Rudy Giuliani told Bloomberg that he is currently taking hydroxychloroquine in an effort to fend off a possible COVID-19 infection after a slew of Trumpworld figures Giuliani had contact with have fallen ill.
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Trump Calls for Arrests of His Political Enemies
President Trump demanded the jailing of his political enemies, Politico reports.
“Trump twice amplified supporters’ criticisms of Attorney General William Barr, including one featuring a meme calling on him to ‘arrest somebody!’ He wondered aloud why his rivals, like President Barack Obama, Democratic nominee Joe Biden and former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton hadn’t been imprisoned for launching a ‘coup’ against his administration.”
Said Trump: “Where are all of the arrests? Can you imagine if the roles were reversed? Long term sentences would have started two years ago. Shameful!”
A Bullish Biden Invades Trump Territory
“Starting this week, a generation of voters in Texas will see something they’ve never witnessed before: a heavy rotation of presidential TV ads,” Politico reports.
“In a move that would have been far-fetched even a few months ago, Joe Biden is set to spend $6.2 million on ads in the state over the next month — attempting to put the state in play for the first time in decades… Perhaps even more astounding: Trump doesn’t have the money to counter the cash-flush Biden on TV.”
“Over the past two weeks, Biden had the airwaves to himself in Iowa, Ohio, Texas and New Hampshire, while Trump went dark.”
Meanwhile, BuzzFeed News reports Trump’s campaign “is slashing television spending in the Midwest, canceling millions of dollars in advertising in states that carried him to victory in 2016.”
Chris Christie Still In the Hospital
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie remained hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday for the fourth straight day, the New York Post reports.
Conservative Sites Spreading Russian Propaganda
“On any given day over the past two years, visitors to the home page of RealClearPolitics were likely to see its famous average of political polls, a roundup of news and center-right commentary—and, near the bottom, a link or two to stories from RT.com,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The provenance of the RT headlines was obscured. Readers didn’t immediately know they were clicking on headlines from a Russian state-backed publication that American intelligence officials considered the Kremlin’s ‘principal international propaganda outlet.'”
“The company responsible for RT’s presence on RealClearPolitics is Mixi.Media. Since its launch in 2018, Mixi has assembled a network of right-leaning publishers, including National Review, The Daily Caller and Newsmax, as well as mainstream sites like RealClearPolitics. Also in Mixi’s fold are RT and another Russian state-backed outlet, Sputnik.”
Some Speculation on When Trump Got Sick
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Pence to Target Biden on Terrorism at Debate
“Mike Pence’s guest list for Wednesday’s vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City will include the parents of murdered ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller,” Axios reports.
“The decision sheds light on Pence’s strategy to target Joe Biden. Mueller’s parents, Carl and Marsha, gave perhaps the most heart-wrenching speech of the Republican National Convention. But their remarks were also politically brutal, with Carl directly blaming the Obama-Biden administration for hiding behind policy and failing to save his daughter’s life.”
BuzzFeed Pulls Reporter from White House
New York Times: “BuzzFeed News has pulled a political correspondent from the White House press pool, citing concerns that the area has become a coronavirus hot zone after President Trump, many of his top aides — including the press secretary Kayleigh McEnany — and several journalists have tested positive for the virus.”
New Battleground State Polls
From Quinnipiac:
- FLORIDA: Biden 51%, Trump 40%
- PENNSYLVANIA: Biden 54%, Trump 41%
- IOWA: Biden 50%, Trump 45%
From Marquette Law School:
- WISCONSIN: Biden 46%, Trump 41%
From New York Times/Siena College:
- OHIO: Biden 45%, Trump 44%
- NEVADA: Biden 48%, Trump 42%
From Cherry Communications:
- FLORIDA: Biden 49%, Trump 44%
From EMC Research:
- TEXAS: Biden 49%, Trump 49%
From Data Orbital:
- ARIZONA: Biden 48%, Trump 43%
From Civiqs:
- TEXAS: Biden 48%. Trump 48%
- IOWA: Biden 48%, Trump 47%
From Emerson College:
- PENNSYLVANIA: Biden 51%, Trump 47%
White House Says Trump Is ‘Symptom Free’
White House physician Dr. Sean Conley reports President Trump has been “symptom-free” from the coronavirus for over 24 hours, Axios reports.
