Розділ: Політика
Trump Loses Bid to Add Fourth Debate with Biden in Early September
U.S. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign on Thursday lost its bid to add a fourth debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden in early September.In rejecting the request, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it remains committed to the current schedule of three 90-minute debates beginning in late September.It would only add a fourth debate, or move an existing debate to earlier in the month, if both sides in the campaign for the November 3 election agreed to it, it said.Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had asked for either a fourth debate in the first week of September or for the first debate to be moved up from September 29 because voters in some states would already be able to cast votes before then.The commission said voters will have a choice whether to watch a debate before casting a ballot, adding voters “are under no compulsion to return their ballots before the debates.”Trump, a Republican, is trailing Biden in most national opinion polls.The battleground state of North Carolina is scheduled to begin sending out mail-in ballots to registered voters who requested them on September 4, with several other states to follow in September. A massive surge in mail-in voting is expected because of fears the coronavirus may spread at public polling places.In a response to the commission, Giuliani said the campaign was “disappointed” by the rejection and still believed Americans deserve to see the candidates “compare their records and visions for the United States before actual voting begins.”The Biden campaign said it was pleased Trump had accepted the commission invitation to debate.”As we have said for months, the commission will determine the dates and times of the debates, and Joe Biden will be there,” Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo said.The commission has organized three debates and one vice presidential debate during each presidential campaign since 2000. The presidential debates are set for September 29 in Ohio, October 15 in Florida and October 22 in Tennessee.
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By Polityk | 08/07/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump, McConnell Huddle; Virus Aid Talks at Risk of Collapse
President Donald Trump huddled at the White House Thursday with the Senate’s top Republican over a vital COVID-19 rescue package, but hopes on Capitol Hill for a deal were souring and there was increasing worry that GOP negotiations with Democrats might collapse.The impasse in the negotiations is putting at risk more than $100 billion to help reopen schools, a fresh round of $1,200 direct payments to most people, and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments to help them avoid furloughing workers and cutting services as tax revenues shrivel.Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is a key player in the troubled talks and possesses far more experience than Trump’s administration negotiating team, which is publicly frustrated by the inflexible tactics of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The Democratic duo has not yielded much ground from an unprecedented $3.5 trillion House-passed rescue package.McConnell seemed to downplay the significance of the Trump meeting, telling a reporter merely that “we talked a little bit about everything.”House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., joined by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 6, 2020.And Pelosi and Schumer were still exuding confidence in a political and legislative landscape that’s tilted in their favor. Trump and McConnell both badly want an agreement, but Democrats control the House and may actually provide the lion’s share of votes in the Senate. The votes, as Pelosi often says, are the currency of the realm.The Democratic duo has stayed in sync throughout the talks — which they demanded — even reminding reporters Thursday that their relationship dates to Schumer’s time as a hard-charging House member in the 1980s and early 1990s.They say the federal coronavirus aid package needs to be huge in order to meet the moment: a surge in cases and deaths, double-digit joblessness, and the threat of poverty for millions of the newly unemployed.”We believe the patient needs a major operation while Republicans want to apply just a Band-Aid,” Schumer said. “We won’t let them just pass the Band-Aid, go home and leave America bleeding.”Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrives at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 6, 2020.After a Wednesday session that produced no progress, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were returning to Pelosi’s Capitol suite to confront the gulf in their negotiating stances. Both sides have set a goal of agreeing on a deal by week’s end — though that is appearing increasingly out of reach.The White House is also promising that Trump will attempt to use executive orders to address elements of the congressional package involving evictions and jobless benefits. But there’s no evidence that the strategy would have much impact or be anything close to what’s necessary, and Pelosi appeared unimpressed at a morning news conference.”I don’t think they know what they’re talking about,” Pelosi said dismissively.Addressing reporters, Pelosi and Schumer staked out a firm position to extend a lapsed $600-per-week bonus jobless benefit, demanded generous child care assistance and reiterated their demand for food stamps and assistance to renters and homeowners facing eviction or foreclosure.”Don’t nickel and dime our children,” Pelosi said. “Don’t say we want to give a tax break to a business lunch and not give more money for children to have food stamps.”Pelosi was referring to a GOP proposal to increase the deduction for business meals from 50% to 100%. The idea seems likely to die, along with President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut the Social Security payroll tax. But Schumer and Pelosi continue to push to restore a tax break for state and local taxes paid mostly by wealthier people with high incomes and valuable homes.McConnell, R-Ky., is likely to have to assume a higher profile if the talks are to come to a successful close, but he issued a grim assessment of the situation on Thursday, again complaining that Pelosi and Schumer are not negotiating in good faith.”Day after day, they’ve stonewalled the president’s team. Day by day, they’ve tried to invent new euphemisms to create the illusion of progress,” McConnell said Thursday.Frustration was palpable among Republican senators shuttling in and out of a GOP lunch session, some of whom say Schumer is intent on using the situation as a hammer against Republicans.”As long as they calculate that they’re better off politically doing nothing, it’s going to be hard for us to move forward,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. “And that’s the calculation they’ve made, it appears.”McConnell is sending the Senate home rather than forcing impatient senators to bide their time while Democrats play hardball. That suggests a vote won’t come until late next week or even after. Progress has been scant in the talks despite more than a week of negotiation.White House negotiators made some concessions on jobless benefits and aid to state and local governments in a Tuesday session — and then promptly got scalded by Republicans after details leaked out.But Pelosi, a sometimes imperious force whose experience in negotiations is far more extensive than Meadows, will likely have to make some concessions soon. Her dollar figure for aid to states and local governments far exceeds what independent experts such as Moody’s Analytics recommend, for example, and her position in favor of restoring the expensive state and local tax break is probably unsustainable.”She’s not going to allow the negotiations to collapse. She knows what the right moment is to pull the trigger and to try and close the deal,” said Democratic lobbyist Steve Elmendorf. “But she also knows when to wait and to let the other side come to you.”
