The Republican Party announced it will forego a platform.
Instead of drafting a document outlining the party’s beliefs and agenda, the Republican National Committee simply states that it agrees with everything Donald Trump has done and will do.
Falwell Claims Extortion from Wife’s Former Lover
Washington Examiner: “Jerry Falwell Jr., suspended as president of Virginia’s Christian-focused Liberty University after a string of embarrassing acts, today said that he has suffered depression caused by a former family friend who had an affair with his wife and has been threatening to expose it.”
“Falwell revealed his wife Becki’s affair for the first time, said it was short lived and that the two reconciled quickly. But, they claimed, her former lover has threatened them over the past several years and they are done with it hanging over their heads.”
Yes, it was the “pool boy.”
Kellyanne Conway to Leave White House
“Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to President Trump and one of his longest-serving aides, is leaving the White House at the end of the month,” the Washington Post reports.
“Her husband George T. Conway III, a conservative lawyer and outspoken critic of the president, is also stepping back from his role on the Lincoln Project, an outside group of Republicans devoted to defeating Trump in November. He will also take a hiatus from Twitter, the venue he has often used to attack the president.”
Many Republicans Still In Dark About Convention
Politico: “The lack of information is a byproduct of an unusual spring and summer, when the coronavirus pandemic upended two sets of in-person convention plans for both Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., and forced top Trump officials and allies to scramble to hastily organize and pull off the convention in roughly a month. Planning such an event typically takes more than a year.”
“State party officials, delegates and operatives say they aren’t panicking about the dearth of information, and the campaign on Sunday did release a list of speakers for the four-day event, which is heavy on Trump family members and top administration officials, less so on prominent Capitol Hill Republicans.”
Associated Press: Trump campaign releases RNC schedule.
Biden Says No New Taxes on Those Making Under $400K
Joe Biden told told ABC News that he “will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000,”adding, “no new taxes” would be raised for anyone making under $400,000.
Rejected Mail Ballots Could Make Difference
Washington Post: “More than 540,000 mail ballots were rejected during primaries across 23 states this year — nearly a quarter in key battlegrounds for the fall — illustrating how missed delivery deadlines, inadvertent mistakes and uneven enforcement of the rules could disenfranchise voters and affect the outcome of the presidential election.”
“The rates of rejection, which in some states exceeded those of other recent elections, could make a difference in the fall if the White House contest is decided by a close margin, as it was in 2016, when Donald Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by roughly 80,000 votes.”
A Trumpian Production
“This week’s Republican National Convention will be The Trump Show from start to finish, aiming for ratings-juicing stunts, attention-grabbing speeches from MAGA stars, and executive power as performance art,” Axios reports.
Said a source: “Think of each night like an episode. And what would an episode be without an appearance from the star?”
“Trump made clear to aides that he wanted a grand, raucous convention — to the extent such things are achievable during a pandemic. He wanted a live audience, which he’ll now get on the White House’s South Lawn. He didn’t like the Zoom-call feel of the Democratic convention, and he thought many of the speeches went on too long.”
Trump Looks to Change Narrative After Brutal Week
New York Times: “The last thing the president wanted to see as he kick-starts his campaign was the architect of his last campaign hauled away in handcuffs on charges of bilking his own supporters in a build-the-wall fund-raising scam. Yet there was Stephen K. Bannon, the mastermind of the 2016 election, with his hair now long and scraggly and his face weathered, marched into court and called a crook.”
“That was only part of the president’s tough week or so. In recent days, the Senate released a damning bipartisan report on Russia’s efforts to help Mr. Trump win in 2016. A government agency concluded that a member of the president’s cabinet is serving in violation of the law. A court rejected Mr. Trump’s effort to keep his tax returns secret. Unemployment claims ticked back up. And former Vice President Joseph Biden smoothly pulled off his own convention without the gaffes Mr. Trump had predicted.”
“If that were not enough, the president found his family dysfunction playing out in public at the same time he was presiding over a funeral for his younger brother at the White House.”
Trump to Authorize Virus Treatment Over Objections
President Trump will announce that the FDA will issue an emergency authorization for blood plasma as a coronavirus treatment, Politico reports.
“The agency held off on the decision last week over concerns from government scientists that evidence for the treatment’s effectiveness is thin — prompting Trump to accuse the FDA of slow-walking the therapy to harm his reelection chances without offering any evidence to support his claim.”
Washington Post: “Many scientists and physicians believe that convalescent plasma might provide some benefit but is far from a breakthrough. It is rich in antibodies that could be helpful in fighting the coronavirus, but the evidence so far has not been conclusive about whether it works, when to administer it and what dose is needed.”
