Former President Barack Obama since leaving office rarely wades into debates about his successor, but President Donald Trump’s performance during the pandemic compelled him to raise his voice. He was sharp by his standards, though hardly by Trump’s, in a rapidly leaked conference call with former employees in which he credited the incumbent with “an…
Welp, congressional Democrats investigating why Donald Trump fired the State Department watchdog just got a whopper of a lead from the man who originally said he let the inspector general go because he had lost confidence in him. Asked why he thought Steve Linick needed to be removed, Trump offered a blunt response that surely…
Eric Trump, the president’s son, spewed his usual nonsense on Fox News Sunday, this time to advocate for the senior Trump’s all-so-important right to campaign during the coronavirus pandemic. During the interview, Eric Trump, executive vice president of The Trump Organization, accused Democrats of trying to “milk” needed coronavirus lockdowns for “everything they can.” “And you…
Donald Trump’s allies don’t much like Richard Burr. But they’d prefer the president keep out of the criminal investigation of the senator. The revelation that Burr was under FBI investigation for potential insider trading rocked Capitol Hill on Thursday. But Trump, who often relishes commenting on the news of the day, was restrained when asked…
Florida Man and Republican Rep. Gregory Steube has been on a tear since entering his second year Congress. In January, the Trump-supporting, fast-talking Floridian introduced HR 5657, the “Religious Insignia on Dog Tags Act,” that was somehow worse than what it sounds like. It’s a bill that would allow a Christian for-profit jewelry company to be allowed to…
Two Republican governors tell the tale of which approach to the coronavirus is winning not only more support among constituents, but bipartisan support to boot. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who perhaps mounted the most aggressive effort of any Republican governor to protect his state with early shutdown orders, received 86% support from his constituents for…
If Donald Trump’s digital media operation is, as his campaign manager Brad Parscale described it this week, a “Death Star,” the consensus seems to be that Joe Biden’s digital presence more closely resembles Jar Jar Binks. Trump has 80 million Twitter followers; Biden has 5 million. Trump’s Facebook page has 27.5 million likes; Biden’s has…
Even as coronavirus deaths mount and infections make inroads into the White House, President Donald Trump is maintaining his upbeat message about reopening the country and restarting the economy. Trump has branded the moment a “transition to greatness,” casting himself as a “wartime president” and Americans as warriors in an epic battle against a disease…
History not only repeats itself—sometimes it does so with the same leader in a span of months when that person is as reckless, incompetent, and immoral as Donald Trump. Months after Trump ignored more than a dozen red alerts from his intelligence agencies and other agencies that a deadly virus was headed for American shores, he’s now…
On Thursday, CNN went through some of their recent archives to pull out statements that newly anointed White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany made about her new boss, Donald Trump. It turns out that a lot of those statements were no good. I mean, they were honest—they just aren’t good for the job she has now….
SAN FRANCISCO — Saying America is desperately in need of healing and "a sense of hopefulness" during the Covid-19 pandemic, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday formally endorsed Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate who can "bring people together and unite this nation." “I’m so honored to be here with you and supporting your presidency,’’…
For a brief period, Donald Trump took to pretending he cared about keeping the number of American deaths due to the coronavirus on the low end. In late February, Trump mused, “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty…
There’s good news and bad news out of Germany. The good news is, the country’s cautious reopening appears to be working. Since the easing of restrictions implemented two weeks ago, infection rates are not only stable but decreasing. The bad news is, Donald Trump isn’t German Chancellor Angela Merkel—and we’re not Germany. “We have reached the…
Senate Republicans are beginning to sour on Christopher Wray. They’re not ready to push for the FBI director’s firing as some of President Donald Trump’s most fervent allies have demanded, but they’re looking for speedier action on Trump’s desires to “clean up” the Justice Department. “I’m not calling on [Trump] to make a change, but…
Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is about to unleash a massive negative ad campaign against Joe Biden — the president’s most aggressive effort yet to damage his Democratic opponent. With Trump’s poll numbers sagging amid his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the offensive underscores how his advisers believe they must turn the race into a choice…
Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair has a message for President Donald Trump and other Western leaders as they grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at a POLITICO online event on Wednesday, Blair urged governments to resist the pull of nationalism amid the crisis, calling the current debates between “globalizers and non-globalizers” a distraction…
Phase II of Donald Trump’s plan to inflict maximal coronavirus carnage on the country is commencing, and now’s the perfect time to cut off public access to any tiny shreds of reality they might glean from the White House’s beleaguered coronavirus task force. Thus, the White House plans to “wind down the operation in coming weeks,”…
Amid President Donald Trump’s rapidly expanding campaign to assert more control over independent federal watchdogs, Trump’s pick to monitor the administration’s massive coronavirus economic rescue effort is vowing to protect the office’s “integrity and independence.” “If confirmed, I will conduct every audit and investigation with fairness and impartiality. I will be vigilant to protect the…
On Fox News Sunday, Donald Trump promised his administration was putting together a comprehensive report on the coronavirus that clearly has a foregone conclusion: It’s all China’s fault. “We’re going to be giving a very strong report as to exactly what we think happened,” Trump said during a virtual town hall. “And I think it…
Jared Kushner raised eyebrows Wednesday when he proclaimed on Fox News that the White House’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was a “great success story.” “The federal government rose to the challenge," the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law said. "I think that that’s really, you know, what needs to be told." The statement quickly took…