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By Polityk | 08/07/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Ties COVID-19 Vaccine Timing to November Election
U.S. President Donald Trump is predicting a COVID-19 vaccine might be ready by this year’s election, less than 90 days away. “I’m optimistic that it’ll probably be around that date,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn on Thursday. “It wouldn’t hurt” his reelection chances to have the vaccine available by the November 3 election, acknowledged the president. “I’m doing it not for the election. I want it fast because I want to save a lot of lives.” The scientific community, including prominent infectious disease experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is member of the White House coronavirus task force, however, expects that none of the numerous vaccine candidates now undergoing human trials will be ready until the end of the year or early 2021.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about his plans to combat racial inequality at a campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware, July 28, 2020.“We’re going to win bigger in Ohio than we did four years ago,” predicted Trump, speaking to a group of supporters on arrival in Cleveland on Thursday. “He’s against God. He’s against guns,” Trump said of Biden. “I don’t think he’s going to do well in Ohio.” No Republican candidate has ever won the presidential election, or reelection, without taking Ohio. Trump, in 2016, captured nearly 52% of the vote in the state against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Trump’s standing in Ohio and other key states this year has been hurt by unfavorable public perception of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. At Burke Lakefront Airport in downtown Cleveland, the president had been scheduled to be greeted on the tarmac by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. However, just prior to Trump’s departure from Washington, the governor’s office announced that DeWine had tested positive for the coronavirus following standard protocol testing ahead of meeting the president.FILE – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine speaks during an interview at the Governor’s Residence in Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 13, 2019.“Governor DeWine is returning to Columbus [the state capital] where he and First Lady Fran DeWine, who also has no symptoms, will both be tested,” according to a news release from the governor’s office, which said the couple will then quarantine at home in Cedarville for the next 14 days. DeWine becomes one of the highest-profile American politicians and only the second governor (after Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma) to test positive for the coronavirus. The governor’s infection sounds a sour note for the president’s visit, which was to underscore his administration’s gains against the coronavirus, and economic prosperity. Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, who also took a COVID-19 test Thursday but had a negative result, stood in for the governor to greet Trump. DeWine, in late July, issued a statewide mask mandate after previously reversing course on the idea in April. Breaking ranks with other Republican governors, DeWine was one of the first state leaders to take steps to slow the spread of the virus, including promoting wearing of masks and social distancing. Ohio has reported nearly 100,000 COVID-19 cases and about 3,600 deaths.
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By Polityk | 08/07/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
‘See You in Court’: ACLU Files Nearly 400 Cases Versus Trump
The day after Donald Trump’s election in November 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a message to him on its website: “See you in court.”
As president, Trump hasn’t personally squared off against the ACLU from the witness stand, but the broader warning has been borne out. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories.
Among other successes for the ACLU, it prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court case blocking the administration from placing a citizenship question on the 2020 census. It also spearheaded legal efforts that curtailed the policy of separating many migrant children from their parents.
“The assault on civil liberties and civil rights is greater under this administration than any other in modern history,” said the ACLU’s president, Anthony Romero. “It’s meant we’ve been living with a three-alarm fire in every part of our house.”
Since the day Trump took office, the ACLU — according to a breakdown it provided to The Associated Press — has filed 237 lawsuits against the administration and about 160 other legal actions, including Freedom of Information Act requests, ethics complaints and administrative complaints.
Of the lawsuits, 174 have dealt with immigrant rights, targeting the family separation policy, detention and deportation practices and the administration’s repeated attempts to make it harder to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The other lawsuits address an array of issues high on the ACLU’s agenda: voting rights, LGBT rights, racial justice and others. In one long-running case, the ACLU succeeded in blocking the administration’s policy of barring young immigrant women in government custody from getting abortions.
“Donald Trump has provided a full employment program for ACLU lawyers on all of our issues,” Romero said.
By comparison, the ACLU says it filed 13 lawsuits and other legal actions against President George W. Bush’s administration in his first term, mostly alleging encroachments on civil liberties related to counter-terrorism policies.
Many of the ACLU’s recent lawsuits remain unresolved. Of those that have been decided, Romero said, the ACLU has won far more often than it has lost, though a precise breakdown was unavailable.
Among the setbacks, ACLU national legal director David Cole said, one of the most disappointing involved Trump’s efforts to ban foreign nationals from several predominantly Muslim countries. Lawsuits by the ACLU and its allies successfully blocked implementation of the first two versions of the ban, but the Supreme Court allowed a third version to go into effect in 2018.
By a similar 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court also allowed the implementation of the Trump administration policy barring transgender people from enlisting in the military. Lower courts had supported efforts by the ACLU and other groups to scrap the ban.
Another LGBT rights case recently ended in a major victory for the ACLU and its allies when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that gays, lesbians and transgender people were protected from employment discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One of the ACLU’s clients, Aimee Stephens, was fired from her job at a Michigan funeral home because she was transgender; she died just a few weeks before the high court ruled in her favor.
There’s no question the ACLU has caught the attention of Trump and his administration.
The Republican president, at an “Evangelicals for Trump” rally in January, derided the ACLU as a “group of beauties” who had filed a lawsuit accusing public schools in Smith County, Tennessee, of improperly promoting Christian religious beliefs.
“We will not allow faithful Americans to be bullied by the hard left,” Trump said.
In a May 2018 speech, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions assailed the ACLU for a lawsuit that led to a drop in stop-and-frisk arrests by Chicago police.
“If you want crime to go up, let the ACLU run the police department,” Sessions said.
Recently, the ACLU has drawn criticism from a longtime supporter, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. He worries that the organization is aligning too closely with the Democratic Party and is now less willing than in the past to support unpopular causes, such as the free-speech rights of far-right activists.
In an email, Turley questioned the wisdom of the “torrent of lawsuits” against the Trump administration.
“The result was less of a sniper strategy and more of a saturated bombing strategy,” he wrote.
Even as it spars with the administration, the ACLU notes that Trump’s presidency has been beneficial in some respects — fueling huge increases in donations and membership.
Romero says the ACLU national office and its state affiliates received about $175 million in donations in the three months after Trump’s election. It says it has increased its headquarters staff from 386 to 605 and now has 122 attorneys, up from 84 in November 2016.
Membership has soared from about 400,000 to more than 1.8 million. Romero says many of the newcomers have been asking how they can help as volunteers in bolstering voting rights, immigrants’ rights and other causes.
Demonstrating its increased interest in electoral politics, the ACLU had directed $28 million of its national funds to its affiliates in battleground states such as Florida, Arizona and Texas. Since 2016, Romero said, the ACLU of Texas has been able to double its budget to $8.5 million and its staff to 65 employees.