Biden Features Trump’s Goodyear Comments In New Ad
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is launching an ad Monday seizing on President Trump’s comments calling for a boycott of Goodyear tires that will play in the battleground states of Ohio and North Carolina — states the President won in 2016, CNN reports.
From the ad: “An American company with a 122-year history, thousands of American workers and competitors, all over the world and a sitting President who’s spinning out of control would risk American jobs to try to save his own.”
Trump Tweet Flagged for Violating Election Rules
Twitter flagged a tweet by President Trump that claimed, without evidence, that mail drop boxes are a “voter security disaster” and are “not Covid sanitized.”
Obama Says Biden and Sanders Have Same Goals
Barack Obama told the New Yorker that Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders had similar policy aims “from a forty-thousand foot level.”
Said Obama: “If you look at Joe Biden’s goals and Bernie Sanders’s goals, they’re not that different, from a forty-thousand-foot level. They both want to make sure everybody has health care. They want to make sure everybody can get a job that pays a living wage. They want to make sure every child gets a good education.”
Trump Obliterates Line Between Governing and Campaign
“Trailing in the polls and struggling to find a message, President Trump is leveraging one of the most powerful assets he has left — his White House office — in service of his reelection bid, obliterating the lines between governing and campaigning and testing legal boundaries in ways that go well beyond his predecessors,” the Washington Post reports.
Trump May Fast Track Vaccine Before Election
“The Trump administration is considering bypassing normal US regulatory standards to fast-track an experimental coronavirus vaccine from the UK for use in America ahead of the presidential election,” the Financial Times reports.
“One option being explored to speed up the availability of a vaccine would involve the US Food and Drug Administration awarding ’emergency use authorisation’ in October to a vaccine being developed in a partnership between AstraZeneca and Oxford university, based on the results from a relatively small UK study if it is successful.”
Comey Says Bannon Is In a ‘World of Trouble’
Former FBI director James Comey told CBS News that former Trump strategist Steve Bannon was in “a world of trouble” following his arrest last week on fraud charges.
Said Comey: “It’s another reminder of the kind of people this president surrounds himself with, at this point they could almost start their own crime family.”
He added: “It’s a very serious case, the Southern District of New York has laid it out in a very detailed indictment called a speaking indictment, and he’s in a world of trouble.”
Republicans Rush to Finalize Convention
New York Times: “As Monday’s kickoff looms, Republican officials were still deciding what segments to air live and what would be taped in advance. Typically, convention broadcasts require weeks of highly technical preparation. By the weekend, producers at the major TV networks had only a foggy idea of what to expect, although Republicans provided a more detailed rundown on Saturday evening. Still, broadcasters will head into the week with some unknowns.”
“Republicans involved in the planning admit that anxiety began to set in two weeks ago. But on Saturday, they said that they were now confident that a fully realized lineup was in place — and that in contrast to the Democrats’ virtual event, voters could expect something more akin to a regular convention, with a focus on live onstage moments featuring Mr. Trump, whom aides described as the week’s ‘talent in chief.”
Trump Aide Dismisses Secret Audio as ‘Sibling Rivalry’
Trump adviser Jason Miller told NBC News that secret recordings of Maryanne Trump criticizing her brother were just “sibling rivalry” and that “when you get to the White House you have family members who sometimes decide to voice their sibling rivalries or frustrations.”
Trump Heads Into Convention In Bad Position
Harry Enten: “There have been only three incumbents who were down by more than a point at the beginning of the convention period since 1940: Harry Truman in 1948, Gerald Ford in 1976 and Jimmy Carter in 1980. Only Truman, down by about 10 points, had a deficit that matched Trump’s at the current time. But even Truman didn’t have an opponent who was already pulling in more than half the vote.”
“The potentially good news for Trump is that because he’s in an unprecedented position, it’s difficult to ascertain his true chance of a comeback, especially during a global pandemic. Further, it’s noteworthy that Truman actually did win in 1948. Ford closed his 7-point deficit pre-conventions against Carter in 1976, but still lost by 2 points.”
“One way in which Trump is clearly in a worse position than either Truman or Ford is his own popularity. Truman’s net approval rating (approve – disapprove) was only about -5 points on the eve of the conventions in 1948. Ford’s was actually positive. Trump’s net approval rating is about -12 points.”
Washington Post: “He is confronting multiple crises at home and has been running a deficit in state and national polls throughout the spring and summer. If the election were held today, Trump probably would become the first one-term president since George H.W. Bush was defeated in 1992.”
