joe Biden to step aside so that the party can nominate another candidate after he stumbled badly in Thursday's debate against his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. "This was like a champion boxer who gets in the ring past his prime and needs his corner to throw in the towel," said one Democratic lawmaker, adding that he meant Biden should exit the race.

The options for a switch are limited: If the president doesn't choose to leave of his own volition, there would have to be a revolt among Democratic National Convention delegates, the vast majority of whom were elected on their pledge to nominate Biden. But that's what some Democrats were thinking about Thursday night.

It's “time to talk about an open convention and a new Democratic nominee,” said a second Democratic lawmaker who has been a solid Biden supporter.

The fear among these Democrats is that the version of Biden that showed up to the debate — one bearing a likeness to the caricature Trump and his allies have portrayed of a man unequipped for the job — cannot win in November.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/democrats-biden-step-aside-throw-towel-2024-rcna159368

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