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By Polityk | 08/06/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Professor Predicts Biden Will Beat Trump in November Vote
A history professor who has correctly predicted the outcome of every U.S. presidential election since 1984 says Democrat Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.Appearing in a FILE – Allan Lichtman of American University in Washington, D.C., is pictured at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, May 24, 2011.Six for TrumpTrump has the advantage in six keys. They include the president’s incumbency, no serious Republican primary challengers, no major foreign military failures, and what Lichtman says is Biden’s lack of charisma.Although Lichtman is predicting a close election, a CNN roundup of the latest polls showed Biden winning by a landslide. A Fox News poll found the election a bit closer, but with Biden winning.But no matter whether a voter is a Republican or a Democrat, Lichtman said, citizen participation is essential.”It’s up to you, the voter, to decide the future of our democracy,” he said. “So, get out and vote. Vote in person. Vote by mail.”Lichtman has correctly called every presidential election since Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984.He forecast Al Gore, a Democrat, beating Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and stands by his prediction. Gore barely won the popular vote, but the Supreme Court ruled in Bush’s favor after a long dispute over inconclusive ballots cast in Florida.
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By Polityk | 08/06/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden’s Challenge: Keeping Up Momentum
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is leading in the polls over incumbent President Donald Trump but must rally and unite his party’s progressive wing while appealing to the broader electorate if he hopes to win November’s presidential election. The continuing coronavirus pandemic makes traditional campaigning difficult, and Biden campaign officials now say he will not travel to his party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to accept the presidential nomination. VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports on the strengths and vulnerabilities of the man Democrats hope will win the White House.
Produced by: Mike O’Sullivan
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By Polityk | 08/06/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden to Skip Milwaukee Trip for Presidential Nomination Acceptance
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has decided to not travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to accept the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s national convention this month out of fear of the “worsening” coronavirus pandemic, convention organizers said Wednesday.The party said none of the planned convention speakers would go to the Midwestern city, in order to “prevent risking the health of our host community as well as the convention’s production teams, security officials, community partners, media and others.” Normally about 50,000 convention delegates, workers and media would have gone to the four-day event starting August 17.Much of the convention will now be conducted virtually, likely from several cities. That means there will be none of the hoopla that typically accompanies the quadrennial event, which culminates with the presidential nomination acceptance speech and thousands of red, white and blue balloons cascading from the convention hall rafters.Convention organizers said Biden would now make his August 20 nomination acceptance speech in his home state of Delaware.With the recent surge in coronavirus cases in the U.S., both Democratic and Republican party officials have sharply curtailed their conventions, normally a keystone of U.S. presidential campaigns. The national election will be on November 3.Republicans in North CarolinaThe Republicans are holding their scaled-down convention to nominate President Donald Trump in Charlotte, North Carolina, starting August 24.Some events, including Trump’s acceptance speech, had been moved to Jacksonville, Florida, when North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, refused to guarantee, because of coronavirus fears, that Republicans would be allowed to pack a basketball arena there for their convention.But as the number of confirmed virus cases spiked in Florida, Trump also dropped Jacksonville as the site of his speech.Trump has not definitively said where he will deliver his presidential renomination acceptance speech, although he told the “Fox & Friends” show Wednesday, “I’ll probably do mine live from the White House.”In curbing the Democrats’ plans for Milwaukee, party chair Tom Perez said, “From the very beginning of this pandemic, we put the health and safety of the American people first. We followed the science, listened to doctors and public health experts, and we continued making adjustments to our plans in order to protect lives.”
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By Polityk | 08/06/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Marshall Tops Kobach in Kansas Senate Primary
Voters in the U.S. state of Kansas have picked Congressman Roger Marshall from a field of 11 Republican candidates, including former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, to be the nominee for U.S. Senate in the November election. Marshall will now go up against Barbara Bollier in the contest to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts. Roberts endorsed Marshall in the race, as did many Republican leaders who expressed concern that voters might not support Kobach and his more polarizing record. In a House of Representatives primary in Kansas, first-term Congressman Steve Watkins will lose his seat after being defeated by state treasurer Jake LaTurner. FILE – Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 30, 2019. ,In Arizona, a November Senate matchup is now set between incumbent Republican Martha McSally and former astronaut and Democrat Mark Kelly. Longtime Congressman Lacy Clay will lose his seat in the House of Representatives representing a Missouri district after voters in a Democratic primary chose progressive activist Cori Bush. Election officials in Michigan are expected to declare a winner Wednesday in the House Democratic primary between incumbent Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones. In another Michigan district, Iraq War veteran Peter Meijer won the Republican primary in the race to replace retiring Congressman Justin Amash.
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By Polityk | 08/05/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Campaign Sues to Block Nevada Mail-in Voting
U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign and the national Republican Party have sued to block the western state of Nevada from sending a mail-in ballot to every registered voter in the state, even as Trump says absentee voting is fine by him in his adopted home state of Florida. The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday claims the Nevada voting plan approved by the state legislature Sunday night will result in “inevitable” fraud in the Nov. 3 national presidential election. President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Aug. 4, 2020, in Washington.In an interview on the “Fox & Friends” television show Wednesday, Trump sought to draw a distinction between absentee voting — when states send voters applications for ballots which they must return before being sent an actual ballot — and states like Nevada that are planning to automatically mail all registered voters a ballot. “Absentee is OK because you have to go through a process,” said Trump, who has voted by mail in Florida. “What they’re going to do [in Nevada] is blanket the state. Anybody who ever walked, frankly, will get one.” For weeks, Trump has disparaged mail-in voting across the country as potentially rife with fraud and claimed that it will lead to a “rigged” election stolen by Democrats to defeat him. But he abruptly reversed course Tuesday on mail-in voting in Florida, a state critical to his reelection chances, after surveys showed that some Republican voters were more inclined than Democrats to not vote by mail after Trump’s repeated complaints about the practice. Trump won Florida en route to his 2016 upset victory, and he almost certainly will have to win the state again for a second four-year term. The southeastern state has 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency through the Electoral College, the indirect voting system in which state-by-state voting outcome determines the national outcome, not the national popular vote. FILE – A Miami-Dade County Elections Department employee places a vote-by-mail ballot for the August 18 primary election into a box for rejected ballots at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, in Doral, Florida, July 30, 2020.Trump claimed in the television interview that Florida’s mail-in voting is more reliable because it has had “two good governors,” Republicans Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott. Nevada’s Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, is a Trump critic. “They have an infrastructure that’s taken years to build,” Trump said about Florida’s mail-in voting system. Despite Trump’s complaints, election fraud is rare in the U.S. But the vast increase in mail-in voting expected this year as voters shun in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic could lead to substantial vote-counting problems. In some state elections this year, officials have been overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of extra mailed-in ballots compared to previous elections. In some instances, with the tedious vote-counting of the mailed-in ballots, it has taken weeks for the outcomes of close elections to be determined, contrary to the usual practice in the U.S. when winners and losers are most often known within hours of polls closing on Election Night. Trump contended that the outcome of the presidential election “could be for months and months. It could be for years.” By law, however, the next U.S. president is set to be sworn in Jan. 20, 2021. But Trump expressed hope that the coronavirus pandemic will have abated substantially in less than three months, making voters less fearful of heading to polls to vote in person. “By the time we get there, we’ll probably be in very good shape,” he predicted. “November 3rd is a long way off. That’s an eternity, as far as I’m concerned.” In the Nevada lawsuit, the Trump campaign and Republicans claimed the voting law is unconstitutional because it allows for ballots to be counted even if they are received up to Nov. 6, three days after the election, and even if they lack a postmark. In a statement Monday after signing the legislation, Sisolak said the law would protect Nevadans and “safeguard their right to make their voices heard.”