Prosecutors Allowed to Take Actions Ahead of Elections
“The Department of Justice has weakened its long-standing prohibition against interfering in elections,” ProPublica reports.
“Avoiding election interference is the overarching principle of DOJ policy on voting-related crimes. In place since at least 1980, the policy generally bars prosecutors not only from making any announcement about ongoing investigations close to an election but also from taking public steps — such as an arrest or a raid — before a vote is finalized because the publicity could tip the balance of a race.”
“But according to an email sent Friday by an official in the Public Integrity Section in Washington, now if a U.S. attorney’s office suspects election fraud that involves postal workers or military employees, federal investigators will be allowed to take public investigative steps before the polls close, even if those actions risk affecting the outcome of the election.”
Democratic Senate Candidate Voted Against Obama Twice
MJ Hegar, the former Air Force pilot running as a Democrat against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), told the Houston Chronicle that she voted for Republican presidential nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012.
Biden Begins to Pull Away
Joe Biden now leads Donald Trump by 9.3% in the FiveThirtyEight national average.
He leads by 7.6% in Michigan, 6.4% in Pennsylvania, and 7.1% in Wisconsin.
He leads by 4.5% in Arizona, 3.7% in Florida, and 2.3% in North Carolina.
Philip Bump: Even if state polls are underestimating Trump as much as they did in 2016, Biden is in position to win.
Trump’s Corrupt Schemes Keep Blowing Up
Greg Sargent: “When you step back and survey the last two years of U.S. politics, one of the biggest story lines that comes into view is this: One after another, a whole string of deeply corrupt schemes that President Trump has hatched to smooth his reelection hopes have crashed and burned.”
“In all these cases, Trump has either blown up the schemes himself or compounded the damage they did to him when they self-destructed. In some cases he did both.”
“Meanwhile, Trump has also managed to wreck numerous opportunities that he could have easily turned to his political advantage if he had reacted to them in a non-depraved manner. Instead, he sought to pervert or corrupt them in ways that ended up backfiring.”
Plexiglass Barriers at Debate Are Useless
New York Times: “Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris will be seated more than 12 feet apart, with barriers between them. But the barriers will do nothing to protect Ms. Harris if Mr. Pence is infected and exhaling virus that can be carried through the air.”
Pence’s Tough Debate Task
President Trump hasn’t exactly made tonight’s vice-presidential debate easy for Mike Pence, First Read notes.
The vice president will have to defend:
- Why the president held non-socially distant and largely mask-less events at the White House – with indoor activities – from which several attendees apparently got infected by the coronavirus.
- Why Trump, after being hospitalized at Walter Reed, jumped into a hermetically sealed SUV with Secret Service agents to wave to supporters.
- Why the president, after returning to the White House, took off his mask in public, despite still being potentially contagious.
- Why Trump instructed Americans NOT to be afraid of the coronavirus, and why he compared it again to the flu.
- And why the president – over Twitter – scuttled any chance for another coronavirus aid package before the election.
None of these is easy for Pence to answer, especially a vice president who just happens to head the White House’s coronavirus task force.
White House Cluster Linked to Spike In D.C. Infections
New York Times: “An event on Sept. 26 in the Rose Garden, after which a number of officials including President Trump tested positive for the virus, violated the city’s mandates limiting the size of gatherings and requiring masks. Because the White House is on federal property, however, it is exempt from such rules. Guests at the event may well have ventured into the city, but the White House has refused to comply with a municipal request for help with contact tracing. The city had its highest number of positive cases on Monday — 105 — since June, though city officials say it would take several days to determine any trend.”
“At least one testing site in Washington reported that those seeking a test doubled to 600 on Monday as residents responded with concern to the cases stemming from the White House and Capitol Hill.”