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By Polityk | 08/05/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Voters Cast Primary Ballots in 5 US States
Five U.S. states are holding primary elections Tuesday, with a Republican battle for a Senate seat representing Kansas among the key races. A total of 11 candidates are competing for the chance to be on the November general election ballot as voters make their pick to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts. Roberts has endorsed Congressman Roger Marshall, who also has the backing of other Republican leaders. Former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach and plumbing company founder Bob Hamilton are the other top contenders. Kobach lost a 2018 bid to be the governor of Kansas. The last time a Republican candidate lost an election for a Senate seat representing Kansas was 1932. The Republican who wins Tuesday will likely be favored in November, but Democratic candidate Barbara Bollier has raised more money thus far than any of the Republicans and her party is pushing to regain a majority in the Senate. Heading into the November election day, Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate advantage, while Democrats have the majority in the House of Representatives. In the House, there is a Republican primary Tuesday for the 2nd congressional district in Kansas with incumbent Congressman Steve Watkins battling a challenge from State Treasurer Jake LaTurner. LaTurner has said felony illegal voting charges against Watkins, which Watkins denies, make him vulnerable to losing the seat to a Democrat in November. Watkins has campaigned as a staunch conservative who backs President Donald Trump. President Donald Trump talks with Republican candidate for Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District Steve Watkins during a campaign rally at Kansas Expocentre, Oct. 6, 2018 in Topeka, Kan.In the state of Michigan, focus Tuesday will be on the 13th congressional district where Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is facing a Democratic primary challenge from Detroit City Council president Brenda Jones. Tlaib finished 900 votes ahead of Jones in a six-person race in the party’s 2018 primary. This time it will just be those two candidates on the ballot. Republicans are also battling for the chance to fill the seats of two retiring congressmen representing Michigan districts. In the 3rd congressional district, five Republicans are competing for the seat currently held by Congressman Justin Amash, who left the Republican party a year ago. Three Republicans are on the ballot in the race for the party’s nomination in the 10th district, which is currently represented by retiring Republican Congressman Paul Mitchell. Voters in the state of Arizona are casting primary ballots to pick candidates for a special election to fill the remaining two years of the late Senator John McCain’s term. Republican Martha McSally was appointed to the seat in 2018 and is facing a challenge from businessman Daniel McCarthy. In the Democratic race, former astronaut Mark Kelly is heavily favored over a write-in candidate. Voters are also casting primary ballots for House seats in Arizona, as well as Missouri and Washington. The general election is November 3, and winners will take office in January.
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By Polityk | 08/04/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Voters in 5 US States Casting Primary Ballots
Five U.S. states are holding primary elections Tuesday, with a Republican battle for a Senate seat representing Kansas among the key races. A total of 11 candidates are competing for the chance to be on the November general election ballot as voters make their pick to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts. Roberts has endorsed Congressman Roger Marshall, who also has the backing of other Republican leaders. Former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach and plumbing company founder Bob Hamilton are the other top contenders. Kobach lost a 2018 bid to be the governor of Kansas. The last time a Republican candidate lost an election for a Senate seat representing Kansas was 1932. The Republican who wins Tuesday will likely be favored in November, but Democratic candidate Barbara Bollier has raised more money thus far than any of the Republicans and her party is pushing to regain a majority in the Senate. Heading into the November election day, Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate advantage, while Democrats have the majority in the House of Representatives. In the House, there is a Republican primary Tuesday for the 2nd congressional district in Kansas with incumbent Congressman Steve Watkins battling a challenge from State Treasurer Jake LaTurner. LaTurner has said felony illegal voting charges against Watkins, which Watkins denies, make him vulnerable to losing the seat to a Democrat in November. Watkins has campaigned as a staunch conservative who backs President Donald Trump. President Donald Trump talks with Republican candidate for Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District Steve Watkins during a campaign rally at Kansas Expocentre, Oct. 6, 2018 in Topeka, Kan.In the state of Michigan, focus Tuesday will be on the 13th congressional district where Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is facing a Democratic primary challenge from Detroit City Council president Brenda Jones. Tlaib finished 900 votes ahead of Jones in a six-person race in the party’s 2018 primary. This time it will just be those two candidates on the ballot. Republicans are also battling for the chance to fill the seats of two retiring congressmen representing Michigan districts. In the 3rd congressional district, five Republicans are competing for the seat currently held by Congressman Justin Amash, who left the Republican party a year ago. Three Republicans are on the ballot in the race for the party’s nomination in the 10th district, which is currently represented by retiring Republican Congressman Paul Mitchell. Voters in the state of Arizona are casting primary ballots to pick candidates for a special election to fill the remaining two years of the late Senator John McCain’s term. Republican Martha McSally was appointed to the seat in 2018 and is facing a challenge from businessman Daniel McCarthy. In the Democratic race, former astronaut Mark Kelly is heavily favored over a write-in candidate. Voters are also casting primary ballots for House seats in Arizona, as well as Missouri and Washington. The general election is November 3, and winners will take office in January.
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By Polityk | 08/04/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
White House, Democrats Cite Some Progress Toward Coronavirus Aid Deal
White House officials and top congressional Democrats plan to meet again Tuesday after both sides cited some progress in their effort to find agreement on a new coronavirus aid package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday staff members would meet overnight, and that she and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer would hold another round of talks Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. “We are moving down the track,” Pelosi told reporters after two hours of negotiations Monday. “We still have our differences. We are trying to have clearer understanding of what the needs are.”White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, center, waits in the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 3, 2020.The two sides have been divided by the size of their proposed aid packages, with Democrats calling for $3 trillion in new spending and Republicans wanting to limit it to $1 trillion. Among the items under discussion are sending out another round of stimulus payments, helping renters avoid eviction, aiding the Postal Service, and action to address $600-per-week federal unemployment payments that expired last week. Republican leaders have put forth the idea of passing a smaller aid package that addresses some items while leaving negotiations on others for later, but Mnuchin signaled some flexibility Monday. “We’re open to a bigger package if we can reach an agreement,” he told reporters. Democrats have dismissed that approach, arguing instead that the federal government needs to take big action to confront the economic challenges facing the country. “If we don’t have that response, it’ll take longer, more people will stay unemployed for a longer amount of time, more businesses will close, et cetera,” Schumer told reporters Monday.
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By Polityk | 08/04/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Lincoln Project is Rare GOP Revolt Against Party’s Own Leader
Several prominent Republicans have formed political action committees whose objective is to defeat Republican President Donald Trump in November’s U.S. general election. VOA’s Steve Redisch examines this rare revolt against a party’s own leader. Producer: Miguel Amaya
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By Polityk | 08/03/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Nevada Adopts Mail-In Voting, But Trump Threatens Lawsuit
Lawmakers in Nevada have agreed to send ballots to all voters in the western U.S. state for November’s presidential election, a move that drew an immediate rebuke from President Donald Trump as unfair to Republicans.The legislation, which is expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak, would make Nevada the eighth state to automatically send mail-in ballots to make it easier to vote and avoid long lines at polling places on Nov. 3 in the midst of the continuing surge of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.Trump has contended, without evidence, that increased mail-in voting, in Nevada and elsewhere, will lead to widespread election fraud and an election rigged against him.The president threatened to sue to block the change in the voting regimen in Nevada, where he lost by 27,000 votes to Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Polling shows the state leaning toward the presumptive Democratic candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, over Trump in the election three months from now.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 6 MB480p | 8 MB540p | 11 MB720p | 21 MB1080p | 45 MBOriginal | 50 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioNevada has six electoral votes of the 270 needed to win the presidency in the Electoral College, the country’s indirect system of democratic national elections in which the state-by-state outcomes determine who wins a four-year term in the White House. In a Twitter comment, Trump said, “In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state. Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court!”In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state. Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court! https://t.co/cNSPINgCY7— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.In previous years, five of the 50 states, including Republican-dominated Utah, have conducted mail-in votes with few allegations of fraud. Two Democratic states, California and Vermont, moved this year to adopt mail-in voting, but Trump has launched a lengthy string of verbal attacks on states that have revised restrictions to make it easier to vote in the midst of the pandemic.More than voter fraud, the country could be facing an issue regarding counting on Election Day, Nov. 3, with most Americans accustomed to learning who won the presidency the same day they cast ballots.The counting of mail-in ballots in states that have held political party primary elections in recent months has extended for weeks in some contests, possibly presaging difficulties throughout the country in the presidential election. Two elections in New York that were held in late June have yet to be decided because of the slow count of mailed-in ballots.
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By Polityk | 08/03/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
RNC: Decision on Private Trump Renomination Vote Not Final
The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month, without members of the press present, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention said Saturday, citing the coronavirus.However, a Republican National Committee official contradicted that assessment Sunday, emphasizing that no final decisions have been made and that logistics and press coverage options were still being evaluated, The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.While Trump called off the public components of the convention in Florida last month, citing spiking cases of the virus across the country, 336 delegates are scheduled to gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 24 to formally vote to make Trump the GOP standard-bearer once more.Nominating conventions are traditionally meant to be media bonanzas, as political parties seek to leverage the attention the events draw to spread their message to as many voters as possible. If the GOP decision stands, it will be the first party nominating convention in modern history to be closed to reporters.”Given the health restrictions and limitations in place within the state of North Carolina, we are planning for the Charlotte activities to be closed press Friday, August 21 – Monday, August 24,” a convention spokeswoman said. “We are happy to let you know if this changes, but we are working within the parameters set before us by state and local guidelines regarding the number of people who can attend events.”The decision was first reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.Privately some GOP delegations have raised logistical issues with traveling to either city, citing the increasing number of jurisdictions imposing mandatory quarantine orders on travelers returning from states experiencing surges in the virus.The subset of delegates in Charlotte will be casting proxy votes on behalf of the more than 2,500 official delegates to the convention. Alternate delegates and guests have been prohibited.
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By Polityk | 08/03/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
White House, Democrats Remain at Odds Over Coronavirus Aid Deal
The White House and top congressional Democrats remained at odds Sunday over the scope of more assistance for 30 million American workers left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic. In back-to-back appearances on ABC’s “This Week” show, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, sparred over how much new aid the national government should approve beyond less generous state unemployment benefits. Motorists take part in a caravan protest in front of Senator John Kennedy’s office at the Hale Boggs Federal Building asking for the extension of the $600 in unemployment benefits to people out of work because of the coronavirus in New Orleans, La.Four months of $600-a-week extra national benefits expired Friday. But Pelosi and other Democrats want to extend the payments through the end of 2020, while President Donald Trump and his administration initially want to cut the extra aid to $200 a week while working toward a package that would set the aid at 70% of what a worker had been paid before being laid off as the virus swept through the United States. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, speaks to reporters following a meeting at the Capitol on a COVID-19 relief bill, Aug. 1, 2020, in Washington.Pelosi, Mnuchin, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Saturday they had made progress in reaching a deal on the unemployment assistance and other aid to boost the country’s flagging economy. Their aides were set to resume discussions Sunday on details of a package while the main negotiators planned to renew their talks on Monday. They remain far apart on the size of an overall coronavirus assistance package, however, with Democrats calling for $3 trillion in new spending and Republicans wanting to limit it to $1 trillion. The Pelosi and Mnuchin disagreements quickly became apparent on the ABC talk show. “Overwhelmingly this is about keeping people out of poverty,” Pelosi said. “The $600 is essential,” she said. “This is about putting workers first, putting money in the pockets of American workers.” She did not, however, rule out the possibility of settling on a smaller continuing aid figure, but criticized some Republican lawmakers “who don’t want (to approve) anything.” She said the new assistance should be tied to unemployment rate. She downplayed complaints by Republicans that some unemployed workers have collected more in jobless benefits than they were paid while working. Mnuchin said Trump “is very concerned about the expiration” of the benefits” and “wants to spend what we need to.” But Mnuchin said he was surprised Democrats have spurned a White House offer to extend the $600-a-week federal benefits for a week while talks continue. He said the continuing benefits “should be tied to some percentage of wages.” Mnuchin said “there’s no question some people were paid more to stay home than to work,” an outcome Republicans are determined to end. He said the virus has “devastated our economy.” Mnuchin said last week’s report that the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, fell 9.5% from April to June, the most in records dating back seven decades, was not surprising. He expressed optimism for the future, however. “I think we’re going to see a very big bounce back,” especially in 2021, he said.
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By Polityk | 08/02/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
GOP: Trump Renomination will be Held in Private
The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month, without members of the media present, a spokesperson for the Republican National Convention said, citing the coronavirus.While Trump called off the public components of the convention in Florida last month, citing spiking cases of the virus across the country, 336 delegates are scheduled to gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 24 to formally vote to make Trump the GOP standard-bearer once more.Nominating conventions are traditionally meant to be media bonanzas, as political parties seek to leverage the attention the events draw to spread their message to as many voters as possible. If the GOP decision stands, it will mark the first party nominating convention in modern history to be closed to reporters.”Given the health restrictions and limitations in place within the state of North Carolina, we are planning for the Charlotte activities to be closed press Friday, August 21 – Monday, August 24,” a convention spokesperson said. “We are happy to let you know if this changes, but we are working within the parameters set before us by state and local guidelines regarding the number of people who can attend events.”Privately some GOP delegations have raised logistical issues with traveling to either city, citing the increasing number of jurisdictions imposing mandatory quarantine orders on travelers returning from states experiencing surges in the virus.The subset of delegates in Charlotte will be casting proxy votes on behalf of the more than 2,500 official delegates to the convention. Alternate delegates and guests have already been prohibited.
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By Polityk | 08/02/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Negotiators Report Progress in COVID-19 Aid Talks
Lawmakers participating in rare weekend talks on a huge coronavirus relief measure reported progress Saturday, as political pressure mounted to restore a newly expired $600-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit and send funding to help schools reopen.This was the longest meeting we had and it was more productive than the other meetings,'' said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.We’re not close yet, but it was a productive discussion — now each side knows where they’re at.”Schumer spoke alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after meeting for three hours with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.Schumer said the officials would meet Monday and their staffs would meet Sunday.The Democratic duo is eager for an expansive agreement, as are President Donald Trump and top Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. But perhaps one-half of Senate Republicans, mostly conservatives and those not facing difficult races this fall, are likely to oppose any deal.Prior talks yielded little progress. The administration is willing to extend the $600 jobless benefit, at least in the short term, but is balking at other Democratic demands like aid for state and local governments, food stamp increases, and assistance to renters and homeowners.Food aid, vote by mailPelosi mentioned food aid and funding for voting by mail after the negotiating session was over. She and Schumer appeared more upbeat than they have after earlier meetings.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, speaks to reporters following a meeting at the Capitol on a COVID-19 relief bill, Aug. 1, 2020, in Washington.We have to get rid of this virus so that we can open our economy, safely open our schools, and to do so in a way that does not give a cut in benefits to American workers, Pelosi said.Mnuchin said restoring the $600 supplemental jobless benefit was critically important to Trump.We're still a long ways apart and I don't want to suggest that a deal is imminent, because it is not, Meadows said afterward. There are still substantial differences, but we did make good progress."The additional jobless benefit officially lapsed Friday, and Democrats have made clear that they will not extend it without securing other relief priorities. Whatever unemployment aid negotiators agree on will be made retroactive — but antiquated state systems are likely to take weeks to restore the benefits.A step backRepublicans in the Senate had been fighting to trim the $600 benefit, saying it must be slashed so that people don't make more in unemployment than they would if they returned to work. But their resolve weakened as the benefit expired, and Trump abruptly undercut their position by signaling he wants to keep the full $600 for now.On Friday, Trump used Twitter to explicitly endorse extending the $600 payment and to criticize Schumer.FILE - People who lost their jobs are reflected in the door of an Arkansas Workforce Center as they wait in line to file for unemployment following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Fort Smith, Ark., April 6, 2020.Washington's top power players agree that Congress must pass further relief in the coming days and weeks. At stake beyond the $600-per-week jobless benefit is a fresh $1,200 direct payment to most Americans, and hundreds of billions of dollars in other aid to states, businesses and the poor, among other elements.Democrats hold a strong negotiating hand — exploiting GOP divisions — and they are expected to deliver a necessary trove of votes.The COVID package will be the fifth legislative response to the pandemic and could well be the last one before the November election. The only other must-pass legislation on the agenda is a stopgap spending measure that should advance in September.More flexibilitySince May, Republicans controlling the Senate had kept the relief negotiations on pause, in a strategy aimed at reducing its price tag. But as the pandemic surged back over the summer — and as fractures inside the GOP have eroded the party's negotiating position — Republicans displayed some greater flexibility.Even with signs of progress in the talks, the list of items to negotiate remains daunting.Democrats, for example, are pressing hard for a boost in food stamp benefits. Republicans added $20 billion for agribusinesses but nothing for greater food stamp benefits in their $1 trillion proposal. Meadows played a role in killing an increase in food aid during talks on the $2 trillion relief bill in March.Traditionally we’ve had a partnership between farms and families, and they’ve consistently broken that,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
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By Polityk | 08/02/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump To Ban TikTok
President Donald Trump says he intends to ban the operation of TikTok in the U.S.Trump said Friday he could take action as soon as Saturday to stop the operation of the popular video-sharing social media app in the U.S.“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” he told reporters traveling with him Friday from Florida.He said he would likely use an executive order to prohibit the app.Trump does not support a deal that would allow a U.S. company to buy TikTok’s American operations.The app is extremely popular in both the U.S. and around the world. It has already been downloaded 2 billion times worldwide, and 165 million of those downloads were in the U.S.The app features not only entertainment videos, but also debates and takes positions on political issues, such as racial justice and the coming U.S. presidential election.U.S. officials are concerned that TikTok may pose a security threat, fearing that the company might share its user data with China’s government. However, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has said it does not share user data with the Chinese government and maintains that it only stores U.S. user data in the U.S. and Singapore. TikTok also recently chose former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as its chief executive in a move seen as an effort to distance itself from Beijing.Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said earlier this week that the U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency group led by the Treasury Department, would be looking into TikTok.CFIUS’s job is to oversee foreign investments and assess them for potential national security risks. It can force companies to cancel deals or institute other measures it deems necessary for national security.
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By Polityk | 08/01/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Who Are Youth Voters?
Young voters span two generations — older Gen Z voters and younger Millennial voters.
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By Polityk | 08/01/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Key Takeaways from Trump’s Evolving Campaign Strategy
With several polls showing Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden leading the U.S. presidential race nationally, in battleground states and among key demographics, President Donald Trump’s campaign is seeking a more effective strategy to win over voters.After spending weeks pushing to reopen the economy, the president now appears to be acknowledging the coronavirus pandemic will continue to drive news cycles through the final 100 days of the campaign.Here are a few key takeaways from Trump’s evolving re-election strategy.President Donald Trump wears a face mask as he participates in a tour of Bioprocess Innovation Center at Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, Monday, July 27, 2020, in Morrisville, N.C.Refocus on pandemicPolls indicate that public approval for the U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, left, along with members of the coronavirus take force meet with pharmaceutical executives in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, March 2, 2020.Renew push on vaccines and therapeuticsBoth Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visited vaccine development facilities this week as the White House pressed its message that the nation is close to defeating COVID-19.During a coronavirus press briefing on Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. is on track to “rapidly produce” 100 million doses as soon as a vaccine is approved “which could be very, very soon.” He said 500 million doses will be available “shortly thereafter.”There are currently more than 100 scientific groups around the world trying to make vaccines, including Pfizer and BioNTech which have started large-scale trials in the United States. But most experts agree that having a safe and reliable vaccine available before the November election is unlikely.“There is progress on a number of fronts,” said William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “We’re optimistic, but everything has to go well in vaccine development.”While a vaccine is under development, the president is still pushing other treatments aimed at reducing the severity of COVID-19. This week he again championed hydroxychloroquine — an anti-malaria drug that Trump and his allies have been pushing as a COVID-19 treatment.So far there is no evidence that hydroxychloroquine helps to prevent COVID-19 infection, said former Food and Drug Associate Commissioner and co-founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, Peter Pitts. However Pitts told VOA recent studies have shown that it may help shorten hospital time for patients who suffer from serious manifestations of the virus.Analysts say that Trump advisers see messaging on vaccines and therapeutics as the quickest way to restore confidence in the president.“The plan is to present certain drugs that are unproven as useful therapeutics until they have a vaccine,” said Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics to VOA.Sabato said the lack of scientific data to support the claim is immaterial. “For Trump supporters, he is their source of information.”A crowd gathers during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse, July 30, 2020, in Portland, Ore. After days of clashes with federal police, the crowd outside of the federal courthouse remained peaceful.Continue “law and order” approach to US protests With Black Lives Matter rallies and protests continuing in many cities across the United States, the vast majority of them peaceful, the president has also sharpened his attacks on what he has called “radical left anarchists” and the danger they allegedly pose to the country.“This bloodshed must end, this bloodshed will end,” Trump said.In Portland, local officials blamed the presence of federal law enforcement officers for worsening conflicts with protesters. After days of clashes, the city struck an agreement for the federal troops to withdraw.But analysts see the larger standoff continuing, with the Trump campaign arguing that cities with regular protests are in fact in chaos and need a “law and order” commander in chief, said Omar Wasow, a professor of race and ethnic politics at Princeton University.“Trump is working in a tradition that we’ve seen internationally, of using conflict as a way to try and mobilize your side,” Wasow told VOA, pointing to Trump campaign advertisements using footage of the protests to portray Biden as soft on crime.“Clearly, they think it’s a good campaign issue for them,” Wasow said.Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event at the Colonial Early Education Program at the Colwyck Training Center in New Castle, Del., July 21, 2020.Settle on a Biden Strategy Traditionally, presidential campaigns kick into high gear and intensify attacks on their opponents after the Republican and Democratic conventions in August, and as the candidates meet on the debate stage.“Biden has his share of controversies and he’s been around a long time, but he is not a clear image in the minds of most voters,” said Larry Sabato. “Trump’s goal in the debates and in his advertising, is to dirty up Biden, to make him appear as unsavory as Donald Trump appears to be unsavory to millions of people.”So far there are two main attack themes; that “Sleepy Joe” Biden is mentally unfit to be president and that he won’t keep Americans safe against crime and lawlessness.A recent poll finds that 52% of voters are somewhat confident that Biden has the mental and physical stamina to carry out the job of president compared to 45% for Trump. However, more are likely to say they feel very confident about Trump (33%) than Biden (23%).“Biden hasn’t developed the kind of adulation among his base that Trump can count on from his supporters. This seems to be a fairly common trend in the campaign so far and is at least partly due to the Democrat being out of the public eye during the pandemic,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.But the strategy of a 74-year-old incumbent attacking his 77-year-old challenger is risky particularly among seniors, a key demographic group of Trump supporters. Biden leads Trump among voters 65 and older in several national polls.At the same time, Trump seeks to link Biden to more liberal elements of the Democratic Party such as the “defund the police” movement. Biden has said he supports redirecting some police funding to address mental health or to change the prison system.Joe Biden says police have “BECOME THE ENEMY” and calls for CUTTING police funding: “Yes, absolutely!” pic.twitter.com/PKXvz3zobe
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) July 8, 2020 The gambit is part of Trump’s larger “culture war” against what he describes as a push by American political liberals to wage a “merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”Another attack line likely to pick up steam closer to the election is to raise fears about what a “Biden, Pelosi, Schumer America will look like,” said Arizona-based Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin to VOA, referring to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.“The European style of democracy has historically been unpopular across the U.S. and I believe he will begin to compare how a Biden presidency will change America for the worse forever, and that he is the only man left to defend American-style capitalism,” Coughlin said.Campaigning on “us vs them” to a nation highly polarized around party ideology can be a very powerful way to mobilize your base, said Omar Wasow of Princeton. But while Trump is masterful at harnessing identity politics, stoking both fear and national pride, his political base in 2020 may not be large enough to carry him to victory. “If he doesn’t do some outreach to some of the moderate swing voters, there’s a reasonable chance he’ll lose,” Wasow said.The past three months of national turmoil have shown much can happen between now and the election.“An October vaccine discovery would be the ultimate October surprise,” said Wilson, referring to the possibility that a last-minute development will sway the early November election. “If unemployment dips back into single digits, if you have the Dow above 30,000 — all those things would create and completely change the scenario of what we’d be looking at in the fall.”Wilson said that any of those scenarios can happen, and it would probably take a combination of them to ensure a Trump victory. “But that’s historically the case with any presidential election.”
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By Polityk | 08/01/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Obama Takes Aim at Trump in Fiery Eulogy for Civil Rights Icon John Lewis
In a fiery eulogy for longtime U.S. Representative John Lewis on Thursday, former President Barack Obama took a series of thinly veiled shots at the actions of his successor that he said tore at the legacy of the Black civil rights icon being laid to rest.
The funeral for Lewis, who played an instrumental role in passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, came on the same day Republican President Donald Trump suggested the Nov. 3 election could be delayed. Trump has also waged a war against mail-in ballots, a tactic critics say is aimed at suppressing votes.
“We no longer have to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar in order to cast a ballot,” Obama said in the eulogy, referring to one way Black people were once disqualified at the ballot box.
“But even as we sit here, there are those in power doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision.”
Obama also referred to reported moves to undermine “the postal service in the run-up to an election that could be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don’t get sick.”
Obama, joined at the funeral by two fellow former presidents, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton, spoke of Lewis’s rise from humble beginnings on a Troy, Alabama, farm to become a leader of the 1960s struggle for equal rights for Black Americans. Ultimately, the man known as the “conscience of Congress” never gave up his drive to make “good trouble” in the cause of justice, Obama said.
Obama and others spoke or sang in front of his casket draped in the American flag at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. King, who was assassinated in 1968, had been a mentor to Lewis.
Lewis, who was first elected in 1986 to represent Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives, died on July 17 at age 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. His death came at a time of reckoning across the United States over racial injustice ignited by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
Obama – a Democrat who was the nation’s first black president and who awarded Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 – argued that the man whose sharecropping parents “picked someone else’s cotton” now should be counted among the Founding Fathers.
“America was built by John Lewis. He as much as anyone in our history brought our country closer to its highest ideals,” the Democratic former president said.
In his speech, Bush remembered joining Lewis in Selma, Alabama, for the 50th anniversary of the watershed 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. “The story that began in Troy isn’t ending here today, nor is the work.”
The funeral capped a week of memorial services. Lewis’s coffin was escorted across the bridge on Sunday, decades after his beating there drew a national spotlight to the struggle for racial equality, including suppression of the Black vote in the South. And on Monday his casket was taken to the U.S. Capitol in Washington where it lay in state through Tuesday.
Eric Terrell, 65, of Atlanta, sat outside the church in his wheelchair, in the heat and thick air of an Atlanta summer morning, waiting to get a glimpse of former Presidents Clinton and Bush, but especially Obama. He was camped out before 6:30 a.m. so he could bow his head as Lewis’s funeral procession rolled by.
And he held his homemade sign until his arms got tired. It read, “Get your ass out and vote.” “He put his life on the line in Selma so we could vote,” said Terrell, who is Black. “So we better do it,” he said before joining the throng of onlookers outside the church watching the services on a Jumbotron.
In an essay written shortly before his death and published in the New York Times on Thursday, Lewis called on the younger generation to get into “good trouble,” using perhaps his most famous utterance about the importance of challenging inequality.
“In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way,” he wrote, before invoking a famous line from King: “Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.”
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By Polityk | 07/31/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Contrasts his Energy Dominance with Biden’s Climate Plan
President Donald Trump was in Texas oil country this week, promoting his policy of “restoring energy dominance” in the U.S. while criticizing the clean energy climate plan of his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara looks at how the two candidates plan to deal with an energy industry ravaged by the pandemic and tackle the challenges of global climate change.
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By Polityk | 07/31/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Suggests Election Delay, Pompeo Questioned About US Democracy
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested voting by mail could lead to a fraudulent November 3rd presidential election and asked whether the vote should be delayed. Trump’s tweet sparked a debate on election security on Capitol Hill, where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was testifying. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.
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By Polityk | 07/31/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
One-Time US Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain Dies From COVID
Herman Cain, a maverick conservative Republican businessman who briefly led the race for the U.S. party’s 2012 presidential nomination, died Thursday from the coronavirus. He was 74.Cain had been hospitalized for a month in the southern city of Atlanta and initially appeared to regain strength but faltered again in recent days.Cain attended President Donald Trump’s political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 20 that led to numerous coronavirus infections. But Cain, who was seen not wearing a mask during the rally, said he had traveled extensively elsewhere about the same time. It is not known where he contracted the virus that has now killed more than 150,000 Americans.At his death, Cain was chairman of Black Voices for Trump. Last year, the president nominated Cain to a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, the U.S. central bank, but Cain withdrew after opposition mounted against him.“Because I ran as a Republican for president and the United States Senate, and because I am an outspoken voice of conservatism, an outspoken voice of the Constitution and the laws, I’m being attacked,” Cain said.Cain held a string of corporate executive positions throughout his life, most prominently from 1986 to 1996 as president and chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza, a national chain that he transformed into a success after it had been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.In 2011, as he campaigned for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, he pushed for sweeping tax reform that he called his “9-9-9 Plan” — a 9% business transactions tax, a 9% personal income tax, and a 9% federal sales tax.Cain briefly pulled ahead of eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney in political surveys a year ahead of the election, but he withdrew from the race in December 2011, after two women accused him of sexual harassment while he was chief executive of the National Restaurant Association from 1996 to 1999.Cain denied the charges, and his wife Gloria stood by him, saying, “He totally respects women.”In a tweet, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said, “Herman Cain embodied the American Dream and represented the very best of the American spirit.” She also added, “Our hearts grieve for his loved ones, and they will remain in our prayers at this time. We will never forget his legacy of grace, patriotism, and faith.”
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By Polityk | 07/31/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Pelosi Mandates Masks in US House of Representatives
The U.S. House of Representatives begins a new mandated face mask policy Thursday, following an order from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was facing increasing pressure to address safety concerns in one of the nation’s most high-profile office complexes. Pelosi issued the order late Wednesday after U.S. FILE – Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert studies notes during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, July 28, 2020.Gohmert said in an interview with CNN last month he did not wear a mask because he was being tested regularly for the coronavirus. “I don’t have the coronavirus, turns out as of yesterday I’ve never had it,” Gohmert said. “But if I get it, you’ll never see me without a mask.” The 66-year-old Republican lawmaker attended a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday with Attorney General William Barr, during which chairman Jerry Nadler scolded several other Republicans for not wearing masks. Politico also reported Gohmert returned to his Capitol Hill office after receiving the diagnosis at the White House so that he could inform his staff in person. Responding to news of the positive test, House Majority leader Steny Hoyer criticized Gohmert and many other Republicans for not consistently donning a mask. “Too many Republicans have continued to act extraordinarily irresponsibly, including Louis Gohmert. Louie Gohmert ought to quarantine himself right now. He had this test, as I understand it prior to the Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, he was in the committee room. He put on his mask when he sat down in his chair. He came into the room without a mask on,” Hoyer told reporters. Under the new mask policy in the House, all members of Congress and staff are required to wear a mask at all times in the Capitol and office buildings. The policy instituted under the direction of the U.S. Capitol’s attending physician says, “Any person not wearing a face cover will be asked to put on a face cover or leave the building. This requirement will remain in effect until a determination is made that such a requirement is no longer necessary.”
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By Polityk | 07/30/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
